Learn to Love Again | George Weasley

22. April Fools

┏━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━┓
trigger warning:
alcohol use as a coping mechanism
┗━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━┛

April 1, 1999

"Are you going to be at the Burrow this evening?" Percy asked Eloise as the two sat down together at a table inside the Ministry cafe.

It was George's 21st birthday and Percy was not the first person to ask her if she would be attending. First it was Bill and Fleur encouraging her to go, then Molly sending an owl to invite her, and now finally Percy.

"Oh, uh, no I don't think so. George and I haven't really talked in a while." she muttered as she idly moved her fork around her salad.

It wasn't for a lack of trying on Eloise's part, she had been visiting his shop regularly since starting work at the Ministry, but after two weeks of him avoiding her, she eventually gave up despite Verity encouraging her to keep coming back.

Fleur had of course told her about the scene at Ron's birthday and Bill filled her in on the extra details of what had happened before he yelled at his mother and stormed out. But she didn't feel like talking about that with Percy.

She didn't know all the details surrounding Fred's death, only that Percy was one of the last to see him alive. And even though they were becoming friends, she also didn't know all the details of the past tension he had with his family beyond what Fleur had told her years ago. What she was sure of though, was that what George had said to him in particular was quite hurtful and she didn't want to reopen that wound.

"It took a lot of convincing to get him to agree to come home for his birthday. I'm thinking he just agreed to it to get everyone to stop pestering him, but I feel like Charlie will apparate him to the Burrow against his will if he gets cold feet." Percy continued.

Eloise gave him an unconvincing chuckle as she continued to play with her food, losing her appetite thanks to the discussion focusing on George.

"I'm sure he would be glad to see you. It'll be a nice surprise for him." Percy added after an awkward moment of silence.

Though Percy tried reassuring her, she wasn't fully convinced. Even Bill and Fleur had been telling her similar things trying to get her to go. It just felt to her like she was the last person on Earth George wanted to see.

How was she supposed to be there for him when she never even knew Fred in the first place? There was nothing Eloise wanted more than to be there for him, she just didn't know if her comfort would be enough or if it would just make things worse.

"Have you talked to him lately?" Eloise asked suddenly, curious to see if she had been the only one George was ignoring.

Percy shook his head, "No. I think since Ron's birthday he's only really talked to Charlie, and I assume that's only because they live under the same roof."

"He should really apologize to you." Eloise muttered.

Percy let out a chuckle causing Eloise to look up from her salad.

"I can't blame him for still holding a grudge against me, for a while there I certainly wasn't the easiest person to like."

"He still shouldn't take his anger out on you."

"Maybe not, but I'm not upset with him. I'd rather he be mad at me than anyone else. I still blame myself sometimes for Fred dying, so if George wants to make me his verbal punching bag, I'm alright with it."