IT'S HARD TO BE AT A PARTY WHEN YOU FEEL LIKE AN OPEN WOUND.
IT'S HARD TO BE ANYWHERE THESE DAYS WHEN ALL I WANT IS YOU.
taylor swift

WHEN RORY WAS FIFTEEN, SHE RECEIVED AN INVITATION to Ginny Weasley's birthday party. She got a similar invite at age twenty-two. She did not anticipate it considering she hadn't gotten an invite for a Weasley held event in years. Well, she got Percy telling her she could come with him if she wanted but nothing formal. However, she was now holding a real invitation to the Burrow.

August eleventh at five in the afternoon. That was today. How punctual.

Rory was going to attend. She was honestly excited for the whole ordeal. Nothing beat Molly Weasley's cooking.

When she received the invitation she called her dad.

"Rory? Is everything alright?" He asked once he picked up.

She sighed, "Yes, Dad. I'm not always a basket case. Did you get invited to Ginny's party?"

"Of course I did — I mean, yeah. Why?"

"What do you mean of course you did?" She scoffed. "Do you always get invited to Weasley functions?"

There was a moment of silence on the other end.

"Maybe."

Rory rolled her eyes and took a deep breath. "How come I never knew this? Why'd you feel the need to lie to me all these years?"

"Is it justifiable to say it was to spare your feelings?"

"You know if we go back and look at nearly every issue I've had throughout my life you can begin to see that they all stem from you."

Andrew chuckled. "Yes and Christine."

Rory gagged, causing Andrew to laugh more. "You mean the woman who had to raise me instead of you because you were an outright dick in your early twenties?"

"We actually can't make it to Ginny's but call me after? Bye, sweetheart."

Rory hung up and placed the phone back on the receiver. There were only a few hours left until the party and she had preparations to do. How old was Ginny now? Nineteen? How ridiculous!

Rory remembered her nineteenth birthday well. It was a good one. "Nasty nineteen" was what they called it. Back when Rory had a chosen family, a little tight-knit group of friends. They shared stories and wine and laughter.

She still had Angelina though. She was more than enough but it was hard not to miss the past.

Madame Perkins told her not to dwell on those things though. She had to focus on the here and now. So, she decided to go shopping. Rory would need a new outfit for Ginny's party. Most of her clothes were far too slutty for a Weasley party. At least Molly would probably think so. She also needed a gift for Ginny, obviously.

Marks & Spencer seemed like a good place to start. So she shut her eyes and apparated to the women's restroom that had been out of order for months. It was a convenience to her and no one else.

She started at the women's section, naturally. The dress racks caught her eye and she was immediately immersed in the heaps of colorful, cheap-feeling fabric. It was August but all of the fall clothes were already out. She didn't mind given the fact that fall was her favorite season and she adored the color palette of it all. However, she had to remember that she was going to be hot in long sleeves. It wasn't boiling outside but the Weasley home was always a bit warmer no matter the weather.

Across the way on the sales rack, a little blue dress got her attention. Rory wasn't one to wear blue a lot. In fact, she didn't really own more than one or two things in the color but it was on sale and would cover her arse. She saw it was her size and flung it over her arm. Although years ago Molly had taught her an alteration spell if it ended up fitting too big or too small.

While she was there she thought she might as well buy some clothes for teaching. She wasn't going to wear those hideous robes. She taught Muggle Studies for goodness sake! Rory was going to dress like a Muggle for educational purposes.

Daddy's money sure came in handy then and there. She couldn't forget Ginny's gift though. So after grabbing everything that tickled her fancy, she changed her mindset from her girly self to a slightly more boyish Ginny.

Rory didn't even know Ginny's style anymore or what size she wore. So, she gave up.

She wasn't done shopping quite yet though. She simply couldn't pass up on grabbing a bottle of wine for the birthday girl. Ginny liked red from what she remembered.

As she was looking for the right one, she spotted someone familiar in the same aisle a bit further down. She panicked and began stepping awkwardly in place trying to decide which way to exit the area. It only brought more attention to her though (shocker).

"Rory?" The man chuckled. "Fancy seeing you here."

"Er... Cassius. Hello! Are you stalking me?" She asked.

He shook his head, "I might say the same about you. I see you're doing some shopping. I suppose you're going back to work soon."

"Y-Yeah," she nodded. "I start in September. Obviously."

"Is the wine for school as well?"

"Birthday party." She shrugged, "Do you bring alcohol to work with you?"

"Well it's actually my first year at this school but... I do intend to keep a bottle of whisky at the bottom of my desk for those late nights going over assignments... and of course to share with the other promising new teachers that also happen to be women."

"Slag," she scoffed.

"Takes one to know one, love."

