Chapter Four

With a pop, George Weasley appeared on a hilltop in the centre of Ottery St Catchpole. He could just about make out the roof of the Burrow, but he quickly turned his back to it and began to clamber down the hill, into the village. He remembered the hundreds of times his brother had accompanied him into the village. They both took a special liking to the young muggle girl in the paper shop and visited now and then. George smiled, and looked towards the paper shop.

"I wonder if she's there..."


As he left the Burrow, Ron had a feeling he knew where his brother would go. Although he wasn't sure, he knew that the local village had been a popular place with the twins. He began to turn on the spot, ready to apparate to his brother, when his mother appeared in the garden.

"Ron, dear, where are you going?"

"I- George."

Molly smiled softly at her youngest son. She couldn't help being proud of the man he was becoming. She turned around and headed back into the house.

Turning as fast as he could, Ron apparated to the hill leading into the village. As soon as he reached the hilltop he knew George had been there. Call it Weasley intution if you may, but he was sure of it. He looked down the hill for some sign of red hair, but decided he'd was too far behind.


George half-bounced down the main street of the small village. He hadn't been here in over a year, and this was the first time he was alone. He took a breath as he walked into the muggle paper shop. The pretty muggle girl was nowhere to be seen. In her place stood a middle-aged muggle woman, bent over a piece of paper. George cleared his throat.

"Yes, can I help?" The woman smiled.

"Er- I'm looking for somebody. She-" George suddenly realised that despite his and Fred's countless visits to show the muggle girl their "almost magic" card tricks, they'd never bothered to find out her name.

The woman opened her mouth to answer as the bell on the door tinkled. George turned to see a familiar face.

"Sorry I'm late Babs, I-" the girl flicked her long brown hair out of her pretty face and smiled, "Oh, hello." Her smile extended so far that George could have sworn it reached her ears.

"You know eachother Rube?" The woman behind the counter asked, as she pulled on her cardigan.

The girl, who George supposed must be called Ruby-for it was unlikely that Rube was short for Rubeus, nodded, before letting herself in behind the counter as the woman let herself out.

"I'll be seeing you tomorrow." The woman waved, and with a tinkling of the door, she was gone.

"You haven't been here in ages." The girl gushed. George took in her face. It was rounder than he remembered, but her round blue eyes twinkled the way he knew they would. Her hair was longer, and she looked generally older than last time he saw her, but there was no mistaking the "pretty muggle girl from the village paper shop" as he and Fred knew her.

"I know,stuff to do."

"Lucky you. I'm still stuck here, as you can tell. Did you bring your cards? Where's your brother?"

"No, I, uh, he, well.."

"Complicated?" The way she looked at George made his spine tingle, as if she knew already how he was feeling inside.

He nodded and coughed, "I don't have any cards, I just thought-"

"Come and sit down. I'm Ruby. We've never been properly introduced."

"George," he breathed, "I'm George and my brother was Fred."


Ron sighed, accepting defeat as he paced the village steet of Ottery St Catchpole for the 3rd time. He had looked in each of the few shops, the cafe and the pub. George was nowhere to be seen. The paper shop had a closed sign in the doorway, so he saw no point in trying to find his brother there. He decided that maybe he'd been wrong about where George had gone, and headed out of the village and towards the hill.
Hey guys! Thanks to everybody who's reviewed and whatnot so far, and sorry it's taken so long to update!

Hope you liked this chapter, I'm still umming and ahhing about how to continue the story with Australia and such. Any ideas? I'm maybe thinking of Australia becoming more of just a part of the story, and concentrating more on the relationships of everybody after the war. What do you think?