Hey guys, sorry, it's been a bit, I know, but between all my script writing and film classes and two campuses and my radio show, I've been a bit insane lately XD Not to mention, I designed an entire CD (Sex American Style) for the band E.V.LOUD, and I've been under incredible pressure from that for months! But it's all done now, the CD looks great (it's for sale now, ut there's no pics up yet...I'll be putting a link in my bio profile page very soon for that CD) and I'm once again free to pursue the fanfictional delights of my hidden subconscious. Woot.
-FireValkyrie
T. Vaughn S.
The Misadventures of the Weasley Brothers
by
FireValkyrie
Chapter 49: Some Developments
sSs
The week went by smoothly enough, but the transition of being back in school gave George and Live a few unexpected problems.
Such as, Live woke up one morning to that horrid gaping pain in her chest to find George gone and herself quite alone in the boys' dorm. She found out on later inspection that he had been on the quidditch pitch, rather far from the castle, and having what Angelina referred to afterward as "the most pathetic practice in Gryffindor history." Though George had been doing his best to ignore the pain and prove his merit, it was decided for the couple (and by Angelina, no less) that Live had to come with George to quidditch practice every morning till unnecessary (or at least stay in closer proximity) because it caused him such debilitating distraction otherwise. It was suggested by a few smarmy voices (mainly Lavender when she heard about it) that Live would sell out Gryffindor to Slytherin if allowed to watch their practices, but it was a risk Angelina was willing to take. Mainly because she knew Live didn't care a lick about quidditch anyhow.
Though it made the blonde Slytherin grouchy to have to wake up so early and be dragged out of George's warm bed, Live decided it was rather nice to take advantage of the sun until the drab winter set in, and she could enjoy the lake or the trees when she got too agitated staying in the pitch. Angelina was a task master, to be sure, and Live could only watch so much quidditch before she had to leave, just far enough away that her chest didn't hurt and that George could play without being distracted by either her or the pain.
Classes, too, were something of an adjustment.
Live was struggling horridly in potions compared with her usual knack, trying her best to keep up and really hitting the books hard since they had been back. And though she was doing rather decently, she was upset with herself that she still wasn't up to her usual par standards. Worse, working over the cauldron in long sleeves and her hair down (as she was still working on ways to hide her scarring without pouring on the makeup by bucket-fulls) was sweaty and tiring. More than once that week George had threatened that if she came to bed smelling like dragon blood fumes, he'd give her a right bathing himself (which she was still considering a worthy consequence of purposely spilling the stuff on herself).
George was having a downright horrid time of potions. Snape was using every excuse he could to take points off the Gryffindor, and though Lee tried his best to help George with his cauldron, they still ended up with potions more akin to cement than proper brew, the time away from class definitely not helping his performance. But the quality of his potions didn't even matter. As Lee kept jibbing him, Snape was probably working for the good of the community, keeping George so wrapped up in homework and detentions that he wouldn't have the time to think about-- let alone get around to-- getting Live pregnant and solving their little problems all of his own devices. While the idea made George smirk, it still wasn't much consolation to have Snape even more up in his business than usual.
Lee complained that potions had been bloody awful until George had come back. He'd had to partner up with Putterly more times than naught in the Gryffindor's absence, and the Slytherin was arrogant, self-absorbed, and so full of himself that Lee wondered if the bloke thought himself the rightful king of the planet. Though Lee painted a rather nose-wrinkling picture of his sod-of-a-temporary partner, the seventh year Slytherin seemed to be helping Live along swimmingly. That is, if she ever really required anyone's help. But Snape didn't take it easy on her, either, and piled the homework and assignments on just as heavy.
"Snape give you makeup work too?" George asked Live as the both of them left class alongside Lee. He had his arm around her waist, finding it hard to believe that the Slytherin would be subject to all the strange and unusual punishments of potions work as the man had laid on George himself.
Live huffed with haste, shoving parchment into her bag. "Yeah…so much…But at least we can make up the lost points instead of our grades suffering. Ugh, I'm so out of practice! This is shameful..."
Lee grinned as they made their way through the crowd of students, many of the Gryffindors grumbling over all the points today. They didn't even blame George, racking up Snape's unusually sour point-taking to a bad case of Man-PMS. "Well it's a worthy trade. At least I don't have to partner up with that Putterly bloke anymore," Lee said with a relieved sigh. He grinned at the Slytherin. "Sorry 'bout that, Live," he apologized with a smirk at the loathsome fact that she had to be Putterly's partner once again.
"Yeah, but I get treated to your ugly mug again," George jibbed with a smirk to his mate.
"Sod off," Lee said, giving him a friendly punch in the arm.
Live fixed her bag about her person and flung her less-than-pristine hair back in a rush. Not even time for a quick shower between classes. Ugh, first chance she got to be clean… "I'm gonna be late to charms!" she announced as she slipped out of George's grasp but was grabbed by the hand to keep her from leaving.
"You have class?" George said with surprise. He'd planned to stick it out in his bed with her for as long as possible until other classes that day. Being dragged out of bed the past several mornings before dawn for early quidditch practice hadn't been his idea of spending time with Live. Not to mention, he was exhausted.
"Yeah, Flitwick's giving me extra sessions when he has spare time so I can catch up," Live informed. "I gotta take it or leave it, and I'm already doing so horridly in potions, I can't afford to fail all my subjects."
"I forgot how Hermione-ish you can be sometimes," George teased with a smirk.
She grinned and held George's hand entwined with her own up to her chest to bring him close, stealing a kiss before she had to bolt.
"Oi! When're you going t' be out?!" he hollered emphatically as she disappeared through the crowd of students.
She stopped, standing up on her tiptoes with a grin to see him. "I'll meet you at lunch!"
He grinned as she once again disappeared. He shrugged with relief, and Lee clasped him on the shoulder with a laugh. George was hopeless.
"Oi, Weasley. I want a word."
George turned towards the self-important voice belonging to Jason Putterly only a little ways from them. He was frowning at the Gryffindor with a sort of condescending look, though it wasn't much different than the way he mostly looked when confronting George and his housemates.
"What do you think he wants?" George asked Lee with a wry look towards the Slytherin. He made a mental note that his wand was still in his robes pocket, ready for quick action.
"Haven't the foggiest," Lee replied, also giving the Slytherin a rather disagreeable look. "You going to see what he wants then?"
The Slytherin was standing in the middle of the hallway, and other students casually went about their business after giving him a frown for not moving out of their way. He eyed the two Gryffindor seventh years with a sort of distaste, and took his attention to something apparently more pleasing- the statue of a rather ugly gargoyle.
"I suppose," George said warily, ready for anything. He turned from Lee, and the other boy made a remark that caused George a twinge of amusement.
"If he says anything about my brewing skills, you give me the signal and I'm going to curse the git." Lee then continued to mumble about his superior skills in all things potion and women.
"Right," George agreed with a smirk as he approached the Slytherin who seemed especially high and mighty today. What a bother. He couldn't afford to get into a duel so near Snape's dungeon. He'd already lost Gryffindor well over twenty points just for being himself. And the self-aggrandizing Slytherin before him was well-overdue for Gryffindor harassment. The other seventh year gave George a deprecating look.
"You had better keep a closer eye on Live."
George frowned at him. "What's that supposed to mean?" he said with threat, the sudden need to protect Live swelling up like a wave threatening to crash down on the Slytherin before him.
Putterly gave him a wry look, eyeing the halls around them and Lee waiting against the further wall for George. The Slytherin wrinkled his nose at the fiery-haired boy before him as if it was utterly distasteful for him to condescend to speak with him. "Malfoy has been sneaking around lately. More than usual. And with the rumors I've heard, I wouldn't keep less than a focus on her."
George narrowed his eyes at the other seventh year with suspicion. "Why are you telling me this?"
Putterly gave George the most condescending look he could muster. "I cannot be everywhere at once to keep him from harassing her. And since you seem so adamant at tarnishing her reputation with your presence," he said with a distasteful look at the Gryffindor, "I suppose you could be an extra set of ears and eyes in the hallways."
George gave him a solid, possessive look. "We're engaged, you git."
