Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter, I am but a humble fanfiction author trying and failing to do J. K. Rowling's genius creations justice.

So. I just became totally obsessed with George and Angelina while rereading The Chamber of Secrets. I don't know why, they were mentioned and I was like "OMG THEY GET MARRIED!" And then this happened. So. Read, review, enjoy, kthnks.

Prologue: The Best Man

"So," Katie Bell began casually, leaning backwards against the railing of my small London flat's balcony and smiling mildly at me, "Lee and I have set a date."

I promptly chocked on the coffee had I had been halfway through swallowing, sputtering over the edge of the railing and spitting the offending liquid down onto the heads of the poor, unsuspecting Muggles beneath us. Katie laughed, but thumped me on the back to ensure my continuing ability to breath.

"Stop being so melodramatic, it's not like we never planned on getting married," she admonished and I shot her an incredulous look.

"But you have been engaged for well over two years now."

Katie rolled her eyes, "We got engaged at the height of the war," she reminded me, "We had to make sure we were serious when it ended and that we hadn't done it because we thought we'd be dead the next week or something, remember?"

I couldn't really disagree with that reasoning seeing as I had been the one who had pointed it out in the first place. When Katie and Lee Jordan had gotten engaged in the December of 1997, during the second and final war You Know Who had brought to the wizarding world, I hadn't exactly been ecstatic about it. Quite the contrary, I had torn her a new one when she had told me, seeing as they had only been dating for two months prior to the proposal and, the way I saw it, were only agreeing to marriage out of a fear of dying alone. It had been on my advice that she had talked him out of elopement and they had settled in to wait for the end of the war.

"So," I said, reaching backwards to pick up my wine glass off of the small, round patio table behind us and taking a short sip, "When is the long awaited wedding going to be, then?"

"December. The three year anniversary of our engagement, actually."

"Ah," I glanced at her quickly, "And is six months enough time to plan a wedding?"

Katie must have gotten the hidden message in that sentence, because she grinned widely, "Only with you as my maid of honor, Angie," she teased, shoving me playfully when I snorted, "Don't be like that, you know you want to."

Of course I wanted to be her maid of honor. She was my best friend, after all.

"Your mum will help too, right?" I asked. Katie smirked.

"Are you kidding? She's been waiting ages for this."

There was a brief pause as Katie and I surveyed the London skyline, lit up by street lamps and flat windows in the night. The light pollution stopped the stars from peaking through the sky, but I could still see the large, yellowish orb that accompanied them. The moon was waxing and about three quarters of its full size tonight. As I stared at it, I could have sworn a broom rider passed in front of its unearthly light. A question struck me then and, offhandedly, I asked it.

"Who's going to be Lee's best man?"

Katie cleared her throat awkwardly and a feeling of foreboding swept over me so fast I nearly lost my balance. Oh, no. No, no, no. No.

"Angie, he is Lee's best friend," she said softly, but I wasn't having any of it.

"No."

It was one thing, seeing him in the context of on the street in Diagon Alley. I worked in Quality Quidditch Supplies and he ran his bloody joke shop, the occasional passing on the street was sort of unavoidable. But this, at a wedding, where we would both be playing pivotal roles? No. That was crossing into dangerous territory, far too dangerous for my tastes. Besides, he would not want to work that closely with me, not after the way I had behaved in the weeks following You Know Who's fall and, more importantly, the death of his twin brother, who, incidentally, had been my boy friend. I had been awful to him; there was no two ways about it. And he was unlikely to forgive me anytime within the next century.

"Oh, come on, it's just George."

"Just George!" I exploded, spinning to face her and slamming my wine glass down so hard on the table beside me that the stem cracked in two places, "It is not just George! He doesn't want to see me, Katie!"

Katie looked horribly flustered, "You don't know that-!"

"Yes, I do! He's furious with me!"

"Well," Katie drew herself up, flushing scarlet, "Maybe, if you took the time to apologize, he wouldn't be, Angelina! And don't give me some nonsense about him not wanting to talk to you! It won't hurt anything to at least try to tell him that you're sorry!"

My mouth dropped open and Katie, who had taken two seconds to brace herself for the screaming I would have subject her to had I not been so completely and utterly shocked, let out her breath, realizing that she had gotten me there. Never, in the two years that I had been staying far, far away from George Weasley in a misguided attempt at penance, had it occurred to me to apologize. And now that she had pointed it out, it seemed so bloody obvious.

"Tell him I'm sorry?" I repeated slowly when I regained the use of my mouth. Katie glowered at me.

"Yes, you idiot, apologize. You are sorry for what happened, aren't you?" she asked, suddenly looking unsure. I nodded quickly.

"Of course, yes, I'm very sorry, I just…I didn't think…I mean, he was so angry with me, Katie."

Katie shrugged nonchalantly, but I didn't miss the discomfort in her face, "Well, I mean, you did say some pretty rotten things. Of course, you were upset," she added hastily, catching what must have been the mortified look on my face. I took a step backwards to sink into one of the two wrought iron chairs my mother had gotten me for my birthday last year. Katie sat down in its twin, watching me warily, "You are okay with this, aren't you? Being the maid of honor to George's best man, I mean."

I took a moment to consider it. George had always been a close friend of mine, along with Fred and Lee and Katie. One of my best friends. He and I had been able to laugh together, we had supported each other, he hadn't even made it awkward when Fred and I had begun to see each other in a romantic fashion, quite the contrary he had thought the idea of the two of us brilliant. And there was the tiny fact that I missed him terribly and there was nothing that I regretted more than ruining my relationship with him. Perhaps, if I could just apologize, and do it right, we could go back to the way we had been before the war, back to being close friends.

I sighed heavily, "Only if he's alright with it."

Katie beamed and threw her arms around me, "Of course he will be!" she practically squealed directly into my ear, making me wince. "I'll go let Lee know you said yes!"

"Yes, alright, and tell him he's a prat while you're at it, will you?"

She laughed and shook her head, "Have a good night, Angie."

"You too."

As Katie Disapparated, I leaned back against the railing and took out my wand, waving it idly to repair the damage I had done to my wine glass in my uncalled for fit of rage.

George Weasley.

I buried my face in my hands.

Oh, hell.