AN: Sorry if it's been a while, but here's more! Happy new year, and please review!
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George Weasley sat in the back of his shop in the dark and stared at the wall. Ron had come into the shop to offer a helping hand, and George was taking full advantage of it. Between Ron and the cashier George had hired after the war, things were running smoothly enough for him to sulk in the stockroom. As much as he disliked the sometimes overbearing optimism of his younger brother, he was grateful that he had showed up today. He absolutely hated being in the shop by himself.
He listened to the chime of the cash register and the buzz of customers. Children laughed outrageously at the toys that exploded into dust right in front of their faces and the tiny toy dragons that breathed fire and did flips in the air. After a long period of time he realized that he could hear Ron closing up the shop. The bell above the door rang as the last customers exited with their purchases. Marin, the shopgirl, called goodbye to him from the front of the shop before Disapparating.
"Quite a busy day for the shop," Ron said cheerfully as he brought the till into the back room. "Blimey, George, can you even see anything back here?" He waved his wand and brought the lights up in the room.
"Didn't notice, thanks," George muttered. He had been leaning against a wall with his feet propped on the lower rung of a stepstool. He pushed the stool away and stood up. "You don't mind counting that up, do you?"
"Course not," Ron said. "Oy, before I forget, Hermione wants you to come over for dinner sometime. Thinks you need the company. She said she'll even make your favorite meal, whatever that is. Doesn't really matter, honestly, we'll end up with burnt bricks of food anyhow. She tries, she does, but she doesn't quite have a talent for…what's the word? Domesticity. Besides, things are a bit hectic these days with the wedding planning and all."
"Well then, Ronnie, it's a good thing domesticity isn't something you really need when you're one of the brightest witches there is. Tell Hermione I thank her but I'm busy."
"I didn't even tell you a day!" Ron said, but George was already gone.
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A few days later, George called on Angelina to have dinner with him after he closed the shop. They enjoyed a meal at a Muggle restaurant near his flat.
"So how is the shop faring these days?" she asked between bites. He paused his chewing for a moment. He vacillated for a moment between the perfunctory answer and the truth.
"It's making good money. Ron helps out quite a bit. I think he's too stressed by all of Hermione's wedding planning. She's being very Hermione-like about this whole wedding thing. Every little detail counts. I think I might shut it down though, maybe move on, maybe try something new."
Angelina stared at him in awe. He and Fred had been planning that joke shop as long as she'd ever known them, but she avoided pointing that out to him.
"Why on earth would you that if it's making so much money? I may be a bit out of touch lately but even I hear people talk about what a booming business you've got."
"I rather hate being in there, to be honest," he said. "Everywhere I turn, there is Fred. I'm constantly surrounded by him. It feels like half of me is gone, and I can physically feel the emptiness, but at the same time I'm surrounded by him. It's impossible to do every day. Some days I just sit in the dark in the back room and stare at the walls so I don't have to look at all his bloody inventions."
Angelina set down her fork and listened to him. What was there to say to that? She supposed that sitting in the dark was a bit better than what she had been doing to avoid thinking about Fred, but she wasn't about to say that to George. He didn't need to know that. After a long silence, George smiled a small mournful smile. He made a comment about the Muggle family across the restaurant and how bizarrely the children were dressed. They forced their way through small talk about Muggles and their surroundings as they finished their meals. They continued talking on the walk back to her flat about everything from politics to the upcoming wedding of Hermione and Ron, but their conversation never turned to Fred again. It was apparent to Angelina that as much as they both welcomed someone to commiserate with, neither was entirely comfortable with this newfound honesty.