Harry Potter One-Shots

Good To Know (George Weasley)

WORD COUNT: 1616

The band played a lively jig that seemed to spark dance into the very air of the venue itself. All on the dance floor, guests whirled about merrily, dancing the night away like you only see in books. Naturally, I had to join them. I grabbed my boyfriend's hand and dragged him away from where he was sitting with his twin (whom he saw every single day, might I add) and onto the dance floor. He groaned reluctantly as I tried to convince him to dance with me.

"Y/N, you know I hate dancing," George whined, trying to tug his arm away from me so he could go back to Fred and Ginny at the table. I shook my head.

"You're not getting out of it that easily, Weasley. We're at a wedding and at weddings, you dance." I did a few silly dance steps and then extended my hand to him. "If you really don't want to dance with me, I suppose I can just dance here all by myself..."

"No, don't be ridiculous, I'll dance with you," George finally gave in, and grabbed my small hands in his larger ones so he could join me in my ridiculous jig. He twirled me under his arm a few times until I got dizzy and stumbled into his chest, the both of us laughing uncontrollably.

"You're quite uncoordinated for someone who likes to dance so much, you know," George chuckled, brushing a stray piece of my Y/H/C hair out of my face.

"You're one to talk," I retorted, sticking my tongue at him before pulling him back in for another dance. Next to us, Bill and Fleur were dancing with Fleur's little sister, who looked positively angelic in her little blue gown. I saw Harry Potter chatting with Xenophilius Lovegood and his daughter Luna, and Hermione and Ron had joined Fred and Ginny in our vacant spots at the table. Molly and Arthur were dancing together, looking every bit as ridiculous as I imagined George and I did. George took me into another turn, and as I spun around I noticed Molly's eyes on me and her son with a look of pure joy at her son's happiness.

We danced for nearly an hour, until it was time for toasts and cutting the cake. We returned to the table with George's siblings, gasping for breath half from laughing and half from dancing. Fleur's best friend from school gave a touching speech about how happy she was with Bill, and then Charlie Weasley gave the typical embarrassing best man speech that ended with a shockingly touching sentiment.

"But really, I know I've gone and said all these stories about you I'm sure you'd probably rather forget, but I'm so proud to see you so happy, and I don't think you could've found a better woman to take care of you and bring Mum her first set of grandchildren. Hopefully this means she'll stop bugging me about finding a girlfriend now... anyways, let's eat cake!" The crowd roared with cheers and laughter at Charlie's speech, then the newlyweds went to cut the wedding cake. After it had been served out, George went to fetch us a couple pieces while I sat and talked with Ginny for a bit.

"Y/N," George called as he returned, catching my attention. I turned my head briefly away from Ginny and toward my mischievous boyfriend and was immediately met with a smear of frosting all across my face. I gasped, wiping cake crumbs out of my nose, while Ginny, Fred, and George roared with laughter. I was upset at first, but eventually gave in to their mirth, realizing how funny the whole situation really was.

We ate our cake, and I successfully got my revenge by wiping some leftover frosting back onto George's face, and then it was time to return to the dance floor. The band started off with a few lively pieces, then slowed it down to a more romantic waltz. George looked like he would rather do anything but have a nice dance with me, but he knew he really didn't have a say in the matter.

As he pulled me close to him, wrapping one hand around my waist and supporting my hand with the other, I laid my head down on his chest and listened to his heartbeat. It was a comforting, steady sound, and it made me think of all the times I'd fallen asleep to the rhythmic sound of his heart and breathing.

"Y/N," George started, as I heard his voice rumble in his chest. I pulled my head back to look up (quite far up) at him.

"Yes?"

"All this... wedding business... it's got me thinking," he hedged, seeming like he was picking his words very carefully.

"Thinking about what Georgie?" I pressed, not quite sure where the conversation was heading.

"Well, I was just thinking how happy Bill and Fleur look together, and how they get to be with the person they love most in the entire world for the rest of their lives, and I couldn't help but think if that might... if that might be us one day." My breath caught in my throat as George stammered out his thoughts.

"W-what are you saying?" I breathed, trying to figure out the hidden meaning to his words. There was no way George Weasley, one half of the legendary Weasley twins, was talking about marrying me. He wasn't that type of person, surely I was misunderstanding his words.

"I mean," he began slowly, "I love you, Y/N, a whole lot, and I can see myself marrying you and being with you forever. Obviously you'd have to be okay with it, but assuming I could get you on board, I really think we have a future together. I mean, once Bill and Fleur start popping out the babies, I'm the next one in line with a lady friend because Merlin knows Percy can barely even get a girl to look at him, so we'd better start planning before she starts to get any ideas." He was rambling now, using humor to cover up how truly nervous he was, but I knew George's ways and I could see right through it. I stayed silent, unable to fully believe what I was hearing. We're so young... but I really can't see a future without George in it...

"Y/N?" he prompted, drawing me out of my thoughts. My heart was hammering, and I wasn't sure I'd be able to get a coherent word out, but I smiled at him to ease his mind for a second before I spewed my inner monologue to him.

Before I could speak, though, a silvery burst of light soared low over the heads of the crowd and landed in front of Arthur Weasley. The crowd gasped and took a collective step backwards away from the thing, which turned out to be some sort of Patronus messenger. George instinctively stepped in front of me, using one arm to push me behind him, but I sidestepped him so we were standing shoulder to shoulder and I could see what was happening.

"The Ministry has fallen. Scrimgeour is dead. They are coming." The lynx Patronus, which carried Kingsley Shacklebolt's deep voice, relayed its chilling message then vanished into thin air. A horrible, pregnant moment of silence hung heavy in the air as everyone digested the meaning of the message, and then panic ensued. People were Disapparating left and right, pushing and shoving to find all their loved ones, and swooping overhead were the unmistakable black figures that were Death Eaters. George grabbed my hand and pushed his way through the crowd, dragging me along behind him, to reach his brother. Fred's eyes met mine full of panic, and together, the three of us Disapparated from the spot to their flat in Diagon Alley.

Panting, we all stumbled as we landed from our sloppy Disapparation. Fred winced and lifted his shirt to reveal a nasty-looking gash on his side.

"I've gone and Splinched myself, haven't I?" he grimaced, ever the jokester. George and I rushed to his side, and luckily the cut didn't look too deep. I went to the bathroom cabinet to locate some dittany and a patch of gauze to cover the bleeding, and once I found it I went to return to the living room.

"I told her I thought we had a future together, Freddie, and she didn't say anything." I heard George's familiar voice whispering frantically to his brother. "I mean, obviously, we were interrupted, and it's kind of a big thing to tell someone, but I just thought it would be a little more obvious for her, you know?"

"George... we have bigger problems to deal with at the moment," Fred replied curtly, and I could practically see his face, white with pain and teeth gritted. "Why don't you focus on surviving the next day and then you can start planning your wedding." I didn't want to hear what George had to say to that, so I rushed back into the room with the supplies and began tending to Fred's wound, pretending like I hadn't heard their conversation.

Later that night, once everyone was safe and in bed, I took a deep breath to steady my nerves before finally giving George his answer.

"Georgie... I would love to marry you," I breathed. Even in the darkness of the bedroom, I could see his brilliant ear-splitting grin that he couldn't control.

"Good. Obviously, this doesn't count as a proposal or anything, and we don't have to rush into anything, it's just... nice to know."