New Year's Day 1999

Eloise truly had a lovely week with her parents, and surprisingly the conversation of her moving back home hadn't come up at all. That was until the evening of New Year's Day as she was packing up her trunk to head back to Shell Cottage. As she flicked her wand, causing all of her clothes to fold neatly inside the small leather trunk, she heard a soft knock against the door of her childhood bedroom.

"Vous pouvez entrer." Eloise called over her shoulder.

Her mother entered her room and sat on the edge of the bed, intently watching her daughter pack and wringing her hands nervously. Though she was quite a severe looking woman with slender features much like Fleur's, she was quite gentle and soft spoken. As Eloise closed and latched the suitcase, she noticed her mother's expression and her father leaning in the door frame with a sad smile.

"Est-ce que ça va?" she asked as she looked back and forth between her parents.

"Have a seat next to your mother, darling." her father said, gesturing to the bed as he pushed himself away from the doorframe.

Eloise sat on the pale pink quilt as he pulled out the chair from her desk and sat across from her and her mother. The smile on his lips was meant to be comforting, Eloise knew that, but she had a sinking feeling they were about to have the exact conversation that she was hoping to avoid.

"We didn't want to spoil the holidays with any serious discussion, but your mother and I have been wanting to talk with you for a while about your plans." her father started as he pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose.

Eloise didn't respond right away, she merely looked over at her mother next to her who already looked quite upset, as if she knew Eloise's plans before even hearing her speak.

Her mother took in a deep breath, "Will you be moving home?" she asked, getting straight to the point.

"Colette, let's give her a chance to tell us what she wants to do." Eloise's father, Patrick, suggested gently.

A feeling of guilt rose inside Eloise's chest, surely they must have known she wouldn't stay home forever. Her goals of working in the Ministry of Magic were never a secret, that was what she had been working on all throughout school. Plans just happened change later on when she had to put everything on hold as the war started reaching a boiling point. Perhaps her mother had gotten so used to the idea of Eloise staying in France, or maybe she just wasn't handling having an empty nest very well.

"Well, I have an interview at the Ministry of Magic at the beginning of February..." Eloise started.

"That's wonderful!" her father stood up immediately and rushed across the room to plant a kiss on his daughter's forehead, before stopping next to his wife to rest a comforting hand on her shoulder, knowing that the news wasn't exactly what she was hoping to hear.

Eloise knew her father would be far more understanding. When Patrick was eighteen years old, he moved away from France for his own career at the British Ministry of Magic. He spent much of his young adult life living in London until he met his wife while on a work trip in Paris in his mid-thirties.

Once their relationship became serious he started to commute between England and Paris until he retired. When he married Colette, he had all but lost his French accent due to being gone for so many years, having only visited his parents in the French countryside during the holidays.

Colette however was a much different case, she was born and raised near Paris. When she moved out at twenty years old, her flat was only five miles away from her parent's home and she worked for the Ministère des Affaires Magiques as a secretary until she gave birth to Eloise. From that point on, she decided to be a stay-at-home mother. All Colette had known for the last twenty years was taking care of Eloise, she simply couldn't relate to the desire of spreading her wings and flying far from home.

"So, you are staying with Fleur then." her mother said in a hushed voice.

"For now, at least. After a while I may get my own flat in London." Eloise nodded as she gently laid a hand on top of her mother's to stop her from nervously twiddling her thumbs.

"It's alright Colette, we always knew Elle was destined for great things. She is bright and ambitious, we can't expect her to stay close by forever."

Eloise's mother merely nodded at her husband's words, she knew her husband was right, but she refused to say anything else for fear of unleashing the tears she was desperately holding back.

Colette and Eloise were always quite similar, they tended to try and hold back their own feelings in order to keep others happy, even if they weren't the best at hiding them. But they were also very empathetic people who could sense emotions in others with ease. Regardless of how much she wanted to hide it from her grown daughter, Eloise knew that the news hurt her.

"Mum..." Eloise whispered to her mother, who met her gaze.

