A few days had passed since Eloise first arrived at Shell Cottage and she was already feeling right at home. In the mornings she was often the first one to wake up, though she never dared start breakfast. Eloise had attempted to make Bill and Fleur breakfast on her first morning in the house and in the middle of her stirring together the waffle batter Fleur rushed in and shooed her out of the kitchen, telling her that she would finish making breakfast. Fleur had always been a bit of a control freak, even when they were children, but Eloise knew better than to argue with her.

This morning Eloise was sitting on the couch nearest the bay window in the living room reading a book. That spot quickly had become her favorite, it faced away from the sun so it never got too bright and when the window was open it was in the ideal spot to send a lovely ocean breeze through the entire room.

Fleur emerged from upstairs wearing a dressing gown and her hair was gathered in a messy bun on top of her head. Even without trying she was inhumanly gorgeous. She let out a long yawn before breezing right past Eloise, without noticing her, as she entered the kitchen. Eloise placed her bookmark in her book with a smirk before she set it down on the table and decided to join her friend in the other room.

"Good morning Fleur." Eloise said, leaning against the doorframe with an amused grin.

The sound of Eloise made Fleur jump, "How long have you been here?" she asked.

"I just came in, you walked right by me in the living room and didn't even notice." Eloise laughed.

"Ah, sorry. I didn't sleep very well." Fleur said with another yawn as she grabbed the kettle and turned to the sink to fill it.

"Why is that?"

"We are meant to be having dinner with Bill's family this evening and I have been dreading it." Fleur groaned, setting the kettle on the stove.

Eloise knew that Fleur hadn't made the best first impression on Bill's family, but that was years ago and she thought they all got along now.

"Why are you dreading it?" Eloise asked.

"It is just so depressing, I want to make them feel better but I never know what to say. Everything I say seems to make it worse." Fleur sighed.

Fleur had never been the greatest when it came to dealing with emotional situations, she was often too honest for people rather than sympathetic. Eloise could already picture Fleur telling her in-laws that life will go on without Fred, and while she wasn't wrong, Eloise could feel herself growing uncomfortable just imagining the reaction the Weasleys would have to a remark like that. Fleur had poured herself a cup of tea before filling another mug and setting it at the table across from where she now sat.

Eloise got the hint and joined her friend at the table, they sat together silently drinking their tea just enjoying each other's company when Fleur suddenly set down her cup firmly and looked at Eloise intently. At the sound of the porcelain hitting the table Eloise met Fleur's gaze, but felt thoroughly confused by her urgency.

"Yes?" Eloise asked cautiously.

"Come with us!" Fleur said with an innocent grin.

"I'm sorry?"

"To dinner, come with us."

"Oh, I don't know Fleur, I've never met them it would be awkward I think-" but before she could finish her sentence Fleur was already getting up from the table.

"I'm going to tell Bill. Oh, and we will also be stopping by George store today as well." Fleur declared before elegantly walking out of the room, obviously ignoring her friend's objection.

Eloise sat at the table dumbfounded and feeling thoroughly confused by what had just happened. Somehow within mere seconds she had just gotten roped into meeting a family who were in the middle of grieving and probably had no interest in meeting a random woman, and she had no say in the matter at all. This was just like Fleur though, once she decided on something, it would be next to impossible to get out of it.

-

The thought of meeting the Weasleys had Eloise feeling incredibly anxious that afternoon, she decided she needed to get out of the house so she walked down to the beach. Kicking off her sandals, she waded into the cool water, the waves crashing against her legs calmed her. She pulled her cardigan tightly around her torso and crossed her arms, fighting against the strong ocean breeze. She was staring out into the water, thinking about nothing but how far away the horizon was when she suddenly heard a voice behind her.

"Alright there Elle?"

Eloise spun around and saw Bill, standing further up the beach casually watching her with his hands in his pockets.

"Just a lot on my mind." she said, wading out of the water and slipping her feet back into her sandals.

He chuckled, "Yeah, I figured. Fleur told me about this morning. You don't have to come if you don't want to, but I would like you to meet everyone."

"Oh Bill, I don't know. I don't want to intrude."

