Sorry about the long wait but when it came to writing this next chapter, my mind kept going blank. Following the drama with Samuel, here's a chapter filled to the brim with George/Luna love.
''So, tell me again. Why couldn't I be there to watch you smack Samuel?'' George asked her from the living room. Luna was in the kitchen of the flat and smiled as she shook her head. It had been two days since she had quit her job, and George was still bringing it up at any opportunity.
''I did not smack him, it was a small slap.''
''Still, I want to know why I couldn't be there?''
''Because, if you had been there, you would have been all protective and I wouldn't have had the chance to slap him.''
''True,'' George sneaked into the kitchen and came up behind Luna. She jumped slightly as his arms wrapped around her waist and he rested his chin on her shoulder. ''but I still can't help but imagine my sweet innocent Luna being bad.''
''It was a slap; I was hardly bad...and as for innocent; I think you are the man responsible for that definition being taken away from me.''
''You think. Why, who else might have stolen your innocence?''
Luna smiled cheekily at him before continuing to make a sandwich. George eyed what she was doing with curious eyes. ''Luna, we've already had lunch, you had a massive cooked breakfast this morning and you had a snack at about ten. How are you still hungry?''
''I just am.'' Luna turned in George's hold so that they were chest to chest and then gently pushed him back so that she could get to the table. For a moment she stopped to look at her smiling fiancé. The cut to his forehead from his fight with Samuel was still a harsh red colour and went diagonally from two inches under his hairline down to the top corner of his right eyebrow and gave George the devil-may-care look that Luna secretly loved a man to have. She had always seen his missing ear, not as a sign of a botched curse but, as a sign of his strength in all he had fought through, and at that moment, Luna had never had seen him look more handsome.
''What are you looking at?'' George looked at his reflection in a saucepan as her staring had made him paranoid.
''Nothing,'' Luna put a hand under his chin and turned his head to look at her. ''I was just wondering if I had told you how handsome you are.''
George gave her a small humble smile. ''Luna I think this is one occasion where I can honestly say, I've looked better.''
Gently with her forefinger, Luna brushed along the small scars that could be seen from behind his hair. It had taken a while, but George had eventually stopped using a bandage to cover his missing ear. However, as he had done so, he had grown his hair out slightly to a similar length Luna remembered seeing him with during her second year. It wasn't as long as he and Fred had once grown it, but it was long enough to hide the spot where his left ear should have been and to cover over a majority of the red scars the curse had left in place of his ear.
''I disagree,'' Luna reached up on her tiptoes and kissed him; firstly over his scars, then beside the cut to his forehead, and then to his smiling lips. ''And as a Ravenclaw, I am much wiser than you.''
George chuckled as Luna took her food and sat down at the table. ''So, with you being a newly unemployed woman, and with me having the weekend off; what are we going to be doing to occupy the time?'' From across the table, he wiggled his eyebrows suggestively.
''Sorry to disappoint you, but we won't be spending much time here,'' Luna laughed at George's downtrodden expression before continuing, ''we're going to be shopping for our things for the wedding.''
George's face fell even further at the mention of the word 'shopping'. ''And by 'we're', you don't happen to mean you and Ginny do you?''
''I thought you wanted us to spend this weekend together.''
''I did. Just, not shopping.''
''George it won't be too bad. Getting to the shops is what's going to be the most eventful part.''
''What do you mean? What's so difficult about apparating?'' George queried.
''We're not apparating. When Ginny got married, Harry took her to Muggle shops where she got all of her bridal things from.''
''And what the heck does that have to do with us shopping this weekend?''
''Well, I would like to do the same thing. The bridesmaid dresses she got for me and Hermione were even more beautiful than any I have seen in wizarding shops and I really want to have a look around some Muggle shops to see if I can find anything. Plus, I think you would look very handsome in a suit.''
''So, rather than wearing robes at our wedding, you want me to wear a suit while you buy your dress rather than have one magically made for you, and because of that, we're going to have to shop like muggles.'' George wanted to be sure he got the message correctly.
''Yes,''
''Okay...well Harry or Hermione will be able to help change the money, but how are we going to get to the shops?''
''Well remember when Harry and Ginny took me, Hermione and Ron with them to get fitted for our wedding outfits; well I do mostly remember how we got there. So, I suppose we could take the same route.''
''Luna, remind me why we are doing this again.'' George yelled over the train that was roaring into the station.
''Harry and Hermione said that the roads in London are very busy. This is apparently the much better way to travel around the city.'' Luna explained as the stepped onto the train.
''No, explain why we have had to get onto four different trains already.''
''Different lines lead to different stations,'' Luna pointed to the map of the London underground that was on the side of the train. ''One train doesn't take us to every stop.''
''How did you get the hang of this so fast?'' George's brain could barely stand the complexity of the muggle travelling system. Maps, ticket barriers and the constant stopping. Whatever happened to stepping on a train and then not having to worry about anything until you arrived at where you wanted to go? Half the people couldn't even sit down because there wasn't enough seats; him and Luna included.
''It must be a Ravenclaw thing,'' Luna pondered as another group of people entered the train carriage. The sheer number of people pushed Luna and George further back and Luna ended up with her back to the doors on the other side of the train, with George chest to chest with her, and with no room between them whatsoever. The train jolted as it began to speed away from the station and George held on to a post to keep himself steady while Luna held on to him.
''So, how many more of these trains do we have to go on?'' George asked, praying the answer was none. He flinched as someone's leg rubbed closely up against him and for the first time George felt himself wishing to be back on the Hogwarts Express with those glorious, large compartments.
