Chapter 2
Two days later Angelina was sitting in a café at the end of Diagon Alley, her mind in a book. She hadn't always been a reader, but it gave her something to do in her free time. After the war she had begun working as a Quidditch correspondent for the Prophet, so she had plenty of free time to fill in between matches. She'd taken up reading as a something to do during the day – it sometimes helped to take her mind off things, but only sometimes. She had become a fan of historical books and fiction, though she avoided romance like the plague. As she turned the page a dark shadow cast over her book. She squinted up at the backlit figure in front of her table.
"Hello George," she said quietly. She was never quite comfortable around George when he did venture out with the rest of their friends. They had been good friends in school, but now he was quite and distant. He had a permanent shadow over his face like he wasn't fully there. He kept his hair longer than he used to – it was at his shoulders now, slightly unkempt and parted in a way that concealed the missing ear on one side. George took a seat without asking and looked at her.
"Fred always thought you were the prettiest girl in Hogwarts, you know," he said. Angelina put her book down. She didn't want to talk about Fred, especially not with his twin. "Do you miss him? Because I miss him."
She froze. George had never said anything before about his twin brother to her nor to any of their friends. It wasn't something they talked about nor that they were really ready to talk about. How was she supposed to do this? Fred had never really been her boyfriend, but he was one of her best friends, and she had really loved him. They had dated here and there after he'd taken her to the Yule Ball, but never seriously. She had thought they would end up together after the war. How do you compare the loss of that to the loss of twin?
"Yes of course I miss him," she finally whispered.
The young waitress brought over a menu for George when she noticed that he had joined Angelina. George quickly glanced at the menu and pointed out a panini that looked good enough. After handing over the menu, he looked back to Angelina. His chocolate eyes were so terribly like Fred's. They sat in silence, looking at each other. She wondered if he was trying to gauge her grief, to see just how much she missed his brother. Minutes later his order was served. He took a few bites, but mostly he just sat there looking at it.
"You know I didn't really want this. I'm not quite sure why I ordered it. I don't really know why I do much of anything."
Without thinking Angelina reached across the table to grab his hand.
"Would you like to have dinner tonight, George? We can talk about Fred, if you'd like. Or we can just sit and have dinner."
She thought she saw a small smile flash across his lips as he nodded.
That evening they ate dinner in her flat, a simple meal of chicken and potatoes that she'd thrown together. They made small talk about the work she did, how well the shop was going, and the happenings of their friends' lives. There was talk of the recent engagement of his sister to Harry Potter as well as that of Ron and Hermione Granger. There was not any talk of Fred. When George left that evening, Angelina crawled into her bed. Ensconced in blankets, her arms wrapped around a pillow, she fell asleep. Curious, she thought as she dozed off, that George had chosen to come to her. She wondered if he knew she couldn't about it. George hadn't really wanted to talk about it at all.