Though Eloise inherited many of her physical traits from her father including his freckles, curls, and soft facial features, she had her mother's striking blue eyes. The ocean eyes mirroring her own, welling with tears of heartbreak caused by her choices nearly broke her. She truly never meant to hurt her mother, but she felt like she had no purpose in France.

In the nearly six months that she had been staying with Bill and Fleur, she felt like she had done more living than she had in the last two years of working odd jobs and rutting into a routine that had her feeling like her life had little meaning or impact.

Eloise pulled her mother into a tight embrace, as if she were trying to somehow make up for the months of missed hugs that year.

"I am proud of you, mon amour." Colette whispered to her daughter.

Eloise pulled away slightly and her mother brushed a stray curl behind her ear before she continued, "You are so much like your father. I know you will be alright, I will just miss you dearly."

"I'll visit as much as I can and I'll write every week, I promise." Eloise said, giving her mother a reassuring smile.

"I know you will, darling." Colette smiled as she released her daughter from her embrace.

Patrick walked across the room to pick up his daughter's trunk for her, "Let's head down to the lounge then. I'm sure Fleur's waiting anxiously next to her fireplace for you to get home."

Home.

Her father acknowledging that Shell Cottage was her home now was a big step in giving her freedom, and she truly did appreciate it. The Laurent family made their way down to the lounge and exchanged one final emotional embrace before Eloise stepped into the fireplace and vanished into the thick green flames, set on a course for the next chapter in her life.

-

Things at the Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes had slowed down tremendously right after the holidays. It had always been that way, the week before Christmas up to New Year's Eve were a peak sales time and thankfully they had enough fireworks in stock to meet the demand for that weekend. George honestly didn't know how they survived the holidays with his lack of work ethic. It was certainly thanks to Charlie and Verity.

Although things were still rather tense between her and George, he did give her extra days off around the Christmas as somewhat of a peace offering. Neither had spoken about the argument, nor had either one offered an apology. It was almost as if it never happened, and George was content with that.

George felt relief knowing the shop would be rather slow for the next few months. Things would pick up slightly around Valentine's Day as curious (and sometimes desperate) witches and wizards dropped by to purchase love potions. But it wouldn't truly start getting busy again until the weeks leading up to April Fool's. Although he really didn't want to think about how he would prepare for that particular holiday as it would be his first birthday without Fred, he decided to push that thought out of his mind and cross that bridge when he got to it.

Instead, he decided to use his evening off of work as an opportunity to take a few things over to Shell Cottage that he'd been meaning to drop off. Plus the beach would be a nice change of scenery compared to the streets of London. He just hoped his sister-in-law wasn't in the mood to mercilessly tease him as she usually was.

The couple hadn't been expecting George's arrival, so when a knock on their front door interrupted their relaxing evening, they initially thought it might be Eloise returning from France even though she had said she would be using the Floo Network.

As Bill rose from his armchair to open the front door, he was surprised to see his younger brother standing before him.

"Evening, George. Wasn't expecting you today." Bill greeted with a raised eyebrow as he stepped aside to allow his brother to enter the home.

"Sorry to drop in unannounced, I just had some stuff I wanted to bring over and I figured you two weren't interested in the New Year's party scene anymore given the current circumstances." he replied, flashing a quick smirk to Fleur.

"Are you saying we are boring now that we are becoming parents?" Fleur narrowed her eyes, though she wasn't at all bothered by George's comment.

"Well, I assume that you're the only couple under forty years old who's drinking tea and reading by the fire tonight instead of celebrating, so I guess I am." he shrugged.

"Don't suppose you'll want to stay for a cup of tea then? A single guy like you must have plenty of party invites." Bill asked jokingly.

"No parties for me, tea sounds great." George replied as he made his way to the couch, setting the two gifts he had brought with him on the coffee table.

Bill had fully expected George to reject his offer since he rarely wanted to stay around and mingle these days, but he gave his brother a short nod and a quick smile as he retreated to the kitchen to prepare a cup of tea for him.

"What are those?" Fleur asked George, pointing at the gifts on the table

"Gifts for Eloise, one's from mum and one's from me."

