Chapter Fourteen
Author's note: Thanks for Reading! Not Mine! JK's
"George, just wait," Hermione called as George was about to step back into the fireplace, desperate to be away from the room and the couch that Hermione and Terence were sitting on. "George, what's going on?" Her tone wasn't angry but it contained more force than to which George was accustomed.
"Nothing. I was just coming to see you. But I see that I've interrupted your privacy."
"George…you can stay." Hermione offered, standing up off the couch and approaching George at the fireplace.
Oh er, no, I don't mind leaving," George stammered. He felt confused as to how to deal with the situation. His gut hurt almost on a physical level; he had come to Hermione's feeling so prepared to tell her of his feelings only to have any hope on such regards ripped apart.
"I actually was just about to leave," Terence said good-naturedly. He had already risen to his feet shortly after George's unexpected arrival. "Night to both of you. Hermione take care," With a friendly nod, the other man pulled a handful of green Floo powder out of the wicker basket beside Hermione's fireplace. After quickly patting George's shoulder, he strode into the fireplace before George was able to access the mode of travel. In a bright green flash the Defence against the Dark Arts Professor disappeared leaving George and Hermione standing alone in the flat, momentary surrounded by silence.
"What are you doing here George?" Hermione reiterated sharply once she caught her bearings.
"I don't know. Coming to see you I suppose. I-ah…I'm sorry I spoiled your evening."
"George…" Hermione sighed. "I thought you were out with Fiona tonight."
"I was, but then I wanted to see you," George replied, surprised at how angry and accusatory his voice was. "I didn't know you had company."
"Yah, I have friends," Hermione retorted as the pitch of her tone ascended to the point that it matched George's. "I'm allowed to have people over to my flat, aren't I?"
"Are you shagging him again?" George questioned his voice a mix of demanding and pathetic. "You two looked awfully cozy," He added vehemently.
"That's not any of you business George Weasley," Hermione said decisively, sounding especially angry.
"Well I don't care if you go after him." George said even though it wasn't the truth. "If you want to be with him, you're more than welcomed to go find him."
"No…" Hermione faltered. "That's ok…I don't need to..." Her voice began to fade away, but she took a deep breath and continued in a louder pitch: "And I don't get why you would come over without telling me. You didn't even knock,"
"I didn't know I needed to make an appointment just to see you." George retorted feeling embarrassed by his outburst while he was in the midst of it. "You're my friend." He said lamely, not adding what he wanted; it didn't feel like the appropriate occasion to tell her of his romantic feelings for her. "I shouldn't have to send you and owl before coming over to see you."
"Don't be ridiculous George."
"Well…when you-" George wasn't entirely sure what he was going to say even while he was speaking, but he didn't have to finish his thought because a soft rap on Hermione's door interrupted the bickering pair.
"Oh, it appears that someone is here to see me, someone who understands the importance of the subtitles of human etiquette, like knocking." Hermione pointedly derided George. She turned and snapped at the door: "Who is it?"
Without a reply, the door opened and Headmistress McGonagall authoritatively strode into the flat.
"Oh, er…Hello Minerva." Hermione composed herself and graciously welcomed the older woman.
"Ah, lovely. You're both here. This will save me a trip to George's. I needed to see you both." McGonagall gave a slight nod to both Hermione and George.
"Er…what's going on?" George asked, confused as the appearance of the Headmistress.
"Well…I'm afraid we have a bit of an incident." McGonagall said with her mouth formed into a fine line. "You see, several students thought it would be prudent to leave the castle and explore the forest." Hermione groaned audibly at McGonagall's explanation.
"Which students?" She asked sounding exasperated.
"Well. No surprises, of course." McGonagall said with a shake of her head. Her chin lifted at its usual angle, she listed the offending students: "Dylan O'Callaghan, Evie Caldecott, and Gareth Roystone…I'm sure you could have guessed that on your own, Professor Granger."
Hermione nodded disapprovingly: "Of course, I should have known." George immediately recognized the names of the fourth-year Ravenclaws. Dylan, especially, could be a formidable troublemaker. George could picture the boy easily, the way he always leaned back in his chair with his arms crossed, his shock of dark brown hair hanging in his eyes. The other two were a constant presence around the tall boy. Evie, a slight girl with a cheeky smile and a dark pixie cut that also had a tendency to cover her eyes; Dylan's cousin, if George recalled Hermione's explanations correctly. Gareth was a shier boy with close-cropped, curly blonde hair who followed the other two around, seemingly grateful to be included in their antics.