"Hmph," Putterly scoffed, as if the idea didn't matter a lick to him. "That's of no consequence. I don't trust Malfoy a speck. And an idiot like you can't keep her very safe or for very long. But sadly, I can only do so much by myself, and your ilk seem to attract danger like stink on a troll." He didn't mention the fact that Live's presence, or lack thereof, in the Slytherin dormitories had escaped his knowledge, as well as per the fact that Vivian Monteclaire and Rebecca Haversham only told him off with spouts of Live being sick or tired and in no mood for visitors. He'd only managed to get words in and chat with the blonde during potions, and that was getting seemingly nowhere. He still had no idea where she'd been off to, but she had affirmed that Malfoy had had nothing to do with her disappearance. Which at least put his mind a little at ease.
"Watch yourself, Putterly," George warned of his statement. The Slytherin's description of Gryffindors attracting danger was actually pretty apt in George's opinion. It rubbed him the wrong way to think that someone else, especially Putterly, had touched upon the fact that Live's well-being was either directly or indirectly related to his added presence. Wasn't it Live in the very beginning who had warned him about the risks of them being together? But he had brushed all her concerns off, and thus far there had been attacks and Soul Bubbles and numerous hospital stays…
"You watch yourself, Weasley," Putterly said in a menacing manner, turning his back brusquely on the Gryffindor, ending the conversation.
George stood there wondering if he had just been threatened or not when Lee joined him at his side for information.
"He's up to something," George reported back to Lee with a wary eye. Lee's eyes widened as they watched the Slytherin go. "Definitely planning something…"
"Putterly?"
"Malfoy." The seventh year Slytherin was now gone from sight. It didn't help George's nerves to think that he might know something. Or at least more than he was letting on. "He told me to keep an eye on Live. That ferrety git has been sneaking about lately."
"Well that's a surprise," Lee declared truthfully. "Malfoy doing his own dirty work. But why bother telling you?"
George shrugged. Why had Putterly warned him? Aside from the obvious interest the little blonde-haired prick seemed to have in Live, which was good for nobody on either side. He did suppose though that at least they had something in common, and that was that neither of them wanted Malfoy anywhere near her.
"Oi, Lee, do me a favor," George said.
"Depends what it is," Lee said caustically, remembering a taste-test incident with the twins gone horridly, horridly wrong.
"I want you to keep an eye on Live when I can't. If I'm not around--"
"As if I'm around her more than you, mate. I've got one Hunter already trying to attach herself to my hip with experiments. I don't want another," Lee said both figuratively and literally, dragging his hands dramatically over his face.
"I mean it," George said. "If something happens that I'm not around, keep an eye on her for me, okay?"
"Like, emergency quidditch practice or something?" Lee asked, trying to think of some alternate reality where Live and George were not connected at the lips. He rolled his eyes at the thought.
"Yeah…Like that," George replied wearily, hoping Lee understood the seriousness of his request. "I don't trust Malfoy. Or any of those vipers."
"What about her mates?"
"Vivian and Rebecca? Those bints are alright," he said a bit more lightly with a smirk. "They like Live. They wouldn't hurt her. Besides, it's blokes like Malfoy and Putterly that rub me the wrong way."
"Speaking of rubs…" Lee snickered, giving George a sort of grin as his mind continued on. "How is married life treating you, then, mate?"
George grinned at the change of subject. Live as his wife. His real wife. Godric Gryffindor, the idea! What a rush! "I cannot wait," he informed, trying to keep his tones level through the excitement that quickly flowed over his feelings of agitation. "First chance we get."
"Well unless Fred becomes ordained somehow-- and I don't think anyone in their right mind would ordain him, by the way-- looks like you'll have to," Lee snickered. George rolled his eyes as Lee looked momentarily pensive. "You know Kara told me that people actually want Fred to unofficially marry them? He's got a waiting list a mile long."
George looked ponderous with an entrepreneurial air. "Maybe there's money in this…" he said with a smirk.
"Aside from all the extra selling Kara's been doing," Lee informed as they meandered through the halls. "I think you owe me an apology, mate. She's boosted our sales by more than half. Though I actually think it's because she really pushes at the clientele like a back-owed goblin."
George smirked at the other Gryffindor, willing to grant said apology. "Why Mister Lee Jordan, I do hereby solemnly confess an admission of guilt on my part." Lee was smirking at his smarminess, but George wasn't done. "To think, I ever doubted you or any decision you have ever made. Why the very thought is appalling!"
"Apology well accepted," Lee said with a grin and a laugh.
"From now on," George continued, with a look of utter atonement, "I shall hereby grant you power of attorney in matters concerning our business affairs, and never act without your supreme guidance and direction, o revered one."
Lee waited a moment, then smirked. "Can I have that in writing, mate?"
George shoved him with a grin. "Want to visit the kitchens? Nick an early lunch?"
Lee shrugged. "Sounds good." He gave George a wry smirk. "I didn't get a chance to get decent breakfast with you hogging the shower this morning."
"It wasn't me!" George denied, remembering how peeved Lee had been when his water had run cold mid-shower. "Live was in the shower," George defended, clearing himself of guilt.
"Yeah, and you invited yourself along," Lee said with a conspiratory grin. "She usually doesn't take that long. Git."
George only grinned like the cat that got the canary. "Yeah, but that's partially my fault as well," he told the other seventh year with a wickedly implicative smirk and a haughty grin. Lee laughed and gave him a playfully-spiteful punch in the arm.
sSs
"I told him I was sorry. Damn," Kara explicated as she walked through the halls during lunch.
"Well I think you got off lucky," Ginny commented. "Snape's been kind of off-kilter lately, be glad you caught him in a good moment."
"Hmph," Kara grouched, looking again at the parchment in her hand with her own writing scrawled all over it. "There's two hours I'll never get back."
"Love letter?" a voice asked from behind as the parchment was quickly whisked from Kara's hand. The younger blonde and redhead turned to see Fred looking pensively at the pilfered paper. "I will not sell first years to other students or teachers as pets." He lifted a brow at her pensively, and turned it over with surprise to find even more. "I will not sell first years licenses and panties that declare they own each other. Is this how we've been making our fortune?" Fred asked as he waved the paper emphatically.
"Stupid Snape went and ruined it all," Kara grumped, not put off by his teasing.
Ginny snickered. "She was giving a license and panties to Mary Goldstein and Tommy Jager. Right in front of the potions classroom."
"Well class was over! I didn't see any harm in it!" Kara defended. She lifted her chin on the offense. "They wanted to buy from me. If two people want to be joined in pantied love then who am I to refuse them? And they were rather old for first years, anyway. It was hardly a crime." Ginny was laughing at Kara's insistence that what she was doing wasn't wrong, and Fred was still giving her a thinking look.
"You know," he pointed out. "This parchment doesn't say you can't sell other years to other students." Kara's face brightened with the loophole he'd found.
"Hey you're right!" She stuck her hands in her bag and did a quick count of some merchandise that was unviewable from the Weasleys' angle. "Excellent! Fourteen! I'll see you both for dinner!" she spouted as she dashed off, calling behind herself, "Ginny please save me something from lunch for the common room!"
"Alright!" the fourth-year redhead responded as the blonde sped away. Fred gave his little sister a look. "What?"
"Why does it say she won't sell first years to students and teachers?"
Ginny smirked toothily. "There was an incident with Tonks and 'extra help'." Fred gave her an intrigued look. Ginny shook her head solemnly. "We don't talk about it." She flitted away as he looked with amusement at the parchment, his head filling with all sorts of ideas.
"Tonks, you nark," he murmured with a smirk before going about his business.
sSs
Dinner was rather uneventful that night, people milling about, eating their share and taking their leave. Kara's presence unnerved the other Gryffindors as she came to eat amongst them with a great grin on her face and an overfilled rucksack. They wisely kept their questions for later, as disturbing Kara as she ate was certain to erupt in some sort of fiasco where one might lose a limb. Closer inspection of Kara's bag by Ginny had resulted in curiosity over just what the fifth year blonde was doing with a bunch of brightly colored handkerchiefs. The blonde fifth year muttered something about house elves and went about her dinner without much interruption, especially after her bag bit Ron in his attempt to further inspect her merchandise.
"He's doing it again," George remarked quietly to Lee amidst the sounds of his younger brother trying to free himself from a teal-colored handkerchief. Lee gave his fiery-haired friend a raised brow as he spooned a portion of mashed potatoes into his mouth.
"Whaf?"
"…staring at her."
Lee looked up over to the Slytherin table to see Live eating dinner between Vivian and Rebecca. The girls chatted amiably and with obvious missed-friendship, completely unaware as to the furtive glances Malfoy kept stealing their way. And they were not at all friendly glances either.
