June 1999

June 5th rolled around much faster than Eloise had expected. Of course she was excited to turn 21, but the last few months of her life had been such a whirlwind of emotions, her birthday was the last thing on her mind. Thankfully Bill and Fleur had planned out everything for her in advance, all they needed to know was who she wanted to invite over for the beach bonfire celebration.

If Eloise had it her way, George wouldn't have been on the guest list. She had been deliberately putting space between them since the last time he visited, and he hadn't gone out of his way to see her again either. But she knew deep down that if she invited the rest of his family and not him, it would have raised some questions.

That's the main reason she hadn't confided in her best friend at all. For all Fleur knew, everything between Eloise and George was just as it always had been, a mild flirtation between friends that could potentially become more one day. If only she knew everything that had happened over the last few months.

When Eloise met the Weasley family last summer she never thought there would come a time where she could potentially drive a wedge between any of them. She certainly didn't want to be the cause of a family rift or cause them to have to pick sides. Eloise already knew that Fleur would side with her on nearly anything and in doing so would try her best to drag Bill along as well. So she kept up appearances and allowed Fleur to send an owl to him on the Wednesday before her birthday, just so she could say she did.

The ball was in his court now, if George decided not to come then that would be his own choice and she wouldn't be at fault for it.

Part of her was hoping he would decide to come though, if anything it would show that he still somewhat cared for her after weeks of radio silence. But she felt so confident he'd reject the invitation that she decided to take a risk and invite someone she had recently reconnected with.

Dhani had reached out to Eloise at the beginning of May, shortly after Victoire's birth. At first it seemed rather out of the blue, they hadn't talked since their 'break up' in the beginning of November (if you could really even call it a break up). But when Eloise opened the letter from him she couldn't deny that she was glad to hear from him. His nephew had been born coincidentally the day before Victoire, he attached a photo for her to see him because he had remembered how excited she was for him to be an uncle.

From then on the two had continued writing back and forth. Surprisingly there was no awkwardness, it was as if they picked up right where they left off months ago. But this time there was no pressure of being romantically involved, they were finally able to truly bond with each other in the way that felt much more natural to them, as friends.

She'd be lying if she said she wasn't excited to see him tonight. Although they didn't work out as a couple, Eloise really did love being around Dhani and felt guilty about cutting off contact with him.

If she could turn back time, she would. The fact that Eloise used Dhani as a distraction from George ate away at her a lot, and she'd considered apologizing to him several times but was never brave enough to admit that's what she was doing. But he was always so patient and kind and she knew he was always incredibly in tune with how she was feeling. Part of her assumed deep down he knew about her feelings for George from the start.

But she decided to put those thoughts out of her mind for now. She wanted to be able to enjoy her birthday without any awkward tension, so she focused on the positives. Verity would be coming with Charlie and she was excited to finally be able to spend more time with her outside of the shop. She was also looking forward to seeing her parents who she hadn't seen since New Year's. Everyone she loved being together in one place was exactly what she needed.

"Earth to Elle!" Fleur said suddenly, breaking Eloise out of her daydream.

"Hmm?"

"Bill says he needs a 'woman's touch' on the decorations," Fleur remarked as she rolled her eyes while gently bouncing the baby in her arms, "Would  you hold Victoire for a while so I can go help him?"

"Of course." Eloise replied as she took the sleeping baby from her mother's arms.

Victoire was quite a calm baby, Eloise assumed she must have inherited that trait from Bill. Although she had no idea how Fleur was as an infant, knowing her since she was twelve years old, Eloise thought it was safe to assume Fleur would have most likely been quite fussy.

The sun had just started to set as orange and yellow light began to fill the living room of Shell Cottage, and that meant guests would start arriving soon. Suddenly the idea of George showing up felt more and more like a real possibility, which only made Eloise more anxious. Maybe letting Fleur invite him was a bad idea after all. But her fears quickly vanished as a bright green light filled the room and Eloise turned to see her parents emerging from the fireplace.

"Joyeux anniversaire, ma chérie." Colette said as soon as she laid eyes on her daughter.

