'Stupid George,' Demi thought savagely, kicking the leaves on the ground. It was pretty isolated, which suited her just fine at that moment. Upon seeing that no-one was there, she sighed loudly and dramatically, and decided to have a quick look at the shack before heading back.
It was dark, it was depressing, it was everything that Gothic Demi wanted. She admired it, thinking how it would make a good house, and then turned around to walk away.
Then she stopped still, looking at the tall figure stood just metres in front of her.
"Hey," George said casually. "Urm… nice view, isn't it?" He waved madly towards the Shrieking Shack.
"How nice of you to acknowledge me, George," Demi sneered, her voice dripping with sarcasm. "Where's your girlfriend anyway?"
"Where's your boyfriend?" George retorted.
"I don't have one." Demi narrowed her eyes.
"Neither do I."
"Well considering you're straight, I should hope that you don't have a boyfriend." Demi couldn't help herself. To her surprise, a small smile appeared on his face.
"I heard afterwards from one of those awful couples what Wood said to you. Nice coffee throw," George commented lightly. "He deserved it really."
"Shouldn't you be with Summer?" Demi asked, looking round for the blonde but not seeing her anywhere.
"I ditched her after Fred asked to talk to me. Seemed he wanted me to find you so we could patch things up. About, you know, the whole Hogsmeade dates crap."
"You asked Summer after Wood asked me. That's all there is to it," Demi commented dully.
"It's not." George moved a bit closer. "I was just pissed off that Wood asked you when really, I wanted to ask you. He got in there first."
Demi's heart beat a little faster. George wanted to ask her?
"I thought it would be the perfect opportunity to spend some time alone with you, since we're always with Fred, Hermione, Ron and Harry. But then Wood came along," he said bitterly.
"I accepted because I didn't think you were interested in me!" Demi replied angrily. "You never showed any signs of liking me more than just a friend!"
"Okay okay, I'm sorry," George said, holding his hands up in defeat. "I should have acted like I was interested in you because I was."
"And you choose Summer Venus to ask," Demi continued. "I hate that girl! And you knew I hated her!"
"I wanted to make you jealous," George said with an infuriating shrug. "She's okay but she isn't you."
"Well fine, you win, because I was jealous," Demi said, and she went to walk past him, but he caught her arm gently.
"And you win too, because you made me jealous first. And you poured coffee over Oliver Wood." His mouth twitched exactly like Fred's had done. She giggled.
"It was really fun! I can't stand him though, how dare he tell me that in the shop!"
"I could hex him for you if you like?" George offered, taking her small hand within his own. "Or I could carefully aim a Bludger at him during the next Quidditch practise?"
"It's fine," Demi laughed, allowing George to hold onto her hand. "I'll curse him if he dares talk to me again."
"Just for the record, I don't think you're boring," George said carefully. It didn't sound like much but Demi knew it meant a lot.
"And you're not so bad yourself," she replied, poking him in the side.
What had started off as a dreadful day soon turned into the best day of her life. The two of them had walked hand in hand up through the trees and back to Hogsmeade. Fred was waiting for them, smirking and with his arms folded.
"I am possibly the best person in the world," Fred said smugly to them. "In fact, for my future career, I should consider being a Matchmaker!" And he ran away in a bizarre fashion to join Lee Jordan, who had come back from talking to Wood.
George squeezed her hand. "Let's look round the shops," he suggested. "I say we go to Honeydukes first!"
They had a magical time in there picking out as many sweets as possible. George insisted on paying for them as a peace offering, and Demi let him. Then when they visited Zonko's, Demi purchased some Dungbombs and Frog Spawn Soap for George.
"Perfect, now we can prank Oliver," George said with an evil grin, as they left the shop.
They visited Dominic Maestro's music shop, and had a great time listening to all of his records and dancing madly. Then they finished their date by sitting in the Three Broomsticks for hours, drinking Butterbeer.
Demi didn't want to ruin the moment, but she had something important on her mind. Finally, she pushed her tankard away and faced George.
"Why me?"
George looked startled. "What do you mean?"
"Well, for starters Summer is way prettier than me. I'm short, pale, too thin… my hair is too dark and messy, and my skin is completely gross." She waved a hand around her forehead, which had a fair few spots on it. "And she's really smart too, you know that my grades in most classes are completely crap-"
George stopped her. "Whoa, whoa. So much negativity," he sighed. "Summer is not prettier than you. And even if she was, who cares? Pretty is boring. So you aren't pretty? You're more interesting." He smiled at her, and she smiled reluctantly back. "She's just another blonde girl in your year. No-one else looks like you; you're unique."
"As for intelligence, you think I care? Fred and I spend most of our lessons mucking around, not getting our work done."
