Disclaimer: Harry Potter is the property of JK Rowling

A/N Thanks to the few who have been reviewing...to those who haven't, please review! I love this story and would love to see what others think of it!

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Snow Angels

Chapter Four

Golden Blades

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Within minutes of returning to the shop after lunch it became glaringly obvious that the afternoon was going to be just as insanely busy as the morning had been. The heavy snow tapered off to flurries by mid afternoon and Harry, Ron, Ginny and Hermione began to discuss options for ways to pass their evening. Luna listened quietly, her mind still on the lively discussion of Nargles, and then Wrackspurts, that she and George had engaged in during lunch. Despite her many attempts, she had never been able to draw the conversation back to exactly what had made him jealous. She reasoned it had to have something to do with the young muggle waiter, he was the only other person they had come into contact with, but she wasn't exactly sure why.

As it was they had lingered over their lunch for nearly two and a half hours… much longer than George had said they would be gone. Perhaps this was why George, much to the amusement of the others, hastily found a reason to be absent from the shop all afternoon.

"Luna?" Ginny waved her hand inches from Luna's face, a wide amused grin playing about her lips. "Are you here, or still … at lunch?"

"I'm here." Luna sent out a silent but nasty curse at George for leaving her alone to face the inquisition.

She skirted the counter and walked to the front of the store for more tape. Hermione handed her a fresh roll, a devilish gleam in her eyes.

"Could have fooled us. You've been…absent … since you came back."

"You know," Luna turned around, her elbows resting on the counter behind her. "You lot are terribly nosy. A person would think you would have enough in your own lives to keep your minds occupied."

Behind her, just coming out of the storage room, Ron chortled loudly. "Guess she told you."

Hermione fixed him with a death glare.

"Anyway…" Ginny pulled off the annoying snow elf ears and rested her chin in her palm at the end of the counter. "We were thinking about going skating on the pond tonight after dinner."

Luna's felt an odd sort of elation. Skating was something that she had done with her father at Christmas since was a little girl; it was one of the thing she had known she would miss the most this year.

"That sounds lovely…" She trailed off then, another memory occurred to her. Her skates, along with most of her other belongings, lay under the rubble of her home. She had literally lost everything during the final months of the war. She had even had to replace her school things… the death eaters hadn't taken the time to get them off the Hogwarts Express like they had her. "Except, I don't have a pair of skates anymore."

"Oh…" Hermione looked crestfallen, but for only a moment. "We can owl George, he's in Hogsmeade right? There is that little shop there that sells the loveliest skates."

Luna remembered the shop; her father had sent her money for a new pair of skates just two Decembers' ago. The shop had always been a favorite of hers and she adored Mr. Harriman, the shopkeeper. She loved the smell of the boot leather and the scent of the pipe tobacco Mr. Harriman used…the exact same kind her father smoked, a sweet tobacco smell with deep notes of cherry.

Hermione had already scribbled out a note and was tying it to the leg of George's tawny barn owl before Luna came out of her thoughts.

"No, you shouldn't. Those skates are very expensive and I haven't been to Gringott's yet, I don't have that much gold with me."

"You can get it tomorrow can't you?" Ginny pushed off the counter and reached down to take off her snow elf shoes. "George won't mind if you pay him back then."

"But I…"

"You wear a size seven, right?" Hermione asked, removing the scroll from the owl's leg. "Silly me, he's going to need a size."

"Six actually." Ginny corrected and smiled when Luna looked at her quizzically. "The angel slippers are a size too big on you, they are a size seven."

"Yes, size six. Alright then, but tell George I will pay him back tomorrow morning after I have a chance to go to Gringotts." Luna sighed in resignation and began to work the angel wings off her shoulders. It was much easier putting them on than it was getting them off… particularly when George had been the one helping her.

Hermione grinned and tied the note to the Owls leg. If Luna actually believed he would allow her to pay him back for the skates, she obviously didn't know George Weasley.

Well, it would be entertaining to watch her try at least.

The evening air was crisp and cold while Harry and the Weasley men, sans George, worked with their wands to clear the considerable amount of snow off the pond behind the Burrow. In the air above them a ring of soft blue bell flames, compliments of Arthur Weasley, lit the ground below and lent it a slight bit of warmth.

The women stood off to side, three of which kept casting nervous glances towards the house, waiting for the appearance of the missing Weasley. Luna, on the other hand, refused to look in that direction at all.

