Written for the songfic challenge with a twist on HPFC. I chose the song Can't Shake You by Gloriana and got the pairing George/Angelina.
"Even though you left me you're still here."
Gloriana - Can't Shake You
It has been nearly a year since George last saw her. Sometimes that year seems like eternity and sometimes it seems likes no time at all. Like she will walk back through his door any minute.
He is reminded of her constantly. Everywhere he goes he sees her. The memories just won't go away. He tries not to feel. He tries to forget. He tries to tell him self it's over, that he doesn't care. But he knows it's a lie because no matter what he does he can't forget her.
Near Harry and Ginny's house is a tiny muggle park. George passes it each time he goes to visit and each time the same memory overwhelms him.
George grabed Angelina's hand as they walked out of Harry and Ginny's house. Angelina said something about how long it would be before Ginny's baby was born. George smiled at her thinking how lucky he was to have her.
They stopped in their usual spot to apparate, right outside that park. They were there at least once a month but they'd never been inside. George pulled her through the gate and she gave a little cry of surprise, asking what he was doing.
He didn't answer, but pulled her down to sit beside him on the swings. She smiled at him, the confusion gone from her eyes. She knew him well enough to know why they were there.
Is was a beautiful night. The sky was covered in stars and and a light breeze blew leaves down into a pond a little ways away. The peace was wonderful after all the people at Harry and Ginny's. Not many knew how much George loved the quiet. He always had but then more than ever.
After a little while they stood up and George turned to Angelina. He looked into her eyes for a moment and then he kissed her. It was their first kiss, but it was beautiful, like that night.
Sometimes George used to walk by her house for no reason but to see if she was home. It became a habit of his. Apparate to her street after work and go over to her house. Sometimes they'd talk for hours and others he wouldn't even go inside.
It had been a hard habit to break, but just seeing her house is enough to break down all the walls he's built around his heart.
They sat on her couch talking about the future. They'd only been dating three months and the future still seemed so far off.
"If we ever get married you can come live here," Angelina said. "You won't have to live in the flat over the shop anymore."
"What if I like it there?" George asked in mock horror.
"Then I guess we can live apart because there is no way I would live there," Angelina laughed.
George sighed. "I suppose I could sacrifice my happiness for yours. But you have to promise me we'll redecorate. I hate turquoise."
Angelina knows she should be over him. She knows why she ended it. Every moment with him made her think of Fred and she couldn't take that. Constantly comparing them and wondering if she would love George if she hadn't first loved Fred.
She pretends she doesn't care about him anymore. She burned all the letters he sent her and forces herself to go see other guys. She pretends things are different now, that she's done with him, but it's always him she's thinking of. He's the only one she can't forget. He's the one she just can't get over.
Every morning Angelina sees one of his fake wands lying in the back of her closet. It's pointless, those fake wands have long since been replaced with better things, but she can't throw it away.
It's that tiny reminder of him that she really doesn't need, but can't help but want.
She met him at the joke shop one day just after it closed. He had that look on him face. The one that meant he was planning something.
"What?" she asked.
"I have a present for you," he said.
She pretended to be scared because a present from George Weasley could be dangerous. He laughed and handed her a box. Inside was a wand. One of the fake ones that changed into something else when they were waved.
"Wave it," he said.
She did and it it changed into a heart with 'I love you' written on it in big letters.
"That's the last one of those we're ever going to make," George said. "They don't sell well anymore, but I wanted to make one last one for you. Because you're special."
Angelina smiled and kissed him. She had never felt more special.
When Angelina was in Diagon Alley she would always be sure not to go anywhere near Weasley's Wizard Wheezes but her so called friends drag her inside. She hasn't been in there for a long time but the moment she steps through the door it feels like no time has passed at all.
Angelina sat up on the counter of the joke shop watching as George stocked the shelves, complaining about how Ron didn't have to do it anymore because he was married and had to be home.
"You could always get married," Angelina suggested.
"I'd still have to stock shelves," George said. "Someone has to do it. Ron won't and I don't trust anyone else to, so it will have to be me."
"I could help."
"It's fine, I'm almost done anyway."
"Next time then."
"You don't have to work," George said, putting a last box on the shelf and walking toward her. "You can just sit there and look pretty."
"Well, if you're sure that's what you want..."
George pulled her gently down off the counter to kiss her. "That might not quite be all I want," he whispered.
Angelina doesn't want to see him, but she can't stop herself from looking for him. He's probably in the front helping customers. Maybe laughing as he shows off his newest product.
She has always loved his laugh. It could fix anything. Make her feel better on her worst day. Now the thought of seeing him laugh makes her feel worse.
It had been a long time since George had laughed. Angelina never went to the joke shop. She had gotten so used to seeing Fred there that she didn't think she'd be able to take being there without him. But her friends still went and they'd tell her how George never even smiled. He did his job and made sure everyone was happy but he didn't enjoy it.
It was then that she decided she had to go see him. She didn't know if she could help him, but she did know that she had been close to Fred and maybe she could.
When she walked into the shop she walked up to the front where he was standing and said, "I've missed you."
"Me, too," he replied. She could tell he wasn't sure what she was doing there and that he was just trying to be polite when he added, "Can I help you find anything."
"No, I came to see you," she said honestly.
"I see," George said slowly. "Well, I am rather busy right now, but we are closing in half an hour. We could go get a drink or something then. If you don't mind waiting."
"That's fine," she smiled.
Just over half an hour later they were sitting in the Leaky Cauldron talking.
Angelina smiled as, after an hour of telling George all her favorite memories from Hogwarts involving him, he finally cracked a smile, and she could tell he wanted to do more than that.
It crossed her mind that maybe it wasn't so much that he couldn't laugh, but more that he didn't want to. "It's alright to laugh, you know," she whispered. "Fred would want you to."
He nodded and she noticed that after that he made less of an effort to keep any happiness shut up inside of him.
George saw Angelina walk in and at that moment he wanted nothing more than to get away. He didn't want her to see him. He didn't have the courage to face her because he knew if she did he wouldn't be able to pretend he didn't feel anything for her.
He left the customer he was helping mumbling something about getting something from the back. The moment he wasn't in the same room as her he could breath again.
His eyes fell on a particular corner of the room. There was a box there with three things in it. A locket that said 'hope' that she'd given him after their first meeting, a photograph they'd taken in one of those muggle photo booths at a fair she'd insited they go to ("I've always wanted to see what one was like," she'd said), and a shoe.
They had gone out for a date in Hogsmeade and they were both a little drunk. Maybe that was why George apparated to the joke shop instead of Angelina's house, but neither of them cared much. They went inside and George gripped Angelina's hand tighter and spun her around so he could grab her other.
"What are you doing, George?" she asked.
"Dancing with you," he answered, pulling her in a circle in between the shelves.
They twirled around the room until she tripped on her highheels and stopped to kick them off. When she turned back to him she wrapped her arms around his neck. He put his hands on her waist and they swayed to the silence. Angelina laid her head on George's shoulder and in that moment George thought he had everything he could ever want.
Later, when they were both practically falling asleep and decided it was time to go home, Angelina could only find one of her shoes. George solved this problem by picking her up and carrying her.
He found the shoe the next morning but kept it as a reminder of that night.
They both know there is no escaping what they are feeling. They both know they aren't going to move on. They have both spent so long trying to forget but nothing gets better. The only thing they don't know is that they are both feeling the same thing.