Learn to Love Again | George Weasley

61. Canary Creams

July 2000

It had been several weeks since Ron and Hermione's wedding. When George and Eloise finally sat down and spoke about what had happened at the reception, she assured him that she had simply been overreacting. Apologies fell from her lips as she told him how much she regretted the way she responded. Despite how much she said that she simply wanted to forget about it and move on, George didn't believe her.

He persisted, trying to urge her to be honest with him, assuring her that he could handle whatever it was she was truly feeling. But she refused. No matter what he did or said, she maintained that she honestly wasn't upset by his words - that it was unnecessary for her to put pressure on their relationship when she wasn't even really interested in 'silly things' like marriage herself.

After a while, he relented, despite how horrible he felt. It was obvious that she was holding back in what he could only assume to be an effort to keep the peace between them. To desperately protect something that was already so fragile.

It only took him a few days to drop the subject entirely. Only because it was no use trying to get her to open up and he began to realize this must be how it felt for others to try to get him to be more vulnerable and honest.

Because George hadn't been fully convinced that Eloise was truly okay with how the situation had been resolved, he had been going out of his way to attempt to change his mindset.

The last few sessions with his Mind Healer, Suzan, had been spent trying to unpack his fear of commitment. Even though it was he who had brought it up, the first few sessions weren't nearly as productive as they could have been. He was guarded and defensive, even rude at times to the woman who was simply trying to help him.

Thankfully, Suzan was a patient woman, she had to be after all. The Mind Healer held her notepad in her lap, giving George her undivided attention whether he was yelling at her, crying, or simply sitting in silence as he gazed out the window and refused to answer any of her questions.

After a few fruitless sessions, they were finally beginning to make progress - slowly but surely. Unexpectedly, speaking with Suzan had even sparked an idea for the new product he had been struggling with.

At first, George's return to inventing had been rewarding. Each day he had something to work on, a goal to look forward to. But after hitting a wall on it, he had returned to simply going through the motions. Without Fred to help inspire new ideas, he thought he was well and truly stuck.

Eventually, he decided he was going about it all wrong. He was treating his job as a distraction again. This new product wasn't inventive or innovative at all. It was the same old song and dance he'd been used to. What he should have been doing was trying to tap into his emotions. He needed to search for what inspired him, for what he wanted to see in a product.

With renewed fervor, he made it his mission to finish the new contraption by the Christmas season. The holidays were five months out, after all. Plenty of time to work out the kinks and test it out on a few willing (or unwilling) participants.

Mid-summer in the joke shop was always the busiest. With students now home from Hogwarts, the sales floor was filled to the brim with hoots and hollers from children testing out the joke items on each other.

More than once did Charlie have to pull a nine year old down from the ceiling after trying out the Sticky Trainers. Verity was working like a machine behind the till, checking out the line of customers that felt as though it was never-ending. George circled the shop, answering the questions of concerned parents and preventing kids, who for some reason couldn't wait until they were outside to sample the Puking Pastilles, from vomiting on the floor.