On the Monday after visiting the shop with Hermione and Ron, George woke up well before the sunrise. He had been having terrible insomnia for the last few months, but the anxiety of going back to work for the first time later that day only made it worse. He strained his eyes in the dark room that was only lit by moonlight to try and see the clock hanging on the wall near the door.

4:45 am

"Great." George mumbled to himself, rubbing his eyes in an attempt to get rid of the tired feeling to no avail.

He threw the covers aside and swung his feet over the edge of the bed, planting them firmly on the wooden floor below. Even though he had told himself plenty of times that it was impossible to ever feel more tired than he had been feeling since May, he realized this morning that he was wrong. Today was by far the most exhausted he had ever felt in his entire life.

He sat on his bed for several minutes, trying to find any ounce of motivation he could just to get his body to stand up, but he was failing miserably. He thought to himself that maybe it would be best to skip work that day and try to catch up on his sleep. Charlie would be more than understanding but he'd never hear the end of it from Verity if he didn't show up. Avoiding that woman's wrath was just the push George needed to finally get out of bed.

He walked lazily through his bedroom at the Burrow. Despite it making more sense logistically for him to be staying in the flat above the shop, he decided to stay with his parents - just for a while. He wasn't emotionally ready to move back into the flat. It was a big enough leap for him to even agree to return to work to begin with.

Quietly opening the door, he made his way across the hall to the bathroom, carefully avoiding all the floorboards that he knew creaked when stepped on.

After turning on the shower, the tired feeling lingered as he waited for the water to warm up. He turned on the sink and splashed cold water on his face trying to shock himself awake. Reaching for the towel hanging next to the mirror, he quickly put it over his face to dry it off, careful to avoid looking at himself in the reflection.

As a result of losing his brother, he had grown a hatred for seeing his own face, so he formed a habit of avoiding his own reflection at all costs. Any time he saw himself, he saw Fred too, which only served to make him feel even depressed than before.

After hastily undressing, he lazily tossed his pajamas off to the side, creating a pile on the floor. Usually he made a mental note to pick them up later so his mother wouldn't yell at him. But now he had the feeling that she wouldn't dare raise her voice at him no matter what he did.

She had been treating him like he was fragile and couldn't take the nagging he had endured for twenty years already. The thought was almost enough to tempt him into leaving his dirty laundry laying where it was and provoking his mother - he'd much rather be yelled at than be babied.

He stepped into the warm water and made a point to make it quick. If he took too long of a shower, he'd end up thinking too much and thinking too much was never a good thing when it came to George. Memories and regrets would run rampant through his mind if he left them. That's why he gave himself a firm ten minute time limit when it came to showers.

Once finished, he turned off the water and grabbed the towel on the hook just outside of the curtain and wrapped it around his waist.

Before leaving the bathroom he picked his pajamas up off the floor, deciding he'd rather not be another source of stress for his mother after all.

-

By the time George finished showering and getting dressed, the sun had started to rise, filling the house with a cool blue tinted light. Of course no one else in the house was awake yet, it was only just past five. While he missed the luxury of being able to sleep in, he did appreciate the alone time he got while everyone was still sleeping.

Already dressed in his Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes uniform, George made his way into the kitchen to make himself a cup of tea. While he was rather useless when it came to cooking, he was confident in his ability to boil water without setting the kitchen on fire.

He stood at the sink and gave a big yawn while filling the kettle with water before setting it on the stove to heat up. While he waited, he brought his attention to the window just above the sink and gazed out into the garden.

The homemade Quidditch hoops his dad made years ago for his siblings to play together still stood, despite all of them now being grown and for the most part moved out of the house. Every single family gathering almost always ended in a game of Quidditch, no matter how old they were or what the occasion. He suddenly remembered the last time they all played together. It was the evening before Bill and Fleur's wedding.

"Fancy a game of Quidditch, Mr. Delacour?" George asked, elbowing his eldest brother in the ribs.

"If one of you lot aims a bludger at my face and bruises it before the wedding, Fleur will kill me and then you two." Bill rolled his eyes.

"You'd think she could overlook a little black eye if she can see past the makeover Greyback gave you." Fred teased.

Bill wasn't amused at all by this comment as his eyes narrowed, "I don't trust either of you."

"How's this, I'll be on your team and just aim straight for Georgie the entire time so he can't hit you. It's the least I can do to protect the precious groom before his big day." Fred said honorably.

A scoff fell from Bill's lips, "Fine then, who are the teams?"

"Me, you, Charlie, and Gin. Then Georgie you can have Harry, Ron, and Hermione." Fred replied to Bill and grinned wickedly at George.

"I know what you're doing, Fred." George said with a slight tone of annoyance.

