July 1999

As Eloise walked downstairs into the kitchen to make herself some tea before work, she found a very sleep deprived Fleur nursing her baby at the kitchen table, doing her best to not doze off but failing miserably.

"Would you like some tea, Fleur?" Eloise asked with a chuckle.

Fleur's eyes shot open but she relaxed immediately when she saw her friend walking across the kitchen to the stove, "That would be lovely."

Eloise flicked her wand to fill up the kettle before turning on the stove. She leaned against the counter as she looked back towards her friend who still looked absolutely stunning despite her lack of sleep.

"You know, I can take over a night shift one of these days. I don't mind." Eloise offered.

"No, no, I do it so you and Bill can be rested for work. It's really okay."

"Her cries still wake us up even though you're the one to take care of her at three in the morning." Eloise laughed as she shook her head.

Fleur readjusted her shirt and shifted Victoire so her head rested against her shoulder, allowing her to gently pat the baby's back, "I'd still rather be the one that's up at all hours of the night than have either of you be tired at work."

The kettle let out a loud whistle and despite how quick Eloise was to pull it from the heat, the noise still disturbed Victoire, causing her to let out a sudden cry. As Fleur did her best to soothe the baby, Eloise could see just how stressed she really was. No amount of mother's love could make up for the lack of rest she'd had over the last two months, she needed a break, even for just a few moments. Eloise set the warm cup of tea in front of Fleur before holding her arms out, silently offering to take the baby from her.

"Thank you." she said with a sigh of relief as she handed Victoire over.

The new mother took grateful sips of her tea as she watched Eloise expertly console the baby, bouncing her gently and cooing at her until her cries subsided.

"A letter from George came for you by the way." Fleur said once Victoire had calmed down.

Eloise's head flicked in the direction of the window sill and her eyes came to rest on a bright purple envelope with her name written in George's messy handwriting. As much as she wanted to open it right away, she decided it was best to be patient and keep taking care of Victoire so Fleur could enjoy her tea.

"I'll open it in a bit."

"Give her here." Fleur said as she set down her mug, giving Eloise a knowing smile.

After Eloise handed Victoire back to her mother, she rushed over to the window to inspect the letter. It was sent in a Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes envelope. The purple color was her first hint, but the small orange 'W' in the top left corner as well as the wax seal with their logo on the back was all the evidence she needed. But she still couldn't figure out why he'd be sending her a letter from the shop, rather than from himself personally.

She tore through the wax seal and pulled out a bright white piece of parchment that was branded with their signature logo in the corner. Before she read the message her eyes scanned the page and she found it quite humorous that everything looked very official while his handwriting was so messy.

"Elle,

I've been working on a new product for the shop and I need your help. Could you come by the Burrow after work this Thursday?

- George

P.S. My mum knows I invited you over and is adamant about making you dinner, so you can't say no. See you Thursday!"

Eloise couldn't help but chuckle at the last line, of course he knew she'd never be able to say no to Molly. Not that she would reject his invitation in the first place.

"What does he want?" Fleur asked as she noticed Eloise smiling down at the letter.

"He wants me to help him with a new product."

"A new product? That's interesting."

"It is?"

"As far as I know he hasn't made anything since Fred passed. I just hope for your sake it isn't too dangerous, especially if he's testing it on you."

"Dangerous? You're not helping with my confidence here, Fleur."

"I'm sorry, I'm sure it'll be fine."

As excited as Eloise was to see George, she quickly realized she hadn't been able to spend any one-on-one time with him since her birthday. This also meant that she hadn't been alone with him since learning about Alicia. Once she had filled her own cup with tea, she took a seat across from Fleur at the kitchen table. Keeping both hands on her mug as she gazed at the honey colored liquid inside, she became lost in her thoughts.

"Everything okay?" Fleur asked as she studied her friend's body language.

Eloise gave Fleur a half-hearted nod before replying, "Can I ask you something?"

"Anything."

"Why didn't you tell me about Alicia?"

Fleur's eyes widened before her brows furrowed slightly, "That's a name I haven't heard in a while, did George tell you about her?"

