*Trigger Warning: mentions of alcohol/drug use, disordered eating and promiscuous sex*

⭑*•̩̩͙⊱••••✩••••̩̩͙⊰•*⭑

Christmas dinner at the Burrow was delicious. Molly Weasley always went above and beyond for her family, and a special holiday like Christmas was no different. Aurora found herself eating more than she has, in one single meal, in a very long time. Dinner was over quickly, and before long, music was gently escaping the horn of the outdated gramophone settled in the corner of the living room. Aurora was perched on the arm of the couch, Ginny on the couch below her.

"I honestly don't think I can move after all of that food I've eaten..." Ginny pat her stomach, leaning her head over on Aurora's hip as a groan escaped through her lips.

"You mean you don't want to dance with me?" Harry joked, a small grin appearing on his lips as he stood up from his spot on the couch besides Ginny, his hand extended down to her.

"Well, I can never say no to you." Ginny beamed, patting Aurora's thigh as she let Harry take her other hand and pull her up, heading over to the open floor before the ornately decorated Christmas tree.

Watching her best friend and her boyfriend dance, laughing loudly as they whipped one another around in circles, Aurora smiled to herself and moved to the kitchen to get herself another drink. As she was walking back out into the living room, her hand was quickly snatched up by Mr. Weasley. "This is a lovely song, won't you do this old man the honor of gracing him with a dance?" He bowed to Aurora as a loud laugh escaped her lips.

"Mr. Weasley, you are too much. I would be honored!" Without taking a sip of her newly poured drink, Aurora set the glass down on the end table before joining Arthur for a dance.

Seated in the armchair, George tried his very best to remain stoic as his eyes traveled over Aurora dancing happily with his father. It was certainly a sight to behold. Lifting the glass up to his lips, he finished off the firewhiskey before leaning back with his arms crossed over his chest.

With one hand clasped loosely in Arthur's and the other gently resting on his shoulder, Aurora giggled as they spun around to the song that was soon ending. This was always what she pictured Christmas with the Weasley's to be like. Arthur was such an amazing man, an amazing father. Aurora was extremely grateful that they had been so welcoming to her.

As Arthur let go of her back, he spun her out and away from his body. In the exact moment that she stopped spinning, her chest heaving a bit from the movement and her laughter, Aurora found her eyes locked with George from across the room. Why was he always bloody staring? She thought to herself, soon twirling back into Arthur's chest as the song ended. "Thank you for humoring an old man, Miss Sinclair." Arthur gave her a quick peck on her forehead. "Happy Christmas." He told her, soon moving on to dance with his wife, who had been patiently waiting for a turn to dance with her husband.

"Happy Christmas, Mr. Weasley." Her voice was soft, a smile growing on her lips as she turned back around to pick up her glass of firewhiskey.

Soon the music dwindled down to a complete stop. Molly and Arthur bid goodnight to their children, Harry, Hermione and Aurora before finding their way up the stairs. Bill and Fleur decided to stick around for a little bit longer, sitting on the couch and speaking with Aurora about her life as a muggle. Fleur wanted to have the same reaction as George, but she also had much more self control than the red head. "I don't know if I would be able to do what you do, Aurora." The delicate roll of the R's in Aurora's name slipped off of Fleur's tongue as her thick accent came out to play. Bill silently agreed with his wife with a small nod, one hand resting on her bump while the other was holding his head up against the arm of the couch.

Aurora smiled softly, lifting her shoulders in a shrug. "In all honesty, it did take me a while to get used to not having magic... well not using it, actually." Aurora had really struggled in the beginning. Her emotions had been at an all time high and extremely erratic. She was drinking heavily and had resorted to using drugs that she was introduced to by her roommate. Since then she had stopped using drugs, but was still drinking more than she probably should.

As she opened her mouth to continue, she could feel the heat of the intense stare coming from the armchair by the fire. George was watching her talk, listening intently to her explain what she went through right after the war. "I'm certainly not proud of my actions but it was the only way that I thought I could grieve."