He didn't think his team was the worst, because of course Harry was an amazing player, but Ron wasn't always the best keeper - especially when he got in his own head. And Hermione, quite frankly, wasn't nearly as aggressive of a player as she needed to be to play as Chaser against Ginny. Fred had obviously given himself the superior team roster on purpose.

"What? I need the dream team for the groom's protection!" Fred responded trying to hold back a laugh.

George's attention was brought back from his memory when the kettle started whistling loudly, startling him slightly.

He quickly removed it from the heat, trying to avoid stirring anyone in the house. Reaching for a cup from the cupboard, he deliberately avoided the Nose Biting Teacups that he and Fred had snuck in there ages ago. They had been waiting patiently for the fateful morning where someone would be too tired to notice they had chosen the wrong cup, but living with the twins for twenty years taught his family to always be vigilant on the lookout for pranks.

As he poured his tea and sat down at the table, George looked forward to a quiet morning alone. That is, until Charlie loudly barged into the kitchen through the back door, leaning his broom against the wall and pulling off his boots.

"Mornin' George!" Charlie said casually, nodding to his brother before walking across the kitchen to grab a cup from the cabinet and helping himself to some tea as well.

"Morning." George muttered, while thinking to himself that he should have known better than believe he could have a chance at a quiet morning in the Burrow of all places.

"You're up early." Charlie observed as he plopped down in the chair across from his younger brother.

"Couldn't sleep. You're up early as well."

"I'm used to early mornings ever since I started helping at the store. Flying from Romania doesn't happen instantly, you know. Plus I needed to leave a bit earlier today since I was stopping by here first." he paused to take a sip of his tea before continuing, "I'm always tempted to apparate y'know, but mum says I'll lose my head if I try apparating that far."

"How much longer are you going to be doing that?" George asked, feeling guilty that his brother was constantly flying back and forth on his behalf to work in the store.

"Should be done by the end of the week I think, I've just been training the new bloke so he doesn't get his eyebrows singed off or lose an arm."

"Are you alright leaving the Sanctuary? You love it there." George asked, he was ready to tell Charlie he could keep his job. He was sure he could handle the store with just Verity if Charlie didn't want to stay.

Charlie raised an eyebrow at his brother while taking a sip from his mug, he set down his cup and let out a sigh, "Listen George, I was always going to move back regardless of the store so you can stop worrying about that. I love Romania, but our family comes first and after Fred-" he cut himself off and cleared his throat to fight back the emotions that were welling up inside him, "Just don't worry alright?"

George nodded, "Alright then."

"Plus working at the shop is fun, and Verity and I get on really well."

"Oh really?" this piqued George's interest because Verity was a lot to handle, she had a personality that matched Fred and George perfectly, she was just as chaotic and mischievous as them and that's why they hired her. But George knew that she wasn't everyone's cup of tea.

Charlie nodded and smirked, "Hated her at first, thought she was annoying. But she grows on you, kind of like a tumor you can't remove."

This comment got a chuckle from George and Charlie was feeling quite proud of himself for amusing his brother. By the time they both finished their tea it was quarter to six so Charlie excused himself to have a quick shower and change into his own Weasley's Wizard Wheezes uniform.

George heard steps coming from the stairs and still heard the shower running so knew it couldn't be Charlie, Molly turned the corner into the kitchen and stopped suddenly in the doorway. At the sight of George in his work uniform she had tears in her eyes and she was making her way towards him with her arms stretched out.

"Mum please-" but before George could finish his sentence Molly was fully in tears and engulfing him in a tight hug, almost knocking him out of his seat.

"Oh darling, I'm so glad you're going back to work!" Molly cried into his hair as he reluctantly patted her on the back.

George wished his mother wouldn't make such a fuss over it, especially since he was just trying to get back to his normal life. Whatever normal was without Fred. His mother reacting as if him going to work was the best thing to happen to her made him feel very not normal. A few moments later Charlie arrived in the kitchen to see his mother's theatrics and George looked up at him with an urgent look in his eyes that Charlie recognized as a cry for help.

"Alright mum, let him breathe." Charlie came over and gently pulled Molly off of George and wrapped an arm around her shoulder, partially to comfort her and partially to hold her back from lunging at George again.

George straightened his tie and caught his breath as he stood up to look at the clock above the stove, "Best get going right Charlie?"

"What? We don't need to leave for another-" Charlie started, but cut himself off when he saw George's eyes that were sending silent daggers in his direction. George didn't want to stay in the house any longer and give anyone else in their family a chance to make a big deal out of him going to work.

"Oh, right Yeah. We need to get there early for that thing." Charlie corrected himself clumsily as he turned to his mother and planted a quick kiss on her cheek before stepping towards the door.

