Fiction: Lost in Reality - (Part 3)

[seedee]

Title: Lost in Reality - Part 3
Characters: George, Lee
Rating: PG-13 for this part
Word Count: ~2500
Summary: Reality is the state or quality of being real. But what is real? And more importantly, what is not real?

Many thanks to tania_sings for the beta work and ridicu_liz for cheering.


Part One - Part Two - Part Three - Part Four - Part Five - Part Six - Part Seven - Part Eight - Part Nine - Part Ten

*

gone . two

They talked about their problem for a long time - back and forth and back and forth. At one point, Lee almost strangled George, and he knew that George came close to throwing some punches. In the end, they decided to sleep on it. It was dark by then, and there was nothing they could do in the middle of the night. Going anywhere before morning would be silly as well as dangerous. When they went to sleep - Lee in the bed and George on the couch - they still hoped that Fred would come back some time during the night. If what George had said was true, and Fred had taken over this hallucination, it only made sense that he'd reappear.

He didn't.

It was barely dawn when Lee opened his eyes. The light was dim in the hut, and the warming charm George had cast in the evening had lost its strength. Lee shivered and pulled the thin blanket over his shoulders, giving himself another moment to wake up. It was unnerving how real the world around him still appeared. Shouldn't the potion have weakened during the night?

He touched the blanket again to feel it; and yes, it was just as real as the blanket on his own bed at home. He closed his eyes and told himself that he probably was in that very bed, dreaming. Denial didn't work, though. His stomach growled loudly, announcing its persistent discontent. Dinner the night before had consisted of canned beans and an apple - hardly enough to still his hunger.

"You awake?" Lee asked loud enough to wake George in case he was still sleeping.

There was no answer, and Lee saw no movement. He stretched and sat up, groaning when cold air hit his bare legs. After pulling on his jeans, he walked over to the sofa. George hadn't answered because George wasn't there.

The wave of panic that hit him was short but fierce. It left him gasping and trembling, sure that every bit of his blood had dropped below his waist. He was on the way to recovery and called himself an assortment of names when the door opened and George came inside with an armload of wood.

"Morning, lovely," George said in a mock-sweet tone. "Did you have nice dreams?"

"Always, with you around. You should know that." Lee was still working on getting his breathing under control.

George stopped when Lee spoke. "Everything all right?" he asked.

Lee found the thin leather band in the pocket of his jeans and tied his dreadlocks at the base of his scull. "'Course," he answered. "Where've you been?"

George nodded at the wood. "Thought we could use some coziness before we move on." He opened the lid of the stove and filled it with the wood, then ignited the dry logs with his wand. Lee raised his eyebrows as George needed to cast the spell three times to do it.

"You still want to go to Diagon Alley?" Lee asked.

George shrugged. "It's the only thing I can think of."

"Apparition still not working?" That was another thing that scared Lee. It wasn't new that magic was wonky in these make-believe worlds. But in their situation, he'd rather have a dependable wand.

George shook his head. "Tried it just a couple of minutes ago. Couldn't even go from here to the trees." He closed the lid of the stove, then cleaned his hands on his trousers.

The idea of walking to Diagon Alley to look for someone who didn't even exist was insane. They'd have to go through terrain neither of them knew for approximately a hundred and thirty miles - or more or less as they honestly didn't know how anything in this fantasy world worked. And all of this only because of a faint hope that said non-existent person could end this nightmare. Lee started to sweat. This was taking crazy to a whole new level.

"Hey," George said and put a hand on Lee's arm. He was closer than he'd been before. "Don't panic, yeah? It'll be all right."

Lee glared at him. "And you know that why? How do you know that there is a Diagon Alley. Maybe there is no London. Maybe a Manticore is waiting for us behind those trees. Maybe Fred isn't there. Maybe Fred can't help. Maybe there'll be fucking mountains as big as the Himalayas to cross. Maybe we'll be dead by the time we come to Diagon Alley, because, let's face it, we're never going to make it in two days. And how long do you think we can survive without water in the fucking back of your fucking shop?" Lee was almost shouting at the end of his litany.

George's grip was strong on his arm. It was almost to the point that it hurt, but it helped to ground Lee. "Time's not working here as it's working in the other world," George said. "We've been through this, Lee. What else is there? It's the only thing I can think of. Do you have another suggestion?"

Lee thought that there was not a chance in hell that this was going to work. The idea to go to Diagon Alley and find Fred was wrong in more ways than he could count. It was the most illogical thing he could think of. And yet, he didn't know what else they could do. He shook his head.

George hugged him briefly and then let go to run his hands through his hair. "Trust me."

*

Breakfast consisted of tea without sugar, stale biscuits and more canned food. They'd put everything that looked remotely useful on the table and decided what to take with them and what to leave behind. If at any point during the trip their magic would stop working altogether, they'd be fucked, Lee thought.