Bill approached her and put a comforting hand on her shoulder. "You're like family to Fleur, which means you're like family to me. I won't pressure you, of course. But I promise you they won't mind, you'll have to meet them eventually. If it makes you feel better, I feel like my mum will love you." he said with a reassuring smile.

Though they had only just met a few days ago, Eloise was already starting to feel like Bill was a brother to her. He was such a great balance to Fleur, while she was blunt and independent, he was incredibly patient and sympathetic. She knew whenever they decided to have children, they would be the best parents.

Eloise stood there for a while weighing her options. Her eyes found their way back to the ocean and she let out a sight before turning back to Bill,  "Alright I'll go."

"Excellent. We're going to be visiting George and Charlie in about an hour, you'll absolutely love the store." Bill said with a warm smile and mischievous light in his eyes.

Eloise had heard that Fred and George opened a joke shop a few years ago, Fleur had written to her about it around the time the twins had their grand opening. Fleur made it sound rather chaotic, but she praised the boys for turning something she considered annoying into a successful business, telling Eloise that they were both geniuses despite their childish behavior that she was not always a big fan of.

-

At around 3pm, Bill, Fleur, and Eloise made their way to Diagon Alley, apparating just outside of The Leaky Caldron. Eloise had only been to Diagon Alley a few times in her life, when she joined her father on the rare occasion he needed to stay in London over the weekend for work. Eloise had always loved it and wished she could have visited more, the cozy rustic feeling of the street contrasted greatly with the main wizarding shopping area in Paris which was quite posh and elegant in comparison.

The three of them made their way down the cobblestone street, weaving through various other witches and wizards who were doing their shopping. Eloise was taking in the details of every store, making mental notes of all the shops she wanted to visit the next time they could return.

She wanted to visit Flourish and Blotts to browse the books, she assumed that the selection would be much different than in the bookstore in France that she had worked in a few months ago and was curious what she would find. Next she spotted Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlor and excitedly thought of all the lovely flavours they would have to offer, Eloise had always had quite the sweet tooth.

Before long they neared the end of the street and came upon the unmistakable storefront of Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes. Eloise felt a wide grin forming on her lips at the sight of the giant wizard she assumed to be modelled after one of the Weasley twins lifting his hat to reveal a rabbit that would vanish the next time he lifted it.

"Well, this is it." Bill said, pushing open the door and stepping to the side for Fleur and Eloise to enter before him.

At the sound of the bell above the door, a petite young witch standing behind the counter greeted them, "Welcome to Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes." but at the sight of Bill entering behind Fleur she grinned widely.

"Oi Charlie, the handsome Weasley just walked in!" the blonde witch turned to call behind her, yelling in the general direction of whichever aisle Charlie was restocking at that specific moment.

This comment about her husband didn't sit right with Fleur who whispered to Eloise, "I have never liked her. She is always flirting with all of them, I think she is just waiting for one of them to give in to her."

As Charlie emerged from one of the aisles he replied to Verity, "Who's the handsome one? I've been here all day."

Charlie stopped by the counter and saw Bill in the doorway who gave him a short nod and a smile to greet him before escorting Fleur and Eloise around the store. Charlie looked down at Verity next to him and leaned closer to her, "Fleur will murder you someday if you keep it up, plus we all know I'm the handsome one." he said in a low voice, smirking at her.

Verity, whose cheeks her now burning red at Charlie's closeness, quickly excused herself from behind the counter without another word. Charlie felt quite amused by her reaction. It wasn't easy to fluster Verity but when he managed to catch her off guard he would feel proud of himself, as if he was winning an unspoken game the two had been playing.

Across the store Bill, Fleur, and Eloise had begun browsing various items, and it wasn't long before Eloise had broken off from the group and began exploring the store on her own, looking at every item in awe. Fleur made the store seem like a silly little joke shop, but everything around her was so bright and colorful and there were so many amazing items she had never seen before, Eloise was taking everything in with enormous admiration.

"Need help finding anything?" a man's voice came from behind her as she was looking at a box of Canary Creams.

