House: Ravenclaw

Year: 3rd Year

Category: Drabble

Prompt(s): (starter) The good news what the he would never do it again, but the bad news was …

(speech) "What do you mean 'got married?' When? How? Why?"

W/C: 495

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The good news was that he would never do it again, but that bad news was that he couldn't do it better.

George stood with Angelina in front of his parents, holding their hands up donning simple gold bands on their ring fingers. Molly's mouth was agape, cheeks reddened with rage. Although, if asked about it, she would probably insist she was just surprised.

"What do you mean you 'got married'? When? How? Why?" she'd paused briefly between each question. Arthur stood next to his wife with something between a grin and a grimace plastered onto his face. George explained it to her more slowly, answering each of her questions.

What do you mean you 'got married' – Well, when a man loves a woman, he marries her. That was the logic, at least. Molly hadn't appreciated this answer and swatted at him with the dish rag in her hand.

When – Well, just that day, actually just that hour. His parents were the first to find out!

How – Well, they just took a trip to the Ministry after a trip to a cheap jewelry store in London. Angelina had been with some friends recently and knew it was affordable. Arthur gave a thumbs up and Molly rolled her eyes, somewhat appreciative of her son's surprisingly frugal inclination.

Why – Because, god, did he love Angelina.

It had been two years since the Weasley family had lost Fred, and the only person that could understand the loss of his other half had been Angelina. Sure his parents had lost a son, his siblings had lost a brother – but George lost someone who was so much a part of his identity – he may as well have died himself. Angelina and Fred weren't dating then, but they'd remained close, and she never wavered in her loyalty to him. Had he been around, George was sure that she'd have married him.

George grappled with that fact, and wondered often if she only loved him because he was the twin to the man she'd lost in the war too. But she'd said something to him that morning, something so undeniably genuine that it was clear that she loved him. Angelina loved George Weasley and was ready to barrel through the rest of their lives together, not in Fred's wake – but in honor of it.

What had she said, though? Angelina often asked what had prompted him that day, as did the other Weasley family members. George never thought to tell them the truth, of course, because it was special to him. It was something that helped him hold on to his sanity because it was unaltered by the commentary of an outside party.

"He'd be proud of you, George, and he'd want you to be whole."

Angelina Johnson made George feel whole again. Somewhere, somehow, he liked to think that Fred knew that. Maybe it wasn't a beautiful wedding, but it – was – good.

Acknowledgements:

A big shout out to the good, good folks that BETA read this story to help ensure that I was clear in my ideas and picking up those picky technical details that can often go unmissed without fresh eyes. Those wonderful people are: nottheonlyfangirl and TheCrownprincessBride.