January 2000

Eloise was walking down the sidewalk, pulling her coat tight around her body as she fought against the winter wind. Here the weather always seemed to be coldest in January, somehow she had nearly forgotten.

The streets were comfortingly familiar as her heels clicked against the cobblestone path but at the same time it almost felt like a distant memory. For a moment she nearly had to remind herself how exactly to find her way to where she was going but luckily it seemed like her body still had muscle memory as she passed by the same old shops and cafes she'd come to know over the years.

She picked up her pace slightly, hoping she'd be able to get to where she was going before it closed but also because she was craving the warmth of the indoors as the wind whipped harshly against her skin. When she finally reached her destination, she pushed through the door and a familiar ring of a bell filled the shop as she stepped inside. Almost everything looked just as it always had and she found comfort in its familiarity. But there was one thing she noticed immediately that felt starkly out of place.

A young brunette woman was sitting on the counter passing the time by flipping through a Quidditch magazine, clearly making herself feel right at home. The sound of the bell gathered her attention as she glanced up from the pages to see who had just entered. A frown immediately formed on her face when she locked eyes with Eloise before she set down the magazine and hopped down from the counter.

"So you decided to come back after all. Here to see George?" Alicia asked, taking a step towards her.

The impatient tone in her voice took Eloise by surprise, "Um, no. I'm here to see Verity."

Alicia's expression softened ever so slightly and Eloise did her best to not read too deeply into it.

"She's upstairs." Alicia remarked as she turned around to return to her place on the counter, quickly picking up the magazine in what seemed like an attempt to ignore Eloise's presence.

"Okay, thanks." she said softly before making her first step up the spiral stairs but right at that moment, a door towards the back of the shop opened.

"Elle?" George stepped out of his office with a smile on his face as his eyes fell on her.

"Oh, hi." she replied, quickly glancing at Alicia for a split second before taking a step back from the stairs and turning to face George, "I'm just here to see Verity. We're going to go look at a flat together."

His smile widened as he approached her, clearly happy to hear the news that she had decided to stay, "That's great, I'm really happy to hear that."

Alicia cleared her throat as she set down the magazine once more, "Why don't I just go tell her you're here?"

"Oh sure, thanks."

The brunette quickly brushed passed them and climbed the stairs before disappearing into the flat with a slam of the door. Both Eloise and George looked up at the sound of the 'bang' and an exasperated a sigh escaped from the tall redhead the second the door shut.

"Sorry about that, she's been in a bit of a sour mood lately." George muttered.

"Why?"

"Dunno, she won't tell me. Other than her scolding me for leaving the party to go see you." he shrugged, "She says it was rude even though Verity didn't seem to care."

"But that was nearly a week ago."

"Yeah, I know."

The cogs started turning in Eloise's head, but she was trying to convince herself what she was thinking couldn't possibly be true.

"George, are you sure she doesn't-"

"There she is!" a voice called from the top of the stairs, cutting her off mid-sentence.

"Verity!" she beamed up at the girl who was practically hanging over the railing.

Verity ran down the spiral staircase and caught Eloise in a tight hug that proved that the petite witch was much stronger than her stature would lead one to believe.

"I've missed you, it hasn't been the same around here without you." she said as she released Eloise from her embrace before leaning closer to her ear, "It also doesn't help that the devil with brown hair is always around."

"Verity!" Eloise snickered as she playfully hit her shoulder.

George cleared his throat, reminding the two of them that he did in fact still exist and he was in fact still standing there. Verity merely rolled her eyes at him, seeming to be taking her bitter feelings about Alicia's constant presence out on him.

"So, flat hunting then? Where're you looking?" he asked awkwardly, doing his best to not spontaneously combust under Verity's fiery glare.

"Just down the road, we wanted to stay close." Eloise replied kindly.

"Oh, on Diagon Alley then? I figured you'd want to stay near the beach."

"Well, we wanted to stay close by for work. Living in London just makes the most sense if we want to be roommates, right Ver? ...Ver?"

The distracted witch suddenly brought her eyes back towards her friend, "Sorry, I was too busy thinking about how I don't want to be here when the spawn comes back down."

"Come on, Verity." George sighed.

"Maybe if she stops acting like a-" she cut herself off, not wanting to stoop to that level, not yet at least, "It wasn't even her party and she's still acting like you leaving was the end of the world."

"I'm working on it." George replied.

"What's there to work on? She's not your owner and it wasn't her party, tell her to get over it."

"Erm, Verity I think we should get going, we don't want to be late for the showing." Eloise interjected.

