September 2000

Eloise thought that, once the new Hogwarts term commenced at the beginning of the month, George would have more free time. The shop wouldn't be filled with rambunctious children, instead there would be casual window shoppers and the occasional mischievous adult that had a similar sense of humor to the owner's.

But, as the sales floor at the shop became a tranquil haven, George's office instead was the new hub of chaos within the purple walls of the building. It seemed like every night since the beginning of September, he was holed up in there, working on his newest invention, trying his hardest to get it perfected before the end of the year.

While Eloise didn't mind, she wasn't always pleased with the late nights he would spend in there, sometimes working until two or three in the morning. At first, she offered to bring him takeaway for dinner or even a cup of tea to help him stay awake but he always refused. He'd always tell her that he wasn't hungry and if he took a tea break, he would lose his train of thought. Regardless, she kept up her gentle reminders for him to eat something and get some sleep. But for the most part, she didn't see much of George that month.

As the Sunday before Hermione's twenty-first birthday rolled around, Eloise knew that the two of them couldn't put off buying her present much longer. The only problem was, now that George had finally agreed to take a day off, it unfortunately overlapped with the only afternoon Eloise had available to catch up with an old friend that she hadn't seen in quite some time.

"When did you want to go shopping for Hermione?" George asked casually that morning as he fixed tea for everyone in the flat.

Eloise sat at the kitchen table silently as she glanced up from that morning's edition of The Daily Prophet. Charlie, who was sitting right beside her, let out a brief chuckle at her hesitation which caused George to furrow his brows.

"Am I missing something?" he asked after pulling four mugs from the cabinet.

"Haven't told him yet?" Charlie asked her with a smirk.

"I was going to. It just never came up." she replied in a hushed tone.

George's arms were crossed over his chest as he waited for the two to finish acting as though he was no longer in the room. At that moment, Verity stepped out of Charlie's bedroom, tying her hair up in a ponytail as she scanned over the scene in the kitchen. When her eyes landed on George, she came to a stop at the end of the hall.

"What's got your knickers in a twist this morning?"

"Why don't you ask them?" he gestured vaguely towards the table where Charlie and Eloise were having their own discussion.

Both of them looked over at George and Verity before glancing back at each other. Without them having to say a single word, Verity caught on immediately.

"You haven't told him yet?" she asked Eloise in amused disbelief.

"Does everyone know what the bloody hell is going on except for me?" George bellowed as he threw his arms up.

The kettle on the stove whistled, matching George's volume and before anyone could respond, he huffed and turned around to remove the boiling water from the heat. The man was not a fan of surprises, clearly. Not when he was the focus of it, at least. If he was the one surprising someone else, he would be all for it, he just hated being out of the loop.

Verity let out a snicker, "Seems that way."

"It's really not that big of a deal." Charlie tried to reassure his brother.

It wasn't that Eloise was withholding information to deliberately upset him. It really was just a matter of never finding the right time. For the last couple of weeks, when she and George saw each other, it was usually late at night just before going to bed, or in the early morning when they were getting ready for work.

George ignored his brother as he waved his wand. Each mug rose from the counter and floated to their designated owner. While Charlie and Eloise's mugs landed square in front of them on the table, Verity's floated delicately in the air before her until she reached out to grab it.

"What's going on then?" George finally asked after taking a sip of his own tea.

Eloise shared one more look with Charlie before setting her mug down and turning her gaze towards George. Out of the corner of his eye, George could feel Verity glancing at him but his eyes remained on Eloise as he raised a brow expectantly.

It wasn't like it was big news or anything. Her plans for the day weren't that important. But the look in George's eyes told her that he wasn't thrilled to be the only one unaware of what was going on. So, she decided that being direct was the best course of action.

"Dhani's in town and we're meeting for lunch."

"Why's he here?" George asked without hesitation, although his tone was a bit more pointed than he had intended.

"He's on his way to Romania from the States. He decided to pop in for the day to rest before making the rest of the trip. It's a lot of traveling, you know." Charlie explained before Eloise could respond, hoping that hearing it from him would help ease his nerves a bit.

