┏━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━┓
trigger warning:
brief detailed discussion of coping
after the death of a loved one
┗━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━┛

"What time is it?" Eloise asked, taking a final sip of the latte she had been drinking.

"Let me check." Dhani offered.

He gazed down at his watch and furrowed his brow, it was still on Romanian time. He had only arrived in London earlier this morning and clearly, in the rush of catching up with his sister and meeting up with Eloise, had forgotten to adjust his watch. With a tap of his wand, the hands on the clock quickly whirled around to display the correct time and he was shocked to see it was already after five. The two of them had been chatting over coffee for nearly three hours.

"It's about quarter past five."

Eloise's eyes grew wide, she was meant to be at the Weasley's for Molly's birthday dinner and Fleur's pregnancy announcement at five. Being with Dhani, while she clearly enjoyed bonding and socializing with him, made her lose track of time entirely. Though she had already formed a reputation of always running late, this is one event she really didn't want to miss.

"Oh Merlin, I have to go." she quickly began gathering her things and stood from the table.

"Oh, uh alright." Dhani stammered at his date's sudden desire to leave.

"I'm sorry, it's just that it's Mrs. Weasley's birthday and I'm meant to be there. I'm already late and I still need to go home to get her gift first, oh Fleur is going to kill me!" she spoke quickly, some of her words getting lost behind her French accent.

"Hey don't worry, it's alright. Maybe I'll be able to see you later this week. I head back to Romania on Thursday night." he was now standing, watching as Eloise was hastily taking a survey of her purse to make sure she had everything.

Dhani was quite a patient man, especially given the fact that the abrupt ending of their date didn't seem to bother him too much. Though even if he had been annoyed, Eloise probably wouldn't have even noticed since her mind was already elsewhere.

Eloise nodded, not entirely listening to everything Dhani was saying, "Yes, yes, Thursday sounds good."

"No I-" he attempted to correct her but he was cut off by her grabbing his shoulder and planting a quick peck on his cheek.

"I'm sorry again, I promise I'll send an owl soon." she said before taking a step back and disapparating to Shell Cottage, leaving Dhani alone outside of the cafe feeling quite confused.

-

Thanks to Charlie, he and George were early as usual for yet another family dinner. However this time George seemed surprisingly willing to attend his mother's birthday get together. Though Charlie didn't understand his brother's sudden change of demeanor, he knew better than to question it.

George couldn't fully explain why he was so eager to come. Usually any sort of social gathering was something he avoided like the plague, especially when it came to seeing his family. They were the worst when it came to walking on eggshells around him. But perhaps Bill telling him that Eloise was also invited was all he needed to muster up the motivation to come.

However, when Bill and Fleur walked in through the front door, Eloise was nowhere to be seen. His heart sank into his stomach, he had gotten his hopes up for absolutely no reason. This is the exact feeling he was trying to avoid. If he never let himself feel like he wanted to be near her, he wouldn't get hurt. But he foolishly followed Angelina's advice to open up more and was left standing here like an idiot, disappointed and angry with himself.

"Alright, George?" Bill greeted his younger brother with a hearty pat on the back, his wife standing by his side with an eyebrow raised at George.

"Never better." George lied, rather unconvincingly.

"You were alright a minute ago. Was it the sight of Fleur that got you down?" Charlie teased.

"Fuck off, Charlie. No it's not Fleur, though I'm sure you're going to find some way to annoy me this evening, as usual." he replied as he rolled his eyes.

Fleur was amused by his comment, "Maybe I am just not the blonde French girl he was desiring to see this evening, that is all."

"Oh, Merlin. Not this again." George rolled his eyes.

"She's still coming you know, I'm sure she's just running late with her date." Fleur said, keeping a close eye on George's reaction.

Her date? She went out with Dhani again? I knew it was too late, I pushed her away too much, she gave up on me. George's brows knit together in a frown as his insecure thoughts started taking over before he caught the eye of his sister-in-law who was watching him intently. Fleur already knew too much as it was, so he quickly removed all emotion from his face and tried to look as indifferent to the news as possible.

It was too late, Fleur had noticed. But rather than her usual knowing smirk or mischievous grin, she gave him a sympathetic smile. If anyone knew about the situation between himself and Eloise, it was Fleur. Eloise simply told her everything, within reason of course.