A soft smile found its way to Fleur's lips as she idly rubbed a hand over her baby bump. To her, things between George and Eloise seemed to be going much better lately, so she couldn't bring herself to mention that the blonde would be arriving home at any moment for fear that George would find a reason to escape.

Bill returned a few short moments later with two cups of tea, one for George and another for his wife. Shortly after the eldest Weasley found his way back to his armchair near the fire to continue reading that day's edition of The Daily Prophet, the fireplace grew and a flash of green flames filled that corner of the room before Eloise emerged back at her home.

She spotted George immediately as she stepped foot inside the living room, and quickly remembered just how much she missed him. It felt like an eternity since they last saw each other. As soon as their eyes met Eloise quickly set down her trunk and plopped down on the couch next to him, completely ignoring Bill and Fleur's presence in the room.

"Happy New Year." she grinned at the redheaded man, who returned her smile.

Bill and Fleur made eye contact and seemed to quickly read each other's minds as they stood up almost simultaneously.

"I think it's about time we started dinner, you'll stick around to eat right George?" Bill asked.

"Hmm? Oh sure, whatever you make is probably better than anything Charlie would cook back at the flat."

With that, the married couple retreated to the kitchen and left George and Eloise alone in the lounge to catch up.

"How was your holiday?" he asked.

"It was wonderful until about thirty minutes ago." Eloise replied, kicking off her shoes and bringing her feet up on the couch as she twisted around to face him.

"Why's that?"

Eloise, feeling much more comfortable in George's presence recently, stretched out her legs so her feet were draped over his lap before answering "They asked if I was planning on moving home."

George, who was much too preoccupied with the idea of her leaving, didn't think anything of their new position, he merely frowned at her words,  "Well what did you tell them?"

"I told them I was staying. I have an interview at the Ministry in a few weeks thanks to Percy, and Bill and Fleur told me I could stay here as long as I like."

A wave of relief washed over George at the news she wasn't planning on moving back to France any time soon. Then he remembered why he decided to come to Shell Cottage in the first place. He rested a hand on Eloise's calf as he leaned over to retrieve the gifts from the coffee table. As he handed her the gifts he noticed the surprised look in her eyes, as if she hadn't been expecting a gift from him at all.

"What? You thought you could give everyone a gift and expect nothing in return?" George chuckled.

"Well yes, I much prefer giving than receiving." she admitted.

"I mean, I suppose I can take them back but I don't know what I'd do with either of them. They're both kind of, well...made for you." he replied as he nervously ran a hand over the back of his neck.

"Which one should I open first?" she asked.

"The one on top, it's from my mum."

Eloise peeled back the orange wrapping paper and pulled the lid off the box to reveal one of Molly's handmade jumpers, it was pale blue with a large white 'E' on the front.

"You should feel honored mum made you one, Fleur didn't get one for years. We had to give her one of Fred's old ones so she wouldn't feel left out at dinner." George smirked as he recounted the memory.

"It's lovely! How'd she decide on the color?"

George's fingers nervously started tracing circles over Eloise's calf, "Well she asked me what color I thought you'd like and I just guessed blue because I figured it would go well with your eyes."

A sweet smile grew on Eloise's lips, "That was very thoughtful of you."

"It's nothing." he shrugged.

Eloise carefully folded the jumper before setting it aside and bring her attention back to the other gift in her lap, "So this one is from- ?"

"Me." he nodded.

Eloise noticed that the wrapping wasn't nearly as neat as the previous gift, but she didn't mind. She ripped the paper away to reveal a deep navy leather bound journal, the same one she saw in the stationary store when the two had gone shopping together.

"Oh, thank you George, you didn't have to."

"You haven't even seen the best part, look at the spine."

Eloise flipped the journal to see her initials 'E. L.' on the side, and as she gazed at the embossed letters, the color of her initials changed from a dull grey to a bright yellow.

"What color is it?" George asked.

"Yellow, why?"

"It changes depending on your mood, I charmed it so it would do that. Only works with you as well, so even if I held it, it would still only show the color of how you're feeling. Yellow means you're happy, by the way." he explained with a slight smile.