To be quite honest they had plenty of time, but Eloise really didn't want to hear about how upset Alicia was with George for going to see her on New Year's. All it did was fuel her fear that his ex still had feelings for him.

"Fine by me, later George." Verity said with a roll of her eyes.

"See you." he replied rather pitifully, almost as if he didn't want to be left alone to deal with his friend's angry attitude with no one there to back him up.

The walk down Diagon Alley was mostly silent, Eloise honestly just didn't know what to say. All she knew was that her heart couldn't handle the topic of Alicia anymore but all her mind could focus on was the girl. It was almost funny, in a twisted sort of way, thinking back on how everyone was so sure that if Alicia ever came back into George's life, it wouldn't be a big deal.

'They'd probably just want closure, I doubt anything would happen between them.'

Yet every day it seemed more and more likely that they'd reconcile, no matter how obvious it was that they weren't good for each other. Still, the thought almost made Eloise want to burst into a fit of laughter and for a split second she thought she may have finally lost the plot.

"We're here." Verity said suddenly as she came to a stop in front of an old red door placed between a second hand Quidditch supply shop and a vacant storefront.

As they stepped inside they were greeted with the sight of a dark foyer. Old wallpaper was peeling from the walls in places and random rugs covered scratched up floorboards from years of wear and tear, a steep wooden staircase was just to the right and a narrow, dimly lit hallway was to the left. The confusing smell of stale shortbread biscuits and moth balls filled the air and all Eloise could hope for was that the flat itself was much more inviting. All in all, it looked rather worn down but it was what she and Verity could afford.

A moment later, a door just to the left of the entrance opened and a stout old man with comically large glasses stepped out of the office, "Is one of you Verity Stokes?"

"That's me."

"That makes you Eloise Laurent, yes?"

Eloise nodded and smiled kindly at the man, "Yes, sir."

"You two are the youngest witches I've had show any interest in living here in quite some time." he said with a jolly laugh, "Follow me, it's just up the stairs."

Although he probably didn't mean it in a bad way, his words gave very little comfort to Eloise as they followed the man up the stairs. With each step, the floorboards let out a loud creak and she was sure she'd fall through the floor at any point and that would simply be the end for her.

The man came to an abrupt stop at the top of the steps as he pulled a ring of about twenty keys from the pocket of his vest. He took his time, surveying each key in search of the one that unlocked this particular flat. It seemed trivial, he could have just unlocked it with a spell, couldn't he? Or at the very least summoned the correct key within seconds. Still, Verity and Eloise patiently waited until he finally grasped the bronze key in his fingers and unlocked the door.

The elderly wizard pushed the door open with a drawn out squeaking sound and stepped off to the side, "I'll give you girls half an hour to take a look, then we can talk downstairs if you're interested in moving in."

"Thank you." they said in unison before entering the flat.

Honestly, the sight of it was a relief. While its appearance was still quite dated, there was a large bay window in the living room that let in a lovely amount of natural light and it helped the whole place look not nearly as dingy as the hallway had. The living area and kitchen were much smaller than George and Charlie's flat but Eloise had expected that coming in, so she wasn't too upset about it.

Right off the living room were two doors, each leading to cozy sized bedrooms and on the opposite end of the kitchen was a small bathroom. It was a modest apartment but it had everything they needed. She had no idea what Verity was thinking but she thought once it was decorated nicely, they could really make a home out of it.

"How are things going with Maxwell?" Verity suddenly asked as she mindlessly looked over the fixtures in the kitchen.

"Fine, I mean he's wonderful. I like him a lot."

Verity paused as she surveyed Eloise's face with the hint of a smirk forming on her lips, "But..."

"Why does there have to be a but?"

"He's not a certain redhead, is he?"

"Verity..." Eloise groaned as she rolled her eyes, deciding to take a look at one of the bedrooms to hopefully put an end to the conversation.

The room looked like it would be just big enough to hold her furniture and nothing more but Eloise wasn't too worried about that. If there was one thing she was truly going to miss about living in Shell Cottage, it wasn't the size of her bedroom, it was the view of the ocean from her window. Out of curiosity, she wondered what view she would be trading for the beach and when she came to the large old window, the first thing that caught her eye was the bright purple building at the opposite end of the road.

Verity came up beside her and followed her gaze to the giant wizard on the building who was tipping his hat to the shoppers below. A sharp elbow suddenly prodded Eloise's ribs causing her to look over to her friend.

"So, what did he say to you when he went to see you on New Year's? Did he profess his feelings for you?" Verity teased as she clutched a hand to her chest dramatically, "Did he drop down to his knees and beg you to be with him?" she mused, "Or did he whisk you away to the bedroom and make love to you until the sun came up?" she snickered as she wiggled her eyebrows.

