Disclaimer: As always I own nothing but the original characters and the situations I put all the characters in. Everything else belongs to somebody else and that's just the way it's gonna stay forever. Thanks for reading, hope you enjoy and review!

For Carcharias, thanks for the long reviews lately. My reviews have really gone down lately and yours boost me up and keep me writing.

George and Angelina

Angelina stumbled into her flat's main hallway, mentally calling whoever was knocking at her door every foul name she could think of. She'd spent the day babysitting her cousin's children, who were evil, and she'd fallen into her bed in exhaustion only an hour ago. It was nearly midnight and unless someone had died or was grievously injured she was going to use the wand she'd stashed in her robe and demonstrate the fact that she'd been tutored by Harry Potter as to how to take out evil people who didn't know better than to disturb a girl's beauty sleep.

Checking out her peephole she rolled her eyes expressively and then opened her door, giving her former captain a very dark look. "Oh this better be good, Wood."

"Sorry, Angelina." And he was, knowing how dangerous it was to incite her wrath. "I need a favor. It's for George." He quickly added. "I've been called away to an impromptu training session, you know my coach's bloody evil, and he says if I don't show up I'm benched and you know Malcolm is vying for my spot. But I've got George at my place and the healers said he's got to take a dose of this potion every hour and I'm afraid he'll forget and turn back into a guppy creature if someone's not around to supervise. He had them get me because he didn't want to worry his family."

Later she'd be amused, as always, that Wood had ended up with a coach who was even more psycho than him when it came to winning, but for the moment George was what was important. "Another experiment of his go wrong?" She asked as she turned to grab a pair of shoes so she wouldn't have to walk down the hallway barefoot.

"Yeah. He just needs to take three more doses and then he'll be good as new, and I should be back before then." Relief written all over his face Oliver sighed thankfully as he watched her grab her keys to lock up behind her, signaling that she was coming. He'd figured she would, if only for George's sake.

Heading down the hallway Angelina didn't pay any attention to Oliver's ranting about his coach's unreasonable demands, having heard them all before. Her former captain lived two doors down from her and he'd helped her convince her parents to let her move in in the first place. During and after the war they'd tried to keep her at home and Oliver had been the one to convince them that he'd look after her if she needed anything and that he wouldn't let any harm befall her. She had the feeling her parents saw them as a potential couple, and as yet she'd remained mum on the fact that she was fairly sure the man was gay. Not that that was a problem, since Oliver was just a good mate/older brother to her.

Once they got to his place Oliver quickly gathered his stuff, went over the healer's instructions one more time, and then was gone in a flash.

Covering her mouth with her hand to stifle a loud yawn Angelina headed for the bedroom to check on George, still undecided if she'd bunk in there or just take the couch. She'd wait and see how much room the redhead took up, the Gryffindor decided as she let herself into the room.

Oliver had left a single lamp on for her to see by, her eyes automatically going to the still figure curled up on his side. In the faint light the redhead's usually white skin had a definite tinge of green to it, and those were indeed gills on his neck, she thought with a small smile when she got closer to see for herself.

Shaking her head over the situation as she sat down on the mattress Angelina tenderly pushed back the man's sweaty bangs, automatically flattening her palm over his forehead to see if he had a temperature. A little one, but not too bad.

With a fond smile on her face Angelina kept stroking the man's hair as she studied George's familiar features. Most people had always had a hard time differentiating the Weasley twins but she'd always been able to, which had annoyed them a lot at first. They had never liked the idea that they weren't identical in every way. And they had been startlingly similar, two halves of one whole in most every way. She could only ever remember seeing them fight for real, with hurt feelings and cold shoulders, once in the whole time she'd known them. It had been shortly after the Yule Ball when she and Fred had been going out together and she'd happened to come across them when Fred was complaining to George about how he wasn't spending time with him anymore. George had responded that he was trying to give his stupid twin and her a chance for couple time, which she'd appreciated, and Fred hadn't liked that. The two had started yelling at each other and George had really laid into Fred about how you were supposed to treat a girl and how she deserved better than to be treated like a friend with snogging benefits. She'd broken up the fight, but George hadn't spoken to either of them for two weeks which had devastated Fred. He had broken up with her over it since to him his twin would always be more important than a girl, and she hadn't argued since Fred really had pretty much been treating her like a friend he occasionally snogged anyway.

Angelina was so lost in the memory that it took her a moment to realize she was being watched.

Looking down she smiled down at the man, automatically continuing to stroke. "Hey, how are you feeling?"

"Dream?" Was his slurred response.