Eloise had heard stories of George's genius ideas from Fleur in the past, but this was her first time seeing it in person, and it was all for her.

"You're incredible, George! This is amazing." she said with a wide grin, watching the initials change from yellow to a shimmering white. She paused for a moment before looking back up at him, "What does white mean?"

"It means you're feeling inspired, I wrote a little key for you on the inside cover." he replied, feeling quite proud of himself.

It had been a long time since George had any creative ideas and he honestly thought the charm on Eloise's journal was quite silly. Initially he had been quite nervous to give it to her, but seeing her genuine reaction made his heart happy. Perhaps he hadn't actually lost all of his talent when Fred passed away.

"So I have a question for you, Elle." George spoke up giving her calf a light squeeze as he quickly changed the subject.

"Yes?" she replied, setting the journal in her lap.

"Firewhisky?" he asked with a smirk.

Eloise was quite relieved that her arms were resting over her new journal, blocking George's view of the initials that would have no doubt shifted to whatever color represented embarrassed, shy, or Merlin forbid, flirty.

She let out a slight giggle, "Yes."

"So you think I'm a drunk?" he teased.

"Oh, Merlin no! It's more abstract than that." Eloise shook her head with a laugh.

"So are you going to explain it to me?"

"Maybe someday. Or maybe I'll let you figure it out on your own." she suggested with a shrug.

"At least give me a hint."

Eloise tapped her index finger against her chin thoughtfully, "How do you feel when you drink firewhisky?"

His brows furrowed at the question before he let out a sarcastic laugh, "I feel depressed when I drink, Elle. You think I'm depressing?"

Eloise playfully hit his arm in response, "No! I mean the physical feeling of drinking it."

"The physical feeling? Like burning down your throat?"

Eloise tilted her head slightly, "Sort of, I was thinking more along the lines of feeling warm while you drink it."

"So you think I'm a warm person then?" he asked with a raised eyebrow.

"I do."

"That's a new one." he sighed as leaned his head back on the sofa to look at the ceiling, his mood shifting slightly.

"Why do you say that?" she asked softly, hoping he wouldn't hear any wavering confidence in her voice.

"I suppose I just feel like I'm cold and distant these days." he replied, not breaking his eyes away from the ceiling.

Eloise shook her head and rested a hand on the side of his face to gently turn his head so he would meet her gaze, "You don't give yourself enough credit. You comforted me when I told you about my grandmother and you went Christmas shopping with me even when you were having a rubbish morning. You are warm, George Weasley."

As his attention was brought towards her, the warm light of the fireplace flickering on her skin gave her that same ethereal glow that the sunset of his bedroom window had given her weeks ago. Eloise was indescribable to him, there was something magic about her that could melt the ice around his heart with such ease when no one else stood a chance at making him open up.

When her full lips turned into a comforting smile, something inside George's mind told him to lean in to kiss her. To just seize the moment and open his heart to her fully. For a split second his eyes flicked between her blue eyes and rosy lips as the temptation grew. He would typically never be this impulsive nowadays, not without a few drinks in his system at least.

But this wasn't a situation where he wanted to kiss her to feel something other than the pain in his heart, he wanted to kiss her because he did feel something - something for her - and that scared the shit out of him.

Part of his brain was screaming to just let Eloise in, but another part of his brain couldn't, not with how much work he had done to build up all the protective walls around his heart. But George's racing thoughts were interrupted when the sound of Fleur's voice called to them from the kitchen.

"Dinner is ready!"

Within a blink of an eye, the moment was gone. Eloise's hand was already gone from the side of his face, she had pulled her feet off of his lap and was standing up from the sofa before George could even get his thoughts straight. Perhaps this was for the best, it would have been a huge mistake to kiss her tonight. They were better off keeping things platonic, they worked wonderfully as friends, and he shouldn't threaten to ruin that. Especially not when he wasn't anywhere near ready to fully open his heart to someone.

A/N: Once again if I ever mess up any French phrases I use, please don't be afraid to correct me! I also included translations in the comments of lines that are primarily in French. I'll continue to do that in the future to make it easier for you all :)