Time went by quickly. Elizabeth continued to study, trying to learn as much as she could as quickly as she could. She was making great progress. She and George still spent most of their time together, although George began to get back to his usual pursuits once he was sure of Elizabeth's affections. He visited his parents without taking Elizabeth. She wasn't ready to meet them yet. If he had taken her before she had found out that he was single, it would have been something she would have been happy to do, but now that they were just starting some sort of relationship, she didn't want that pressure. Not yet, anyway.
Elizabeth, for her part, was starting to explore without George a little. On her next day off, she did go into the one of the other book shops in Diagon alley and spent a lot of time browsing. She was there so long, in fact, that she drew the attention of the owner. She ended up talking to him for quite a while about books. He wasn't a muggle, but he had actually read quite a few muggle books that Elizabeth loved and they had a lot to talk about. She made it a habit to drop by every time she had a day off, and she began to be quite familiar with everyone who worked there and other customers who came in on a regular basis. She found time to fit in some reading time in her busy schedule of work and studying and George and she liked to discuss what she had been reading with other people inside the book shop. The owner recognized her impeccable taste and over time started recommending books that she liked to other customers and asking her for suggestions. It was often the highlight of her day to spend a half an hour in the bookshop.
She was thinking about her favorite stories after leaving the bookshop one day and thought about the Harry Potter books. She had brought her copies with her when she had come to this world, but they were hidden in her house. She didn't think it right to share them with anyone, they contained so much information about Harry and what had really happened with Voldemort. She was sure that Harry hadn't shared everything that had happened with anyone, excepting maybe Hermione and Ron. But, the more she thought about it, the more she thought about letting Harry see them. She felt a little uncomfortable knowing everything she did about him and wanted him to know what she knew. So, one day, she apparated to see him. She brought the entire series of books with her.
"Hi Harry." She greeted him when he answered the door.
"Hi, Elizabeth. Ginny's not here, she's at practice." She and Ginny and Hermione had been fast friends and they spent time together when Elizabeth wasn't with George.
"I know. I'm actually here to see you." Harry let her in and led her to the sitting room. "You know my story." She stated. She knew that he did, he had helped George come to get her.
"Of course." He smiled.
"Well, I know yours, too. I'm sure you've heard George and me joking about who's real and who's fictional." He nodded. "Well, the books that talk about this world are all about you." He raised an eyebrow. "They followed you as you went through school pretty closely." He started to look concerned.
"Do they…have a lot of detail?"
"Yes." She pulled her bag closer to her and pulled out the books, which she had shrunk for convenience and returned them to their original size. Harry looked overwhelmed by the sheer volume of the books. "I wanted to show you this. I feel a little guilty knowing all this and I thought maybe you'd want to read it so that you know what I know."
"This is all about me?"
"I'm afraid so. I've been surprised at all the things that George knows about me, but it's nothing compared to this."
He came to see her a few weeks later with the books.
"I can't believe that it's all in there." He said, handing her book after book.
"Yes, it's quite a story."
"You won't let anyone else read this, will you? There are things in there that I've never told anyone."
"I won't."
"I wasn't the most pleasant person to be around my fifth year, was I?"
"You redeemed yourself. And everyone knows when you've been living with horrible relatives for years and have been neglected and manipulated, you get a free pass."
"That's kind. I guess I don't have to feel so bad about knowing so much about you from your book."
"I guess we're even." She smiled.
Elizabeth started looking for a place of her own not too long after she started working for George. She liked the fact that she could use floo powder to get just about anywhere quickly and that she didn't have to find something in London if she didn't want to. She found a little cottage not too far from the coast that was quiet and quaint and inexpensive. Eventually she found that apparating was going to be necessary, so she practiced and took lessons and got her license to do that, too. She liked the fact that she didn't have to wait to do some of the things she had read about in the books. She was old enough to do magic outside school, there was no trace on her, she could apparate as soon as she decided that she wanted to learn how.
As time went on Elizabeth became proficient in magic. She was a hard worker and she was motivated and she progressed quickly. And she had help. Hermione had been good enough to continue to work with her and with such a talented witch to question and learn from it took her far less time to learn than it would have otherwise.
Hermione also proved useful in regards to her status in this fictional world. She didn't have any documents, no license, no birth certificate, no passport, no proof of schooling, no way to prove that she was in the country legally (which she wasn't, she realized). Hermione was able to help her fabricate everything she needed. This was another example of how Hermione was willing to break the rules that she claimed to hold so dear. Elizabeth had to smile when Hermione handed her a stack of forged papers and told her that copies were now in all the appropriate departments of government.
After a few months, she finally allowed George to take her to the Burrow. She had been curious about it and the rest of his family for a long time, but meeting his family felt like a big deal and George was going to have to explain where she had come from. She had asked to keep her origins secret from most everyone, but she made an exception for George's family.
