Hello, all you lovely people :3 You know the plea, please, please read and review. Takes a lot less effort than it did for this - and Taylor's half - to be written. Please also read and review her half, they go together, not stand alone. Thanks so much for support! :)

To say George had been waiting for Luna would be an understatement. Maybe waiting in the shop had been a bad idea.

Not maybe. It definitely had. George had spent the entire morning waiting at the counter, staring out of the window, something which probably alarmed customers as he sold them pranks in a trance. As usual, Verity seemed to have noticed something was up, and it was only when she practically waved her hand in front of George's fact that he snapped out of the trance.

'George?'

But the thing was, where was Luna? Maybe the previous night had been a fling, something not important for her in the way it was for George. It was probably only George who wanted more than just that, but it had seemed so real – what they both felt. And wasn't Luna the one that suggested they met in the shop? The night played through George's head on loop. The romance, how he had felt. The guilt at what he was doing with a married woman, but how right it had felt at the same time.

'George!'

Surely she was just running late for whatever reason. Had to pick up groceries or something. But it was getting a lot later than he'd expected and George couldn't help but think of the worst case scenario. Maybe Rolf has been home for hours, waiting for his wife as the sky became darker and darker, unaware of the fact his wife was in the small flat above Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes, tearing the shirt off another man.

'GEORGE WEASLEY, FOR GOODNESS SAKE.'

Verity snapped her fingers in George's face impatiently and George was brought back down to Earth, her blonde hair dangling in his face.

'What is up with you today?' She frowned.

'I- I don't know,' he sighed, 'Sorry. I'll get back to work, it's not really fair on you,' he mumbled, trying to work out how long he'd actually been waiting for Luna.

'Later,' she replied, smiling slightly, 'your Mum's just arrived... She wanted to talk weddings...' Verity trailed off, almost whispering the final word.

So George hadn't exactly explained what had happened between him and Angelina , but the fact she was never around obviously explained enough. None of the other Weasleys knew about what had happened, except for Ginny, who'd been at Luna's wedding.

She hadn't exactly been happy with George, but, then again, nobody was. On the other hand, his actions were made slightly more justifiable by his emotional state, something which Ginny was smart enough to understand and talk through with George.

'Right,' he nodded, seeing Molly approach, a large patchwork bag on her shoulder.

'Why not just tell her?' Verity prompted, 'It's none of my business, but something's happened, obviously.'

'It's not really fair on her,' George admitted. He didn't have the heart to explain to Molly what had happened. Hadn't he given her enough trouble?

'Mum,' he smiled, climbing over the counter, forgetting about Luna for just a second or two, 'Just gotta explain something to Verity.'

He leant back over the counter, eyes flying to the window again.

'If Luna comes,' he muttered in her ear, 'send her up... Don't let her leave. Please. '

She nodded at the strange command, returning to work as George lead Molly through the shop, up the stairs and into the flat. She sat at the dining table, emptying her bag onto the table which was already covered in piles of paper. It probably gave away the fact that George still rarely ate but Molly only sighed quietly as she looked around the flat with an urge to clean or tidy something for her son.

'How are you doing?' She smiled.

'Alright,' he faked a smile, 'and you?'

For some reason, George noticed he was trying to buy time, maybe hoping Luna would turn up before he was forced to admit the truth about Angelina.

'I'm good. We've been visiting Percy. He's recovering well.'

'Glad to hear,' George replied, handing Molly a mug of tea and sitting opposite her, 'but why are you here?'

'Aah,' she smiled, a glint that George had rarely seen in her eyes, 'I needed to discuss wedding plans with you and Angelina,' she looked around the flat for any sign of the woman, 'but she doesn't seem to be around, obviously. I trust you can pass on the message?'

He nodded jerkily, watching as she took out a long checklist for the wedding, only a few things ticked off. If George hadn't wanted to tell her the truth before, he really didn't now. She'd been like this, except slightly less relaxed, about Bill and Fleur's wedding. And now, as all her children were starting to settle down in relationships – or so she thought – weddings were the next big thing in her life.

'What flowers do you think?'

George didn't even have to pretend to laugh.

'You're asking me about flowers?'

'Fair point,' Molly laughed, 'I'll speak to Angelina about that... We're meeting for coffee later this week. Shame you can't make it, really. But I suppose your big meeting is important, too.'

George nearly coughed up his tea. She was not only still going ahead with this and acting as though things were normal, but making up all these lies about him?

He gripped the table for support as a knock sounded at the door, urgent and the person knocking sounding as though they'd run a mile. Glad of the distraction, as Mrs Weasley seemed to have noticed George's expression change, he jumped up, flinging the door open to see Ginny, who threw her arms around him.

'Hey...' George smiled, hugging her back carefully.

