Things at the shop had been rather slow lately. May was always this way. January through April would bring in a steady flow of customers - from people wanting fireworks for New Year's, Love Potions for Valentine's Day, and just about anything to get a laugh for April Fool's Day.

But May? A few curious customers would come in and browse from time to time but it was nothing wild or unexpected. Certainly nothing like how it had been when Fred and George first opened the shop all the way back in '96 where each day felt like their grand opening for months on end.

When it was like this, George found himself unable to relax. His calendar had long since been marked for the end of June, when students would finally return from school for the summer holidays and bring new business to the shop.

It wasn't even that he was feeling particularly motivated to work. In all honesty, he just needed the distraction. Without keeping his hands and mind occupied, George worried that his anxiety would take over and whatever fearful thoughts had been ruminating in his brain that week would completely consume him. The busy work helped, sometimes more than the therapy. Distractions held back the memories for a little while and that's honestly all he needed.

Despite how much George would much rather be working than laying on Eloise's couch doing nothing, Charlie and Verity were the ones running the store that day.

The three of them agreed that with the slow business lately, each of them should get two days off, rather than the one day a week that the shop was closed. Although it wasn't necessarily that all of them agreed to the idea, it was just that George didn't think it was worth the argument. He could already see both Charlie and Verity getting into a tissy if George so much as objected to the idea of taking a break.

Eloise on the other hand loved when work was slow for her. When the piles of paperwork shrank to nothing and the interdepartmental memos weren't constantly zooming around her head. Her promotion to Percy's old position brought forth several new responsibilities but it also took away a lot of the mundane busy work she had to keep up with on a weekly basis.

On this particular Sunday afternoon, George and Eloise found themselves with nothing to do. And while Eloise was quite content sitting inside reading for an entire day, George hated it.

"I've been thinking-" he started as boredom had finally driven the man to the brink of madness.

Eloise looked over the top of the book she had been reading in the armchair, raising an eyebrow at the man laying on the couch petting a sleeping Simon. She instinctively took in a deep breath, almost expecting some sort of grandiose scheme to form in his mind that would cause some sort of trouble to spill from his lips.

"Yes?"

"We should go out this evening."

The blonde set her book down on her lap, her index finger still sandwiched between the pages to keep her place, "Where to?"

"That, I'm afraid, is a secret." George responded, already beaming.

"Can I at least have a hint?"

"Nope!" George said brightly as he sat up, effectively waking up a now rather grumpy Simon.

Eloise teetered on the border between amusement and worry as she gazed at her boyfriend. There was nothing wrong with surprises, not in her book. But with George, surprises could literally mean anything. Without noticing, she had tucked her bottom lip between her teeth - chewing nervously as wild scenarios played out in her mind.

"Sickle for your thoughts, darling?" George asked with a lilt of amusement.

The girl blinked her eyes at him, suddenly bringing her focus back to reality rather than the creative scenarios her mind had conjured up. In her hesitation, a laugh escaped from George's lips.

"Not got you nervous, have I?" he asked with a crooked grin.

"No." she replied, almost defensively.

Her tone earned an even more amused smile from George, if that was even possible. Suddenly, what had originally been a mere suggestion to get out of the flat had become somewhat of a game - to George's pure delight. Eloise, however, did not seem nearly as thrilled as the afternoon passed and her incessant begging for even the smallest of hints on what he was planning had gone completely ignored.

Part of her was beginning to wonder if he even had a plan at all, or if their entire evening would simply be George flying by the seat of his pants.

By the time five in the evening rolled around, Eloise's face had twisted into a rather sour expression while George's cheeks ached from grinning nearly all day. Only Simon could surpass Eloise's grumpy demeanor - no one could ever challenge the elderly cat when it came to that.

"Are you ready to go?" George asked from the sofa, lacing up his boots as Eloise had just finished drying dishes in the kitchen.

Eloise glanced down at her casual attire before looking across the room at him, "Do I look ready?"

"You tell me." he replied vaguely.

A frown formed on Eloise's lips. In an old pair jeans and one of George's t-shirts, she assumed her get-up would only be acceptable in a handful of places. The last thing she needed was for him to try and take her to a nice dinner only for her to be severely underdressed.