"I'm sure he just got held up." Molly said to no one in particular "You know how fussy people can be while negotiating."

"I thought they had worked out all the details?" Hermione said. Luna stubbornly kept her eyes on the bluebell flames.

"Starting this second shop is important to George." Molly said reassuringly. "He will want to make sure everything is done up nice and tight."

"And… knowing him he is probably taking his time to get the best skates in the shop." Ginny smirked "He seems to be a bit fussy these days."

Luna resisted the urge to bat bogey her best friend. It had been like that all day. Subtle, and not so subtle, jibes about what might or might not be happening with her and George. This might be par for the course for someone like George … someone who had grown up in a large family and was used to having people in his business … but Luna was starting to feel wary of it all.

Of course, she reasoned, it might not be so wearing if she knew exactly what they were teasing her about, or rather, if they had reason to be teasing her. Thus far George had treated her like anyone would treat a friend. He had been kind, and sweet, and made her feel happy. Yet there had been other moments too, times when she had almost, almost, felt it wouldn't be out of the realm of possibility to think it could be something more.

Jealous… for some unfathomable reason, George had said that he had been jealous… because of something to do with her. It made absolutely no sense. No one had ever been jealous of her before, certainly no one had ever been jealous over her before. George wasn't the only one in unfamiliar territory.

Luna wasn't used to being noticed, at least not favorably. She had been at the center point of finger pointing, laughter and whispers behind hands, and school mate crime waves for as long as she could remember. But for someone to look at her the way George had from the first moment that they met … and for every moment after … was unheard of.

Feeling ridiculed she was used to, it was the norm … it was the daily routine.

Feeling cherished was anything but, and that was what she felt like when George Weasley looked at her…. cherished.

It was all so odd, so strange and unexpected. So how was she to know how to react to that, let alone know how to react to her friends teasing her about it?

The ice now clear the others had sat down on the various rocks and fallen trees that lined the area around the pond to put their skates on. Luna copied them, sitting a fair distance from the others, though she had no skates of her own. Noticing this, Harry rose from his own log and skid over on one skate and nearly broke his neck while he attempted to gracefully sit down next to her…instead he landed face first in the pile of snow next to the log. He grinned, his face shockingly red … whether from the cold or from the embarrassment, Luna couldn't be completely sure.

Luna watched with mild amusement while he brushed the snow out of the collar of his heavy cloak and the place where his glove met his wrist, and then she couldn't resist the small bit of giggles when he tipped his skate over to dump out a large chunk of snow.

"It's a good thing I am better at dueling than I am at skating." he grinned "I would be out of a job right now."

Luna pushed the thought out of her head that, had he not been adept at dueling, they would all be dead right now. It had never failed to amaze her how Harry Potter could be so blasé about all he had done for the wizarding world; but it wasn't his accomplishments that Harry had risked life and limb to come across the frozen earth to speak to her about.

"She didn't mean to upset you."

'So they had noticed.' Luna felt a slight embarrassment stain her cheeks.

"This is very … different for them… well, for all of us really." He gave a short but riotous laugh "It would be much worse if Fred were here."

"How so?"

"This is… new to all of us." It occurred to Luna that she had been hearing variations on that theme an awful lot lately "George has never shown the slightest interest in anyone before, at least none that lasted more than five minutes. Then, he disappears last night, worries his mum half to death, Mr. Weasley was on the verge of sending us out to look for him in fact … when he shows up again, and… he's not alone."

Luna knew that something had happened the night before, something that had lead George to the streets of Diagon Alley. She had also known that he had been upset over Fred, but for some reason she had never thought that perhaps his family had been upset over his leaving, nor had she considered what they might have truly thought his returning with her in tow might have meant.

"We have been watching him closely all week, waiting for signs that he was about to break again. He seemed so close last night… we were all worried when he left." Harry turned to Luna. She looked terribly confused and he realized that he was leaving out a vital piece of the story.

"I'm sorry, you weren't here at the beginning, you would have to know the full story to understand and it really isn't my place to tell you. About all I can say is that … Fred and George were close, even more close than normal for twins. Fred's death was … difficult."

Luna nodded mutely. She hadn't known Fred and George at Hogwarts, not really. Even though they had been in Dumbledore's Army together she had been far from their inner circle. Still, one didn't have to be in their inner circle to see how close the two had been; it wasn't hard to imagine the hell George had been plunged into when Fred died. She had seen it in his eyes when he spoke of it the night before.