'Luna- Mungo's- You,' she choked out as George pulled her in, unable to pick up the words as Molly passed her daughter a glass of water.

'I didn't get any of that,' he shook his head, watching Ginny turn from magenta to her normal self, 'what happened?'

Ginny threw a glance at Molly and made to lower her voice.

'Luna was... She's in Mungo's George... She wants to see you.'

George practically felt his face turn several shades paler as a shudder ran through his body.

How had he not seen this coming? He'd begged her to stay. He'd brought her into it... She could've been killed by Rolf. He could've killed her. He HAD damaged her even more so than she'd ever been. And it was all because he was stupidly in love with her in a way that she'd never feel about him...

'George?'

Two hands were held out in front of him and there was a faint ache in George's lower back. From the feel of it, he'd half slumped into a chair, missed and fallen onto the floor in shock. But the image of Luna lying unconscious in a hospital bed, dressed in white was enough for him to take a hand and pull himself up.

'I've got to go see her. Now.'

'But... George, you and Luna...' Molly looked from Ginny to George in disbelief and realised she was obviously missing a lot.

'Yeah... I'll remind Angelina about the flowers,' he grimaced, pulling on odd shoes.

'Angelina?' Ginny looked up, 'after everything? You said you haven't spoken since Luna's wedding...'

'Of course they've spoken, dear,' their mother laughed nervously, 'they're engaged.'

'Yeah, because she tricked him into it...' Ginny scowled.

'What?'

'Yeah... Forgot to tell you,' George sighed, grabbing a jacket, 'Angelina used love potion on me for months on end and that's why I proposed to her in the first place. Once I discovered this I crashed Luna's wedding to tell her this. Things have gone downhill since...'

Molly looked as though she was about to faint, the mug of tea in her hand falling to the ground and nearly onto Ginny's feet.

'Get her another drink, she'll need it. And a memory charm, if we need...' he trailed off, running out of the still open door and apparating straight to St Mungo's.

'Luna, Luna Lo- Scamander,' he told the stroppy woman on the desk, 'small, blonde, has that constant look of needing a hug.'

The witch rolled her eyes, running a forest green nail down a long sheet of parchment.

'Are you Mr Scamander?' Her badly coloured hair bobbed slightly as she spoke.

'No,' George said in disgust, running a hand through his messy hair.

'Third Floor, Ward 7. It's at the end of the corridor,' her voice was dull, the kind that could send someone to sleep in seconds.

'Thanks,' he muttered, looking at the nearest flight of stairs and sprinting up.

George winced as he entered the surgically white room, eyes temporarily blinded by its brightness. Luna was sat up in the end bed, staring at her arm as George ran over, panting and looking like a mess.

'Hello George,' she attempted a smile at him before looking to her arm.

'What happened?' He was still in shock, blended with guilt.

'Nothing serious,' she replied, sounding robotic in her answer. George knew from how Ginny's tone had been that it was a lie and that scared him more.

'It was him, wasn't it?' He perched on the end of her bed and kissed her soft hair, one of the only parts of her that didn't seem to have been damaged.

She bit her lip, staring at her hands and George's worst fears were confirmed. How had he been so stupid? Again?

'Look at me, Luna,' he pushed a strand of loose hair behind her ear.

She turned to look at him slowly, bruises and scratches on her face looking worse under the bright white light of the room, and the sinking feeling in George seemed to gain a ton of weight.

'Oh shit...' He stared in disbelief, wanting to throw his arms around her and hold her close and tell her she was safe and it would only get better. But that would be lying.

She turned her head back, burying her face under the straggly blonde hair and George knew he couldn't sit there doing nothing.

'Luna, I'm so sorry,' he said softly.

'It's not your fault,' she whispered in reply.

'Kinda is, though,' he admitted.

'No it's not,' she shook her head, apparently refusing to believe the truth.

She pulled up her knees, hugging them as George felt a small ache in his heart. Why did he never, ever think about what the consequences of things would be?

'Where is he now?' George sighed, feeling more helpless than ever.

'I don't know. I don't remember what happened between him b- beating me and ending up here.'

George winced again, combing her hair with his fingers.

'He's living in my house,' her voice shook.

The anger started building in George again. Even if he was the reason this had happened to Luna, he hadn't actually done it. He wanted to apparate to the Rook and do to Rolf what he'd done to Luna. Do worse. Show him how much he'd harmed her, not sit in a hospital room failing to help.

'Luna... You have to get away from him.'

'I know,' she trembled.

'I can try and help get you out,' he sighed again, staring at his odd shoes. Why didn't he do something?

'Just because we slept together doesn't mean that suddenly you need to feel responsible for me. I can handle myself,' she said harshly.

Something clicked inside George and he knew Luna couldn't possibly feel how he felt about her... He did feel responsible for her. But it wasn't because they'd slept together...

