George's POV during the moment when Angela is giving Charlie his thank-you-kiss and George walks in on them. (Chapter 12 of Triumphant Gold)
How Could It Have Come to This?
I had not known they were in there. If I had, I never would have entered that room. I had just finished making the last fake wand and was carrying the box to the back room, the storage room. No one was supposed to be in there. Yet two people were and what they were doing caused me to freeze, dropping the box of fake wands to the floor at my feet.
Angie was in Charlie's arms. Her mouth was on his face. Exactly where I could not tell but I could see from Charlie's position that the moment was intimate. The thought of my older brother with Fred's Angie made me drop the box.
Angie pulled away and looked at me, shock evident on her face. I looked at her then at Charlie then at her again. She still had her arms around his neck and I guess she noticed for she stepped away quickly. Charlie tried to remedy the situation.
"Hey George," he said tenderly. "How are you doing?"
I didn't answer him. How could I answer him? I would be lying if I said I was doing well. How could he expect me to even talk after what I had just witnessed? The thought of Charlie taking Angie away when I needed her so badly burned my chest. When did she even start having feelings for him?
I looked at her, trying to understand. My eyes full of hurt, bewilderment, and shock rolled into one. I could tell she was confused by my reaction. Charlie again tried to fix the awkward moment. He turned to Angie.
"So, Angela, how come you keep making excuses about coming to visit me at work?" He asked
She flushed. I knew the answer before she tried to speak. "Well, it's the dragons—"
"I wouldn't let them hurt you," Charlie said firmly, it almost seemed possessively. My throat tightened. I could see it in his eyes. He loved her. "Visitors aren't allowed near them anyway."
She shook my head. "No, it isn't that. It's just that—"
"She's afraid of fire," I said, speaking up at last. He did not know that? I've known that about Angie ever since I first met her. She was terrified of fire.
They turned to look at me, surprised. I didn't see why. Charlie turned back to Angie and I knew I was no longer needed, if I had been needed at all. I left. Tears burned my eyes but I held the back resolutely. Ron did not try to speak to me as I walked by, going up to our apartment above the store. Actually it was just my apartment now.
I sat down on the sofa in the small sitting room and gazed at the clean room around me. Angie had cleaned it. She didn't have to yet she did. I had thought then that maybe she cared about me as more than a friend. When the thought came I made sure I stayed aloof. She must not know my true feelings. For Fred's sake.
"You're pathetic, did you know that? You need to ask her now before Charlie takes her away for good!"
It was the little voice in the back of my head again; the one that always sounded like Fred. But how could he want me to take his girl? I couldn't do that to him. But now Charlie has, without conscious. Maybe he thought that since Fred was dead, Angie was free. Well she wasn't. He didn't stay with her the entire year before the battle. We had. Fred and I. He did not know her deepest fears and desires. We did. Fred and I. We both knew everything about Angie. Charlie did not.
How could it have come to this?