"How? How do you get by? This pain...I feel...sometimes I feel like it is going to smother me. I can't breathe; I can't move...I can't even think. I miss him so damned much!"

They were the words of someone suffering, someone in great pain. If George was still feeling this way, months later, the pain he had to have felt in the immediate days after had to have been unbearable.

Harry could tell that Luna was coming up with her own answers. He had always known she was smart.

"When George came back with you last night, we could all see that something had changed in him. We didn't know what; not at first, he just seemed happier. After watching him with you today … we have a pretty good clue now what's going on with him."

Luna opened her mouth to protest and Harry laughed.

"George is obsessed with his shop Luna. He works sixteen hour days most days, sometimes; he doesn't even bother coming home. He won't go near the flat … too many memories of Fred there, but he keeps a cot in the storage room. For the past few months we've referred to the shop as 'his wife' and for good reason." Harry stopped and gave Luna a look that dared her to not believe him. Luna did believe him, she had seen it herself today, how absorbed George had become at times in things, more absorbed than seemed normal.

"He cheated on 'his wife' today by taking a two and a half hour lunch with you."

"Well…it was my fault. I started talking about Nargles, that of course got me started on Wrackspurts which lead me naturally to the Rotfang Conspiracy."

Harry looked away to hide his grin. "I would think that would be a moot issue, now that Fudge is out of power."

"It doesn't mean he couldn't be trying to rise again." Luna shrugged and looked towards where the others had taken to the ice. Ginny was looking at Luna worriedly, afraid she had offended her. "Maybe he will try to imperious Minister Shacklebolt once he becomes permanent in January. You know, they say that earring he wears is a charm that wards off evil, but even charms can be broken."

Harry laughed out loud now, he couldn't help it. It just so happened he had to go into the Ministry the next day to meet with Kingsley, he couldn't wait to warn him that his 'earring charm' might be useless when Cornelius Fudge tried to imperious him so he could take over the world using tooth decay as his weapon of choice.

Ron and Hermione beckoned to him from the ice and he felt bad for a moment about leaving her behind … until a loud crack in the direction of the house echoed through the darkness. At last, George had arrived. Harry waved and then leaned down to talk softly in her ear.

"The reason the others keep teasing you is because they are relieved." He pulled back and smiled "He's happy again, and to all appearances, that's because of you."

Harry winked and straightened up again. "About time you get here." He said to George who was just approaching from behind them, a large white box in his hands.

"Took a bit longer than I was planning." George shrugged and sat in the place next to Luna that Harry had just abandoned. His family waved from the ice and he waved back. Harry turned and attempted to gracefully slide to the ice … instead he did a combination skid and flip that landed him on his seat in another pile.

"Serves him right, cheeky little geek." He turned to Luna with a smile. "Hi."

"Hello yourself." She smiled nervously. Harry's words still rang in her ears, making her heart hurt for the man sitting next to her. As impossible as it was, she tried to imagine his pain, how much he had suffered in the early days after Fred Weasley's death. She turned away from him, it was even more impossible than she had thought it would be. Luna had never had a brother or sister, let alone a twin. It was a pain she could never fathom and it struck her that it might be disrespectful to even try.

"Are you okay?" George asked in a soft and worried voice. He wondered if she was still upset about what had happened during their lunch.

He had been a coward, abruptly changing the subject the way he had. Even worse, he had left her alone to face the others the rest of the afternoon… not that he had particularly planned on doing that. His offer to buy Zonko's was in danger of falling through, he'd had to act fast to save it and it was only by a narrow margin that he had… and at the last possible moment.

Buying Zonko's had been the last plan he and Fred had made together. They had been planning to split up; George would run one shop, Fred the other. It wasn't a split in the official sense of the word, they would both be Weasley's Wizards Wheezes…. but they would be spreading out. The first step in their master plan to spread their joke shops to every corner of the wizarding world. The master plan was out of reach now, or at least it would be for a long time, but they had already put a bid in on Zonko's in Hogsmeade … a bid that had lay dormant since the death of Albus Dumbledore had made Hogsmeade, the only pure wizarding village in the country, also the most dangerous village in the wizarding world.

"I'm fine." Luna struggled to force some cheerfulness into her voice. "Were you able to rescue your negotiations?"

George smiled and patted the pocket of his cloak. "Ah yes. It's all mine."

"That's wonderful George." Luna smiled genuinely now. George's face had changed once again; she could see the happiness that Harry claimed returned to George's life reflected in his soft brown eyes. "I'm glad."