A wide grin formed on Eloise's face as she greeted her parents, her father planted a quick kiss on Eloise's forehead before both of the Laurents brought their attention to little Victoire, cooing at her and commenting on how much she resembled Fleur. If anyone was going to steal the show on her birthday, Eloise was more than happy for it to be Victoire.

"It's hard to believe you are 21, but you are still my little dove." Patrick said lovingly as he tore his eyes away from the baby and brought them back up to Eloise.

"Papa..." Eloise groaned in embarrassment at the old nickname.

"It's true, no matter how old you get." he smiled as he gently stroked her blonde curls.

A distant sound of a crack outside caused Eloise to instinctively glance out the window of the living room. She saw Charlie and Verity walking hand in hand down the sandy hillside towards the bonfire Bill had set up on the beach. Despite knowing that Charlie loved to be early for every family gathering, Eloise knew their arrival meant that the rest of the Weasleys would probably be showing up soon as well.

"We should head outside, I want to start introducing you before everyone arrives. The Weasleys are a big family, so I feel like we need to get a head start." she teased, but there was some truth to her statement.

She quickly grabbed another blanket in case the ocean breeze got too cold for Victoire after sunset before leading her parents out the front door and down the path to the beach. Charlie noticed Eloise immediately and made a beeline straight for her with determination in his eyes. She had no idea what he was on a mission for until he got closer and could see he was looking at Victoire.

"Can I?" were the first words out of his mouth as he held his arms out slightly.

Eloise gently handed the baby to her uncle before smirking up at him, "Not going to wish me a happy birthday?"

"Of course! Happy birthday. But I'd be lying if I said seeing Victoire wasn't a happy bonus to coming to your party." he smiled that signature cheeky Charlie smile at her before Verity appeared next to him.

Eloise took this opportunity to introduce the couple to her parents, "Mum, dad, this is my friend Verity and her boyfriend Charlie. Charlie is Bill's younger brother."

"Oh, I see how it is. I'm just her boyfriend and his brother now?" Charlie teased with a chuckle before looking towards her parents, "She really does love me, it's great to meet you both."

"Don't mind him, he can be a bit full of himself." Verity interjected with a mischievous smirk.

Colette and Patrick shook Verity's hand and gave Charlie a polite nod due to his hands being preoccupied holding the baby. The couple had quite big personalities compared to Eloise's parents, all the Weasleys did for that matter, but she had no doubt that they would all get along wonderfully.

The six of them made their way down to the beach where Bill and Fleur had set up several blankets and pillows around a large bonfire. There was a small table for drinks and another that had plates of all of Eloise's favorite snacks and desserts which had been prepared by Fleur.

As her eyes scanned the table she remembered how stressed Fleur had been all week about the food in particular. She just didn't want to hear any judgement or criticism from Molly, so she did her best to make each dish perfectly. But her stress paid off as everything truly did look amazing.

Eloise's parents quickly excused themselves to catch up with Fleur who took over the job of introducing them to everyone while Charlie went off to talk to Bill, leaving Verity and Eloise conveniently standing by the drinks.

Eloise couldn't deny that seeing Charlie and Verity reminded her of George, and a pang of disappointment grew in her chest at the fact that they had arrived without him. She had fully expected him to not come, but the reality of it hurt more than she was prepared for.

"Everything alright?" Verity asked as she saw Eloise's expression.

"Oh yeah, just thinking."

"Need a drink?" she asked.

"Please."

Verity laughed as she walked over to the table and quickly mixed together a few things before handing the cup to Eloise, who gave her a slightly skeptical look.

"Pumpkin juice, butterbeer, and a shot of firewhisky. It's good, trust me." she reassured her.

Eloise took a large sip before hearing another crack off over by the house. As she instinctively turned her head to see who it was, she nearly spit out her drink and began coughing as she choked it down.

Verity looked confused by her reaction at first but once her eyes landed on the most recent arrivals the puzzle pieces started falling in place in her mind and she knew that Eloise may need one or two more drinks before the end of the night.