Lee swallowed and frowned. "Putterly's noticed, too," he pointed out, and George's attention was immediately drawn to the other seventh year sitting just far away but close enough to the girls to give the Gryffindor pause. "What do you think he's planning?"
George shook his head, as if it would clear his troubled mind. "I don't like any of this. I told her we should eat together."
Lee laughed lightly in sad amusement. "I'd like to see you waltz on over to the Slytherin table, mate," Lee said with a grin. "And I don't think it would be good for her to eat with us either, the way her housemates are…love for us Gryffindors and all…Though I'd say most are still jealous over that ring she's got and they don't," he finished with a smirk.
George sighed. He didn't think it would take much persuasion to convince the house elves to deliver their dinners to his dorm every night. At least then she'd be out of their leering eyes, and they could spend some more time together.
"Maybe…" George muttered, watching them without much interest in his own half-finished plate. Live looked up from her friends and caught George looking at them. She smirked at him and said something in Vivian's ear while still looking at George. The other girl's eyes went wide, and she looked at George with something akin to surprise and shock, all three girls giggling. George felt his face becoming hot as he was more than certain he was the subject of their secret discussion, and Live giggled and mouthed 'love you' before blowing him a little discreet kiss and a wink before going back to her meal with her mates.
"What was that about?" Lee asked with a sly grin, prodding George for info after the fiery-haired seventh year didn't answer a moment.
"I don't know," George muttered quickly in distraction as his attention was focused on something a bit more worrisome. His eyes were nonchalantly on his food, but his peripheral vision worked just as good. He didn't want to be noticeable. "Lee don't make it obvious, but tell me what you see."
Lee got the message and slowly looked up to see Malfoy glaring towards them with a definitively pensive look on his face. "Malfoy's looking over here like he has a new crush," Lee said with disgust and little amusement. He further watched the blonde-haired boy until Malfoy turned his attention back to the girls, and then looked in Putterly's direction as if to check. Seeing that he had been spotted by the seventh year Slytherin, the platinum-haired fifth year went back to his dinner with a vengeance. Lee let out a breath. "Little ferret."
"He knows he's being watched," George pointed out with a sick feeling as he took a good thorough look over at the Slytherin table. "Why would he be so on-edge if he wasn't planning something?"
"I don't know, mate, but it makes me sick," Lee replied, pushing away his plate. He sighed. "Are you going to let Live know?"
George shrugged and looked in her direction. She caught his eye and smiled at him in acknowledgement before going back about her business. George pushed around the food on his plate. "I don't know. Should I?"
"Keep her on edge at least," Lee suggested.
"She's already on edge," George replied not without agitation at that fact. He pushed his plate away from himself. "I don't like any of this business."
"Well unless you sneak off and get married and live in obscurity for the next twenty years, I don't think there's much you can do about it but deal with it," Lee replied.
George knew that Lee was making a good point, but he didn't want Live to have to 'deal'. He wanted all this bloody business behind them. "I'm through here," he said, getting to his feet as Lee cocked a brow and gave him a look while his mouth was busy chewing a large piece of chicken breast. He said something to George that came out garbled, and the other boy just gave him a sort of smirk and shook his head because, no, he didn't want pumpkin pasties for dessert.
Slightly grinning, George freed himself from the table with a look over at the Slytherins to see Live watching him with intent eyes. He offered her a smirk, but decided not to make her leave if she wasn't finished with her dinner. Lo and behold, Live patted her friends and gave them smiles and words before jumping up and following after George, her departure being watched by more than just her two smiling friends.
"Ditcher," she accused outside the great hall with a smile as she wrapped her arms around George's arm and walked next to him with a loving grin.
"I wasn't sure if you were done or not," he supplied, though at her little noise of protest, he realized how it came out.
"Are you calling me fat?" she asked with a smirk, playfully picking a fight. He smirked back at her and kissed her cheek. "Oh, I get it, don't answer, that's fine," she continued playfully as she carried on conversation with herself. "Don't dig your own grave, huh?"
He grinned as he decided to let her draw her own conclusions with this false quarrel of her own designs. His mind was heavy with worries he wasn't quite sure he desired to share the weight of.
"Silence is louder than words…" she spouted off in a sort of haughty, entitled voice of play, in her own little world of proverbs and provisions at her disposal. "But if I have put on a little weight," she started a little bit serious, prodding him in the side to make sure he was listening as he looked down at her with an absent smirk, "it's because of your mother's cooking. Vivian said I must have gained ten pounds while we were away!" she both whined and accused.
He grinned at her but let her continue on her tirade. As every male knew, it was very dangerous territory to navigate, discussing a female's weight. He'd leave well enough alone and let her come to her own conclusions. He was still musing on whether or not to tell her of the new state of things. He didn't like the options at hand, and with knowledge that Malfoy knew he was being watched, it only helped to further put strain on George's mind.
"…which I guess means having to go on a freakin' diet or start wearing those bulky clothes Kelena keeps gifting me," she continued in her frame of thought. "Unless Vivian was just teasing me again because she's so jealous of the ring you gave me…How much fat would you say is in those meals your mum makes anyways?"
When George didn't stop to answer her, she gave him a little tug and frowned up at him with a sort of odd smile. He stopped walking and rolled his eyes with a grin. "Vivian's just being a right bint because Pucey hasn't presented her with a such an ingenious ring yet," he said in praising his own abilities. She grinned at his brass. "Now quit getting your knickers in a twist," he ordered, kissing her on the lips as she murmured pleasantly against them. "What?"
"I'm not wearing any," she repeated with a smirk.
As much as that delighted and pleased him, it also worried him- she having been so close to those other buggers in her school skirt and robes for very, very easy (he pleasurably assured himself) access. Turned against her it could have disastrous consequences. Now turned against him on the other hand…
Taking in his surroundings a bit dazed, he realized his feet had automatically taken them in the direction of the Gryffindor common room, and right now they were rather alone in the corridor before the halls of stairs. Live was pressing her body against his with obvious interest, looking up at him with a naughty sparkle to her eye. How that little fact had escaped his immediate awareness he had no bloody idea.
"Hey. George. What's up?" she asked, knowing full well the double entendre of her words as she pressed herself against him with curiosity and a smile. "Your mind's gone, but your body's definitely here."
He scoffed with an embarrassed smile and brought her better into his arms. "Thinking."
She looked a bit agitated with such a brief explanation as to his absentmindedness, and gave him a patiently exasperated smile. "Well, alert the papers! It's a bloody miracle!" she teased. He gave her a patient smirk and she looked at him with expectant concern. "What's wrong?"
He took her chin in his hand and gently brought her lips to his, kissing her fully until her insistence for answers was quietly stilled. He laid her head on his chest where he stroked her hair and thought deeply, wondering if she should be brought to further worry or not, and would giving her the added strain of his own thoughts further go to agitate her attempts at controlling that wild magic? It was a heavy decision. Though he supposed it could always wait, and he could deal with more immediate problems…such as just how long she had been panty-less and what he should do about it…
sSs
"And a near-miss of a hit by Harry Potter! Lucky shot, that! Nearly got him! Excellent playing we're seeing today!! And did I mention that you can really show your house spirit with a few specialty-made items from--"
"JORDAN!"
Giggles erupted from behind the stands from which Lee was doing commentary for the Gryffindor vs. Hufflepuff quidditch match, and McGonagall also shot her indiscriminate gaze at the offenders themselves.
"Ooh another ten points to Hufflepuff! Almost had the quaffle snatched right away!! Another lucky shot! You can tell they didn't expect Gryffindor to be so strong even after the absence of beater George Wea--"
"JORDAN!! Stick to game commentary only or I'll replace you myself!" McGonagall affirmed with agitation.
Lee huffed and went back to commentary with the dullest voice he could muster just to spite her. Though his apathetic-revenge didn't last long as three more goals and some very tricky moves had the crowds cheering and going wild. Hufflepuff was putting up a very good front, but it was obvious that they had gotten cocky what with George's unexplained absence during the past few weeks. Though the fiery-haired seventh year did indeed have a few moments of weaker resolve atop his broom, it was clear that Angelina's militant pre-dawn practices had gotten him right back into shape. And the fact that the Hufflepuff team hadn't expected him to be so on top of things was giving Gryffindor quite an extra edge.
"…with ten points to Gryffindor!! An amazing goal made by Katie Bell!! And--wait! Has Potter seen the snitch?! He's going into a dive!! But can Hufflepuff stop him? They'll really have to try--Watch out for those bludgers, Harry!"