"It's not like Ravenclaws to disobey the rules about the Forbidden Forest," George chuckled, knowing that such misbehaving was generally undertaken by his own house.
"Well, the lines between the houses are significantly less pronounced than they once were," McGonagall replied tersely through pursed lips. "I'm afraid that we have students in other houses with the same misguided courage displayed by some of our past Gryffindors." McGonagall stared down over her nose at George and then at Hermione in such a way that George had to conclude that McGonagall included him and his companion in her list of such unfortunately noteworthy students. "I assumed that, as the two members of our staff most familiar with causing trouble, you and Miss Granger would be best suited to this endeavor." McGonagall instructed. Before Hermione or George had the opportunity to reply, the formidable woman had already turned and swiftly left the room, clearly having assumed that the two would naturally agree to her request.
"Of course, Minerva." Hermione replied needlessly to the departing McGonagall. She sighed resolutely while George nodded in assent, even though he didn't particularly fancy having to complete the task. He was still hurt, jealous, and frustrated at finding Hermione alone with Professor Higgs and would have preferred not to have to cooperate with her for the remainder of the evening.
"So?" George turned to Hermione expectantly, hoping to gage her take on the excursion that had been fostered upon them.
"Well. Let's go. They shouldn't have gotten too deep into the forest." Hermione instructed sharply.
"Shouldn't you wear something warmer?" George stared at the flimsy, raspberry-coloured, vee-neck shirt she had changed into before his arrival, trying not to focus on the way it revealed the dip of her breasts. "Er..ah…you might be cold in that." He pointed out, glad that he had bothered to exchange his light sweater vest for his bright blue, heavy knit, Weasley jumper before leaving his flat to come to Hermione's. The autumn weather was growing increasingly cold and could, especially at night, but quite frosty.
"No. I'm fine." Hermione grabbed her familiar blue, canvas ballet flats from beside her door and forcefully pulled them onto her feet. "Let's go."
-o-O-o-
George tried to mimic a confident figure as he and Hermione trucked through the Forbidden Forest. Similar to how Ron had maintained a fear of spiders, George was always uneasy in the dark, something he hoped Hermione would not realize. The forest was particularly foreboding. The trees grew close together, creating a canopy overhead. George could hear hooting in the treetops above them and scampering all around them, indicating that they were surrounded by creatures. Not knowing what type or the size of beasts watching them didn't help George's feelings of discomfort. The tightness of the trees gave the sense of feeling trapped within the forest and the darkness was prevalent. George had no idea why students would even want to venture into the off-limits forest; it was undeniably frightening.
"Where do you think they would have gone?" George asked, breaking the silence. Since they had left Hermione's flat, the air between the two remained tense; both were clearly still uncomfortable from their earlier row. "It's such a big forest. They could be anywhere."
"I doubt their very fair in," Hermione replied. "For all his bravado, Dylan is remarkable timid about things like this….If we just continue around the edge, I'm sure we'll overtake them." George was impressed with how nonchalant Hermione sounded; she wasn't as worried as he was about the forest or what they might find. Of course, she had more experience with the forest, its terrain, and its inhabitants than he did.
"Are you cold?" George asked, noticing that Hermione was shivering considerable.
"No, I'm fine."
"You don't look fine. You look like you're freezing." George aggressively yanked his Weasley jumper off over his head. "Here, wear this."
"I don't need that George. I'm fine." Hermione reiterated assertively.
"No. You're lips are practically blue. If you catch a cold, I'll feel like rubbish. Just put this on."
"Alright," Hermione said a bit snappishly, but she accepted the sweater and pulled it on. "Thanks." She added absentmindedly. The jumper was comically large on her, extending down to her mid thigh and swallowing her torso. Hermione pushed the sleeves up her arm, barely allowing her hand to stick out. "Aren't you cold now?" She questioned, sounding genuinely concerned.
"No, I'm fine." George replied, echoing her gentle tone. Admittedly, the chilly air was rather biting, but his button down shirt was thick cotton and feeling a bit cold was better than feeling guilty about a shivering Hermione. The coolness that still existed between him and Hermione, however, was not bearable. "Er…Hermione…" George hesitantly cleared his throat before continuing in a repentant voice: "I'm sorry I yelled at you earlier. I was being out of line." He confessed, feeling ashamed about his earlier outburst.