At first glance, Eloise only saw Mr. and Mrs. Weasley walking towards the beach, but several paces behind them was a tall man with short cropped red hair whose handsome face was cleanly shaven. Eloise was in full denial for a moment, but as the three of them got closer she knew it was George, looking impossibly handsome.

As soon as she realized she had been staring at him, she brought her attention back to her drink. Without a second thought she downed it quickly before handing the cup back to Verity who knew exactly what to do.

"He moved back in with his parents a few weeks ago." Verity explained as she seemed to read Eloise's mind before mixing her another drink.

"I really didn't think he'd come." she replied, not realizing she was speaking her thoughts out loud.

"Charlie says he moved home to try and get control of his drinking problem, Molly cut his hair and helped him shave last week. Being at the Burrow seems to be doing him some good." she said as she handed Eloise her drink.

"Yeah..." she trailed off in a near whisper.

As if by a stroke of luck, or maybe bad luck depending on who you asked, a distant figure could be seen flying in from just over the hill and Eloise knew it was Dhani arriving from Romania. Perhaps she wouldn't have to have any awkward conversations with George at all, so long as she could just stick with Verity and Dhani for most of the night.

The handsome American landed a little ways down the beach wearing his signature brown leather boots and a slightly soot stained t-shirt, having just come from the Dragon Sanctuary. As he approached them he laid his broom over his shoulder and brushed his wild wavy black hair away from his face. A bright smile formed on his lips when he locked eyes with Eloise.

"Happy birthday, Eloise. Nice to see you again, Verity." he greeted the girls.

"Lovely to see you, Dhani. I'll let you two catch up." she replied as she turned to give Eloise a not-so-subtle wink before quickly exiting the conversation to go find her boyfriend.

Suddenly the two were left on their own, which wasn't what Eloise had intended to happen at all, at least not right away. Over Dhani's shoulder she spotted Verity and Charlie saying something to George who had his eyes trained on her with his lips pressed into a thin line. Her body immediately tensed up when they locked eyes. This was what Eloise was afraid of, but to be fair she really didn't think George would show up tonight.

"Want to go sit by the fire?" Eloise suggested quickly as she searched for any excuse to not be in George's eyeline any longer.

"Yeah, sure." he replied as he leaned his broom against the fence separating the beach from Bill and Fleur's yard.

The two of them made their way to a nearby blanket, Eloise made sure to pick one facing away from where George was. If he was going to make a point of glaring at her the entire night, she didn't want to see it.

"So, tell me how you've been." Dhani started.

Eloise smiled slightly and leaned back on her hands, "I'm the same as always. I feel like I've already told you everything that's happened since we last saw each other. You know about my job and how I decided to stay here."

"Yes, but there's more to your life than where you live and what you do for work." he smirked.

"Well, what do you want to know?"

"I don't know, read any good books lately?"

Eloise hit his arm playfully with a laugh, "I doubt you care about that. Why don't you tell me what you've been up to?"

"Well, my sister told me the other day that they may move back to the states now that my nephew is born. She says she misses being near my parents. If she and her husband move I may try to go back to the Sanctuary in Oregon."

Her brows furrowed slightly, "Oh."

Dhani had just reentered her life and she was finding out that there was a chance he'd be leaving again. A slight feeling of disappointment grew inside of her, but she couldn't exactly pinpoint whether it was caused by the idea of losing Dhani again, or if it was the fact that many of her relationships left her feeling abandoned and empty in the end.

"Hey, but let's not worry about that tonight," he said as he nudged her shoulder with his as a comforting smile formed on his lips, "we can chat about it another time."

Eloise had nearly forgotten about the drink in her hand until a bit of it spilled as Dhani nudged her. She downed it and quickly looked over her shoulder in hopes of finding Verity so she could make her another. But as her eyes fell on the petite witch, she found her deep in what looked to be a rather heated discussion with George.

As if he could feel her gaze, George flicked his head towards Eloise before he rolled his eyes and nudged Verity, pointing over in her direction. Verity glanced over with an unconvincing smile and nodded, seeming to know what Eloise was in search of.

"I'll be right back." Eloise muttered to Dhani as she quickly stood up from the blanket.