It wasn't like Eloise and Dhani ever had anything really going on. They stayed in touch, but only because they realized how well they got on as friends after Charlie's failed attempt at setting them up. George had no real reason to be on edge, yet he grew somewhat defensive.

"Yes, well-" he started before registering the look on Verity's face, "What do you look like that for?"

Verity had her mug pressed close to her lips, doing a very poor job at hiding the smirk on her face. George's inquiry made her laugh which only caused his frown to deepen. The petite witch's gaze flicked towards the table the other two were sitting at before she rolled her eyes and returned her attention to George.

"We're all going to lunch, you as well." she replied, "It's funny to see you get all worked up though."

"We're going?" he asked as he returned his gaze to Eloise, "Since when?"

"Since always, there was just never the right moment to tell you. You've been so busy, after all."

She eyed him carefully as she took a sip of her tea, gauging his reaction to not only the invitation but to her pointing out their lack of time together recently. A weary hand ran through his slightly messy hair as a sigh fell from his lips.

"You don't have to go if you don't want to." she added after a moment, "You can pick up Hermione's gift and we can meet you after."

George hesitated, as though he were considering her offer but ultimately, he shook his head, "No, it's fine. I'll go."

Instinctively, Charlie and Eloise turned to share a look with one another - both clearly shocked that George was agreeing to this outing. From the other side of the room, Verity could be heard snickering and as Eloise turned towards them, she caught the tail end of George giving her a dismissive roll of his eyes.

Part of her wanted to offer him an out one more time, or to ask if he was really sure he wanted to go. But she thought better of it.

What's the worst that could happen?

–

That afternoon, the four of them made their way down Diagon Alley towards The Leaky Cauldron to meet Dhani for a late lunch.

As Charlie excitedly rambled on about how much he was looking forward to chatting with someone who actually cared about dragons, Eloise heard Verity scoff dismissively and mumble something about caring - although, she knew that on the list of Verity's interests, none of them had anything to do with the fire-breathing creatures.

However, she found it hard to focus on the details of the other couple's discussion when George's clammy grip on her hand was becoming a distraction.

"Everything okay, mon chéri?" she asked as she glanced up and saw George's jaw clench slightly at her inquiry.

A short nod was all she got in return which Eloise was not convinced by at all. As the group arrived at the pub, Charlie held the door open for them but before George could step inside, Eloise pulled on his hand and turned to Charlie.

"We'll meet you inside." she smiled reassuringly, although the quirk in Charlie's eyebrow let her know he didn't quite believe everything was entirely okay.

Still, he decided to give the couple some privacy as he and Verity entered the pub. As the door closed, George turned to her with furrowed brows but he chose not to say anything. Instead, he remained silent and allowed Eloise the chance to discuss whatever it was she needed to pull him aside for.

"Tell me what's going on in there." she requested as she poked a finger to his forehead.

Despite his tense demeanor, a chuckle fell from his lips as he gently swatted her hand away. At least he was laughing, she thought to herself. Everything couldn't be that bad if he could still find his sense of humor. But as soon as his laughter evaporated, so did his smile, and the tense crease between his brows returned. As Eloise awaited his response, her own smile faded into a concerned frown.

He sighed at the expression on her face and brought his eyes down to his shoes, "It's silly."

"What's silly?"

Silence grew between them as George kicked a pebble that had broken away from years of wear and tear on the cobblestone path beneath them.

"What's silly, George?" she asked once more.

He shrugged, "I suppose part of me is still jealous."

When Eloise's only response was a look of confusion, George took it as a hint to keep going.

"It's hard to explain, I know I have no reason to be. It's just that every time I've crossed paths with him before now, it always happened to be when things between you and I were, well, rocky I guess."

"Rocky?"

"Uncertain, or just plain complicated. Y'know... it's the times I don't like to think about. The times when I know you were probably going to him for comfort when I should have been there." he shrugged again, as if it was becoming a nervous tick.