Eloise looked over her shoulder to see a tall ginger wizard with warm brown eyes who had a million freckles speckled all over his tanned skin. He was wearing a maroon suit just like Charlie had been, but she recognized this man because he looked just like the wizard on the outside of the shop, this was George Weasley. Eloise realized she was taking in all of George's features for an uncomfortably long amount of time and was worried she was making him feel awkward.

"Oh no, just looking." she said, breaking her eyes away from George and setting the box back on the shelf.

Fleur rounded the corner to find the two of them standing together in the aisle, "Ah, you have already met I see."

"Well, not really." Eloise admitted, she knew exactly who George was but she was just another customer to him.

George raised an eyebrow at Eloise who still had her back to him facing the shelf holding the Canary Creams, she felt his gaze on the back of her head but was too nervous to face him. She had known this man for all of three minutes and yet she felt butterflies in her stomach just being in his presence. Fleur noticed this immediately.

"George, this is Eloise. Beautiful isn't she?" Fleur said, walking up to stand beside Eloise, turning her around to face George as she put an arm around her friend's shoulder.

Eloise felt her face turn an embarrassing shade of crimson and wished to be anywhere in the world other than this aisle with George at this very moment. George ran a hand through his hair, Fleur had an incredible knack for creating uncomfortably tense situations and this was no exception.

"Right, well it was lovely to meet you Eloise." George said as he promptly walked past the women, escaping from the aisle and the awkward situation Fleur created.

"Do you think now is a good time to tell him you will be joining us for dinner?" Fleur asked, stifling a laugh.

Eloise groaned, if she never had to see George Weasley again she would be completely fine with it. She had always been much more shy and reserved than her best friend, who often pushed her into social situations that she'd rather not be involved in. When they were young the two shared all of their secrets with each other, but over time Eloise was careful not to tell Fleur about any boys she fancied. If Fleur knew about any of Eloise's crushes she would get involved, always with the best intentions, but she often just ended up creating great embarrassment for Eloise. While Eloise did find George quite handsome, she would not be confiding that information in her friend.

Fleur and Eloise left the aisle they were in to go find Bill. As they stepped out from the aisle, Eloise glanced to her right and found George and the blonde witch who greeted them earlier chatting near the back of the store. Eloise noticed that George seemed much more at ease as he was chatting with her, whatever story he was telling her earned a warm laugh from the petite witch.

Verity broke her attention away from George and looked over to see Eloise watching them, "Who's that?" she asked George.

He looked over at her and at that moment Eloise immediately turned away and quickly and followed Fleur to the front of the store where Charlie and Bill had been chatting.

"My sister-in-law's friend." he said with a shrug.

"Oh well if she's her friend I doubt she's very nice."

"Fleur's alright once you get to know her."

Verity scoffed, "I highly doubt that."

"Well she doesn't seem very similar to Fleur anyway, she's a bit awkward. Stares a lot." George responded.

"I noticed." Verity laughed.

Charlie emerged from the front of the store and walked up to them, a bell ringing from above the door let them know that Bill, Fleur, and Eloise had left, "What're you two chatting about back here?"

"Fleur's friend." Verity said bluntly.

"Eloise? Why're you talking about her?"

Verity shrugged, "She's a bit awkward isn't she?"

Charlie raised an eyebrow at her, "I didn't get that at all from her, we were just chatting up at the front with Bill and Fleur." he said pointing his thumb over his shoulder at where he just came from.

Verity smirked, her brain working out exactly why Eloise had been acting a bit odd.

Charlie noticed her face and furrowed his brows at her, "What's going on in that evil little mind of yours, Ver?"

"First of all, I'm not evil. Second of all, she's got a thing for this one." gesturing her head towards George.

George looked down at Verity like she was insane, "What are you talking about? I barely spoke a word to her."

"I'll bet ten Sickles on it." she said to George with a mischievous grin.

"I'm not playing this dumb game." George said, rolling his eyes.

"Well, I'll take on that bet. They're all coming to dinner at my mum's house so I'll be able to give you all the details tomorrow." Charlie said, nudging Verity's shoulder.

"Excellent!" she laughed.

"They're what?" George interjected.

