Fire whiskey had become George's tipple of choice, once again, and he was firmly planted to his couch, with two bottles sat on the floor below him. He'd already made the majority of his way through the first one and had his eyes firmly on the second, unopened one. It had been four weeks since he'd broken up with Kaycee and he'd being burying himself in the shop for the month, but he'd finally cracked. Kaycee had come in to the shop, once or twice to try and explain things to him, but he didn't want to hear her excuses. She'd abused his trust and used him to get dirt on his family; he didn't think he could forgive what she'd done.
George had been sitting on the couch for the last couple of hours, with the wireless on in the background. As he downed the last few drops of whiskey, straight from the bottle, a knock on his front door caught him by surprise. He stared at the door for a few moments, unsure if he'd hear it correctly, until there was another knock.
"Who is it?" George slurred his word, but not moving from his seat.
"It's Angelina," came the reply from the other side of the door.
"What do you want?" George hadn't seen or heard from Angelina, for the five months since she walked out on him. He didn't know why she suddenly decided to turn up today.
"Can you let me in George; I want to see you. You can't let me stay out here all night, someone could get me." George toyed with the idea of leaving her stood outside, but he relented and let her in. "Oh George it's so good to see you; I've missed you." She kissed him on the cheek, before walking in to the flat.
"What are you doing here?" George stood, with the door still wide open, confused about what was happening. "You could have at least asked about coming around."
"I've been out of London, since we had that argument, and I've time to think. I was really harsh on you George, you've been through a lot and I should have been there for you."
"Well you're five months too late; I've sorted my life out."
"I can see that." Angelina looked towards the bottles on the floor.
"Don't you judge me; I've just had a bad time of it. Since you left me I have got the shop sorted out and got myself together, but somehow you manage to get here for the worst of it."
"I didn't come here to argue with you; I just wanted to talk." Angelina suddenly broke in to tears. "I'm sorry I'll go." She moved towards the front door.
"No don't go; I'm sorry that was pretty horrible of me." George grabbed her by the arm. "It's been a bad week for me, but I shouldn't have taken it out on you."
"What happened?" Angelina wiped away a few of her tears.
"Well wouldn't you know; I've broken up with someone. I saved the shop to find out that my girlfriend had been using me for her career. She was supposed to be moving in with me, but now I'm on my own again." George poured himself another large glass of whiskey, before slumping back down on his couch.
"I'm sorry George, but at least you saved the shop." Angelina stroked his arm, trying to comfort him.
"I know I should be happy, but it really doesn't feel like a victory for me."
"The pain will go away."
"So what brings you back to London then?" George swiftly changed the subject.
"I went to live with my parents, because I've hardly seen them in the last few years, but I felt it was time to start my life again."
"So I'm not the only one with issues then." George grinned.
"No you're not; I wasn't really in the best place when we had that argument. I never told you this, but I lost my job that day and I'd wanted you to support me. I was stupid really."
"Oh thanks, I'm glad you think so highly of me." George was slightly offended.
"No I didn't mean it like that; I was stupid to expect you to know what was going on, without actually telling you. I was a bitch that day, but the time with my parents gave me time to think and reassess what was going on. I missed you while I was there; I missed spending time with you."
"We were both horrible to each other; I think we probably needed some time apart." The affect of the alcohol, he'd been drinking, was slowly wearing off, but he could still feel his head spinning.
"George, you need to stop using alcohol as the answer to your problems; one day it will be a problem for you." Angelina slid the glass from his hand and put it out of George's reach. "One or two glasses is ok, but not the entire bottle."
"Actually I was planning on drinking this second one too."
"Maybe you should save it for another time, share it out."
"You're her; we could share it between us. Come on Angelina, let your hair down!" George made to grab for the glass, Angelina had moved before.
"No come on, let's have something no alcoholic." Angelina laughed, as she tried to move the glass further away.
"Fine I'll take it straight from the bottle then." George opened, the full one, and begun to neck it.
"Could we have something a little more sophisticated, like wine?" She moved the bottle away from his lips. Without a word George stood up and walked in to the kitchen; he returned holding two glasses and a bottle of white wine. "Now you're talking."
The two managed to work their way through the whole bottle pretty quickly. "Now you wanted to talk so let's talk, considering my love life has been a failure, how's yours' been?"
"Non-existent really; I got close to this guy I knew before I moved away, but nothing really happened in the end. Other than that I've not really had anything apart from a couple of flirtations. It is hard to match up to you." George could feel Angelina's breath on his face, as she moved closer to him.
"We did go through a lot." His own breath begun to slow.
