AND IF YOU DON'T LOVE ME NOW
YOU WILL NEVER LOVE ME AGAIN.
I CAN STILL HEAR YOU SAYING
YOU WOULD NEVER BREAK THE CHAIN
fleetwood mac

KIRSTY STEPPED INTO THE empty Weasley Wizard Wheezes and let out a heavy sigh because it was, well, empty. Lucky for her, Verity had done a great job closing the night before and the shop was practically ready for opening.

The owner just needed to make an appearance. So, she trudged up the steps to George's flat and knocked. The knocking turned into banging and no response. The next best thing was to use her spare key and unlock it herself. To her surprise, the flat was fairly clean. Aside from a few dirty dishes lying about, she was impressed. The door to his bedroom was open, the spare was tightly shut. She sighed and crept into his room. He was sound asleep, his duvet on the floor as a result of his night thrashing he was known for. She smiled to herself for a moment. However, just because he was cute didn't mean that he didn't have responsibilities. So, she softly shook him awake in a very motherly way.

"Georgie! Rise and shine, my sweetie," she giggled with sarcasm. "You've got a shop to run."

He groaned and brought his hands to his eyes, rubbing them slowly before opening them. He let out another groan, "Kirsty!"

"George!" she said, grabbing his hand, attempting to pull him up. However, he pulled away and his hand went limp. "You're lucky I'm being nice, Weasley! It's a bloody Saturday and there is no way I'm facing those children alone! Verity isn't coming in until two and —"

"Okay, fine! I'll get up! Just please stop... yapping," he huffed, getting up slowly.

"My yapping is the only thing that works on you!" She crossed her arms as he got out of bed and stood up.

"Don't forget your magic Veela powers," he teased.

Kirsty rolled her eyes. "No magic powers. I'm just hot." She pivoted on her heel and walked out the door. As she opened the front door leading down to the steps, she shouted behind her, "I'll see you in five minutes! Don't worry about breakfast, I'll run down to the Gemini!"

"Way to avoid opening the till!"

She smirked, "You know it!" She hurried down the steps and out the door. The nine am sunshine hit her skin, and a breeze lifted her honey blonde hair off of her shoulders.

Diagon Alley was fairly empty, nothing but shop owners opening up for the day just like her. The Gemini Cafe, however, was always open before anyone else for the sole reason to serve the workers of the neighboring shops.

She approached the blush and white painted storefront with a smile and opened the door. A soft bell rang as she did and instantly the smell of coffee and sugar entered her nose. Zane McDowell was leaning on the front counter, his palms rested against the marble, grinning as if he'd been expecting her.

"Hello, sunshine!" He said. "What'll it be for you and Mr. Loverboy?"

Kirsty scoffed and slid on a barstool adjacent to the side counter. Zane turned to face her and leaned in, propped on his elbows with his hands on his face.

"He isn't Mr. Loverboy, he's Mr... Always In A Bad Mood No Matter What I Do For Him," she rolled her eyes.

"But..."

"But his brother died! I dunno. I mean, obviously I feel for him, but it's been years, and it's as if it happened just yesterday. Maybe I'm being insensitive, but I've been able to get my life back. Even Rory has!"

"You know grief manifests differently for everyone," Zane shrugged. "However, that doesn't give him an excuse to be a dick to you... he can be a bit selfish, thinking he's the only one who lost someone. I mean, the way he talks about Rory is..."

"I know, trust me," Kirsty sighed. "I told him that he can't berate her for getting her life back together. It doesn't mean that she never loved Fred in the first place because she's visibly in a good place."

Zane turned around and began making the coffee. "Verity working this morning?" He asked over his shoulder.

"Not until later today."

Zane nodded and only made two cups.

"Have you spoken to her recently? Rory?" He asked.

"Not since that little thing Angelina had around February," Kirsty said absentmindedly. "Before that, it was much longer. She seemed so much different."

"Better or worse?"

"Physically she's much better... gained the weight back she lost after the war. She looks healthy. Her eyes have life behind them. Mentally? Exactly what you'd expect."

