Magic and the Power of the Moon

With the Yule Ball approaching, George was hard pressed to find a date. His twin, Fred had already acquired the company of Angelina Johnson for the occasion and he was left to his own fate of asking a girl before 'all the good ones are gone' as Ron would put it. He had always been the less flirty of the twins and felt a little anxious about the whole experience. Of course he could talk to girls, just not in a romantic capacity. If Fred ever found out that he was worried about asking a girl out, he would never live it down, so he swallowed his fear and began scouting out prospective dates.

Katie Bell was a possibility, he realized at dinner, looking over the blonde as he ate his pudding. She was on the quidditch team and likable enough, but George just couldn't see himself trying to have a serious date with her. He wanted someone who could possibly turn out to be a bit of a long term go, so Katie was out of the question. Alicia Spinnet was already going with Wood, not that he would have asked her, so the entire team was out of the question.

He sighed, walking back to the common room, Fred having moved off of the familiar trek to the seventh floor to get some excitement out of Angelina. As he made his way through the common room, waving to a few people and greeting a few more, he went over the list of girls that he knew mentally. All of the girls from Slytherin were out. He wanted nothing to do with slimy sluts who thought that they were better than everyone else. Luna Lovegood was slightly bonkers. He had observed Lavender Brown as Ron had courted her. Hermione probably wanted to go with Ron. Hannah Abbott was a bit too girly and blushy, probably expecting Shakespeare and roses. There were a few Hufflepuff girls that were good looking and prospects, but George didn't really know how to approach them. A few Ravenclaws were pretty, but George couldn't tell if they were all about books and order. He flopped down onto his bed, waiting for an epiphany as to who would be a good match.

George was surprised when, a few days after he had been abandoned by his twin in favor of foreplay and resigned to wallow in self-pity for not being able to find a date, a perfect prospect appeared before him. She was curvy and dirty blonde, with dark eyes and an aura that made George believe Trelawny might not be completely insane. He had walked out of his Charms class to find her waiting for him. He recognized her instantly as one of the higher up prospects from Ravenclaw who sometimes joined his group at parties.

"My name is Mary Mounts," she told him. "And I'd like to ask you to be my date for the Yule Ball."

"Mary Mounts…I'm George..."

"I know who you are, obviously," She said with a small smile. "We haven't really talked, but I've seen you around."

"Right. Erm…I'd love to go to the Yule Ball with you," he said, relieved that someone had taken the pressure off of him.

"Great." Her eyes lit up and he promised himself that he would try to make her happy more often.

"Are you going to dinner?" he asked.

"Yes. But I'm in Ravenclaw…"

"I know. Skive off dinner and come with me. I'd like to get to know you," he offered, pulling some of the Gryffindor courage up from the pit of his quaking stomach.

The thought for a moment and then smiled. "Alright." He led her to an alcove on the third floor after making a quick trip to the kitchens to grab some food. They settled down, each with a bit of treacle tart and a butter beer and George looked her over. "I've been meaning to introduce myself for ages…I'm a bit shy normally," she admitted.

George grinned. "You don't seem shy at the moment."

"My friend Velvet gave me a dose of some potion that was designed to give you a bit of confidence," she admitted with a hint of a blush.

"Well, Mary, you've certainly made my day. I hope that you'll stop being shy around me now." He winked. "You're in my year, yeah?"

"Right. We have double History of Magic together, but it's dreadfully boring so I try to stay in the back where Binns can't see me."

"I mostly skive off…Fred hates it as well."

"Understandably."

"So where are you from?" he asked her, studying her expressions.

"Virginia Water, Runnymede, Surrey. Small place, but I love it."

"Really? I'm at Ottery St. Catchpole."

She smiled at him. "I assume that you want to be a prankster when you grow up…or when you leave school that is."

"I've been a prankster since before I was born," he told her, "why stop just because I have to get a real job? Really though, Fred and I are serious about providing entertainment to the masses. We're working on opening a joke shop. Inventing things and the like."

"I'm sure you'll do exceptionally well," she said, looking him over with another of her bright smiles.

"And what are your plans? They've surely asked you to start thinking about it."

"I want to be a journalist. I think I could give Rita Skeeter a run for her money."

"I would definitely say you could do that. The old hag is a liar and a second rate writer."

"I couldn't agree more," she told him.

He looked her over. "How did I not meet you before. Obviously we've seen each other around, but we really should have been getting to know each other. You're a very interesting person."

"Thank you. I suppose I should have come out of my shell earlier."

"I'm just glad you decided to come out of it now," he told her. "Please do stay out of it." Fred came up behind them with a sappy look on his face.

"Do the two of you have something to tell me?" he asked with a naughty smile.

"Fred. This is Mary Mounts. She's going to be my date to the Yule Ball," George told his brother.

"Good choice," Fred said looking her over. "I'm sure Mum would approve."

"Nice to meet you too," she said to Fred.

"Oh, she speaks. I didn't know that."

"Don't be a git, Fred," George instructed. "Sorry," he said to Mary.

"Right. Well the git has Quidditch practice…and so do you. Ta for now, lovey!" Fred wiggled his fingers at Mary and trotted off in the direction of the stairs. George stood.

"I'm sorry about that. I do have to go, though. I'll talk to you later!"

"Alright," she replied. She waited until he walked off to gather up the remnants of their dinner and deposit them into the trash on her way to the Ravenclaw common room. She was very happy to have successfully asked out George Weasley.

"Are you opposed to me dating Mary?" George asked his twin as they made their way down to the changing rooms.

"No. I just didn't know how to handle the man I thought I knew talking sappy with some girl!" Fred told him.

"I was not being sappy."

"'Please do stay out of your shell!'" Fred mimicked his brother saying.

"She's shy."

"You're a git."

"You never know. Wood says all the shy ones are more interesting any way," George told Fred with a grin.

"You'd better hope so. You're lucky I don't want to sully our reputations with your sap or the entire family would know…" Fred shook his head. "I really hope my brother isn't turning into a love struck ninny."

"I'll show you ninny," George threatened, getting onto broom on the field. "You'll be love struck long before I will, brother."

Fred laughed. "Never!" With that, the two took to the skies, dive bombing each other and thoroughly annoying Angelina until she called the practice off short since no one was willing to work.