Iris had finally finished her shift at the pub at the rather unholy hour of 4am that morning. The pub had been 'closed' for an hour but the patrons who had visited that night had left the place in a state of unrule. The bathrooms alone had taken her thirty minutes to clean considering none of the cleaning spells she had attempted to use had been successful. And as she slugged her way up the stairs and towards her usually very safe room her night only got worse. The door to her room, was damaged the lock had obviously been tested and when magic could not unlock it, the person who had so desperately wanted to get inside had reverted to force. 

Readying her wand, for Iris was not sure what to expect on the other side, Iris pushed the now busted door open and slowly entered her room. Her eyes immediately scanned the room and as her heart began to race her brain slowly soaked in the state of the room. However, had been in had been looking for something. Though she could not see anything which had been taken at first, the damage to her place was more than enough emotion to cause her to want to turn around and leave and never come back. 

But there was one thing, one place in her room that she had to check on before she dared leave. One small box hidden in the floorboards of her bedroom that she needed to collect and take with her no matter where she decided to spend the night. Therefore, she braced herself to head in that direction, her eyes trying to avoid overly looking at the skewed photo collection and the broken glass that littered around the area her photos had once been hanging. Picture frames could be replaced, the stuff inside this box could not be. And therefore when Iris made it to her room, she tried to ignore the dishevelled look knowing that most items in the place could be replaced and repaired. Her eyes trained heavily on the floorboard that she had tried so hard to conceal the first night she moved in.

And whatever or whomever was out there looking over Iris had done this one thing. They had, made it so her hiding spot was left undiscovered. For the floorboards remained in place and when Iris pried them open she was lucky enough to see that the small box inside was still there. The white box which was, rather unironically, covered in lavender was still present. It was shut and when she opened it, Iris felt herself let out a sigh of relief. Everything was still inside, whoever had broken in had never come across this box. 

Lavender's items were still there. The personal effects of her sister which Iris had taken from Lavender's room at Hogwarts, her little beauty box of which had been stored in the only safe place Iris had found upon moving into the room. And as she picked up the plastic purple butterfly hair clip Iris was thankful that she had picked such a place to hide this box. Turning back to her bed Iris collected her discarded childhood teddy bear that had been thrown onto the floor, before heading back out of her room. She could not go to sleep there not after knowing that someone had broken in. And therefore she started the overly familiar walk down Diagon alley and towards George's flat where she knew she would feel safer as she slept the day away.

She gently tried to unlock the door, in order to be as quiet as possible. But it would appear her efforts were pointless as the second she had locked the door behind her and made her way up the stairs and into the hallway George had exited his bedroom and come to find her. He rubbed his eyes a couple times as he zoned into Iris' figure his eyes suddenly fixated on the two objects she was carrying and the state she must have worked herself into. Before he was instantly over and bringing her into his arms. 

"What's happened love?" His voice was deep like it usually was instantly after he had woken up and that was when she finally let the tears that had been threatening to leave her eyes escape. 

"Someone forced their way into my room. It's a tip George they've turned everything upside down." Iris' voice cracked as she spoke and she wished that it had not effected her in the way it so clearly had. But she supposed she was only a young woman at the end of the day and that something like this was rightfully something she should be scared about. 

"Oh my..." George paused as he pulled back slightly to check Iris over, not sure whether she had encountered the invader or not. "Iris. I'm just happy you're physically okay." Were the words he finally settled on after having come to terms with not knowing what else to say. 

"Can I stay here tonight?"

"You can stay here forever Iris." George led Iris back in the direction of his bedroom, giving her time to change into something to sleep in before guiding her into the bed. His arms wrapping around her as support determined to only return to his own land of sleep once she had fallen asleep herself. 

When George awoke again a few hours later, Iris was still clutching onto him and he had to fight the urge to get up. She looked so much calmer than she had just hours earlier and she seemed to be in a peaceful slumber. He had no intent to change that. But he needed to get up so he could open the shop up. He was possibly at the point where he did not need to be downstairs all day, able to leave Lee to watch over the shop whilst he did what he needed to do. But there was something that told him, probably the more logical part of his brain, that knew that he would need to leave Iris to approach him about what she wanted to do next. 

After last night he knew that the Leaky Cauldron would be somewhere that Iris would probably not feel overly happy about living in anymore. He knew she would not stop working there, considering how much she loved the pub in general. However it was unlikely she would want to stay there anymore. He knew she could instantly move in with him, that was no problem they could share his room with minimal difficulties. But he needed her to sleep well and get her head wrapped around what had happened the night before, before he brought the option up to her. What he could do in the mean time was head to working in his shop like any other normal day and wait for her to approach him. 

And so he did, despite being incredibly distracted for the whole morning, George was at least able to pretend that things were pretty normal. After all, he for a long time had been pretending things were fine and had gotten to be an expert at faking a happy smile and good customer service appearance when he was so distracted by his own mind. Only this time his anxiety regarding whether he could continue on without his twin had been replaced with anxiety regarding how Iris was, whether she needed him and whether this had been a good decision. 

