Forget-Me-Not (George Weasley Love Story)

Chapter Fourteen

Felix slung the bag of groceries over her shoulder, taking special care with the small gift she had found for George in the muggle aisle of the store. The flat was quiet, as she had expected. They had fallen into a gentle routine, even before their relationship, where they would take in turn each week to cook for each other. And while one cooked, the other would carry out the other chores around the small apartment.

True, Felix now slept in the same room as George, but one less room to clean still didn't ease the burden of cleaning the old apartment AND the shop downstairs. It was still April, but the chill of winter was slowly leaving the air and summer was creeping in, the sun finally showing its warmth.

Although they shared the same bed, George had never seen much more of her than her pyjamas, and visa versa. She feared he would grow bored, but he never seemed to mind, just enjoying her company. For this she was glad, as in her past life she had never experienced such a gentle and mellow soul.

She placed her heavy bags onto the breakfast bar in the kitchen, lazily flicking her wand and watching them unpack themselves. She flipped off her shoes, removing her socks and revelling in the worn wood against her soles. Her missing toe, something that she used to hide, was not such a concern since she had become accustomed to George's missing ear.

Felix was still unsure what to call George. He was her boss, yes, and he was her friend, but what else? Was he her boyfriend? That she doubted. The word had never been mentioned so she couldn't clarify. But for now, she was content with being in an unnamed, unlabelled relationship with someone who cared about her. Was it love? Well, it was too early to tell. At least, that was what she told herself.

The fridge shut with a clunk and brought her out of her daydream. She slid off her coat, long and neatly tailored with only slight fraying to the edges of the tweed. For the first time in many years she had money. Albeit, not very much money, but enough to enjoy a new set of clothes, and maybe a few luxury items...

She hummed to herself, placing the coat over the back of the nearby stool and running her hands through her untameable hair. The slight breeze from the open window was sweet against her skin and upon it rode the scent of mid-spring flowers, making her sneeze. Felix knew she would be alone for a while. George usually handled the evening shift down in the shop, but on his days off he would be found napping in his study, unwilling to be disturbed.

George seemed unfazed by the events of the day before but they continued to play through her mind. Her greatest fear was that Julius would return, perhaps with more skilled comrades, and somehow, just somehow, get to George without her knowing. But she convinced herself that he was an incredibly skilled wizard, and that yesterday he was caught off guard, he was careless. Yet somewhere, in the back of her mind, a voice nagged that George was just too kind and too helpful for his own good. It would only take the right person to take advantage of his easy personality and his magic competency would be useless and irrelevant.

She shook her head, unbuttoning her white blouse and bending down to pet Cat who came galloping out to see her, mewing excitedly.

"Have you been sleeping on my bed again, Cat?" She asked, slipping off the blouse and pushing her bedroom door open as he followed her inside. "You know that George hates it when you do that." And she smiled. "But that's why you do it, isn't it?" Cat mewed in response. She threw the discarded shirt on the floor and rummaged through the drawer in the cabinet that George had cleared for her, muttering to herself angrily when she realised that all of her other shirts were in the wash.

"Felix, I-" Felix often felt happy to walk around their room at this time with less clothes than usual, knowing she wouldn't be interrupted. That was, until now.

"George!" She blurted, grabbing her discarded blouse and holding it in front of her, blushing profusely.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to... I mean-" He seemed incredibly flustered, his remaining ear tinged bright pink. "Wow." He blinked, turning so that she could resume getting dressed without her watching. He couldn't resist turning back one last time. "I knew you were beautiful, but... Wow."

"George Weasley, are you speechless?" She asked incredulously, slipping on a black hoodie and putting her discarded blouse in the washing basket. "Now that is a first." His mouth opened and closed without making any noise.

"I'm just gonna... Uh..." He shuffled away and Felix laughed. "When you're ready and clothed, come downstairs, there's something I wanted to show you." She could hear his footsteps on the stairs. "I mean, clothed, unclothed, both are fine, really... Uh..." He hit his head loudly on the doorframe of the study and cursed, obviously somewhat stunned in a boyish way.

Felix padded down the stairs, Cat following her, as her eyes adjusted to the quickly gathering darkness. George's study door was closed and she could just faintly hear him rattling about in drawers inside. Her hand slipped over the handle and she turned it gently, not wanting to startle him any further.

The room was dark, the curtains drawn and the door to the shop locked. George had shut it up easily this evening. Scented candles floated serenely above his head, their flickering light bathing the room in a comforting glow. George was reclined in his soft leather armchair, surveying her with amusement.

"I know it was your turn to cook..." He began, getting up and sitting Felix down gently on the sofa, dragging the coffee table so that it almost touched her knees before settling down beside her. "But I thought maybe you wanted takeout?" He had tried his best to be romantic; rose petals were scattered across the table and between the foil containers of Indian food. Two tall, thin stemmed glasses of goblin wine glistening enticingly amongst them as he grinned at her. "When I meant clothed is fine you know I was lying, right?" He smirked and she rolled her eyes, reaching out and taking a sip of the wine.

"I take back what I said about you being unromantic." She held his face between her hands and kissed him deeply, much more than just a peck. "You are incredibly unromantic." And she grinned playfully, helping herself to a plateful of food and snuggling next to him to eat, dragging a blanket over herself as Cat clawed at her lap.

"Felix..." He asked, purposefully not looking her in the eye for he knew he would lose his nerve. "What are we?" She looked confused. "I mean, US?"

"We've never really spoken about it." She said after a moments silence, finishing off a mouthful of food and taking a swig of wine. She was never one for drinking but the wine was sweet and delicious and tickled her nose. She was beginning to feel quite a bit tipsy.

"Felix... Will you be my girlfriend?" He asked quietly, losing his usual cockiness and confidence for he knew that if she refused then it wasn't just some girl rejecting him. It was Felix rejecting him. She answered him by putting down her wine, pushing him roughly onto his back on the sofa and kissing him, tasting faintly of alcohol. Cat mewed disgruntledly and curled up on the abandoned armchair as they kissed harder and more passionately. The candles were dripping wax across the floorboards but George was too preoccupied to notice.

"I love you." Felix breathed before realising what she had said. Their eyes met but luckily George hadn't heard, he was too busy kissing and biting her neck. Did she mean what she had just said? She was certain it was too early to be saying such things, that she would scare him off. But deep down she had a feeling that it wasn't just a heat-of-the-moment thing, that maybe, possibly, she meant it. And that scared her more than anything else had done before.