Her lips curved in amusement. "No, I'm here. Oliver had to leave for a bit. You can go back to sleep, you don't have to take the next vial for another forty minutes." She informed him after checking the time.

"Sorry…bother you."

"Hush, you're not a bother. At least not at the moment." She added with a grin, remembering the countless hours the Weasley twins had spent bothering her and everyone in their vicinity with their jokes and experiments. "Besides, what are friends for?"

There was a surprising hint of sadness in his voice when he confirmed that yes, they were friends.

And not liking that hint of sadness one little bit Angelina leaned down and pressed her lips to his cheek in a friendly peck. "Go back to sleep, George." She murmured softly. "You probably need all the sleep you can get."

There was a puzzled look on George's face when she lifted her head up.

"You smell wrong."

Mouth dropping at the comment Angelina's face would have been bright red if she'd had his fair skin. Immediately grabbing a hank of her hair Angelina brought it to her nose, finding nothing off about it. "What do you mean I smell wrong?" She demanded to know, insult heavy in her voice as she smelled her hand too, just in case.

Too out of it to be afraid of her tone of voice George explained without a hint of trepidation. "You don't smell like strawberries. You ALWAYS smell like strawberries."

Surprise written all over her face Angelina gaped at him, stammering out her explanation as she reeled over the fact that he'd paid attention to something like that about her. "I was babysitting my cousin's evil spawn and I made the mistake of making them spaghetti for dinner. There was a food fight and I had to have a shower. I used my cousin's shampoo and stuff and…you noticed I use strawberry shampoo?" She always had, she loved the scent, but George wasn't the sort to pay attention to that sort of thing. At least she hadn't thought he was.

"Course I noticed. I notice everything about you."

If his first comment about her hair smelling of strawberries had surprised her his next one completely floored her. She just didn't know what to make of it. If it had been any other guy she would have thought it was a line or that he had a serious crush on her but this was George! They'd known each other since they were kids and he'd never once put the moves on her. Some light flirting yes, but never so that she would think there was something behind it.

Shaking her head as if to clear it of the weird thoughts running through it Angelina looked down again, less then pleased to see that George's eyes were once again closed, his breathing even.

He'd fallen back asleep on her while she'd had her little mental spaz.

"Dammit."

)

Pacing back and forth across Oliver's bedroom twenty minutes later Angelina had to fight the urge to shake George awake with every lap she made. It wasn't time for her to give him the potion yet and waking him up when he was recovering from an experiment gone horribly wrong was just mean and selfish, or so she kept having to remind herself. Plus she hadn't yet figured out how to go about asking him if he'd always 'noticed' her because he was far more aware of people then he appeared to be or because she was special to him. She couldn't flat out ask him if he fancied her, could she? They were friends after all and what if she was wrong? That could ruin everything. And if she was right then that made it that much weirder since she'd dated Fred and as a result hadn't really ever considered thinking of George in a romantic sense before.

Could that be why he'd never said anything though? Weasleys weren't exactly the shy sort after all. Had George kept quiet for Fred's sake, not asking her out even after she and Fred broke up because he'd thought she wouldn't be interested in him or had already chosen Fred over him?

Plus the not dating the ex of a friend rule would come in, and they were twins so the rule would be that much more binding. Not to mention weird, since wouldn't people think it creepy or messed up if they were to become a couple since she'd dated Fred, who of course looked just like George. It wasn't like that of course, she knew who George was and he definitely wasn't Fred, but people were stupid a lot of the time.

She and Fred had only dated for a little while though, and they hadn't even gone to second base by the time they broke up. Surely George and those closest to the twins would know that.

On the other hand, Angelina thought darkly as common sense kicked in, boys were notorious for making mountains out of ant hills when it came to their experiences with girls. It was entirely possible that Fred had exaggerated more than a little what they'd gotten up to when no one else was around. In fact, she was willing to put money on the fact that that was most likely the case, which was really not a good thing now that she was entertaining the possibility that she might need to make a move on George since obviously he wasn't willing to hit on her unless medicated.

If he'd been hitting on her in the first place, which she had yet to confirm.

Man but she was giving herself the mother of all headaches, Angelina thought with a low groan as she massaged her temples.

And dammit, why didn't time go faster!

George had aged and matured a lot after losing Fred. He was quieter and was rarely the life of the party anymore the way he'd once been with his twin at his side. He seemed more…empathic too, more aware of the feelings of others since his days at Hogwarts. If he was happier as well as more mature she would have said she liked this George better than the old one if she was being honest.