Demi smiled properly now, almost completely reassured. They finished their Butterbeer slowly and were amongst the last to go back to the castle. Swinging hands with George, Demi had never felt happier. There was just one thing at the back of her mind.
As it was Hallowe'en, it was time for the feast. The two of them went straight to the Hall and sat down together. Only then did they let go of each other's hands.
Hermione was beaming, Harry was grinning, and Ron looked slightly shocked but at the same time pleased. Fred came in seconds later.
"So, how are the two lovebirds?" Fred asked annoyingly, sitting on Demi's other side.
"We are fantastic. Thank you so much Fred," Demi added quietly when no-one was listening, not even George. He winked at her just as the feast began.
The food was, of course, mouth-watering. Demi helped herself to baked pumpkin, as well as a range of different Hallowe'en themed foods. With a mouthful of pumpkin, she looked across the table and saw Oliver Wood chatting up Alicia Spinnet. She felt anger rise up in her. Beside her, both of the twins had noticed.
"We'll put a stop to that," Fred said confidently, and George nodded, clenching his fists. Fred leaned over.
"Oi, Wood!" Oliver looked up, annoyed to be interrupted.
"Everyone's going on about what a massive womaniser you are!" Fred said, over-exaggerating massively. "First Demi, now Alicia? Who's gonna be next on your list? And more importantly, how long is the second girl of the week going to last before you get tired of her?"
Alicia's mouth dropped open. Giving Wood a dirty look, she refused to speak to him and began whispering to Katie and Angelina.
"That's taken care of," Fred said happily. They all ate far too much, and at the end, felt like they were about to explode.
"I feel sick," Ron moaned at the end.
"Well, that's your own fault for eating five pumpkin pasties," Hermione said in a tone of 'I told you so.' She hung back, waiting for Demi.
"You ended up with George at last!" They had a brief squealy hug moment, and many people gave them odd looks.
"He's waiting for you," Hermione whispered. Giving her a knowing look, she walked on to join Ron and Harry, who were holding their stomachs. George approached her, grinning shyly. Then, gently, he leaned down and kissed her for the first time, in the archway of the huge doors in the Great Hall.
"A perfect place for a first kiss," George said, and Demi's last worry was washed away with the magic of the moment. For a while, she had worried that he might have kissed Summer.
But things of course could not stay running smoothly. Outside the Gryffindor common room, many students were crowded round the portrait, looking panicked. At the top of the stairs, Percy Weasley was looking very important and bossing everyone around.
"Such a prat," George muttered, and Demi grinned. "Wonder what's happened?"
Ginny ran up to them, looking flustered.
"The Fat Lady is gone!"
"That's what's happened," George finished for Demi. "Well, can't we get into the common room? I need a sit down, I'm exhausted."
Dumbledore ran up the stairs seconds later, flanked by old Mr Filch. Demi couldn't see what was going on, being so short, so George kept her updated, looking over everyone else's heads.
"Quick, we need to get to the Great Hall!" George whispered urgently. "I want a good spot!"
"I can't believe Sirius Black got into the castle!" Demi said in disbelief, more to herself. In front of them, Harry was looking understandably scared and confused.
While everyone else was making their way to the Great Hall, Fred shoved some Second Years out the way to reach the two of them.
"Better watch out," Fred said quickly. "Summer wants to talk to George, and she looks furious." He studied Demi's face. "Oh, and she says she wants to punch Demi in the face."
"She can try," George said fiercely, looking protectively down at Demi. Her heart swelled happily in her chest.
~~~(O.O)~~~
It was a strange end to the day. The Gryffindors all had their own sleeping bags, as did every other student in the house. It turned out that Neville had left the passwords out and Sirius Black had found them, and used them to try and enter the common room.
Fred, George and Demi took their sleeping bags and dragged them away from everyone else. Metres away, Harry, Ron and Hermione had done the same thing.
Summer Venus, who was lying with the other girls, glared at her from where she lay, obviously miserable that she hadn't yet had the chance to slap Demi and confront George. Demi snuggled up to the boy she had shared a kiss with, and watched with amusement as her eyes narrowed.
"Damn, if looks could kill, you'd be so dead right now," Fred joked, watching Summer with mild interest.
"I don't even care about that bitch, I couldn't be happier right now," Demi replied honestly. Even though an insane mass murderer was wandering around the school, she still felt euphoric. Could her life be working out okay at last?
Percy Weasley began marching up and down the sleeping bags, stamping his feet and snapping at people to be quiet. It had been quite a long day, so Demi whispered goodnight to the twins and turned over on her side. Her mind wandered back to the Hogsmeade trip, and she slowly drifted off to sleep, dreaming of pink coffee shops and tall guys with ginger hair...