"Dhani and I never really had anything going on." she frowned, "You know that right? I mean, we went out a few times but it never amounted to any feelings – for either of us."

"No, I know."

"Besides, I told you from the start that kissing him was kind of..." she paused, trying to find the right word that wouldn't make her sound cruel but failing miserably.

He laughed at her internal struggle to balance kindness with honesty, "Okay, okay, I get it. I'll be fine, let's go inside before one of them comes out to look for us."

George reached for the door and held it open for Eloise. As they stepped inside, they spotted Verity, Dhani, and Charlie sitting at a table near the bar. As the barkeep greeted them from behind the counter, Dhani looked in their direction and gave them a kind wave. While Eloise smiled brightly and waved in return, George merely gave him a polite nod.

The two sat down beside each other across from the other couple, while Dhani was placed at the head of the table already enjoying a pint of a dark English ale.

"Can't get the good stuff in America, that's for sure. It's all watered down in comparison." he jested as he lifted his glass to take a sip.

A disinterested puff of air blew through George's nostrils in half-acknowledgement of Dhani's comment, which Eloise elected to ignore. It seemed as though Dhani too was polite enough to see beyond George's indifference. That, or he really didn't notice.

As they all caught up, only pausing their discussions to place their lunch orders with the waitress, George mostly sat silently and listened. Charlie seized every opportunity he could to talk about the Dragon Sanctuary and it took everyone else's effort to steer the conversation back on a track in which they all could take part in. George didn't mind though, when the conversation focused on Charlie's former career, he felt less obligated to participate.

"You're awfully quiet." Verity smirked at George after a lull fell in their conversation.

"Am I?" he asked dismissively.

"Yes, almost alarmingly so." she laughed.

He shrugged, and began to feel annoyed with himself by just how much he was doing that today. Eloise could sense his discomfort and decided to bring up dragons once more, to Charlie's delight. This, however, seemed to cause Verity's own level of unease.

"Eloise, I need to go to the restroom." was all she said and the unspoken understanding between them led Eloise to nodding as she stood and grabbed her purse from where it was hanging on the side of her chair.

They excused themselves from the table and walked silently into the dimly lit lady's room. Once the door was closed, Verity immediately walked to the mirrors. She fiddled with the fine strands of white blonde hair that fell from her ponytail and framed her face with her brows knit together tightly.

Eloise was quick to catch on to the fact that something was on her mind, something more than simply wanting a casual chat away from the boys. Even with the look of worry in her eyes, Verity was still incredibly beautiful. Her pixie-like features made her seem ethereal, even if her demeanor was rarely ever as delicate as her appearance might initially lead one to believe.

"Everything alright?" Eloise asked as she stepped closer, trying to break Verity's intense gaze away from her own reflection.

The witch looked down into the basin of the sink and tucked her bottom lip between her teeth. It was as though Eloise could see the thoughts forming in her friend's mind and worried about what possibly could be burdening her.

"I'm worried that Charlie is unhappy." she finally confessed.

This response was not what Eloise was expecting at all. For as long as she had known Charlie, he seemed like the happiest of all of his siblings, even after what they had all gone through. Then again, for a majority of the war, he was more removed than the others thanks to being in Romania.

"Why would you think that?"

Verity hesitated and then turned to face Eloise. A sigh fell from her lips, one that seemed to be letting out some of the stress that had been growing inside of her for quite a while.

"It's those bloody dragons!" Verity exclaimed a bit louder than she probably meant to.

Her voice echoed off the stone walls in the bathroom and she sighed when Eloise didn't respond right away. The truth was, she simply didn't know how to respond to the sudden outburst, so instead, she merely looked at Verity with a wide-eyed gaze. The reaction was valid, after all, she was unaware of any specific dragons that had ever personally crossed Verity.

"The shop isn't his dream job, far from it." she explained as her voice returned to its normal volume, "He sent that letter to me after the battle for George. When we reopened the shop, it was for him - Fred too. It was never for ourselves and now I think he's getting sick of it. He'd never tell his brother that, of course. Merlin, he hasn't even told me that, I can just see it in his eyes. But he'd probably work there until he retired if he was asked to..." she paused, "I know he wants to go back to Romania, I just don't know what that means for me."

