Summers (with Fred & George Weasley)

Promises

Year 17 - Promises

Beca was still mad at George when he and Fred returned from Hogwarts. He had promised her, before he went back to school last September, that he would come home and spend Christmas with her. Only days after returning to school, Beca received a letter from him breaking that promise. He told her all about the Tri-Wizard Tournament and what an exciting time it would be at Hogwarts this year. He promised next year he’d come home for Christmas and that he’d make it up to her and he hoped she’d understand. Of course, it took three or four more letters to her before George admitted that there was going to be a dance over the Christmas holiday. The Yule Ball was going to be a great event and George didn’t want to miss it.

For Christmas George sent Beca a stuffed panda bear. She didn’t write him back. He sent her a letter telling her how much he wished she could have been his date at the Christmas dance. She didn’t write him back. Lucy wrote Beca and told her what a gentleman George was during the entire evening. Then Lucy, wrote Beca almost every week before now, never wrote her again.

Addie, the owner of the book shoppe where Beca worked, knew something was going on with her. When she wasn’t crying, she was throwing things. When what few customers they had would speak to Beca, she’d either be short with them or she’d burst into tears. He couldn’t take any more. To get her mind off her troubles, and because the book store wasn’t making any money, he decided to convert it into a bakery.

Beca had been selling cookies and muffins on the side for a while now. Her cakes were attracting more business than his dusty, old books. So they took out the bookshelves and put in a few tables; cleaned out the backroom and put in a commercial kitchen; and changed the name on the door from Bishop’s Books to Beca’s Bakery. Then Addie announced his retirement, and Beca took over the shoppe.

When George saw the bakery, he was impressed by the changes and proud of Beca for handling the business on her own. He told her so, but to no avail. She was still upset about the dance. He did everything he could think of to make it up to her. He promised her, when they got married, they’d have a huge wedding, with the whole town in attendance, and he’d dance the night away with her. He told her she didn’t need to be jealous of who he went with, he’d invited Lucy, her best friend, she had nothing to worry about.

But, for some reason, his going to the Yule Ball with Lucy, didn’t seem to keep Beca from getting mad. George didn’t understand Beca sometimes. Fortunately, her birthday was coming up. His plan was to buy her an extra special gift, maybe that would put him back in her favor.

George decided to take Beca birthday shopping. He and Fred took her to the dress shoppe next door of the bakery. She found the most beautiful dress. It was a simple, red, cotton, summer dress that fit snugly in the breast and then flared at the bodice. Beca felt girly yet sexy in it. George told her how beautiful she looked in it and insisted she have it. Beca was thrilled and just like that, he was forgiven.

Rachel showed Beca a pair of high heels that would go perfectly with the dress, but they were too expensive on her budget and George had just bought her the dress so she wouldn’t let him to pay for them. So she settled for the dress and went off to prepare the dinner she and George and Fred and whoever Fred brought would be having that evening.

Fred was really enjoying himself since he and Lucy broke up. He seemed to be with a different girl every week, sometimes witch, sometimes muggle. Either way, it was always hard on Beca. If he was dating a witch, she, Fred and George would talk about things that happened at school, so Beca felt left out. If he was dating a muggle, she would carry on like she and Beca were best friends. Then when Fred lost interest, as he always did, she’d be on Beca’s doorstep crying, wondering what she’d done wrong.