FIC: Crashing Into Place (George/Luna)
Title: Crashing into Place
Author/Artist: paopu_parachute
Characters: George Weasley/Luna Lovegood, Hannah Abbott, Charlie Weasley
Prompt number: 247
Word Count: 5800
Rating: M
Warnings: Lots of talk about loss and death, bad sex, good sex, okay sex, alcohol, vampires (but no one's turned)
Summary: It's no secret that George Weasley's love life has pretty much consistently been nothing less than a disaster but at least it made good bar-talk. He didn't quite expect his failed string of one night stands and embarrassingly short lived relationships would lead to him falling in love.
Disclaimer: No copyright infringement intended. All characters, names, places and creatures belong to J.K. Rowling and associates.
Author’s Notes: Thanks to N for betaing & to the mods for hosting. I went a little overboard with this but I had too much fun with this prompt.
George had been floating along, minding his own business, living his life the best he could with Charlie crashing with him. He had stayed with him for several months and it had been fun to watch the brother who wrangled dragons for a living help around WWW.
But then Charlie went back to Romania and suddenly the flat was too empty. It was never meant for one person.
Living in Diagon Alley meant living in the heart of Wizarding London but still, with all of Wizarding London at his disposal, the pub he most frequented was the Leaky Cauldron down the road.
It wasn’t much like he remembered as a child: Tom had finally retired a year ago and Hannah Abbott had ended up Landlady. The necessary updates and changes had resulted in a distinctly trendier Leaky Cauldron.
Tonight wasn’t much different than any other night when the stillness of Diagon Alley after the shops were all closed got too much for him. He took an empty spot at the bar and looked around for Hannah; she usually was behind the bar during the week. She kept him updated on Ron, Harry, Hermione and Ginny’s lives. They all still had the terrible habit of keeping secrets but they at least saw Neville and Hannah enough that they knew what was going on--and when they didn’t tell them, they would tell Ginny at least or Ginny would find out and she would tell Luna and Neville and Neville would tell Hannah who would tell him--it was a very complicated system but it worked. He didn’t want to be an overbearing brother but he was completely done with being useless or not knowing things until after they were critical. Sometimes he still had nightmares about finding out they were alive mere hours before the Battle of Hogwarts. Hex him for worrying, but he had all the reason to.
Instead of Hannah, and possibly summoned by his thoughts, Luna made her way over to him. She was wearing sunglasses on top of her head and she had cork earrings on with a necklace that looked like some kind of tooth.
“I didn't know you worked here.”
She shrugged and leaned on the counter, “I just got back from an expedition in the American Everglades. There were rumors of giant grindylows but we didn't find any sign of them. What do you want?”
“Firewhiskey, please and did I just hear Luna Lovegood admit something didn’t exist?”
“I didn’t say that. I said we didn’t find any sign of them. If they migrated to the Americas naturally, that means they can survive in salt water and the entire Atlantic Ocean might be full of them. If they didn’t, then someone illegally transported them and the Department of Magical Creatures is about to go on an international business trip.” She poured him a glass and slid it to him.
“Glad I’m not them.” George picked up his drink and took a long sip.
Luna smiled and then wandered off to the other side of the bar. George avoided his reflection in the mirror in front of him and slowly and deliberately finished his drink.
She was back in front of him as soon as he put the empty glass down. “Same thing or do you want something different?”
Since she smiled around different that’s of course what he went with. Luna whipped her wand out and immediately four bottles were floating in the air behind her, they poured out into the air, still behind her and then mixed together without a tumbler. Fireworks went off around it and then a bright blue liquid rained down into his glass. A flick of her wand and the glass turned into a lopsided margarita glass. She grabbed it, flipped it upside down while passing her hand in front of her and placed it in front of him, rimmed in red sugar.
George clapped slowly, “did you learn that in the Everglades?”
“Actually yes, Gin visited me and we went to a little pub.”
George took a long drink and raised an eyebrow, it was a gingery cinnamon mix that was somehow incredible.
“Do you know that woman looking at you like you’re a ferret and she’s a starving Hippogriff?”
He nearly choked on his drink and glanced over to see a blond witch sipping on a bottle of pumpkin cider. She raked her eyes over him and he turned back to Luna, “no, but I think I want to.”
She smiled, “do you want to buy her a drink?”
“Yeah, can I have another of these?”
Luna nodded and made the drink, this time without the theatrics. George was almost upset but then Luna was handing him the drink and he was paying for it. He stood up and walked over to her table; she was alone and looked pleased he had come over.
He sat down next to her and placed the drink on the table. She raised her eyebrow and he just leaned back in his seat and drank. “What are you doing here alone?”
“Business trip, I go home tomorrow.” She took a tentative taste of the drink and her eyebrows rose in surprise before taking another, “why are you here by yourself?”
George shrugged, “Just here for a drink and conversation.”
“Really? What’s your name then?”
George liked that she didn’t have a clue who he was, there was no test to pass, no silent battle to prove he was fine. He told her his name as he finished his drink. His head was starting to feel fuzzy and the tension was leaving his shoulders.
“Rahela,” she smirked, sipping the drink and placing a hand on his thigh. “I have a room upstairs and a bottle of elfwine if you’re interested.”
“It just so happens that I am.”
She took his hand when she finished her own drink a few moments later and led him out of the bar and upstairs. George made sure not to look over to where Luna was, he didn’t want to know if she was going to tell her best friend he was off having a one night stand.
Rahela started kissing him the moment the door was locked, slipping a leg between his and running her fingers through his hair. On one hand, he was glad they weren’t going to be dancing around it, but on the other, he had actually been feeling that wine.
She pushed him down onto the bed and stood between his legs as she unbuttoned her shirt and tossed it to the floor. Crawling on top of him, she pressed her lips to his neck and he grabbed her ass, pressing her closer.
She pulled away for a moment to tie her hair up and ask, “are you okay with this?”
He was pretty sure she could feel how okay with this he was but still he nodded, “of course.”
She smirked again and leaned back down, one of her hands reached down to palm him through his trousers and then there were two simultaneous pinches at his throat and a wave of pure pleasure washed through him. He arched into her touch and gave himself over to the bliss.
The next thing he remembered, the sun was on his face and Rahela was standing over him with a glass of orange juice and a pastry in her hands. “Morning,” she smiled, “you’ll feel better once you’ve eaten.”
George pushed himself up, his clothes were neatly folded on the nightstand but his head was pounding and so he went for the juice and pastry first.
“Thanks for last night, it’s nice to be able to go back to Romania with some pleasant memory of the UK.”
“Business didn’t go well?”
