The next few weeks passed in a blur of smiles, kisses and blissful moments for Nora while she snuck around with George, stealing moments on lunch breaks, after work, and on the occasional day when their schedules lined up.
She still hadn't explained who she really was, but she was beginning to feel so comfortable with him that she didn't think he'd change at all if she did eventually allow herself to be vulnerable and tell him. Her hesitancy now was due instead to her being far too happy and blissful - she just didn't want to delve into the horrors of her past.
And he hadn't pushed her to say anything, or tried to tell her his real surname either - Nora had the wonderful feeling that he was enjoying the anonymity as much as she was. On the occasions that she'd feel compelled to ask him the secret that he so obviously wanted to share with her, she stopped herself - it was his to bring up when he wanted to, and she liked the mystery.
In fact, over the weeks Nora had the time to realise that George had a kindness and generosity that warmed her, a humour and sarcasm that made her belly laugh, and a sincerity and honesty which knocked her frequently for six.
Before she knew it, Nora had fallen head over heels in love with George King.
xXx
A month or so into their relationship, something interesting occurred.
Their night so far had been wonderful - they'd met after work for a walk, and returned to her small studio flat with a takeaway, ready to cuddle up on the sofa and watch a Muggle film.
George had lost interest in the romantic comedy that Nora had chosen by the time the film reached the third wedding, even though Nora reminded him that there were four weddings and a funeral to get through. Soon enough he'd turned their attentions to kissing instead.
Quickly, Nora ended up on George's lap. She pulled him closer, cupping his face. George chuckled and tightened his hold on her. She didn't know what was so funny, so she pulled away with a grin on her face...
"What?" she asked, her eyes darting between his, a serene smile on her face.
"Nothing," he said, shaking his head.
"George," she whined, "tell me?"
George sobered for a moment before that easy smile she knew so well transformed his features. "Okay," he whispered, cupping the back of her neck with one hand, holding her waist with the other. "I just still can't quite believe I'm here with you. If you'd told me this time last year that I'd be head over heels for you..."
Nora grinned. "I understand completely," she said. She wanted to remind him that they didn't know each other last year, but a voice in the back of her mind told her that that didn't matter. So instead, she cupped his face, her thumbs and forefingers rubbing his earlobes in a comforting gesture. And then she pulled him closer and, in the process, pulled his entire ear out.
Nora screamed. "Oh my god, that's your ear! That's your ear!" she squealed, shaking the fleshy appendage around.
"It's okay!" he said, laughing. He grabbed her waist and rubbed his hands up and down reassuringly. "Really, Nor, it's fine."
"No it's not! Your ear is in my bloody hand! I pulled off your ear!" she cried. "Oh god. Please don't break up with me, I didn't mean to. Oh god I pulled out your ear!"
"It's fine!" George said, trying to control his laughter now. "Just stop shaking it like that! It's really okay! It's detachable."
"Detachable?" Nora asked, her eyes wide. "Ears aren't meant to be detachable, George!"
"Mine is," he laughed.
"Yours- yours- how on earth is yours detachable?" she asked, staring between the ear and his face.
"Can you stop saying detachable?" he asked jovially.
"Your ear is in my hand and that's what you're annoyed about? Really?" she asked quietly, roughly wiping a tear from her face - the product of her absolute shock.
"Yes. Just let me explain?" he asked, cupping her face in his hands.
"You're... Wait..." she said, looking down at the ear again. "I need a second to think."
"I could just tell you and-"
"Wait!" she whined impatiently.
George waited for a minute and then couldn't take the silence anymore. "What're you thinking about?" he whispered.
"My head is empty but I'm trying to come up with a suitable joke about you and a dragon," she explained.
"What? Why?"
"Because you're hole-y. And your name's George, which makes you St. George. Just..."
"What about saint-like?" he asked, grinning.
"No," she whispered, glaring playfully. "That's a stupid joke."
"I thought it was quite original when I said it," he replied with a huff.
"I'm holding your ear in my hand. I'm allowed to be off right now, don't you think?" she asked. Sighing a moment later, she said, "I'm sorry. It's just a shock. I really thought I'd hurt you. I didn't hurt you did I?"
"No, Nor, you didn't hurt me."
She nodded slowly. "I'm so sorry for reacting like that," she said slowly, still staring at the appendage in her hand. "Were you born with it missing?"
He shook his head. "Injury during the war."
"I'm sorry," she whispered, looking up at him now.
"Don't be. That's," he said, taking his ear back and slotting it back into his ear-hole, "something I helped invent. It's called an extendable ear. You can hear someone whispering in the next room as if they're talking to you. It's great, brilliant for catching kids trying to steal stuff from the shop," George smiled sadly. "It's really okay, Nor, I honestly thought your reaction would be worse than this... it's why I didn't tell you before."
