George sped up a little bit, trying not to look overly eager. Angelina was staring expectantly at him, her arms crossed over her chest, her foot tapping wildly. For a moment, she reminded George so much of his mother when she was angry that he nearly stopped in his tracks. But he talked himself out of it. She wasn't his mother. She was a grown woman and he was a grown man and they had both made a mess of things and it was high time to deal with it. She raised one manicured eyebrow at him as he approached the shop.
"Sorry. Had to stop by Gringotts. Have you been waiting long?" he held the door open for her.
"Just a few minutes. Don't worry about it." she nodded her thanks and slipped through the door. The last few guests were trickling out now, shooed by the staff. George told them they could go, and they all hurried out, looking distinctly harassed. It was often a challenge to get customers out of the shop at closing. Today was no different. While George quickly cleaned up, Angelina took the time to look around the shop. She had been here before, often in fact, both while they were getting the shop ready and after it opened. But when they were all forced into hiding, she had obviously stopped coming 'round.
She paused before the pink display for witches, inspecting the love potions and Daydream boxes. She smiled, lifting out a package that had a picture of a muscular Robin Hood-type character, sweeping a young witch off of her feet. She looked backwards to George.
"These are still rather popular, then?" she gestured to the nearly empty shelf.
"Yep. Witches love them. I think I'm going to need to make up some new ones though. We've had a lot of repeat customers." He knew they were avoiding the elephant in the room, but he didn't care. It felt like they were just friends again.
"You know, you could probably use a witch's opinion for these," she placed the box back carefully on the shelf.
"I thought about that. There was a witch in particular who gave us the idea, but I seem to forget who it was," he teased. It had been Angelina who suggested marketing products directed at witches, something that had turned out to be extremely lucrative.
She smiled at him. "Yes, I'm wondering where you could find that expertise." They had fallen into the old pattern of teasing each other, something that had been in effect since they had met in his first year.
"You wouldn't have any ideas would you? I find it a little difficult to think like a teenage girl."
"I might have some, yeah, but they won't come cheap," she sat her large bag down on top of a cage of Pgymy Puffs.
"Playing hardball are we? All right, name your price." He conjured a chair out of nowhere and handed it to her, then drew up another for himself.
"How about we have that talk, for starters." she sat down facing him.
"Fair enough. Do you want to start?" He prayed she would.
"Alright. I-erm." She was stammering and couldn't quite meet his eye, "I didn't come up there to, you know, seduce you or anything. It just sort of happened."
"Yeah, I worked that out." And he had.
"I just wanted to make sure you were alright. Since we're friends and all...we're still friends right?" The thought that they weren't seemed to be weighing heavily on her mind.
"Of course. You've been one of my best mates since First Year. That's not going to change." He smiled brightly at her. She managed to smile weakly back.
"Then why, I mean, if we're just friends..." she left the rest unsaid.
"I don't know," he admitted. "I mean, I've always thought you were gorgeous-"
"You did?" this seemed to be news to her. He almost smiled at the happy look on her face. It was best not to read too deeply into that.
"C'mon, Angelina. Everyone thought that. You'd be an idiot not to." It was probably also best to downplay how attractive he had always found her.
She smiled, almost shyly. He could have sworn she was flushing under her chocolate complexion. "Well, I always thought you weren't too hard on the eyes either." Her smile widened and she looked him straight in the eyes.
"Well, you dated Fred, and even though he always said he was better looking, I'm pretty sure we were identical," he said it jokingly, but he noticed her smile falter for a moment. "I think," he continued, "that night happened because we both missed Fred and we let our sadness get the best of us-" He broke off when she looked up sharply.
"You aren't a replacement for Fred. You never were. I wouldn't use you like that," George was taken aback. He realized that was exactly what he had feared. That it was Fred she had pictured, not him that night. He should have known better. During school, she was the first to learn to tell them apart and even when they switched places, she was never fooled. She was looking at him now, a fire in her eyes, as though willing him to understand.
"Thanks," was all he could weakly mutter. He mentally kicked himself for his idiotic response.
"And..." she continued nervously, "I do miss Fred terribly. But not in that way." He looked at her confusedly. "I mean, when we broke up, we were both fine with it. We were just friends. I think we were too much alike. I always thought I needed someone, well slightly different." She looked pointedly at him.
"Oh, well," he cleared his throat, "I'm sure you'll find him."
"I think I already have," she leaned forward a bit.
"Lucky bloke he is. But we'll be, friends right?" He felt a strange stab of jealousy for whoever she was talking about.
Angelina looked at him as though he was the densest being she ever laid eyes on. He supposed he might be missing something big.
With a resigned sigh she spoke, "If that's the way you want it."
"Yeah," he stammered, "That's the way it has always been, right?"
Something flickered in her eyes. "Sure. Friends." She leaned forward and hugged him. He wrapped his arms around her and hugged her back, trying to imagine that the flutter in his heart was from relief they had resolved this and not any sort of wayward attraction to her.
"Why are you dressed like that?" he asked when they broke apart.
"Oh," she looked down at her own appearance. "I started taking those dancing lessons, you know? And they're in the Muggle World, and this is what they wear..."
He laughed, "You got to take them then? Good. I bet you're great at it."
She smiled too. "You should come see me then. I would love for you to turn up and take a turn as my dance partner."
"I might make an appearance," he said, "in exchange for something else."
She looked confused. "Like what?"
"I need some help around the store and some new Wonder Witch products. And you think a little like me, but like a girl so..."
She laughed. "How much are you going to pay me?"
"Depending on what you invent, probably more than the rest of the employees." he knew she was going to agree.
"All right then. What time do I start?" she stood up and grabbed her purse.
"Drop by tomorrow at 7. We'll find something for you." he walked her to the door. She turned to him.
"See you tomorrow George." she gave him another hug and a peck on the cheek.
"Good bye, Ange." She spun on the spot and was gone. George went back inside to clear the chairs and to try and ignore the burning spot on his cheek where she kissed him.
A/N: Drop a review please!
