Disclaimer: I don't own anything except this plot and Ron Weasley in my heart. :-)

A/N: I think this is the longer chapter I've written so far, thank you for the reviews they make it fun to continue this fic. Keep 'em coming!

Chapter 5

At the end of the day Angelina stayed behind to help George close up the shop and do inventory. No one ever wanted to help do the tedious work of inventory and George wondered perhaps if Angelina didn't want to go home, maybe she hated having time to think too.

"So, where are you living?" He asked hoping he sounded casual and that his hunger to know more about her wasn't showing in his voice.

"Oh, with my my mum and dad until I find a place of my own. I just got in yesterday and I went looking for a job. Once I find one of those, I'll start on the whole flat thing."

"You can work here" said George quickly, craving to see her everyday. "I mean, if you want. It might not be what you had in mind but--"

"No, it's perfect! I had a lot of fun today."

George beamed. "Are you hungry at all?"

Angelina nodded. "I haven't ate since a yogurt cup I had this morning."

They went to a Chinese restaurant in Muggle London, not far from George's own flat. It was only when he realized how close they were to his home that he thought of Lana. She must be worried sick about him, he always came home directly after work as George had no where to go other than the Burrow. She probably thought he'd been mugged.

"You look stressed" said Angelina, in-between bits of egg roll. "Is there something you're not telling me?"

George didn't know why he didn't want to tell Angelina that he had a girlfriend. After all, there wasn't any reason for him not to tell her. She was an old friend, the love of his dead brother's life, there was no reason to hide this from her.

"It's just...I haven't called my girlfriend and I'm afraid she probably thinks I've been mugged on the dangerous streets of downtown London."

Angelina laughed and looked down at her plate. George couldn't read the expression on her face, why did he feel guilty? Angelina had never been his. "Well, I suggest you go to the men's room or something and call her. Just let her know you're ok and that you ran into an old friend."

"Should I mention you're a girl?" George blurted.

Angelina looked up at him thoughtfully. "Hm...that's a good question. Well, if it were me in her shoes I'd want to know. It makes trusting you a lot easier, because I know if you told me it's a girl you're not trying to hide anything and that there's nothing going on."

"And if I don't tell her?" Asked George.

"Well" said Angelina sighing and putting a hand on her cheek, "I guess you're doing it for a reason."

With her advice in mind, George excused himself from the table--somewhat grudgingly, and found an empty stall in the restroom.

Lana had introduced him to cellphones as a way for them to keep in touch that didn't involve owls, floo powder, or portkeys.

"George!" She picked up on the first ring, "I was worried sick about you, where are you? Is everything okay?"

George smiled, "everything is fine. I um--well, my brother Fred's ex girlfriend came to the shop today and we've been catching up."

"Fred...that's your twin, the one who died?" Lana's voice was low and soft, and George couldn't help but think of how kind Lana was. How understanding she was and how she put up with his withdrawn moods and the fact that deep down she knew he wasn't in love with her.

"Yeah." Said George, for lack of words.

"Aw well, I'm happy you're catching up with someone who was close to him as well. Do you know what time you'll be home at all or should I just go to bed?"

George looked at his watch, it was 11pm. He thought out how he'd answer her carefully. On the one hand he wanted to talk to Angelina all night--find out everything about her, where she'd been in that last year and where it was she was going. But he didn't want to exclude Lana, because she loved him and while he didn't love her back in the same way he did love her. And he cared about her.

"You can go to sleep, if you want. We have a lot to catch up on, a lot to talk about." George didn't lie to her--it was the truth. And he was vague enough that Lana wouldn't wonder too much, would assume that everything they talked about referred to Fred. And, that was the truth, it wasn't like he and Angelina were on a date.

"Oh, alright. I'll see you later" there was a brief pause, "love you."

"I love you too" said George without hesitation, it was best to say I love you.

When he found his way back to Angelina she had finished eating and was reading her fortune cookie. George stood back staring at her for awhile. She was beautiful, looking down with a small smile on her face, one of those thoughtful private smiles.

"What's your fortune?" He asked sitting back down across from her.

Angelina looked up, as if being pulled from another world. "What? Oh, it's kind of weird actually. It says, "the key to happiness is in the most obvious place. Don't be afraid to see it." That could mean anything--they key to happiness could be another egg roll, the key to happiness could be coming home to England."

