The summer had come quickly, and life had really started to turn in a better direction for you since. During the frightening day at the Ministry, Fudge had seen Voldemort with his own eyes and had thus stepped down from power. In the process, he cleared the names of Harry, Sirius, and Dumbledore, and things had rapidly returned to the way they should have been.

Umbridge was sent to Azkaban, and Thelma was a core part of the legal team that secured her long sentence. Sirius and Thelma were now your and Harry's legal guardians, meaning that you would be staying at 12 Grimmauld Place for your Christmases and summers from now on. The day you learned this news was another one of the best days you've ever had.

Once the two of you moved into 12 Grimmauld Place that summer, Thelma and Sirius had told you that they would buy you any decorations you wanted to make the space yours. You didn't love how all of the décor in your bedroom was dark, so in your first week of summer, you and Thelma went to the store and acquired some brighter accessories for your room. You got some pastel bedsheets to replace your brown and black ones, and you got a couple trinkets to place around the room. Thelma helped you pick out some brighter curtains to match, and you ended up grabbing some string lights to hang about your room and bring more light into the dark space.

In that first week, you and Thelma had dragged out all of the furniture in the room and painted the walls a soft yellow color. It reminded you of your dorm at Hogwarts, and this comforted you. It made your room at 12 Grimmauld Place truly feel like home.

You woke up one morning later that summer and bounded down the stairs. You had heard someone knock at your door, and you had a sneaking suspicion of who it was.

You were nearing the bottom of the stairs when you saw a familiar mop of red hair. You practically flew down the last steps and jumped into George's arms. George chuckled, "Hello, love."

You breathed, "Hi." Your beaming smile made George's own smile wider.

George dipped his head and sweetly kissed you. You stood on your tiptoes to further minimize your height differences.

When you pulled apart moments later, George exhaled, "Tomorrow. We open tomorrow."

You kissed him excitedly and cheered, "Oh, I'm so happy to hear that, Georgie! You deserve all of this."

He wrung his hands in front of him as he wondered, "Would you come?"

You grabbed his hands and promised, "Of course. Do you need any help with last minute things today? I have no plans."

George beamed, "Sure. I'm sure we could use the extra set of hands. Fred is a bit scatterbrained with the grand opening getting so close. We've done a lot more since you visited last week, but we're still trying to finish everything."

You bounced on your feet as you rambled, "Let me go just make sure it's okay with Thelma or Sirius, and then I'll grab my things."

George nodded as you slid down the hallways in your socks. You nearly crashed into the doorframe of the kitchen because of your speed, but you caught yourself before a disaster. Thelma was preparing a cup of coffee at the counter, but she turned around when she heard you approach. She questioned, "Are you okay?"

You nodded and hardly breathed as you rambled, "Yes, yes, I'm great. George is here, and I wanted to ask if I could go to the joke shop with him to help them with last minute things because it opens tomorrow, and I really want to help them out with that as much as possible, you know, but I wanted to make sure it's okay with you."

Thelma raised her eyebrows and blinked, but she had still managed to understand what you had said. Thelma had started to understand your excited blend of syllables after spending more and more time with you. After considering your question, Thelma nodded.

When George shuffled up behind you, Thelma pointed her sugar spoon at him and threatened, "Keep her out of trouble because I promise that I will find out otherwise."

George gulped and nodded.

With a warm grin, Thelma added, "And I'll see you both at the opening tomorrow. Sirius and I plan to stop by in the early afternoon."

You put your hands together and gushed, "Oh, thank you, thank you, Thelma! I'm going to go grab my things, and then I'm going to leave. Will you tell Sirius what's happening if you see him?"

Thelma nodded and smiled at you. Thelma watched as you happily laughed and raced down the hall while George just tried to keep up with you.

When you reached your bedroom just minutes later, George admitted to you, "Honestly, Thelma is your scarier guardian."

A laugh bubbled out of you as you questioned, "What? You think Thelma is scary? Scarier than Sirius? I mean, Sirius was in Azkaban; he's seen some stuff."

As you packed some things into a bag, George shivered, "I don't know. All I know is that if I ever mess up, Thelma will be the one I'm running from. Not hiding from though, because I'm certain she would find me if I tried to hide."

You snickered and shook your head at George as you shoved an extra t-shirt into your bag. You grabbed his hand and beamed, "Time to go."

The two of you stepped out of your room just as Sirius appeared. You grinned at him, and he smiled back. He explained, "Thelma told me you were leaving, but I noticed that you didn't apply the remedy this morning."

You slapped your hand to your forehead and sighed, "I'm sorry. I completely forgot."

Sirius prodded, "Can I see your hand?"

You nodded and stuck it out for Sirius to see. He took your delicate hand and examined the scars. He murmured, "The remedy Molly made seems to be working a bit."

George nodded in agreement. "Mum was able to use that to get rid of Ron and Ginny's scars almost completely."

"And your scars?" Sirius wondered, his eyes darting down to George's hand.

George shook his head and confessed, "I haven't let her try it on me, and I won't until Y/N's is gone."

Sirius nodded with a pleased look in his eyes as he carefully let go of your hand. He handed you the container of Molly's remedy and commanded, "Just try to put this on today when you have a moment. I think it's helping, but it's hard to tell since yours looks...different from Harry's." Sirius bristled at the thoughts of your injuries because of Umbridge, but it gave him a satisfaction to know that Umbridge was rotting in Azkaban where she belonged for her crimes against all of you and against muggle-borns.

Sirius nodded at both of you with a small smile. He decided, "Well, I'll see you both at the opening tomorrow." Sirius stalked off after that, presumably to find Thelma or Harry.

As you and George descended the stairs, George whispered in your ear, "See? No threats. Less scary."

"I'm definitely going to tell them," You teased with a loud laugh as you stepped off the last step.

George's eyes widened, and he whipped his head to look at you. He gasped, "No. You wouldn't."

You winked at him and giggled. You raced down the hallway towards the front door. George hurried after you, catching up easily with his longer strides. He picked you up and threw you over his shoulder, your laughter ringing out in the quiet hallways of 12 Grimmauld Place.