Aurora continued to tell them about the alcohol, the drugs, the evident hunger that she always chose to ignore, and let's not forget the meaningless sex with strange men. With the last revelation, Fleur let out a loud gasp, her hand pressed to her chest. "Aurora!" She exclaimed, shaking her head.

Before she could even continue, Aurora held a hand up with a small laugh. "I was safe. Don't worry." She explained, chewing on her lower lip as her eyes traveled over everyone left in the room. Percy had left to spend the night with Penelope, and she was grateful for that because that meant one less judgmental Weasley stare. When her eyes got to George, he cleared his throat and looked away quickly, pushing himself up to refill his glass.

Bill gently nudged his wife, whispering that they should probably head home since they both had to work in the morning. Aurora was relieved that the attention was taken off her as they said their goodbyes. She could hear Harry and Ginny whisper about heading back to his flat so that they could spend the night. Aurora knew they were in no shape to apparate, "You two don't have to worry. I can take the couch. Spend the night together, lovebirds." Aurora made a face jokingly at the thought of Harry and Ginny together. "Are you sure?" Ginny whispered, a small look of excitement crossing her features. Aurora assumed it had been a while since they were able to spend alone time together.

"Yes."

Another twenty minutes had passed, and Aurora found herself left alone in the living room. George had not come back in after he left the last time. She found herself curious about where he got off too but quickly shook her head and moved to slip her feet from her flats before neatly placing them side by side at the foot of the couch. She mentally hit herself for not grabbing comfortable clothes from Ginny's room before her and Harry ran off to do Godric knows what... well she knew what but found herself not wanting to think about it.

"Awful nice of you to let my baby sister's boyfriend spend the night in her bed, Sinclair."

Jumping slightly at the intrusion, Aurora turned around, her hands pressing against her chest now from the scare. "Blimey, George, you scared me. Don't you know not to do that to a poor girl like me?" She smiled a bit, smoothing down the front of her dress as she looked at the two glasses in his hands. She reached over and plucked one from his grasp.

"How did you know that was for you? I could be expecting company, you know." George raised an eyebrow, watching her take a slow slip. It was almost tantalizing – the way her lips parted to wrap around the rim of the glass and welcome the rush of warmth from the amber liquor down her throat.

"You would invite a lady friend to your parents' home on Christmas night?" She teased, obviously not believing him as she found herself sitting on the floor by the fire. It was slowly dying down, and they wouldn't stoke it any further so they could sleep without having to worry about a fire spreading.

"Nah, I just wanted to see your reaction." George decided against sitting on the floor beside Aurora, finding himself perched back in the armchair off to the side. He took a sip from his drink and set the glass on the end table before turning his attention back to Aurora. In the time it took him to sit down and take a drink, Aurora had been able to shimmy the thick stockings down from over her hips and off of her legs. He eyed her as she folded the stockings neatly, placing them over top of her flats by the couch.

Her bare legs, smooth from what he could tell, tucked underneath of her as she leaned on one hand, the glass of firewhiskey in the other. The silence to some may have seemed awkward. George and Aurora shared a quick glance before looking away. The silence was welcoming, at least to Aurora.

It felt like hours had passed them by before one of them spoke up. To Aurora's surprise, it was George. "I'm going to head home... Got to open up the shop tomorrow morning and all..." He cleared his throat before continuing, "You don't have to sleep on the couch, I mean. You can have my bed." He quickly finished up his glass before heading back out to the kitchen to set it down in the sink.

Aurora found herself finishing the glass quickly, pushing herself up and in her bare feet, shuffled after George into the kitchen.

"You can't apparate home. You're drunk. What if you get splinched?" She whispered, reaching out to place a hand on his forearm. His eyes were glassy, and she could tell that his vision was most likely blurred. "George, listen. I'll be fine on the couch. I've, uh," She cleared her throat, reaching around him to place her glass in the sink quietly. "I've slept in worse conditions before. A couch is nothing." She laughed softly, looking up at him.

