An Affair to Remember (Fred Weasley)

57) Miracle Aligner

"No, no no, that's the wrong shelf how many fucking times do I have to tell you?" he yelled at his brother, grabbing the box from him and placing it on a different shelf instead. The customers had left for the day, and the sun was slowly setting to where it came from.

"You have some really weird shelving methods mate" Ron held his hands up in defence, causing George to almost pull out his hair in anger. He had spent the last three days trying to explain to Ron how to shelve all the items, but Ron never seemed to get it, he was much better suited for his job as an auror.

"I'm going to kill Fred" George mumbled under his breath, the absence of his brother bothering him more than anything today.

"That's the fifteenth time you're saying that this week" Hermione said as she passed by him, "Look George, I know Fred's disappeared into thin air but I'm sure he'll be back soon" she tried to comfort him by placing a hand on his shoulder, "Besides, we already know that he's most probably in Oxwell and he hasn't contacted us for a reason". George sighed and nodded, but he couldn't help the anger that was building up inside of him. 

"Me and 'Mione are off then, see you tomorrow mate" Ron said, slipping his hand into Hermione's and squeezing it lightly. She waved a goodbye at George before the couple apparated out of Weasley's Wizard Wheezes. 

George tightened his grip around his wand, pointing at the windows as he got all the blinds to shut down and the doors to lock themselves. His brother had been missing for an entire week, no letter or telephone call. Nothing. He knew it had something to do with Adrienne but he wasn't sure what it was.

George wasn't one to get angry normally, so when his friends and family noticed how irritable he had been lately, they started to get worried for him. He usually stayed indoors, mentally scolding Fred for being an idiot as always, and when he was at work, he spent half his time taking his vexation out on Ron.

Once the store was locked up, George pulled on his coat and disapparated to the only place that could bring him comfort. He knocked thrice on the door and it was opened by a messy-haired, bleary-eyed Oliver, it was obvious that he had just awoken from a nap.

George's heart swooned at the sight of him but before he could say anything, Oliver grabbed his hand and pulled him inside "What are you doing? What if someone saw you?" he said in alarm, shutting the door close so that they were hidden from the outside world.

"Then they'd know that Oliver Wood, Keeper of Puddlemere United has a boyfriend" George shrugged, "But" he said, drawling out the word, "You don't want them to know yet okay okay I get it" he tried to shake off the frown from his face. 

Oliver ranked much higher on the popularity scale when it came to Quidditch so he was yet to come out to the media. He had told George multiple times before that their relationship would have to be private after the paparazzi realised that Oliver was spending much more time than usual with George than he did with anyone else. In the beginning, they had assumed that they were friends, but as their appearances in public got more frequent, things had to change.

"You know why you can't be seen coming to my house in public George..." Oliver trailed off and George nodded understandingly though a small part of him wished things could have been different.

"I missed you" George murmured after a few moments of silence between them.

The small frown on Oliver's face was immediately wiped away as he pulled George from the living room and into his bedroom. George loved Oliver's bedroom, decorated with Quidditch banners, comfortable furniture and soft lighting. It always smelled inviting, and was one of his favourite places in the world.

George lay flat on Oliver's bed, letting out a big sigh "I've had a rough week"

Oliver turned on the little cassette player on his side table and it started to cough up various songs from The Last Shadow Puppets and The Glass Animals, two of Oliver's favourite bands. The music played softly in the background while Oliver joined George in bed.