Once the girls met over by the drinks table, Verity didn't waste any time getting straight to the point.

"You and Dhani aren't a thing again, are you?" she asked as she poured the liquor into the cup, eyeballing all the measurements (but pouring a little more firewhisky in it compared to the last one).

"Why?"

"I'm curious."

"You are? Or he is?" Eloise asked impatiently.

Verity had never seen Eloise annoyed before, and if circumstances were different, she might have been a bit amused by it. But instead her eyes widened as she parted her lips, trying to think of what to say.

"No, we aren't a 'thing' and you can tell George he can ask me himself if he cares so much." Eloise said as she took the drink from Verity's hand and left without another word, making her way back towards where she had left Dhani.

But as she spotted Dhani in the growing crowd of guests, she noticed he was deep in a discussion with Harry and Ron who seemed to have just come from a weekend session of auror training based on their messy hair and casual attire. She couldn't hear the full conversation, but she heard Dhani mention the Triwizard Tournament and assumed they were chatting about the first task.

Realizing she had just lost her conversation partner, she took a sip of her new much stronger drink and scanned over the party guests. Everyone seemed to be preoccupied with their own discussion and she was left to be a wallflower at her own birthday party, how fitting.

"Happy birthday, Elle." she heard a familiar low voice behind her, causing her heart to sink.

She was almost too scared to turn around and face him. Knowing herself, she'd take one look in his honey brown eyes and let him pull her back in and she'd fall right into his trap like she did every single time.

"Surprised you showed up." she said curtly with her back still facing him.

"You invited me"

"Fleur invited you, not me."

"Well, friends show up on birthdays. You told me that."

Eloise took another sip of her drink before turning around to gaze up at him.

Damn it, why is he so gorgeous?

"Why haven't you written?" she asked immediately.

Eloise knew better than to instigate an argument, especially in the middle of her party. But she wanted answers, it was almost as if she was testing him. Of course she knew this time she was the one who decided that putting distance between them was probably for the best. But every time before now she was always the one to reach out to him. After all this time she thought if he really cared he'd try to contact her at least once.

"I've been trying to work on myself, so I thought it would be better to give you space while I do that."

"Is that what you told yourself every other time you ignored me? That I needed space?" she asked in a slightly raised voice.

George's jaw clenched and he quickly glanced over her shoulder to make sure she wasn't grabbing anyone's attention before he brought his eyes back down to her, "I don't want to ruin your birthday, Elle. If you don't want me here I'll leave."

"I don't know what I want, George. I miss you when you're gone but now that you're here I just feel frustrated."

"Can we go further down the beach if we're going to have this discussion?" he asked as he gently placed a hand on her arm.

She quickly pulled away from his grasp, "Don't touch me. You're just going to give me another speech about how much you care about me and our 'friendship'. If you care then show me, don't tell me."

Eloise knew that she wasn't really being fair to George, he had a lot going on in his life that he was trying to work through. But she had been bottling up her frustrations for months couldn't hold it in any longer.

"Everything alright?" a comforting voice came from behind Eloise as a hand came to rest on her shoulder.

She didn't need to look up to know who it was. Between his accent and the look on George's face, she knew Dhani had just pulled himself away from his discussion with Harry. As good as his intentions may have been, Eloise knew he wasn't really going to help the situation with her and George. If anything, he'd just make it worse.

"We're great, aren't we George?" Eloise reassured Dhani as her eyes remained intently locked on the redhead in front of her.

"Yep, we were just catching up. But don't worry, she's all yours." he said plainly before nodding at Dhani and leaving them to find anyone else to talk to.

They watched George find his was over to Bill and Charlie before Dhani brought his attention back to Eloise, "Is everything actually okay?"

Eloise shrugged as she kept her eyes locked on the back of George's head as he chatted with his brothers. Though Dhani was always an empathetic guy, he didn't need to be a genius to see the longing in her eyes.

"Have you told him?"

She quickly turned her head up to him and furrowed her brows in confusion causing Dhani to chuckle.

"George, have you told him how you feel?" he clarified.