"No, you tell me. I've got no idea where we are going. Are jeans acceptable? Should I change? What about my hair? I'm sure it looks like a nightmare." she spoke about a million miles an hour.

George shook his head with a smirk as he stood, "I sure you could wear pajamas where we are going and it'd probably be alright."

Pajamas? Where on Earth was he taking her? Maybe a nice hotel for the evening? A sudden flush washed over her cheeks at the idea of a romantic night with George, but it was the raised eyebrow that he'd given her in response to her sudden shy demeanor that caused her to dismiss that idea. Surely if that were the case, he would have at least told her to pack an over night bag.

"I still look a mess." she objected with a frown.

"You always look beautiful."

Eloise wanted to huff, to roll her eyes in disagreement, but she couldn't help the way his adoration of her made her heart skip a beat and cause the corners of her lips to twitch upward against her will. She finally decided, after nearly giving herself a headache from hours of overthinking, that maybe she should just give in and go with the flow - no matter how much that went against her sensibilities.

After a quick glance in the mirror, she deemed her appearance good enough to be seen out in public and finally resigned herself to George's full control.

With their fingers interlocked, he lead them through Diagon Alley, out of the Leaky Cauldron, and into muggle London. Their path felt somewhat familiar, but she couldn't exactly pinpoint why. On the way to their destination, they had passed plenty of venues Eloise would have deemed a lovely date.

They walked by a cinema and she wondered if George had ever watched a film before, surely he had based on Arthur's love for muggle culture - if not, Eloise knew he'd be fascinated by the technology.

In her head, she began making a list of films she wanted to show him that she had watched at her grandparents' house growing up. The first one to pop into her mind being The Princess Bride. She could practically hear George saying 'As you wish' to just about anything she said after watching it, just to make her laugh.

Shop windows and cafés went ignored by George as he continued to lead her further down the sidewalk, weaving around Londoners going about their own evening plans. When they turned a corner and came to a smaller side street, Eloise's memories came flooding back to her, she knew exactly where they were now.

"Fish and chips?" she asked as she gazed up at him.

"Yes, indeed." he smiled down at her.

With a skip in her step, Eloise now took the lead down the road to the small restaurant tucked between a pharmacy and an electronics shop - both of which seemed to pique George's interest ever so slightly, but they would have to explore those another day.

As the couple stepped inside the restaurant, the gentleman behind the counter gave them a gruff greeting. It was the same man who had been working the night the two of them had come in on Valentine's Day a year ago. Only this time, he didn't seem to pity Eloise nearly as much for coming in for dinner on a regular old Sunday rather than what was meant to be the most romantic night of the year.

As if she were replaying that night again like a stage play, Eloise took her seat in the same exact booth as George ordered the exact same meal for them. A warm feeling of nostalgia washed over her with every passing second she was in there. How curious it was for the most unsuspecting place in the world to hold such a special place in her heart.

As George sat down across from her, it was as if she were experiencing the most vivid deja vu.

The last time they were there, George had asked her if he made her nervous and truth be told, he did. To this day, he made her nervous - in a good way, of course. Butterflies filled her entire stomach when she locked eyes with him and she was certain she'd never lose the feeling of adrenaline that coursed through her veins every time they kissed.

"Is this your go to spot for dates, then?" Eloise asked as she reached out to grab a chip.

George raised a brow at her, "How'd you figure that?"

"This is the second time you've brought me here."

"Was the first time a date?" he asked with a smile.

"Well, I- I mean. No, of course not." Eloise stuttered slightly.

That glint of mischief in George's honey colored eyes seemed to shine a little bit brighter at Eloise's sudden nervousness. A faint pink blush grew over her freckled cheeks as he kept his eyes on her, casually placing a chip in his mouth as if the woman across from him wasn't dying internally from sheer embarrassment.

Finally, after what felt like an eternity, George decided to put her out of her misery, "I always thought of it as a date."

Eloise had a look on her face as if she was certain she didn't hear him correctly, "You did?"

George nodded, "When I asked you to dinner you sort of just stood there and stared at me for a bit, so I got nervous and came up with that excuse of Charlie and Verity kicking me out of the flat so you wouldn't think it was actually a date."

Eloise was kicking her past self for being so nervous, not to mention so naive. Although, perhaps believing George had a real interest in her back then would have made the following months all the more painful to deal with. Going on a date with him and then hearing that he wasn't ready for a relationship likely would have somehow hurt even more than the words already did at the time.

