AN: This is a story I had begun writing for another site. Unfortunatley, I had not been getting the type of feed back I had bee looking for. Actually, for the most part I wasn't getting any feed back at all, so I decided to open up his story to a new audience. This is good news for those of you, if any, that like this story, because i already have the first 5 chapters written (and part of 6 as well.)

I'm a firm believer in the idea that any and all advice/criticism is good, therefore I look forward to hearing from you. I do hope you enjoy it. Happy reading!

"Why don't you just ask her?" George asked, as he took a seat on the floor next to Fred, staring at the fire, wondering what was taking his twin so long to ask one girl to the Yule Ball. Only one week left, and he still hadn't asked her. Not that he, himself, had asked anyone yet, but at least he had a good reason...

Fred took in a deep breath and held it for a few seconds, as if it were the thought he was trying to ponder. Finally, he released it in a very stress ridden sigh. "I can't," he stated simply.

George nearly choked on his next words. "W-what?! Since when do you have trouble trying to ask a girl out? You're Fred Weasley!"

"I know who I am, thanks," Fred retorted with a semi-mock offended air. There was a pause while two identical expressions of slight annoyance gazed into the dancing flames. After a few minutes, George watched Fred survey the room out of the corner of his eye. By the look on Fred's face, he could tell the room was empty, well, except for them. Fred let loose another sigh. "I don't know." George finally broke his gaze to look back at his brother, who seemed to be struggling to find the words he wanted to say - another first. "It's just," Fred continued. "There's something so...sad... about her."

George seemed taken aback by this. "wait a sec...we are talking about the same girl, right?" He paused for a second, staring at Fred intently. "Nikki Moniker?...'bout yea-tall[he held his hand above his head, not quite reaching the right height, but almost...walks around school with a smile permanently splattered across her face?" Fred gave a slight smile to let George know that they were, in fact talking about the same person.

Bewildered, George asked the question that was sitting at the tip of his tongue: "What makes you say, 'something sad'?"

Fred appeared to think about that for a moment. Staring into the fire, Fred formed a question of his own. He glanced at George. "Have you ever watched her when she was in here on her own?" George shook his head slightly, wonder where Fred was going with this... "You should try it sometime...you'd be surprised what expressions appear on peoples faces when they think no one is looking...well, g'night George."

George watched as he ascended the stairs to the boy's dormitory. Slowly, he turned back to watch the engrossing flames...

His thoughts were interrupted, however, by the sound of feet thumping down stairs. George shifted slightly to see who it was, and whether or not he wanted to talk...

As Nikki came into view, George was reminded of Fred's words and decided to see exactly what he meant by them. So, he stayed quiet and watched... Nikki, it seemed was relishing in the fact that no one was in the room(as far as she knew) to disturb her...studying for the NEWTs isn't easy, George sympathized. Especially with a group of really loud students like Gryffindor. If he didn't know any better, George would have wondered, like all the other students, why she never just went to the library to study. Ahh...the perks of having been on the Quidditch team all those years... Anyway, although he didn't know exactly why, George did know that she hated libraries, in general. Had a bad experience as a child...or something...

And then it happened. As he watched the girl he thought he knew, she changed right before his very eyes. Unable to contain herself in the seclusion of the [almost empty room, she began to cry. Never, ever had George thought he'd see Phoenix Moniker cry.

Even weirder, was how her crying made him feel inside. While he had always counted Nikki among one of his 'good friends', and therefore would do anything for her, George could tell this was something more than what a friend should feel. George wanted to do dome serious bodily harm to whoever made her cry. Whoever it was had hurt her, and bad. And he, George, wanted revenge.

But what was this feeling? It didn't take long for him to narrow it down to one of two things: a) he liked her; or b) he subconsciously thought of her like a sister.

Well, George thought, I can't like, because Fred does, and I wouldn't do that to my own twin. So it must be that I think of her like a sister...yeah! that's gotta be it! If someone hurt Ginny like this I'd wanna tear them limb-from-limb, too. Yeah...that makes sense...

George watched for another hour, or so, while she wallowed in her silent misery. While he sat there, all his strength was utilized in keeping himself firmly rooted to his spot. All he wanted to do was run to her...to hold her...to tell her that no one could harm her while she was here with him to protect her...he wanted to kiss her---in a totally brotherly sort-of-way, of course!...

Finally, she gathered all of her things and brought them up to her dorm. Once he heard her door click shut, he reluctantly climbed the stairs up to his own bed...

He just lay there, until the dawn split the sky in to a shower of color, replaying the entire scene, and his feelings toward it in his head.

But no matter how many times he thought it over in his head that night, George couldn't seem to convince himself that he thought of Nikki like a sister...

An alarm went off somewhere in the dorm. One of the other guys turned off, but not before it woke up Fred. He sat up glanced around he room, and noticed that George wasn't asleep. He picked up the closest thing to him - his pillow- and threw it at his brother, who seemed to be in a sort of daze.

"w-wha-" George started to sputter out.

"mornin'" Fred said.

"oh...mornin'"

"so...what did ya do after I went to bed last night?"

"oh, uh, nuthing, really"

George decided it probably wasn't best to tell Fred, not until he was certain how he felt, at least...