"I don't- he- we- there's nothing." she stammered.

Dhani shook his head and smiled at her, "Well, if you say so. I have my doubts though."

"Even if I did have feelings for him, which I don't. He's not interested in me anyway."

"I'm not so sure that's the truth."

"He told me he isn't."

"You're telling that guy glares at me as if he wants to kill me and he doesn't have feelings for you?" he asked with a slight smirk and a raised eyebrow.

"He told me he doesn't want to be in a relationship."

"Well, that's not the same thing at all." he replied with a laugh.

"I don't understand." she replied as she found herself growing slightly annoyed with how amused Dhani seemed to be about the whole situation.

"The man is probably crazy about you. He's just not ready to date, that's all."

Eloise sighed, "Even if that's true, it's exhausting."

"Ignoring each other obviously doesn't seem to be working out for either of you." he teased as he nudged her shoulder and pointed over to George who had been sneaking glances at her the entire time.

Eloise looked over and locked eyes with George over the crowd. She expected him to look away immediately, but he let his eyes linger on her as if she was the only person other than him standing on the beach. She felt her heart skip a beat, but she couldn't decipher if it was caused by her anxiety or because of the butterflies in her stomach that seemed to appear every single time she saw his face.

"I think you should hear him out." Dhani encouraged.

Even if she wanted to go to him, her feet felt like they were made of lead, George's gaze had her completely locked in place. She was finally able to break her eyes away from him to look up at Dhani who gave her an encouraging nod and a gentle nudge on the shoulder.

It felt like her feet were moving on autopilot as they carried her across the sand towards him. She watched as he leaned over to his brothers to excuse himself from the conversation before walking over to her, meeting her in the middle.

"I'm sorry." they both said at the same time, causing them to let out a laugh.

"Walk with me?" George asked as he held out his hand to her.

She nodded without question and laid her hand in George's as he led her away from the crowd of party guests. Walking along the beach with George, away from everyone, reminded her a bit of when they decided to escape from Bill and Fleur's anniversary party together. But so much had changed between them since last August.

They came to a stop not too far from the bonfire, just far enough to where they could have enough privacy. He let go of her hand and sat down on the sand, with Eloise quickly following suit. At first they couldn't decide who should speak first, George had his knees pulled to his chest while Eloise sat silently twiddling her thumbs. They sat like that for a minute, glancing at each other occasionally before they both finally decided to break the silence.

"I-" they both started, "You first." they continued in sync.

The two of them laughed and George held up his hand, "You can go first, I'll shut up."

"I just wanted to say I'm sorry for how short I've been with you. I shouldn't be taking my frustrations out on you when you've been dealing with so much, it was selfish of me." she said quietly, looking down at her hands.

"You're not selfish, I know I haven't been easy to deal with."

"I guess I just don't know where we stand with each other." she continued as she glanced over to him, watching him as he kept his eyes on the tide.

"I feel like we haven't been on the same page." he said after a brief moment, bringing his eyes to her.

"That's an understatement." she chuckled sarcastically.

George smirked at her before continuing, "When I said I didn't want a relationship it didn't have anything to do with you. I should have made that clear from the start. It's all me, I'm just not ready. I'm a bit of an emotional wreck at times if you haven't noticed."

"No, I noticed." she smiled at him as she nudged him with her shoulder, earning her a small smile.

"I'm working really hard to get better, so maybe some time in the future I'll change my mind. But for now I don't think it would be a good idea. I can't even love myself let alone someone else, you know?"

"Yeah, that makes sense." she nodded slightly.

"I moved back home after I last saw you. I knew my problem had gotten out of control and I needed someone to keep me accountable, and no one does that better than my mother." he said with a laugh.

"Verity told me a little bit about that. Molly did a nice job with your hair by the way, you look really good."

While Eloise had gotten used to George's more rugged appearance over the last several months, she couldn't deny the fact that she preferred this look on him much more.

With his hair cut short and his face cleanly shaved she could admire his features much more easily. Every freckle was in plain view now and she noted how chizeled his jawline really was, she even noticed how his lips almost naturally had a smirk on them at all times, somehow making him look even more charming than he did before.

