Title: A Lid For Every Pot, George Weasley

Author: BooksVCigarettes

Summary: Set a couple of years post-war. Still struggling with the absence of his twin, George Weasley needs some time away from the world he grew up in to heal. Alice Clark wants a flat mate who doesn't want to kill and eat her. It was perfect... Except not really. George/OC Ron/Hermione Harry/Ginny

Chapter Five - Date?

They sat facing each other at the kitchen table, steaming mugs of tea in front of them. Alice had watched, puzzled as George had attempted to make the kettle function for a good ten minutes before leaning past him and gently flipping the switch. What kind of British adult didn't know how to brew up?

"So…" Alice began awkwardly "Is the room OK?"

George stared at her for a moment, uncomprehending. When the penny dropped his eyes widened and he nodded "Oh! Yes it's fine, thank you."

"Good." Alice bobbed her head and they lapsed into uncomfortable silence once more, the only sound the ticking of the kitchen clock. Alice picked at the plaster she had put on her hand. George fidgeted in his seat. Alice was grateful that he had found time to put a shirt on – awkward silence was one thing, but absent-mindedly staring at the well-toned torso of your new lodger was another.

"You must have been really worn out from carrying that trunk if you fell asleep just after I left." Alice commented, more to fill the silence than anything "I'm sorry if I woke you when I came in."

George fiddled restlessly with the hand of his mug "Please don't worry; I… I really don't sleep that well anyway."

Alice smiled sympathetically at him, trying to think of a way to coax him into conversation "Hermione tells me you grew up in Devon?"

George nodded "In Ottery St Catchpole."

"I've never heard of it."

"No one has," he gave a small smile "it's so small I'm not even sure I've heard of it."

"Was it nice growing up there?" Alice slipped her hands around her mug and settled into the conversation; sometimes, superficial small talk was the safest thing "I bet it was quite peaceful."

George shook his head, smiling at the memory "Not with five brothers and a sister."

Alice's eyes widened "Seven of you?"

George's features clouded over briefly before his eyes returned to his mug "Yes, well… six now."

Alice felt a wrench in her gut as she realised her error. Feeling her face heat up she resisted the urge to flounder and make it worse "I'm so sorry; how terrible for you."

George nodded slightly and Alice could see him desperately trying to think of a reason to leave the kitchen. Not wanting her tactlessness to be his lasting memory of their first proper conversation, she tried to revive it "I only have one sister. Half-sister actually. She's five years younger than me."

George cleared his throat and glanced at her from beneath his eyelashes "Are you close to her?"

Alice snorted a laugh before she could help herself "God no; we hated each other growing up and it's no better now we're adults." She saw George blanch a little and wondered if she had shocked him.

"I can't imagine not liking my siblings." He admitted quietly "My brother Percy had his moments but there was never anything… bitter between us."

"Wait until your boyfriend leaves you for one of them and then come and talk to me." Alice said wryly, blowing on her tea to cool it. George raised an eyebrow "That sort of thing actually happens?"

"I know; my life is a cliché." Alice smiled sadly, surreptitiously digging her nails into her palm to avoid a fresh onslaught of tears.

George offered her a half smile in return "I know it's not my place to say anything, but I'd be glad to see the back of someone who left me for my sister." He paused "Especially given that she likes boys."

Alice laughed "I can see how that might be a relief for you."

X

The next few weeks passed comfortably enough. The tension seemed to have alleviated enough for them to share polite pleasantries and shy smiles when passing each other in the hall or finding themselves in the kitchen at the same time. Now that the semester had started properly, Alice found she wasn't in the flat enough to find her lodger's presence a disturbance. George, for his part, was very rarely there anyway and when he was he seemed to make an effort to impact on her as little as possible. It almost seemed to Alice as though he was trying to be invisible. She didn't know where he went when he left on a morning and he never said. He never seemed to go out much on an evening though; electing to stay in his room.

Rehearsals with the band had begun to pick up as well, and soon Alice found that she could pass entire days without bitter thoughts toward Pete and her sister. Daniel had taken to leaving rehearsals at the same time as Alice and walking the distance to the tube station with her. Alice tried not to attach too much significance to this, but couldn't help but notice that occasionally when they parted, he would turn and walk back in the direction that they had come from. On these occasions, she had smiled to herself the entire tube journey home.

Saving Carla's first gig since before the summer was in a bar in Holborn on a Friday night. Alice loved playing gigs. She spent the two days leading up to it fizzing with anticipation, barely paying attention to what was going on around her. On the morning of the gig, George had been in the kitchen as she had jittered around him.

"You don't look as though you need any more coffee." He remarked quietly as she poured herself a third cup. Alice beamed at him "I'm just excited! It's been so long since we played in front of a crowd and I've missed it so much." A thought struck her "Would you like to come?"

George stared at her "You mean tonight?"

"Yes!" Alice grabbed an old envelope and scribbled the address and time on the back "I'll put your name on the guest list." She pushed the envelope into his hands "No pressure or anything," in a moment of exuberance she paused to squeeze his hand and smile encouragingly at him "But it might be fun."

George didn't look convinced, but pocketed the envelope anyway.

X

"So this lodger of yours, is he pretty?" Teddy paused to wipe the sweat off of his forehead with the hem of his t-shirt as he lugged another amp onto the slightly built up area that the pub they were performing in laughingly called a 'stage' "Is that why you put him on the guest list tonight?"