"I'll be living in Hogsmeade, starting after the New Year. Maybe we could see each other when you have Hogsmeade visits."

"I've never spent much time in the village to be honest; it wasn't much fun going alone." Luna looked out at where the others skated smoothly over the ice. They had invited her to go with them plenty of times but always she had said no. It wasn't much fun being a third wheel, but this offer was different. First it was from George and second, well, it was to see George. "I would like to see your new shop, and you."

George was pleased, particularly since she had tacked on the last.

"These are for you." He set the white box in her lap, then turned slightly and pointed his wand at his bedroom window.

"Accio Skates"

"Thank you." Luna pulled at the ties on the box, anxious now to get on the ice with the others. They looked to be having so much fun. "I feel so bad having put you to such trouble when you had other things to deal with."

"It was no trouble." George shrugged and caught his skates deftly as they flew towards them, careful to put himself between them and Luna … just in case. "No trouble at all."

"Well, it was very kind of you and I will go to Gringott's first thing in the morning and…" Luna stopped dead, gaping down at the skates. They were beautiful, the boots made of the finest leather she had ever seen. The scent was richer than she had ever experienced in Harriman's and the blades were a deep gold color.

Mr. Harriman didn't make skates with golden blades…Luna knew this for a fact. Once she had confessed to him that her dream was to own a pair with just such a blade and he had confessed that the metal was difficult to come by and far too expensive for him to carry in his little shop.

Luna picked up one of the skates and flipped it over to read the words printed across the heel of the boots.

'*Snöängel av Sverige'

"George…"

"You should hurry; the others will be done by the time we get out there." George ignored her and went about putting his own skates on.

"George!" Luna had already let him get away without telling her the whole truth once that day… she wasn't about to let him get away with it again. "You went to Sweden…to one of the finest makers of skates in the world…to get me a pair of skates?"

Luna didn't know whether to be angry or impressed. She had no problem knowing to be overwhelmed.

"Harriman didn't have any made in your size." He shrugged in a manner that was so nonchalant and matter of fact that Luna was slightly annoyed. There seemed to be a blasé epidemic … maybe Harry's had rubbed off on George.

"So you went to Sweden, when there is another skate maker in Godrics Hollow, not to mention the dozen's of others in muggle London."

She turned to him, something else had just occurred to her. "How did you know I had always wanted skates with gold blades? You had to have known … it isn't something people just randomly choose… I know how expensive they are."

George was busted, he knew it and Luna certainly knew it. George also knew that he had barely gotten away with it once that day … there would be no getting away with it again.

"Mr. Harriman asked who I was buying them for. When I told him they were for you he told me how you had always wanted a pair of skates with gold blades. There is only one skate maker remotely near here that makes them."

"Snöängel av Sverige" Luna looked at him with a shocked, awed look on her face. No one went to Sweden for a simple pair of skates. Not even her overindulgent father, even after she had begged for two weeks straight when she was twelve.

The skates were beautiful, muted starlight glinted off the gold and the rich scent of the leather was sweet. Knowing that George had gone to such lengths … for her… she was near to speechless.

George was nervous. He had meant to make her happy … in a small selfish way he had wanted to make up for making an ass out of himself over lunch. Going to Sweden was no big deal, not for a wizard. Sure, the skates had been costly, but it wasn't as if he couldn't afford it. He had spent much more money, on much less, on a whim. His bedroom closet in the flat above the shop gave proof of that.

"I'm sorry," He shifted and set his own skates on the ground. "I didn't mean to upset you."

"I'm not upset." Luna shook her head and laughed a little. "Overwhelmed, yes. Shocked, definitely, but upset … no. It was an amazingly sweet thing to do George. I have dreamed of owning these since I first saw a picture of them in Mr. Harriman's catalogues when I was eleven… but I guess you know that. I will, of course, go to Gringott's first thing in the morning to get the gold to pay you back."

"No you won't." George picked up his skates again, bracing himself for the argument he knew was about to start.

"Yes I will." Luna stubbornly dug in as well.

"No you won't. Now hurry up, the others are waiting." He nodded over to the ice where they were not only waiting, but now watching curiously. "They are staring too."

"I won't use them unless you agree to let me pay you back." Luna crossed her arms stubbornly over her chest.

"Then I guess they will rot in the snow." Not to be outdone, George pushed the box out of her lap into the snow. Luna, of course, reacted just the way he knew she would.