The key to happiness could be me, thought George. He finished eating in silence, Angelina singing along to the Muggle songs that came on over the speakers. When he was finished eating, George hurriedly unwrapped his own fortune cookie anxious for what it would say. He usually wasn't very superstitious, but if hers was so accurate he only hoped his word be the same.

He read it in a rush and his heart sank. "The one you've been waiting for is right in front of you, the one's whose heart you will break is waiting for you."

"What's it say?" Asked Angelina excitedly.

"Nothing relevant" lied George balling it up and putting it on top of his plate.

"Oh" Said Angelina a bit thrown off, "okay..."

"You ready to go?" Asked George feeling a bit on edge.

Angelina shrugged and stood up putting her coat back on.

The walk to the nearest portkey was quiet and tense. George wanted to talk to her but it seemed like they'd said too much yet at the same time not enough. Angelina started humming a tune that was vaguely familiar to George but he couldn't quite place it. Words came to him before you realized he was speaking. "I've loved ya since I knew ya, I wouldn't talk down to ya."

"I have to tell you just how I feel, I won't share you with another boy. I know my mind is made up, so put away your makeup." Finished Angelina, smiling. "I didn't know you were familiar with the Police."

"I wasn't until a few months after I met Lana--that's my girlfriend's name. She played that song over and over one night and I became fond of it."

"It's one of my aunt's favorites and while in Maine I listened to it and the band themselves quite a bit. I love the name Roxanne, although the song is supposedly about a prostitute in southern France; but I like the message, that everyone is worthy of love and a second chance."

George listened intently, clinging to these little details about Angelina and what she liked. She probably didn't even realize it as she spoke on. "I like that name too, Roxanne" said George quietly, "and it's really interesting--your thoughts on the song. I never really listened to it that much, it is very romantic in a bittersweet way. A sad way."

They almost passed up the floo--an old shoe, for their speaking of old Muggle songs and Angelina promising to introduce George to more songs by the Police. When they reached it they stood staring at one another for a bit--George noticed that they seemed to do that often--stare at each in silence. Angelina eyed the left side of his head where his ear used to be. Hermione, a healer, had done all she could to make it less noticeable and in the end had made it so it was a smooth patch of skin there. People didn't stare much, it was better than the black hole that used to occupy his face.

"May I?" Asked Angelina reaching out to touch his face.

George gulped and nodded. Angelina rubbed where his ear once was gently and affectionately, looking at him with--not eyes of pity, but eyes of something else. Something like unadulterated lust and deep...something he was afraid to admit to himself.

She seemed as if something was on the tip of her tongue but settled for a weak smile. "You fought the good fight" she whispered.

"You too" whispered George, brushing a piece of stray hair ot of her face.

Angelina bit her lip and shook her head, she looked like she wanted to cry. "I loved him more than anything else in my life, you know."

"I know" said George, "so did I."

She buried her head in her hands, "it doesn't seem fair to have to go on without him. To be expected to be okay and at the same time have people expect you to break down. That's how I felt at the funeral--like pitying eyes were upon me, it's why I had to get out. But--but I never meant to leave you here by yourself George. I never meant to do that to you. I wanted to owl or call or write you so many times. But I was a coward--and don't you dare tell me different. But I'm here now and I want to atone for that. I want to be your friend, and make it up to you. I'm never going to leave again."

George looked at her in awe. A tear escaped down her cheek and George gently wiped it away with his thumb. He caressed Angelina's cheek and before either of them knew what was happning he kissed the side of her mouth, and then her lips. Angelina kissed back hungrily and hesitantly, tasting like sweet sauce and egg noodles. She sighed into his mouth and George, felt an electricity, a need he had never felt before. Not with any girl before Fred's death, and not with one sense. Certainly not with Lana. Poor Lana, who he was betraying but it felt like fate had led him to this moment, with this woman.

When Angelina pulled away George felt as if he had been ripped from a dream. His eyelids fluttered open and he looked dazed, his blurry vision filled with the sight of something magnificent.

"I um, better get home and you have a girlfriend to attend to. But I meant what I said--every word. I'll see you in the morning, Weasley."

And before George could utter a single word Angelina had picked up the portkey and disappeared. Her fortune cookie wrapper had fell out of her pocket and he picked it up to read it once more, the key to happiness is in the most obvious place. Don't be afraid to see it.