"You thought I'd care about the ear?"
"No, well, yes... I thought you'd be more upset that it happened, and I thought we were avoiding talking about the war."
Nora nodded and sighed. "I guess it's inescapable isn't it? But if it matters at all," she said, reaching up a hand to gently rub his earlobe. "I don't care, either way I love you."
George's eyes widened slightly but then he smiled. "You're sure?" he asked, taking the ear back out when she nodded. "I started wearing it more after a kid in the shop saw the hole and freaked. I don't tend to wear it at home or around my family, but I didn't want..."
"To freak me out? Well trust me, it's not a thing to me. The horrific thing was pulling it out and thinking I'd just managed to rip your head apart. I was going for sexy, not vicious." She grinned when George snorted. "Otherwise I think that this is incredible," she whispered, rubbing the fake ear gently. "Incredible magic and incredible- Wait," she said, sitting onto his knees with a thump. "George," she whispered. "Did you say that you always wear this?"
"Yeah," he replied, pulling her closer to him, sliding his arms around her waist to cross behind her back. He began placing small kisses on her jaw.
"So last week," she whispered, staring at the window behind his head. "When you were waiting outside my flat and I came to the door late because I didn't hear your first knock... You knew what I was doing?"
George snorted and pulled back, nodding. "Don't worry, I find awful renditions of Celestina Warbeck quite endearing."
"Oh god," Nora whined, burying her face in his neck.
By the time George left early the next morning to open the shop, Nora felt significantly better about the whole mishap.
"Skive," she said, kissing his cheek as he pulled on his boots.
George groaned and turned his face to kiss her on the lips. "I can't," he mumbled, kissing her again. "I'm sorry."
Nora sighed and let him stand, moving to wrap her arms around him. "Just say you're ill?"
George laughed and shook his head. "The owners would know. And anyway, we're already short today. Trust me, I have to go."
"Will you still make it this afternoon?" she asked hopefully.
George paused with his hand on the door handle. "To...?" he asked, his cheeks turning red.
Nora laughed and whacked him on the shoulder. "My parents' anniversary thing. You forgot didn't you?"
George groaned again and threw his head back, curling his hand into a fist which he shook in the air. "Yes! Merlin, Nor, I'm so sorry."
"If you don't want to meet them you can just-"
George kissed her before she could finish her sentence and she sank into his embrace happily until he ended the kiss and leant his forehead against hers. "It would be my immense pleasure to meet them," he whispered. "But I can't, not today. I'll make it up to you."
Nora nodded and pulled him down for another toe-curling good kiss.
"I have to go," he laughed, pulling himself reluctantly out of the door. "I'll come by this evening. I'll bring sweets and you can tell me all about Cat's newest annoyance."
Nora laughed and waved him off. She sighed and closed the door, returning to bed for the hours before the afternoon tea.
George had taken to the idea of Nora's little sister, Cat, quickly. She could see the care and love he had for his own little sister coming out on the little things, like when he asking after Cat or recommended a specific Weasleys' Wizard Wheeze product that he thought she might like to try out to help with her acne. He'd even, when Nora had cryptically explained that she didn't want to go to the WWW shop yet, brought Nora an owl order form so that she could buy something from their line for Cat's seventeenth birthday which was coming up quickly.
And Cat had taken to the idea of George quickly as well - she was rather smitten with the idea of having an older brother, even though Nora had explained on many occasions that her relationship with George wasn't there yet.
Nora's parents were rather in the dark about her boyfriend though - Nora had told them that she might bring someone to their party - she'd been hoping to spring it on them and let George's quick wit speak for itself.
It wasn't their fault, not really. Nora knew that they were still coming to terms with the idea that their daughter couldn't remember them, and so the idea that she was dating was worrisome for them.
Though Cat maintained that the new Nora was great - she had said loudly on more than one occasion that she preferred the new Nora because she couldn't remember their fierce arguments, or the fact that Cat had stolen her favourite dress and ruined it.
But Nora didn't quite believe that they'd ever been at loggerheads - Cat was fiercely loyal to Nora, and was the main driving force in her decision to live alone once she'd been released from hospital a year previously - Cat had told her that she needed to try and live independently and use that to propel herself back into wizarding life. If, Cat had argued, Nora had come home, she would have stopped magic and become a full-time Muggle. Something which Cat couldn't let happen, being a, "Boring Muggle," herself.
xXx
Without George with her, Nora felt... lost at the party that afternoon. She kept forgetting people's names, even though she'd spent ages swotting up on family albums to try and remember.
