George sat in his flat staring at the door which had remained closed since before the Battle of Hogwarts. Despite being a Gryffindor, George’s courage seemed to have failed him since the battle. He hadn’t even been able to open a door. Granted, it was the door to his dead twin’s room, but that didn’t matter. He should still be able to open it.
That was why he’d owled Cho and asked her to come over to help him. She understood his pain in a way no one else did. Loosing Cedric had taken a tole on her just like loosing Fred had taken a tole on him. Of course, they cared about the people they lost in completely different ways, but that wasn’t the point. She knew how it felt to loose something so close to your heart that you felt like you were being torn apart from the inside out.
When the door bell ran, George stood and slowly walked to the door. He knew that walking slower was only going to delay the inevitable, but that didn’t make him walk any faster. Pulling the door open, George leaned against it. “I’m warning you now that there may be tears involved in this.”
When the owl had come, Cho had honestly been shocked. Mostly, her relationship with George was lighthearted--coy flirting and joking around with each other, but nothing more than that. Nothing deep, nothing serious, and certainly nothing painful. That was why, when she’d read the bit of parchment in George’s handwriting, asking her to help him with something so personal and so close to his heart, she’d been touched. Cho had allowed herself to feel emotions that she’d blocked out for years as she read his words, and she found herself smiling fondly and writing him a very quick reply. Of course she would help.
It touched her that George felt that he could trust her with this, that he wanted Cho of all people with her jagged edges and sharp tones and the emptiness behind her eyes. It made her feel like a person again, like someone who other people wanted around, and although she would never admit it, there were tears in her eyes as she dressed in something that wasn’t overtly sexy for once. Comfortable jeans, the denim soft and worn in, along with a soft black v-neck tee shirt and a pair of black flats. Simple, comfortable, and she still felt attractive in it, so it was a winner. Cho piled her hair up on top of her head in a messy bun, grabbed her purse, and apparated over to the shop.
Cho climbed the stairs up to George’s flat and rang the doorbell, smiling up at him warmly when he opened the door. “Maybe I should have brought tissues,” she said, trying to keep the mood light and show that she wasn’t afraid of George crying in front of her. “Thank you, by the way. For asking me to help. Do you want to get started right away? Or did you want to, like... have some coffee first, or something?”