“I’m a Civil Rights Lawyer for the Vampire and Succubi Association of Eastern Europe and they sent me to the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures.” She recited the name like it was a plague and swore as she continued packing her suitcase. “I was sent to the Being division instead of Beasts, thank God, but can you believe how backwards this government still is? They still see Vampires and Succubi as creatures.” Shaking her head, she forced a smile on her face.
“This is the same government that ignored the signs until it was decimated by Voldemort, remind you.”
She shook her head, “Good luck. I hate to be that woman but vampires can’t apparate and I’m allergic to floo powder so I’m taking a muggle train back home and if I don’t leave now I’m going to miss it. Do you feel well enough to make it home? Sometimes it can be rough if you’re not used to it.”
“No, I’m quite able to make it home.”
She smiled and then kissed him quickly before leaving.
It wasn’t until much later, when he was doing inventory at the shop that he realized he had had sex with a vampire.
He swore to never tell a soul but three days later and Hannah was laughing wildly behind the bar as he hid behind a pink monstrosity of a drink.
Luna’s eyes were wide and she put down the shaker, “Are you telling me you didn’t know?”
“Of course I didn’t know.” George told the bits of fruit floating around in the slush, “Wait. Did you?”
“Yes!”
George scowled at their laughter and took his drink back to a hazy corner of the bar. It had to have been no more than ten minutes of him nursing the drink when a tall man in classy wizard-wear made his way over and started chatting him up. His eyes went wide when George told him who he was but he didn’t seem to care past asking if it was true some of WWW’s products were actually illegal and they were just skating by because the Ministry owed them favors.
It was a hilarious thought so George told him it was true. The conversation led them back to the bar where the man, Rhein, proceeded to buy him several shots. He was familiar but not overtly so so George didn’t let the notion of him being somehow familiar bother him.
He slipped off to use the bathroom and George quickly waved Luna over, “he’s not a vampire too, is he?”
Luna tilted his head as if to gauge if he was being serious but then smiled and shook her head, “you’re good.”
When Rhein came back, he sat decidedly closer to him than last time. He might have been a chaser for Slytherin during third or fourth year but George had had about six shots and, Slytherin or not, his hand was resting high up on his thigh and he could see Luna closing his tab. Was he really that easy to read?
They ended going back to Rhein’s place (it had an air that was decidedly Pureblood, and he was half afraid Draco Malfoy was going to walk in on them). A glass of vintage elfmade wine later (he might have told him about the vampire sex and how he hadn’t gotten the wine last time?) and then they were on the floor in front of a great stone fireplace with Rhein fucking every last rational thought from his mind.
He ended up seeing him twice more but by the time Hannah’s patience wore out three weeks later, he was long gone.
“Are you dating that Slytherin?” she asked one night and Luna pretended to not be listening but she was doing a shit job at it tonight.
“Of course not.” George leaned back, an eyebrow raised, “please don’t tell me you’ve told your boyfriend.”
“No, I wasn’t telling them anything until I knew for sure.”
“That tone is completely unfounded, you know.” Luna said, stepping closer to them as she made a show at pouring a group of women their drinks. George thought they might have been American but they were going hard and it was difficult to tell. “You were very nearly dating him.”
“I was not.”
Luna raised an eyebrow as a bright magenta liquid formed the shape of a mermaid above her and then poured itself into the glasses in front of her. She put her wand behind her ear, “yes, as a matter of fact you were.”
“Have I tried what you just made them yet?”
“No, but I’m going to make yours light because we all have to be at your parent’s early tomorrow morning.” She was, of course, referencing Hermione’s birthday party and Hannah smiled wide at the reminder. “Ron’s going to propose, don’t you think?”
Hannah’s eyes went wide and George narrowed his, “I didn’t tell you I went ring shopping with him and Dad, did I?”
“No, I could just tell.”
“I’m so excited!” Hannah whispered and George was so impressed with the drink Luna mixed for him, he shared half of it with her. “Hiring you was such a good decision,” she laughed.
Ron and Hermione’s engagement made one night stands start to feel useless. Yeah, the sex was good but was it really worth it? Was he just wasting his time looking for someone who would disappear the next morning?
It was completely for this reason the next time he went home with a witch, he ended up staying in contact with her and they dated for the better part of six months.
They went on dates at least every week but honestly, George couldn’t tell you much about them. The most he could tell you is that it was almost funny. Her favorite flavor of ice cream was vanilla, which was how she usually liked her sex. She read the Daily Prophet every morning without fail and ordered fisherman’s pie whenever they went out to eat.
“She’s not that boring.” Luna protested one night towards the end of things, she had met Sionyn a couple times here and there and while Sionyn was distinctly not fond of her, Luna seemed to like her well enough.
“I fell asleep with my cock in her mouth.” George whispered through his fingers and Luna stopped mixing his drink and tried to smother her laugh with her hand.
“No you didn’t.”
George covered his face with his hands and then dropped his head into his arms on the bar, groaning loudly.
They broke up a week later and he didn’t really feel much different. Mostly he just felt like a weight had been lifted.
After Sionyn, he started to get messy. It was on one such night that after too many shots (Luna had seemed almost angry with him although he was drunk enough that he couldn’t understand why), he went home with a petite brunette and he fell off the bed twice while making out with her. They both were, by this point, completely naked and her giggling was rapidly being overcome by yawns.
She frowned suddenly, “I’m too drunk for sex.”
George froze, mouth at her neck, hand around her breast.
She seemed to think about it for a moment before nodding, “Yeah. Sorry. I’m way too drunk for this. I’m going to just go to bed and you can stay and I’ll make breakfast in the morning, I don’t want you to try to floo and splinch yourself. Like you’re welcome to the shower and you can sleep here with me if you want but I’m going to bed.”
George lifted himself up as she rolled onto her side and pulled the blankets around her. A laughed escaped him and she just flipped him off. Pushing himself up, he made sure she was tucked into the bed and then he made his way to the shower. He really hoped she didn’t have flatmates because if she did he was going to have his ass hexed to hell and back and he wasn’t going to do a single thing to stop it. It was enough just staying on his feet.
He turned the water on and stepped in without waiting for it to warm up. Immediately his hand was around his cock and he put a hand on the shower wall to brace himself.
Unbidden, the thought of Luna in the shower with him, her hand over top of his pushed him over the edge.
Merlin’s saggy left tit, he had not just wanked off to the thought of his little sister's best friend.
Resting his head on the tile wall, he caught his breath and then quickly washed up. Although he longed for the comfort of his own apartment, she had promised breakfast if he stayed so he curled up onto the couch and almost immediately passed out.
Thankfully, in the morning she didn’t change her mind and kick him out, she just laughed through her hangover and together they managed to make breakfast. She sent George home with extra bacon and he promised her a discount at the shop as repayment.
The next several times he went home with someone, he did so from other pubs. He couldn’t look Luna in the eye, not after that shower. He didn’t know what to do with the pang of longing that had shot through him.