"No, Verity did."

"I never told you about her because she doesn't matter." Fleur stated matter-of-factly.

"I mean... she sort of does, doesn't she?"

"Absolutely not." she replied bluntly.

"Why not? He loved her didn't he?"

A past love will always hold some sort of significance. At least that's what Eloise always believed. It didn't make sense to her that Alicia 'didn't matter', regardless of Fleur or Verity adamantly saying that was the case.

"Perhaps, but she is a coward." Fleur asserted.

"That doesn't mean he doesn't still love her." Eloise muttered before taking a sip of her tea.

"Verity was foolish to tell you about her." Fleur said, growing slightly annoyed with the subject.

"I know you're not always fond of her, but don't call her foolish."

Fleur frowned at Eloise. Her comment had absolutely nothing to do with liking or disliking Verity. All she truly cared about was her friend's best interests, and in Fleur's eyes Eloise's best interests certainly did not include telling her about George's ex-girlfriend which only served to cause her unnecessary anxiety.

"All she did was make you overthink everything, Elle! Don't you think if Alicia still mattered to George he would have tried to reach out to her by now? Don't you think she would have already come back? He never talks about her for good reason, because she doesn't matter." Fleur insisted.

"Or maybe it's because George doesn't share anything with anyone. For all we know he's already tried to contact her. Maybe they have already seen each other and he's keeping it a secret." Eloise countered, almost as if she wanted Fleur to confirm all of her fears.

"You sound ridiculous, Elle." Fleur replied as she rolled her eyes impatiently.

"Don't you think it's plausible? Based on how you're reacting to just the mere mention of her name, if I was George and I wanted to see her again I wouldn't tell a soul."

Fleur seemed to consider Eloise's theory for a moment before brushing it aside and shaking her head, remaining firm in her beliefs.

"Don't ask him about her when you see him." Fleur said sternly.

"I- I wasn't going to." Eloise faltered.

Of course she had considered asking George about Alicia. Part of her wanted to just rip the bandage away and get the pain over with. But in reality she knew she was too scared to do that. Although she had considered ways to pry it out of him indirectly, like asking if he still talks to many friends from school. But all of those hypothetical plans made her feel scummy, so she quickly discarded them.

However, hearing Fleur deliberately tell her not to ask him got her overthinking again. If Alicia really didn't matter, why would it be so important to not bring her up?

"I mean it, Eloise. George needs to be the one to tell you about her, if and when he feels comfortable. I don't think he would handle it very well if you were the one to bring her up out of the blue."

Eloise was growing frustrated. How was she ever supposed to move forward with her relationship with George if she couldn't get any answers? Was she just meant to accept the fact that there would be secrets between them? It didn't feel fair.

"I need to get to work." Eloise muttered as she abruptly stood from the table.

"Elle, wait."

"What?" she snapped.

Eloise and Fleur had never fought in ten years of friendship. It was quite out of character for her to lose her temper and especially out of character for her to take anything out on her best friend. But she was tired of feeling as though she was being gaslit. She couldn't pinpoint if she thought Fleur was the one trying to make her feel as if she was crazy, or if she was truly being sabotaged by her own mind. Despite this, Fleur seemed rather unphased by the outburst.

"I know you feel like this Alicia situation is a big deal, but you need to trust me. If I thought it was important, I would have told you the moment I sensed that you had feelings for George. You know me, I wouldn't hide anything from you to spare your feelings."

Eloise let out an exacerbated sigh, "I just feel like I can't move past it. Part of me wishes Verity hadn't told me, but at the same time I'm glad I won't be blindsided by it later."

"I understand. Just try to put it out of your mind for now, okay?"

Eloise admitted defeat as she reluctantly nodded, "Fine."

Deep down she knew she was being unreasonable, but she had never felt this insecure in her life and she didn't know why. It was as if her subconscious knew something everyone around her couldn't see.

But she really did need to get to work, and not just as an escape from Fleur. She hoped staying busy would help her keep her mind off things. Being yelled at by Audrey would certainly be a distraction. She just hoped that by the time Thursday rolled around she would in a much better state of mind. The last thing she wanted was for her time with George to be spent wondering about someone else.