"Lee Jordan if you don't stick to straight commentating without your little extra snippets, I'll be forced to pull you from the job!"
"Sorry ma'am, won't happen again!" he offered McGonagall with a winning smile. As he turned back to the field, he saw that the snitch had been caught, and that the game was officially over. He groaned at the fact that she had caused him to miss the exciting end. Though he pondered that perhaps it would make him learn. Perhaps, but unlikely.
sSs
George put his face under the water of the Gryffindor changing room showers, relishing in how good it felt to be warm and out of the chill air. The Gryffindor quidditch team had long since left the pitch and the room, carrying Harry off for catching the snitch at the last second and giving Gryffindor quite the bonus in running for the House Cup. It was nice, and while George had assured them he'd be right behind them after scrubbing the 'out-of-practice' off himself, he was actually spending his time deep in thought.
It was only a few days in which he'd been putting off the decision of whether or not to tell Live about his impromptu meeting with Putterly, and how Malfoy had been keeping extra tabs on her lately, and none too covert about it either. He was still on the ropes as to what he should do with that information apart from watching her extra closely and coercing the house elves to deliver their meals to his room. He thought that he would feel overall less stressed and calmer once the big match was finally over and he could prove to them all that he wasn't finished as a beater. But with all gone from the stadium and the pitch, he was only that much more aware of the worries and concerns picking at his strained mind.
He jumped in surprise as two very familiar female arms wrapped themselves around his middle, splaying her fingers in amusement.
"Drowning yourself in the shower after a victory? Seems a little backwards to me," Live said with a smile as she placed a kiss on the nape of his neck, giggling as she had startled him.
He turned his head back to look at her with a smirk as the water fell over him. She offered him an unapologetic grin with a rosy tint to her cheeks. It only made him smirk at her bravado. "I must say I'm pleasantly surprised," he started with a smirk, "but then there's the question of just how long you've been peeping at my backside, my love." His eyes widened a bit as she hugged herself close to him with a giggle, feeling bare breasts on the skin of his back. "Are you naked? Naked-naked??"
She giggled again with playfulness. "You invade my showers often enough. I thought it was time to turn the tables and take charge of this war. And it is bloody chilly outside."
"But in the Gryffindor changing rooms?" he said with disbelief, wondering how she'd gotten in in the first place, let alone how long she'd been in there peeping at him. Though the idea did make him smirk.
"If you don't like it, I can always leave," she suggested with a grin, contrarily trailing her hands down his front and waist as he gasped with surprise at her candor. She nuzzled his shoulder with her cheek, closing her eyes and enjoying the closeness under the warmth of the water with no intention of going anywhere.
"Can I ask why here?" he said with a surprised croak and barely concerned wonder, more interested about the rather strategic placement of her hands.
"I waited long enough outside for you to come out…bloody taking forever," she murmured with feigned annoyance. She smirked into his shoulder. "Everyone's back at the castle…the teams have all left the pitch…we're all alone," she implied with a smirk in her voice. "And, I love you." He sniffed with amusement and she grinned to herself as she allowed her hands to explore his body. "Hm, no injuries that I can tell…no run-ins with bludgers. Everything…intact." He gasped as all thoughts but for the progress of her hands left his mind. "Judging by the state of your person, seems like you played a good game…a very good game, if I do say so myself," she snickered as she splayed her fingers out for a better feel.
"You…didn't watch?" he gasped, thoroughly distracted as she giggled at his words. He felt her shake her head behind him.
"I stayed close, but I can't watch when you play…Stresses me out and everything," she informed, kissing his skin and nuzzling his shoulders. "But luckily, I know a few ways to help one unwind. And besides, you did win the game…"
He moaned as she lightly snickered, taking much advantage of their little private rendezvous away from all the annoyances of the world.
sSs
"But I heard there's all sorts of types of pox you could get down there, so he wouldn't be the prime suspect to consult, now would he?" Pansy Parkinson was remarking to her group of friends in the Great Hall on the way to dinner. "Besides, he's got broom-blisters you-know-where. I don't know how he even thought seeking would be a good position for him." She turned her attention on to a sound of familiar giggling only to see Live Hunter and George Weasley strolling in from off the quidditch pitch. They both had wet hair despite the chill air, but looked blissfully ignorant of that fact, walking past Pansy and her little group without even the barest of acknowledgements. Pansy wrinkled her pug-like nose in annoyance that she wasn't even worthy of the little blood-traitor's attention. "Speaking of pox and scars….Hey Live, didn't see you in our stands at the quidditch match earlier," she began in falsely-innocent tone, "Were you off cheering with the little Gryffindors for their pathetic little team?"
Like a hawk Live turned her focus on the other girl with a venomous glare, stopping George with a sudden jerk as she dared her to say another word.
Pansy was obviously intimidated, but tried to stay calm and collected (a true feat indeed with the death-glare Live was giving her) acting innocent of charge with that sweetly disgusting tone. "I was just wondering how they would even have you there…But then I remembered that Gryffindors always favored ugly scars."
Live started with a snarl at the other girl as a small decorative pottery vase exploded behind the gaggle of Slytherins. George had both arms in restraint around Live as the girls shrieked with surprise as to the random explosion. He herded her away from the annoyance with a glare and a mental note to truly make old Pug-Face pay for her disrespect to his lady.
"Come on, sweet. Don't waste any thought on them," he whispered to her as he was pulling her along with him by an arm around her waist. As the group of frenzied girls were looking at their persons for any sign of damage as to the random event, Live gave Pansy the nastiest glare she could muster.
"Go fuck yourself with something hard and sandpapery, you ugly little closet-case!"
Pansy looked momentarily shocked at her words and immediately distanced herself from her concerned female friends as George and Live took their leave up the stairwell and towards the Gryffindor common room. If George hadn't had her arm pinned so, she would have cursed the little bitch rightly, even at the risk that her magic might go haywire.
"It's alright, Live," George coaxed as he gently patted her flank with the arm around her middle as they walked, trying to talk her down. "She's just a stupid little pug-faced bint. She's not even worth it."
Live blinked back tears, incredibly sensitive to the scars that still mottled her skin. She wished she hadn't forgone the longer-sleeved shirt today. "I just need one of my potions and it won't matter if I'm moody," she told him through quietly enraged and hurt tones, knowing full well that she might have hurt the other girl- and enjoyed it- had he not anchored her down. But if she could take one of the potions Snape was constantly preparing for her before she decided to have the bint's head on a platter, she'd be fine. She huffed once, and felt him angle down so he could kiss the top of her damp head.
"They're not even in the same league as you, Live. Not even on the map." She sniffed and nodded, though he knew she wasn't really taking his words to heart. "Oi, you want I should have Fred put frogspawn in her pumpkin juice at dinner tonight? He's been more than waiting for any excuse," he offered, having no doubt that his twin would still be in the common room with the rest of the Gryffindors celebrating their victory over Hufflepuff and in a very delightful mood to have a go at Slytherin. "At least until we can think up something better."
Live's little snort of amusement was all the go-ahead he needed, and he made a mental note to let Fred take a bit of creative license as to how and when the pumpkin juice would be nastily spiked.
"Love you," he whispered over her ear, causing a delightful tremor to go down her spine. She leaned against him with disconcertion, upset that the stupid little bitch had ruined the great mood she had been in when they had left the Gryffindor changing rooms.
"George, do you think it's possible to get Dobby to bring dinner up to your room again tonight?" she asked with expectancy. She didn't feel like going down to dinner tonight, and he didn't blame her, her self-confidence shattered at the moment.
"No problem," he assured, giving her a squeeze. Though Live was under the pretenses that he wanted to spend more time together, now including dinners, it was actually due to Malfoy's leering gaze and too-insistent stare upon her that brought him to his desired action. It was also a plus that he could recline with her in the comfort of the mattress, and he was tired as hell. He grinned down at her with gentle eyes. "Live, you're far more beautiful than she'll ever be, even if she tried to layer on the most complex of spells and magic to cover up those ugly hound features."
Live let a snicker loose as his description of Pansy was pretty apt. "Yes, but you're obligated to say that," she told him with a minorly playful smirk, willing to lighten the mood back up.
"Yeah," he agreed with a grin, "But even if I wasn't so crazy in love with you, I'd still say you're the prettiest thing around. You can ask around the castle, anyone would tell you."
