Learn to Love Again | George Weasley

48. Don't Do Anything Stupid

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content warning:
heavy drinking as a coping mechanism
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March 2000

It had been weeks since things had ended between Maxwell and Eloise. In that time, the girl had practically buried herself in her work to avoid thinking about the whole situation. No one other than Verity, Percy, and Fleur had been able to speak with her much. Even then, all they typically got from her was short responses and unamused grunts in return. Her invitation to Ron's birthday dinner had even been rejected, using the excuse of working overtime to finish a big report that needed to be done before Monday morning.

In actually, there was no such report and Percy knew this. But whatever was going on with Eloise was none of his business, he knew better than anyone what it was like to dive head first into work as a coping mechanism, no matter how healthy or unhealthy it may seem. So, he kept that little secret to himself, allowing her the freedom to come to terms with whatever was going on in her life on her own time.

Ron's twentieth birthday had been a hit, everyone was having a lovely time together. It felt like the first family birthday since losing Fred that everyone was actually in a good mood, even George. The only tension came from Ginny and Harry being in the same room together for the first time in months but even they could set aside their differences in favor of Ron's happiness. Besides, Ginny had brought Luna along who always had a curious talent of breaking the ice with her astute (and mostly blunt) observations.

One particular observation came shortly after dinner as Molly was serving the cake. Luna had been staring across the table at George for an uncomfortably long amount of time. Out of respect for her feelings, he didn't have the heart to tell her to knock it off, but to say it wasn't bothering him would have been a blatant lie. It was only when a plate of chocolate cake floated across the table and landed in front of the girl did George finally decide to break his silence when her eyes remained firmly on him rather than on the dessert in front of her.

"Everything alright there, Luna?"

The doe eyed girl across from him didn't respond right away, instead she reached down and dug through her bag before pulling out her pair of Spectrespecs and placing them over her bright blue eyes. A wide grin grew on her face as she looked back at him.

"It's just as I thought. You're surrounded by Dove Bugs." she mused.

"Dove Bugs?"

"Oh yes, they're flying all around your head."

George chuckled slightly. Being in a rather good mood that evening, he decided to humor her for a bit rather than brushing her off and telling her no such creature existed.

"Any idea how I can get rid of them?"

Luna shook her head, "I don't think you can."

"Why's that?"

"Well, they usually cling on to people who are in love." she said dreamily.

Ginny let out a snort beside Luna only to earn an unamused frown from her older brother.

"I think you're mistaken there, Luna." he said plainly as he brought his eyes back to her, hoping no one else was paying much attention to their conversation.