who: Ted and George! what: secret tunnel exploration! clothes buying! emotional ted! all that and more! where: 2 blocks west of st. mungo's, in muggle london. when: monday evening!
Ah St. Mungo's. George had been here plenty of times as a kid, what with his scrapes and broken bones and other "getting into all sorts of adventures that needed medical assistance" things. He'd been in less than Fred who didn't like to listen to George's insistence that they recalculate to make sure. Giving up the map had made him want to seek out other adventures, so he struck out for Mungo's, figuring that if Hogwarts had tunnels, so did Mungo's.
It had taken a good few months, but he found one that seemed to lead to street level London, a ways away from the hospital. He was lucky that Ted had agreed to meet him, though Bill's warning was reveberating in his head. He didn't need to cool it down, they were making so much progress now that they'd decided to finally start fighting back!
He waited at the top of the tunnel, listening to what sounded like people walking. Occasionally there'd be a squeal, from the cars. All he had to do was wait for Ted's signal.
~~~
Ted strolled down the streets of London, a cane in hand. His plan was to walk around London, block by block, starting from around Mungo's, and tap the top of all the manholes. If he felt a tap back, they'd be in the right place, and then things would get very interesting.
He'd been at it for over an hour when walking 2 blocks from Mungo's, like George had said, he heard the tap of someone underneath.
Now to figure out how to get the cover open, get George out, all without arousing too much suspicion.
~~~
George's leg was going to fall off. Then his arm. Then his other leg. He was just dozing off when he heard the tap. He let out a little squeal and tapped back, then stepped back a little bit, unsure of what Ted was going to do next.
~~~
Ted wasn't sure himself how to get the manhole cover off, but stepping away a few feet and very not conspicuously at all shifting it away with his wand seemed to do the trick. The area wasn't too terribly busy, no one seemed to have noticed at all. Then he dropped down and reached a hand in to help George - if it was George there, up.
~~~
George jumped out into the bright sunlight and ducked to cover his eyes from the sudden brightness. Ater a few blinks, his eyes adjusted and he looked around, smiling at Ted.
"Oi, Ted Tonks, then?"
Before Ted could reply, some Muggle passerby called him a "Queen". George looked down at his very flowy black pants and light blue blouse with loose, flowy sleeves. He grinned at Ted. "Oi, look at me! Queen without even trying!"
~~~
It was all Ted could to do not facepalm as George had what was very likely his first Muggle encounter. "You are ... oh, George. You are ... not the right kind of Muggle right now. Come on, let's go buy you a pair of jeans."
~~~
George pouted, he'd picked loose flowy things, like his mother had said she'd worn sometimes when out with her Muggleborn friends. That had been ages ago, back before the killing, back when things could still hope to be normal.
"They're flowy?" he tried.
~~~
Ted could only laugh. "Come on. The manhole cover will be fine for a few minutes, it's at least off to the side a little bit. You'll need a new shirt too."
~~~
"I happen to like this shirt, Ted Tonks, which, charmed, by the way, since you're too busy making fun of me to be all proper." He said this with his nose high in the air, earning snickers from other passerbyers.
~~~
"Yes, charmed," Ted laughed again. "In here, come on." Ted pushed him into a GAP and immediately pushed him towards the denim wall. "I'd guess either this size or this size," Ted said quickly, eager to avoid drawing too much attention to themselves. He should have primed George, he hadn't been thinking too clearly. George wouldn't know what Muggles were supposed to wear, just whatever shirt and pants he had lying around.
"My son." Ted said to the shopclerk who was hurrying over to help them. "This is his idea of a joke."
~~~
George couldn't resist shaking the hands of an actual Muggle. "Charmed!" he squeaked out, feeling his face turn bright red. "I'm George! I'm yup, just a little joke here, yup!" He was speaking very quickly, and loudly.
~~~
Ted grabbed the closest shirt he could see and pulled hard on George. "We're just going to try these on," he said through gritted teeth to the sales clerk. He shoved George into the changing room. "Just let me know larger or smaller."
~~~
George was having a go of it, calling out larger and smaller until he figured he looked like Ted did. Just before he stepped out, he could hear the clerk and Ted talking, the clerk muttering something about how Ted was so couragous to come out with his son, and hopefully the looks hadn't been too bad and -
WAIT JUST A GOSHDARN MINUTE!
They were talking about him! Like HE was the simple one! Like, like there was something WRONG with him!
Before he could get too angry, he remembered where he was. If he'd bother reflecting on it, he'd have realized it was quite the defining moment, to realize that his perception of Muggles was just as skewed by the indoctrination as the people who willingly drank the kool-aid.
He meekly walked out of the fitting room and handed Ted the tickets from his clothes.
~~~
After paying for the clothes, Ted grinned at George, "Now let's go really check out this supply line."
They walked back to the manhole cover, Ted checking out for the CCTV cameras. "I think we might be okay," he said, walking around the semi-out-of-way manhole cover. "Coming back at night will be best."
He wanted to skip for joy. They had, at great personal risk to themselves, a supply tunnel. At the other end of that supply tunnel could be ...
He staggered back and gripped George's arm, "Georgie, I can see my wife for the first time in 12 years."
~~~
George watched Ted as the realization of what they'd discovered spread over the older man. "There there pops," George said, stumbling a bit to stay upright. "Hey, pops, it's okay. Really. Come on, pull it together."
~~~
Ted nodded at George's words. "I'm - yea," he said, shaking his head. "Yea. Ok. So. I think you should go back, I should go talk to the Order and ... we'll figure it out from there."
He was panting slightly, the adrenaline racing through his veins. He wiped his mouth and took a final deep breath. "Ok. George, it was good to meet you, next time anyone comes through, we'll help with the appropriate Muggle clothes."
~~~
"Yeah, Pops, sounds like a plan," George said. Shaking Ted's hand felt like it would be cheating, and he was playing a role, wasn't he? So he hugged Ted Tonks tightly. "See you on the journals, pops."
With that, he quick as a flash jumped in the hole and took off running back for Mungo's.
~~~
Ted replaced the lid cover, wondering if it would be possible to create a magical cover, one they only had to remove a ward and step down, instead of managing with the cumbersome metal plate now.
He would think on that later. For now, he stumbled off, cane in hand, head spinning with possibilites.