George didn't even have a full grasp of the situation between the two of them, so maybe there was a chance Fleur somehow knew more than he did. How embarrassing to know less about your own relationship than an outsider does, but that's the price he paid for constantly being so distant.

Ron and Harry were the next to arrive, looking quite disheveled from their Auror training that day, followed closely after by Arthur and Percy who looked very much put together in comparison to the younger boys. Molly was busy, working away in the kitchen preparing her own birthday dinner. It didn't seem fair that she was doing all the work, but if anyone else took the reins (other than maybe Fleur) the menu would have consisted of beans on toast.

"Dinner is nearly ready everyone, come, come." Molly came striding into the lounge where everyone had been chatting and catching up with each other to rangle them all around the kitchen table.

Suddenly, as the family had just gotten situated around the table - with an empty chair next to Fleur that was probably only really noticeable to George - the kitchen door burst open and a frantic woman with wild blonde curls rushed into the room clutching a gift wrapped in dark purple paper and topped with a golden ribbon.

"Merlin, I am so sorry Mrs. Weasley -" she stopped herself and looked around the table at all the redheads whose eyes were on her thanks to her abrupt entrance.

She brushed her hair out of her face and chuckled awkwardly, "Er, sorry everyone actually. I lost track of time."

Her eyes fell on George who looked particularly amused at her disheveled state, she tried to ignore him but the sight of his warm brown eyes on her and the corner of his lip quirking up made it impossible to look away. But reality quickly washed over her again when Molly's kind voice suddenly made her regain focus.

"Oh, it's not a problem dear. You're actually just in time, we left a seat right next to Fleur for you."

"Merci," she thanked her as she made her way to her seat before stopping and realizing she was still holding Molly's gift, "Oh, this is for you."

Eloise turned and handed over the gift, Molly's eyes lit up as she tore the beautiful purple paper away to reveal a French cookbook by a well known witch who was particularly famous for her amazing pastry recipes. Molly's interest in this chef was something Eloise learned about as they chatted for hours while planning the anniversary party months prior.

Molly gave Eloise a loving smile and pulled her into one of her infamously suffocating hugs, "Oh Eloise, this is wonderful, thank you!"

"I remembered it from the bookstore I worked at in Paris and had my mum send it over to me right away after our chat in July." Eloise smiled sheepishly as she pulled away from Molly.

If there's one thing she loved, it was giving people gifts. She was the type of person who would start buying Christmas gifts at the beginning of November, and would remember when someone pointed out something in a shop window as they passed by. Nothing brought her more joy than giving someone something they truly enjoyed.

Finding her way to her seat next to her best friend, she anxiously awaited the moment the couple would share their big announcement. Eloise had been finding it increasingly difficult to keep the secret to herself, she would be relieved once everyone else knew about the baby. But her excitement changed to nervous butterflies when she realized she was sitting right across from George, who to her looked even more handsome than the last time she saw him. His hair was long enough to tuck behind his ear now and his stubble made him look more rugged, rather than young and boyish.

"Any particular reason you're staring, Eloise?" George asked the unblinking blonde across from him.

"Oh um, no I'm sorry." she looked down at her plate quickly, hoping he wouldn't notice the rose color radiating over her cheeks.

A soft chuckle left Fleur's lips which caused Eloise to flick her head towards her and give her a dirty look in return. Dinner went by as normal as possible, other than Eloise's deliberate attempt to avoid looking at George for fear of making a fool of herself again. She swore she could feel his gaze on her every now and then, but she absolutely refused to check just in case they ended up making awkward eye contact.

Eloise glanced over to the tall pale redhead to the right of George. Percy was a stark contrast to his younger brother, clean shaven with horn-rimmed glasses and perfect posture, his short hair slicked back effortlessly while George's fringe always danced on his eyelashes. She remembered the advice Bill gave her, to chat with Percy about the Ministry, but the two had only formally met once before, she felt quite awkward bringing up the topic.

Fleur seemed to follow her eyeline to Percy and knew what Eloise was thinking immediately, she was always quite nosy and loved to meddle. Typically those traits were quite bothersome, but sometimes they were quite helpful.

"How has work been, Percy?" Fleur asked casually.

