Harry Potter One-Shots

Lucky Timing (George Weasley)

WORD COUNT: 1168

I sighed and switched my heavy bag from one shoulder to the other. After another long day at the Ministry, I was exhausted and ready to simply collapse into my comfortable bed and sleep forever. Unfortunately, since my fireplace was under construction and I lived in a Muggle suburb, that meant I had to deal with the Tube before I could reach my destination. Public transportation had never been my favorite, especially not Muggle public transportation, and I clutched my bag a little closer to me when a seedy-looking man dressed in all black boarded the train and stood suspiciously close to me. I wanted nothing more than to close my eyes for a second and rest but I felt a little too nervous about my fellow passengers to do so.

The doors slammed shut and a pleasant-sounding machine voice stated the name of the next stop. Only four more stops until I'm home, I counted off to myself. I spaced out, watching the colored lights of the dark tunnel zip by outside the window of the car. I let my mind wander back to my days at Hogwarts, before the War, when I lived an easy life full of nothing but homework, Quidditch, and my boyfriend, George. We had broken up almost four months ago now, but the ache in my heart still hadn't lessened. I didn't expect it to, having been together since the end of sixth year all the way until now, when our jobs both got into the way of us being together. I remembered the big fight we had, the last time I had seen him.

--

"You're never around anymore Y/N," George moaned from the couch as I walked in the door, body aching from stooping over my desk at work for the whole day.

"I don't want to do this right now George," I replied tersely, dropping my bag down and slipping out of my heels, rubbing a hand over my aching feet. I heard him shift up off the couch but didn't glance over.

"I took the day off so we could celebrate our anniversary and you STILL went to work! You know how hard Fred and I have been working to get the shop off the ground, this was a big deal for me and it felt like you didn't even care!" George's voice raised half an octave. I prepared myself for the worst.

"It's not like I had a choice George! The Head of the department himself called me in today, there's been a Death Eater attack every week since that Scrimgeour took over. Everybody's been working overtime, it isn't just me!"

"You could've said no! When was the last time you had a day off?" I knew he was asking out of a place of concern, and to prove a point, but I didn't have an answer for him. I had worked seven days a week for as long back as I could think with my tired brain.

"I can't just say no, George." I could feel my patience wearing thin. "I have a job to do, and I'm good at it. I'm up for a promotion sometime next month, when Dobbs retires. But I bet you didn't know that, did you? Because you're too busy with your jokes and tricks to ask me how my day has gone!"

"Don't go there Y/N..." George warned, his voice steely. I could see the anger flashing in his eyes as I stalked into the kitchen to heat up some leftovers for dinner, even though it was nearly nine o'clock.

--

I shut the rest of the memory out of my mind quickly, before I reached the worst of it. That row had been big, with lots of tears and yelling, and had ended with me storming out of our apartment and staying with a friend. The next day, when George was at work, I had gone and gathered all of my things and cleared out of our apartment. Now I was renting a small house in a Muggle suburb of London, far away from Diagon Alley and the joke shop and George.

I felt the train pulling into the next stop and leaned to keep my balance. As I leaned, I felt my bag slip down my arm, and I reached over to adjust it. Before I could grab the strap, however, the bag was yanked out of my grip and I saw the sketchy-looking man sprinting away with my bag in his hand. I raced out of the car after him.

"Stop! That's my bag!" I cried frantically, pushing people aside so as to try not to lose track of him in the crowd. I had my wand with me, and truthfully there wasn't much in my bag besides a few Sickles, a few Muggle pounds, some spare makeup, and my leftovers from lunch. My wand was tucked safely up my sleeve, so at least I had that.

I chased the thief up a small flight of stairs, shoving more and more people out of the way. Damn, he's fast. I could see the distance between us growing larger and larger.

Just when I thought I was about to lose him, he tripped, and my bag went flying through the air. I sprinted past him and grabbed it before it could hit the ground. When I turned around with the purse securely in my hand, I noticed he seemed to be struggling, like his legs were glued together. That's odd... almost looks like a Leg-Locker Curse...

"That was lucky," mused a familiar deep voice. I felt my heart sink down into the pit of my stomach. My eyes grew wide with disbelief as I whirled around.

"G-George?" I stammered out, then silently cursed myself for being so awkward.

"Hey Y/N," he smiled, although it didn't quite reach his eyes. He looked pale, and there were deep-set dark circles under his eyes.

"Did you..."

"Yeah, it was me."

"Oh," I stopped. "Thanks."

"Any time."

"So... how have you been?" I asked, not entirely sure how to continue the conversation. I was vaguely aware of my train pulling away from the stop, but I was too concerned with the pulsing of my blood through my veins and the tall ginger man standing in front of me. I had forgotten how handsome he was.

"Alright. Things have been busy at the shop," he shrugged. I smiled dryly.

"Always with you and that shop of yours," I joked, although it was more of a feeble attempt. George rolled his eyes at the joke.

"Nothing new with you," he retorted, smiling slightly. "Always so quick to make fun of me."

"If I didn't would I really be a good... f-friend?" I tripped over my words, catching myself before I could say girlfriend. George smiled, a real smile this time.

"Got time for a drink?" he asked. I nodded, unable to contain the grin that spread over my face.

"Only if you're paying."

--

A/N: Hiiiiii everyone, I feel super bad because I said I would try and write and publish more when I was on vacation but clearly, that didn't happen. Here's a really cute chapter that I'm really proud of to make up for it. Although I didn't upload like I said I would, I did start working on something pretty cool and a little different before vacation, and I have a few more edits and tweaks to make but then I'll probably post quite a few chapters at once so you can enjoy it all together... I think you'll like it :)