Part 1: year 4

Elisabeth got dressed and headed down to the common room. She missed out on the first task of the goblet of fire because of that horrible defense against the dark arts quiz she had to study for, but she knew she wasn't going to miss the party for anything.

As she reached the bottom of the stairs, a crowd gathered around Harry as he was lifted and given his golden egg.

"Do you want me to open it?" he asked everyone.

The room agreed in a roar of laughter. As soon as he opened the egg a loud shriek filled the room, everyone collapsed onto their knees as soon as the sound hit their ears. Harry closed the egg as soon as possible.

"What the bloody hell was that?" Ron asked from the other side of the room.

There was an awkwardness that filled the room. Everyone in Hogwarts knew about the little tiff that was between Harry and Ron since the goblet of fire had chosen Harry's name.
Everyone slowly dispersed into their own groups while still watching Ron and Harry talk to one another.
Elisabeth found this time perfect for talking to George Weasley. She walked up to the small group that basically consisted of George's friends, who were all sixth years.

"Um, George?" Elisabeth tapped him on the shoulder.

Most of the group looked at her with a curious stare. She felt nervous. "Do you think you can help me with my charms homework again?" she asked him quickly, feeling all their eyes on her.

"Yeah, sure." George answered. "But maybe later though." George gave a warm smile and continued talking to his friends

Elisabeth walked to the small window on the other side of the common room and looked out.
She'd had a crush on the Weasley twin since the beginning of the school year, and it didn't help that she was two years younger than him and that his brother Fred asked him to help her with her charms essays after their sister, Ginny, had told them that she had bombed the first big quiz.

"Hey Lizzy. How's my favorite forth year?" someone asked from behind her.

Elisabeth was startled as she looked at who called her name. "Oh Fred, its only you." she said relieved, putting her hand on her chest.

"How can you be so sure?" he asked giving her one of his wicked looks.

"Because, George doesn't call me Lizzy." She explained.

Elisabeth walked with the rest of the Gryffindor class to professor McGonagall's classroom. They crowded in and sat down on chairs that were set up. Professor McGonagall walked to the center of the room and started talking about the Yule ball. Everyone broke out in chatter about what it was going to be like.

"But, I will not." McGonagall interrupted. "Have you besmirched the name of Gryffindor, by acting like a bunch of babbling bumbling band of baboons."

Elisabeth's eyes darted straight to where the twins stood across the room. They were mouthing something to themselves and goofing off as usual. She just laughed to herself and shook her head.

"Inside every girl," professor McGonagall snapped her back to the moment. "A secret swan slumbers, ready to burst forth. In every boy, a lordly lion preparing to prance." McGonagall looked at the front row of boys. "Mr. Weasley, will you come here."
Ron rose slowly and stood in front of her.

"Now, put your right hand on my waist." she instructed him.

Elisabeth put her hand over her mouth trying not to laugh out loud. Fred whistled as Ron did as he was told. A small burst of laughter began.

"Now, everyone else." McGonagall said as she started to move Ron to the beat of the music.

The girls stood at once while the boys sat and fidgeted with their uniforms. Neville Longbottom was the first boy to stand. He went up to Ginny Weasley and began dancing with her, and one by one the boys did the same.
Elisabeth quickly walked up to the twins.

"Please, one of you dance with me." she pleaded. "I don't want to dance with Seamus."
she recalled the time that she had to teach Seamus how to dance for a wedding he was invited too, needless to say, she didn't want to relive that day.

"Well…"began George looking over to Fred.

"Come on, you know you want to." Fred pushed George closer to Elisabeth.

"Want to dance?" George held out his hand.

A few days later

Elisabeth was walking back to the common room from her divination class when she ran into the twins going up the stair case.

"Hey Lizzy."

"Hey Fred, why are you guys here? You usually don't come this way yet."

"We have to go to Snape's study." George explained.

"Isn't that down in the dungeon?"

"Hold on." Fred interjected. "I need to ask Danielle to the Yule Ball." Fred said semi- running up the stairs. "Hey Danni!" he called out to her.

"So that's why." Elisabeth laughed as she turned back to George. He was staring at her. "Are you ok?" she asked. "You don't stay quiet unless you're sick or something. Did you eat one of your concoctions?"

"I'm fine."George said shaking his head and looking down the stairs.

"so." began Elisabeth. "Do you have anyone for the Yule Ball yet?"

"Not really."

"Are you planning on going alone?" Elisabeth shifted her books to her over arm.

"No, I'm just waiting to ask the right girl." George looked back up at her. "What about you? Anyone ask you?"

"Actually, yes. This Durmstrang guy asked me yesterday." She broke into a smile.

"So, you're going with him huh?"

She nodded. "There was one guy I really wanted to go with but-"

"But?"