'I just- I meant-' He began, feeling hurt, 'Okay... I just don't want him hurting you again.' There was no point in arguing.

Luna climbed out of the bed and mover over to the small window at the end of the room, gazing out into the street. He knew she was angry... And he hated being the cause more than anything, but he couldn't tell Luna how he really felt.

'The healers think I'm mad,' she said out of the blue.

'Why?' He looked up to her back.

'I didn't tell them what happened to me and I begged Ginny not to either. They think I did this to myself,' she responded, 'I heard them discussing putting me upstairs.'

George bit his lip. There had once been a short time, after Fred's death, where members of the Weasley family had considered the same, for emotional reasons. George had managed to put a stop to it, threatening to do worse, but the idea still scared him, whether or not it was Luna upstairs or him.

'Couldn't you at least include a little truth?'

'If I do go up there I hope I get put in the ward with Mr and Mrs Longbottom.' She pretended not to hear.

'That's the long term ward Luna,' he replied, trying not to think about how he'd react if she was put in a long term ward.

'True but they're so nice.'

George climbed off the bed and moved closer as Luna paused for a few seconds, apparently deep in thought.

'You can visit them, though,' he nodded, thinking about the Christmas where he'd visited his father after a snake attack.

'There aren't very many nice people left in the world, are there?'

For the first time in a long while, the Luna that George had seen briefly at Hogwarts was returning, showing through for a time.

'Maybe... You are,' he pointed out, 'you just have to find the others.'

'You're a nice person,' she said thoughtfully.

'Really?'

'I think so.'

George snorted quietly in disbelief, confused how Luna still thought that, even if she was a little unsure.

'You're more than nice, especially for saying that,' he said truthfully, 'But where I come from, I'm fairly sure I'm a depressed, clingy, wedding crashing git.'

Luna laughed, and George knew he should have been hurt. After all, the things were true, even if he was ashamed of them, but he couldn't help feeling a little pang of pride. He'd only ever heard her laugh once before, and that was for thanking her.

'Luna?' He asked quietly.

'Yes?' Her tone sounded lighter, more open with him than she'd been before.

'Did I just make you laugh?'

She nodded, turning around to face him and smiling, properly, her eyes lighting up and making her face look a lot happier, despite all the damage Rolf had done.

'Woah,' he smiled at her, 'I'd forgotten what that felt like.'

He hadn't really made anyone laugh in... Years. Not without Fred. He'd made customers in the shop laugh, but that was different. He didn't know them like he knew his friends or family or Luna.

Luna stepped forwards, wrapping her arms around George and hugging him. He smiled down at her head and wrapped his arms around her, hugging back; something which was not too easy with their large height difference.

'What happens now?' She whispered.

George thought for a second, trying to come up with something rational that wouldn't end up in more hurt, but his brain seemed to have given up on anything like that years and years ago.

'I hate this part,' he admitted.

'Why?' She looked up at him, eyes widened in fear.

'Because I have to think, have to let go,' he looked into her eyes, feeling sick as he forced the words out of his mouth, 'Luna, I don't think I can see you anymore.'

Luna shook and backed away, looking up at George with an expression of hurt and disbelief and shock and George just knew he'd said the wrong thing. It wasn't what either of them really, truly wanted. George only wanted her to stay away so she wouldn't get more hurt by her freak of a husband.

'What would happen to you if he found out?' He said, you could have died, he wanted to add.

'I don't care,' she said weakly.

'I do. The only way you can see me without a chance of getting hurt is in public, or in the shop and even then, it's too risky,' he frowned, trying to form plans and getting nothing. He couldn't deny that Rolf could be smart and could use a lot to his advantage.

'Then I'll leave him. Properly,' she said, a tone of finality in her voice.

George felt something strange inside of him... Something good, but not something he was used to... Hope? Was that hope?

'You really will?'

She nodded and smiled and George allowed a grin to spread itself across his face, pulling Luna's small body into his arms and kissing her. But, caught up in the moment, George realised he must have pulled a little too tightly, as Luna, still extremely fragile, winced. He pulled back, looking her up and down.

'Where does it hurt?'

'Everywhere,' she confessed, swaying slightly, her body proving its point.

George bit his lip and scooped her up carefully, holding her gently as he had the time he'd found her, broken, in a field by The Burrow what seemed like centuries ago. He looked down at her chest to see a familiar blue shirt.

'They let you keep my shirt,' he noted, smiling slightly.

'They did,' she smiled in response, lying back limply on the bed and keeping her eyes closed.

Footsteps without a face approached the door and a quiet voice spoke up nervously.

'Am I interrupting something?'

George looked up, seeing the nervous healer who had led the Weasleys to visit Percy several times when he was ill. George looked at Luna, unsure of what to answer, but she had already done so.

'No.'

