Disclaimer: If I owned Harry Potter, I'd be a happy, happy man indeed.
Author's Note: Hello! This is my first fanfic (or the first one I'm posting on here, anyway), so I really hope you like it. It's named after a song by Gregory and the Hawk. It's not a songfic, but I really like the song and the name just sort of...fits somehow. I hadn't planned to write it in 1st person, but I wrote one chapter of it and there was no way I could convert it to 3rd person without basically ruining the whole feel of it. I really like it, so I hope you do too! The bits in italics are flashbacks. I know it won't all make very much sense to you guys, but as the story progresses it will all become clear! Enjoy!
I love George Weasley. No, seriously, I do! He is like, my bestest-estest friend ever, and I kind of like to think that I'm his. Well, okay, maybe besides his twin brother. I don't know what it is, but we've always connected just so well. Ever since way back when he'd comforted me after being sorted into Gryffindor...
Bailey stepped carefully off the train and into the light rain, not minding it a bit. Anything that took her mind off the imminent and much dreaded sorting was a good thing. She followed the monstrous man they called Hagrid, and stepped into a boat with a few other frightened-looking first years. Her insides all jumped as the boat swayed menacingly before settling back into stillness as it glided silently across the smooth black glass that was the top of the lake. The yellow and orange lights in the windows of the castle reflected like fairy lights on the surface, but still this didn't comfort Bailey. It seemed no matter where she ended up in this school, she couldn't be happy. Slytherin would make her family happy, but deep inside she wanted to be a Gryffindor, like her mother. But what would they think? Surely she'd be disowned. Her mother had been ignored for months. Lucius had even gone so far as pretending not to know her. Bailey wouldn't be able to bear it if such a thing happened to her.
Much too soon she found herself sitting on the wooden stool before the entire population of Hogwarts, fear in her heart and tears in her eyes, while the big tattered hat whispered in her ear.
"GRYFFINDOR!" it shouted at last, and students all around cheered. They didn't know, they could never understand. She pretended to be happy, she went and sat with the Weasley twins. They'd always been nice to her. She had met them in London once with her Aunt Susan, who was friends with their mother. They clapped her on the back and smiled, and she pretended to be happy.
Later on George had found her in a hallway, lost and crying. He'd put his arms around her without hesitation, comforted her without the need of an explanation.
So when I saw him on Platform 9 ¾ that morning, it was hardly surprising that I could barely keep myself from running into his arms. He smiled at me, and I hurriedly said, "Excuse me," to my dad and Aunt Susan. And when we embraced, and I felt our bodies pressed together, my arms around his neck, and his hand stroking my brown, curly hair, it felt like being home, in a weird sort of way.
I wasn't sure what we were anymore... I mean, just at the end of June we'd had our 'special moment,' and we'd held hands a couple times since, maybe kissed on the lips once, but were we together? Were we still just really good friends? I didn't know. Maybe he'd found a girl over the summer. He'd always said there was a pretty Muggle girl in the village near his house...
But what I did know was that it felt so good to just hold on to him. And even better to laugh when Fred wrapped his arms around the both of us and yelled, "Group hug!" Lee, of course, threw himself into it, which knocked us a bit off-balance, like some fat, awkward bird with too many legs, but we laughed and righted ourselves. Now this was home. These were my boys, my best friends. My protector-figures, my three musketeers, the people who made me laugh like no others could. They were my family, and it felt good to be in their arms.
I giggled and kissed each of them on their cheeks in turn, then pulled away to greet Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, Ron, Hermione, Harry, and Ginny. Ginny was as enthusiastic as the guys had been to see me, flinging herself into my arms the moment I was free of her brothers.
"Bailey!" she said, smiling a beautiful, bright smile at me. I adored Ginny. She was like my little sister, only not my little sister. I hugged her and kissed her cheek and buried my face in her bright red hair.
"How are you, Gin?" I asked, pulling back and smiling at her. She was growing up so fast! Thirteen already, I couldn't believe it! She'd grown about three inches over the summer. Or maybe I'm exaggerating... Anyway, I was so happy to see her.
"Great!" she said. "I hear they're doing something new this year, but no one will tell me what it is."
I smiled. Hogwarts was always exciting, but it was nice when they changed it up a bit. "I can't wait to see what it is!"
And the rest is kind of history; it happened, but it wasn't nearly exciting enough to have to read.
Author's Note: Alright, that's it for chapter one! I really hope you liked it! Leave reviews! Constructive criticism is always welcome. I'll have the next chapter up soon!