George had been very distant from Garnet since the whole 'Date with Adrian' argument. Fred still tried to include her in everything, but Garnet and George didn't talk much at all. The tension had gotten so bad, Garnet started sitting at the Slytherin table again.
~ October 31, 1991 ~
George and Fred were walking back to the castle from Care of Magical Creatures.
Garnet walked on ahead, having barely said two words to even Fred in the last week.
Fred nudged George and motioned to Garnet.
"Go talk to her." Fred urged.
"No." George said.
"I told you, she and Adrian are just friends," Fred groaned, "she said they had fun, but it was just awkward and they agreed to stay friends."
"Uh-huh," George said.
Fred just shook his head. "You either need to tell her how you feel or you need to quit being so gutted when she talks to other guys."
The Halloween Feast was well underway. Garnet was sitting at the Slytherin table, beside Adrian. She kept looking across the hall at Fred, who would smile at her, and George, who occasionally made eye contact, but would look away quickly, no emotion showing on his face.
George watched as Adrian said something to Garnet. Garnet shook her head and pushed her plate away. She then got up and walked out of the Great Hall. Adrian looked across the Great Hall at George and frowned at him.
"What was that all about?" Fred asked. "She just got up and left?"
George shrugged and stuffed his face with a pumpkin pastry.
Suddenly Professor Quirrell, the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, burst through the doors of the Great Hall.
"TROLL! Troll in the Dungeon!" he stopped in front of the Head Table. "Thought you ought to know." Then he passed out.
Panic erupted around the Great Hall.
"Silence!" Dumbledore hollared. He directed the Prefects to usher all the students back to their dorms.
As the Prefects tried to regain order, Fred and George heard Harry yell at Ron "Hermione! She doesn't know about the troll! We have to go warn her!" and they ran off.
Then George's stomach dropped. "Fred, Garnet doesn't know about the troll either!" Fred's eyes widened, and they went to look for Adrian.
"Pucey!" they hollared, catching Adrian's attention.
"Where was Garnet off to when she left?" George asked him.
Adrian had a look of fear on him. "She was heading back to the Common Room."
"We have to find her. Make sure she's okay." George told Fred as they ran for a secret passage that would bring them to the dungeons before anyone else. As they came up on the other end of the passage, near a torch on the far end, they heard Garnet scream. George picked up speed.
He beat on the specific brick three times to get out into the corridor. He saw Garnet, flat against the wall across from him, the troll between them.
George pulled a firecracker out of his pocket, thankful that he always had one on him, just in case. He lit it, and tossed it down the corridor, away from Garnet. He pulled back into the passage until he heard the mini explosion, then went back into the corridor and saw the troll heading in the direction of the noise. George ran across, grabbed Garnets' hand, and pulled her into the safety of the passage way. As soon as they were safe, George pulled her into a hard hug. Garnet buried her face into his shoulder, as tears flowed down her cheeks.
George finally let go of her, and held her at arms length, looking her up and down.
"Are you okay?" Fred asked, all three of them shaking. Garnet nodded, then quickly hugged Fred as well. George took a deep breath.
Fred let Garnet go, and George pulled her back to him, resting his chin on her head. Fred backed up out of the way.
"I'm sorry for being such a wanker," he said shakily, "I promise not to act like that again. I've missed you." He loosened his hold on her and looked down at her. "Can we be okay again? Please?"
Garnet nodded and smiled, "I've missed you too." She hugged him again.
Fred cleared his throat, "Alright you two, we need to get Garnet to the Slytherin Common Rooms and get back to Gryffindor before Percy blows a gasket."
"I don't know how we're going to do that." Garnet sighed, then a thought, "Why don't we go to the Potions class room? If a Professor finds us, we can make something up."
The Twins nodded, and they headed for the class room.
They weren't even in the room five minutes when Professor Snape came barging in. He saw Garnet and relief washed over him, then saw the Twins and got his teacher demeanor again.
Garnet didn't care, she rushed over and hugged Snape. Severus froze in shock, but gave in and hugged her back.
"Where were you? I went back to the Common Room to alert everyone it was safe and you were not there." Snape asked, strained.
"I'm sorry," Garnet took a step back, "I was heading down here after I finished eating. I didn't know about the troll. It cornered me in the corridor, and if Fred and George hadn't come to find me and distract the troll so we could get away, I probably wouldn't be here." Garnet watched as Snape looked to the Twins anxiously. She leaned in to Snape and whispered "They know, Severus. It's okay. They won't tell anyone."
Snape nodded, then looked at the Twins. "You Weasley's are in the habit of rescuing your friends, it appears. Mr. Potter and your younger brother just rescued Miss Granger from the Troll. Mr. Weasley knocked it unconscious." George and Fred grinned proudly. Snape then straightened up, "They were rewarded, so I will reward you each five points to Gryffindor. You all need to get back to your Common Rooms." He pat Garnet on the head and turned to leave. He then turned back to the Twins. "Thank you."
Fred and George stood there in shock.
Garnet laughed. She grabbed both of their hands and drug them out of the classroom. They came to the end of the corridor where Garnet goes one way and the Twins go the other. Fred gave Garnet another hug quick, then she gave George a hug. He squeezed her, pressing his cheek against hers.
As he pulled away he smiled at her, "We'll talk tomorrow."
Garnet nodded, and turned to run down the corridor to her Common Room, waving back at the Twins.
The Twins headed for their Common Room. Fred smirked at George.
"What?" George shoved his in the shoulder.
Fred shook his head, "It's a small step closer to telling her, I guess."
"Where were you two?!" Ron, Harry and Hermione came running up to them as they neared the Fat Lady Portrait.
"Oh little brother..." Fred smirked as they climbed through the entrance.
