Finding Neverland | George Weasley ✓

Chapter Seventy-One

"Verity. What are doing here?" George asked examining the woman in front of him. She was obviously quite drunk as she was having trouble standing up, he quickly headed over to help her to stand. This seemed to have the opposite effect though because he quickly found himself supporting all of her weight. 

"Oh. I left my purse h-here." 

"Are you alright? You seem pretty drunk." George asked her concerned.

"I'm better now." Verity slurred out. 

"What do you mea-?" George started to ask Verity but was cut off by her lips touching his. For a split second he was in shock but the second he realized what was going on, he shoved her away roughly.

"What the heck are you doing?" He yelled at her, silently hoping that he wouldn't wake Fred up.

"What do you mean? You're single and I was simply making the first move."

"Well about that..."

"You're talkin' about Thea." Verity burst out. 

"What?" George asked shocked. "How do you know?"

"You and Fred talk about her all the time whether you realize you are doing it or not and besides I met her tonight." 

"Where?" George asked frantically looking around them quickly.

"Wow, you are still really hung up on her, huh? It's nearly been a year you know?"

"And there still isn't a day that passes where I don't think of her."

"Well, I'm sorry to interrupt all your lover-boy stuff but I don't think she's thinking of you."

"W-what do you m-mean?" 

"She seemed pretty cozy with the boy she was with." 

Of course, it had crossed George's mind more than once that Thea might have moved on and found someone else. The last time he had seen her was over Christmas but even then it was only for a short time, she almost seemed to be avoiding him and Fred for the most part of it. He had almost not even recognized her at first because of her hair, it was short now but he felt like it suited her well. Molly had also briefly introduced them to one of Thea's work colleagues, Elliot who Molly had taken a great liking to. George had assumed that if Thea would date anyone it would most likely be Elliot. But honestly, he had missed out on so much and it was all stuff that he wasn't even aware of. Thea was out helping to save the Wizarding World while he ran a joke shop. He knew that it was unlikely that he and Thea would ever date again, but he still held out some hope that they would at least become friends one day. 

"GET OUT," George shouted, feeling a wave of sudden anger take over him. "I will have to discuss with Fred whether your position at the shop will be permanent or not."

Verity quickly collected her purse and wasted no time, running out of the shop, tears in her eyes. George was confused. Had he been a bit too harsh? He banged his head against the door frame, slowly becoming more and more mad with himself. 

Thea was sitting at her desk in the Auror office, her head in her hands as she thought through how her Concealment and Disguise examination had gone. 

"I'm sure that I stuffed up on the-" Thea started.  

"Stop," Elliot interjected. "You are just slowly turning into a stress ball, just breathe."

"I told you these exams were going to kill me." Thea groaned. 

"Thea, I'm sure that you are going to do fine, you are more skilled than half the Aurors in this office," Miles said, not meeting her eye.

"Did?" Thea whispered to Elliot.

"Did Miles just compliment you and stop you worrying. Yes, I heard that too, I thought I was dreaming."

"Well, it looks like she is actually dreaming," Miles said, gesturing to where Thea lay across her desk, finally passing out of exhaustion after her many nights of cramming, sitting in her window sill, very similar to the nights at Hogwarts where she would study until she eventually passed out. 

"We will have to wake her when they come to take us to us next exam but for now we probably should let her sleep."

Thea turned the key in front of her as she entered the apartment she and Tonks shared. She took one step in the door before she spun around, her arms in the air as she let out a victory cry.

"Thea? Is that you?" 

Thea quickly stopped, dropping her arms as she followed the sound of the voice to Tonks who was sitting on the couch staring blankly.

"What are you doing here? I thought you should still be in Hogsmeade, patrolling?"

"Yeah, well they gave me the day off. Why are you so happy?" Tonks asked as her eyes widened in realization. "You had your final exams today. I'm so sorry, I completely forgot about it. How did they go?" Tonks asked rapidly looking at Thea expectantly. 

"Well, they went okay-" Thea began.

"Okay?" Tonks shrieked. "Your results will be better than okay!"

"You didn't let me finish, Tonks." Thea pointed out.

"Oh."

"I think they went okay, I was pretty confident throughout them all but as you have lived with me over the past few weeks you know very well that I was very stressed."

"I know you have, I've witnessed it. But hey you don't have anything to do tomorrow do you?"

"Well, no. We're not allowed to go into the Auror office until we get our results back."

"Yeah. Do you want to come with me and patrol Hogsmeade tomorrow? Usually, I wouldn't be allowed to but I mean Robards loves you so..."

"Hey!" Thea shouted, offended.

"I'm kidding." Tonks replied quickly. "But I haven't seen you much in the last few months and I want to have a chance to talk to you when we aren't each going seperate ways or too tired to even talk to each other."

"It sounds good, Tonks. I can't wait."