Disclaimer: I don´t own Harry Potter. Not at all.
Author´s note: Just a little one-shot I´ve felt like writing for some time. Be dears and leave some reviews for me, so I can read them when I get home from myholiday!
Alicia looked out of the window, into the darkness. There was no one there. Just like there was no one in the apartment anymore. He´d left.
It had only been half an hour since he walked out the door, but it felt like a lifetime. Maybe it was because he´d been distant for a long while. Ever since she returned.
They´d met her at a pub. She was just as beautiful as she had always been, with chocolate-coloured skin, black hair and almost black eyes.
The instant their eyes met, Alicia could as well not have been there. They saw only each other. Once again, she was on her own.
Suddenly, there was a loud crack. She turned and found George standing in the middle of the room, grinning at her.
"Hey, Leesh!" he said cheerfully. "Where´s my brother? I have some important business to discuss with him."
She didn´t reply, just continued to look out of the window.
"Leesh? Is something wrong?" He frowned and stepped closer to her, noticing for the first time her expression. "Where´s Fred?"
"He´s not here. He…" She hesitated, somehow feeling that saying it would make it more real.
"Where is he?"
"He´s with Angelina."
George drew his breath sharply, surprised by the news.
"What? Did he leave you?"
"No." She shook her head, looking sadder than ever. "I sent him to her."
"What do you mean? Why would you do something like that?"
"Because he loves her. And she loves him back. They both deserve to be happy, and they won´t be if they´re not together."
"What about you? Don´t you deserve to be happy?" George couldn´t believe what he was hearing.
"I haven´t really been happy with him lately. I guess we just didn´t belong together, we weren´t meant to be." She smiled in spite of herself. "It was about time I let go of him."
"But... Don´t you love him?" He looked at her inquiringly.
"I don´t know." A tear made it´s way down her cheek, and George had to fight the urge to dry it as she continued.
"I know I used to love him, but I just don´t feel the same way towards him. Ever since Angie returned he´s been so distant, and that made me realize that maybe I didn´t love him anymore."
Suddenly she turned and looked George straight in the eyes.
"Do you know what hurt the most? He said her name when he was asleep. At all other times he didn´t even mention her once, but at night..." Her voice cracked.
He didn´t know what to say. She was hurt, and that hurt him too. But what could he do, what could he say to make it better? He´d never been any good at comforting people.
Then she looked at her, the girl he´d loved for the past four years. It had started when they went to the Yule ball together, supposedly as friends, but then sometime during the night he´d suddenly realized that he was falling in love with her.
He´d used a lot of time to work up courage to ask her out. But in their seventh year he´d finally asked her to go with him to Hogsmeade, and she accepted! He was the happiest person at school.
And then came the letdown. They´d had a great time together, hanging out at Zonko´s and Honeydukes, before they went to the Three Broomsticks to grab a butterbeer. George had had a fantastic time, and he´d just told her so when she suddenly started to cry.
She confessed everything to him. How she was in love with his brother, but didn´t stand a chance, since Fred was in a happy relationship with Angelina. How she´d gone out with him to get over Fred. And George listened. He nodded at all the right places, and told her he wasn´t mad at her, and that they were best off as friends anyway. And his heart grew cold as ice. It still hadn´t unfrozen completely.
Of course, it turned out she had a chance with Fred after all. When he and George left school in the middle of the year, Angelina was furious with him, and she refused to talk to him ever again. Apparently she´d had a lot of pressure on her already, and with Fred gone she didn´t have anyone to help her. So after leaving school, she went to America and got a job there. And Fred turned to Alicia for comfort. They´d been together for nearly three years now. And then Angelina returned.
George patted Alicia lamely on the back. Apparently this was more than she could take, she suddenly burst out in tears and sobbed helplessly at his shoulder. He held her tightly, trying not to think about the irony in the situation. For the second time he was comforting the girl he loved while she was crying over his twin brother. His identical twin brother, for Merlin´s sake! If she´d just have chosen George instead...
The moment that treacherous thought crossed his mind, she looked up at him. Her grey eyes were slightly red and swollen, her hair was all messed up, and there were traces of tears down her cheeks. She couldn´t have been more beautiful. It was all he could do to keep from kissing her.
"You know, George," she said softly, "Sometimes I think I chose the wrong twin." He stiffened at the words, but she didn´t seem to notice.
"What do you mean?"
"You´re so sweet... and kind, and gentle... not to mention hot, of course." She grinned at him. He forced a smile back.
Alicia rose up and went over to the window again. She looked out. It was so dark outside, and she was so alone... she wiped her eyes and turned back to him.
"George? Will you please... stay the night?"
He looked at her for a long time. Finally, he nodded.
"Sure."
"Thanks, George." She hugged him tightly. "I don´t know if I could stand being alone right now."
He didn´t reply. Looking up, she saw the his strained expression.
"What´s wrong?"
"It´s nothing. I just..."
"What?"
"Forget it."
But she wouldn´t forget it. He´d looked so hurt... And somehow she couldn´t stand hurting George.
"Tell me, George."
"Get over yourself, Leesh! I don´t want to tell you!"
"But I want to know." Her eyes didn´t leave his. He gave in.
"Fine. I love you, Alicia. That´s my problem." Her eyes widened in shock, then they softened.
"You do?" Her voice was barely audible.
"Yes," he sighed. "I´ve loved you since our sixth year at school. There, now you know it. Are you happy now?"
She didn´t answer. Instead, she leant forward and brushed her lips lightly against his. She din´t feel the same passion now that she had felt for Fred. This was something new, and entirely different. And yet, it felt a bit like love.