"Would you go with him if he asked you to?"

"I'd want to. But what would I have there, other than Charlie? All my friends are here, my life is here, you're here. Plus, even though I've told George before that working there forever wasn't my goal, it kind of is. I love the shop just as much as he does."

"I assume long distance is out of the question?"

"I've thought about it, but I feel like it rarely works out in the end." she shrugged, "I think Charlie's it for me, Elle. I just don't know what to do, I want to make him happy but does that mean I have to give up my life here? Or do I have to let him go?"

Eloise stood there silently for a moment. She tore her eyes away from Verity as she pondered something. The idea was ridiculous and honestly a bit impractical, but it was possible.

"Maybe you don't have to give anything up." she finally spoke as she brought her gaze back to Verity.

The shorter witch frowned in confusion, "How do you figure that?"

"Why don't you and George open a branch of the shop in Romania? You could run that one and George could stay here in London. Of course, you'd need to hire new employees and there's all the paperwork you'd need to fill out, but I can pull some strings in the International Magical Cooperation office. Then there's renting out a building but I'm willing to chip in some of my savings. You'd get to keep working a job you love, Charlie would get to go back to the Sanctuary, and I'll help George here until he can hire new employees."

The optimistic smile on Eloise's face shined through Verity's skeptical stare, "Do you realize how ridiculous you sound?"

"I know it sounds far-fetched, but it's not impossible."

"It sounds unrealistic." Verity replied dismissively as she turned away from Eloise and glanced at herself once more in the mirror.

As her friend avoided her gaze, Eloise dug through her purse and pulled out a small card with her boss, Audrey's, information on it and held it out to Verity. In the corner of her eye, she clearly noticed the gesture and looked down at Eloise's hand before meeting her gaze with a raised eyebrow.

"Take it and talk to George. I'm not saying you need to do it tomorrow, or that you even need to tell him it was my idea, but I don't see any downsides to expanding Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes to an international market. Audrey would be the one to help, of course I'll help too, but going straight to her would skip all the messy hierarchy at the Ministry and keep it from getting lost in the shuffle."

Without a word, Verity took the business card from her and stashed it in the back pocket of her jeans. That was proof enough for Eloise to know that she was at least humoring the idea. Whether or not she actually followed through was another thing, but they could discuss that later when they were back in their flat and not in the lady's room of The Leaky Cauldron.

"We should get back." Verity said as she stepped away from the mirror.

With a nod Eloise stepped aside and followed Verity back into the dining room where they found not only Dhani and Charlie laughing about something, but George as well. It took everything in Eloise to not come to a sudden halt and rub her eyes in disbelief - wondering if, when she opened them once more, she'd see George looking disinterested in their discussion just as he was when she left him sitting there moments ago.

But no, he was smiling and laughing, and she couldn't help but place a grin on her own face as she slid into the seat beside him.

"What did we miss?" she asked the group, but settled her gaze on George, whose answer she was most interested in hearing.

"I'll tell you later." he replied with a crooked grin.

The blonde shifted her attention to Dhani, whose hand ran through his dark hair as he laughed, "I just told him you wouldn't ever shut up about him when you wrote to me, that's all."

The expression she gave him was as though she were a schoolgirl whose friend had just exposed her secret crush in front of the entire class and Dhani smiled in amusement before bringing his pint of beer up to his lips.

"That's not entirely true." Eloise denied with a shake of her head.

It was silly for her to feel so flustered, she and George were dating after all. Yet she still felt slightly embarrassed by how deeply and quickly she had fallen for him. It really was like a teenage crush, the kind that was borderline obsessive at times.

"It's not?" Dhani replied with a quirk of his brow, "I have the letters to prove it. Should I have my sister send copies?"

"No, no, that's not necessary." Eloise said quickly as her focus shifted to the salad in front of her that had arrived some time while she and Verity had stepped away.