He avoided the Leaky Cauldron so completely that Hannah stopped by with sweets several times just to make sure he was okay. He knew she could tell something was wrong but she politely said nothing. Too bad he knew she was just biding her time and getting all the information before she said anything, there was nothing polite about her silence.
He felt pretty ridiculous about it later but it was about three entire months before he saw Luna at the Leaky Cauldron again. He had been asleep but a dream about Fred had woken him up. It hadn’t been a nightmare, just a dream with Fred and Lee on the Hogwart’s Express. They had been racing chocolate frogs.
The air was thick with emptiness and it was the fact that the room next to his was completely still that led him to getting dressed and heading out. It was only one in the morning and the Leaky Cauldron didn’t close until three.
Luna was immediately there as soon as he collapsed into a seat and told her to just bring a bottle of firewhiskey over to him. Hannah wasn’t there and Luna said something to the wizard who was behind the bar with her before she disappeared.
George watched his reflection in the mirror, he looked older than he remembered and lopsided. He brushed his hair so that it covered his ear. It helped, but only a little.
Luna returned several moments later and placed a tea cup in front of him. George only looked at it expectantly as Luna went to clear a couple tables.
“Quit staring, the tea’s getting cold.” She said when she got back.
“I’m waiting for it to turn into a flaming whiskey.”
“Drink the tea, George Weasley.” Luna tapped the bar in front of him and then went off to get the women at the other end of the bar’s orders. George picked the tea cup up slowly and put it to his lips ready for it to explode. But it didn’t, instead he got a mouthful of a lemony lavender tea that had a strong aftertaste of licorice.
“What is this?”
“A St. John's Wort tea with lemongrass and lavender. Dad makes it all the time.” She went back to the wizard and they spoke in low tones as he dutifully drank the tea. When he was finished, Luna swept over and took the glass from him. She was gone for only a moment and then she reappeared at his side. “Come on, I’m off.”
“And where are we going?”
“To mine. I’m half convinced you don’t sleep and you’ve been so pale I need to see for myself you’re not drinking blood on the side. If you are this is something that your family can help you with. The world isn’t as prejudiced as it was when we were in school. Neville told me that there’s a werewolf professor teaching at Hogwarts right now. Muggle Studies professor I think he said. Professor Lupin was the best Defense Against the Dark Arts professor we had.”
George kept quiet and just let her apparate the both of them home. It was a little shocked when they ended up in Ottery St Catchpole. “I didn’t realize you still lived with your Dad.”
“Course.” Luna said quietly, unlocking the door, “who else is there to take care of him?”
She led him through the kitchen and upstairs to her room, “are you upset tonight because of Fred?”
It drove him crazy when people wouldn’t say his name. He had been Fred-and-George so long that it felt maddening when people referred to him as ‘your brother’ or ‘your loss’.
“It’s been six years and I should be okay by now. In fifteen years I’ll have lived longer without him than with him. That’s not possible.”
“We’ll deal with that in fifteen years.” Luna told him, shutting the door to her room. Her father was still asleep, they could hear him snoring.
“It’s been six years. Years.” George sat on her bed, looking completely lost and she climbed under the covers and tucked him in. She hugged him and let him rest his head in her lap. She combed her fingers through his hair.
“We just have to live with it, the scars and the tears. The stares and the way some people flinch when they see you as if they had forgotten until they saw your face. Do you remember him reacting to things that happened after he was gone?”
George frowned, he was shaking a little but the tears were silent, “I remember him holding Victoire, I can see it clear as day.”
“I remember Mum being at your brother’s wedding. I’m dancing by myself and she’s standing next to Dad near the cake. I know it didn’t happen but I still catch myself remembering it.”
George sighed and it almost sounded like a laugh and so Luna kept talking softly, running her fingers through his hair until he fell asleep.
*
“I cannot believe you left my house the other night like some regretful one night stand.”
Hannah spun around to see who she was talking to and her eyes went wide when they landed on George. “Luna Lovegood,” she gasped, but Luna waved her off.
“I fell asleep crying on you.” George whispered. He didn’t have much pride left to him in the Leaky Cauldron anymore. These two women and this bar had heard most of the lowest moments of his life.
“I’m not the first woman who’s had that happen to her.” Luna shrugged and pat the bar in front of her. “I’ll get some fish and chips and do you want a beer or something?”
“Yeah, just the usual. But I’m actually here to ask you something.” he pulled two tickets out of his pocket, “Do you remember the muggle who threw coffee on Percy? Did Gin tell you about that?”
Luna laughed, “yes.”
“Well, it turns out Percy’s been seeing her quite often and she gave me two tickets to see her show when I bumped into the pair of them yesterday. It’s supposed to be a comedy and I didn’t know what to do with them but I thought you might like them?”
“I’d never turn down a night in West End.” Luna smiled.
“It’s muggle West End, mind you.” George held out the tickets but Luna only took one. “I’m giving you both.”
“Nonsense, George Weasley. You’ll be going with me of course.” she glanced down to the ticket and then back at him, “You’ll meet me here after my shift and we’ll walk there like proper muggles.”
“I...alright.” he said, not knowing what just happened but he was pretty sure he now had a date with Luna Lovegood.
*
Instead of Luna, it was Hannah who stood in front of him the night of the play. “I know you wouldn’t on purpose but you’ve been doing the whole no strings attached thing for so long that you might accidentally hurt her because you’re not thinking and going with what you’re used to. She likes you and if I’ve find out that you’ve shagged her and then come here the next night chasing after somebody else I’m going to give your mother a long detailed description to just what her son has been up to. And if Luna cries over you I’m going to tell every one of your brothers every sordid detail and then I’m going to tell Ginny you’re the one who hurt her.”
George just looked at her for a moment and wondered why everyone was always afraid of Slytherins; obviously Hufflepuffs were really the most terrifying ones, they just hid it under delicious French Onion soup and gossip. “No, I, that’s the last thing I want to do. If I do, I give you permission to do all those things.”
Hannah smiled, looking surprised but delighted and stepped back. “She’ll be right out, she ran around back to change into appropriate muggle clothes.”
“You’ll tell Harry to come get us if we’re arrested by the muggle police, won’t you?”
Hannah only laughed and pat his arm before she went back to the bar.
He didn’t know what he was expecting but when Luna came out, she was wearing a simple dress with her hair down. She took his arm and together they walked out into muggle London. “So,” she said, “I remember you telling me that you shouted someone’s name while you were with someone else the other day. You got very strange and I’ve been wondering if it’s because it’s someone I know.”
George had to physically make himself keep walking and he focused on the fact that he was the one getting strange looks for the way he was dressed. He really hadn’t put much thought into it and, okay, he probably passed as a fashionable muggle at least. “No, it was just one of my worst moments.”