"Hmm? Oh, Bill said they're coming to dinner tonight and bringing Eloise." Charlie shrugged.

"Oh good." George groaned, he was not looking forward to any other awkward situations his sister-in-law was capable of creating.

-

George knew that most of his family were meant to be over for dinner that night, but he didn't anticipate Eloise's presence. He was already dreading having to interact with his family, attempting to put on the facade of being fine so they wouldn't try to poke and prod at him asking him if they can do anything to make him feel better. With a new presence in the house he was worried she would also look at him with sad eyes just like everyone else did.

From the minute he got home from work George had locked himself away in his bedroom, as he usually did. His family had stopped trying to talk to him when he arrived home to ask him how his day was since George usually just mumbled or grunted in response.

His work uniform was lazily thrown over the back of his desk chair and he now wore a Chudley Cannons t-shirt that Ron had given him for Christmas and a pair of old jeans. George wasn't the biggest fan of the Chudley Cannons, but he did like the shirt. The orange and maroon suited him much more than the light blue of the Tutshill Tornados or the green of the Holyhead Harpies.

George's room was on the second floor of the Burrow, so it was quite easy to hear whenever someone would come and go from the house. Within the hour that he and Charlie had been home, he had heard his dad arrive home complaining about something that happened at the Ministry earlier in the day, and shortly after that he heard Ron and Hermione bickering as they entered the kitchen. But it wasn't until he heard Fleur's unmistakable French accent that he started trying to really listen to what was going on.

He stood up and walked over to lean his right ear against the door to get a better listen, he thought maybe it would just be Bill and Fleur after all and they would have left Eloise at Shell Cottage. But to his dismay he heard another soft voice with a French accent that wasn't nearly as thick as Fleur's say, "It is lovely to meet you, Mrs. Weasley."

George jumped back from the door as a loud knock rang in his ears, he grasped the side of his head covering his ear as he opened the door and came face-to-face with Bill who raised an eyebrow at him.

"Don't tell me you've done something to your good ear." he joked.

"Shut up."

Bill laughed, "I just came up here to tell you that mum wants you."

George grumbled something under his breath as he stepped out into the hallway in front of Bill and made his way downstairs and into the kitchen.

"Oh there you are darling!" Molly said at the sight of George.

His mother was standing with Eloise, they seemed to have been chatting before he entered the room. Eloise gave a small polite smile to George before diverting her eyes away from him, looking at something across the room to avoid his gaze.

"Did you need something?" he asked his mother.

"Yes dear, would you please go out into the shed and fetch a few extra chairs?"

Instead of asking why Bill, Charlie, or Ron couldn't handle that task he took it as an opportunity to get out of the house and away from his family for a few minutes. He nodded at his mother before squeezing past the two witches, briefly brushing against Eloise's arm as he made his way out the back door. Her cheeks flushed with pink in response to his unintentional touch.

As George made his way across the garden Eloise watched him from the kitchen window. The warm light of the sunset seemed to make his hair more fiery and his tanned skin even more golden, her attention only broke away from him at the sound of Molly's voice asking her a question.

"I'm sorry, I didn't hear you. What were you saying?" Eloise asked sheepishly, hoping that she hadn't noticed her staring at her son.

"That's alright dear, it tends to get loud when everyone is home visiting. I was asking how long you have been staying with Bill and Fleur."

"Oh, almost a week now. It's really lovely, they are both so accommodating and I'm loving all the time I get to spend with Fleur." Eloise said with a smile.

"You two went to school together?" Molly asked.

"Yes, she was a year above me, but we were very close growing up. Our classmates used to think Fleur had two younger sisters instead of one."

George returned to the house with as many extra chairs his arms could hold and began setting them around the table. His mother had clearly done a charm on the table to extend it further to accommodate everyone. He listened as his mother chatted with the blonde French girl with such ease compared to how she would act around George, he wondered if what Verity told her at the shop was true. He thought it was probably more likely that she actually hated him, maybe that's why she would avoid looking at him.

It wasn't long before the rest of the Weasley's arrived at the Burrow, the last to arrive were Harry and Ginny who had been busy the entire day moving Harry into his new flat in London. The family found their seats around the table, Eloise sat between Fleur and Ginny and found herself sitting right across from George, cursing her bad luck. If he sat anywhere else she wouldn't care, but there he was, right in front of her.