Live smirked and embraced him from the side. They walked along together in silence for a bit, Live's mind busy around mean thoughts of her skin while George's mind was back to the subject of alerting Live to the other fiends waiting in the wings.
"I want another shower," Live spouted in their contemplative silence, feeling dirty and ugly after Pansy's unnecessary words and the thoughts that they brought on.
George grinned down at her. "Can I join you?"
She laughed lightly and looked at him with feigned surprise. "Again? Why, I didn't know showers were possible without you!" He laughed and made a face at her teasing. She giggled, but was actually more than glad whenever he snuck into her showers. It helped to keep away transient flashbacks of being burnt by that potion.
It was a few more moments in contemplative silence before they were before the Gryffindor portrait hole.
"I'm just gonna go straight on up to your room, if you don't mind," Live told him as they stood outside. "You can meet me up when you're ready."
He grinned sideways at her. He appreciated that she was giving him the chance to enjoy the Gryffindor victory without her, but truth be told, he would much rather spend his time with her. And he wanted the dorm to themselves as he was still contemplating the very serious thoughts in his mind, and whether or not to burden her with their weight.
"Oh, but I'm always ready where you're concerned," he told her with a wolfish grin. She smirked at him even as the Fat Lady gave him a disapproving look. "Fishbone."
The portrait hole swung open to a minor ruckus, and the two of them popped through.
"Oi George! Took long enough to come on up," Fred told his twin as he caught sight of him in the portrait hole. Then he grinned as he saw Live come through after George. Fred smirked wickedly at them. "Ah."
"Oh shut yer gob," George jabbed at his twin with a smirk.
Live put her hand on his forearm to get his attention. "I'll be upstairs," she said, dismissing herself even before he could stop her.
Fred watched her go with something of curiosity. "Where's she off to in such a hurry? We're celebrating!"
"Pug-Face Parkinson said some nasty things to her," George confided with a frown.
Fred nodded in understanding. If Live was willing to navigate the Gryffindors crowding the room- something she usually didn't attempt out of discomfort unless George was with her-- then it must have been something rather mean-spirited to have upset her. "Want I should rain some hasty and swift justice down upon the little viper? The Slytherins have been far too cocky since your absence."
George grinned wickedly. "I was thinking the very same thing. Maybe a bit of frogspawn into her pumpkin juice, or whatever else you could think up on short notice. I'm not picky," George told his brother with a grin.
"Ah, this shall be my greatest work yet!" Fred declared, the wheels in his brain already turning. He clapped George on the shoulder with a smirk. "Oh, and have you seen Kelena by any chance?"
George blinked. "I thought you two were done?"
"Oh no, nothing like that," Fred corrected, shrugging. "Just that Hermione's been looking for her since the game ended. Something about House-elves and vid-O's or something like that…I'm not sure what she's on about but Kel's been hiding out." He looked around the room. Neither Hermione nor Kelena were there. "Not even poking her head out of hiding for free booze. Hmph."
"Kara usually knows where she is," George supplied, also noting the blonde was absent from the mini-party. "As a matter of fact I think that's the only thing she might know."
"Yeah, but she's out doing 'business' for us," Fred said using air quotes, a smirk taking his face at George's incredulous look. "Don't worry, nothing like that. I made Lee go with her."
"Oh bloody hell…"
"You never objected to this before!" Fred said with exaggerated shock.
"No," George corrected, "Why didn't you inform me previously? I wanted to be there for the exchange!"
Fred had a good laugh at his poor twin's expense. "Oh, don't worry, I'll let you inspect them once Hagrid's gotten a look at them." He went away with a laugh, but then pulled back as a last thought took him. "Oh yeah, just remembered. I'm going to need you to cover the Ravenclaw orders of Pygmy Puffs. They're going even faster than we can breed them, and I've got to take care of the Owl-orders."
George grinned and nodded. "Right."
Fred smirked. "Great. Now get out of here. There's dirty work a-foot, and I've got to get that frogspawn in ol' puggy's drink before it's too late."
George grinned and took leave of his twin, bobbing through the Gryffindors and making small-talk on his way towards the stairs, hoping Live would be right and well in the shower when he got up there.
sSs
"Dammit Hermione! I told you I'm not doing this again!"
"Oh, come on Kel, please?" the bushy-haired witch pleaded. "We need inserts! You're the only one I can ask. And they're too brain-washed to do it themselves!"
"No! Get someone else!"
"There is no one else! They're all busy with dinner!" Hermione affirmed.
"No! This is a disgusting misuse of power! A right sin against nature! And it creeps me out the way you keep having Creevey film it all!!"
"Kelena," Hermione started, her voice filled with pleading. "You said you'd help them any way you could. And while I know this is a bit unorthodox--"
"It's unnatural!"
"--it's really the best bet we've got!"
"Hermione," Kelena started with a firm note in her voice, "If you can't get a House-Elf to do it, then there's obviously something wrong with what you're asking! And they take care of most anything you could think of!! Wrong and humiliating!"
"Come on, Creevey doesn't know it's you…And Dobby's all for it!"
"He would be."
"Please?"
"You're demented, 'Mione."
"Pretty please?"
"There is no amount of therapy that would make me forget this."
"You'll be doing a service to the wizarding world!"
"…wizarding world has had enough services done to it…" she mumbled.
"Now put this on," Hermione instructed, giving Kelena a shredded old pillowcase.
"You're warped and twisted."
"Great. Now stay in that position, and I'll tell Creevey we're ready to shoot!"
"Merlin's spare bikini…This is gonna scar me for life."
"Just keep thinking thoughts of years of bondage and servitude! I'll be right back!"
Kelena's eyes went wide at the fifth year's statement.
Yes, there was no doubt that she would remember this for the rest of her poor poor life. It would make her future therapist a very rich and happy man indeed.
sSs
It was early morning, dark, gray from the further chill of the cold-setting weather. Henry the Pygmy Puff happily bounced on the pillow next to George's head, waking him from sleep to the mute tones of the early morning. He breathed deeply through his nose, coughing once and sparing a glare at the happy little creature before yawning with sleepiness.
Live was cuddled up next to him, laying on her side with her face half-burrowed into his side under his arm as she was completely off the pillow and sleeping comfortably upon the flatness of the mattress. It made him smile warmly, and he pulled her closer to him, covering the blankets further over them, and grabbing Henry in one hand to stop him from all the bouncing. The little purple fluff ball went still in his hand as George held it firmly to his chest, and then started purring after a moment. It made George smirk as he fell back asleep to the sound of the puffskein's song, a certain lovely indulgence in sleeping peacefully while the rest of the castle began to wake up.
sSs
"So who can tell me the difference between the Malaclaw and the normal lobster?" Tonks asked her class of first year students. She rolled her eyes as no one raised a hand. Either they were too shy, or everyone, including herself, needed a nice strong cup of coffee. "Alright, since no one can answer, I want a sheet of parchment from each of you on the differences of these two creatures with specifics as to differing habitats and the natural aversion predators have of them." Her class minorly groaned, but she didn't care. It was a simple topic, almost busy-work as they were actually ahead of schedule in some areas, but the class didn't want to cooperate, and she was in no benevolent mood. "It might not seem dangerous, but believe me, it's no fun if you can't tell the difference. Just remember: if you ever get horridly sick and turn green because you ate Malaclaw instead of lobster, don't blame me."
She dismissed the class thereafter and lazily flopped down into her chair in her office. She rested her head on her desk and huffed a moment, wishing she could turn back time and get a few more hours sleep…Though she highly doubted anyone would lend her a time turner for such a gracious deed.
"Asleep on the job again? If I said I was surprised, it would surely be a lie."
Tonks didn't even bother looking up, but merely flipped off the snarkily offensive voice to her ears. She heard an affronted snort in response, but didn't care.
"Look," she started from mumbles at her table without looking up, "I've been without sleep for the past thirty-two hours, without coffee for the past four, my students don't know the difference between a sprite and an earthworm, I'm nursing an injured knee, and on top of everything else I'm majorly PMS-ing…If you've got something to say please get it out fast before I get a right mind to bite your head off while I'm at it," she stated quite bluntly. To say the multi-colored haired DADA teacher was at the end of her rope was an extreme understatement. If it had been Dumbledore himself, she wouldn't have been any less kind. But this was Snape, and she really couldn't have cared less.