Luna laughed, “No, come on, why won’t you tell me?”
“It’s not important.” he said, probably a little to sharply because she fell silent and when he glanced to her, she looked a little perplexed. Fuck, she totally knew. She sometimes knew things about himself before he did, she was heavy handed with the alcohol when he needed it and sparse when he didn’t--and that’s just when it came to drinks. He really didn’t think he had told her that. He wasn’t drinking firewhiskey again.
Luna stayed quiet until they got to the theater and she started asking about Ron and Hermione’s upcoming wedding. It was still a year away but Hermione was already planning and they had gone to no less than four bakeries to sample cakes already. George was pretty sure they were going to go to several more before they picked one.
The show made them both laugh and Luna was so taken by it during intermission that she announced a little too loudly that they should go to muggle theater more often. They convinced the couple next to them that she said London not muggle and then giggled to themselves during half of the second act.
After the show they joined the autograph queue so Luna could meet Audrey and they could thank her for their tickets. She ended up pulling them backstage and grilled them on what they thought of it. Audrey was a pretty dark haired woman who laughed without a second thought and had a wide toothy smile. She gave Luna recommendations to several other shows and the two of them left with Luna promising to exchange some money into muggle money and buying them both tickets to another show.
He pulled her into a dark alley a couple of blocks from the theater so they could apparate home but as George was saying goodnight, Luna grabbed his hands, went up on her toes and kissed him soundly. He leaned into the kiss and they stayed in the alley for several long moments before Luna stepped away.
She smiled, “see you later, George Weasley.”
With a pop she was gone and George didn’t quite know what to do for several minutes. Then he apparated to Fred’s grave.
He didn’t like to come here, how could a cold piece of earth and a stone block hold more of his twin than the shop or the Burrow? But there was something traditional to it and George paced back and forth in front of the headstone for a couple minutes, trying to figure out what the hell he was doing. Everything else in his life was going great.
In the dark he could see there was a parcel wrapped neatly next to Fred’s headstone and he didn’t have to look to know that his Mum must have dropped off some fudge. He sighed. Tilting his head back, he stared at the night sky, what was he doing? The only thing he could do was go after what made him happy and he shouldn’t be doubting that.
George took his wand out and sent a shower of confetti raining down over the heartbreaking scene to give it a pop of color and made a note to go have lunch with his parents tomorrow.
The following afternoon, his mother, as if reading his mind, asked him if he was seeing anyone and she beamed when he tried to shy away from the question by saying things were too new to tell. He caught Luna early in her shift and asked her out again. Hannah stayed purposefully silent during the exchange but the day after that, Ginny and Ron both showed up and threatened him with ridiculous threats. George jotted their ideas down to see if he could make something out of them later.
The following months were a bit of a blur. Things with Luna went slowly, they went back to muggle West End several times, twice they spent weekends at the shore looking for signs of giant grindylows and she hung out at his flat before work most nights.
Sometimes when he was having a particularly bad day, she’d put music on and stay the night. Once they stayed up until dawn dancing (something he regretted immensely when he had to go downstairs to work and she got to stay under the covers).
They didn’t actually have sex until they had been dating officially for a week or two. They wasted hours making out but neither was in any particular hurry. When they did, the sex wasn’t groundbreaking but it was fun and it made him feel closer to her rather than just using it to get his mind off of things. George thought he sounded ridiculous whenever he thought it and he had to remind himself he once nearly got caught handcuffed to his bed by Bill. Luna had thrown clothes on haphazardly and raced out to tell him he wasn’t home. Bill hadn’t questioned her fashion choices (in her panic she had grabbed a winter hat) or why she was there and after Bill left, Luna had to try several different spells to get the handcuffs off him. They still laughed about it.
George awoke one morning in late June to the sound of people speaking in the kitchen. He dragged himself out of bed and pulled on some clothes and then went to investigate.
Immediately the conversation stopped and he blinked in the early morning light to see Luna sitting with Charlie. Charlie had a bandage on the left side of his face and a crutch resting against the table.
George must have made a face because Luna took a sip of her tea and said, “I didn't know certain breeds of dragons had fires that negatively affected magic.”
“Is that why you still look freshly roasted?” George asked, crossing his arms over his chest.
Charlie scowled, “please don't owl mum.”
“Are you alright?”
He nodded, “just stuck here for a bit. They’re considering transferring me to the Beast division of the Department of Magical Creatures.”
Luna’s eyes lit up at the mention of him staying, “George would love it if you stayed with him. He won't say it --unless you ply him with drinks--but he hates how quiet it can be here sometimes.”
George pointedly didn’t look at her, the addition of his brother meant that sex would be confined to either his bedroom or to hours when there was absolutely no possibility of him being home (he had walked in on Fred several times and Never Again). “If you need a place to stay, you can stay here as long as you promise Mum won't also move in to take care of you.” He didn’t want to think of the possibility of losing Charlie as well and having him would cement that he was okay.
“I'm fine. I just can't really be around Magic until the burns heal.”
“You do know you’re in Diagon Alley?” George asked carefully and Charlie rolled his eyes. He had a cup of coffee in his hand and George went over to the pot to pour himself some as well.
“It doesn't bother me unless it's less than three feet and only if it's active magic, magic brewed potions or enchanted objects only make it feel a little numb.”
Luna gasped and leaned forward, interested. “Wow, so we’re just discovering this now?”
“Yeah.”
“Amazing.”
“Mum’s going to be beside herself,” George kissed Luna good morning and sat next to her, “so can we hold off on how awesome learning about this new type of dragon is until after she’s done shouting at you.”
Charlie sighed and Luna looked to both of them, “If you want, I’ll go with you when you tell Molly. She’s very pleased with George and my relationship and I’ll make sure to bring up that you’ll be staying with him. She worries and knowing you’ll be together will make it a little bit easier.”
“Please.” Charlie sighed again, “George can you spare a morning away from the shop?”
He nodded and leaned into Luna as she began questioning Charlie on what other creatures he had come across in Romania. He of course mentioned vampires in the middle of his tirade, and George of course couldn’t contain himself, “they actually take offense to being classified as creatures. They’re human, or well they used to be at least. It’s the same as with Veelas and werewolves.”
Charlie raised his eyebrow and Luna jumped in, “he spent the night with a vampire a while back. Although he didn’t realize it until after the fact.”
“How--” Charlie began but George cut him off.
“It’s been over a year and the only people who know and you and Hannah, couldn’t this be something we kept secret?”
“Oh no, this is something we tell everyone. She drank his blood and he still didn’t catch on.”
Charlie laughed and George scowled, “I’ve changed my mind you can’t stay with me.”
“Too late, I’ve already put his things in his room.” Luna kissed his cheek and Charlie reached over her to ruffled his hair. George rolled his eyes and laughed.