'Ms Lovegoo- Scamander, Healer Benson has requested that we put you upstairs for mental observation,' he mumbled, looking almost longingly at Luna before nervously at George. For some reason, that healer kept cropping up in St Mungo's more than any other. Surely it was coincidental, but it aroused natural curiosity in George.

'Luna's not crazy,' he snarled, more angry at the Benson guy than the young healer. The hospital's proposal to move Luna to a ward for crazy people was, to put it ironically, crazy. Maybe Luna's behaviour from anyone else would need to put them in the ward, but from Luna it was natural, talking about Wrackspurts and all. In fact, it would be more worrying if she didn't act like that for a while. But he didn't really have energy to point this out to the young healer.

'I know, I know. If you take Ms Love- Scamander out of the hospital now then they won't pursue her,' he responded.

George toyed with the idea, thinking about how ill Luna actually looked. Could he take care of her in that state? She'd managed to for him, but that thought alone was nowhere near satisfying enough to think he could do the same for her.

'But doesn't she still need healer assistance?'

'No, she's all good to go,' the man shook his head.

'Then we're leaving. Luna, where's your stuff?' George glanced up at the healer, who seemed to take his expression – whatever it actually was - as a cue to leave.

She blinked and watched him exit before frowning slightly.

'I don't have anything.'

'Even better,' George mumbled. It would be easier getting out that way. And faster.

'Do you need me to carry you to the apparation point?' He asked.

She paused for a moment, before shaking her head.

'I might need your support but I can manage,' she sat up, seeming to gain a new strength with something that someone must have said.

He looked at her scratched cheeks. They didn't show magical damage. Human damage, more like. Surely she could have fought Rolf back? Not with her bare hands, maybe, but with magic. The thought triggered something in George and he spoke up.

'What about your wand?'

The pair both looked around madly for a second before Luna located her wand on the bedside table, pushing it behind her ear so most of it hid in her long, messy hair.

'Here,' she sighed with relief.

George nodded and got up off the bed, glad to be getting out of the hospital. Not that anyone needed to know, but whenever in Mungo's, his gut instinct was to get out and he was constantly having to fight it. He took let Luna take his arm and helped her off the clinically white bed as she wobbled slightly.

He tried to move faster, finally aware of how uneasy the place was making him, but trying not to hurt or overtire Luna any more.

She looked in pain, George couldn't pretend he wasn't seeing that as the pair moved quickly down a corridor, everything else blurring slightly at the speed they were going, but he seemed unable to move any slower. She looked deep in thought whilst her face was screwed up with force of trying to move after that much damaged had been caused to her.

George couldn't help but once again wonder where they were as they moved through the maze of a building. They'd slept together, but whatever George felt obviously wasn't how Luna felt. He needed to stop messing her around, anyway, she was married, even if it was to a prat who she'd be leaving. He couldn't take advantage of her emotional state as Angelina had done to him. He just wanted to get her out of the hospital, out of harm, make her better and see what they both wanted from there. But when did plans like that ever work?

The paths became more familiar and George was starting to recognise things near the entrance when Luna caught her foot against the leg of a chair, flying forwards and almost smashing her face into the floor. George shot his arms out and caught her, lifting her into his arms and holding her close. The no more hurt started there and then.

'I won't ever let you fall again,' he made sure she was safe as she snuggled into him and closed her eyes as George walked through, passing more people, a lot of whom stopped and stared for a moment.

'We're almost there. Just need to apparate,' he nodded, reaching the apparation point finally, arms tired despite the fact Luna really wasn't heavy to carry. Not even heavier than some of the boxes he'd hauled round the shop from time to time.

She nodded mutely, eyes still closed.

'Are you okay?' He came to a halt, trying to ignore the possibility of Rolf walking into the hospital for whatever reason and murdering Luna.

She shook her head, but the hospital was getting to George too much by now and before he knew it he was spinning on the spot and for a second he couldn't breathe before returning to the familiar flat.

But something wasn't right, because Luna was screaming and there was blood trickling down her leg and something had clicked inside of her and she was crying harder and louder than he'd ever known she could do and George felt sick with guilt when it dawned on him that he'd splinched her.

'Luna! Luna stop it! You just splinched!' He yelled, but she didn't hear and his heart was beating faster, feeling torn as he dropped to his knees. How she'd coped with him in those states was amazing, and it was the only thing he had to go by, he realised, cradling Luna and holding onto her constantly thrashing body tightly, whispering in her ear, trying to talk her into a state of calm or even just sleep with the first words that came to him.

It was only a few minutes before her screaming changed to sobbing and whimpering, she sounded tired and weak and George felt achy in places he'd accidently been kicked by her, but he stayed, sat on the living room carpet, whispering words into Luna Scamander's ear whilst she became limp and finally fell asleep, safe, for once, in George's arms.