Would she like dating him? Could they date without Fred's ghost haunting them so to speak?

She was still mulling that over when her eyes noted that the clock signaled it was time for George's next dose.

Walking over to the bedside table Angelina picked up the vial set out there and then took a seat on the mattress again, reaching out with her other hand to shake his shoulder, calling his name softly.

Moments later his eyes slid open, focusing vaguely on her face.

Sighing over the predicament they'd found themselves in Angelina showed him the potion and reminded him that he needed to take it.

Luck was with her in that George was very used to being woken up and told he needed to take some potion or other, the redhead groggily sitting up and taking the vial from her after she removed the stopper. Chugging it down he choked on it, the nastiness of it waking him up faster than a bucket of cold water to the face. Handing back the vial and making all sorts of disgusted faces George was thankful beyond words when she handed him a mint for him to suck on to deal with the taste.

Awake now George recalled being given a mint the last time he'd had to swallow the nasty stuff, but then it had been Oliver handing it to him. She was definitely not Oliver. "Angelina…what are you doing here?"

Quickly she summarized what had happened and how she'd come to be assigned babysitting duty while he was sleeping.

"Oh. Sorry. Didn't mean to put you out." Running a hand through his tousled hair George gave her an apologetic look, absently chewing on the mint since he didn't have the patience to do otherwise. "You don't need to stick around, I'll just stay up and dose myself till Wood gets back."

"I'm staying." And seeing the protest about to pass his lips Angelina lifted a hand and placed a silencing finger over his lips. "I wouldn't be able to sleep even if I went back to my place, worrying about you. You're stuck with me, at least until Oliver gets back. No arguing, got it?"

When he nodded Angelina removed her finger with a pleased look on her face. "So you were telling me the last time you were awake that you don't like the way I smell."

"What?" George's jaw dropped in surprise. "I didn't say that! I'd never say that! I love the way you smell!"

And realizing what he'd just said the redhead's cheeks went as red as his hair, his embarrassment written all over his face as he looked everywhere but at her.

"That's not what you said before." Angelina teased, finding herself delighted with his adorable reaction to her teasing. Leaning forward she turned his head so that her hair was close to him. "Smell for yourself."

Embarrassment warring with puzzlement George stretched out his neck so that he could get closer, nose wrinkling automatically at the scent coming off her hair. "Ugh, flowery crap. Since when do you smell like old lady perfume?" The color that had flooded his cheeks rapidly fled as he realized just how badly he'd insulted her, George swallowing what was left of his mint reflexively. He was a dead man.

Reading his thoughts easily when she straightened and saw his face Angelina laughed. "I'm not going to smother you in your sleep, no worries. I had to borrow my cousin's shampoo earlier. I still use strawberry scented shampoo and body wash, as always."

"Good." Was his immediate response. "I mean…you uhm…smelling like an old lady is bad…at your age."

Laughing some more she reached out and affectionately tousled his hair. "True enough. So how come you never told me how much you like my shampoo before? A girl likes to hear that sort of thing, you know."

The shrug he made was more of a jerk. "Don't know, guess I just never thought to."

And seeming to sense that she was working to a subject he wasn't up to discussing George shifted so that he was lying on his side again, curling slightly into himself as he pointedly settled in to rest. "I'm gonna go back to sleep now, sorry. My brain's gone all wonky, making me say stupid things. See you in an hour." He added, shutting his eyes in an obvious dismissal.

A number of responses came to mind, many of them more than a little biting since she didn't appreciate not getting any answers after giving herself a headache formulating them, but Angelina bit them back and instead got to her feet.

Later she wouldn't now long she stood there formulating what she would do next, but finally she decided on her course of action.

Walking around to the other side of the bed Angelina got in and scooting across the bed stretched out directly behind him, seeing that he was still awake in the way his body tensed at her closeness. Ignoring that she settled in and after taking a somewhat fortifying breath slipped one arm over his waist in a half hug, cuddling up against his back as she waited to see what he would do next.

Minutes passed and Angelina was about to draw her arm away when she felt his fingers creep into hers, linking them together. And then his voice reached her ears, soft and hesitant.

"Thanks for taking care of me, Angelina."

"Anytime." She promised, squeezing his hand, smiling when he squeezed back.

And that was all that needed to be said they both decided, closing their eyes once more as they settled in to rest a bit, comforted by the other's presence and their joined hands.

Neither would ever forget that night in the years to come, and the pictures Oliver took of the two of them when he got home from training were some of their favorites.

It was the start of George and Angelina.

The End