Author/Artist: paopu_parachute
Characters: George Weasley/Luna Lovegood, Hannah Abbott, Charlie Weasley
Prompt number: 247
Word Count: 5800
Rating: M
Warnings: Lots of talk about loss and death, bad sex, good sex, okay sex, alcohol, vampires (but no one's turned)
Summary: It's no secret that George Weasley's love life has pretty much consistently been nothing less than a disaster but at least it made good bar-talk. He didn't quite expect his failed string of one night stands and embarrassingly short lived relationships would lead to him falling in love.
Disclaimer: No copyright infringement intended. All characters, names, places and creatures belong to J.K. Rowling and associates.
Author’s Notes: Thanks to N for betaing & to the mods for hosting. I went a little overboard with this but I had too much fun with this prompt.
George had been floating along, minding his own business, living his life the best he could with Charlie crashing with him. He had stayed with him for several months and it had been fun to watch the brother who wrangled dragons for a living help around WWW.
But then Charlie went back to Romania and suddenly the flat was too empty. It was never meant for one person.
Living in Diagon Alley meant living in the heart of Wizarding London but still, with all of Wizarding London at his disposal, the pub he most frequented was the Leaky Cauldron down the road.
It wasn’t much like he remembered as a child: Tom had finally retired a year ago and Hannah Abbott had ended up Landlady. The necessary updates and changes had resulted in a distinctly trendier Leaky Cauldron.
Tonight wasn’t much different than any other night when the stillness of Diagon Alley after the shops were all closed got too much for him. He took an empty spot at the bar and looked around for Hannah; she usually was behind the bar during the week. She kept him updated on Ron, Harry, Hermione and Ginny’s lives. They all still had the terrible habit of keeping secrets but they at least saw Neville and Hannah enough that they knew what was going on--and when they didn’t tell them, they would tell Ginny at least or Ginny would find out and she would tell Luna and Neville and Neville would tell Hannah who would tell him--it was a very complicated system but it worked. He didn’t want to be an overbearing brother but he was completely done with being useless or not knowing things until after they were critical. Sometimes he still had nightmares about finding out they were alive mere hours before the Battle of Hogwarts. Hex him for worrying, but he had all the reason to.
Instead of Hannah, and possibly summoned by his thoughts, Luna made her way over to him. She was wearing sunglasses on top of her head and she had cork earrings on with a necklace that looked like some kind of tooth.
“I didn't know you worked here.”
She shrugged and leaned on the counter, “I just got back from an expedition in the American Everglades. There were rumors of giant grindylows but we didn't find any sign of them. What do you want?”
“Firewhiskey, please and did I just hear Luna Lovegood admit something didn’t exist?”
“I didn’t say that. I said we didn’t find any sign of them. If they migrated to the Americas naturally, that means they can survive in salt water and the entire Atlantic Ocean might be full of them. If they didn’t, then someone illegally transported them and the Department of Magical Creatures is about to go on an international business trip.” She poured him a glass and slid it to him.
“Glad I’m not them.” George picked up his drink and took a long sip.
Luna smiled and then wandered off to the other side of the bar. George avoided his reflection in the mirror in front of him and slowly and deliberately finished his drink.
She was back in front of him as soon as he put the empty glass down. “Same thing or do you want something different?”
Since she smiled around different that’s of course what he went with. Luna whipped her wand out and immediately four bottles were floating in the air behind her, they poured out into the air, still behind her and then mixed together without a tumbler. Fireworks went off around it and then a bright blue liquid rained down into his glass. A flick of her wand and the glass turned into a lopsided margarita glass. She grabbed it, flipped it upside down while passing her hand in front of her and placed it in front of him, rimmed in red sugar.
George clapped slowly, “did you learn that in the Everglades?”
“Actually yes, Gin visited me and we went to a little pub.”
George took a long drink and raised an eyebrow, it was a gingery cinnamon mix that was somehow incredible.
“Do you know that woman looking at you like you’re a ferret and she’s a starving Hippogriff?”
He nearly choked on his drink and glanced over to see a blond witch sipping on a bottle of pumpkin cider. She raked her eyes over him and he turned back to Luna, “no, but I think I want to.”
She smiled, “do you want to buy her a drink?”
“Yeah, can I have another of these?”
Luna nodded and made the drink, this time without the theatrics. George was almost upset but then Luna was handing him the drink and he was paying for it. He stood up and walked over to her table; she was alone and looked pleased he had come over.
He sat down next to her and placed the drink on the table. She raised her eyebrow and he just leaned back in his seat and drank. “What are you doing here alone?”
“Business trip, I go home tomorrow.” She took a tentative taste of the drink and her eyebrows rose in surprise before taking another, “why are you here by yourself?”
George shrugged, “Just here for a drink and conversation.”
“Really? What’s your name then?”
George liked that she didn’t have a clue who he was, there was no test to pass, no silent battle to prove he was fine. He told her his name as he finished his drink. His head was starting to feel fuzzy and the tension was leaving his shoulders.
“Rahela,” she smirked, sipping the drink and placing a hand on his thigh. “I have a room upstairs and a bottle of elfwine if you’re interested.”
“It just so happens that I am.”
She took his hand when she finished her own drink a few moments later and led him out of the bar and upstairs. George made sure not to look over to where Luna was, he didn’t want to know if she was going to tell her best friend he was off having a one night stand.
Rahela started kissing him the moment the door was locked, slipping a leg between his and running her fingers through his hair. On one hand, he was glad they weren’t going to be dancing around it, but on the other, he had actually been feeling that wine.
She pushed him down onto the bed and stood between his legs as she unbuttoned her shirt and tossed it to the floor. Crawling on top of him, she pressed her lips to his neck and he grabbed her ass, pressing her closer.
She pulled away for a moment to tie her hair up and ask, “are you okay with this?”
He was pretty sure she could feel how okay with this he was but still he nodded, “of course.”
She smirked again and leaned back down, one of her hands reached down to palm him through his trousers and then there were two simultaneous pinches at his throat and a wave of pure pleasure washed through him. He arched into her touch and gave himself over to the bliss.
The next thing he remembered, the sun was on his face and Rahela was standing over him with a glass of orange juice and a pastry in her hands. “Morning,” she smiled, “you’ll feel better once you’ve eaten.”
George pushed himself up, his clothes were neatly folded on the nightstand but his head was pounding and so he went for the juice and pastry first.
“Thanks for last night, it’s nice to be able to go back to Romania with some pleasant memory of the UK.”
“Business didn’t go well?”
“I’m a Civil Rights Lawyer for the Vampire and Succubi Association of Eastern Europe and they sent me to the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures.” She recited the name like it was a plague and swore as she continued packing her suitcase. “I was sent to the Being division instead of Beasts, thank God, but can you believe how backwards this government still is? They still see Vampires and Succubi as creatures.” Shaking her head, she forced a smile on her face.