"Don't worry George. I'm sorry I overreacted. You should be able to come by and see me whenever you want." Hermione smiled at him over the bright blue collar of his Weasley sweater. George couldn't help but return her grin, appreciating her kind offer and the way the vibrant colour brought out her golden brown eyes.
"It was rude about what I said about you shagging Higgs…" George said cautiously, unsure if he should, once again, bring up the topic.
"I'm not." Hermione quickly contributed. "I'm not shagging him…anymore. We try to maintain cordiality though and so I had him over. He was actually explaining to me about the necklace when you came over."
"Oh?"
"Yah, he didn't mean anything of it. I think I overreacted on that too…"
"I don't think so, Mione," George said fervently. "I think he was being a bit of a prick giving it to you."
"No George, he wasn't." Hermione stood up for her coworker and former love interest. "He just thought I'd like it."
"Ok," George returned. He wasn't convinced by Hermione's explanation, however, thinking that Terence's gift was intended to needlessly lead Hermione along. "You're just so sweet, Mione. Of course you'd expect the best of-" George's compliment was sharply interrupted by a protruding root on the ground of the forest floor. The obstruction caught his foot and he tumbled to his knees, catching his fall with both his palms.
"George, are you ok?"
"Bloody hell!" George yelled, turning over so that he was seated on the ground. "That hurt like hell." He rubbed his palms together to shake of the dirt and he started to survey his body, looking for any potential injury.
"Oh George…your ankle." Hermione said with worry in her voice. George glanced at the ankle that had caught the root, shuddering when he saw that it was twisted at an unnatural angle.
"Oh damn."
"It's ok, I think I can fix it," Hermione's hand went to the pocket of her jeans, locating her wand. Before she was able to brandish it, a chorus of giggles from behind a nearby rock stopped her movement.
"Is that?" George asked.
"Dylan, Evie, Gareth?" Hermione called sharply towards the bolder. She turned to meet George's eyes with an uncomfortable expression that George was sure was mirrored on his own face. He groaned inwardly, wondering how much of their intimate conversation, not to mention his string of curse words, the students had overheard.
"Oi Professors." A mocking voice echoed from behind the rock.
"Do you mind sitting tight? I'll be right back," Hermione promised George. She returned her wand to her pocket and ventured off the makeshift path to retrieve the students. Shortly, she returned, pulling Dylan behind her, while the other two followed shamefacedly. Hermione dragged the sheepish-looking youngster by his upper arm. Even though the boy was a head taller than the professor, he shrunk in her presence as Hermione walked him along with a formidable and authoritarian gait.
"Looks like you caught us, Professor Granger, Professor Weasley," Dylan said, trying to sound flippant and attempting to maintain a cheeky grin even though it was clear he was concerned about the pending disciplinary consequences. "Nice fall, Professor Weasley." The youngster said with a laugh in George's direction.
"Yes O'Callaghan," Hermione easily adopted her strictest tone. "I'm sure Headmistress McGonagall will have an appropriate punishment for your behavior." Although she spoke sternly, George was certain that she was just as concerned about what the students might have overheard as he was. "What were the three of you thinking? The forest is incredibly dangerous. You have no idea what could have befallen you here."
"We just wanted to have a little fun, Professor Granger," Dylan retorted with an impish smirk. George, from his vantage point of still being seated on the dirt, wanted to give the boy a shake for his insolence, but thought better of it. Finding himself in support of the side of authority amused George, but he figured that, as a professor, it was the appropriate position for him to take.
"What happened to Professor Weasley?" Evie asked, noticing the fallen George and obviously wanting to divert the conversation away from the topic of their potential punishment.
"Oh right. I should fix that ankle." Hermione, once again, grabbed her wand from her pocket. She quietly muttered an incantation while tapping her wand against George's mangled ankle. George immediately felt the pain subside as his ankle began to heal itself. "Can you put weight on it?" Hermione asked.
"Hmm…let me see…" George gingerly propped himself up and attempted to get to his feet. His injured ankle was tender but seemed to be able to support his weight.
"It should be fully healed shortly" – Hermione interjected – "Here…" She wrapped her arm around George's torso, glancing at each of the students in turn. George sensed that she was self-conscious about touching him in such an intimate way around the young Ravenclaws, but George also knew that he wouldn't be able to complete the trek back to the castle without her support. The group slowly wandered through the forest. George stepped carefully on his slowly healing ankle while, for the most part, leaning on Hermione. The three students trailed behind them, all walking with noticeable slouches, clearly embarrassed at having to be accompanied by the two professors. Once the group reached the castle, George's ankle strength had been restored and he was able to walk without Hermione's assistance. Reluctantly, he released himself from her grasp as they entered the building.