-

For a majority of the week Eloise focused solely on work. The Department of International Magical Cooperation had a large presentation to give to the French Minister at the end of the month, and thanks to being fluent in both French and English, Eloise was tasked with completing most of the revisions. This led to several long nights and a handful of skipped lunches, but she honestly welcomed it as the work kept her mind occupied so she couldn't overthink other aspects of her life.

As Thursday evening approached, she knew she'd have to put a pause on her workaholic ways for the night, she had promised George she'd help him with his new product after all. So, as soon as the clock reached 5 pm, she packed up all of her things and headed straight for the dark marble fireplaces in the atrium of the Ministry. She knew that the Weasley's home was already connected to the Ministry's Floo Network thanks to Arthur, so she didn't hesitate to step inside and head straight to the Burrow.

With a flash of green light she stepped foot into the cozy kitchen of the Weasley's home to see Molly already busy working away on preparing dinner. Without hesitation, Molly rushed across the kitchen leaving the knife to continue chopping potatoes on its own as she greeted Eloise with a tight hug and a kiss on the cheek.

"Oh, Eloise dear, it's so lovely to see you!"

"Lovely to see you too, Molly. Everything smells great." she praised the witch as she pulled away from the embrace.

"Oh, you are too kind. Dinner won't be ready for a while yet, so you can head up to George's room if you like." Molly replied before making her way back to the stove.

Eloise had become very familiar with the Burrow thanks to all the family events she had been invited to. But she couldn't help but reminisce on the first evening she had been invited over for dinner. It was the same day she had met George for the first time at the shop and even though it was only a year ago, it felt like a lifetime had passed between now and then.

When she first met George she couldn't bring herself to maintain eye contact with him because her nerves were so high. But now as she climbed the stairs up to his room, she couldn't wait to look into the warm brown eyes she missed so much. It was almost as if she craved the butterflies she got when he looked at her, like she was addicted to the adrenaline rush that always went straight to her heart.

As she reached the door of his bedroom she noticed it was cracked open slightly, but she didn't want to just barge in unannounced. She lightly wrapped her knuckles against the wood and heard George's voice right away.

"Come in."

Eloise pushed the door open the rest of the way to find George hunched over his old desk next to the large window that overlooked the pond near where Fred was buried. Several pieces of crumpled parchment were scattered about the desk as well as around his feet.

"You can have a seat on my bed, sorry this isn't a bit more professional. I've just been working better here than in my office at the shop for some reason." George said without breaking his eyes away from the parchment in front of him, assuming correctly that it was Eloise who had just entered the room.

Knowing which bed was George's was obvious for three reasons;

One, it was the closest bed to the desk where George had been furiously working away.

Two, the duvet on top was a deep violet which Eloise had come to learn over time was George's favorite color.

And three, on the opposite side of the room the bed which was once Fred's had been completely stripped of all the bedding, leaving a bare mattress laying on the wooden frame.

After kicking off her heels, Eloise walked over to George's bed and sat near the headboard, pulling her feet under herself hoping to get a look at what George was doing. As he glanced over at her she noticed the corner of his lip curl up slightly before he returned his attention to what he was working on.

"Come straight from work?" he asked with a slightly amused tone in his voice.

"What gave it away?" she asked with a smirk.

"Oh, I don't know. The Ministry pin, the grey blouse, the fact that your hair is up, I could go on." he replied as he finally set down his quill and leaned back in his seat with his arms crossed, looking her up and down.

A shiver ran down her spine as his eyes worked their way over her body causing her to involuntarily shift her position and clear her throat. The expression on his face made it seem like he knew exactly the type of effect he had on her, but she was almost certain her mind was simply playing tricks on her.

"Want to know what I'm working on?" he asked, finally breaking his eyes off of her and opening a drawer on his desk.

"Should I be worried?"

"Why would you be?" he asked as he paused and looked back at her with a raised eyebrow.