Zane exhaled and set the coffees in front of Kirsty. "That bad, huh?"

She nodded. "Maybe I'll reach out. I'm sure she could use a friend."

"Don't tell King George if you do." Zane rolled his eyes.

"Ha ha," she said monotone. "Obviously I won't. Actually — I think it'd be sort of amusing to see him fired up like that."

"Good luck with that, love. You should probably head back soon in case he didn't start opening up. Let me make your bagels."

Kirsty watched as Zane made her breakfast and realized how lucky she was to have him. He and Cleo were the best people in her life and the closest thing she had to family.

He handed Kirsty her breakfast, and she shoved her hand into the pocket of her dress. "How much again?"

"I'm not taking your money."

"It's his money."

He grinned, "One Galleon. Have a nice day, sweetheart."

She placed one Galleon on the counter and an extra in the tip jar and left. The street was a bit more lively than before, which gave her pre-work butterflies. It was going to be a long day for her. She pushed the door open with her hip and stepped into the shop. George had gotten up and nearly everything was ready for the day.

"Hello, Georgie! Here's your caramel coffee with skim and your plain bagel with strawberry cream cheese!"

"Thanks, love. Hopefully, it's all still hot since it took you so long," he said with slight sarcasm.

Kirsty rolled her eyes. "Zane was working. I know you don't like him, but without him you'd have no bloody coffee!"

George just mockingly stuck his tongue out and sipped his coffee. It must have tasted good, because he didn't say anything else about Zane for the rest of the day.

The shift was busy, as she expected. Busier shifts went by faster, though, despite the stress. She actually preferred the more hectic days to the slow ones. Kirsty found that she would rather be stressed than bored.

It seemed George was rather burnt out by the workday as Kirsty was riding a high. It was Verity's job to clean up while George and Kirsty punched out for the day.

"I'm going to run up and grab the keys for you, Ver. You open tomorrow so don't feel pressured to get everything done tonight," George said. He went up to the store office and left the two women alone.

"I'm not going to tell him that the keys are in the drawer under the counter and not in the office. It's more fun this way," Kirsty whispered.

"So have you two hooked up yet?" Verity raised an eyebrow, opening the till with a ding to count the money.

"W-What?" Kirsty blushed. "How did you know?"

Verity's jaw dropped, and she let out a harsh laugh. "Kirsty! I was kidding! Holy shit!"

Kirsty sighed and ran a hand through her hair. She and George had gotten together just once. It had been months and neither of them spoke about it, which she was honestly fine with. As much as Kirsty pinned for the Weasley boy, she felt their friendship was too delicate and losing it would mean losing everything. Kirsty didn't have many people in her life she was so close to, and she didn't have another job.

Lost in thought, she noticed something change in her peripherals and glanced over to the front door. Peering inside the window was none other than Angelina Johnson.

"Hello!" Angelina shouted. "Half of these bloody products wouldn't have existed without my help, so I better be let in!"

Kirsty didn't put much thought in to letting Angelina inside. After all, she was right with her reasoning.

"What brings you here after close?" Verity asked. "Finally applying for a job here?"

"Are you mad? I'm here to speak to George. See, I figured it best I don't go when the store is open since he'd be too busy and he's almost never not working, so here I am."

"Kirsty, I can't seem to find the keys in the office!" George shouted as he came down the steps. "Have you seen — Oh! Angelina! What are you doing here?"

Angelina grinned enthusiastically. "I come bearing gifts. Three tickets to not only my first ever professional Quidditch match but also the first professional match since ninety-seven! Players get free tickets to the VIP boxes and you three need to do something for once outside of this shop."

Kirsty knew it was true. Unfortunately, having a life outside work would mean she'd have to think about things. She would rather not think about her unrequited love with George or her dead parents or her lost ambitions.

"Who's all going to be there? How many tickets did you get?" George asked.

"Quite a few. My parents refused the free ones and insisted on buying their own to support the league and Lee is going to be in his own box with WWN to report the match. So I had five tickets and you get three of them," Angelina explained.

