Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.

The bell over the door tinkled, and George looked up from the register. His face relaxed in a smile when he saw who it was, but Ron was out on the floor, helping customers, so he didn't see someone creeping up behind him. George had to smother a laugh as he watched his brother rise a few feet in the air when Lee levitated him, dropping him back down unceremoniously in front of the kid he'd been helping. Ron's face was scarlet for a moment, and then he had to laugh grudgingly along with the 10-year-old boy who was now pestering Lee to show him how he'd done that. Lee patted the kid on the head and then wandered over to George.

"How's business?" he asked leaning against the counter out of the way of the crowded queue.

George took a moment away from his fifth customer in a row to shoot Lee a look, and his friend laughed.

"Ok, ok, stupid question. I just stopped in to see if you wanted to get something to eat later. I know you were at your parents' house last night, but you probably don't have anything on for tonight, right?"

George finished bagging the skiving snackboxes, smiled at the boy in front of him and said distractedly, "yeah, sure, sounds great."

Lee pushed himself off the counter. "I'll meet you at the Leaky Cauldron after you close?"

"Uh huh," George muttered, now trying to get the pygmy puffs to roll into the box in an orderly fashion. Lee gave this one an amused look before finding his way out of the store.

It took another fifteen minutes for the rush to die down, and then George and Ron were alone for the first time that day. There was an extremely uncomfortable silence until Ron broke it, saying, "I stayed at Grimmauld Place last night, but I just heard what Lee said. How were Mum and Dad?"

George let out a deep breath he didn't even know he'd been holding and looked at his younger brother gratefully. It seemed as though Ron had finally figured out the right things to say, and it couldn't have come at a better time, George decided. He also decided not to think Hermione had some hand in this because that would mean Ron had told her about his little conversation with Fred, and he just didn't want to think about facing her if she knew about that.

"They're fine," he finally answered. "Mum fed me up, and Dad read the paper. Perce was working late, but he supposedly said he's going to be there next week for sure. Don't know why he's so bothered about it…" he trailed off as he realized for the first time just why Percy was going to make sure he was at dinner at the Burrow with George next week. Next week's dinner would be the day before they all went back to Hogwarts for the … for the thing.

George didn't look at Ron, but he didn't need to. Neither of them spoke for a few minutes, and then George heard Ron's muffled voice say, "Be back in a second," and he rushed from the room.

It didn't take long for George to figure out where he was going. There was only one person Ron seemed to want to be around these days, and as much as he loved Hermione like she was already another sister, George sometimes felt lonely when Ron went to her.

"Oh, don't be a prat," he muttered to himself. "If he didn't go to her, he'd talk to you. Do you really want that?" He busied himself with arranging the boxes on the shelves so he wouldn't have to think about that answer, also ignoring the fact that his hands were shaking violently. He finally gave up on the boxes and somehow found his way to a seat behind the register. For some reason, his legs no longer wanted to hold him up either.

It wasn't that he didn't know that the anniversary was coming up, of course. Anyone who woke up in the morning everyday couldn't avoid that lovely piece of information. But he just had managed to put it out of his mind so firmly that he really hadn't known it was next week. Next week… George stared at his shaking hands and didn't see them. What he did see was Hogwarts as it had been the last time he'd seen it, walls blasted apart, portraits torn in two, and the Great Hall… no. He couldn't let that image fill his mind now. He'd managed not to think of it for almost a year, and he was afraid of what would happen if he let those memories in. He didn't want to find out.

He was saved from further introspection by a new customer. He'd never been more relieved to get back to work. When Ron returned moments later, George ignored his worried expression and forced a very unnatural smile.

"You need to get Hermione to go over those books again at some point," he said in a low voice. "I'm sure she'd tell me if you were stealing, right?"

Ron managed a half-smile. "Don't be so sure about that. Whatever is mine will probably be hers someday… I wouldn't put it past her to look out for my best interests."

George rolled his eyes. "Well, I'll have to hope for the best until we find someone else to do the books. She won't have time for much longer, I'm sure," he said, and Ron nodded his agreement.

They managed to stay on safe topics for the rest of the afternoon, but when they closed up that night, George found himself saying the last words he expected to come out of his mouth.

"I'm meeting Lee for dinner, and I'm sure you're going to Hermione and Harry, but do you want to come back and sleep here tonight? We do have another …" He couldn't finish. He couldn't even look at Ron, whose face had turned so white that the freckles stood out with startling clarity. But he was grateful when his younger brother once again seemed to know the right thing to say, which, this time, was simply, "Sure."

George headed toward the Leaky Cauldron, wondering what on earth had possessed him to invite his brother to sleep over the shop. No one slept in that bed. But he just… he needed the company, he admitted to himself grudgingly. He just hoped Ron wouldn't take this as an opportunity for a stupid talk. If he did, he'd know he was listening to Hermione too much.

A/N: The next chapter will have George's dinner with Lee and Ron's dinner with Harry and Hermione, and then it will bring the two of them together. It seems like the perfect structure for a pretty long, important chapter. And having Ginny come home in a week worked out after all. She'll be in the story a lot more after that.