But that was the past. All of those moments lead them to now, so she tried to not ruminate on them.

"It's probably a good thing that I didn't think of it as a date."

"Why's that?"

"The idea of you asking me out made me far too nervous. Going to dinner as friends felt much less intimidating at the time."

George smiled at her for a moment before leaning back in his seat. Eloise's brows furrowed, silently inquiring him to speak his mind.

"So, was that our first date then?" he asked.

Eloise nearly choked on the chip she'd just taken a bite of at his question. Maybe it was their first date, in some weird way that the two didn't even realize at the time.

Once she regained her composure, she looked at the man across from her. The man who somehow made the simple gesture of taking her out to eat fish and chips on the most romantic holiday of the year feel like one of the most important nights of her life.

"I think so." she replied.

"Me too."

The faint wrinkles around George's eyes deepened as he smiled at her. Eloise felt invincible, like this was what true happiness was - sitting there, in that little muggle restaurant with George, reminiscing on memories and just being content in each other's company. That was bliss. True, honest to goodness bliss. There was nothing that could possibly go wrong, she was convinced of it.

As they finished their meal, Eloise remembered another topic of discussion that had come up on that Valentine's Day evening.

"Have you been inventing anything lately?" she asked.

As George wiped his hands with a napkin, he paused briefly before nodding his head, "Yeah, a bit."

"Can I know what you're working on, or is it some company secret?" she teased.

George chuckled lightly, "It is a secret, unfortunately. I'm hoping to have it done by the end of the year, though. But it's still in the preliminary stages at the moment."

"How long have you been working on it?"

He mulled over her question for a moment before responding, "Christmas Eve last year was when I got the idea. I couldn't sleep that night, so I just got to sketching and it all came to me."

Although she was endlessly curious about what George had been working on, she couldn't help but smile at the faint glint of excitement that sparkled in his eyes, "This is your first invention since-"

George's smiled dropped slightly as he cut her off, knowing exactly what she was going to say. It was the truth, but George was unable to stomach hearing the words.

"Yeah, it is. The small stuff like the nail polish was easy. I've been having a rough go of it trying to figure out how to get this idea working properly. It'll take some trial and error, which was admittedly a lot easier to handle with Fred's help."

Anytime he thought about inventing without his twin it made every roadblock he ran into along the way feel ten times worse. Every time a charm failed or an idea seemed too impossible, it tore him down, making him feel like a failure. Without Fred there to troubleshoot anything, the process was much more grueling. George still had a passion for his job, he truly did, but it was much more difficult now.

At times it made him want to give up. Making the same products he knew would work would have been much easier. But it was the thought that eventually customers would get bored of the same old inventory lining the shelves and eventually stop coming in that kept him going. He'd come too close to letting the store fail more than once since losing Fred, he couldn't let himself do that to his brother's memory. So, he had to at least try.

"Maybe I could help?" Eloise offered.

George merely shook his head, "I appreciate it, but I think this is something I've got to do on my own."

Eloise understood immediately and chose not to object to him, instead she reached across the table and laid her hand on top of his, "I'm really proud of you, George."

The words hit him harder than he expected. If he was being honest with himself, George had felt quite undeserving of any praise for quite some time. Hearing the woman he cared most about express her pride in him stuck a chord within him that even he didn't realize it would.

His brows furrowed as he felt his emotions well up inside him, "Thank you, Ellie."

The last thing George wanted to do was lose his composure in a fish and chips shop of all places, so he quickly suggested they head back to her flat for the night. As they walked back through muggle London, George felt Eloise intertwine her fingers in his and at that tiny gesture alone, it all fell into place for him.

The warmth of her soft skin against his. The way she tenderly rubbed her thumb over the back of his hand as she spoke brightly about her week at work. The moments she would pause to think of the appropriate phrase in English as she told her stories. Even thinking back on her genuine pride in him just moments ago. It all held a place within George's heart that had felt cold and empty for so long.

Eloise was his home, his inspiration, his motivation to keep going even when things felt impossible. If he was going to finish this invention, it would be for her - because of her. If Eloise was proud of him, it felt like wherever Fred was in the universe now, he was proud too. That thought alone was all he needed.