Molly looked between the boys quite confused but before she could object to them leaving George walked over to also give her a kiss on the cheek, "See ya, mum." he turned his back quickly and pushed Charlie out the door.

"Smooth, Charlie." George said, rolling his eyes at his brother's terrible excuse. "'For that thing'" he said in a mocking tone.

"You put me on the spot!" Charlie whined.

"Let's just go before she comes outside and tries to tackle me to the ground." George said, and the two of them quickly apparated to Diagon Alley.

-

George and Charlie apparated inside the shop suddenly with a loud crack.

"Bloody hell!" Verity shouted as the boys suddenly appeared in front of her. She dropped a box of Peruvian Instant Darkness Powder in the process and the three of them were suddenly engulfed in a thick cloud of black smoke.

"Sorry Ver! Good thing this will dissipate in a minute or so, let me just try to go and grab the broom to clean this up after." Charlie said, attempting to walk through the darkness.

"Ow, that was my foot Charlie!" Verity shouted

"Oh sorry, love." he responded, clumsily walking around the store in the dark bumping into several shelves in the process.

Verity's face was burning red in response to Charlie's sudden new nickname for her, the cloud of darkness started to fade and she found herself face to face with George who undoubtedly saw her blushing. George gave her a little smirk, but said nothing to her.

"You shut your mouth Weasley!" she growled at him.

"I didn't say a word." George said, throwing his hands up in surrender.

"Here we are!" Charlie said, returning with the dustpan and broom, he noticed Verity staring intensely at George, "What's going on here?"

"Nothing!" George and Verity said at the same time.

"Alright then." Charlie said in a drawn out voice, making it clear he didn't believe them, before he bent down to clean up the mess Verity had made.

"Why are you guys so early anyway? I didn't expect you for another hour." Verity asked.

"Mum was about to murder George with love so we had to make a quick escape." Charlie said from the floor.

Verity looked up at George who merely nodded in agreement.

"Well whatever, you two can handle restocking since you're here now. I'm going to go make some tea." Verity said before turning on her heel and leaving the two Weasley boys on their own on the sales floor.

"She really does think she runs the place doesn't she?" George said, raising an eyebrow as he watched her walk away.

"I told you she was planning a hostile takeover." Charlie said as he stood up holding the box of loose Instant Darkness Powder, "Suppose this is rubbish now?"

George looked down at the box of powder that was now contaminated with dirt from the wood floor it had just been swept up off of, "Yeah bin it, we can just deduct it from Verity's paycheck." he smirked at Charlie who laughed in response.

"Oh she'll be livid when she hears that."

The rest of the day was quite uneventful, George was surprised that he fell back into the groove of the store so quickly but he figured it was just like riding a broom, once you learn you never forget. He was also impressed with how well Charlie was doing with the customers, he figured after working with dragons for years Charlie wouldn't be much of a people person but he was upselling customers just as much as George was.

Before George knew it, they were nearing closing time and he was counting the till when Verity came up to him and slammed her hands on the counter. George merely glanced up at her, "Yes, Verity?"

"What's this about docking my pay for the Darkness Powder?" she demanded.

George looked over her shoulder and saw Charlie keeping his distance, mouthing the word "Sorry" when the two of them made eye contact. George looked back to Verity and said, "We had to bin it, you dropped it, so that's how it is." before looking back down to the till to continue counting.

"Well I wouldn't have dropped it if you gits hadn't scared me!" She shouted.

George was thoroughly amused with Verity's outburst, he had never really intended on docking her pay, but Charlie telling her that he would set him up for some much needed entertainment.

"Sorry, Ver. That's just how it is." George said, fighting to hold back a smirk as he kept his eyes on the till. He lost count the second Verity slammed her hands on the counter but he wanted to pretend that he was very uninterested in what she had to say, he knew it would rile her up.

She huffed in frustration and spun around to glare at Charlie before rushing up to him, causing him to back up into the shelf behind him in fear.

"This was your idea wasn't it?" She said pointing a finger in his face. She was standing so close to him, George thought Charlie may knock the shelf over if he tried to back up any further. Though she was about a foot shorter than Charlie, Verity was twice as intimidating.

"Why me?" Charlie asked in a panic, looking over to George for help who merely shook his head and shrugged his shoulders with a wicked grin forming on his lips.

She noticed Charlie looking over he shoulder and whipped around to see George, who was now quickly trying to wipe the grin away from his face and return to counting. She groaned in frustration, "I hate both of you, I'm going home." she said before stepping back from Charlie, giving him one last glare before leaving, the bell above to door signaled to Charlie that he was finally safe.

Charlie let out the breath he was holding and returned his attention to George, "She's going to murder me one day, I know it."

George merely shrugged at his brother, "Probably."