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I spent most of the night with George on his couch. I would like to say we talked and learned new things about each other, but we mostly made out. His hands were lost in my hair while mine explored his jaw, neck, cheeks, anything and everything I could reach. It kind of felt like we were teenagers that couldn't get enough of each other.

By the time I'd put my shoes back on and bundled myself up again, my insides were completely liquid. He'd effectively melted me into a puddle and something told me he wasn't the least bit sorry over it. I'd just looped my scarf into place when he took my cheeks in his hands again and pulled me into our millionth kiss of the night.

When we parted, I glanced around the apartment and said, "Do you not decorate for the holiday other than in the shop?"

He looked away from me and raised his brows like he hadn't even noticed it wasn't decorated. "We decorate at my parents' house, I never really thought about decorating the flat. No one has been in the place other than me or Ron in years."

That made sense, he shared the flat with Fred before the Battle and now it was just him. "I find it hard to believe you don't bring girls back to your flat all the time, Mr. Weasley. You're kind of fit."

I expected him to roll his eyes or smirk or something, but his face became stony instead. "I haven't brought any of the random girls I've shagged back to my flat. It's a private place."

Jealousy flared at the mention of him shagging other girls, but I tried to stamp it out. He was allowed to have sex with whomever he pleased. Unfortunately for me, I had one of those faces that showed every emotion that I ever felt and George was already too good at reading me.

Almost as fast as his face turned stony, it turned into a smug smirk. "Did you accidently make yourself jealous, 'puff?"

I crossed my arms over my chest the best I could with my puffy jacket and looked at him with a hopefully indifferent look on my face. "You're a grown man, you can sleep with whoever you want."

"Come back inside so we can talk about this. I don't fancy having this conversation in the doorway of my flat," he sighed, running a hand over his scruffy jaw.

I toyed with the thought of just leaving the flat, but something in his eyes made me follow him back to the living room. I undid my scarf and unzipped my jacket, shrugging them off and laying them over a chair in the kitchen as we passed it. I sat on the couch with one leg crossed over the other and my fingers laced resting on top of them with a ramrod straight spine.

"Please don't be upset, this isn't something that's easy for me to talk about," he told me after we sat in silence for a couple minutes. "After the War, I spent a lot of time lost in the bottle. All I did was drink and shag random girls I met at pubs. I didn't bring them back here because we usually went to the Leaky Cauldron."

That was understandable, he lost quite literally the other half of himself. I didn't drink after the war, but I did try to hide myself from everyone and everything in my room at home. I guess everyone had their own ways of coping with trauma.

"There's no other way to say it, I was in a really bad way. Ron ran the shop by himself for the most part with the help of Harry and even Hermione at some points. I hit complete rock bottom and mum made me fix myself," he told me, his eyes holding mine and completely surprising me. There must've been more trust on his part than I originally realized. "I also had a nasty bout of dragon rash that scared me a bit."

Dragon rash was the wizard equivalent of chlamydia that was cured by taking a month's worth of potion. Simply casting a protection charm would keep you safe, but I suppose he wasn't in the right mindset to do that. I couldn't imagine the lighthearted George Weasley I knew ever being in that state, it was almost painful to think about.

"Oh," I finally said, a loss for any other words to say. "How long ago was that?"

His cheeks flushed red and he rubbed his jaw when he answered, "I've been sober for two years and celibate for about six months."

"That explains why I was the only one drinking earlier," I said suddenly, trying to alleviate the tension.

"Yeah, I had the bottle left over from a holiday party a few years back," he explained, still a bit awkward. "I figured tonight was as good as any to drink it."

"I'm sorry for freaking out on you earlier, I just don't like the thought of you sleeping with other girls. Even if I don't have any right to be angry," I admitted a little while later, my own cheeks turning pink as I held his intense brown gaze. "I haven't had sex since the War, if that means anything to you."

"You're jealous and it's very sexy," he smirked before skimming his thumb over his bottom lip thoughtfully. "But I must admit I like being the first guy you've snogged in that long."

A sly grin of my own found its way to my lips as I said, "I never said that."

I must be getting better at reading his face as well because I saw the unabashed jealous color his features. He didn't like the thought of me snogging other guys and it send an excited shiver through me.

"Fair enough, but you're still sexy," he finally said, moving closer and kissing me.

As much as I hated the thought, I pulled away from the kiss before it got too intense and stood up. He followed me and held up my jacket, helping me put it on before looping my scarf around my neck for me. Then he used it to pull me forward and kiss my forehead, making warmth blossom in my belly for the billionth time tonight as I wrapped my arms around his middle.

"If my flat is so season-less to you, come with me tomorrow to buy a tree and bobbles and the whole thing," he suggested, leaning against the door frame with me standing on the other side after we parted.

I didn't expect him to invite me to go with him tree shopping, but excitement bubbled in my stomach anyway. "You want our second date to be Christmas tree shopping?"

"Why not?" he asked. "You seem pretty excited over it."

I smiled and twisted the fringe at the bottom of my scarf as I responded, "I'll meet you in the shop tomorrow at noon? Is that okay?"

"That sounds brilliant. I'll have Verity run it, she's an old pro now," he explained, leaning forward and kissing me one last time. "I'll see you tomorrow."