"He didn't ask me, I'm pretty sure he was going to ask this other girl, I mean they're a couple now. I don't even think he wanted to take me in the first place."

"Or maybe he wanted to ask you at the right moment." he turned his head and leaned against the stair case railing. "While his brother was gone." he added under his breath.

"What?" Elisabeth cranked her head towards him to hear him better.

"I didn't say anything."

"Yeah you did---" Elisabeth covered her mouth with her hands. "Were you going to ask me?"

George looked at her then turned away again. "Maybe..."

"Oh god, I'm so stupid." she hit herself in the head with her divination book.

"It doesn't matter anymore." George walked up the staircase and met with Fred who was waiting for him on a bench.

"So?" Fred asked eagerly.

"She was asked alright." George said sadly.

"I'm sorry man."Fred patted his brother on the back as they started to their study hour.

The weeks went by fast and the date of the Yule Ball came closer and closer.

"Hey George." Elisabeth said with a smile.

George was sitting on the couch in front of the fireplace in the common room reading a divination book. He pretended not to notice her.

"George?"

He looked up at her and breathed heavily.

"What's your problem lately?!" Elisabeth yelled.

"Will you keep it down?" George whispered.

"Is this about the ball?" Elisabeth matched his tone. "I told you like a thousand times I was sorry."

"Well sometimes sorry doesn't help it." He resumed reading.

"Well maybe if you would've asked me instead of having your brother there, we would both be happy with the outcome instead of….this"

"Well it's too late for that, isn't it?"George stood up.

"George please…Don't be like this." She followed behind him. "Why can't we be friends like before?"

George shook off her question and headed for the boy's dorm.
Elisabeth's head hung as she walked back to the couch and sunk down on the cushion, covered her face with her hands, and began to quietly cry.
Fred saw the whole show from across the room and excused himself from his group to comfort Elisabeth.

"Don't cry Lizzy." he said.

"What else am I suppose to do?" she choked back more tears, "he doesn't even want to talk to me anymore, and it wasn't even my fault."

"Is there anything I could do to make it better?"

"If you want to help, please do." she covered her face again. "I've been friends with both of you for so long, I don't--" she started a new flow of tears.

Fred patted Elisabeth on the back before he went up to the boy's dorm, where he found George sitting on his bed staring up at the ceiling, his book thrown to the ground.

"I hope you're happy now. She's crying."Fred said, sitting on the edge of his brother's bed.

"I didn't want to make her cry."

"Well you did. So what are you going to do to make it better?"

"I don't know."

"Better start thinking. You have a girl in the common room crying because of you, and this isn't just some random girl either. It's one of our friends."

"You don't know how it felt, to hear her say that she was going with someone else, then to hear her say that she wanted to be friends like the old times."

"You're right, I don't know how that feels. But this is a once in a lifetime thing. The Yule Ball isn't going to happen again to us. You need to make things better before Christmas, and that's in a week.

One week later

"Isn't it beautiful for a Christmas eve night?" Ginny asked.

Elisabeth looked out the window to see the ground covered in snow and fresh flakes falling from the sky.

"Yeah, it sure is."

"And….what do you think about my dress?" Ginny gave a little twirl.

"Wonderful. I'm sure Neville will love it." Elisabeth laughed.

Ginny laughed along. "What about you? Aren't you getting dressed?"

"Sure, why not, I've put it off long enough." Elisabeth took off her pants and stepped into her dark teal dress.

She took off her shirt and pulled up her dresses' sleeves. She hooked the end of the sleeve around her middle finger so that it formed a V on the back of her hand. The top was shoulder length, and her long black hair flowed to her mid-back, where the dress was backless. The dress flowed to the floor and looked like an ocean.

"Do you want to do anything with your hair?" Ginny asked, running her fingers through Elisabeth's locks.

"Not really."

"If only George could see you now, he'd regret ever having a fight with you." Ginny said, opening the door for the two of them.

"Yeah, I guess."

They both walked down to the great hall where Neville and Anton were waiting for them.

"Lizzy!" Fred yelled as he ran up to small group. "I was wondering when you'd get here."

"Hey Fred, where's Danielle at?" Ginny asked.

"Over there, talking to Angelina." He answered.

"Oh, I guess George I there too?" Elisabeth asked right away.

"No, he went in already."

"We better go in too." Ginny said pulling on Elisabeth's arm and looking over at their dates.

Elisabeth took Anton's arm and walked into the great hall.

Fred went up the stairs to find George in one of the small hallways.

"Are you coming?" Fred asked.

"She's there already, isn't she?" George pulled at his clothes.

"Yeah," Fred answered. "She looks beautiful."

"She always does." George breathed as he walked with his twin down the staircase.

Half the night had already pass when Anton asked Elisabeth to dance again. She laughed as she took his hand and walked to the dance floor.
About a third of the guest that showed up had left for bed and only a fraction of the ones left were still dancing.

