"Thank you for coming," Lavinia trilled cheerily, faking every ounce of enthusiasm as an older gentlemen left Flourish and Blott's. "Old bugger," she grumbled, and Flourish shot her a look from the book shelves. She sighed and crossed her arms across her chest, willing the day to go by faster, or atleast to have nicer customers.

When she took the job, she had expected a little bit more. She didn't know what kind of more, but this certainly wasn't it. The pay was nice, and she got all the hours she wanted, but at the same time, it was slow. People had stopped coming to Diagon Alley unless it was important, because of all the happenings of Death Eaters and the news of You Know Who. The occasional customer would make her day, but that didn't happen often; it was too early for the school children to need supplies. She would catch herself day dreaming and have to shake herself out of it.

She began tapping her fingers across the counter in a random order, and a book snapped shut on the other side of the room. Her eyes widened and looked up to see Flourish rubbing his temples wearily.

"Lavinia, go take a break," he ordered calmly. The girl sighed once more before grabbing her bag. Slinging it across her body, she exited the shop and began to trace her normal path through Diagon Alley.

Exhausted was too light of a word to describe how she felt. The lack of sleep was starting to affect everything; the way she thought, the way she felt, and the way her body reacted to things. But she just couldn't sleep. If she hadn't despised taking potions so much, she would've made herself a sleeping draught.

It was around one in the afternoon and everything was beginning to come to a steady halt. The few people were headed back from their lunch breaks and getting back to work, just as she was doing the opposite. Typical.

Florean's was practically deserted, so she made her way in the shop, chewing on her lip as she looked at the menu board. Florean looked up briefly and smiled at her in greeting and Lavinia did the same. She came by often and he was kinder to her than most of the others in Diagon Alley were.

"Your usual?" he asked, and she paused a moment before nodding. She was a creature of habit; She didn't know why she thought she'd change now. He quickly fixed the cup of ice cream for her, and waved away the few knuts she had pulled out. "That's not needed. You look like you could use a pick-me-up."

Lavinia felt a sudden surge of affection for the older man, and her throat grew painfully tight as she blinked back tears. She smiled genuinely for the first time that day. "Thank you."

"No problem, dear," he replied easily, and she took it gratefully, taking a bite as she walked back outside to sit under one of the umbrella covered tables. Chocolate ice cream with marshmallows and nuts. She'd heard muggles called it rocky road, but she thought it was preposterous: it was nothing like a rocky road.

The heat of the day was making everything grow fuzzy, and her eyelids began to flutter as she fought to keep herelf awake. She felt her head droop forward on the table and let go to being conscious.

_

"That's a bit of an odd place to take a nap, Ms. Farrow," she heard a voice declare.

Lavinia jerked upward, her eyes feeling as if they were about to pop out of her head. She looked up and blinked.

"George?" she asked incredilously. He nodded, leaning against the table casually.

"I was heading back from Gringrott's when I saw you here. Late night?" he asked, and she took a deep breath, nodding slowly.

"You could say that," she murmured. To avoid his gaze, she looked at the table only to frown deeply. "Damnit."

He raised an eyebrow, "Pardon?"

She sighed sadly and gestured towards the cup, "My ice cream melted while I was sleeping."

Apparently he found this amusing, because he chuckled and held up a finger, "Wait here."

When she finally realized what he intended to do, it was too late to protest: he was already in the shop. Shaking her head, she began to pop my fingers and knuckles in a pathetic attempt to liven up. George appeared with two cups of ice cream: hers, and a weird looking lime green ice cream with whipped cream and fruit shaped things on top. He set them down and she tilted her head, raising an eyebrow.

"What is that?" Lavinia asked warily, and he grinned.

"This? Only the best desert treat known to the wizarding world," he replied cheekily, winking at her. She must not have looked convinced, because he relented, "It's not caught on yet with everyone, but I assure you, it's bloody good."

She winced slightly at his phrasing but smiled and said, "I'm sure."

He suddenly stuck his spoon in her face and demanded like a three year old: "Try it."

A small laugh escaped her lips before she could hold it back. He took this as an encouraging sign and pushed it closer to where it was basically touching her lips. Watching him warily, she took a tentative taste. Her eyebrows raised and she reappraised the lime green substance. It tasted of peppermint and exotic fruit.

"Huh," she mused and he smiled, supremely smug.

"Told you. Everyone's just too scared to try it," he said confidently. Lavinia tilted her head, letting him know she agreed, and began to eat her own ice cream. She noticed him watching her casually out of the corner of his eye, and she tried not to let it get to her. After a few minutes of silence, he exhaled loudly.

"Soooooo," he began, drawing out the word in a comical way. She looked up at him, and noticed how deeply chocolate brown his eyes were. His expression was amused, but surprisingly kind. "What brought you to Diagon Alley?"

She paused for a moment, picking the easiest response: "I got a job offer at Flourish and Blott's."

He nodded, as if this were not unexpected. "You always did like to read."

Before she could stop myself, she raised an eyebrow cynically and asked, "And how would you know?"

If he was offended at all, he didn't let on, but simply shrugged. "I saw you in the library a lot, and you always pulled out books when Professor Sprout was busy getting attacked by a snargaluff plant."

For some reason, Lavinia felt flattered. George had actually paid more attention to her than she had ever thought possible. This revelation made her whole experience at Hogwarts seem different, somehow. She wondered what else she had been too withdrawn and oblivious to notice.

"Well, you're right," she admitted, a bit humbled. "But it wasn't... my first choice."

George took a bite of ice cream, and leaned forward on his elbows. "What was?"

She blinked, slightly taken aback. No one had taken the conversation this far. It had always stopped at the job acceptance, and the congratulatory squeaks that followed. She had to think of a way to tell him without revealing her medical problems.

"Well, I've always... been interested in Care of Magical Creatures. But... it just didn't work out," she said slowly, twirling her ice cream around in her cup. When he didn't immediately jump to the next obvious question, she began mushing the ice cream into a liquid, feeling nervous. She hadn't let this much slip in a long time. People never usually hung around long enough for her to do so.

"Don't give up," he said firmly. "I'm living out my dream, and I can't imagine doing anything else and being happy. That's why Fred and I left Hogwarts when we did. If I had been in some stuffy Ministry office like my mum had wanted me to, I would've already done a nut and turned a co-worker into a toad like someone did to Umbridge."

Lavinia laughed and George smiled widely, leaning back in his chair. She slowly felt a sinking feeling when she was brought back to reality. While he painted a pretty picture, it would never be like that for her.

She gave him a half smile and shrugged. She spoke softly, "I'm happy you've accomplished what most people try so hard for. But... sometimes you have to settle." She took her wand out and vanished the empty cup, before smiling tentatively at him once more. "Thank you for the ice cream and the talk. It was very nice of you."

The look in his eyes was unfathomable as he said simply, "I didn't do it to be nice, Lavinia. I did it because I wanted to."

She barely managed to conceal the surprise and confusion on her face before she nodded again, and murmured, "See you around, George."

"See you around," he responded, and she felt his eyes on her back the entire time as she walked away.