“This is the same government that ignored the signs until it was decimated by Voldemort, remind you.”
She shook her head, “Good luck. I hate to be that woman but vampires can’t apparate and I’m allergic to floo powder so I’m taking a muggle train back home and if I don’t leave now I’m going to miss it. Do you feel well enough to make it home? Sometimes it can be rough if you’re not used to it.”
“No, I’m quite able to make it home.”
She smiled and then kissed him quickly before leaving.
It wasn’t until much later, when he was doing inventory at the shop that he realized he had had sex with a vampire.
He swore to never tell a soul but three days later and Hannah was laughing wildly behind the bar as he hid behind a pink monstrosity of a drink.
Luna’s eyes were wide and she put down the shaker, “Are you telling me you didn’t know?”
“Of course I didn’t know.” George told the bits of fruit floating around in the slush, “Wait. Did you?”
“Yes!”
George scowled at their laughter and took his drink back to a hazy corner of the bar. It had to have been no more than ten minutes of him nursing the drink when a tall man in classy wizard-wear made his way over and started chatting him up. His eyes went wide when George told him who he was but he didn’t seem to care past asking if it was true some of WWW’s products were actually illegal and they were just skating by because the Ministry owed them favors.
It was a hilarious thought so George told him it was true. The conversation led them back to the bar where the man, Rhein, proceeded to buy him several shots. He was familiar but not overtly so so George didn’t let the notion of him being somehow familiar bother him.
He slipped off to use the bathroom and George quickly waved Luna over, “he’s not a vampire too, is he?”
Luna tilted his head as if to gauge if he was being serious but then smiled and shook her head, “you’re good.”
When Rhein came back, he sat decidedly closer to him than last time. He might have been a chaser for Slytherin during third or fourth year but George had had about six shots and, Slytherin or not, his hand was resting high up on his thigh and he could see Luna closing his tab. Was he really that easy to read?
They ended going back to Rhein’s place (it had an air that was decidedly Pureblood, and he was half afraid Draco Malfoy was going to walk in on them). A glass of vintage elfmade wine later (he might have told him about the vampire sex and how he hadn’t gotten the wine last time?) and then they were on the floor in front of a great stone fireplace with Rhein fucking every last rational thought from his mind.
He ended up seeing him twice more but by the time Hannah’s patience wore out three weeks later, he was long gone.
“Are you dating that Slytherin?” she asked one night and Luna pretended to not be listening but she was doing a shit job at it tonight.
“Of course not.” George leaned back, an eyebrow raised, “please don’t tell me you’ve told your boyfriend.”
“No, I wasn’t telling them anything until I knew for sure.”
“That tone is completely unfounded, you know.” Luna said, stepping closer to them as she made a show at pouring a group of women their drinks. George thought they might have been American but they were going hard and it was difficult to tell. “You were very nearly dating him.”
“I was not.”
Luna raised an eyebrow as a bright magenta liquid formed the shape of a mermaid above her and then poured itself into the glasses in front of her. She put her wand behind her ear, “yes, as a matter of fact you were.”
“Have I tried what you just made them yet?”
“No, but I’m going to make yours light because we all have to be at your parent’s early tomorrow morning.” She was, of course, referencing Hermione’s birthday party and Hannah smiled wide at the reminder. “Ron’s going to propose, don’t you think?”
Hannah’s eyes went wide and George narrowed his, “I didn’t tell you I went ring shopping with him and Dad, did I?”
“No, I could just tell.”
“I’m so excited!” Hannah whispered and George was so impressed with the drink Luna mixed for him, he shared half of it with her. “Hiring you was such a good decision,” she laughed.
Ron and Hermione’s engagement made one night stands start to feel useless. Yeah, the sex was good but was it really worth it? Was he just wasting his time looking for someone who would disappear the next morning?
It was completely for this reason the next time he went home with a witch, he ended up staying in contact with her and they dated for the better part of six months.
They went on dates at least every week but honestly, George couldn’t tell you much about them. The most he could tell you is that it was almost funny. Her favorite flavor of ice cream was vanilla, which was how she usually liked her sex. She read the Daily Prophet every morning without fail and ordered fisherman’s pie whenever they went out to eat.
“She’s not that boring.” Luna protested one night towards the end of things, she had met Sionyn a couple times here and there and while Sionyn was distinctly not fond of her, Luna seemed to like her well enough.
“I fell asleep with my cock in her mouth.” George whispered through his fingers and Luna stopped mixing his drink and tried to smother her laugh with her hand.
“No you didn’t.”
George covered his face with his hands and then dropped his head into his arms on the bar, groaning loudly.
They broke up a week later and he didn’t really feel much different. Mostly he just felt like a weight had been lifted.
After Sionyn, he started to get messy. It was on one such night that after too many shots (Luna had seemed almost angry with him although he was drunk enough that he couldn’t understand why), he went home with a petite brunette and he fell off the bed twice while making out with her. They both were, by this point, completely naked and her giggling was rapidly being overcome by yawns.
She frowned suddenly, “I’m too drunk for sex.”
George froze, mouth at her neck, hand around her breast.
She seemed to think about it for a moment before nodding, “Yeah. Sorry. I’m way too drunk for this. I’m going to just go to bed and you can stay and I’ll make breakfast in the morning, I don’t want you to try to floo and splinch yourself. Like you’re welcome to the shower and you can sleep here with me if you want but I’m going to bed.”
George lifted himself up as she rolled onto her side and pulled the blankets around her. A laughed escaped him and she just flipped him off. Pushing himself up, he made sure she was tucked into the bed and then he made his way to the shower. He really hoped she didn’t have flatmates because if she did he was going to have his ass hexed to hell and back and he wasn’t going to do a single thing to stop it. It was enough just staying on his feet.
He turned the water on and stepped in without waiting for it to warm up. Immediately his hand was around his cock and he put a hand on the shower wall to brace himself.
Unbidden, the thought of Luna in the shower with him, her hand over top of his pushed him over the edge.
Merlin’s saggy left tit, he had not just wanked off to the thought of his little sister's best friend.
Resting his head on the tile wall, he caught his breath and then quickly washed up. Although he longed for the comfort of his own apartment, she had promised breakfast if he stayed so he curled up onto the couch and almost immediately passed out.
Thankfully, in the morning she didn’t change her mind and kick him out, she just laughed through her hangover and together they managed to make breakfast. She sent George home with extra bacon and he promised her a discount at the shop as repayment.
The next several times he went home with someone, he did so from other pubs. He couldn’t look Luna in the eye, not after that shower. He didn’t know what to do with the pang of longing that had shot through him.