"Was tonight everything you wanted?" Anton asked as he put his hand around her waist.

"That and more…" Elisabeth lied.

They danced for a short time until,

"Mind if I cut in?"

Elisabeth looked to see George.

"Alright." Anton hesitantly gave Elisabeth's hand to George.

"Anton?" Elisabeth called to him as he was walking away. "I think one of the Parvari twins might want to dance again." She noticed how the two were sitting with their dates just outside of the dance floor, both looking completely bored.
He bowed to her and walked over to their table.

"Did you have fun tonight?" George asked.

"It could've been better." Elisabeth looked around the room. "Where's Angelina?"

"She went back to her room." George spun her around and put his hand back on her waist. "You look beautiful tonight."

Elisabeth laughed to herself. "Everyone's said that already."

"But I really mean it. You look beautiful everyday, but tonight you look absolutely stunning."

She turned her head and put it near his shoulder to hide her blushing face. George moved his shoulder and stood back a little so he could see her, then he looked deeply into her eyes.

"I know how I've acted is immature, but can you forgive me anyways?" he asked.

"I already did." Elisabeth smiled. "It's almost impossible to be angry at you for too long,"

George gave her one of his warm smiles that she loved so much, took her hand, and lead her off the dance floor.

"Where are we going?" she asked.

"It's a surprise."

George led her to the front gate where there were lines of invisibly drawn carriages.

"They're letting people go on rides." George explained. "Want to go?"

"I'm out here aren't I?" she laughed.

The snow fell softly as George helped Elisabeth into the carriage. As soon as he was seated it started to move.

"How far are we going to go?" she asked.

"Have no clue." George laughed.

Elisabeth looked around at her settings. "Tonight's so pretty."

"Yeah it is, a perfect Christmas eve."

Elisabeth turned to him and nodded.
George did the old yawn, and put his arm around her. She smiled to herself and leaned over and put her head on his shoulder. They stood this way for a while till they started to come up to the black lake.

"Oh, I almost forgot." George said. "I have your Christmas present." He started to reach into his coat pocket.

"What? You didn't have to get me anything."

"What are you talking about? It's Christmas." He said looking back at her.

"But I don't have your present with me."

"Don't worry about it, you'll have to give it to me when we get back to the common room." George said. "Now close your eyes, it's a surprise."

Elisabeth laughed as she did so.

"Are you peeking?" George asked.

"No." she felt something small on my palm.

"Ok, open your eyes."

She did as she was told. She opened her eyes to see a small aqua box with silver ribbon.

"I hope you like it." said George as he watched her open the box.

Inside was a small silver necklace.

"George…." Elisabeth was in awe.

The silver chain was holding a small sapphire.

"Do you want me to put it on you?"

She nodded as she turned in her seat. George took the necklace from the box and put it around her head and clasped it securely. The stone lay between Elisabeth's collarbones in the nape of her neck. She turned to him and put a hand over the gem. "I can't believe you got me this."

"Well, it's one of the ways to make up for how I've been acting."

"One of the ways?" she asked her forehead creasing in confusion.

He laughed to himself as he looked down at his hands then back up at her. "Elisabeth." he began. "I've been waiting for the right time to tell you." George took both of Elisabeth's hands in his. "We've known each other for a while now, and I--"

Elisabeth took one Handan put it over his mouth. "I know George."

"Know what?" he smiled.

she smiled back, looked down at their hands, then in front of them, then back to him again. She leaned in and kissed him. He put his hand behind her neck as he kissed her back.

They parted not shortly afterward. George looked at her. "I think I'm in love with you Elisabeth."

"Really?"

"What? The kiss didn't convince you?" George laughed.

Elisabeth smiled at him and kissed him again.

"So are you two together now?" Ginny eagerly asked as Elisabeth returned to the girl's dorm.

"I don't really know." she confessed. "We kissed, but then again he and Angelina might end up together."

"If he's smart he wouldn't even think about another girl." Ginny curled up on her bed.

Elisabeth changed out into her pajamas that consisted of blue girl briefs and a white t-shirt.
There was a small rap on the window next to Elisabeth's bed. She rolled to the other side of her bed and opened the window to see George out on his broom.

"George?!" Elisabeth hugged herself as the cold wind blew into the room. "what are you doing? You're going to get caught."

"I wanted to see you again." George asserted. "When the second task starts, wait for me by the entrance, I have something to ask you."

"Why can't you ask me now?" she smiled.

"I'm too nervous." he looked down at the height that separated him from the ground underneath him. "And I can't stay balanced on my broom when I'm nervous."

"Fine, I'll wait for you." She said looking behind her to see if anyone else was up.

"Thanks love." George shot out of her sight.