"Verity, please!" Eloise whined in embarrassment as she turned over her shoulder to leave the room, "It was nothing like that."

"Okay, I'm sorry come back." Verity said with a laugh, only to see Eloise turn back and frown at her from the doorway, "No more teasing, I promise."

"I don't believe that for a single second." Eloise replied, crossing her arms.

"Then let's just change the subject. What do you think of this place?"

Eloise took in her surroundings. Perhaps she was simply looking at the flat through rose colored glasses, or maybe the idea of living with Verity and her old cat, Simon, was enough to make her consider living almost anywhere. So long as she was with her friend and finally living her life independently, she'd be happy.

"It's a bit rough around the edges, but I can see us living here."

"Me too." Verity replied with a smile.

After one more circle around the apartment, the girls made their way back downstairs to speak with the old man who finally introduced himself as Mr. Sullivan, assuring them that they could call him 'Sul' for short if they like.

He was a kind, yet blunt, older man who seemed to like to do things the manual way rather than with the help of any sort of magic. Not once did Eloise see him pull out his wand or summon anything with a simple spell, instead he would meander his way around his office - digging through various drawers until he found the right forms for the girls to sign.

When it was all said and done, Sul gave the girls a tentative move in date of February 1st, just three and a half more weeks until their next big adventure would begin. Although Eloise thought maybe she was the only one of the two of them that saw this move as such a big step. While Verity had been living on her own since finishing school, this was the first time Eloise would finally get a taste of freedom.

After a few firm handshakes and a signature from each, Sul gave the young witches a wide smile as they left his office.

"Eloise?" Verity uttered as soon as they stepped out of the apartment building.

"Oui?"

Verity smirked at the slip of her tongue. It wasn't often that Eloise would accidentally slip back into speaking French but after spending so many weeks with her parents, she'd become so used to not speaking English at all.

"Something has been bothering me about Alicia." Verity complained.

"You mean other than everything about her?" she laughed.

"Good point, but really." she said as she buried her hands in her pockets for warmth.

"Okay? What's the problem."

"I think she's trying to get back together with George." Verity said bluntly, keeping a careful eye on Eloise's reaction.

At first she didn't say anything, instead she kept on walking, trying to decide whether confiding her jealousy in Verity was a good idea or if it was safer to keep those feelings to herself.

"What makes you think that?" Eloise asked after a moment.

"She's just always there. It's like every moment I'm there she is too. I work there, Eloise, I'm there a lot! Every time I turn the corner I have to see her face." she groaned.

"You're overthinking." Eloise shrugged casually.

The truth was that she wasn't just saying it to reassure Verity, she was also trying to convince herself that it wasn't true.

"I just don't trust her."

The bright purple building was drawing near and Eloise knew they couldn't keep the conversation going once they stepped inside. She came to a stop on the corner, nearly causing Verity to bump straight into her back. "Would he take her back?"

It took a moment for Verity to register the question and even longer for her to ponder her response before she finally replied, "I don't know."

Eloise bit the inside of her cheek, trying her best to hide any sort of reaction. Instead she merely gave a shrug of her shoulders, "I suppose it doesn't really matter, it's his choice after all."

"Has he run out of chances?" Verity asked.

Before Eloise could respond, the door to the shop opened and both girls quickly flicked their heads in its direction, almost as if they were expecting a tall redhead in a deep plum suit to step out. But instead it was Alicia, finally heading back home to her own flat. Luckily it seemed like she didn't notice the two blonde women on the other side of the road keeping a careful eye on her as she buried her hands deep in her pockets and made her way towards the Leaky Cauldron where she was likely going to take the Floo Network home.

Eloise couldn't help but consider the fact that George still hadn't connected their fireplaces and a tiny glimmer of hope filled her heart.

"Eloise?"

"Hmm? I'm sorry." she pulled her eyes away from the back of Alicia's head and turned her attention back towards Verity.

"I asked you if George had run out of chances."

"I don't know, I don't really want to think about it. What we had - er, nearly had is in the past now. I just want to work on getting back to a good place with him."

Verity nodded but it didn't seem like she was ready to fully drop the subject yet, "I don't think either of them truly like each other."

"What makes you say that?"

"A gut feeling, I suppose." she shrugged, "I think they're just holding onto each other because neither of them know how to move on from what happened years ago."

"Maybe." Eloise responded, bringing her eyes to her feet as she idly kicked the stone beneath her.

