DISCLAIMER: Anything you recognise was invented by JK Rowling

Hope you enjoy!!

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"Write a word and I'll hex you into oblivion. Yes, he asked me to marry him, and I agreed. But it's nothing to do with you or the rest of the world, at this stage I don't even know if I'm going to go back to our flat, and I don't even know if I…" she sighs and lowers her wand, "I just don't know."

-x-

-Katie-

I stay in Diagon Alley for nearly a week, leaving the day before Angelina will be released from the Hospital. George definitely has my letter by now - the shop has been open for two days now, and I noticed, on the night Marion Willoughby came over, that he opened the door and saw the letter. I watched him from the window as he read it, frozen in the street.

He looked up at the pub, looming over Diagon Alley for all it's worth, sighed and entered the shop. An hour later, I got a small letter back.

Katie,

I'm so sorry… I never knew your mother's name… Angelina clearly thought it was a good idea, and I do too. I'm glad you're not so horrified by it, and you think it is a beautiful tribute.

I hope you come and see me before you move on… I don't know where you will go, so I want to say goodbye… I don't even know where you are… what am I saying? Katie… please, come back. Come to the shop… I'll look after you if you can't face anybody else.

George.

I go down there at nine o'clock. Looking sheepish and humiliated, I stand in the hallway like a child, watching him watch me warily.

"You're not going to yell at me?" He asks.

"No."

"You're not going to hit me?"

"No."

"You're going to stay in our spare room and talk to Oliver in the morning?"

"No." I say it this time as though he is stupid.

"You will talk to him, eventually, right?"

"I don't know."

"You know you are… so difficult, don't you?" He murmurs when he puts a plate of food down in front of me. "You just… can't make up your mind."

"Do you have any idea how difficult this is for me?" I breathe as I push the food away from me and look at him. "Do you have any idea how it feels to have your trust betrayed? How it feels to be lied to by the one person in the world you thought you could trust? The one person… you have in the world because your mother killed herself, your father drank himself to death and you don't even know your brother and… you feel alone when he doesn't have time for you, when he's not around… and you're scared when things change, even if they are for the better, even if they change so that you can finally be with him, after all the years of wanting to, but every single time you think you're getting through, when you think you're… getting closer to having that perfect life, you hit a wall. And another one, and another one."

George swallows loudly and pulls me into a hug.

"No, Katie…" He whispers into my ear. "I haven't got a clue how awful it must be, but…" He looks at me, leans forward and touches his lips to mine. In my state of advanced panic, I don't even register who it is that's kissing me, all I know is that it's something totally unexpected, but it makes me feel loved. And, though I respond to the gentle touch of his lips, I realise, seconds later, as we pull away, exactly who he is, and his situation.

I've slapped him before he can think.

"You absolute bastard! I can't believe you would do something like this," I instinctively draw my wand and he steps back and holds his hands up. "What?" I growl through gritted teeth.

"It was just… I had to know if you really love him." He blurts, and I know from that he is telling some form of truth. George and I have been totally platonic for twenty-five years. There was a time - my fifth year, where he took me to the Yule Ball and we dated for a few months, but we ended it as friends.

"Excuse me?"

"I had to… Katie… I've seen you kiss him, and that was nowhere near the adoration you put into one of his kisses. It didn't feel as though there was love in that… it just felt like you were desperate to be loved. To be… held onto."

"I… get you." I half smile, slowly lowering my wand, "Just about."

I sit opposite him on the sofa that night, staring into space as he hands me a coffee.

"You want to go back, don't you?" He asks softly as I nod a thank you and sip the steaming cup.

"I don't know." I whisper.

-George-

"I want to… I want to be held." She says softly, a solitary tear dripping from each eye as she blinks. "I want somebody to tell me that they're going to look after me, and they're not going to lie… and they'll love me."

I put my arms around her and let her cry; knowing Angelina would think I was an idiot, would probably slap me and hit me and… hurt me as much as she possibly could.

"I'm going to tell Angelina about what happened," I say softly, "because she needs to know."

"I'll tell Oliver when I see him."

"When you see him? Katie." I tell her off because she is being ridiculous, "You need to be sensible about this." And for the first time tonight, the words come easily to me, because we have relaxed around each other, "The longer you stew on it, Katie, the worse it's going to get. The worse it gets, the angrier you're going to be, you'll lash out and… KitKat… you need to be with him."

She cries onto my shoulder, for about fifteen minutes, but, being the flighty girl I've always known her to be, she rises, kisses my cheek and hugs me goodbye, telling me that,

"Once and for all, I'm going home." She lingers in my doorway for a minute, runs to hug me and whispers the words again, then smiles and disappears from the doorway with that low crack! that accompanies apparition.

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A/N: *Slaps George* Bad boy. You weren't supposed to do that you fool… you've just had a kid.

"But… she looked like she needed it"…

"Well then…"

"Its got her home, hasn't it?"

"Yes, I suppose, but still…" *George Happy Dances*

"I was right, you were wrong…"

"Hey! I'm your fanfic author. I can make you do WHATEVER I want…" Writes that he slaps himself. It happens . I laugh

I hope you enjoyed it…

Please R&R

xxxxx