"You ok?" Hermione questioned when George started walking on his own.
"Yah, you did a great job. My ankle doesn't hurt in the least," George said with a proud grin, impressed, as always, with his friend's magical prowess.
"It was a very simple spell," Hermione returned George's smile. George was relieved that he and his friend had seemed to mange to shake the discomfort that had earlier existed between them. Together they continued to march the trio of students through Hogwarts' corridors to McGonagall's office.
-o-O-o-
"We're here to see Headmistress McGonagall," Hermione reported to the stone cat before it even had the opportunity to inquire as to their business. The cat quickly disappeared into a pile of rubble and then rematerialized while the door in the cottage painting opened.
"Oh hello. Well, it's nice to see you. Of course, I'd rather not be seeing you three under such circumstances." McGonagall briskly stated when George and Hermione led the misbehaving students into her office.
"Shall we stay?" Hermione gestured between herself and George.
"Oh no, I have it from here," McGonagall replied, her voice terse. She narrowed her eyes on each of the students in turn. "Thank you Professor Granger, Professor Weasley." She waved her hand to bid George and Hermione goodbye. Nodding and mumbling their farewells, the two professors exited the office.
"Oh wow, I'm glad that's not me anymore," George whistled once they were out of earshot.
"One wrong step and it could be," Hermione teased, relieving George at how much she sounded like her normal self.
"Mione….even though I wouldn't have planned it like this, I'm glad I got the chance to hang out with you tonight," George said earnestly. Hermione looked surprised at his sudden sentimentality.
"Oh, George…Th-that's very sweet. I'm glad I got to spend time with you too."
"I should have taken you up on your offer the other day. Spending time with Fiona was not-it wasn't like spending time with you."
Hermione smiled while her checks coloured with a slight flush at George's remark: "Oh, well, it was kind of you to take her out anyway. I don-" She started on a thought, but George interrupted her before she was able to verbalize any further.
"You are more than a friend Hermione….Y-you-you're my-my best friend…." George had considered telling Hermione of his deeper feelings but faltered, unable to find the courage to complete the thought.
"Really George!" Hermione brightened considerably at his comment as her face lit up with a wide, toothy smile. "Really?"
"Well…yah…" George said, realizing that the statement was, in fact, true. "Well…other than…you know…" He shrugged, not necessarily wanting to bring his twin into the conversation.
"I know, George." Hermione spoke kindly. "You're my best friend too, George…well one of them." She added hastily and then looked embarrassed. "That sounded mean…"
"No it didn't." George chuckled, understanding what Hermione meant. He didn't feel lessened by the fact that she wasn't able to discredit her friendships with Harry, Ginny, Ron, Luna, and Neville: the people to whom he assumed she was referring.
"Ok good." Hermione sighed. George felt a slight surge of the courage that he earlier lacked and threw his arm around Hermione's shoulder, pulling her close into his torso. To his great pleasure, Hermione didn't shrug off his gesture, but instead entwined her own arm around his torso. Walking arm in arm with his friend caused George to smile; it reminded him so vividly of his first night, when he had led a drunken Hermione through the same corridors. This time, however, Hermione was able to walk on her own volition and George was able to fully enjoy having the young woman in his arms. In the last number of weeks he had grown to know her so well and had come to appreciate her and her friendship so much. As a result, there was a certain reward with having her so close. The pair walked in contented silence, their steps in perfect unison, and their arms around snugly wrapped each other until they reached, to George's chagrin, their point of departure.
"Well, goodnight George. I'll see you tomorrow…you excited? Big Quidditch match." Hermione said sweetly, separating from George's grasp.
"Oh right," George groaned. He had momentarily forgotten about the game verses Slytherin; a match that would most likely prove tough for his young side.
"They'll be great, George. You're a wonderful coach."
"Thanks, Mione. Goodnight and sleep tight," George returned. He waved goodbye to his departing friend and then continued on his way to his own quarters.
Author's Note: Thanks for reading. We're getting close to the end. Ps. I'm trying to come up with the basics for my next story [another Hermione/Geroge story, of course]. It is definitely going to be from Hermione's Perspective – I far prefer writing in her perspective to writing George's. It's a bit easier for me….Feel free to send me a message with any suggestions. I love hearing what people have to say and will do my best to include any ideas!