"Hmph, like I said, I'm not surprised," his snarky voice informed. She actually laughed at that, truly amused, a snort escaping the prison of her arms that her head was pillowed on. "I'm actually here for that specimen of the crag mollusk you have collected."
Tonks lifted her fingers again, but this time indicated a cupboard to the left of her desk. "Take it…the damn thing put up a right good fight."
"You didn't damage the feelers, did you?"
Tonks looked up with a scowl, her eyes and most of her nose hidden by her folded arms. "Damage the feelers?" her voice came in an agitated, high note. "That thing damn near bites my leg off, and you want to know if I damaged the feelers?!"
"If you hadn't released it from the crate in the first place, it wouldn't have had the chance," Snape corrected with a smug tone. Tonks only responded with an angry, gruff sound as Snape found the crated-creature he was looking for. "It will be completely useless if the feelers were damaged. I need at least three drachmas of juice from that alone." He threw a look over his shoulder to see her glaring with slitted eyes at him.
"If you make me get another…"
"It would be fair if this one was ruined," Snape told her with self-imposed authority. She gave him a frown. "But this one seems to be intact. If I need another, you are the first one I shall notify," he said with a tone of entitlement, walking past as she gave him her deepest, sleep-deprived frown yet.
"Lucky me," she said disdainfully as he left her office. She put her forehead back down on her forearms and sighed in exhaustion. The kids weren't much of the problem so much as all the spy work she had been doing recently inside the ministry. As Fudge's right hand 'man', she had been privy to much-needed information as well as an extra persuasive ear to the changes that needed to be made, some regarding marriage laws still, others having to do with the flow of cash and 'special divisions' that the ministry had been putting together without public notice. Adding on top of that fighting with a rather aggravating creature for an hour and a half with a shell that was impervious to magic and over a hundred teeth on the underbelly that gnashed once unlatched from its rock, Tonks was in no mood for anything. She was, however, consoled by the thought that whatever juices Snape could get out of that critter's feelers might help Live in better controlling her magic. That was the plan, at least. They had been trying many new things and potions as of late, really anything, to keep them all safe and well inside the castle. She only hoped their efforts paid off.
"Professor, professor!"
Tonks raised her head slightly off the table to look up with tired eyes. A Hufflepuff third year was standing in her office door with an excited look on her face. Tonks merely groaned. "What is it then?"
"Tommy got locked in that magical closet again!"
Tonks groaned again, rolling her eyes as she forced herself to get up from her comfy chair. "I wish that kid would stay out of the magical closet already…"
sSs
George coughed into his robes, swallowing once before inhaling deeply and glaring at his reflection in their bathroom mirror. He had both hands on the edge of the sink, catching his breath from a coughing fit as he was pulling himself together for yet another ghastly chill day. He had some detentions to catch up on, a few classes, and business dealings with his twin. Though the latter would most likely prove to be fun and interesting, he would have been glad to have forgone the rest.
Live's arms snaked around his middle before he saw her face reflected in the mirror, grinning at him with guilty innocence as he smirked back at her in mild surprise that she'd gotten the drop on him.
He straightened up and grinned back at her, taking his hands off the sink and placing them over her own. "Ready then?"
She nodded and let him go so he could embrace her properly. "Honestly George, you're beginning to take even more time than me in the mornings…" she teased into his chest as he pulled her close.
He smirked back down at her and gave her an impish smirk as she looked up at him. "Should we just tell Lee to adopt the prefect's bathroom for his own?" He made her giggle, and grabbed her bum to get her going out the door. "Nothing I like better in the morning than sweet buns."
"George!" Live chastised with a grin, batting his hands away from her as he chased her from the dorm room.
"Oi, Henry, no parties while we're gone!" George said in afterthought to the miniature puffskein. He grinned as Live's laughs came up to him from the bottom of the stairs. Smirking at the purple fluff ball on the bed, he left Henry the Pygmy Puff to his own devices, burrowing and bouncing in ignorant bliss as he shut the door.
"What, do you live here now?" a smarmy tone reached George from below as he took the stairs several at a time.
"I'd hold my tongue if I were you," Live's voice threatened at half strength as she was alone in the Gryffindor common room, not her own, and feeling very out of place without George at her side.
"Or what?" the voice asked with incredulity. "Going to file a complaint with your Head of House?" There were snickers heard. "I'll tell you what, I'll even set up the appointment for you. How about that?"
George hopped off the bottom step with a jaunty strut, seeing Live bristling on one side of the room, and cocky seventh year Gryffindors on the other, mostly male, and some of whom he recognized only as bothersome prats. George walked up to Live and wrapped an arm around her waist. "Problem gentlemen?"
Williams, first in line for title ranking of 'idiot king', gave George a smarmy look and a grin. "No, no problem, Weasley. How are you this fine morning?"
George gave him a winning grin, as if completely unbothered by the nearly-visible tension in the room. "Better than most. Though not much sleep, you know," George continued on congenially. "Or then again, you wouldn't know, would you?" he asked genuinely, a devious smirk on his face. "How is Amanda? You two still together?"
Williams gave him a frown, an obviously touchy subject for him, while his mates snickered and he gave George no reply. George smirked and herded Live towards the portrait hole, the both of them leaving without further conflict. Once outside, Live huffed and flung her hair over her shoulders. George put a soft hand on her forearm.
"Assholes," Live muttered as he stroked her skin with his thumb and kissed her shoulder.
"Don't worry about any of them, Live."
She huffed as they walked together, entwining her fingers with his as they held hands. "George, what if someone says something?" she broached, the problem being on her mind for quite some time.
"They can talk all they want, won't stop us," he told her with a grin. She smiled at him, though less confident.
"I know for a fact that Lavender's been trying to get McGonagall's ear about me being in your commons," she stated with troubled eyes. "Vivian told me between classes that she and Becca have covered for me enough times that McGonagall isn't taking Lavender seriously anymore, but if she asked enough people…"
"I really don't think McGonagall cares that much about our love life," George told her with an impish smile.
She smiled back at him, though they both knew that the teachers were taking especial interest in their love life due to the complications involved therein. "Maybe I should stay in the Slytherin commons for a few days just for appearances sake," she suggested with a worrisome frown. "If they at least see that I'm staying there--"
"No," George directly opposed. His harsh tone took her a bit aback, and she stopped in the middle of the corridor they were in to look at him with puzzlement.
"George as much as you say otherwise, your housemates do not like me being in Gryffindor Tower," she admitted in slightly ashamed tones. "Some might be nice, but no one wants me in there."
George let out a deep breath as if it pained him, and he gave her a somber look. "I couldn't care bollocks if my housemates liked you in our tower or not," George began to clarify. "Their opinions on the matter are naught. You're not safe in the Slytherin dorms. You're safe in Gryffindor."
She cocked her head slightly at this information, shocked by his earnestness and obvious concern, wondering where and when he came to this conclusion. As long as she had been in Slytherin, she had never felt at risk in the dungeons nor among her housemates, nor was she ever given reason to feel so inclined. Except, she reminded herself, since the advent of being burned and scarred.
She looked a bit pensive, but realized that he would naturally be wary of the Slytherins, especially with what had happened to her. She subconsciously ran her fingers over the scars on the opposite arm, and looked at George trying to come to some compromise. "Well, Melinda's in St. Mungos now…And Vivian and Rebecca are always with me."
George shook his head and swallowed with worry, deciding it was necessary for her to know the talk Putterly had shared with him, and the scrutiny with which he was now watching Malfoy. He entwined their fingers once more and looked her in the eyes. "It's a lot more serious than that," he affirmed.
"How?" she said with anxiety and a frown.
He led her from the corridor to the nearest outer courtyard where they could speak without his words echoing in the stone passageways. Sitting with her in the chill air, their breath came in fog as it mixed with the nippy freshness. He held her hands between his own larger ones to warm them as he spoke of what Putterly had told him, and how Malfoy had been watching her rather closely lately, and that these realizations were the real reasons that he'd been wanting them to eat in his bedroom together these past many days.
"Putterly hasn't mentioned anything about this to me," Live told him with thorough worry and rising fear. Why hadn't he said anything to her in class? Why had he never mentioned it during their potions partnership? She knew they both shared the same opinion of Malfoy. The jerk often came up in conversation if they were speaking of objectionable things. Why had he kept this secret from her?
"I don't trust the lot of them," George said in reference of Slytherins. Live didn't even call him on it. "And I'm not sure what Malfoy's up to, but I don't like this renewed interest he's taken in you," George told her strongly, the thoughts making his blood boil.