"I don't know, Fleur made it seem like it could be dangerous." she shrugged.

She still didn't know for sure if Fleur was kidding when she said that, and George certainly wasn't giving her any sort of indication on whether she was putting herself at risk by helping him. All he did was pull out two small bottles from his desk drawer and set them down between them. One was filled with a dark purple liquid that was so deep it almost looked black, while the other was an angelic shade of pale blue. They seemed so different from one another, but both were unlabeled leaving their contents a mystery to Eloise.

She looked curiously between George and the vials for a moment, waiting for him to explain himself but all he did was smirk at her as if he wanted her to work it out on her own. Her eyebrows furrowed impatiently as he remained silent, but as he raised his left hand to not-so-discreetly scratch the side of his nose she pieced it all together.

"What is that?" Eloise asked with a laugh as she pointed to his hand.

George looked at his fingernails with fake surprise before looking back up to Eloise, "Well, would you look at that?"

His nails were painted in the dark plum color from the first bottle and she instantly knew he had been working on the chip-proof nail polish for her that she had first mentioned all the way back in February. Despite knowing he only painted his nails in order to test the new product, she sort of thought the look suited him.

He slid the bottle of light blue polish closer to her, "That one's yours. Of course it's only a prototype, but I thought since you gave me the idea you'd get the first version of it. Give it a try."

Luckily Eloise's nails were already bare. She'd given up painting her nails a few months ago after realizing how bad her habit of picking at the polish was. As she scooted toward the edge of the mattress so she could be closer to the desk, she unscrewed the top and set her left hand flat on the surface before pausing and turning her head toward George who had been intently watching her.

"It's not permanent, is it?" Eloise asked.

George laughed and shook his head, "No, Elle. I promise it'll come off."

She had just begun painting her index fingernail when George decided to speak up again, "I just need to work out how first."

Eloise flicked her head to George quickly as her eyes widened, causing George to drop his act almost immediately as he burst into laughter, "I'm joking, I'm joking. It comes off with a quick charm."

Her eyes narrowed at him as she grabbed the nearest piece of crumpled parchment she could find and threw it at his head, "I hate you."

"No you don't." he smirked as he easily dodged the projectile.

The two sat in silence as she finished painting her nails. To Eloise it felt like all the normal muggle nail polish she had always worn, but she supposed that was a good thing. At least it wasn't burning or tingling like she thought it might based on Fleur's warning earlier in the week.

"So, do you have any notes for me?" George asked.

"Notes?"

"You know, things I could improve on. Maybe a name for the product."

Eloise glanced at her nails before looking back towards George with a shrug, "I think it's good."

"It might be good, but it could be great. You won't hurt my feelings, Elle."

She contemplated her critique for a moment before responding, "Well, I think it would be perfect if it went on in only one coat and dried immediately."

George quickly grabbed his quill and jotted down everything Eloise had said before bringing his eyes back up to her, "Anything else? Maybe a name?"

"For the color or the product itself?"

"The product, that color already has a name." he said casually as he pointed to her nails.

She glanced down at her hand before looking back up at him, "It does?"

"Sure does."

"What is it?"

"Eloise." he said with a smile.

"Yes?"

George laughed and shook his head before clarifying, "No, that color is called 'Eloise'"

"Oh...oh!" she replied with a bright smile as the realization set in.

She felt quite flattered that he'd name it after her, but she tried not to think too much about it. He was probably just being kind since she was the one who had given him the idea for the product in the first place.

"I also considered calling it 'Tickle Your France-y' but in the end I thought 'Eloise' was much better."

"Oh that is horrible, I agree 'Eloise' is much better." she said with a laugh.

"So, a name for the product?" George continued, putting them back on track.

Eloise leaned back on her hands, locking eyes with George as she pondered an idea for the name. After racking her brain for a moment she hadn't been able to come up with any name she felt was good enough. As she grew slightly frustrated with herself, she realized she had never been very creative when it came to things like this, she felt she was much better suited as someone to bounce ideas off of, rather than being the mastermind behind it all. George seemed to sense this and he gave her an encouraging smile, making her feel like any idea she had couldn't possibly be that bad.

