A different beginning (George Weasley)

Chapter 11

Dear mum and dad, November 24th, 19
I know it's been a while since I've written; sorry I've been really busy with school and such, but the main reason it's taken so long is what I wanted to write to you about.
I'm kinda sorta dating someone. That someone may or may not be George. I know dad, you don't have to send some huge lecture back, George is good to me, really good to me. I think I might love him actually.
But that's not the point. I just thought you two should know since we're going to the Yule Ball together. On that note, I was hoping mum might want to come down on one of our hogsmeade visits to take me dress shopping? I totally understand if you're busy, but Angie needs to go dress shopping too, and her mum is coming down in two weeks, the weekend of the 6th.
Love you two,
Rosaline Lily Potter (aka the favorite child)

"Where are you going babe?" George asked when I made my way to the common room, Ang trailing behind me. Turns out her mum was able to come, so our mums were coming together, and meeting us at the dress shop in Hogsmeade.
I gave him a kiss on the forehead. "We have a hogsmeade trip, remember?"
"Oh, right. I forgot, I'm sorry." George said, wrapping his arm around me.
"Don't worry about it, my mum is meeting us there so we can find dresses for the yule ball, and Angie's mum is coming too." I said, sitting down next to him.
"Do you mind if me, Fred, and Lee tag along?"
I broke out in laughter, which only increased when I saw his bewildered face. "You can walk with us to the dress shop, but no way are you going and Fred going to see the dresses before the ball."
He pouted, "no fair, I want to hang out with you, we've been so busy with school lately."
I almost broke out laughing again as I pointed out, "we spend every waking moment together, I think we'll survive a few hours apart. Besides, we can walk back together anyways."
"Alright, fine. Let me go get the boys and we'll leave in 10?" George said, standing up with me.
"Okay, I'll see you soon."
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"Do you think your mum will like me?" George asked as we approached the end of the long pathway that leads to hogsmeade hand-in-hand.
"Of course she will. She's met you before you know,"
"Yeah, but now I'm your boyfriend."
I chuckled lightly. "Just be glad my dad isn't here."
"I am glad for that." George said just as me and Ang's mums came running at us at full speed, making us both leave the grasp of our boyfriends, who both seemed to have a nervous smile on their faces.
"Rose! I missed you so much honey!" My mum said, pulling me in for a breath-stealing bear hug.
"I missed you too mum." I said, smiling at my wonderful mother. I hadn't really relised how much I missed her earlier, but now being with her, and feeling her overwhelming excitement at everything, I felt a pang of homesickness.
"How are you, Mrs Potter?" George asked, holding out his hand like a true gentleman. I tried my best not to laugh at his formalness, but a few squeaks came through my closed mouth when my mum went in for a hug.
"Oh, you never called me that before you two were dating, so there's no reason to start now. It's Lily."
"Lily, how have you been?" George said, a smile on his face. Most people couldn't help but feel happy with my mother around, she seemed to bring happiness with her wherever se went.
"I've been doing great, how have you been?"
"Good."
"Let's get going!" I said, saving my boyfriend from an awkward conversation with my well-meaning mother.
We talked as we walked to the dress shop, discussing the house and dad. I learned the the manor was doing well, and that uncle sirius and uncle remus just moved in since their house started flooding. Dad was doing better, happy with his friends around again, and he had decided to take a break from work to focus on the manor, which they were redecorating.
By the time we reached the dress shop, I was caught up on all the happenings of our small town, and my mother was all caught up on the little events happening at hogwarts, though she only seemed interested in how Harry was doing with the tournament, but I assured her he was doing fine, even though I wasn't entirely sure of that myself.
Ever since the start of this year, Harry's been.. Distant with me. He used to talk to me all the time about things, but he started relying more on his friends, and he hasn't confided in me since the summer.
"We're going to go check out Zunkos, but I'm sure we'll be done before you so meet up at Hog's head?" George said as we approached the door.
"Sounds good, have fun boys." my mum said, taking us into the large shop, obviously using an enlarging spell because it was much wider than the area between its surrounding shops would allow.
We got to work straight away. Me and Ang grabbed at least 8 dresses each, and both of our mums came with their options as well.
"Do you know what color George is wearing?" My mum asked as we settled into a dressing room.
"No idea, but probably just his dress robes with white on the bottom would be my guess." I said as I hopped into my first dress. "I don't know about this one,"
It was very tight fitting, which made my body look amazing, but it had a very odd neckline, not to mention the puffy sleeves, which looked horrible on me. My mum shook her head in agreement. "Me neither, let's try the other red one.
We went through every single dress, and none of them seemed right. There were a lot of reds and whites, and even a few yellows, which as you can imagine looked horrid, but none of them fit me just right.
Ang found a beautiful white dress that hung tightly on her chest and stomach then flowed out once it neared her feet. It truly was an amazing dress, but I couldn't help but feel disappointed that I had yet to find a dress for myself.
"It's alright honey, we'll find you a dress later, okay?" My mum said, wrapping her arm around me lovingly as we made our way to hogs head.
"I know, I just wish I would've found a good one." I said, burrowing my head in her shoulder like a small child clinging to their mother.
"Hey Rose!" George said once we got to the small pub-like restaurant.
"Hey George." I gave him a kiss, "did you boys find anything at Zonko's?"
Fred responded, "Not really, all of them were things we already had, but we talked with the shop owner-"
"We'll talk about it later." George said, eyeing his brother carefully.
"Do you guys already have a seat?" Ang's mum asked, looking around the crowded pub, filled with hogwarts students.
"Yep, and guess who we found?" George said, leading us to a large table where Harry, Ron, and Hermione (A newer addition to their group that I didn't know very well) sat.
"Mum!" Harry said, jumping up to give my mother a huge hug.
"Who's ready to eat?"