They had food for approximately two days and a bottle for each of them to carry water. This world wasn't real, but Lee had already experienced that he nevertheless got hungry and thirsty. He wouldn't voluntarily try to find out what happened if one refused to eat or drink.

In one regard, they'd been lucky. When Lee had lived here in spring, he'd had to be prepared to run at any time. All his gear was still there, probably conjured up with the memory. There was a sleeping bag, a Muggle torch, a sharp knife, a small hatchet, a change of clothes, a book about edible plants and general survival - a present from Kingsley - and of course the big backpack to carry it around as comfortably as possible.

Another short discussion later - this is insane; no there's no other way; it won't work; then stay here if you want to - they were ready to go. The tugging in Lee's stomach said that all of this was going to end very badly.

"Come on, lazy git." George said. He was carrying the backpack and seemed to be in good spirits. Lee watched it with concern.

In theory, London shouldn't be too hard to find. They were on the very Eastern edge of England and had to go South West. There were villages, towns, roads, all sorts of places where they would meet people who could tell them which way to go in case they'd go lost. At least it was like that in the real world. They had no idea what it was going to be like here.

They'd only been walking for a few minutes when Lee suddenly stopped.

"What?" George asked, frowning at him over his shoulder.

"What about Death Eaters?" The thought had struck Lee as he'd again tried to figure out the logic behind what they were doing.

"What about them? They're gone. Most of them in Azkaban, the rest of them dead or on the run."

Lee shook his head. "But this is spring last year. We've gone back in time. If this world resembles the real world, and if your memory thinks it's fun to send some Death Eaters after us, we're going to have a problem."

"Oh shit," George said. "I haven't even thought of that."

Lee thought that George hadn't thought of a lot of things, but didn't say it. There was no need to have another fight. "We should be careful around towns and people."

George nodded. "But we're still going. We need to go to Diagon. You know that."

"You're mad," Lee muttered, but started walking.

*

"Maybe we can find one of those car things," George said, chewing.

They'd stopped for lunch and were sharing the rest of the bread and a can of peas for lunch. "We've been walking for four hours and we haven't even seen a road yet," Lee said, nearly gagging on his mouthful of lukewarm peas. His feet were hurting and both of his heels were blistered.

"Do you think that's strange?" George asked.

Lee shrugged. "I've never been hiking here. I have no idea where exactly we are. Could be normal. Probably it's weird, considering that we're in the middle of England. There should be roads, right?" So far the landscape had been more or less the same. They'd been walking through fields at first, then through woods that had thickened steadily, keeping them in gloomy shadows and cool, humid forest climate.

George held up his hands in a gesture that said he didn't know. "You tell me. You're the Half-blood."

The fact that Lee's mother was a Muggle didn't help at all. He wasn't an outdoor kid. He'd grown up in the middle of Diagon Alley, and the relatives on his mother's side all lived in London. He had no idea what this landscape was supposed to look like. He thought there should be roads. There were roads everywhere, weren't there? The tightening in Lee's stomach was still there, now accompanied by an unpleasant feeling that they were being watched.

George chewed his bread, eating his peas as if they were sweets. "We wouldn't know how to use a car anyway," he reasoned. "They're not like the one Dad owned. Magic is easy, but the Muggle ones are complicated. Did you ever see the inside of one of those things? Insane."

A snicker made its way up Lee's throat and erupted into a slightly hysterical fit of laughter.

"What?" George asked.

Lee was still laughing. "Sometimes I forget how adorable you can be when you're not busy being an arse."

"Oh, shut it," George muttered.

*

As time passed and the landscape still didn't change - no roads, no cars, no houses - the mood sank. They walked in silence for what felt like a long time, cursing every now and then when one of them stumbled or was hit in the face by a twig. It was gloomy in the forest, and the humidity made them sweat even though it wasn't too warm.

They reached a small stream late in the afternoon. By then, every step hurt, and they were both grumpy. The water was gurgling and looked clean enough to drink. Lee washed his face and hands, wet the back of his neck with cool water. He sat down on a rock next to the stream and pulled off his shoes, hissing. Then he peeled off his socks. The blisters had grown and almost completely covered his heels, the insides of his feet and his toes.

"Next time I'm going to buy hiking boots before I touch anything from your shop."

George was doing the same, pulling off his shoes and inspecting his feet. He scowled at Lee's words. "Next time you could just keep your fingers off anything from my shop."

"Yeah, right," Lee said. He didn't want to fight. He prodded one of the blisters and winced, debating whether it would be better to leave them the way they were or if he should cut them open to release the clear liquid.

George made the decision for him. He came over, grabbed Lee's left ankle non too gently and cast a healing charm. It burned, but relief came quickly.

"Thanks, mate," Lee said.

"Hang on." George didn't let go of his ankle and cast the charm again, then moved to the other foot. "Just didn't want to risk you injuring yourself with healing charms. You never got the hang of them."

"Does that mean I get to make fire to prevent us from blowing up the whole forest?"

George punched Lee's shoulder. "You can make fire, cook beans and sing me a lullaby if you want to."