"Oh, it's fine. I'm hoping to transfer to another department eventually. Going back to what I was doing before being Junior Assistant feels like a big step down, but it keeps me busy." he replied flatly.

"Eloise here has always had ambition to work in the department you're in, actually. Isn't that right Elle?"

Percy looked over his glasses to her quizzically, as if he didn't believe Fleur, "Is that so? People typically think it's boring work, especially this lot."

"Oh, well my dad worked in the Department of International Cooperation when I was growing up. He made it seem fun." Eloise chuckled nervously.

"What's your dad's name?" Percy asked, wondering if they had perhaps worked together.

"Patrick Laurent, he retired at the beginning of '94. Missed out on all the Triwizard fun, he was quite disappointed with the timing actually. They had talked about bringing the tournament back a few times during his career, but it never happened. Just his luck that they would finally do it once he retired."

Percy nodded with an amused look on his face, "Well, the Ministry has been through a lot the last few years. But with Kingsley Shacklebolt stepping in, things seem to be going in the right direction. If you're interested, I could get you in contact with someone in the department. Plus with your dad's name, I'm sure you wouldn't be turned away."

Eloise didn't fully understand why Percy was so willing to put in a good word for her, maybe he was just excited to see that someone in the house had enthusiasm for his work for once, even though he also seemed to hate it at times.

"That would be lovely, thank you!"

"It's no problem, the office supervisor's name is Audrey by the way. She's kind of stern and really not all that pleasant at first, but after a while she's not so bad. I'll give her your information on Monday and you should receive an owl from her sometime soon, hopefully."

"I really appreciate it, Percy."

Suddenly Bill stood from the table and cleared his throat, earning everyone's attention, "Sorry to interrupt everyone's conversations, but Fleur and I would like to share some news with everyone."

The family shared curious glances between one another, as if they were all silently asking each other if they knew what was going on. Bill reached for his wife's hand to pull her up so she too was standing in front of everyone, her loose dress and cardigan were hiding the first signs of her bump, so no one had any indication of what would be coming.

"Would you like to tell them darling?" Bill asked his wife.

"No, no, you tell them." she said with an excited smile.

"Well, out with it then!" Ron blurted out from the other end of the table, only to be elbowed by his mother.

"Fleur and I are having a baby!" Bill announced happily.

Molly dropped her glass on the floor, causing it to shatter, but she didn't care. She was up and running towards the couple within seconds, pulling them into a tight hug as tears of joy fell from her eyes.

"Oh, I am so happy! This is the greatest gift in the world! Arthur, we are going to be grandparents, can you believe it?"

Eloise had a wide grin on her face as she watched all the Weasleys stand up to embrace the couple and congratulate them, but from across the table she noticed George remained seated silently with a scowl on his face and his arms crossed, as if he had just been given some horrible news. Evidently he felt Eloise's eyes on him because when he looked up and their eyes met he just shook his head at her as if to say 'Don't bother asking, it doesn't matter.'

But Eloise didn't want his sour expression to ruin this moment for Bill and Fleur, so she stood up and walked around to rest a hand on his shoulder, nudging her head towards the staircase when he glanced up at her, coaxing him to follow. She honestly was expecting him to reject her, but perhaps her offer to escape from the situation was exactly what he wanted. To her surprise, he pushed out from his seat, the scraping sound of the wood caught the attention of no one around them.

The two snuck away unnoticed, as everyone was much too focused on congratulating the happy couple. They entered George's old room and found their way to his bed, sitting side by side silently with their hands in their laps. Eloise wanted to break the silence, but she didn't know what to say. Asking him what was wrong seemed like it would only lead to dead ends of 'nothing' and 'I'm fine'. She sat there for a while, nervously wringing her hands together as she tried to think of a way to cut through the tension.

"Thanks." George said suddenly, his low voice seemed to echo through the room as it broke the silence.

"For what?" Eloise turned to him in confusion.

"Getting me out of there." he said as he fell back on the bed, covering his eyes with the crook of his elbow and leaving his legs dangling over the edge next to her.

"What's wrong?" she finally asked, not really expecting him to answer honestly.

But to her surprise George replied, "It just feels like everyone's moving on without Fred. It's like everyone's fine. Ron and Harry are in Auror training, Ginny is planning on moving in with Harry when she finishes school, I wouldn't be surprised if Ron and Hermione got engaged soon, and now Bill and Fleur are having a baby. I'm stuck in the past, I can't see how everyone is just fine living their lives like he didn't fucking die."