Alice grimaced at him. Once the enormous amount of caffeine she had ingested had worn off, she had realised that it was entirely possible that the invitation she had extended to George that morning could in fact be interpreted as a 'date' – or if not a date, a prelude to one. Upon realising this, she had rushed into the office of Abigail (a junior lecturer and her only ally in the department) and blurted out her problem before sinking into a chair and covering her face with her hands.

Earlier That Day

Abigail observed Alice's near-breakdown in the same impassive way that she observed everything. She was silent for a moment before turning back to her computer "Do you want it to be a date?"

"Abbie, I barely know the man." came the muffled response from behind Alice's hands "I was jacked up on caffeine and just trying to be nice!"

"Well," Abigail barely looked up from the document she was typing "you've got a choice of two options."

Alice groaned "I hate your ultimatums," she grumbled "I never want to do either of them."

"Either you can pretend that you meant to ask him on a date and use him as a rebound shag which will end up being terribly awkward and almost certainly require you to find a new lodger."

"Or...?"

Abigail shrugged "You can stop being such a paranoid lunatic."

Alice peeked at Abigail through her fingers "Do you really think I'm being paranoid?"

"There aren't enough ways to say yes to that." Abigail glanced at the clock "Don't you have students?"

Alice pouted and slid off of the chair "Will you at least come tonight? I think we've only sold about ten tickets and four of those are Blake's family. You could bring Markie."Markie was Abigail's long-suffering husband.

Abigail sniffed "I would rather shower with a bear."

"But you'll be there, right?"

Present Tense

"Al, any chance you could pay a-fucking-ttention? I asked if that was him." Teddy gave her shoulder a shove and gestured toward the bar. Alice turned to see George hovering nervously by the bar and felt her stomach clench. Maybe he did think she had asked him on a date. Warily, she raised a hand to wave at him. Catching her gaze, George returned the wave. He looked completely lost standing there by himself – in fairness, the bar was nearly empty anyway (that was the last time they let Blake book Saving Carla a gig), but Alice felt like even if the place had been packed, George would still have that air of isolation and loneliness about him. He sipped his pint and she almost smiled as he grimaced at the taste of it. Not a Lager man then.

"You live with that guy?" Daniel had appeared at her side without making a sound and Alice tried not to be distracted by how good he smelled, how close he was standing to her or that the way he stared at her intently, almost appraisingly, sent a shiver down her spine. She nodded, feeling that familiar blush make its way up her neck. Daniel glanced across the bar at George and raised his eyebrows as if to say 'Hey'. Alice felt almost certain she watched a shadow pass over the redhead's features. Daniel placed a hand on her lower back briefly before moving away to sound-check his guitar and her heart sank as George's stony gaze followed the bass player across the room.

"Alice Clark, you little minx." Teddy leered at her "The bass player and your lodger? London should be terrified now you're single."

"Shut up," Alice leaned across and pinched Teddy hard "Nothing's going on with either of them!"

Teddy grinned, rubbing his arm where she'd pinched it "Listen, I don't care what you do – but if Daniel leaves, you're the one auditioning for a new bass player. And as for your lodger," Alice cast a terrified glance over at George and breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that he had now been cajoled into conversation with Abigail (for all her pretence of being the world's hardest bitch, she could always be relied upon to spot the loneliest looking person at a party and befriend them) "He's definitely a dishy one so I can't say I blame you, but I never thought you'd have a thing for redheads."

"I don't." Alice hissed, casting a glance over her shoulder to make sure no one could hear them. Teddy smirked and went back to setting up his mike stand "Whatever you say."

X

Alice punched the air in time to the final beats of the last song in their set as the crowd erupted into applause. The turnout had been pretty good after all and Alice allowed the feeling of euphoria to flow through her veins as the final few chords danced behind her eyelids. For the last hour and a half, she had been a slave to her senses and loved every second of it. She felt reckless; she felt invincible.

Wiping the sweat from her forehead with the back of her hand as the houselights were brought back up, she cast an eye around the bar for familiar faces, her vision still swimming a little. She saw a flash of red in her peripheral vision and squinted to see George standing off to the side of the stage. Something was different though; he was grinning. His face was practically alight with glee and he waved jovially at Alice before melting back into the crowd, obscured by a gaggle of girls who wanted to bat their eyelashes at Daniel. Alice frowned – she didn't remember what George had been wearing when he had arrived at the bar, but it certainly hadn't been a pea green waistcoat and yellow shirt. She was drawn from her reverie as Teddy slung a sweaty arm around her neck "Welcome back to the land of the living Al! Have you missed this?"

Eventually Alice managed to get away from the stage and find Abigail sat at the bar, somehow managing to making drinking a beer look ironic and cool "Thanks for coming," she squeezed her friend's arm "And for talking to George." Abigail shrugged disinterestedly "No problem. I thought I'd scared him actually – he left before you guys even started." Alice frowned "He left?"

"He said he had another appointment," Abigail raised an eyebrow "I thought you didn't want him to think it was a date?"

"It's not that..." Alice murmured, confused "I just – I thought I saw him..."

"If I were you, I wouldn't be thinking about my lodger right now." Abigail nodded back toward the stage. Alice turned to see Daniel watching her over Blake's shoulder, his gaze smouldering. She felt her legs turn to jelly and heard Abigail's voice in her ear "I demand that you go and do disgusting things to that man."

X