"And the other two?"

"Rory and whoever Rory wishes to accompany her, so probably her dad or your brother. Now I know you're about to get all pissy with me but I'm going to say this once, George Weasley... Don't be selfish about this."

"We're going. When is it?" Kirsty interjected before George could mutter a response to Angelina.

"First Friday of August. It starts at six and I know you close the shop at five on Fridays in August so you can stay open until ten on Saturdays when more people come to shop. This is the most important night of my life. It would mean everything to me if you came."

Kirsty looked at George sharply, yet his features were soft. He looked almost understanding. That was an emotion Kirsty hadn't seen from the man in years.

"Fine," George nodded. "I look forward to cheering you on."

"Are you fucking insane?" Rory spat. "Why would you invite him?"

"Because all our other friends are dead, Ror. He didn't seem to have a problem when I told him you were going." Angelina threw herself on Rory's couch and tucked her legs in.

"Not to your face, he didn't. George wouldn't react to your face because he has an honesty problem. I bet once you turned you back he rolled his eyes so far into the back of his head he saw his brain, or lack thereof."

Angelina scoffed. "I'd rather he be fake to spare my feelings. The both of you need to grow the hell up! You get to take whichever human security blanket you want. Maybe your dad, in case you and George try to kill each other, we'll have a healer on sight!"

Rory sighed, very long and hard. She was notorious for overreacting, after all.

The last time she saw George never left her mind, though. It burned so fresh as if it had happened yesterday. It was years ago, but didn't feel like it.

It was weeks after their fight. Technically, Rory would tell people their fight was the last time she saw him or even spoke to him, because it was easier that way.

It was easier to forget about the real last time they saw one another.

Of course it was raining that day. That was the reason she went into Diagon Alley in the first place. She didn't think many people would be out when it was raining. Plus, she couldn't go too much longer without a new wand.

She had just left Ollivander's. Rory didn't care to use an umbrella as the rain got heavier. She had been living every day under a storm cloud of sadness, anyway.

Rory decided she wanted a drink.

Out of all the misfortunes she'd faced in her short life entering The Leaky Cauldron just as George was exiting, it was certainly top five for her.

"Oh. Hello," she muttered out nervously. Perhaps if she hadn't had said anything, he wouldn't have realized it was her standing there. It was far too late for her to keep quiet now.

"What are you doing here?" He slurred.

"I was getting a new wand."

George scoffed, "Lovely. So your little performance was what? Were you just feeling dramatic?"

I'm always feeling dramatic, Rory thought. Out loud, she said something much worse.

"If I'm going to teach at Hogwarts, I need a wand."

The Weasley boy looked as if someone had just punched him in the gut once those words left her mouth. "You're joking."

"You know that's always been my plan," she said quickly and quietly.

"I can't believe you would ever want to go back there. You'd want to get paid to revisit where they died every single day. Fuck, that's morbid. I really thought it would take you longer to grieve, but I guess not. Nothing stands in the way of Aurora Archer and what she wants," he spat.

Rory was shocked. She had never looked at things through that lens, but why should she? Hogwarts was always Hogwarts to Rory. Hogwarts was not a symbol of death or a proxy for her grief. It was where she grew up and fell in love and found herself and found her passions and where she was going to continue them.

George had walked off before she could answer. He left her questioning everything. He left her unstable and scared and regretful. He left her thinking that achieving her dreams and going back to Hogwarts was wrong and almost selfish.

It was a lot harder to go back with his words echoing in the back of her mind. She only told Percy about the interaction with the fear that everyone was feeling the same as George about her choice and just were too afraid to be honest with her.

But with Angelina in front of her finally being able to achieve her own dreams, Rory had to put everything aside.

"Fine. I'll go with my dad and we'll cheer you on till our throats hurt. I'm proud of you, Angelina. Thank you for inviting me. I'm sorry about earlier," she said, swallowing her pride to be a good friend (something George never did).

a/n:

feeling bleh about this one but i needed to flush out all the content i prewrote back in may so hopefully it gets better from here!