His face was emotionless. To Aurora, it seemed like he was not going to listen to her and try to leave anyway. Before she could blink, he shook her hand off of his arm and pulled his wand from his back pocket.

Aurora froze for a moment, eyeing the magnificent piece of wood grasped tightly in his large hand. Biting on her bottom lip before she was gently pushed aside as George stalked to the front door. Before she knew what was happening, she ran after him. The cold night wind chilling her straight to the core as she wrapped her arms around her chest. "George!" She shouted as loud as she could without risking waking up the sleeping members of the Burrow.

George, miraculously, stopped walking off as he turned to look at her with a harsh stare. "What the bloody hell are you doing? You've got nothing on your legs or feet!" He groaned, rolling his eyes as he looked down at her once she finally caught up with him, standing in front of him with her hands perched on her hips. The dark night sky had a grey tint to it, and George knew what that meant.

Snow.

He turned his attention up at noticing some of the white flurries falling down around them. "Merlin's bloody balls, get back inside the house Aurora." He said, his eyes falling onto her now once he stopped taking in the atmosphere around them.

Aurora rolled her eyes, ignoring the shivers running through her body. Bloody hell, it's snowing now. "Not unless you come with me." She responded, her eyes meeting his – refusing to look away. Before she could even think about what she was doing, her hand shot out and grabbed his wand from him. George almost looked just as shocked as she did. "What-" He began, reaching back out to try and get his wand back.

"You can head home early in the morning once your buzz wears off. Only then will it be safe for you to apparate." Aurora said, her fingers wrapped around his wand tightly. She could almost feel the magic buzzing from its core, her fingers feeling a bit numb. Was it the magic or the cold? She couldn't tell at this point. With that, she turned around on her heel and ran back into the house. She was bloody freezing.

George stood there dumbfounded. What the fuck had just happened? Why did she care so much if he apparated home drunk? She took his wand. What type of witch would ever think it was ok to steal a wizards wand from his grasp? The snow fall started to pick up and George found himself walking back into the Burrow.

As he closed the front door behind himself, Aurora was standing by the foot of the staircase. "Come on, let's get you to bed." She said, nodding her head in the direction of the second floor before she climbed the steps with George behind her.

Wait... why am I following her? George thought to himself, his eyebrows furrowed down before he found himself sitting on the edge of his bed. George felt himself falling into a daze as Aurora untied his trainers and slid his feet from within them before tossing them to the side with her nose scrunched up.

"Those stink, you need to wash them or... or buy new ones." She said with a cough, pushing herself up from kneeling before George. She nudged him back a bit, trying to pull the blankets up and over his legs.

George ignored the comment about his trainers and the smell they emitted. He couldn't remember the last time e had bought himself something as simple as a new pair of trainers. He looked up at her, noticing the way the moonlight coming through his bedroom window lit up the side of her face. Her skin was clear, smooth...and quite perfect. His eyes then traveled down to her lips. They weren't too plump, or too thin. They were in the middle and were proportionate with the rest of her facial features.

Without thinking, George reached up and grabbed onto the sides of Aurora's face. His thumbs against her cheeks as his fingers reached out into her hair, scraping against her scalp. "George-" She tried to object but was not quick enough as his lips pressed roughly against hers. Throwing caution to the wind, George moved to push her lips open with the tip of his tongue. He was only able to get a small taste of her before he felt her hands roughly shoving against his shoulders.

The connection was broken and he stared up at her with confusion. "You don't want this?" He asked, his voice rough and scratchy.

"No." Aurora growled, anger apparent on her face as she stared down at him. "I'm not here to make you feel better, George. You're drunk. Go to bed." She quickly stepped back, walking backwards towards the bedroom door. She didn't trust him to turn her back on him. Not now. She turned at the last second and pulled open the door and rushed out into the hallway, closing the door with a gentle click.

"Fuck..."