Rain Will Make the Flowers Grow

Disclaimer: I own no part of the Harry Potter series. That's JKR. I also don't own the musical Les Miserables, which is where I borrowed the title from.

A/N: Well the epilogue I'm trying to write to Seven Deadly Sins (RLNT) isn't coming out, but I promise I will write it! And Power of the No will come after exams.

THIS IS A COMPANION TO MY RON/HERMIONE FIC EASY. CAN BE READ SEPARATELY, BUT BEST READ WITH IT.

Dedicated to my beta jwoods471, who is not feeling very well right now due to the stress of finals. Also, I convinced her that George/Alicia is a good ship.

Chapter 1 "Exposition"

George Weasley knew he shouldn't begrudge fate, but he couldn't help it. Life just seemed too unfair. He had had so much: a great family, a thriving business, a steady girl, and good friends.

Then Voldemort came.

Voldemort had always been a vague threat, never one George took seriously. That was in the past, from when he was quite small. Voldemort wasn't supposed to come back. Sure, Harry had said he had, but that didn't have to affect him personally, right?

Wrong. Fate had just been dealing him good cards. But that changed one night. All of it in one night.

He had stayed at the joke shop late that night, for he and Fred had had some petty fight earlier that evening. He'd even skived off dinner at the Burrow. It ended up saving his life.

His mother, Bill, Fleur, Charlie, Fred, all gone. Ginny had been off tailing Harry, Ron, and Hermione (who were themselves trailing Voldemort's past in search of horcruxes). His dad had been at work late due to the stress of the war. Percy, the prick, was later revealed as being a Death Eater. Whether or not he had been under the Imperius Curse didn't even bother George. He was just scum.

So George, Ron, Arthur, and Ginny were the only Weasleys left. It had been heartbreaking. But Alicia had stuck with him. Alicia was understanding and compassionate. She lost family members too, but not someone as close as a twin. So they had grown closer if anything.

Then Ginny had gone completely bonkers, no thanks to Harry's false nobility. Then George had suffered from depression as well. It was hard having to depend on his youngest brother and live without a twin to finish his sentences.

So they had taken a break from one another for a while. Two, three weeks? George couldn't remember. Then he had gone to check up on her and they reverted back to gentle yet insistent kisses and stolen glances. Then they took the big step. Unbelievably, they hadn't gotten that intimate in their relationship beforehand. She wanted to move slowly and George was willing to agree. She was worth the wait, after all. She wasn't like the other girls he had dated.

It was the next morning when George realized his heart was no longer his. He woke up, wondering if it was but a dream and found her beside him, her hair fanned out on the pillow. He felt his heart fill with a completely new emotion—one that warmed him but pained him all at the same time. It took him five minutes to give it a name: love.

It had scared him to death to admit it. And when she woke up and smiled at him, he was even more terrified. He loved her. He loved every bit of her. He didn't care that she favored the Harpies over any other team or that she (for some inane reason) preferred vanilla over chocolate. He didn't mind that she pressed her cold feet up against him in her sleep or that she liked to sleep with the light on. No, all that mattered was that she was near.

But George had once heard that the course of true love never did run smooth, and the idiom proved itself true. Family tensions arose at the Weasley flat, and George broke one of their dates. Little did he know that Alicia wasn't as secure as she presented herself.

They had had a nasty row. She accused him of using her, of lying to her, of neglecting her, of under appreciating her. Later he realized most of it was true. At the time, however, he'd thrown back far too many insults in her face. She did the leaving. For weeks he only saw her at St. Mungo's.

He missed her. He missed her easy smile, her soft laughter, her enthusiasm. He missed her kisses, he missed her caresses, but most of all he missed her love—not just the physical kind but the emotional as well.

He knew that he had screwed up royally. He had to salvage what they had left of a relationship before it was too late. But he wasn't sure she'd give him another chance. After all, he wasn't exactly a great prospect anymore. He was just George Weasley, poor, depressed, and broken. But he was the same George Weasley that loved Alicia Spinnet. And that should account for something, shouldn't it?

He decided to test out the Gryffindor courage and try to make amends with her. Hell, he'd even grovel if it got her back in his life. Love was something he couldn't afford to lose. Love was all he had.

A/N: I know, talk about ANGST! Sorry. If you read Easy, you see it'll continue for a while. These two have a lot of things to work through, both personally and as a couple.

Sorry for the narrative. If you didn't particularly like it, I'm sorry. (Thinks of beta, who is probably thinking of throwing something at me.) Next chapter will most likely be mostly (or all, like this one) narrative, but from then on, we should see a healthy balance.

A note about updates: I have finals next week, then I go home for the summer. Then I have to ship my computer off for a few weeks for a new keypad, since my backspace key broke off. The updates may be a little slow, but they'll come.

Thanks to my beta, jwoods471. Sorry about all the narrative, girl. Beta's Note: Actually the narrative didn't bother me that much in this story. I don't know why, since it usually does but it interested me even though I've always said that I didn't like this pairing. Just like with Lupin/Tonks, you are changing my views of the couple.