"Penny for them," Cat said, walking over to her, handing over a large glass of red wine which Nora took gratefully.
Cat was wearing her hair straight today, and was wearing a long floral dress with colours which complimented her golden-brown skin tone. It would have looked frumpy on Nora, but looked incredible on Cat, since she was already slightly taller than Nora, hitting five-foot-eleven with a few more years of growth. She'd paired the dress with a belt and incredible amounts of golden jewellery, and Nora smiled when Cat did a little twirl for her. Nora gently smoothed out her own dress, which looked ridiculous in comparison - she'd played it safe with a knee length green dress and a pair of chunky soled brown brogues which she regretted now.
"Sorry," Nora replied after a moment of silence, before taking a large gulp of the alcoholic drink. "But I hate this."
"Same," Cat agreed. "How about this. I'll cause a distraction and you meet me in our secret hideout."
"I... Yes," Nora replied, grinning. "That sounds amazing."
She grabbed a small plate of sweet treats and made her way to the stairs. But when she reached the staircase she realised that she had no idea where she was meant to go.
She saw her dad, Henry, duck out of the kitchen and walk towards the coat rack by the front door. He was a tall middle-aged man with dark brown skin, a head of thick, black curly hair, kind brown eyes, a gorgeous smile. He was wearing black suit trousers and a white shirt sans the tie, which had been a source of contention between her parents when she'd arrived earlier in the day.
"Dad... If I was meant to be hiding from your party with Cat...?" she asked.
"Under your bed," her dad said, smiling at her kindly.
"Thanks," she whispered, trying not to laugh when she realised that he was holding a tiny jacket in one hand.
"Are you laughing at my new fashion choices?" he asked, flipping the jacket over his shoulder and strutting past the doorway to the living room.
"Hen? Will you please take this seriously?" Nora's mum, Allie, asked, rushing into the hallway. Blonde, blue eyed, with pale white skin, she was much shorter than Henry, Cat and Nora, but she knew how to hold her own in a family who liked to joke about her lack of melanin. Cat had evidently inherited her style, as Allie, who was wearing a knee length white shirt dress, a few necklaces and bracelets and a pair of high heeled black shoes, looked incredible. Nora grinned from her perch on the third step up and tried not to laugh at the look on her dad's face. "You're trying to make up for throwing wine down my dad's shirt at the wedding, remember?"
"It's been twenty years. If he hasn't forgiven me yet..." Henry replied, rolling his eyes. He looked at Nora and asked, "Do you think I'm embarrassing anyone with my tiny jacket?"
Nora snorted and shook her head. "I think mum's worried because grandma actually turned up," she stage-whispered.
Allie's jaw dropped open. "You don't even remember your grandma, how do you know- see, Hen! This is what I'm talking about. Our own daughter has amnesia and even she knows your mum hates me."
"She doesn't hate you..." Henry laughed.
Nora snorted again and her mum turned back to her. "Where are you going?"
"She's hiding, Cat's off in a bit too," Henry explained quickly before he shoved the jacket onto the rack and walked into the living room.
"I'm sorry, I just-"
Allie waved her off. "At least you can hide. Go, before your she catches you."
"Let's have a party, Hen, it'll be great, Hen," Henry said, ducking his head round the door and looking pointedly at Allie, who glared at him. "And Nora?" Allie asked when Nora was halfway up the stairs.
"Yeah?"
"Thank you for coming. I know it's all been a big adjustment for us, so just... Thank you for being here."
Nora whined and ran downstairs to hug her mum. "Mum! Don't be crazy. Of course I'm here!"
"I'm okay. I'm okay. I just... Anyway. Go."
Nora grinned and ran upstairs to enjoy a long afternoon of magazines and gossiping with her little sister.
The girls returned downstairs to say goodbye to the guests at the end of the party, and then began to help their parents with the clear up. Nora didn't notice her mum's odd looks at first, but after a while her mum broke and said, "Nora, I'm not sure if you remember any spells, but..."
Nora frowned.
"Can you just clear up so we can watch tele?" Cat translated, waving her hand in the air.
Nora laughed and did as she was asked, hearing a rather high pitched shriek from the kitchen. Her dad popped his head around the door a moment later and said, "I was washing that dish and it became sentient. Warn me next time!"
Nora, Cat and her mum laughed and fell onto the sofa. Their dad brought in a tray of leftover pastries and they began to tuck into the sweet treats despite having grazed all afternoon.
"So, Nora, how's tricks?" Cat asked sneakily, and Nora's eyes widened.
"Tricks?" Henry asked, grabbing another croissant. "What's tricks?"
"She means George," Allie replied.
"Mum! How do you- you little snitch!" Nora cried, glaring at Cat before pulling a cushion over her face.