Rory grabbed a random bottle of cheap red and sighed. "I'm going to leave now but something tells me I'll run into you again very soon. Goodbye, Cassius."

"Goodbye, Rory," he said with a head nod as she left the aisle.

She hated herself for finding something so magnetic about that man. Was the universe trying to tell her something by making them run into each other so much? Were they soulmates or some shit?

THE BURROW WAS NO DIFFERENT THAN SHE REMEMBERED IT. It was almost as if nothing changed. Part of her felt that she would walk in and see Fred with a beautiful, lively grin. She wouldn't though.

"Are you sure you want to go in?" Percy asked quietly.

Rory nodded confidently. She knew she needed to go in for a myriad of reasons but mainly because she told herself she would. Keeping the promises she made to herself was important and something she wanted to do more often.

"You told them I was coming, right?" She raised an eyebrow.

"Of course," Percy replied.

Rory nodded and let Percy take the lead. As she got closer and closer to the home, she could feel the comforting energy radiating from it. A warm atmosphere was something she craved and hadn't gotten much of in a while. Her flat felt cold and lonely most of the time. No place had ever felt like home to her as much as the Burrow anyway.

She expected silence when she entered the doorway, but instead, she heard Molly cry out her name with enthusiasm and was met with a tight hug from Ginny. Rory spat out a tuft of ginger hair from her mouth and wrapped her arms around the girl.

"I cried when Percy said you were coming, Ror. I've missed you so much."

"I've missed you too, Ginny," Rory said quietly.

"Well don't hog her, Ginny!" Molly said with a joking tone. Ginny rolled her eyes and pulled away. Molly smiled at Rory and outstretched her arms. Rory immediately hugged the woman as if it were second nature.

"Hi, Molly."

"Oh, hello dear. For the record... we had you on the invite list for everything but George didn't think it was such a good idea."

"It was probably for the best," Rory chuckled as they pulled away. "We were... Well, I'm sure you know all about it. Things are civil now though."

Molly nodded, "That makes me so happy to hear. Percy has been giving us lots of updates on you. Congratulations on landing the teaching job. We're so proud of you."

"Well, I wouldn't have been able to do it without Percy. He's been really great helping me, er... get back on my feet." Rory explained, giving Percy a small smile.

"What would we do without Percy, honestly?" A voice came from the stairs. George was standing with a slightly sarcastic grin three steps from the bottom. Although his words were kind and true, Rory could tell that coming from him they had a different angle.

"Good to see you, George." Percy nodded. "Shall we move this to the living room? I take it we're still waiting on a few people." Everyone moved to the living room except Ginny and Rory who lingered in the entryway for a bit longer.

"Ron and Hermione are taking their precious time. They've been looking at flats all day." Ginny winked.

Rory smiled, "They're moving in together."

"Careful, Mum will start weeping if she hears you... I'm not looking forward to telling her about me and Harry," the ginger girl whispered with a smirk.

Rory playfully hit her arm with a smile and they joined the others in the living room. Harry had come down the stairs shortly after

Sitting there with the Weasley family should have made Rory feel good and nostalgic. Instead, she began to feel guilty and disgusting. She could feel the bones inside her body, overly aware of every move she made. In that moment she wanted to light herself on fire. They were just talking about Quidditch and Rory's family and suddenly, she remembered why she stayed away from them for so long. Her ears began to ring and everyone seemed so far away.

"Excuse me, I'm just going to use the loo," she said, although she could barely hear herself. Rory went upstairs, still in a haze. She opened the first door she saw and shut it tightly as her breathing suddenly got very rapid. It was like she was underwater.

Fuck. She had walked into Fred's room. Why why why why why. How could she stand in his room after kissing Percy and almost sleeping with him, after hooking up with so many people, after tarnishing his memory by fighting with George...

"I'm so sorry," she said softly, taking a seat on his bed, letting tears fall. If it were up to her, she'd fall asleep in his bed and never wake up. She missed Fred so much. Her grief came in waves which crashed on a silent shore at the most inconvenient of times. Lying on his bed with his family celebrating downstairs, in that moment she would have done anything to get him back.

It wasn't fair that one day Rory would live longer than she'd known Fred. It seemed that loving him was so short and brief while forgetting him was so long and painful. She needed more time with Fred. More time. Time...

Rory collected herself and went back downstairs to see that Ron and Hermione had just arrived. Luckily everyone was too busy greeting them to notice Rory sneak back.

The party was fine. Rory couldn't help but feel like an outsider though. It was as if everyone was floating above the water and she couldn't get to the surface no matter how hard she tried.

Maybe it would get easier eventually.

a/n:

short little chapter but it's been a min since i updated this!!!!