The August heat was unrelenting. It was hot. Not hot in the way that the sun shines bright first thing in the morning and the ocean breeze feels comforting against your skin, it was hot in a way that made the air feel thick and caused sweat to form against your forehead almost immediately.

Eloise was very much looking forward to the next couple of weeks going by quickly and finally reaching September when things would finally cool down. Though she was a summer baby herself, she had always hated this season the most. She would much rather curl up next to the fire on a cool autumn night with a warm cup of tea and a good book over spending a single hour out in the burning sun.

The heat made it difficult for her to sleep in as the house would start getting uncomfortably warm as soon as the sun rose. Eloise frequently found herself to be the first one awake unless Bill was working, she often spent her mornings in the living room which faced south, making it much cooler as the shade fell on that side of the cottage perfectly in the mornings.

But on this particular morning she was surprised to see Fleur already awake, pacing around the kitchen biting her nails.

"You're up early, didn't sleep well?" Eloise asked, though she already knew the answer as dark circles were prominent on Fleur's beautiful face.

Fleur merely shook her head and continued pacing.

"Is everything alright?" Eloise asked, growing more concerned with her normally talkative friend's sudden silence.

She had hoped that her and Bill hadn't gotten into some sort of argument. Maybe something had happened to Gabrielle or her parents. Eloise stood in Fleur's path, blocking the rut she was inevitably going to wear into her kitchen floor had she continued her pacing. She placed a gentle hand on the concerned woman's shoulder.

"Fleur, what is it?"

Fleur continued to look down at her feet, her fingernails still pinched between her teeth, the ghost of tears shed still noticeable on her cheeks. Eloise had never seen Fleur like this before, perhaps she had been anxious like this during the Triwizard Tournament, but Eloise hadn't been there to witness it so this behavior was all new territory for her.

"Why don't you sit? I'll make you some tea, okay?" Eloise suggested, gently guiding her friend to the kitchen table where she began nervously twiddling her thumbs and bouncing her leg up and down.

Eloise furrowed her brows at her friend as she flicked her wand, causing the kettle to float over to the sink behind her, filling up with water before setting itself on the stove to heat up. Fleur hadn't looked up once the entire time Eloise had been in her presence. She was so consumed in her own thoughts and anxiety that the sound of the whistling kettle made her jump, it was as if she had forgotten she was even sitting in her own kitchen.

Eloise poured two cups of tea and added an extra sugar cube than normal into Fleur's before sitting down at the table and handing the tea to her friend. Without making eye contact, Fleur picked up the mug and started drinking gratefully. Nothing cured Eloise's anxiety more than a warm cup of tea, and she was hoping it was the same for her friend.

"Ready to talk?" Eloise asked gently.

Fleur was tapping nervously on the side of the mug, "I am late."

Without a second question Eloise knew exactly what Fleur was referring to, so she just reached her hand across the table for her friend to take. The gesture caused Fleur to stop tapping on the mug and finally meet her friend's eyes, she set down the cup and rested her hand in Eloise's, who ran her thumb over the back of her friend's hand in a comforting motion. Eloise noticed how sleep deprived Fleur truly looked when their eyes finally met, her normally silky straight hair was tangled in a loose ponytail at the nape of her neck and her sparkling silver eyes were now a dull grey and filled with exhaustion.

"How do you feel?" Eloise asked, she knew it was not her place to tell Fleur whether she should be excited or if she should be concerned. All she cared about was how her friend was feeling, not whatever her own opinions were.

"Scared. Bill and I have always wanted children, but I never thought it would happen so soon. I don't want him to be disappointed, we've only been married for a year." Fleur whispered as her voice began shaking, more tears finally escaping her eyes as she spoke her thoughts out loud.

Without a second thought, Eloise stood up from her seat and moved around the table, resting in the chair directly next to her friend. She quickly pulled her into a comforting embrace and allowed Fleur to cry into her shoulder as she stroked her hair.

"Bill will be absolutely thrilled, I have no doubt. He loves you so much Fleur."

She felt Fleur nodding against her shoulder, knowing deep down that she was right. Her anxiety seemed to fade away the longer Eloise held her and eventually she pulled away and wiped her tears. Eloise brushed a silver strand of hair behind Fleur's ear that had stuck to the tears on her cheek and gave her a warm smile.

"Will you come to St. Mungo's with me? I want to know before Bill gets home from work, but I don't want to go alone."

"Oh my gosh, yes of course." Eloise nodded, probably a little too enthusiastically.

Eloise always loved babies, despite being an only child herself, she had always had a natural motherly way to her. She was gentle, nurturing and patient, and always knew someday she would love to be a mother. But until her time came, she couldn't deny that the idea of her best friend having a baby made her incredibly excited. For Fleur's sake, however, she did her absolute best to stay calm and level headed to support the worried woman.