This response earned a round of laughter from the table and the gentle touch of George's hand as he rested it on her thigh. At this, she looked up to see his warm smile and while the sight of it would typically bring her comfort, his attention was making her feel even more sheepish.

"It's cute." he reassured her, "You're cute."

If her cheeks weren't red before, they certainly were now.

She cleared her throat and stabbed at a cherry tomato on her plate, "Anyway, Dhani, let's hear more about this project in Romania."

Clearly amused by her attempt at changing the subject, Dhani persisted, "You sure you don't want to spend more time talking about how much you lo-"

"Dragons, Dhani, let's hear it." Eloise interrupted with a look of urgency sent straight to her meddlesome friend.

A raise of both brows and a knowing smirk formed on his face before he nodded and went into detail about what was going on in Romania. As most of them enjoyed their meals, Charlie's sandwich had long since been forgotten as he was much too enthralled in his discussion with Dhani.

"You know, Charlie, they'd always love a helping hand in Romania from time to time, if you're ever free. It'd sure save me all the traveling." Dhani laughed as he nudged his elbow against Charlie's arm, "Hell, if you're up for it, you should come with me tomorrow."

It took everything for Verity to not choke on her sip of water as she looked towards Eloise as though she were looking for backup. But all the girl across from her did was offer her a reassuring nod. Verity's bottom lip tucked between her teeth contemplatively as Charlie shook his head with a sad sort of smile.

"Ah, I dunno, mate." he replied as he looked down at his plate.

"You should go."

Everyone fell silent as they all gazed at Verity who awkwardly cleared her throat, suddenly feeling put on the spot.

"What?" Charlie asked, fully convinced he had misheard her.

"I said you should go," Verity replied, "George and I will be alright at the shop for a few weeks, won't we?"

At first he didn't respond, he merely looked between the couple before glancing at Eloise to see the eager smile she was trying and failing to bite back. When George turned back towards Charlie, he gave him a slight shrug with a nod.

"As long as you're back before Halloween."

Charlie's eyes widened as he looked from George to Verity, whose nerves faded away once she saw the pure excitement in her love's eyes.

"You'll really be alright?" he asked, as though he was setting himself up to be let down.

But Verity nodded, "Of course, it's only a few weeks. I think by the time you get back, I'll have finally convinced George to make me the boss."

"Keep dreaming, Stokes." George replied with a roll of his eyes, although the way the corner of his lips curled up slightly made it seem as though he'd like to see her try.

The remainder of lunch went by rather smoothly. It certainly was nice to be able to see Dhani during his short visit, seeing as how much Eloise missed him. Even from afar, he had been a voice of reason for her through all of the ups and downs she had gone through with George. As he called it, they were blind dates, turned friends, turned mutual therapists as he confided all of his own trepidations in her over the years.

What she didn't expect from his visit, however, was for he and George to click so well. It was honestly a relief to see them getting along after all her worries that morning. Eloise always knew that they could be great friends, if they would just give each other a chance, and it was nice to see her previous assumptions finally come to fruition.

But most of all, Dhani's presence sparked a renewed passion within Charlie to go back to pursuing his dreams in Romania. While Verity's concerns were all valid, Eloise was certain they would find a way to make it work. The two of them were soulmates, and soulmates always found a way to make their happy endings a reality - even if it got a bit messy along the way.

And, as Eloise glanced at George, who was looking at his brother with that crooked smile she adored so much, she was completely convinced that she knew absolutely everything there was to know about having a soulmate.

A/N:

Hi everyone!

The entirety December has been pure chaos for me, so I'm sorry that it's been a few weeks since my last update on this story. I appreciate you all for being so patient with me.

I also wanted to make this note to let you all know that there are only four chapters left before the end! 😭 I'm honestly so emotional about it, but I have some one-shot ideas brewing in my head as well as an epilogue or two, so we won't be saying goodbye to George and Eloise for good just yet.

I hope you all are having a happy, safe, and healthy holiday season! 🧡