Learn to Love Again | George Weasley

65. On the Fritz

October 2000

Charlie had been gone for a few weeks now, he left shortly after Hermione's birthday and was set to return sometime around mid-October. In the meantime, it was just George and Verity at the shop and to say they were struggling without Charlie's presence would have been the understatement of the millennium.

Even with the little notice he had, George felt rather confident that he and Verity could manage on their own, so he hadn't really considered hiring anyone temporary. The end of September was rarely ever a busy time in the shop, after all. But after a few days without him, their patience with each other was already wearing thin and he knew they needed some sort of help before they ended up killing each other.

That's where Eloise came in. In Charlie's absence, she had been helping close the shop every evening to the best of her abilities. At first, George felt quite guilty for allowing her to essentially work for him for free, despite how many times she told him she truly didn't mind. Each night she'd come in after a long day at the Ministry and restock the shelves with Verity while he handled balancing that day's earnings, never once complaining – Verity did more than enough of that for all three of them.

Eloise was a blessing, she truly was. Not only to himself but to Verity as well. And not just because she was the only one willing to organize the towering Skiving Snackbox displays or clean out the Pygmy Puff cages. It was her presence and encouragement that held them together. Those words of encouragement are what seemed to stick with Verity most of all.

It had been a little over a week since Verity first brought up the idea of expanding the shop to an international market to George. Charlie had been gone for a mere five days at the time and she had already realized that time apart from him simply wouldn't work for her in the long run – regardless of the countless stack of letters he wrote to her each day.

At first, George had been incredibly taken aback as the idea seemingly came out of nowhere but when she explained that it had been Eloise's suggestion, it suddenly made more sense.

Eloise had always been career driven for as long as he'd known her, it wasn't a surprise at all that she believed his store could achieve success beyond Diagon Alley if they all put in the work.

With her level of ambition, George sometimes wondered if she would have been sorted into Slytherin had she been a student at Hogwarts rather than Beauxbatons. But he quickly dismissed the thought, if only because he couldn't imagine himself ever being drawn to someone from that house. Really, it was Ravenclaw that seemed much more fitting, if he had to choose one.

If Eloise was anything, it was bright. Only she could have come up with the solution that kept Verity's dreams and romance thriving. Her mind was a treasure trove full of ideas that he'd never consider if not for her – his clever girl.

He could almost picture her now, with her blonde curls bouncing behind her as she hurried her way down the corridors to her lessons. A blue tie around her neck and Charms textbook clutched tightly to her chest as she weaved through the crowd of students. At the thought alone, he knew he would have been smitten immediately.

The hypothetical of the two of them crossing paths as teens ran through his mind a lot. Whether it was the alternate reality where she grew up in the English countryside and attended Hogwarts during her most formative years, or even the idea of them meeting during his sixth year when Beauxbatons visited the school for the Tournament.

Part of him longed for the years they could have spent growing up together, wishing he could turn back time and do it all over again. Honestly, he wished he could do that with plenty of moments in his life.