They went on a slow day at the shop and George recruited Ron to keep an eye on things. Mr. and Mrs. Weasley were now living in the large hodgepodge home by themselves, all of their kids had moved on to other things. Mrs. Weasley was delighted to meet Elizabeth, which was a little bit of a relief. She had worried that Mrs. Weasley might have been especially attached to Angelina and would resent Elizabeth being with George. But she needn't have worried. Molly was warm and friendly and was happy to see George so happy.
"So, Elizabeth, you're from the States, are you?" His father asked her.
"Not just from the states, Dad, she's from a book."
"I beg your pardon?"
George explained how he had gone into the book to save her and had brought him back to their world to live.
"Are you really from a fictional book? And a muggle as well? Fascinating!"
"Fascinating? Arthur, she's left her country, her family, her reality and traveled here all by herself. Has that been a hard transition, Dear?" Molly looked concerned that Elizabeth had given up so much and might be having a hard time.
"Oh, no. We moved so much while I was growing up that I never really put down deep roots. My parents moved to Guam a year or so ago and I haven't seen them much. I guess I always look at moving as a new adventure, and this has been the best adventure I've ever been on."
"Well, you just come here if you're ever in need of anything. We're happy to help you with anything since you're so far from everything you know."
"Thank you, that's very kind."
"Not at all, Dear."
The rest of their time at the Burrow was pleasant. Mrs. Weasley took on a motherly air around Elizabeth, which made her smile. And a few months later, Elizabeth received a light blue Weasley sweater for Christmas. She knew that she had been accepted.
Over the next few months Elizabeth became a regular fixture around Diagon Alley. She liked working for the Weasley's Wizard Wheezes, she got to meet students who were going to Hogwarts, she met people she had read about in books and became friends with many of them. Lee Jordan stopped by quite often and sometimes brought Angelina. There was no ill will from her about how George had broken up with her, and they occasionally went to Ginny's quidditch games as a group.
George always let her borrow his extra Harpies shirt so that she could support the team. She never did get around to buying her own and George liked it that way. He said he liked how the shirt smelled every time she returned it to him. She loved it when he said things like this. There was always a nagging doubt in the back of her mind that he was only with her because he had saved her life. But after a while, she saw that they were compatible in so many other ways. They challenged each other and they had fun together and they both knew so much about the other from their respective books that they didn't have to explain themselves very often.
George still had moments when he thought about Fred and his entire demeanor changed and he became melancholy and pensive. Elizabeth was the only one who was able to pull him out of these moods. She had become very good at distracting him with something funny from her world, or some kind of adventure that made him smile. She once took him inside the shrieking shack. She knew the stories behind it, how it had been Remus Lupin who had given the shack the reputation for being haunted and she wasn't afraid of the idea of it. It was one place that Fred and George had never dared go. He still didn't know the stories, Harry had never shared them with anyone, although Ron and Hermione knew because they had been there. So, on George's birthday, which was always a sad day for him because it reminded him that he didn't get to celebrate with Fred, she surprised him by taking him to Hogsmead. She walked him over to the shrieking shack and they stared at it for a little while.
"Do you want to go in?" She asked him out of the blue.
"I don't think that's a very good idea, Elizabeth. There are all kinds of stories about how dangerous this place in."
"Surely you're not afraid of going in? You're always up for an adventure." He looked at her and she thought she detected a hint of nervousness. "Why George, I have to say I'm a little surprised." He laughed. "Come on, I'll protect you."
"My tiny girlfriend who has only been studying magic for a few months is going to protect me? That's great, I feel so much safer." He rolled his eyes at her.
"I'm extremely robust. You don't have a thing to worry about." She said, trying to look tough. She took his hand and he allowed himself to be led to the back of the house where no one would see them sneaking in. She pried a board off a window with her bare hands and they crawled in. They walked around looking at the broken furniture and the scratches on the walls and floors.
"I can't believe that we were too nervous to come inside. Fred and I could have done some serious research in a nice quiet place like this. And everything is already broken, so we wouldn't have had to worry about damaging anything."
"Would you like to see the kicker?" He looked at her questioningly. She led him to a tunnel which obviously stretched for a long way but was completely dark. "This tunnel here leads to Hogwarts." She told him. He looked surprised.
"It couldn't possibly. Fred and I knew every passageway in and out of Hogwarts and this one wasn't one of them."
"It was." She insisted. "Didn't you ever wonder about the tunnel that was protected by the whomping willow?" He shook his head disbelievingly.
"How could you possibly know that?"
"My books, of course."
"Why would this passage be in the books if no one can use it?"
"But people did use it. There's a particular knot at the base of the tree that immobilizes it and makes it possible to enter the tunnel." George chuckled.
"Well, you've just cleared up something that I've been wondering about for years. Fred and I tried to guess where that passage went and why it had been built if it was inaccessible. It's a shame I didn't know about it while I was in school." He kissed her. "Thanks for this."
"You're welcome. I have to admit, I love it when I can tell you something about your world that you didn't know before." She smirked wickedly. He laughed.
It always made her happy to know that she had made him smile. That was why she had decided to see what she could do to rid him of him melancholia permanently.