When I originally began writing 'Learn to Love Again' I did not envision a traditionally happy ending with the typical outcome of them getting married.
In fact, the epilogue I wrote didn't come to me until probably 5 or so chapters from the end. I was married to this idea (pun intended) for quite a while and even wrote part of it long before I started on the final version of George and Eloise exchanging their vows in the clearing.
Now, I bet you're wondering "Well Andi, which ending is the real ending?" and I'll be honest with you and tell you that I go back and fourth!
I truly love the epilogue I wrote for 'Learn to Love Again' and stand by it! However, I think what you're about to read is also true to their journey as well, in some ways even more so.
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2007
It's true that there was never a love more strong than the one shared between George Weasley and Eloise Laurent. It was a powerful, all consuming, beautiful chaos of a love. A once in a lifetime kind of feeling.
It was a love that fell apart a year and a half after the word had first fallen from their lips.
It was no one's fault, the way things ended. Both were to blame in their own ways.
Eloise was moving up in her career, traveling all around the world, signing trade deals and attending meetings at foreign Ministries. As proud as George was of her achievements, he found that spending more and more nights alone had become the norm. In some ways, he almost felt like he had already lost her. Maybe that's what made going their separate ways so easy in the end.
She tried to make every moment of her time at home with him count, she really did. But it wasn't enough. Besides, George wasn't ready for a family.
They had talked about it several times during their time together. Back when it felt like a distant concept, he was more receptive of the idea. But when Eloise said that she had always pictured being married by the time she was twenty-five, he began to panic, realizing that particular birthday would be the following summer. It was just a passing comment, something Eloise never pressured him about. Yet the words remained in the back of his mind, slowly eating away at him.
In the end, there was no dramatic blow-up, no screaming match, not even any tears. Merely a mutual agreement that parting ways was a long time coming – something George had known would be inevitable from the very beginning.
The two of them crossed paths only a few times since that summer in 2002, when things came to an end.
The first was when Fleur gave birth to her and Bill's second daughter, Dominique, the autumn after. Even though it had been over a year, the wounds were still too fresh and neither spoke a word to one another despite their mutual joy for the couple.