She stuck her head out of the window to see him fly away. He shot up from the ground to the window again.

"What did you forget to ask me now?" she questioned.

"I forgot to do this." George hovered his broom closer to the window until he was inches from the ledge. He traced his fingers down her jaw and hooked them under her chin. Then he leaned in for another kiss.
As they parted Elisabeth bit her bottom lip as she smiled. "That's three kisses you stole from me tonight George Weasley."

"I owe you then." he smiled as he flew around to the boys dorm.

Elisabeth closed the window and crawled into her bed. She moved her fingers across her lips as she still felt the warmth George left behind.

"My brother is such a dork." Ginny said quietly.

Elisabeth rested her head on her pillow and laughed quietly to herself, closed her eyes and dreamed about the next day.

Elisabeth found out soon enough why George wanted to talk to her at the entrance at the second task. The two didn't have a moment alone because George had to study for the OWLS exams. She counted down the days till the ice melted from the black lake and the second task would begin.
Finally the day arrived. The air was still fairly cool, most people wore there winter hats and coats.
Elisabeth and Ginny walked to the black lake together while looking out for George on the way.

"There they are." Ginny pointed to the twins walking from the docks up towards them, they were taking bets as usual and yelling out the odds of the competitors winning or finishing the task.

"I'll save a seat for you at the lake." Ginny said as she left Elisabeth standing by a large tree.

It wasn't long till the twins were done with counting their bets. George looked around to find Elisabeth. Once he spotted her he walked in her direction.

"I thought you'd go without me." George sounded relieved.

"Well with you studying, this was the only way I could talk to you."

George laughed at himself while he moved closer to her.

"About that thing I wanted to ask you."

"Right, I remember you wanted to ask me something."

Elisabeth leaned up against the tree. George leaned one hand on the tree by her head.

"I was wondering." he looked down at his feet, and breathed in a nervous breath. "If maybe you would want to.--"

"Who's there, behind the tree?"

The two froze at the sound of the voice. Professor Snape's voice to be exact.
They walked out from behind the tree slowly; George's head hung and Elisabeth scared to death.

"Mr. Weasley, it appears you can't stay out of trouble for a minute. But you Ms. Faller, I expected more from you." Snape's face scowled. He escorted them to the dock and on to the last boat.

"I don't want any talking from either of you." he barked.

George gave an apologetic smile at Elisabeth. She sighed in frustration as they approached the two monstrous platforms in the middle of the lake.

The night was still as Elisabeth sat up in bed. Everyone in her room had gone to bed hours ago. She sighed as she thought of what George was going to ask her before Snape interrupted them.

"Why is the universe so hell bent on not letting me and George be together?" she asked herself.

There was a sound from outside the door.

"Elisabeth?" a whisper came from one side of the door.

"George?" she walked up to the door and opened it. "What are you doing here? Do you know what kinds of trouble you'll be in if you're caught?"

It hadn't surprised her that George could walk up to the girls dorm staircase without it turning into a slide, him and Fred were always talking about making a potion to trump that spell.

"Like I care." he said sarcastically. "Come with me." he grabbed her hand and led her down to the common room.

The room was extremely quiet unlike when Elisabeth was there during the day. George sat them both on the couch next to the fireplace.

"Where was I at today before we got interrupted?" George asked.

"You were wondering if wanted to do something."

"Right." George took her hands in his. "Elisabeth, I've realized for awhile now that I can't live without you." he paused, trying to get his courage up. "And I was wondering if you felt the same way."

"Of coarse I do." Elisabeth smiled. "I knew that I loved you the moment you smiled at me for the first time. It just took me four years to realize it."

They looked at each other tenderly, and then they kissed passionately.

"Will you go out with me?" George blurted as soon as they parted.

Elisabeth ran her fingers through his ginger hair. "yes." she whispered.

George smiled as he and her foreheads met. He kissed one last time before they headed back into their dorms.

"Good night love." he whispered, so not to wake her roommates.

"Good night." she whispered back as she closed the door.

She leaned on the door and smiled to herself. "Maybe the universe doesn't hate me." she thought.

Cedric Digory's funeral came and went, but the grief still filled everyone in Hogwarts. Elisabeth always found herself with George as the year came to a close.

"You promise to write?" she asked as they said their good-byes to the students from Beauxbtons and Durmstrang.

"Yeah, I'll try every week." George smiled as they both said good-bye to Anton and his friends. "Why don't you stop by during the vacation? You know Ginny would like that."

"I already told you, my parents are taking me to Ireland this summer, we're staying there the whole time."

They walked hand and hand to the train. They sat in a car together as the train started moving.

"I'll miss you love." George gave a little face.

She smiled and leaned in and kissed him. "I think you can wait, a least for awhile."

She rested her head on his shoulder and fell asleep. He brushed her hair out of her eyes and looked out the window.