A/N: I see I have more reviews! Thank you all so much. I don't have time to read them right now, I only have a few minutes to spare and I thought you would probably rather I update than read through and reply to all my reviews. ^_^ I will get to them, I promise, but probably not until tomorrow. THANKS FOR REVIEWING and thank you to ALL who are reading!

George couldn't stop grinning. He had lost hope after not hearing from Julie for weeks, but now suddenly they had been thrown together again and she didn't seem to be mad at him at all – confused, yes, but not mad. And George had his own share of questions that he needed to ask her. Could it all have been just a big misunderstanding? He supposed they had both been hurting and unable to think straight.

He stood by the back door, leaning against the counter while he waited for Julie to come back downstairs. George had been nervous when he first saw Julie two days ago, but that nervousness had evaporated in the last several minutes. She hadn't changed; she was the same old Julie that he knew and loved.

Loved? George pondered that for a minute. Then he heard Julie's footsteps on the stairs and decided he'd have to think about it more later. Julie came into the kitchen, still blushing prettily, and only glanced at him once as she made her way to the door. George chuckled and pulled her into his arms as she tried to walk by him.

"Relax, I'm not going to bite," he told her, kissing her cheek before pulling away to open the door for her. George didn't let go of her hand as they stepped out into the cold night. He didn't ever want to let go of her again.

-.-.-.-.-

They didn't speak until they had left the back yard. Julie relished the feel of her hand wrapped tightly in George's. She looked up at the sky to see bright stars twinkling down at them and smiled. Could this night get any better? As they stepped out of the fenced-in back yard and into the field behind the house, Julie gently squeezed George's hand, urging him to talk first.

He understood and asked, "Where did you go?"

"I went to my parents' house." Julie followed his lead toward the woods on the edge of the field. "I left a note on your desk that I wasn't going to be at work, and then I left."

"I never even saw the note." George shook his head sadly.

"Well, it didn't say where I was going or anything," Julie admitted. "But I did write a letter when I got to my parents' house."

"Didn't get that one either."

"That's strange." Julie mulled over this for a bit, then spoke again, quieter this time, "I was just so afraid that you hated me. I didn't want to come back if you did, and when I didn't get any letter from you I thought that you probably didn't want to talk to me."

"Julie, I could never hate you," George said softly. He let go of her hand to slide his arm around her waist. "I needed some time to sort through my feelings, but I was ready to talk again the next morning. But when you didn't come in…I was so worried about you, Jules, you have no idea."

"I'm sorry." Julie sighed. "So much for being open and honest. I guess I convinced myself that it was best if I just left."

George nodded. "Well…maybe in the end, it was. I guess we'll never know."

"But all that time, all that wasted time." Julie shook her head. She'd learned never to take a single second for granted, and now she felt as though the past several weeks without George had been a complete waste.

"Don't think about it like that," George told her, stopping to look her in the eye. He put his hands on her shoulders and spoke earnestly. "We both did a lot of thinking in that time, and dealt with what we needed to deal with. I'm just so glad you're here with me now." He pulled Julie into a tight hug, and she smiled to herself, squeezing him tightly. "I never want to lose you again. You're my best friend; I can't stand being away from you."

"Same goes for me." Julie tilted her head back to look up at George. "I promise I won't ever just leave like that again. I'll talk things through with you before I do anything crazy, even if I do think you hate me."

George laughed and kissed her softly. "And I promise never to hate you! I promise not to shut myself away like that again, but to talk to you. That's what we should have done – just talked to each other. Even if it was to say, 'I need a day or two before I can talk to you about this.'"

"Yeah. At least then we would have known what was going on." Julie sighed and frowned. They still hadn't talked about what had caused all that in the first place, and it was still a heavy weight on Julie's heart. Her eyes filled with tears and she whispered, "I'm sorry, George."

"We're together now, that's what matters."

Julie shook her head, but didn't say anything. She wasn't sure she'd be able to speak. She looked away and bit her bottom lip, trying not to cry.

George's eyes widened when he understood what she meant. "Oh, Jules, don't apologize for that." He shook his head, a sad look on his face. "It's not your fault. I'm not saying it's not painful, but you shouldn't feel responsible. Understand?"

"But, it was my brother," Julie whispered, still unable to believe it.

"Exactly." George placed his fingers under her chin and forced her to look at him. "It was your brother, not you. You couldn't control Robert's actions anymore than I could. I know that and you know that. I don't blame you and you need to stop blaming yourself."

The tears spilled out of Julie's eyes but she smiled. "You're right, of course."

"I'm always right," George replied, making Julie laugh. "Now, you need to stop crying because your tears will freeze on your face if you don't."

Julie laughed again and reached up to wipe away her tears. "Again, you're right."

"Like I said, always right." George smiled down at her and didn't speak again for several seconds. When he did, it was in a quiet, serious tone of voice. "So you inherited everything, huh?"

"Yes." Julie stared off into the distance. "I don't really care. I'd rather just not have to deal with any of it."

"But at least you have a place to live and a secure future," George encouraged.

"That's true." Julie shrugged and smiled. "Maybe I just need to do some redecorating and then I'll feel better about it. I have a lot of stuff to get rid of. And my aunt said that there were even things at her house that I own now."

George whistled. "Wow. So I guess you are one rich lady now."

Julie scrunched up her nose and rolled her eyes. "Oh, please. Don't describe me like that." She frowned. "There was something else my aunt said. Something about my doing a great service for purebloods or something. It didn't make any sense. It's kind of been bugging me."

"I wouldn't worry about it too much. I mean, you came from a great wizarding family," George said with a lot of exaggeration, "so that might be all she was referring to. And your family…well, they did a lot."

They were both silent, wrapped up in their own thoughts for a minute. Then Julie whispered, "I miss Fred a lot. Sometimes I still expect him to walk into the store and start cracking jokes." She looked up at George and caressed his cheek. "I can only imagine how it feels for you."

The look on Julie's face was utter sadness, and tears sprang into George's eyes for the first time. He refused to let them spill. "It hasn't been easy. It still isn't. But it's a lot better now that I have you. You have helped more than you know." He leaned down to kiss Julie softly, regaining his composure. He smiled and nodded in the direction of the house. "Would you like to walk back now?"

"I think so. I'm getting a little cold." Julie knew that she would be a lot colder if it weren't for George's warm arms around her and she smiled at the thought. Almost as though George knew what she was thinking, he smiled back and wrapped his arm around her shoulders as they made their way back to the house.

"It looks like it might snow," George commented just as they reached the back yard again.

Julie's eyes lit up. "I hope it does, I love snow." She eyed the sky excitedly. "Wouldn't it be fun if it snowed while we were here?"

George laughed and nodded. They had arrived at the back door, but George stopped and turned to face Julie again. He had a concerned look on his face. "You are still coming to visit my family at Christmastime, aren't you?"

"I wouldn't miss it," Julie replied firmly.

In answer, George kissed her again before they reentered the warmth of the kitchen.