A/N: NO, I'm NOT making this a chaptered fic. (If I did, I'm pretty sure Fred and Angie would get married, then Fred would cheat on Angie, and then she'd run to George. WtWS and Leaving are kind of depressing, so I wanted a happy ending. [For F/A anyway.]) I just thought I should add the rest of the conversation between George and Angelina that Fred didn't hear. After all, he was too busy contemplating 1001 ways to kill his brother to hear everything.
Thanks to The Flying Moose for telling me it sounded weird. I thought it did, too, but no one had said anything about it, so I thought it was just my imagination. So here's that scene in its entirety.
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Upstairs…
"I've been waiting for you," George smirked as his ex-girlfriend Apparated into her bedroom. Angelina took one look where George was reclining and moved to the doorway that led to her bathroom. "You don't have to do all that, Lina. I won't hurt you."
Angelina's brown eyes blazed chocolate fire. "No, but I may hurt you, George. Now make this quick. I have a date with Fred tonight."
"That's why I'm here. He's going to propose tonight."
Angelina laughed. (Fred: What's so damn funny about that? I love her.) "That may be the funniest thing you've ever said to me, George."
"I'm serious, Lina. He showed me the ring this morning."
"One: I don't believe you. He knows where we stand. It's just about the sex. And two: even if I did believe you, I still don't see what it has to do with you."
"Everything, Angelina. I'm not going to stand by and watch the woman I love marry my brother."
Angelina let out a bitter and caustic laugh. "You love me, George? Now that's a laugh."
"Yes, I love you." He got up and walked towards her. "And I think you love me, too."
Angelina took a step back. "I don't believe in love, Weasley. There is only money, power and sex. And I happen to have all three."
"You're not that jaded, Lina."
"I'm not jaded; I'm just being realistic."
"No, you're just being pigheaded."
"You want the truth. Fine. Yes, I was once naïve enough to believe in love. And I had my heart broken by a guy who didn't give a damn about my feelings!" Angelina's last sentence came out in a shout.
"Angelina, I loved you then. Just like I love you now. And I cared about your feelings."
"No, you didn't! If you had, you would have told me you didn't want an exclusive relationship instead of letting me find out the hard way! Four other girls, George! FOUR!" Suddenly her tone of voice changed. "Do you know what that does to an insecure person, George?" He shook his head. "Then I'll tell you. I tried to kill myself and if Alicia hadn't found me before I became unconscious, I'd be dead right now."
"I never meant to hurt you."
"But you did. That's the point. You did. Quidditch held no meaning for me because you were no longer my 'Beater in Shining Armour.' Anything that reminded me of you, I cut off."
George had one question and it was obvious. "What about Fred?"
"He's not you. He hasn't hurt me. Yet. But I always have that feeling deep down inside that he will. Because he's a man and especially because he's your twin." Here she broke down in tears. George hugged her and soothingly rubbed her back. Surprisingly, she didn't push him away. "I care about him so much, but I can't be with him because my trust has been destroyed completely. And in five years, I haven't been able to rebuild it."
"I'm sorry, Lina. I'm so sorry."
Angelina continued to sob into his shoulder. "Sorry doesn't change things, George."
George cupped his ex-girlfriend's chin. He looked at her tear-stained face and thought she never looked more beautiful. Slowly, he brought his lips towards hers and when they met, it was pure ecstasy. For him anyway. He could feel Angelina wince before she melted into his kiss. A second later, it was over.
Angelina pushed him away angrily. "Why did you do that?" she hissed.
"I told you. I love you. I know you don't believe it, but I do."
"But I'm not in love with you."
"Yes, you are."
"No, I'm not."
"Don't give me any more of that dragonshit about not believing in love because…"
"I love your brother."
George stared at her in amazement. "What?!"
"I love Fred. There, I've said it. I've been telling myself for years that it wouldn't last. That it was only an infatuation. But I am head-over-heels in love with Fred Weasley."
George crossed the room and sank onto the cloud-soft bed. He let out a sigh. "And you don't have any feelings for me anymore?"
Angelina sat beside him on the bed and sighed, too. "George, there is a part of me that will always love you. Come to think of it, there's a part of me that'll always hate you, too." George gave her a 'that was not funny' look. "But I'm not in love with you anymore. It's time I let that part of me go." Seeing the look on his face she added, "And it's time you did, too."
George looked into Angelina's eyes. They reflected the sadness that he was sure she could see in his own brown eyes. "You don't even want an explanation?"
Angelina looked confused. "An explanation about what?"
"Why I did what I did," he answered simply.
"Well, I think I deserve one, but I don't need one."
"Well, you're going to get one." Angelina opened her mouth. "Shut it. You're going to listen to me for once."
"Before you start, I have a question. Why did you want to keep us a secret?"
"I knew the way Fred felt about you. I liked having you as my girlfriend and I liked having him as my twin. Most importantly, I liked living. Which was something that wasn't going to happen if he knew."
"So you knew how Fred felt about me and…"
"Yes. If our roles were reversed, he would've done the same thing."
"Wow," Angelina said. Mentally, she berated herself for saying something so stupid. Despite the fact that she still couldn't think of anything better to say.
"About the other girls. Lina, when I told you I loved you, I meant it."
"Then why…?"
"A number of reasons. The main one was that I was afraid of commitment.'
"So I was right."
George shook his head. "No, you weren't. You thought I didn't want a commitment, and that wasn't true. I was afraid of all the things that came with it. The thought of meeting your parents horrified me. So did marriage and kids. Especially if they turned out like my family."
"So you slept around because you were scared of marriage? George, I wasn't thinking that far ahead. I was thinking about sneaking to Hogsmeade and winning the next Quidditch game."
"I thought about the future with you all the time. We were together for almost three years and you still thought I didn't take anything seriously?"
"Of course not. I thought you took me seriously until I found out that you had a girl in every house."
"It wasn't just that I was scared. Subconsciously, I wanted to punish you for the Yule Ball."
"What?"
"I was still upset that you went with Fred and not me."
"We had broken up. At the time, it didn't seem like we were going to get back together. And I wanted to go, so I said 'yes' when Fred asked me."
"So I was still mad, okay? Anyway, I regret all that now and if I could change the past, I would. But…" he trailed off. I will not cry, he willed himself. Crying is a girly thing to do and I won't do it. Not over this. "But I can't. And you love Fred now and there's nothing I can do about it, is there?" he finished resolutely as Angelina shook her head. He smiled for the first time since Angelina broke down into tears. "It was a rhetorical question."
Angelina pulled out her wand and with a wave of it, her cheeks were no longer streaked with tears. Her eyes weren't red anymore, either. They began walking down the stairs. "We'll have to tell him everything, you know."
"Yeah. He's going to kill me."
"No, he won't. I'll make sure of it."
"I'm still not looking forward to it."
"Neither am I. But it's best to get it over with."
"So how are we going to tell him?"
"I don't know. But it's going to be in a well-lit public place."
"Lots of witnesses."
"Exactly."
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There you go. George's talk with Angelina, the unedited version. Does the ending make more sense now?
