George froze as well. The voices were growing more distinct.
Ron scrambled off him and made a desperate attempt to smooth her wild hair while George hastily re-buttoned his shirt and reached for his tie. Why wouldn't those blasted straps on her dress stay up? They had stayed up all night until now!
Finally she got them to stay and dove for an armchair as the portrait of the Fat Lady swung outward. She closed her eyes and pretended to sleep. Why had she been so stupid? In the bloody common room of all places!
She now recognized the voices as Seamus and Lavender. He was saying good night, and then her footsteps were retreating up the stairs to the girls' dormitories.
"Oh! Fred!" Seamus must have noticed her brother for the first time.
"Oh! Dean!"
Seamus fell silent momentarily, then spoke, sounding confused. "But I'm… oh. Sorry, George."
"It's fine," George sighed.
"Ronnie's here, too!" Seamus said in a surprised tone, making Ron twitch involuntarily. No one was allowed to call her that except her brothers. Not even Harry.
"We came back early because she was tired," George said flatly.
"She's cute when she sleeps." Seamus apparently didn't know when he wasn't wanted. Ron managed to keep her expression peaceful despite her growing irritation.
George laughed. "I guess she is."
Ron stopped listening to the conversation. This was going nowhere. Instead, she thought back over what had happened with George. Merlin.
So she now knew that he fancied her: that was something. And then… bloody hell, what had she been doing?
A tiny voice in her head answered her. 'George,' it said simply. She pushed the thought away. It wasn't strictly true, anyway. It would have been, but… it wasn't. She was actually thankful that Seamus and Lavender had walked in before she did something even more stupid.
What was wrong with her tonight? She always had perfect self-control and had never let on that she fancied him. But the moment he kissed her back, she had thrown all that away and acted like a total slut. How stupid could you get? Nearly shagging her own brother in the Gryffindor common room! Merlin, she was an idiot!
And what would George think? Would he think Ron was normally like that with guys? Would he think that she was a slut? That she slept around or anything like that?
Or would he understand that it was only him? Would he recognize that only he could drive her wild? Only he could get this uncontrollable reaction from just one kiss. Would he know that no matter who she had dated in the past, only he was on her mind? Would he ever see that she was madly in love with him, and him alone…?
Too confused by her own thoughts, Ron let her mind go blank.
She awoke some time later. After she blinked a few times, the common room came back into focus. It was crowded with Gryffindors returning from the ball. Their noise must have been what woke her up.
She was sprawled carelessly—though, thankfully, not indecently—over one chair, and some fifth and sixth years occupied the rest. She looked about for George.
He was standing behind her chair with his hand on the back, talking to Fred and Lee. Ron wondered briefly whether he had been there the whole time watching over her and smiled at the thought.
He seemed to sense her watching him, for he looked down at her and their eyes met. George looked away quickly, blushing and removing his hand from the chair.
She got up to find Harry and Hermione, brushing lightly against him as she passed. They were in a corner, talking to Seamus, who noticed her approaching and left quickly.
"Ron!" harry said, the annoyance in his voice not entirely hidden. "Why did you leave?"
"I was tired," she told him apologetically. "So George and I came back early."
Harry relaxed visibly upon hearing George's name. "Oh. You were with your brother." Little did he know.
Ron felt somewhat uncomfortable. "Yeah. Sorry. Anyway, I'm going to go to bed." It didn't look like she'd get a chance to talk to George again tonight. It would have to wait.
