A/N: This story is the sequel to Marvellous Things I & II - it would probably make more sense if you read them first.

Enjoy : D

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter (if you hadn't already guessed...), but I do own Sophie Moon. The title, Move On Up, comes from the song of the same name and is by Curtis Mayfield.

Move On Up
George Weasley pushed through the crowded hallway to get to Transfiguration, following his brother and Lee and thinking about Sophie Moon. Again.

He smiled dreamily and ignored Fred's mutter of, "Merlin, he's gone again," and Lee's answering snicker, then jumped when he heard a yell from behind him.

"Weasley! Hold up, there!"

Unfortunately for the caller, all four Weasleys still at Hogwarts happened to be in that particular hallway at that time, and his shout caused an interesting effect as Fred, George, Ron and Ginny all stopped and turned to see who was calling. A tall, caramel-skinned boy was moving through the suddenly jammed hallway, and he stopped in front of the twins, looking half amused, half exasperated at the reaction he had caused.

"For the love of -" he said, shaking his head. "I meant George."

George started in surprise and looked at the boy more closely - he vaguely recognised him, but he couldn't remember why. His dark hair was spilling over his eyes, his lips were curled into a smirk, and – George looked at his tie, then blinked, and looked again.

He was a Slytherin.

Eyebrows somewhere up near his hairline, George eyed the kid sceptically.

"What was it you wanted?" he asked, aware that half the school was currently (and very indiscreetly) listening in on their conversation.

"You're taking Sophie Moon to the Yule Ball," the boy stated. George's eyebrows shot up in surprise.

"Yes," he said, wondering what the devil was going on in this person's head. "What of it?"

"Customary chat," said the boy, smirk widening to a disturbingly creepy grin. "Just to let you know that if you hurt a single hair on her head, then I'll have no choice but to live up to my Slytherin reputation – and I assure you, it won't be pretty. In fact, it will hurt very much."

For a moment, George was speechless. He stared at this strange, strange boy, who was apparently friends with Sophie – good enough friends that he felt the need to threaten George with Slytherin-like threats should he dare to hurt her, which was strange enough in itself, considering their respective houses. This had to be the most incredibly surreal (and mortifying) moment of his life.

Finally, he found his voice.

"Who are you?" he asked, incredulity lacing his words.

The boy's grin became slightly less creepy (which was, in a way, scary, because it wasn't very Slytherin at all).

"Blaise Zabini," he said holding out his hand, and recognition clicked in his head - this was the kid that had been friends with Ron before Hogwarts. Blinking, George looked at the extended hand, and then very slowly shook it.

"Pleasure – I think," said George, still incredibly confused over the entire conversation.

"I'm not planning on hurting her, you know," he added, letting go of Zabini's hand.

"Oh, I didn't think so," the Slytherin said, almost cheerfully. "I just wanted to frighten you a little bit."

With that, he moved past George and disappeared into the crowd, leaving Fred amazed and Lee gasping for breath, doubled over in laughter.

Oh. Sweet. Merlin

Sophie was going to murder Blaise when she got her hands on him.

She gave a faint moan as she watched Blaise say something to George that made his jaw drop.

"Oh, God, I can't look. What's he saying? What's he doing?" Sophie asked, turning to bury her face in her best friend's shoulder – quite difficult, considering that said best friend was currently in fits of laughter. "Stop laughing, Moo, it's not funny."

Morag MacDougal (affectionately called Moo, for unknown reasons) gasped a little, started to say something, and then collapsed with laughter. Again.

"I think," said Padma Patil from behind her, "that he's trying to be a gentleman."

This, if possible, only made Moo laugh harder. Sophie shot a reproachful glare at Padma.

"Blaise doesn't have a gentlemanly bone in his body -"

"He does," said Padma, "obviously, he's just never had the chance before to – oh I don't know, exercise his intimidation skills? If that's what he's doing."

"The poor, poor boy…" said Sophie, shaking her head. Anyone subjected to the company of Blaise Zabini without previous, extensive experience – well, she pitied them immensely.

"Who, Blaise or George?" asked Morag, who had managed to calm herself somewhat. Padma sniggered, and Moo's lips twitched as if trying to hold in a laugh.

"Don't be silly, Moo – George. Look at him; he looks like he's going to keel over from shock."

"As would I, if a Slytherin accosted me and questioned my intentions towards the person I fancy -"

"Blaise has probably scared him right off by now – and who could blame him?" said Sophie, for a moment forgetting about the current embarrassment that her best friend (no, make that former best friend, because, once she had murdered him, she was never speaking to the boy again) was subjecting her to.

Morag looked at her friend, slightly alarmed at her despondent tone, and shared a look with Padma.

"Silly Soph, he's mad about you. Why d'you think he asked you to the Yule Ball? He's not going to be frightened away by somehting like Blaise," she said soothingly. Padma opened her mouth to say something (probably to point out that Blaise could be quite scary when he wanted to), and Morag shot her a glare and shook her head.

Not noticing that little exchange, Sophie turned her head look at the boys again, in time to see them shaking hands, George looking utterly bemused. She felt a sense of forboding.

"It's like watching a train crash," said Padma absently.

"What?" asked Sophie, watching George say something to Blaise that caused him to grin.

"Well, you just can't look away."

The girls watched the scene in almost horrified anticipation (although Morag was still inclined to snigger), wondering what would happen, then gaped as Blaise positively beamed (which was creepy in itself) and walked away from George, leaving him to stare after him.

"I can't believe – is that it?" asked Sophie, shocked at the lack of sneaky, Slytherin-y tricks.

"He – well, he didn't do anything, did he?" said Padma, tilting her head in contemplation.

"He – but – he's Blaise!" said Sophie, ignoring Morag's snort. "He can't have willingly confronted a Gryffindor in the middle of the hallway just because he cares! And then to just – leave!"

"Soph, if I didn't know you better, I'd say you were disappointed at the anticlimax," said Morag dryly, and Padma clapped a hand over her mouth to stifle her laughter.

Well. Obviously, she wasn't disappointed, she just – well, she'd never seen Blaise do anything like this before.

"Anyway, here he comes," said Morag, then seeing the glint in Sophie's eyes, she continued, "but it's five minutes 'til Runes starts, and I'd really rather not have everyone seeing you demolish Blaise – it's rather embarrassing when your friends insist on making scenes in the corridor, so keep the killing to a down low until lunchtime, will you."

This time, Padma couldn't hold in her laughter, and Moo joined her as the two of them leant on the wall, barely controlling their mirth (to the disapproval of Hermione Granger, who had been hovering outside the Runes classroom watching the scene unfold).

Sophie narrowed her eyes as Blaise approached, smirk in place, feeling Gryffindor red anger bubble up inside her.

"Oh, don't worry, Moo. I won't do anything to Blaise. Yet."

After all, revenge was a dish best served cold.

Please review - feedback is much appreciated!