*

Lee woke up when the cold started to crawl into his bones. He shivered and tried to lie still inside his sleeping bag, wondering how George was doing in his own that he had transfigured from the blanket in the hut. The transfiguration had been successful. They'd laid out the blanket in the form of a sleeping bag, and then basically seamed it and changed the material slightly so it would be easier to carry. Trying to make a second backpack out of a cushion had been futile, just as their warming charms never lasted.

They were laying close to the fire that had burnt down, and Lee looked to his right to see whether George was sleeping. He again found George gone.

Lee sat up, the movement causing cold air to come inside the sleeping bag. He adjusted his thick woolen jumper - courtesy of Molly Weasley - glad that he had it with him.

"George?" he asked.

"'m here," came the tired reply from behind him.

Lee crawled out of the bag, immediately stuffing his hands into his pockets. He saw the faint outline of a tree and made his way over. George was sitting there, leaning against the trunk, wrapped up in the old transfigured blanket. "What are you doing?" Lee asked and sat down next to his friend - close, as he hoped to catch some of George's warmth.

George shrugged against his side. "I'm sitting," he said.

The moment stretched; so did the silence.

"You all right?" Lee asked after a while. He had his hands between his knees and rubbed them together.

George made an exasperated noise, moved, unwrapped the blanked and threw it around both of them. "Keep your hands where I can see them," he said. "Palms up."

Lee's automatic reaction was to curl an arm around George's back and put his hand low on George's hip.

"You're a bloody perv, Jordan." George's voice sounded tired and worn. He didn't try to move away.

"It's me," Lee said. "Distraction doesn't work. What's up?"

George leaned against him in the dark. "You know what's up." George shifted under the blanket and lifted one arm either to rub his eyes or run a hand through his hair.

Lee didn't let it go. "You still can't sleep?"

"Nope."

"Nightmares?"

George shrugged.

There was a long pause, and Lee wrapped his arm tighter around George.

George shifted again, then cleared his throat before he spoke. "You're not trying to cuddle me better, are you?"

"'Course not," Lee said, smiling into the darkness.

* * *

Next

Part One - Part Two - Part Three - Part Four - Part Five - Part Six - Part Seven - Part Eight - Part Nine - Part Ten

Thank you for reading. Feedback is love.

Comments

[secretsolitaire.livejournal.com]

Hey, see, that last part counts as hurt/comfort! ;-)

This continues to be very intriguing.

[vanseedee.livejournal.com]

I ninjaed it in! I'm a genius. I think.

[thimble-kiss.livejournal.com]

Oh yay, I finally found time to sit down and catch up on all of this today, and it is just so different and asfdkljsd suspenseful! I love the premise of the missing Fred who has taken over the daydream, and how well you're pacing the plot.

And the boys and their interaction is love. You've got their friendship down pat, a great mix of realistic annoyance and don't-miss-a-beat humour (even if of the dark kind) and plain loveliness (cf. the end of this chapter). I feel so bad for them both in their real life but enormously excited about their daydream adventure!

And you write such an awesome Lee. :) His stubborn loyalty even when he's irritated and worn ragged. His easy affection. And how very, very well he knows George. <3

[vanseedee.livejournal.com]

Hugs you lots. Thank you for reading.

I'm so glad you like it. You know, I wasn't totally biting my nails, anxious how this would be received. Cool and composed. That's me.

And yes. The story works only because they know each other so well. This will be increasingly important for the rest of the story :D. They aren't afraid to fight or be mad at each other. They both do stubborn very well...

I like this Lee, although he's far more grumpy than the version I usually write. It's kind of amusing how he's nagging his way through the story.

[thimble-kiss.livejournal.com]

Your cool composure is only one of the many reasons I love you. ;) Or, you know, if you were anxious that works for me too. *hugs*

I note this Lee is grittier, yeah. But then again circumstances are different. And hah, I guess I do find his nagging entertaining, just as I seem to like grumpy and grouchy and grousing (grrr!) characters as long as I can relate to their annoyances. :D

I'm really looking forward to whatever's up your sleeve!

[slantedknitting.livejournal.com]

eeeeeeeeeeeee love it all. cant wait for more

[vanseedee.livejournal.com]

Woot! I love that you love it.

[tree00faery.livejournal.com]

Eeee, so adorable. Loving the suspense!

*cuddles both of them*

Can't wait for more!

[vanseedee.livejournal.com]

Glad you like ♥ They're fun to write. So there will be more soon.

[annafugazzi.livejournal.com]

This is wonderful!

::cuddles them both::

[vanseedee.livejournal.com]

Thank you! I'm glad you like it.

[miss-bowtruckle.livejournal.com]

Oooh. Here via annafugazzi.

Love this. Can't wait for more!

Friending you, if you don't mind, so I don't miss it.

[vanseedee.livejournal.com]

Hello there! Glad you like. I'm just editing the next part.

I don't mind at all :)