Live removed her wand from her robes and pointed it at a weed growing out of the craggy rock across the way from them. The plant began to smoke as George asked her what she was doing. "I'm trying to make the damn thing burst into flame," she said in worry. She turned to him and threw her arms around him, burrowing her face in his neck as he patted her back, trying to make sense. "If I take my potions during the day, my magic won't work properly…and when I'm away from you…" she whispered the possibility of being assaulted, her lips ghosting over his flesh as all her nightmares became horridly real again. "And if I don't take those inhibiting things, I could really hurt someone."
"Just take them at night," George suggested with a contrary calm to his feverish thoughts. They were in a right state of things. Now she didn't feel safe without him, and he honestly couldn't be everywhere at once. And the trouble with her potions was their sometimes varying strength, the times at which they had to be taken so as not to overdose, and also the problem of inhibiting her just enough so as not to be dangerous, but also to allow her to still utilize her magic in everyday ways. It was an exact science and an even larger problem.
"I'll have to talk to Snape," she intoned in anxiety. George hugged her close, and she didn't realize until then just how hard she was clinging to whatever little suggestions he could offer her. She needed his support in this, and found herself very afraid at the moment, both of the fiendish plans she was certain were being made without her knowledge, and of the possibility that she could once again be subjected to the sickening whims of Draco Malfoy. She looked up in his arms, to his deep, troubled eyes that still held that mischievous sparkle. "We should go away."
He raised an eyebrow at that, his stomach dropping a bit in anticipatory excitement. "Go away together?" She nodded and watched him, and he grunted in response, a hand to the back of her head gently bringing her back close to his chest where she laid her face and he thought. He seriously considered it, the idea of their running away together and living in obscurity for a while. Lee would surely go catatonic if he knew George was actually considering his offhand statement from several nights ago. "…elope…"
Live angled her head up from his chest to look at his face. She ran a finger over his jaw, and he looked down at her with surprise at the vulnerability in her eyes. "Could we elope?"
He smiled down at her, and his smile grew into a grin as wild and ingenious thoughts built up in his mind. They could leave, go abroad. They could go to Romania, and from there, who knew? Surely Charlie would help them, wouldn't he? And he was far enough away that they would be considerably distanced from all the problems that currently plagued them. They could in all possibility ride out all this nonsense and get away from prophecies and Death Eaters and double-edged swords all ruining their vision of a happy life together. At least leave long enough till it all blew over.
George leaned his chin on top of her head, and whispered down to her to make especially sure only she could hear his words. "If you can get a hold of as many of those potions as Snape could make you, I'm sure we could duplicate them if it became necessary…"
"I've been practicing trying to get a feel of my magic without my wand," she spoke up a bit optimistically. "If I practiced harder, I might not need the potions, eventually…Dumbledore said someday I could control it…If I just try harder…"
George was stroking her scalp with his fingers as he thought very seriously. "If we left it all behind, there's no telling how long we would have to be away…No one could know where we go."
"…Kara and Fred and everyone…"
"No one could know…Fred…Fred will manage," George confirmed, completely certain that his twin would be a mess and angrier than hell when he found out the pair were gone.
"I love you," Live whispered, grasping the true depth of this commitment.
"There's no telling how long we'll need to hide out, Live," George told her plainly, offering her the chance to reject this spontaneous plan. Unless they got the Death Eaters disinterested in her and somehow shook themselves from the fabric of the damn prophecy, they might have to hide out for years if they were being hunted.
A light smirk came to her face. "I'd say about nine months…Once we get around to it. By then they should well leave us be."
He grinned with intrigued amusement. "Why you saucy minx," George teased with a grin. "Though I'm not too sure about bringing a child into a family that's being hunted, we'll make sure we'll give it a lot of practice beforehand!"
She giggled and stood as he lifted himself from the bench they'd been sitting on. He gently took her face between his hands and kissed her slow and deliberately, making her stomach go to butterflies and her legs all weak. "We should probably talk about this more tonight," he told her.
"Less talk, more action," she said pressing her body up against his.
He grinned wickedly and laughed heartily. "I was talking about making a break for it, but I think we should definitely give your idea some serious thought." Her cheeks reddened in a mixture of desire and embarrassment as he kissed her again and entwined her fingers with his. "We'll have to really think everything perfectly through."
"I'd like to spend a day with Kara before we go," Live spoke up quickly. George nodded in understanding.
"I'd like to do the same with Fred…Maybe set Ron straight on a few things, too. Birds and Bees and hippogriffs and all that." Live smiled at that, and he gave her a charming grin. "I want to marry you the first chance we have."
Live gave him a heartfelt look, eyes full of love. "I love you so much, George."
"And I you. But it is a sacrifice, I know," he spoke truthfully, knowing they would be leaving behind everything just so they could chance really being together amidst all the problems they'd so far endured. She smiled at him as he gazed at her softly. "Let's spend the time we can wisely…Perhaps I'll owl mum and let her know where I buried her good cauldron in the yard." He snickered, though Live knew he was as sorrowful as her to leave their loved ones behind. "We'll need time to gather some pertinent supplies of course…I'll see what the house elves can help us dig up and if I can get some speedy owl deliveries. In the meantime, start packing, darling. For soon we'll be fugitives." He gave her a lighthearted grin.
"As long as I'm with you, I couldn't care less."
sSs
"Dammit this isn't fair!" Kara complained at the Gryffindor table during lunch. "If they didn't want me to sell anyone to anyone else, they should have been clear from the get-go!"
"And now we're thirty points lighter…" Ginny muttered into her goblet.
"Oooh I'm gonna get the little prat that ratted me out!" Kara declared, rapping her fist on the table top. "This is the greatest injustice since-- well, since anything!"
"That's being a little dramatic," Hermione commented as she took a seat next to Ginny.
Kara shot her a dirty look, but then frowned in thought. "Hermione I haven't seen you or Kel in a while…Where the hell have you been?"
Hermione grinned wickedly. "Making these," she said, opening her schoolbag to show the girls hundreds of pamphlets.
Kara and Ginny's eyes were wide, mouths agape.
"Are those pamphlets for us to recruit new Sexpert Guild members?" Kara pried, looking in with a bit of caution. "You know I had to take Kelena off the board for your escapades?"
"Nono, not that," Hermione reported with a smirk. "Want to see?"
"I'd be careful Kara," Ginny remarked with a look at the now-frowning brunette. "Kel's been telling me horror stories, Hermione. About posing and weird pictures and stuff. She wouldn't go into specific details, but I get the supreme feeling that whatever you've been doing is not legal…or anything I'd like to get burned into my retina either."
"She got used to it after a while," Hermione informed. Kara's eyes were wide at the exchange. "Besides, it'll make wizarding history!"
"…Hermione, some things you simply don't want to go down in history for," Kara told her with wide eyes, mind spinning terrifying thoughts as to just what kind of pamphlets the bushy-haired witch would make. "It's like holding the world record for smelliest feet…No one wants to be remembered for that."
Ginny and Hermione both gave Kara seriously quizzical looks, but the bushy-haired fifth year took pamphlets out of her bag anyway without giving the blonde sugar-piston much thought. "Look you two, I've been working very hard on trying to promote this," she said as she grabbed a sizeable stack. "Now let me know what parts of the castle you think you'd be best suited to handing these out in."
Kara reluctantly took the paper with one eye closed just in case. Ginny took a stack from Hermione with a worried frown, and both girls surveyed the work the fifth year had been so hard at work on.
"The necessity for drastic change in House Elf existence…Hermione, I'm only gonna say this once," Kara said with a cocked eyebrow. "You are not Upton Sinclair."
Hermione gave her a deep frown. "You didn't even look inside!"
"For the last time, they like how things are," Kara tried to get across, thoroughly through with Hermione's attempts to convert everyone to her house-elf liberation front. She opened the pamphlet for a look, and gave an eye roll. "For the love of Godric, Hermione, no wonder no Hogwarts House Elf would pose for these!" Ginny gave the blonde fifth year a frightened and intrigued look. "Turn to page five, Ginny."
Ginny's eyes went wide. "Hermione!"
"What?" the bushy-haired girl demanded. Both Ginny and Kara gave her exasperated looks. "It's real!"
"Hermione you can not distribute these," Kara said in gesturing to the document. "It's completely falsified!"
"No it's not!" Hermione declared loudly. "You should hear some of the things Dobby told me the Malfoy's used to make him do. And do to him! It's all truth-based!"
