The Extraordinary Lessons Life Taught George and Felicity

Additional Bonus Chapter: Keep Laughing

It's been a year since I first published this story, so here's a fluffy bonus chapter to celebrate!

"When I get married, you can all wear whatever you like and I'll put mum in a full body-bind curse until it's over."

~Fred Weasley

"I am being very serious about this, George." Felicity Nott narrowed her eyes at her long-time boyfriend. The ginger-haired man tried his best to keep a straight face, with his lips pressed together in a thin line until his cheeks turned red from the effort.

"Okay, okay, sorry. You were busy accepting my proposal." The one-eared wizard's ill-fitted poker face cracked and his mouth stretched into a wide grin.

"Fine, if you're going to joke about this-" Felicity spun on her heel, making her way towards the door.

"Love, wait!" George grabbed her wrist, stopping her from leaving, and spinning her to face him. His expression morphed to one of horror as his eyes met her stunned expression.

"Did you really just-" The squib began slowly, her tone hard and cold.

"No! I mean- it was a reflex!" George defended, before both of them were in fits of laughter. The couple stood in the middle of Weasley's Wizards Wheezes, which was closed for the night, surrounded by jokes, tricks and pranks that lined the selves of the busy store, laughing for no real reason.

"We are never going to make this look convincing in front of your family, George. We keep reenacting scenes from bad romance novels." Still, the young woman's dark-painted lips curled up in amusement. George grinned at his soon-to-be-fiancé.

"You love my romance novel collection, Fel, don't deny that," He teased. Felicity simply rolled her eyes.

"Out of all the unusual secret hobbies and guilty pleasures one can have- cheep paperback romance novels. It's the weirdest thing about you yet, darling." George laughed at Felicity's disapproving tone, pulling her into him with his hands on her hips.

"We can't all enjoy the depressing poetry of- who's that muggle poet you like so much?" George asked, angling his head to the side in question. Felicity was so short that she had to arch her neck up to look the trickster in the eye.

"Dylan Thomas, love. But that is entirely beside the point. We're supposed to make this stupid proposal look convincing!" Felicity drew away from her beloved's embrace, and faced the shop windows, looking out at the now-deserted late-night Diagon Ally.

"What if you were the one to ask me?" George asked with a wicked glint in his eyes. "Mum would have a fit."

"Isn't that what we're trying to avoid? The whole reason you want to propose to me in some grand, romantic manner is so that your family can get all excited about us wearing fancy clothes, saying stupid vows and signing a piece of paper." Felicity and George had decided to get married a while ago. It had been on the same night Ron had finally proposed to Hermione, after all the celebrations, the two had returned home, and had had a long conversation about marriage and what it meant, and then decided that it was something they both felt ready for.

The problem, however, was George's family. His mother, to be specific. Ron didn't like Felicity either, and Bill was still a bit weary off her, the Nott family had been followers of Voldemort after all, but the main problem was the Weasley matriarch herself. No one could blame Molly for not approving of Felicity, especially not Felicity. George had been in a fragile state after the death of his twin brother and best friend, Fred after the war, and Felicity had come along, with her black clothes and bitter outlook on life, having suffered abuse at the hands of a family that was ashamed to have a squib as a daughter and sister, and had completely captured George's fancy, and very quickly after that, his heart. Felicity was not a nice person, and she was not very easily liked, but George found her prickly personality endearing, even when his mother wished he had found a girl with a warm smile and a good family to keep him happy.

That was the thing about Felicity, though. She understood that it was impossible to keep someone happy. One could only suffer with that person, empathize with them, and come to understand their grief. Saying "Be happy, it's what Fred would want," just didn't cut it. Because what Fred would want didn't change the fact that Fred was gone.

Mrs. Weasley didn't understand that though, and so the couple had agreed to try and appease Molly in any way possible without compromising their relationship or themselves.

Unfortunately, Mrs. Weasley really liked throwing weddings, and so, George and Felicity decided to make her as happy was possible by submitting themselves to the torture that George had already witnessed two of his brothers endure when they brought home their fiancés.

"Felicity Nott," George finally began, "you might not be a very nice person, or a witch, and while you certainly aren't very good at making friends," Felicity narrowed her eyes at George, her expression seeming to ask; *your point is?*, "but, I have fallen in love with you. My family might be overbearing at times, and my mother might be rather...protective, but I am her son, and she will come to love you, simply because I do."

Felicity laughed, something she seemed to do only when she was with George, and shook her head. "That better not have been the final draught of your proposal, love. It's a bit formal and dramatic."

George smiled, and wrapped his arms around Felicity from behind. He ran his fingers through her short honey-colored hair, enjoying the way it caused her body to shiver against his. "I'm being very serious about this Felicity." He whispered, his nose brushing against the shell of her ear. "My mother doesn't need to be impressed by a dramatic proposal, we can just announce that we're engaged the next time we go 'round for dinner. Or we could send an owl now, darling. Let them know that I spontaneously got down on one knee in the middle of Weasley's Wizards Wheezes, and declared my undying love for you. Or, we could just tell them the simple truth. That there was no grand proposal, that we just decided 'You know what? Lets get married.' My family will just have to accept that."

"I know that I'm being silly about this," Felicity spun in George's arms to face him, "but I have no idea what your family expects of me. Of us. They're so...different to what I knew." The only members of her family Felicity still spoke to were her two brothers, Alabaster and Theodore, but they were stuck in Azkaban, and even so, their relationship was rather complicated. The Weasley family's chaotic normality was an entirely different world to Felicity.

George pushed away from Felicity slightly, resting his hands briefly on her shoulders before pulling back, and lowering himself onto one knee, producing a colorful ring from his trouser pocket as he did so.

"Felicity Nott, my family and your family be damned, will you be my wife?"

"If I put that ring on it's going to explode isn't it?" Felicity laughed, cynicism clear in her husky voice as she sat down cross-legged in front of George.

"Actually, it squirts a gooey mixture that changes colour." George sat down on the floor of his shop, laughing at Felicity's expression. "I'll buy you a proper ring, Fel, as soon as I find the right one." He smiled easily.

"With a gem as dark as my soul?" Felicity joked, then squeaked in surprise as George tugged at her side to pull her down. Her head rested on his stomach as they lay haphazardly across the floor of the joke shop.

"Maybe I'll find you a ruby as red as my hair." George ran his fingers down Felicity's sharp nose and traced her lips before pulling back.

"It doesn't matter. I'll wear that stupid joke ring as long as I get to marry you." Felicity murmured, drowsily, the start of a smile tugging at the corners of her lips.

"Of course I'll marry you, love," The wizard told the squib. "That's practically set in stone."

"As long as its not a stone as ostentatious as the stone Ron got Hermione."

"You really don't think very highly of my brother, do you?" George laughed.

1431 Words
28 June 2017