"That's the only way I can justify it. If they're just trying to hold onto something familiar I guess it make sense. I just hope they realize sooner rather than later that they can't be codependent forever."

Reasoning why George and Alicia relied on each other so much wasn't something Eloise was very interested in, so she remained silent. Thankfully Verity finally seemed to take notice of that and gently nudged her shoulder, "Come inside for a bit."

Eloise brought her eyes up to Verity and shook her head, "Oh, I don't know, I should really get back home."

"Just for a bit."

Verity simply wasn't going to take no for an answer, leaving Eloise no choice but to follow her friend through the orange door of the shop. The sales floor was dead quiet, which was always an eerie feeling compared to the chaos that consumed it during opening hours. The girls made their way up the spiral stairs and into the flat where they saw Charlie already in the midst of cooking dinner.

The man had taken quite a liking to cooking after making a home cooked meal for Verity on Valentine's Day last year. Not every meal was a hit but he still tried anyways and Verity only teased him a little bit when he burned something.

George, however, was nowhere to be seen.

"Staying for dinner, Eloise?" Charlie asked as he glanced over his shoulder.

"Oh no, I'm just stopping in for a-"

The door to the bathroom opened with a billow of steam as George stepped out, wearing a pair of flannel pajama bottoms and rubbing an orange towel against his hair. Just as Eloise froze mid-sentence, George's feet seemed to be glued in place as he locked eyes with her. The corner of his lip quirked up slightly before he finally made his way across the hall and into his bedroom.

"Gonna finish that sentence?" Charlie teased from the stove.

"What? Oh, I was just coming up to say hi, I won't stay long."

When she glanced over at Verity, she was met with a knowing look that made a sudden wave of embarrassment wash over her whole body. Heating her up from head to toe, all she wanted to do in that moment was sink straight through the floor and disappear into the depths of the Earth, never to be seen again.

George emerged from his room a moment later, now wearing one of his mother's knit jumpers to accompany his pajama bottoms. His still damp hair clung to the nape of his neck, it seemed like he'd been growing it out again or he was simply back in a place where he didn't care to keep it cut short anymore. Yet all Eloise could focus on was how a man could look so handsome without trying at all.

"So, how was the flat?" he asked as he leaned against the kitchen counter with his arms crossed over his chest.

"A bit rough, but nothing we can't handle. Right, Eloise?" Verity replied.

"It's not that rough."

"It's pretty rough." Verity laughed.

"Well, did you decide on that one? Or are you going to look around a bit more?"

"We're moving, beginning of February." Verity replied as she looked around Charlie's shoulder to see what he was making for dinner.

A smile grew on George's lips, "No excuse to not visit more often now, Elle."

"Or you could visit me for once." she challenged with a smirk.

"Touché. But I'll just assume you'll be spending most of your time here so you don't get lonely. I already know Verity's going to spend every other night here with Charlie." he chuckled.

"I won't get lonely, I'll have Simon. Verity tells me he gives the best cuddles."

"It's true, he's about ten pounds of pure fluff and love." the petite witch agreed without hesitation.

"Well, the door's always open." George told Eloise with a look of sincerity.

"I'll keep that in mind." she replied before looking towards the clock over the stove, "I should get going. Mind if I use your fireplace?"

"Go ahead." he nodded.

Eloise confidently stepped into the hearth with a handful of Floo Powder. The odd feeling of triumph that coursed through her was most likely unfounded but the fact that Eloise could go straight home from George's flat instead of walking all the way down to the Leaky Cauldron felt like a victory in itself, even though where she was going was his brother's house.

After receiving a quick wave goodbye from George, she threw down the powder while saying 'Shell Cottage' and was quickly consumed by a flash of green flames.

The whole day felt like a success. She and George were getting along again and soon she'd be moving into her own flat in London with Verity. Even though Alicia's presence was still looming over her life, when the brunette wasn't actually around, it nearly felt like she didn't exist at all. Things felt like they were finally beginning to fall into place.

Fleur was nearly finished with dinner when Eloise emerged from the fireplace and she was eager to tell her best friend all about her day. But first, she wanted to change into something more comfortable. With a smile on her face, Eloise quickly climbed the steps to her bedroom thinking about how in just a few short weeks it would all be packed away.

But her smile faded once she spotted something sitting on her window sill. A sudden reminder that things weren't completely figured out. Evidence that Eloise's time was torn between two, even when she truly knew who had her heart. A nearly forgotten distraction, the perfect person in another life.

Her eyes fell on it like she'd spotted a deadly poison. She was almost too scared to touch it, so unassuming, yet it felt like danger tucked away neatly inside an envelope.

A letter from Maxwell.