"Maybe something like... 'Linger on your Fingers'?"

George busted out into laughter and shook his head, "I'm sorry Elle, but that's terrible."

Eloise pursed her lips and crossed her arms over her chest, "Well, do you have anything better?"

"I've got about a million names I've scrapped, but I think they are all probably better than 'Linger on your Fingers'. You're cute when you pout, by the way."

She reached for yet another crumpled piece of parchment to throw at him, but instead of dodging it this time he caught it right away, "You're too predictable, Elle."

"Yeah, I know..." she trailed off as she leaned back on her hands again, discreetly feeling for the corner of his pillow before suddenly chucking it at him, causing him to almost fall backwards out of his seat.

"Oh, you're going to pay for that." he said in a semi-serious tone as he regained his balance and grasped the pillow.

"No, no, no!" Eloise yelled as she hopped off the bed to avoid his attack.

She only made it about a foot away from his bed when a strong arm wrapped around her waist and knock her back onto the mattress. Before she could try to escape again he had her trapped beneath him as his knees were planted firmly on either side of her hips.

If the situation were anything other than George threatening to whack her upside the head with a pillow, she might've felt her body heat up in anticipation. When she imagined the first time she'd be laying underneath him, it certainly hadn't played out like this. But instead all she could focus on was the mischievous twinkle in his eye and the devilish smirk on his lips as he held the pillow over his head.

"Do you surrender?"

"Do I what?" Eloise said with a laugh as she guarded her face with her hands.

"I said, do. you. surrender?" he repeated in a low voice, getting closer and closer to her with each word, pushing her hands away from her face with one hand while still clutching the pillow in the other.

"Never!" she shouted.

George pulled back with a determined look in his eyes and she let out a shriek of laughter as he whacked her with the pillow a few times.

He paused for a moment, "Surrender yet?"

"Yes, yes, I surrender!" she conceded through her giggles.

He threw the pillow off to the side and climbed off of her, allowing her to catch her breath from laughing so hard before she propped herself up on her elbows. As he sat at the foot of the bed, there was a certain twinkle in his eye as a smirk played on his lips. Eloise gazed up at him silently, unable to read his mind but somehow feeling some sort of tension between them. But that vanished the moment broke his eyes away from her and cleared his throat.

"I feel like this was a very productive business meeting, don't you?" George asked as he stood from the bed and fixed his hair that had been tousled in the midst of the pillow fight.

Eloise sat up and brushed her hair away from her face, "Do all of your business meetings go this way?"

"This is the first one where I attacked someone, if that's what you're asking."

"Well, I'm honored to be your first."

George smirked and raised an eyebrow at her unintentional innuendo, causing her to frown and reach for the pillow again.

"Didn't you learn your lesson the first time, Laurent?"

"You have an unfair advantage. You're as tall as a tree, how am I ever supposed to outrun you?" she frowned as she released her grip on the pillow.

"There you go pouting again. Cheer up, love. The sooner you admit that I'll always win, the better."

Before George even realized it had left his lips, Eloise already had a faint blush growing on her cheeks from the sudden new nickname. It had honestly just slipped out, but it felt natural in the moment, almost as if he had been wanting to say it for quite a while. As he gave her a slight smile Eloise decided that she could hear him call her 'love' a million times and would never get tired of it.

"Dinner is ready!" Molly called from the staircase.

George extended his hand to help Eloise off the bed before throwing his arm over her shoulder as they exited his room, "Thanks for all your help, business partner. Although we still need to workshop the name."

Eloise playfully hit his stomach in response to his teasing, "I'm still waiting to hear any of your brilliant names."

"That's a secret you'll have to find out at our next meeting." he teased with a wink.

As worried as Eloise had been about Alicia, she hadn't thought about her a single time since being in George's presence. Maybe that was a good thing, he seemed so attentive when they were together, she had absolutely no reason to believe he was still hung up on someone else.

-

A/N: The second half of this was pure fluff and I loved every single moment of writing it 😌

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