Molly waved her wand and dishes full of delicious home cooked food began careful floating to each person. Eloise was thrilled, she was an only child and didn't have a large extended family so being with the Weasleys for dinner felt like Christmas in July to her. Everyone began eating and Ginny was the first to break the silence.

"So if you went to school with Fleur, were you at Hogwarts during the Triwizard Tournament?" she asked Eloise.

Eloise finished chewing the bite of food in her mouth and shook her head, "No, I was 16 at the time. Madam Maxime only allowed the students who were of age to go. I was terribly jealous, I would have loved to attend the Yule Ball."

"Eh, the ball wasn't all that great." Ron mumbled from the other end of the table. Hermione turned to glare at him but said nothing.

"Ignore him, he's still mad he didn't get to Hermione before Krum did." Ginny laughed.

"Can we please change the subject?" Hermione said suddenly, not wanting to deal with Ron's years old jealousy after dinner.

Ginny laughed and turned her attention to George, "So how is work, George? I heard you went back to work this week."

George gave a small shrug not looking up from his food, "It's alright."

There was a bit of an awkward silence, but thanks to Fleur's presence it didn't last very long.

"We visited the shop earlier today. I think Elle loved it, didn't you?" Fleur said, turning to look at her friend with a smirk, Eloise knew what she was doing and she didn't appreciate being put on the spot in front of George's entire family.

"Oh yes, it was really amazing. I've never been to any shop like it before, Fleur had told me about it in her letters but it was even better in person. I would have loved to have a store like that near us growing up, if there is one thing Beauxbatons needed it was a bit of mischief." Eloise smiled at the Weasleys.

George looked up at her slightly as she spoke about his store, the enthusiastic smile that was on her face as she praised his business filled him with pride. The corner of his lip curled a little at her excitement. He knew people enjoyed his store, it was quite successful after all, but to see her genuine compliments really made George happy.

George wished Fred could have heard her, he knew he would have been thrilled. Although Eloise was oblivious of the man sitting across from her, Fleur had noticed and she sat back in her seat feeling very proud of herself.

The remainder of dinner was quite pleasant as they all chatted among themselves, Percy and Arthur talked about Ministry gossip, Eloise and Fleur told a few stories about Beauxbatons, Harry told the family about his new flat, and before they knew it it was already almost 8pm. Molly and Fleur began clearing the plates off the table and the rest of the family dispersed, all continuing their individual conversations.

George picked up some of the extra chairs to return to the shed and Eloise, feeling guilty just standing around and not helping anyone, approached him to ask if he wanted a hand.

"I can grab that for you." she said as George's grip on one of the chairs began to slip.

He over at her and the two of them made eye contact for the first time since they first met at the store earlier in the day. She had avoided George's gaze so much that this was the first time he noticed that her eyes were a beautiful shade of blue, he lost himself in them for a moment until he felt her reach for the chair in his hand.

"Oh yeah, thanks." he replied as she took the chair from his grasp.

Fleur who was cleaning dishes in the sink a few feet away started smirking to herself. She watched from the window as George led Eloise across the garden to the shed, she couldn't wait to bombard Eloise with a million questions about him when they got home. Molly walked up next to Fleur to set more plates in the sink, as she noticed her daughter-in-law looking out the window she too brought her attention to George and Eloise walking together back towards the house.

They were walking a fair distance apart, George had his hands in his pockets and Eloise was interlocking her fingers and twiddling her thumbs nervously. They were both looking down at the ground as they walked, rather than at each other. There was an awkwardness between the two of them, but it was clear to see that it was caused by shyness and nerves. Molly turned to Fleur and smiled at her, "Fleur, dear."

Fleur turned her head away from the window to look at her mother-in-law, "Yes?"

"Bring Eloise by again soon, she is lovely."

Fleur wondered if Molly was thinking the same thing she was, she knew the two of them could easily team up to play matchmaker if they wanted to.

"Oh, I will." Fleur said with a mischievous grin.