He avoided the Leaky Cauldron so completely that Hannah stopped by with sweets several times just to make sure he was okay. He knew she could tell something was wrong but she politely said nothing. Too bad he knew she was just biding her time and getting all the information before she said anything, there was nothing polite about her silence.
He felt pretty ridiculous about it later but it was about three entire months before he saw Luna at the Leaky Cauldron again. He had been asleep but a dream about Fred had woken him up. It hadn’t been a nightmare, just a dream with Fred and Lee on the Hogwart’s Express. They had been racing chocolate frogs.
The air was thick with emptiness and it was the fact that the room next to his was completely still that led him to getting dressed and heading out. It was only one in the morning and the Leaky Cauldron didn’t close until three.
Luna was immediately there as soon as he collapsed into a seat and told her to just bring a bottle of firewhiskey over to him. Hannah wasn’t there and Luna said something to the wizard who was behind the bar with her before she disappeared.
George watched his reflection in the mirror, he looked older than he remembered and lopsided. He brushed his hair so that it covered his ear. It helped, but only a little.
Luna returned several moments later and placed a tea cup in front of him. George only looked at it expectantly as Luna went to clear a couple tables.
“Quit staring, the tea’s getting cold.” She said when she got back.
“I’m waiting for it to turn into a flaming whiskey.”
“Drink the tea, George Weasley.” Luna tapped the bar in front of him and then went off to get the women at the other end of the bar’s orders. George picked the tea cup up slowly and put it to his lips ready for it to explode. But it didn’t, instead he got a mouthful of a lemony lavender tea that had a strong aftertaste of licorice.
“What is this?”
“A St. John's Wort tea with lemongrass and lavender. Dad makes it all the time.” She went back to the wizard and they spoke in low tones as he dutifully drank the tea. When he was finished, Luna swept over and took the glass from him. She was gone for only a moment and then she reappeared at his side. “Come on, I’m off.”
“And where are we going?”
“To mine. I’m half convinced you don’t sleep and you’ve been so pale I need to see for myself you’re not drinking blood on the side. If you are this is something that your family can help you with. The world isn’t as prejudiced as it was when we were in school. Neville told me that there’s a werewolf professor teaching at Hogwarts right now. Muggle Studies professor I think he said. Professor Lupin was the best Defense Against the Dark Arts professor we had.”
George kept quiet and just let her apparate the both of them home. It was a little shocked when they ended up in Ottery St Catchpole. “I didn’t realize you still lived with your Dad.”
“Course.” Luna said quietly, unlocking the door, “who else is there to take care of him?”
She led him through the kitchen and upstairs to her room, “are you upset tonight because of Fred?”
It drove him crazy when people wouldn’t say his name. He had been Fred-and-George so long that it felt maddening when people referred to him as ‘your brother’ or ‘your loss’.
“It’s been six years and I should be okay by now. In fifteen years I’ll have lived longer without him than with him. That’s not possible.”
“We’ll deal with that in fifteen years.” Luna told him, shutting the door to her room. Her father was still asleep, they could hear him snoring.
“It’s been six years. Years.” George sat on her bed, looking completely lost and she climbed under the covers and tucked him in. She hugged him and let him rest his head in her lap. She combed her fingers through his hair.
“We just have to live with it, the scars and the tears. The stares and the way some people flinch when they see you as if they had forgotten until they saw your face. Do you remember him reacting to things that happened after he was gone?”
George frowned, he was shaking a little but the tears were silent, “I remember him holding Victoire, I can see it clear as day.”
“I remember Mum being at your brother’s wedding. I’m dancing by myself and she’s standing next to Dad near the cake. I know it didn’t happen but I still catch myself remembering it.”
George sighed and it almost sounded like a laugh and so Luna kept talking softly, running her fingers through his hair until he fell asleep.
*
“I cannot believe you left my house the other night like some regretful one night stand.”
Hannah spun around to see who she was talking to and her eyes went wide when they landed on George. “Luna Lovegood,” she gasped, but Luna waved her off.
“I fell asleep crying on you.” George whispered. He didn’t have much pride left to him in the Leaky Cauldron anymore. These two women and this bar had heard most of the lowest moments of his life.
“I’m not the first woman who’s had that happen to her.” Luna shrugged and pat the bar in front of her. “I’ll get some fish and chips and do you want a beer or something?”
“Yeah, just the usual. But I’m actually here to ask you something.” he pulled two tickets out of his pocket, “Do you remember the muggle who threw coffee on Percy? Did Gin tell you about that?”
Luna laughed, “yes.”
“Well, it turns out Percy’s been seeing her quite often and she gave me two tickets to see her show when I bumped into the pair of them yesterday. It’s supposed to be a comedy and I didn’t know what to do with them but I thought you might like them?”
“I’d never turn down a night in West End.” Luna smiled.
“It’s muggle West End, mind you.” George held out the tickets but Luna only took one. “I’m giving you both.”
“Nonsense, George Weasley. You’ll be going with me of course.” she glanced down to the ticket and then back at him, “You’ll meet me here after my shift and we’ll walk there like proper muggles.”
“I...alright.” he said, not knowing what just happened but he was pretty sure he now had a date with Luna Lovegood.
*
Instead of Luna, it was Hannah who stood in front of him the night of the play. “I know you wouldn’t on purpose but you’ve been doing the whole no strings attached thing for so long that you might accidentally hurt her because you’re not thinking and going with what you’re used to. She likes you and if I’ve find out that you’ve shagged her and then come here the next night chasing after somebody else I’m going to give your mother a long detailed description to just what her son has been up to. And if Luna cries over you I’m going to tell every one of your brothers every sordid detail and then I’m going to tell Ginny you’re the one who hurt her.”
George just looked at her for a moment and wondered why everyone was always afraid of Slytherins; obviously Hufflepuffs were really the most terrifying ones, they just hid it under delicious French Onion soup and gossip. “No, I, that’s the last thing I want to do. If I do, I give you permission to do all those things.”
Hannah smiled, looking surprised but delighted and stepped back. “She’ll be right out, she ran around back to change into appropriate muggle clothes.”
“You’ll tell Harry to come get us if we’re arrested by the muggle police, won’t you?”
Hannah only laughed and pat his arm before she went back to the bar.
He didn’t know what he was expecting but when Luna came out, she was wearing a simple dress with her hair down. She took his arm and together they walked out into muggle London. “So,” she said, “I remember you telling me that you shouted someone’s name while you were with someone else the other day. You got very strange and I’ve been wondering if it’s because it’s someone I know.”
George had to physically make himself keep walking and he focused on the fact that he was the one getting strange looks for the way he was dressed. He really hadn’t put much thought into it and, okay, he probably passed as a fashionable muggle at least. “No, it was just one of my worst moments.”