-

Eloise sat in the waiting room of St. Mungo's maternity ward reading an old copy of Witch Weekly to pass the time as Fleur was being examined. Normally Eloise would have acted like she didn't have any interest in the tabloid, opting for poetry or classic literature instead, but no one she knew was around to see her browse through the guilty pleasure.

Skimming through the old articles which had headlines like "Magical Recipes You Can Make Anywhere!" and "The Silencing Charm: Good for Hiding, Better for the Bedroom!" Eloise gathered that this specific copy was probably printed sometime during the war.

In hindsight, she found humor in the magazine trying to take a traumatic time and spin it in a lighthearted way, but she couldn't imagine being the one to have to write about sex, recipies, and beauty tips when there was so much tragedy going on in the world. But she supposed people needed some sort of escapism during those times, and if silly magazine articles were that escape for someone, she couldn't blame them for it.

She flipped the pages and saw a familiar advertisement, one for WonderWitch products, "sold only at Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes!" Eloise found it humorous that the twins were reaching out to this particular demographic as she scanned the ad looking at the various products. Most of them had to do with love and flirtation and part of her felt slightly offended that those were the kind of products they thought women wanted, but another part of her felt quite amused.

The door opened and Fleur emerged from the exam room, looking much more confident than she had this morning. Eloise closed the magazine and stood up to approach her friend.

"Well?"

Fleur nodded with a slight smile, "Yes. About four weeks, it must have happened just before our anniversary."

Eloise pulled Fleur into a tight hug, she couldn't believe her best friend was having a baby. She would be just like an aunt to the little boy or girl. Since she would never have any biological nieces or nephews of her own, she would gladly take claim on Fleur's children. She knew Fleur wouldn't mind, whenever she had her own children Fleur would definitely act as their aunt as well.

Eloise stepped back from Fleur and glanced at the clock on the wall behind her head that read just after noon. The two had completely skipped breakfast in the flurry of anxiety that morning and were growing quite hungry.

"Fancy some lunch? My treat." Eloise offered.

"That sounds lovely" Fleur replied with a grateful smile.

-

The women found a lovely little cafe on Diagon Alley called "Night Owls Tea & Coffee" as they walked by Fleur had mentioned that it must have been opened after the war since she had never noticed it before. Eloise thought it was absolutely adorable and reminded her a bit of the cafes in her hometown, she all but begged to have a look inside. The two of them decided to split a vegetarian croissant sandwich and Eloise ordered a cappuccino while Fleur opted for water to avoid having too much caffeine. They sat at a little table outside the shop for nearly an hour chatting away when the topic of George suddenly came up.

"So where did you and George sneak off to during the party?" she asked slyly as she raised an eyebrow before taking a sip of her water.

Eloise nearly choked on her coffee at the question, she had gone weeks without being asked anything about George. Naively she somehow thought that she had gotten away with leaving the party unnoticed, but she should have known her friend better than that after all these years.

"We just went on a walk." Eloise answered casually, hoping the discussion would end there.

To her dismay Fleur continued her interrogation, "A walk?"

"Yes, around the house."

"Why?"

Eloise shrugged, "He looked miserable sitting there watching everyone have fun, so I just offered to go on a walk with him. Nothing happened."

Fleur had an amused look on her face, one Eloise had seen many times before any time she took even the slightest interest in a boy.

"What do you think of George?"

What didn't she think of him was an easier question, what she thought of him was a nearly endless list. She thought he was one of the most handsome men she had ever met, tall, tanned, gorgeous with freckles all over every inch of his face, and that fiery red hair. She thought it was incredibly enchanting the way he effortlessly occupied her mind despite being alone together only a few times. She thought he was mysterious and she was so curious to learn everything about him as if she was a detective cracking a case. She thought about the way his brown eyes seemed to warm her entire body whenever they looked at each other. She was almost afraid to look at him sometimes, thinking he would somehow make her fall in love with him with just a glance. But Eloise knew she couldn't admit any of this to Fleur.

"He seems quiet. Gentle, but a little moody."

Fleur nodded, "You should have seen him before Fred passed, those two together were nothing but trouble."

"So I've heard, I find it hard to picture him like that from what I have seen."

"He is very different now." Fleur agreed.

"But I like him the way he is. Though he can be a bit hard to read sometimes."

A small smile quirked up on the corner of Fleur's lips, "Why don't we go see him?"

"Now?"

"Now." Fleur stood up and grabbed Eloise's hand to pull her up as well, not giving her any say in the matter.

-

A bell rang above the door and Charlie greeted the two of them warmly.

"Wasn't expecting to see you two lovely ladies stopping in today. Looking for anything specific?" the charming redhead asked.

"Yes, actually. Is George in?" Fleur asked with a slight tone of mischief, causing Eloise to snap her head to Fleur with widened eyes.

Charlie looked between the women for a moment, trying to gauge the situation.

"Uh, yeah he is. He's been spending most of the day in his office though. Any specific reason you're looking for him?"

"Just to have a bit of a chat, if he's not too busy of course." Fleur said innocently.