I kissed him once more when he finished speaking before Apparating back to Hogsmeade. Because it was the holiday, there was a Floo system set up in the basement of the Three Broomsticks that opened up in McGonagall's office that only professors were allowed to use. A detection charm was used before you could step out of the fireplace in her office, and it was equipped to recognize every professor.

I went back to my quarters and smiled at the Christmassy feel of the place. The front room had a tree and tinsel hung around the walls. There were candelabras set around with holiday scented candles in them that had my entire place smelling like freshly baked sweets and cinnamon.

I hung my scarf and jacket on the coat rack by the door and kicked off my Chuck Taylors beside it. The clock on the wall told me it was late and I still needed to shower so I made my way to the attached bathroom. Once I finished in there, I fell into my bed and asleep faster than I thought possible.

I woke up the next morning and pulled my robes on over my pyjamas, heading to the bathroom to brush my teeth and braid my hair. Then I made my way down to the Great Hall for breakfast. I said my greetings to all my students and thanked them when they complimented me on the prank. By the time I made it to the professors' table, I was smiling up a storm. I loved my job so much.

"Good morning, Professor Duke," Professor McGonagall greeted as I sat in my spot between Professor Slughorn and Professor Flitwick. "You've been quite the talk of the castle as of late between your prank and the sudden appearance of Mr. Weasley."

My face heated up as I ladled spiced apples onto my plate. "The prank did go brilliantly. You couldn't see the room for all the snow. I know the students loved it as much as I did. It definitely decreased the tension surrounding exams if only for one class."

I purposefully ignored the part about George because I didn't really know what to say. We were going on our second date today and I was excited, but he wasn't my boyfriend and anything of the nature quite yet. McGonagall seemed to pick up on that because she went back to her breakfast and allowed me to do the same.

I watched the children as I ate, my favorite thing to do. They were all so happy to not have any worries, even if they had to spend the holiday in the castle. I remembered staying here and loving it, spending all the time with my friends and exchanging gifts. Like I've mentioned before, Christmas time was my favorite time here in the castle.

By the time I was finished, I said goodbye to the other professors and made my way back to my quarters. Well, I tried to make my way back to my quarters, but I was stopped by a student. Lyra Cornwall was one of my best, a seventh year who showed great healing promise.

"Professor Duke, can I ask you something?" she asked as we walked together.

I stopped and moved to the side so we had more privacy and said, "Of course, Lyra, you can talk to me about anything."

"I've been dating Levi Grains since my fifth year and I love him a lot, but he doesn't understand why I want to study at St. Andrews instead of St. Mungo's after Hogwarts. He's so upset, he thinks I don't want to be with him anymore," she told her, her blue eyes filling with tears as she spoke.

I glanced over her shoulder and saw the staircase leading to my office. "Let's go into my office so we can talk privately, yeah?"

She nodded and followed behind as I led the way to the room. We stopped outside the door and I said, "Holly sprig."

We made our way into the room and I gestured for her to sit before following her lead. "So, you're having trouble with your future and your boyfriend?"

"Yes, it's like he doesn't understand that he's also making decisions that don't involve me. He's almost positive the Auror academy is going to send him an invitation this summer and I know it's going to happen. His NEWTs are going to be brilliant because he's brilliant," she started explaining, her eyes spilling over. "We're going to be separated for months at a time anyway, I don't understand why he's making a big deal out of me doing what I need to as well."

I handed her a couple tissues and she wiped her face with them. "Lyra, dear, he's scared of the future like much of your classmates. He's afraid the two of you will drift apart if you go your separate ways for your futures."

"Does he think I'm not terrified? I love him so much, but this is my future we're talking about. I've always known what I wanted to do and he has as well. We were mates before we got together," she whimpered, more tears getting caught by the tissue. "I thought we were strong enough for anything. What if we're not?"

"If you're strong and you love each other, everything will work out," I told her, taking her hand in mine. "And if things don't work, it's not the end of the world. He's just one boy, there's a million more of them. You need to go to Healer's academy and make your future as best as you can because that's what really matters. If you do what you have to for yourself, everything else falls into place. I promise you that."

She nodded and it looked like a great weight had been taken off her shoulders. "Thank you for speaking with me, Professor. I know it's your time off and you probably have places to be."

"My most important place to be is here for all of you. You're what's most important to me," I told her honestly. Then I stood and hugged her, "You're a brilliant girl, you'll figure out what's best for you and I know it."

We parted ways soon after that and I finally made it back to my quarters. It was eleven o'clock so I hurried to start getting ready. By the time I finished, I realized I was pushing my time and hurried to Professor McGonagall's office to Floo to Hogsmeade so I could Apparate and meet George.

I walked out of the Three Broomsticks and Apparated to the joke shop, smiling at the thought of seeing George again. I pushed into the store and immediately saw him near the door, his face breaking into a huge grin the second our eyes met and he rushed over to me. His arms wrapped around me and warmth sank into my bones when he kissed my hair.

"Hi to you, too," I greeted once he stepped back to look at me.

"I just have to tell Verity I'm heading out and we can go," he told me, gesturing over to the counter where a girl sat looking bored. "Just stand here and look beautiful. Look at that, you're doing a great job."

I rolled my eyes, but the compliment made me blush regardless. George Weasley had a way of making warmth blossom inside me that no one else ever had. It was kind of my favorite thing in the entire world and I hoped it never stopped happening.

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