"Hey!" She bent down to snatch the skates out of the snow, and then held them protectively to her chest. "Are you trying to ruin them?"

"What do you care? You said you didn't want them."

"I never said that."

"May as well have." He grinned smugly, his face down where Luna couldn't see it while he tightened the laces on his skate. He took off his other shoe and gave her a brief glance. She was cuddling the skates in the same way a mother held a beloved child... he had her exactly where he wanted her.

"They might make nice hiding holes for Gnomes come spring."

"Over my dead body." Luna said indignantly. She knew she was being played. George was manipulating the hell out of her, but she was pretty much powerless to stop it. As soon as she had seen the golden blades she knew that the skates were a gift, he would never allow her to pay him back in a million years. Still, she had to at least make a token effort … she didn't want him to think she was a total push over.

"Fine..." She slipped into her most put upon tone and kicked off her boots; she was already fantasizing about how it would feel to glide over the ice. "… but I am not accepting payment for working in the shop."

"You can't do that."

"Oh yes I can." She slipped her feet into the boots both at the same time, the soft leather feeling even better than she had dreamed it would. "If you try to slip it to me, I will just have Hermione slip it back in the till when you aren't looking."

It was George's turn to look at her with awed amusement. Luna was no pushover, but then, had he ever really believed she would let him get away with it?

Not likely.

His own skates in place now, George stood besides the fallen log, the others yelling at them to hurry up and join them. Harry had long since extracted himself from the pile of snow and now stood besides Ginny, shouting with the rest of them.

"Are we going to skate or are you planning on sitting there all night plotting to thwart my evil plans to do something nice for you?"

Luna might have felt bad if not for the mischievously contagious smirk George was wearing.

"You started it." She tied the last knot and then rose to her feet. George offered his hand and she took it. "Going to Sweden of all places. Is that why it took you so long?"

"Yes and no."

"Yes and no." Luna looked up at him, trying to gauge his answer. Knowing George, such simple words could mean so many things.

"Yes and no." He grinned devilishly then turned, tugging on her hand. He wasn't about to expand on those words further… he had the strangest feeling she wouldn't like finding out that he had waited five hours for them to custom make them.

Luna considered arguing further but relented; somehow she had a feeling that this was one of those things she would be happier not knowing. Instead, she decided to focus on the kindness of his gesture rather than just how much effort he had put into it. She felt a little mean now, having kicked up such a fuss when she had first found out where he new skates had come from. When it came down to it, it didn't matter. Doing something nice for her had obviously made George happy, very happy, so who was she to begrudge him that happiness?

"George." She tugged gently on his hand and he stopped, turning back towards her, his face set to begin the arguing anew. He could go as many rounds as she could after all. Luna couldn't resist a giggle at the hard, determined look on his face and she knew that even if she had been planning to argue, which she wasn't, she never would have won.

"Yes." He lowered her a stern look

"Thank you." She resisted the urge to kiss his cheek, his family was watching after all and despite Harry's words earlier, she wasn't anxious to invite any more teasing… at least not any time soon. "What you did was so … amazingly kind. I have wanted these since I was eleven years old; I just want you to know that I will cherish them … always."

A myriad of temptations ran through George when he saw the soft look in Luna's eyes. The strongest and most demanding was to pull her into his arms and kiss her senseless. Much to his dismay however, to do that would be totally inappropriate. That his family stood watching only a scant few yards away was the smallest of his concerns, the greatest was that it was much too soon. For someone who had always been a thinker who thought things through before acting on them, he was finding it awfully difficult to hold on to his common sense when it came to Luna Lovegood. If he had any hopes of things working between them, he needed to do just that. She… they… had been through far too much to rush blindly into anything.

"You are very welcome Luna." Instead of following his mad desire to kiss her, he raised her hand to his lips and gently kissed the fingers. He knew his family (and Harry and Hermione) were going to raise the roof over that one small gesture, but it was appropriate. "I like doing things for you."

George was fairly sure the wolf-whistle had come from his father, when he looked up his mother was elbowing him in the ribs anyway. George was moving even closer to having to start counting on his toes the times in his life had had blushed…

…it was a good thing he had his shoes off.

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* Snöängel av Sverige -SnowAngel of Sweden

Chapter Five Preview

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Christmas draws closer but

what is Christmas without a Christmas tree? Ginny's

yearly quest for the perfect tree sends the Weasley's deep into the forest…but searching for a tree is the last

thing on George and Luna's mind when they find themselves

in front of a cozy campfire under the stars.

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