The airplane landed in London Heathrow airport and Celestyn sat in her seat, wriggling her foot impatiently as she waited for the mother of a wailing baby to gather her belongings and step into the aisle. She looked out the window and sighed. It had been ten long years since she'd set foot in England.

Her father had taken her out of Hogwarts after her sixth year, after the whole fiasco of Dolores Umbridge being hired to to teach Defense Against the Dark Arts ("What is that school doing, letting that woman around children?!" Her father had exclaimed, appalled. He had once had to work in the same office as hers in the ministry, but soon quit to work for Gringotts because of how insufferable he had found her to be). Luckily, Machiko's parents had the same viewpoint as Celestyn's father and had arranged for both girls to transfer to a wizarding school in Japan for their last year while they lived with Machiko's relatives.

While they had never officially broken up, Celestyn and George couldn't keep in contact often enough for either of them to stay together and the distance brought them apart from each other. They continued to write letters, but when the second war began, George told her that they had to cease contact entirely as his family had to go into hiding. Celestyn had dated several Japanese men since then, and one had even proposed to her, but mostly she stayed single as none of them could never be as fun as George had been.

Machiko, on the other hand, had moved back to England the moment Seamus's last year in school had finished -- directly after Voldemort's final defeat -- and picked up the relationship that they had left the year that she did. He had proposed to her several years later and that night, as Machiko joked, he impregnated her with their first child. Their wedding was to be eight months later, which was why Celestyn was comsing back to England now.

After heading through customs, Celestyn grabbed her over sized suitcase, which was hiding an obnoxiously blue bridesmaid gown, and she made her way out of the terminal. She detested the crowds that these muggle airports brought, but her mother had bought her the tickets, not trusting portkeys after what her husband had told her about splinching (he had pointed out that it was only for apparation, but she never understood the differences between wizard forms of travel).

"Cel!" a voice called as she left the terminal. She looked up to see a very pregnant Machiko standing there, waving. She hadn't changed much, looks-wise. The only thing different was her longer hair and bigger belly.

"Machiko!" Celestyn exclaimed, running up to her friend and hugging her. "Did you get here all right?"

"Yeah, Dean Thomas drove us. You remember him, right?" She asked and Celestyn nodded.

"That muggleborn friend of Seamus?" She asked.

"Hey, we don't know that." Machiko said in a shushed voice, looking around. Celestyn rolled her eyes.

"This is an airport honey, there are no Death Eaters here, I promise." She assured her friend. Machiko relaxed a little, but not much. Celestyn laughed and shook her head.

"Anyway, we have to hurry, Dean and Seamus are waiting for us back at the car." Machiko said. Celestyn nodded, but then thought of something.

"Hey... Can we drop by Diagon Alley? It's been so long, I wanna go back there and see how it's changed." She requested. Machiko shook her head.

"Why would you want to? Nearly every building has been rebuilt. And a lot of the shops that were there when we were kids are gone." She said, sounding a little depressed.

"The war?" Celestyn asked, wincing. Machiko nodded. Celestyn sighed and started off with her friend down to the parking lot. They walked in silence nearly all the way there before Celestyn thought of something.

"What about Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes? Did it survive?" She asked, looking at Machiko, who actually flinched at the question. She opened her mouth to answer, but was cut off by a rather jolly Irish accent.

"Celestyn!" a robed Seamus called across the parking lot. Ignoring the question of why he wasn't in muggle garb, Celestyn looked up and smiled, waving to him and Dean. "How's it been?"

"Great, actually. Flight was annoying though. Had to get a connecting flight in Moscow and after that, there was this lady sitting next to me with a crying baby. The thing did not shut up the entire way there." She sighed, rubbing her eyes.

"Hey, don't call babies things." Machiko said with a laugh. "Unless you're implying that I'm pregnant with an alien."

"That would be exciting though!" Celestyn laughed. Dean cleared his throat.

"Can we go, please?" He asked impatiently, jangling his keys.

"Sorry." Machiko apologized as Dean popped the trunk of his car so that Celestyn could put her things in. She and Machiko sat in the back seat and caught up on old times while Dean tried to figure out how to get out of the airport parking lot.

"There's a reason I chose to live as a wizard rather than a muggle." He growled as they finally managed to get out of the place after nearly crashing into several pillars and over paying for the parking.

"Hey, at least you can drive." Seamus said. "That's a plus. Never know when you'll need to be inconspicuous around muggles."

"Yeah, like you in your robes today. That's why Machiko had to go meet Celestyn by herself." Dean joked.

"Speaking of wizard things," Celestyn piped up suddenly, gaining the attention of the men in front of her, "mind if we swing by Diagon Alley? Machiko says it's changed. I kind of wanted to see." Seamus raised his eyebrows.

"Really now?" He asked before turning around. Celestyn looked down, wondering if she had said something wrong. "Dean, take the lady to Diagon Alley."

"Right, because I'm a chauffeur." Dean said, rolling his eyes.

"I'll tip you extra." Seamus joked and the two laughed.

It wasn't long before the car parked itself in front of The Leaky Cauldron, and Celestyn stepped out, breathing in the London air. Not that it was any different from Japan's air, but the sentiment was there. The four walked into the pub, which hadn't changed much at all from what Celestyn remembered. The only thing different was the bartender, but Celestyn had barely noticed, seeing as she had never known the original man.

It wasn't until she and Machiko had gone out back while the boys stayed behind to have a drink that she noticed any significant differences. Celestyn opened the gateway through the brick wall and immediately was amazed by how new everything looked. Indeed, it had been rebuilt after the war. She was almost tempted to go to knockturn alley to see if that had changed, but something else kept her going.