''This is the last one. We just have to stay on this for another three stops and then we're there.'' Luna seemed completely unperturbed by the number of people; which were increasingly beginning to bother George.
Despite his longish hair disguising most of his scars, George found himself feeling as though he was being looked at. In the wizarding world, a sad consequence of the war was that it was unlikely for him to walk down the street and not see several people wearing the scars of battle and survival just as he did. However, he was now in the muggle world, and he was feeling increasingly self-conscious of his absent ear.
''I admit, apparating is much simpler.'' Luna mused to herself, ignorant to George's unhappiness.
''Yeah, much simpler.''
''What d'you think?'' Luna turned at the sound of George's voice and watched wide eyed as he emerged from the dressing room cubicle wearing a light grey suit, a white shirt and a dark purple tie. George observed Luna's open-mouthed expression and chuckled, ''Well, in terms of reactions, at least it looks like this has got your vote.''
Luna's mouth broke into a large smile and she walked over to him. Standing directly in front of him, Luna eyed him up and down for a moment and then began to run her fingers up and down his tie. ''I do love this one. But, I really liked the darker grey suit with the blue tie too.''
George sighed with exasperation, ''Well bloody hell woman, unless you want me to do a costume change up the aisle you're going to have to pick one.''
''Well which one do you prefer?''
''I don't know. Luna, I would be perfectly happy wearing traditional robes. You were the one that wanted to put me in a suit.''
''George, it was only an idea for you to wear a suit. This is your wedding too; not just mine, if you would rather just wear robes then that's fine.''
''Well...after seeing your expression when you saw me just now, I think I want to go for a suit. I mean, they're comfy and if they're going to get this much attention from you...'' George gestured his hand to the close proximity Luna, who still had a hold of his tie, and he were stood in. ''...then there's definitely extra benefits.''
Luna quickly crept up onto her tiptoes and gave George a peck on the lips before setting her feet back on the ground. She then eyed the suit George was wearing, and the other that he had tried on which was hanging on the dressing room cubicle door. ''I think I like the one you're wearing better, but it doesn't look as though it fits properly.''
''Yeah the sleeves and legs are a bit too long, but Mum spent years magically adjusting Bill and Charlie's old clothes to fit the rest of us.'' George took care to lower his voice at the mention of magic.
''They can adjust it here.''
George looked across the shop to see the tailor fitting someone and raised an eyebrow. ''Yeah, but his hands are getting close to a certain area that I'd rather he keep away from...''
''He's measuring the inside of his leg.'' Luna tried to speak with a straight face but a laugh escaped her as she spoke.
The humour became infectious and George began to chuckle as well. ''I don't care what he's doing. Mum can make this suit fit with a wave of a wand and no one's hands need to go anywhere.''
''Does that include me?'' Luna asked with a wicked smile. George only responded with a look that said 'don't be bloody ridiculous'.
''Alright, we'll take this one, but am I going to be the only one in a suit or are we going to drag everyone else here too.''
''You chose what your best man wears George, it's up to you.''
''Okay...well, I'm going to get changed out of this.''
Luna's mouth went into a pout. ''Do you have too?''
After emerging from the dressing room, back in his dark blue sweater and jeans, George paid for his suit and then walked with Luna to a nearby cafe. Taking a seat at an outside table, the couple ordered lunch.
George slowly ate his lasagne, only to stop as he noticed Luna eat her way through a salad at a ridiculous rate. ''Luna, you know, if you want to eat that faster you could always inhale it.''
Luna looked over at him, looked down at her food and then put down her fork with an expression that made it appear as though she had suddenly lost her appetite.
''Is everything alright?'' Luna shifted awkwardly in her seat and looked at George with a nervousness in her eye that George couldn't ever remember seeing before. ''Luna?''
Luna reached over the table and squeezed George's hand. ''George, I think... I'm pregnant.''
George did a double take and looked at her with a gob-smacked expession. ''P-p-p...pregnant?''
''I wanted to tell you before but I wasn't sure then...''
''How sure are you now?'' George looked and spoke at her intently. ''Very sure; almost certain...''
''Absolutely certain. I know you weren't expecting it but keeping things quiet between us has gotten us in trouble before so...no time like now.''
George suddenly pulled his hand away from hers and stood up beside the table.
''George...''
''Come here,'' George held out a hand for her to take and when she took it, he pulled her up from her seat and into his arms. ''You do know what this means, don't you?''
Luna was relieved to here the smile in his voice as George spoke into her ear. ''No, what?''
''Mum's going to want to marry us the second we tell her.''
Again, I'm not sure what is going to be happening in the next chapter so no footnote.
AN: Right now I am unsure of the road this story is going to take. It can either be similar to the prequel, with George and Luna facing a danger to get them through to the next step keeping it very similar to the style of the HP books (with everything building up until a big climax near to the end and then a conclusion) and to show a parallel with After Effects (I already have a plan of what I will do for this), or it can follow George and Luna through all the typical events of a relationship and the drama can be a lot less intense and more personal. Personally, I am more for the first option although I am worried it could be considered too similar to After Effects but I want to know what you want to see happen. I would love it if you guys could let me know which you would like to see as I know for certain where I want to get to at the end of this story: I just need to figure out which way to get there. If I know what you want to see then I will feel a lot more confident about what I'm doing and hopefully my writing spark for this story will light up big time and I can really get it rolling towards the end. I plan on making this story around the same length as its prequel so at least another ten chapters will be coming.
I would love to get a bit of feedback and thank you to everyone who is reading.