"It's hard to beat that." Angelina couldn't contain herself any longer and she grabbed George around the neck, before kissing him hard on the lips. Despite the way she'd dumped him, George still had some feelings for Angelina and they were all coming out now. He allowed his hands to roam her body, as he moved her in to a lying position on the couch. Angelina groaned, when George's hands reached under his top and cupped her.
"Do you think we should go in to your room?" Angelina asked, breathlessly.
"Yeah." George took her by the hand and led her in to his bedroom. He began to remove his own clothing, before removing some of hers. As things became more physical, George began to have second thoughts.
"I can't do this, I'm so sorry."
"What, why?" Angelina quickly began to dress herself.
"There is a reason we broke up and it had been coming a long time, I don't think we can make this work again." He paused for a moment to collect his thoughts, but Angelina said nothing. "I don't want this to be some sort of meaningless shag, I like you more than that. I want us to try being friends and I know this isn't exactly the best time to say it, but I think that's probably the best thing for us."
"You could have said something, before you had my clothes off." Angelina looked embarrassed.
"I'm sorry Angie; I didn't know what to think. Please don't be angry with me, we only started talking again. Stay the night, I don't want to apparating, after all the wine; you can have my bed and I'll sleep on the couch." Angelina finally relented and stayed the night in George's flat, before agreeing to spend the day with him.
Hermione was stood in her chambers at Hogwarts, as she prepared herself for her first day as a Hogwarts teacher. Today was the banquet and Minerva would be introducing her to the new students. She could feel her heart pounding and her hands were sweating, this felt like the most nerve wracking thing she'd done. Ron wasn't here yet, he was preparing everything for the move; he and Fred would be joined her in about a month. For now, Hermione was on her own and she would just have to brave it.
"You ready Hermione?" Cormac McLaggen knocked on her door. It had surprised Hermione to find out how much growing Cormac had done over the past year and Minerva had employed him as the flying teacher. Several of the teachers were from Hermione's year or a couple above; Minerva wanted young teachers to bring a new era to Hogwarts.
"Oh God, I'm so nervous." Hermione smiled through gritted teeth.
"You'll be fine, you know your stuff." Cormac gave his award winning smile.
"If you say so." The two young teachers made their way to the Great Hall, where they were to meet the new students later. Minerva was holding a meeting between all the teachers; she wanted to make Hogwarts reopening a special day.
"After the meeting we can walk around the grounds." Cormac suggested.
"You're not going to try and kiss me again?" Hermione laughed.
"I've grown up since sixth year and I've got a girlfriend."
"I know, I was just joking." Hermione nudged him playfully. "I nearly didn't recognise you when you walked in to the castle."
"Well I have got better looking since you last saw me."
"You've found me out." The pair laughed, as the other teachers looked at them, while making their way in to the Great Hall.
In London Harry was also enjoying his first day as Minister for Magic, but it was mostly ceremonial stuff. He'd held a press conference and done a broadcast on the wireless, before heading in to the office to talk to the decorators. He didn't think this was going to be part of it, but apparently each Minister got to choose their own decor. Harry wasn't really bothered what his office looked like, but some very picky woman was telling him how it should look. He found that if he nodded to everything she said that she would just leave him alone; he just hoped that he wasn't agreeing to something obscene.
"How is everything Mr Minister for Magic?" Ginny walked in to the office.
"Busy, but I can't wait to actually start doing my job." He greeted her with a hug.
"I can't believe Harry Potter is actually happy to be Minister for Magic; the man who said he'd rather clean toilets than be Minister for Magic."
"Well the toilets were getting a bit smelly." Harry laughed.
"I think you're going to be a brilliant Minister." Ginny wrapped her arms around Harry's neck and pulled him in for a kiss. "Definitely the best looking Minister I've seen." She kissed him again.
"Ginny there's people watching." Harry blushed.
"Well, when they've all gone." Ginny said suggestively, before walking around the office.
With the meeting over the new Hogwarts teachers were given a few hours off, to have some time to themselves before the teachers arrived. Hermione and Cormac made their way to the castle grounds, where they walked around catching up with each other. Cormac had really surprised Hermione; she didn't think someone could grow up so quickly. He was now someone she thought she could be friends with and that comforted her, with Ron not joining her for the next month.
"Did you ever think you wouldn't make it through the war?" Cormac asked.
"Everyday; I never told Ron or Harry but I was so scared. You might be a good wizard, but someone could catch you by surprise and then that's it. How about you?"
"I was terrified; so many of my neighbours vanished or turned up dead somewhere. I'm so glad we have come through the other side and now Harry is Minister so it looks like we are moving in to a better time."
"Oh my God, it's Harry's first day; I need to owl him and wish him good luck. I'm sorry Cormac, but I'll be back in twenty minutes." She gave him a quick hug, before legging it back to her room.