Luna laughed, “No, come on, why won’t you tell me?”
“It’s not important.” he said, probably a little to sharply because she fell silent and when he glanced to her, she looked a little perplexed. Fuck, she totally knew. She sometimes knew things about himself before he did, she was heavy handed with the alcohol when he needed it and sparse when he didn’t--and that’s just when it came to drinks. He really didn’t think he had told her that. He wasn’t drinking firewhiskey again.
Luna stayed quiet until they got to the theater and she started asking about Ron and Hermione’s upcoming wedding. It was still a year away but Hermione was already planning and they had gone to no less than four bakeries to sample cakes already. George was pretty sure they were going to go to several more before they picked one.
The show made them both laugh and Luna was so taken by it during intermission that she announced a little too loudly that they should go to muggle theater more often. They convinced the couple next to them that she said London not muggle and then giggled to themselves during half of the second act.
After the show they joined the autograph queue so Luna could meet Audrey and they could thank her for their tickets. She ended up pulling them backstage and grilled them on what they thought of it. Audrey was a pretty dark haired woman who laughed without a second thought and had a wide toothy smile. She gave Luna recommendations to several other shows and the two of them left with Luna promising to exchange some money into muggle money and buying them both tickets to another show.
He pulled her into a dark alley a couple of blocks from the theater so they could apparate home but as George was saying goodnight, Luna grabbed his hands, went up on her toes and kissed him soundly. He leaned into the kiss and they stayed in the alley for several long moments before Luna stepped away.
She smiled, “see you later, George Weasley.”
With a pop she was gone and George didn’t quite know what to do for several minutes. Then he apparated to Fred’s grave.
He didn’t like to come here, how could a cold piece of earth and a stone block hold more of his twin than the shop or the Burrow? But there was something traditional to it and George paced back and forth in front of the headstone for a couple minutes, trying to figure out what the hell he was doing. Everything else in his life was going great.
In the dark he could see there was a parcel wrapped neatly next to Fred’s headstone and he didn’t have to look to know that his Mum must have dropped off some fudge. He sighed. Tilting his head back, he stared at the night sky, what was he doing? The only thing he could do was go after what made him happy and he shouldn’t be doubting that.
George took his wand out and sent a shower of confetti raining down over the heartbreaking scene to give it a pop of color and made a note to go have lunch with his parents tomorrow.
The following afternoon, his mother, as if reading his mind, asked him if he was seeing anyone and she beamed when he tried to shy away from the question by saying things were too new to tell. He caught Luna early in her shift and asked her out again. Hannah stayed purposefully silent during the exchange but the day after that, Ginny and Ron both showed up and threatened him with ridiculous threats. George jotted their ideas down to see if he could make something out of them later.
The following months were a bit of a blur. Things with Luna went slowly, they went back to muggle West End several times, twice they spent weekends at the shore looking for signs of giant grindylows and she hung out at his flat before work most nights.
Sometimes when he was having a particularly bad day, she’d put music on and stay the night. Once they stayed up until dawn dancing (something he regretted immensely when he had to go downstairs to work and she got to stay under the covers).
They didn’t actually have sex until they had been dating officially for a week or two. They wasted hours making out but neither was in any particular hurry. When they did, the sex wasn’t groundbreaking but it was fun and it made him feel closer to her rather than just using it to get his mind off of things. George thought he sounded ridiculous whenever he thought it and he had to remind himself he once nearly got caught handcuffed to his bed by Bill. Luna had thrown clothes on haphazardly and raced out to tell him he wasn’t home. Bill hadn’t questioned her fashion choices (in her panic she had grabbed a winter hat) or why she was there and after Bill left, Luna had to try several different spells to get the handcuffs off him. They still laughed about it.
George awoke one morning in late June to the sound of people speaking in the kitchen. He dragged himself out of bed and pulled on some clothes and then went to investigate.
Immediately the conversation stopped and he blinked in the early morning light to see Luna sitting with Charlie. Charlie had a bandage on the left side of his face and a crutch resting against the table.
George must have made a face because Luna took a sip of her tea and said, “I didn't know certain breeds of dragons had fires that negatively affected magic.”
“Is that why you still look freshly roasted?” George asked, crossing his arms over his chest.
Charlie scowled, “please don't owl mum.”
“Are you alright?”
He nodded, “just stuck here for a bit. They’re considering transferring me to the Beast division of the Department of Magical Creatures.”
Luna’s eyes lit up at the mention of him staying, “George would love it if you stayed with him. He won't say it --unless you ply him with drinks--but he hates how quiet it can be here sometimes.”
George pointedly didn’t look at her, the addition of his brother meant that sex would be confined to either his bedroom or to hours when there was absolutely no possibility of him being home (he had walked in on Fred several times and Never Again). “If you need a place to stay, you can stay here as long as you promise Mum won't also move in to take care of you.” He didn’t want to think of the possibility of losing Charlie as well and having him would cement that he was okay.
“I'm fine. I just can't really be around Magic until the burns heal.”
“You do know you’re in Diagon Alley?” George asked carefully and Charlie rolled his eyes. He had a cup of coffee in his hand and George went over to the pot to pour himself some as well.
“It doesn't bother me unless it's less than three feet and only if it's active magic, magic brewed potions or enchanted objects only make it feel a little numb.”
Luna gasped and leaned forward, interested. “Wow, so we’re just discovering this now?”
“Yeah.”
“Amazing.”
“Mum’s going to be beside herself,” George kissed Luna good morning and sat next to her, “so can we hold off on how awesome learning about this new type of dragon is until after she’s done shouting at you.”
Charlie sighed and Luna looked to both of them, “If you want, I’ll go with you when you tell Molly. She’s very pleased with George and my relationship and I’ll make sure to bring up that you’ll be staying with him. She worries and knowing you’ll be together will make it a little bit easier.”
“Please.” Charlie sighed again, “George can you spare a morning away from the shop?”
He nodded and leaned into Luna as she began questioning Charlie on what other creatures he had come across in Romania. He of course mentioned vampires in the middle of his tirade, and George of course couldn’t contain himself, “they actually take offense to being classified as creatures. They’re human, or well they used to be at least. It’s the same as with Veelas and werewolves.”
Charlie raised his eyebrow and Luna jumped in, “he spent the night with a vampire a while back. Although he didn’t realize it until after the fact.”
“How--” Charlie began but George cut him off.
“It’s been over a year and the only people who know and you and Hannah, couldn’t this be something we kept secret?”
“Oh no, this is something we tell everyone. She drank his blood and he still didn’t catch on.”
Charlie laughed and George scowled, “I’ve changed my mind you can’t stay with me.”
“Too late, I’ve already put his things in his room.” Luna kissed his cheek and Charlie reached over her to ruffled his hair. George rolled his eyes and laughed.