"Hermione shut the hell up!" Kara whispered through a heavy frown of suspicion. Their quickly-heating discussion was garnering the attention of the other patrons at the table leisurely eating their lunch, and several didn't even bother hiding the fact that they were eavesdropping. "…jerkasses…" Kara muttered, giving out glares.
"Hermione, really, this is undignified," Ginny said more quietly than either of them. "You know Dumbledore doesn't treat the Hogwarts house elves like this at all. To think that Kelena even posed for these…"
"OOooh! Kelena posed for what?!" Fred asked with a kinkified grin, plucking the pamphlet out of his little sister's hand.
"Would you quit doing that?!" Ginny demanded of her older brother, towering over them as he stood looking at the paper with furrowed brow.
"Okay, show me how it works," Fred said in holding the pilfered paper out in his hand.
"Ooh well I'm looking for people to hand them out if you're volunteering Fred!" Hermione piped up with delight.
"It doesn't 'work', dingbat," Kara told the fiery-haired seventh year, trying to cover any and all information of Kelena's involvement as there were still only a few girls who even knew of the sixth year's shape-changing powers. "Hermione's just trying to start civil war here at Hogwarts."
Fred fixed them all with a look as if he was deciding which of them was wearing the strangest Halloween mask. "These are some pretty awful pictures," he said seriously, handing the pamphlet back to Hermione with minor disgrace. Then he grinned and leaned down. "So, where's the naughty pictures I hear tell of then?"
"There's not--"
"Creevey has them," Kara told him. Fred smirked and gave her a thumbs-up before leaving them and the pamphlets behind him.
"Kara, there were no naughty ones," Hermione said with a wry and disturbed look on her face.
"Well he never shuts up on it otherwise…Ugh," Kara harrumphed.
"Really though 'Mione, there is no way you can pass these around as long as Hogwarts is affiliated with it," Ginny spoke up. "Not to mention, it's flat-out horrid." She gestured to some of the pictures, opening it on the table between the three of them. "None of Hogwarts' elves are half as dirty and beaten-down-looking here," she said of a nondescript house elf with a look of shamed disgrace on her face, blinking back at the camera in utter indignity. Yeah, Kelena would have been feeling that to have posed for these pictures. "And then there's this--" she pointed to one of Kel the Elf sticking her hands towards some embers in self-chastisement, trying to stop herself "--or this--" the same 'elf' being trodden down by a certain bushy-haired witch's boot, "--and then this is absolutely slanderous!" The house elf Kelena had been portraying was cowering in fear as the hand in frame they knew belonged to Hermione was thumping the neck of a medieval-looking spiked bat into her other hand.
Hermione flushed a bit. "I know it seems a little dramatic…But it's necessary!! Some elves are treated even worse than my imagination!"
"Hermione…does it bother you even a little bit that you couldn't find any house elves out of ALL the ones at Hogwarts to use as an example for your pamphlet? That you had to get a person to do it?" Kara asked nonchalantly, taking an apple off the table and biting into it with a cocked brow.
"Well…"
"She's right, you know," Ginny agreed.
Hermione looked dejected, but not defeated. "But what of the others?! All the other elves held in slavery and oppression? Hogwarts elves might be treated better, but they're still slaves!! They need basic rights! They need representation! They need freedom!"
"They need you to leave them alone." Kara let out an apple-chunked sigh. "Tone it down, girl, tone it down…"
"Toning it down will not get people's attentions!" Hermione declared, taking the pamphlet back from the pair. She got up from the table, the passion for her cause once again ignited, and she wasn't about to let that energy go to waste.
"Where are you going?" Ginny asked.
"To find Kelena!" she hollered.
"Make sure you get rid of all the Hogwarts affiliations!!" Kara called after the bushy-haired brunette. Her statement received several intrigued and amused looks, but Kara didn't seem to notice or at least didn't care. She continued on to her apple with a smile at Ginny.
The fourth-year redhead gave her a smirk. "You owe me five sickels…It wasn't elf sex advertisements or weird porny things," she laughed.
With a jingle and a clatter, Kara surrendered the money with a grin as product ideas swam through her head. She would later credit Hermione on the product itself when she went into production.
sSs
Well lovies, that was a damn long chapter. Sorry it took so very long. It is officially Thanksgiving break, and hopefully I can catch up on everything well :D Woot. Doing very well in my classes, tats and nail decals sales are good (bio link, whut), my online radio show keeps me busy, and all that crap is all going well :) Woot! So yeah. Don't forget, i'll be putting up a link so you can see my CD work-ery! Ho yeah! Excellent music too! And I can say, ho yeah, I designed their shit XD hee hee. I am le proud XD
So I'll be attempting to get another update out before mid-December (being realistic) and all that good stuff! I'm also working on a book right now, too, so that's been consuming a bit more of my time (though the major hard stuff is done, I just have to write it out). On top of that, the book has to be finished before I can submit it to an agent (anyone know a good literary agent? Save me a bit of time?) and I'm working my ass off on all my endeavors to really re-ignite the spark of life in me. Oh yes. That means crazy awesome times for all :D hee hee. Oh yeah, still got my advance mailing list. lemme know if you wanna be on it and all that. Whut whut.
All of my loves, I just want to say how much I really always do appreciate your reviews and reading : ) They never fail to make me smile and happy.
Luniepoo: HAHAH Bill and Ted…I do love the classics XD heh heh. Thank you very much for the wonderful review:D le woot, heh heh. I wanted to be adorably fluffy…sickeningly sweet even…bwahaha! For this chapter I decided to go a bit opposite and play up the dirty Hermione/Kelena/Creevey/House elf joke XD ha. Hope it did it's thing for ya:D
scarletfaerie: Woot, good stuff my lovie :D haha see I didn't forget about you all:D Ha I'll try to get writing sooner this time and not make you panic XD hee hee
Karma-k2: I think I more than satisfied everyone's curiosity about just what in the hell Kara and Kelena were talking about last chapter XD haha probably not the best reveal, but still amusing at least. Heh heh. Damn I so with they had dA emots everywhere! They always get the point across!! Hahaha ooooh and thanks for all the fanarty-ness and whatnot XD ha I have a tribute thinger in my profile XD tee hee Because remember, I am forever gay for you XD bwaha!
redheadlover: Ha yeah I'm terrible with being roundabout, but I've learned a LOT this term in my script-writing classes and I think it's going to help me tie up all loose ends and be a bit more eloquent story wise :D hee hee…I wish someone would fake marry me like that XD hahaha!!!
Dckveg: Thank you so much my darling dear!!! Hee hee, I was thinking of going in that direction- having Fred have really married them, but I decided against it :D heh heh, still got at least one cat in the bag :D Heh heh, and apparently it had kittens!! Hee hee, thank you so much for the lovely review! Woo!!
Nomanslandvicki: Thankies very much for everything lovey! Ha unofficial marriages are indeed, the shit :D Hope it was a good read for you:D I'll be planning out everything and really getting more on-track very soon :D I feel it isn't fair of me to work anywhere at all below my ability, but I feel I've been a bit lax lately. Blah. Haha oh well, I'll do the best I can for ya!!
chinawrites: woo for changed pennames!! Haha it's all good! Me, I'm scared of change, so I've just never changed any of my pennames XD haha!! Yeah I'm a randomass, all over the place like a bad oil spill XD Heh heh. But it's all good…we gave Lavender a little sumthin' sumthin' last chap, a bit this…Let's just say we flat out don't like her, and she flat out HATES Live O.O Biatch, hee hee. Changing things back up in this chapter…dun dun dun…God bless transitions of 'later that week' or 'several months later…' Heh heh heh….oooh cop-out :D
TeAroha: Ha maybe you're kinda like me in the reading-sense: (I'll just toot my own horn here a bit) but when I find a story I really like or that I find one that has major skill and wonderful plot and is just a fantastic read, I'll read everything they have up, and stick with it like a rabid fangirl with the weekly updates or whatever…But when it takes them longer to update, then it takes me longer to read cuz suddenly they have more updates out and I still haven't read that last chap…but boy howdy I'm still a fan, even though I'm horridly behind (I.e. "Cauldrons Aflame" by J.S. Sumner here on ff is one of my all-time favs, still being written too!) Tee hee, oh dear, well…I'm just thoroughly glad I can make you smile and nearly burst with laughter :D woooo!! Hee hee. Love ya!!