His honesty took Eloise by surprise, maybe it was the fact that his eyes were covered by his arm that allowed him to be so candid, as if he was speaking into an empty room rather than to Eloise. Or maybe it was something about her presence in the room that actually did make him feel comfortable enough to lower his guard and confide in her. She laid back so they could be eye-to-eye, her golden hair splayed out around her head like rays of sunshine. The movement on the bed caused George to pull his arm away from his face and turn to look at her expectantly.

"When my grandmother died, my parents acted like nothing was wrong. Maybe it was because they didn't want me to see them hurting, or maybe it was their own way of coping with the loss. She was everything to me, she was only sick for a few weeks and I didn't get to say goodbye. I thought she would get better, I regret it every day for assuming that she wouldn't ever go. I shut down for a long time, I blamed myself for it and it caused me to be angry and bitter at everyone around me. But in the end it didn't bring her back or make me feel any better."

Eloise felt tears pooling in her eyes as she told George her story, it had been six years but the pain never fully left her. Before she could even react, she felt George roll over slightly as his hand rested on her cheek to wipe away a tear with his thumb. Their eyes lingered on each other for a long time as if they were trying to burrow into each other's souls and somehow ease all the pain the other felt. A sad smile grew on George's lips as they lay there together, every awkward and shy interaction they had before this moment seemed like a distant past, the two were connected deeply by their vulnerability with one another.

"I can't ever imagine you being angry and bitter." he whispered with a smirk.

"You wouldn't have liked me very much back then, I was hard to deal with."

"I also can't imagine not liking you."

"Well I like you now even though you're hurting, is that hard to believe?"

"Yes, actually." he said as his face fell into a slight frown.

Pulling his hand away from her cheek and rolling to lay on his back, he locked his eyes to the ceiling as his insecurities began spiraling again. He couldn't explain it, he should feel happy that she enjoyed being around him, but her reassurances fell flat due to the fact that he found himself so deeply unlikable that he felt undeserving of her affection.

She propped herself up on her elbow so she could still see his face, even if he didn't want to look at her, "It's hard to believe we're worthy of love or even being tolerated when we're in a dark place."

It actually shocked George that Eloise was not only so sympathetic towards him, but even wanted to be in the same room with him at all. After months of pushing her away and avoiding her he expected nothing of her, and here she was laying her soul out to him and reading his mind as if they had been friends for years.

"Thank you, truly." he whispered.

"For what this time?"

"For telling me about your grandmother. It feels like no one really understands, not even my family. That's the hardest part, that they all seem so fine."

"They may be fine on the outside, but on the inside I know they are hurting, just like my parents hid away their grief. You and I are just people who wear our heart on our sleeves, whether that's a good or a bad this is up to interpretation, I suppose. But I'll always be there for you, if you'll let me."

George turned his head slightly to meet her eyes, the sunset from the window behind her created an angelic glow that caused all the air to leave his lungs. She was ethereal, the warm light hitting her skin and weaving through her blonde curls radiating like pure sunshine was other worldly. In that moment he was convinced she was truly an angel on Earth that someone, somewhere had sent to him.

He laid there admiring her, letting his eyes linger on her face, wondering what it would have been like had the two met under different circumstances. The only reason their paths ever crossed was Fred's passing, she moved to Shell Cottage to help Fleur cope, after all. It's likely they would have eventually met had things not turned out the way they did, but would they have been as deeply connected otherwise?

In another life George would have been much more confident with Eloise. He would have flirted boldly and shamelessly, and he surely wouldn't have avoided her. The old George would find excuses to see Eloise, not all of them entirely convincing, but his charm and wit would have most likely let him get away with his silly schemes. Fred would have no doubt teased him about the crush, maybe even joining in with Fleur's meddling to get the two together. But that just wasn't the case, and George would never know what would have happened otherwise.

It seemed trivial to think about 'what if's' especially when the 'might have beens' can be incredibly dangerous as those kind of thoughts can become consuming. Maybe it was fate that they met in such a painful way, or maybe it was just a constant reminder that, had things been different, the future of their relationship wouldn't seem so uncertain.