Charlie was quite confused, Fleur never stopped into the shop "to have a chat" and certainly not with George. He had noticed a rosy hue found its way to Eloise's cheeks as her friend spoke, he had remembered seeing Eloise and George leave the tent together at the party but he didn't think much about it until now. Surely if something happened between them, he would have heard about it. But then again, George was much more reserved than he used to be.

"I'll go see if he's free." Charlie nodded to the women before retreating to the back of the store.

George wasn't nearly as busy with work as he told Verity and Charlie he had been, he had just used it as an excuse to shut himself away for the day. He had days like that every now and then where he just wanted to be left alone in a room with his own thoughts, this time he just disguised it as work rather than laying in his bed. People didn't ask as many questions if they thought he was busy.

A short knock on the door pulled George's attention away from the pieces of scrap parchment he had been scribbling on, he hoped maybe not answering would make whoever it was think he had stepped out. Maybe they would give up and leave, but another knock came a short while later.

"Yes?" he said with an aggravated sigh.

Charlie opened the door slightly, "Hey, I'm sorry, I know you're busy but Fleur and Eloise just showed up asking for you."

"Me? Why?"

His brother shrugged in response, "Fleur just said she wanted to have a chat. Eloise didn't say anything but she seemed a bit flustered, did something happen at the party?"

"What? No, nothing-" George cut himself off and sighed, "Just tell them I'm busy."

"You want me to go out there and tell Fleur no?"

"Yes, that's exactly what I want you to do." George replied with a tone of annoyance.

"You and I both know that won't go over well, she'll probably just barge right in here."

George groaned and ran his hand through his hair, "Come in here, close the door behind you."

Charlie did as he was told and looked at his younger brother with furrowed brows, "Everything alright?"

"That's a stupid question."

Though George's tone was harsh Charlie realized it was a rather silly thing to ask him, George hadn't been alright for months.

"Right, sorry."

"Doesn't matter, sit down. I need to talk to you."

Charlie took a seat in the old green armchair that sat in the corner of the office. Their mother had gotten rid of it years ago but Fred and George were always willing to take things from their home that their mother didn't want anymore, the twins would have denied it at the time but they were quite sentimental and loved being near things that reminded them of their family. The room was dimly lit and quite depressing, Charlie thought to himself that he would hate to sit in this office all day, but then again, he and George were very different people despite having the same blood.

George was a closed book these days, so much so that he wouldn't even write down his feelings let alone speak them outloud to anyone. He had heard of muggles seeing "therapists" and thought the wizarding world could probably use a couple of those after the war, but then again, he felt like he was probably already a lost cause in too deep with his own demons. However, something compelled him to want to confide in Charlie, he didn't know why. Maybe it's because he's the closest thing he has to Fred now - though Charlie could never replace Fred. Or maybe it was because of the girl with wild blonde curls standing just on the other side of the wall wanting to see him.

"Something happened a few weeks ago, when Lee came to visit." George started.

Initially Charlie was confused, he had been there the entire time they all hung out together so he couldn't think of anything specific that happened to his brother, "What happened?"

"After you left to check on Lee, Verity and I sort of-" he cut himself off. George and Verity had agreed to act like it had never happened, and they were doing a great job of it. They had gone completely back to normal, Verity would make smart remarks to him at work, he would roll his eyes at her and laugh. But something about telling Charlie made it real all over again, and George was filled with embarrassment once more.

"You and Ver?" Charlie asked, doing his best to hide his jealousy.

"I took her to my room, but we only kissed. I stopped us before anything else happened. We were drunk and I was feeling alone. We agreed to act like nothing happened, there's nothing going on between us but-" he ran a hand through his hair, trying his best to form his thoughts, "I don't know how I feel about Eloise, but I do know I don't want to hurt her or use her like I almost did with Verity. I don't want to do something reckless just to feel something, she doesn't deserve that. So please, just get rid of her and Fleur for me."

Charlie nodded, taking in every word his brother spoke. The thought of him with Verity was burned into his mind and he was reminded of the day he walked in on her comforting George and how all these confusing feelings of jealousy started. He believed George when he said there was nothing between them, but he didn't know if Verity felt the same way. Something about it made him feel like he had missed his chance with her, if she was hung up on George there was no way she would give him a second thought. But he couldn't just casually ask her about it, partially because George had confided in him and it wasn't his business anyway, but also because it would be finally admitting his feelings for the girl and he wasn't ready to do that yet.

"So what's my excuse? We know 'busy' won't work." Charlie asked.

"Come up with something, tell them I needed to step out to stop by Zonko's before they close. Make it sound like I'll be there a while so they don't come back later."

The older Weasley nodded at his younger brother and stood up to leave the office, but as he reached for the handle on the door he stopped and looked back over his shoulder, "George, if you ever want to talk I'm always here." and despite his own feelings, he truly meant that.

George gave him a short nod, "Thanks."