"Well?" Henry asked, sitting forwards now. "We were hoping you'd bring him today...?"
Nora groaned and threw her head back, hugging the cushion to her chest. "He couldn't make it. He's working."
"But you wanted him to come?" her mum asked quietly.
Nora bit her lip and nodded.
"She's in love," Cat said, miming throwing up.
Cat started laughing first, and then Nora and her parents joined in.
"I looked at your class photo but I couldn't see a George King..." her mum admitted later, when Nora was getting ready to leave.
Nora frowned. "Really?"
"There was a little note saying that not everyone was present," her dad added quickly.
"Oh... Uh... and his name isn't King..." she said quietly.
She explained everything quickly, and when she was done her mum had pursed lips, but her dad was smiling. "When we first met your mum told me her name was Jessica," he said.
Allie opened her mouth. And then closed it again. "Yes, but that was different. We didn't go to school together. What if-"
"Mum," Nora whined. "I asked for the anonymity, not him. When we're both ready we'll reveal our other selves. But trust me. I know him. I trust him. And if I've made a mistake then you can say I told you so later, okay?"
"But don't you think it's odd that he knows you and you don't know him?" Allie asked, frowning.
"No, because he doesn't. We were in different houses and there were a lot of people in our year."
Allie sighed but Nora knew she wasn't going to back down. Not yet.
"I love you," she said, leaning forwards to place a kiss on her mum's cheek.
"Stay safe. And bring him round. I want to meet this mysterious stranger."
"I will," Nora replied, hugging and kissing her family goodbye. "Right. See you after my exams?"
"You owe me a massive present for missing my birthday," Cat called from the other room.
"It's on its way!" Nora called back.
Twirling on the spot, Nora Apparated to the bottom of the stairs of her building. She ran up the steps and let herself into her flat, grinning when she saw that George was already lying on her bed wearing a pair of pyjama trousers and an old Gryffindor t-shirt. She didn't care that he'd technically broken in, he was exactly who she wanted to see.
"That bad?" he asked with a laugh when she threw herself down next to him, staring up at the ceiling.
"They know about you."
"They know about me?" he asked, rolling onto his front next to her. "Merlin, that is bad. What're we going to do? Move to Paris? Berlin? Merlin... Further?"
Nora laughed and shoved his arm. "Cat told them a few weeks ago. My mum even looked you up in our year group photo but she found it interesting that the graduating class photo didn't have you in it... So I had to explain about the whole surname thing- what?" she asked, when she noticed that George's expression had dropped.
He gulped and licked his lips, deep in thought. "I didn't... I left before my NEWTs so I wouldn't be in the photo anyway. I could give you one from that time, but it wouldn't be in uniform. Umbridge made sure personal photos were forbidden."
"What? That's crazy," Nora whispered. "The photos thing I mean... I... I heard about her of course... But I didn't... Did you leave because of her, or..."
"No, not really... I mean, yes and no. I think it goes into the bounds of who I really am... so... I guess you should just know that I chose to leave and it was the best decision I ever made. I'm not a swot like you."
"But you're the smartest person I know."
George laughed. "I'm the only person you know outside your family."
"Well that's not fair! I know plenty of wizarding people! And I knew loads of people apparently, I just don't remember them now," she laughed.
George shook his head and smiled down at her.
"Did you get any OWLs?" she asked quietly, gently pulling on a loose thread at the shoulder of his t-shirt.
"Yeah, a few," he said, watching his hand which was gently rubbing up and down her stomach.
"Ugh, I was-" she said, throwing her arms out to her sides and barely missing whacking George in the face. She laughed and kissed him on the nose when he complained. "I'm sorry. Did I hurt you?"
"No," he said, closing his eyes. "Wait," he added when she stopped kissing him. "You did, you really hurt me and I'm so hurt now, and- wonderful," he said when she kissed the corner of his mouth.
"No, but really," she said, laughing. She slipped her arms around his neck and buried her face in the crook of his neck as he pulled her into his arms so that she was cuddled in on top of him. "I was hoping you were going to say you got none," she whispered. "It would've made me feel better about my exams."
George laughed properly now and hooked a finger under her chin. When she looked up, he kissed her deeply. "That must be the first time someone's been disappointed that I did put effort into my academic career."
xXx
So just so everyone knows, this isn't going to be a terribly long story, I'm thinking max 15 chapters? It's been nice to play around with this journey but I think I'd like to go back at some point (when Changing the Game isn't taking up all of my creativity) and really explore Nora's experience of the Battle of Hogwarts all the way to now, so eventually this might get longer.
Thank you to everyone who's read so far, I really appreciate the support.