"Thanks, it was long overdue." he replied as he ran a hand through his hair and Eloise was almost certain he did it just to tease her.

She tore her eyes away from him and focused on the ocean waves crashing on the shore. She was sure that if she looked at him any longer she wouldn't be able to fight the urge to kiss him, which would have been quite inappropriate in the middle of George telling her he wasn't ready for a relationship.

"Can I ask you something?" she said suddenly.

"Yeah, anything."

"Why did you ask Verity if I was seeing Dhani again?"

She brought her eyes back to him to see his brows furrowed as if he was trying to think of how to respond. With the setting sun it was harder to read his face, but the longer he took to respond the more worried she got.

"I suppose I was feeling a bit jealous, honestly."

"Jealous of what?" she asked quietly, her heart skipping a beat.

"Is it really not obvious?" he asked as the corner of his lip curled up slightly.

Of course it was obvious what he was hinting at, but without hearing it come from his lips Eloise would never believe it. She'd find a way to convince herself George was never really interested in her if he never confessed to it himself.

She shook her head at him slightly and he let out a sigh, "Seeing you with him just reminded me that there's nothing holding you back from being in a relationship with someone."

She couldn't quite decipher what he meant, and she was far too nervous to ask him to clarify. Was he jealous of the fact that she didn't have any baggage holding her back from being able to commit? Or was he jealous of the fact that she could be in a relationship with someone who wasn't him?

"Well, I'm not with him. We're just friends. It should have been that way from the start."

"What do you mean?"

Eloise's nerves grew even more at his simple question. She needed to quickly decide if it was worth it to confess that she had used Dhani as a distraction from him.

"We just work much better as friends." she shrugged.

Glancing up at the sky, George noticed that the sun had nearly set and it was getting much too dark for them to continue sitting away from the party.

"Can I give you your gift before we head back?" he asked.

"Oh, sure."

George leaned over slightly as he stuck his hand in the pocket of his jeans to fish out a small pale blue box which was almost identical to the color she used to paint her nails.

"It's not much, but when I saw it I knew I had to get it for you." he said as he handed her the box.

Eloise pulled the lid away to see a dainty silver chain with a small swan shaped charm attached to it. Her eyes grew wide as she pulled the bracelet away from the box and held it in the palm of her hand.

"George, it's beautiful!" she beamed up at him.

"Want me to help you put it on?"

She nodded happily as she handed him the bracelet and held out her wrist to him. He clasped the bracelet around her wrist and straightened out the charm so she could admire it. It was simple and beautiful and exactly Eloise's taste. It was quite impressive that he had found something so perfect for her and she wondered if he had been paying attention to the type of jewelry she typically wore.

"I was out with mum last week on Diagon Alley and saw it in a shop window. I knew I had to get it for you because of the swan." he explained as he watched her admiring the charm.

She looked up at him with a knowing smile, "Because of-"

"My birthday," he nodded before continuing, "When you sat with me near Fred's grave that night, it was the first time in a long time I truly didn't feel alone. The bracelet reminded me of the swans that were in the pond while we were talking and I just wanted to get you something as a thank you for that moment. I know things got a little messy after that... but it did mean a lot to me."

Eloise laid her hand on the side of his face before placing a quick peck on the opposite cheek, "Thank you, George. I love it."

He leaned into her touch for a moment before she pulled away and smiled sheepishly at him. He cleared his throat and sat up a bit straighter before glancing over her shoulder, "Suppose we should head back to the party, yeah? I can't in good conscience keep the guest of honor all to myself, can I?"

A giggle escaped her lips before she replied, "I suppose not."

George stood up and brushed the sand off his jeans before holding out a hand to Eloise to help her up too. As they walked back to the party, hand in hand, Eloise felt much better about where they stood with each other.

But part of her felt like it was too good to last.

She still hadn't confessed her feelings to him and he danced around the subject as well. While it was more clear why George didn't want a relationship, Eloise couldn't avoid the fact that she still had strong feelings for a man who couldn't commit to her and there was nothing she could do to change that.