And as he finished ringing up a customer, George checked his wristwatch, the one his family had gifted him for his seventeenth he noticed it was only one thirty in the afternoon. The shop did not close until six that evening and he was not sure how much longer he could go on. Perhaps he would close it early today. He owned the place he could make those kinds of decisions. His thought pattern was interrupted by an arm sneaking its way around his waist. At first he assumed it was Lee being hiss overly touchy best friend. Until the persons second arm wrapped around him and the familiar smell of Chanel entered his nose. 

"Good morning Gorgeous." He greeted getting a squeeze in response from Iris. "Sleep well?" He added on not bothered by the eyes that had turned onto the pair of them. 

"Better than I thought I would." Iris responded and George smiled it was hopefully a sign that his question later on would get a happy answer. 

"That's great. What are your plans for the next couple hours? We don't shut until 6 you have work at 8 right?"

"Yeah I'm supposed to, I might go to Tom and explain what happened see if I can get tonight off. Sort out my room over there."

"Whatever you need to do. I can always go over there and sort things out whilst you're at work patch it up and we'll think about what you want to do next after you've finished work." He offered not wanting her to think he was trying to force himself in but knowing it would probably ease both of them if he went over there. 

And George did as he proposed, whilst Iris worked luckily finishing earlier as she was not on closing, he attempted to clean as much up as he could in Iris' room. However, the more he cleaned the more the condition seemed to show it had taken a significant decrease. There was not a single place that seemed to have been safe from the intruder. Who had even gone through the contents of under the sofa cushions. And he wondered what they could have been looking for though there seemed to be nothing obvious missing. When Iris finally came to join him, most of the damage had been reversed and the place looked like Iris had left it the day before when she headed to work downstairs. Though George kept his eyes trained on her, waiting to see what kind of reaction she would have. 

"Thank you Georgie. It looks like it's never been broken into." Iris voiced once she had done a walk through of the place. But George could tell there was something else she wanted to say. 

"I sense a but."

"But it still doesn't feel safe anymore. I'm not sure if I'm overreacting or not but it almost feels like Hogwarts did in my repeat year. Somewhere I need to stay but I'm not going to be safe in." Iris shared and George took a moment to take in her words. It had not dawned on him that whilst he never had to revisit the place where he had lost so much, Iris had been forced to return to the very place and live there for another year as she repeated her final year of school. And he could see where she was coming from. It was not the same but nevertheless he could understand. 

"Then don't stay here any longer." George spoke and Iris turned to him confused as to how he could say that so easily.

"Where would I go?" Iris questioned her brain not on the same track as Georges. 

"Just move in with me." George spoke as it was so simple and Iris could feel her face drop at his words and she knew her physical reaction was enough. "Or do you not want to live with me? I understand for some that this is a bit rushed we've only known each other properly for 5 months but this feels right to me." George was getting upset at what he considered was a flat out refusal. And Iris suddenly lurched into action. That was not what she meant exactly. She reached out to take his hands hoping that he would not reject her instantly. And when he did not she lead him over so that they were sitting on her sofa together. 

"I'm not saying I don't want to live with you George. But I can't move into that flat." Iris tried to ease in to the hardest part of the conversation. 

"Why not?" George was puzzled, he was upset and if he was being honest he was almost wishing he had never brought up the idea in the first place. 

"Because that flat is yours and Freds and I won't step over that boundary. That place is home to your memories together." Iris was being gentle as she spoke as she was not sure that George was going to be completely receptive of her words. 

"But we could make new memories there, I could get rid of the bad ones with you." George loved his flat, with its terrible heating its loud thunderous pipes and creaky stairs. But he loved it most because it felt like his brother was still there with him. He didn't want to leave it. 

"George how do you expect us to make memories there if I can't even step foot into some of the rooms. You've created a charm only you know the counter curse to, to ensure his door remains locked and his room is left the way he was last in it. I can understand baby, if it had been the same for me I would have done the same. But I think things will never get easier the longer you stay there." 

"I can't leave there. I can't leave him. If I leave I leave the memories of him behind. I can't do that Iris." George was rightfully emotional as he brought up the strong attachment to the flat he lived in and the reason he had refused to move back in with his parents when he had been offered over and over again. Or even when Bill had offered him a room in the cottage just until George was ready to face the flat again. 

"We will never get rid of that place, so you can always return to him. But his presence George, will always be with you. Fred is never leaving you, never I promise you. And his spirit is not detained to that one place." Their once joined hands were now locked together as Iris looked at George and his eyesight was trained on their hands. 

"How was it easy for you with Lavender?"

"It wasn't George but I have come to understand that I carry her memory with me. Despite having memories in a specific place with her, the pain seems to lesson when I'm in a place where I won't look at something and think of how she used to hold it. Or how she walked into it. But if you are not ready I will not force you to leave. I will never force you to do anything." Iris pressed their foreheads together, she could always find an alternate option for the mean time. 

"Will you at least stay with me until we work out what we are doing." George sounded equal parts hopeless as he was hopeful with those words. 

"Of course. We will work something out soon. I know we will."