Celestyn lost Machiko quickly enough, who had dissappeared into the only baby store in Diagon Alley, but it was barely even noticed. A familiar fluttering in her gut brought her back to a late fall day eleven years ago when she was walking to the library in Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry to meet a certain someone.

She spotted Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes quickly and laughed when she saw it. It was greater than George had described in his letters and she wasted no time running into the store.

It was packed of course, but that didn't stop her. She browsed the shelves, marvelling at the array of products, many of which George had already told her about and had taken her advice on when it came to fixing. She grinned and was offered help several times by workers she did not know. She asked if the owners were around, but the only definate answer she got was "George is upstairs in his flat. Dunno if you wanna go up there right now though."

She did want to, however, and climbed the stairs up to George's flat above the shop. She knocked three times on the door and was answered by a weak "what?"

"George? You in there?" Celestyn asked timidly, feeling shy again. The sensation was all to familiar.

"I said don't bug me!" Came the strangled reply. "'Smy day off."

"George... It's me... Celestyn Archer... do you remember?" She said, now feeling more frightened than shy at the craggy, angry-sounding voice. There was silence for a moment and Celestyn nearly turned to leave. She was stopped when the door opened a crack and a soft brown eye peered out at her.

"Holy crap." George said as he opened the door all the way. Celestyn took a good look at him and was rather shocked by what she saw.

His red hair was matted and disheveled and dirty, his cheeks and nose were bright red. otherwise, there was no color in his face,discounting the dark cricles under his eyes. His clothes were wrinkled and unwashed and he looked like he had been crying.

"George..." She didn't say anything more as he stood aside.

"Come in." He said, gesturing her inside. "Firewhiskey?" He offered, grabbing a half-empty bottle off of the nearest table. She shook her head politely as she took in the disaster area that was his flat. Empty firewhiskey bottles were strewn here and there, and dirty clothes covered the floor entirely. She could hardly see out the windows, and there were fist-sized dents in one wall that had obviously been there a while.

"Sorry it's a mess. Wasn' expecting company. Obviously." He sighed and sat down, looking at her. "You got really hot."

"George... are you drunk?" Celestyn asked, looking at him sadly.

"Maybe a little..." George answered, shaking his head. There was an awkward pause during which George took a swig out of the bottle of Firewhiskey and Celestyn stared at her hands.

"So... what've you been up to? In Japan, I mean." He asked her, looking over at her. She looked up and smiled.

"Oh, nothing exciting." She said politely. "Things get old after a while. Everyone there is short though, I felt like a giant walking around."

"Really?" George asked disinterestedly. Celestyn nodded and looked over at him.

"Well, what about you? I see you and Fred got this shop up and running. You guys look like you were succesful too. Can't even walk three steps down there without bumping into someone." She said. George shuddered and shook his head.

"Fred..." He started but couldn't finish. Celestyn turned to face him, concerned, before George went on. "You... You remember when you said somethin' would tear me and Fred apart?"

"No..." Celestyn said, looking up as she tried to recall saying that.

"It was my sixth year, your fifth. You said you saw sumat in Divination that'd tear me an' Fred 'part..." George said, his speech getting worse with each word. "Well, it 'appened. Fred... F-Fred's..." He shook his head as he tried to get the word out. He couldn't and just thought up the next closest thing. "Fred got crushed... i-in the f-final battle..." He was sobbing now, tears rolling down his cheeks. Celestyn stood up and hurried over to hug him. He gripped her tightly and sobbed into her shoulder.

There was nothing Celestyn could say. Here was George Weasley, his twin and business partner dead, crushed apparantly, and it wasn't even a quick and painless Avada Kedavra. All Celestyn could do was hug him, rub his back lightly, and hope that he'd be okay.

She led him into his room and sat him on the bed. She turned to go see what was in his kitchen, maybe get him something to eat, but he pulled her back down to sit next to him. He refused to let her go for another half hour while he pulled himself together.

"Cel... I missed you..." He finally said after a while.

"George..." She started but he shook his head.

"I missed you. I really did." He sighed, trying to think of something to talk about that would distract him from Fred. "You... came back because of Seamus's wedding right? I got an invitation... thought Machiko'd invite you too."

"Yeah. That's why I came back." She said, nodding. George smiled and nodded, wiping his eyes.

"We should go together. Just for the hell of it. What do you say?" He asked, a sort-of smile on his face. Celestyn shrugged and smiled as well.

"Sounds good." She said. She reached out and touched his hand gently. He turned it in response and clasped hers in his.

"An' after, you can live here in London... an' we can keep Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes going..." George continued, sounding tired. He even layed back onto the bed and spoke to the ceiling.

"Would... Would Fred be okay with that?" Celestyn asked cautiously, not wanting to upset him by mentioning his brother again. She was relieved to see George simply nod.

"Yeah... you didn't see that he ended up taking your advice on most of the products? Can't ignore flaws, no matter who discovers them." He said. Celestyn smiled and pet his hair gently.

"You sure you want me to?" Celestyn asked. George nodded again, closing his eyes.

"'Course I do. I asked." He said. He tightened his grip on her hand slightly. "'Sides... losing Fred was hell... I need some heaven."

Celestyn laughed a little and shook her head.

"That was the lamest pun ever." She pointed out.

"Yeah..." George agreed, now grinning, happy that he had at least made her laugh.


The end! Thank you for reading guys! Special thanks to TahnDawg for commenting so much and being my collab buddy and letting me use her characters! Also thanks to everyone who commented, you guys kept me going!

Please stay tuned for my other crap!