Part 10 - Fragile Ego

The next few days dragged on. George had been avoiding Eve best he could, but he couldn't shake his bitter mood. Fred had clearly noticed. George knew Fred wanted to say something, not knowing was clearly annoying him, but he seemed to be waiting for George to bring it up. And George wasn't bringing it up.

Never once did George think he would ever say he'd be grateful to be stuck doing homework with Snape watching over them, but it was nice to have an excuse to sit in silence without anyone questioning it. He was trying to focus only on his work, mostly because it was nice to have something to put his mind to. Otherwise it'd be on Eve. Replaying every word spoken between them, every glance she has ever given him, trying to analyze what it all meant.

It was useless. George just couldn't figure her out. Despite him avoiding her completely, he would still catch Eve staring at him in class or from across the Great Hall. Her expressions were as unreadable as ever, even then. Which just made him more determined to avoid her. He hated being in the dark. I mean, honestly, what did he even actually know about her? Nothing, really. And she didn't seem to have any interest in changing that, so why should he?

George shook his head, trying to clear his thoughts. He had gotten distracted. He blinked at his parchment a couple times, but he couldn't seem to make it come into focus completely. He glanced over at Fred to see how close he was to finishing, only to see him writing something completely unrelated.

Get a move on or all the good ones will have gone.

George was completely lost, until he saw Fred fold up the note and toss it to their little brother. Even his foul mood couldn't keep him from smiling at that one. Poor Ronald. Ron caught the note and took a moment to read it, before shooting Fred a dirty look.

"Who you going with then?" he whispered, his tone annoyed.

Fred flashed a quick smirk at Ron, before wadding up a piece of paper. He tossed it, expertly hitting Angelina right in the back of the head. George stifled a laugh as she turned slowly, glaring at Fred.

"Oi, Angelina?" Fred whispered. Angelina mouthed what at him. "Do you," he started, pointing at her. "Wanna go to the ball." Fred was moving his arms widely like he was dancing. It's a wonder Snape didn't notice. Then he points to himself. "With me?"

"To the ball? Yeah, all right, then," she replied with a smile.

George watched Fred turn back to their little brother, giving him a cocky wink. George's hand covered his mouth to keep quiet as he shook with silent laughter. Ron was flustered and quickly turned to Hermione. Oh, this was going to be good.

"Oi, Hermione. You're a girl."

George and Fred both had to cough in an attempt to hide their laughter. George put his elbows on the table, resting his chin on his hands as he watched his little brother dig himself a truly impressive hole. For a moment, George thought he would have to take pity on Ron at some point and give him a couple pointers on talking to girls. But then George remembered Eve. Perhaps he shouldn't be giving advice, after all.

"Oh, well spotted," Hermione replied sarcastically.

"Come with one of us?" Ron tried to mimic the same dancing motion Fred had just done, but he didn't get away with it. Snape quickly smacked the back of his head, and Harry's as well, despite Harry having done nothing. "Come on," he continued after Snape walked away. "It's one thing for a bloke to show up alone. For a girl, it's just sad."

George couldn't watch anymore, it was worse than he could have imagined. He did his best to return his focus to his work and tune out the hushed conversation beside him. He did notice Hermione getting up to turn in her work and saying one last thing to Ron before storming off in a huff. Then he noticed Snape.

Snape was standing right behind Ron and Harry, who didn't seem to notice his presence as they continued their conversation. George glanced at Fred to find he was watching Snape too, a wicked grin on his face. They watched as Snape pulled back his sleeves slightly, the anticipation adding to the hilarity of it all, before finally shoving both Ron and Harry's heads down. George almost lost it, and from the looks of it, Fred was struggling to keep it together, too.

The rest of class was uneventful and they were able to finish their homework quickly before heading off to the Great Hall for dinner. George's good mood didn't last long, as the first thing he saw as they entered the hall was Eve and Malfoy already seated at the Slytherin table. Malfoy was chatting away, but Eve was watching George as he and his brother made their way to their seats. He looked away, not wanting to keep eye contact with her.

Despite his hope for an easy dinner, food had just barely showed up before Fred turned to him.

"So, who are you taking to the ball?" he asked. His voice was calm and innocent, but George knew better. It seemed Fred had already figured whatever George had been hiding was clearly related to someone he was interested in. Figures. George just replied with a shrug, hoping he would drop it, but knowing better. "Have you even asked anyone?"

George debated for a moment. None of it mattered anymore, right? So might as well be honest. "I did," he answered slowly, trying not to give anything away in his tone.

There was a pause. Fred was waiting for more, but when George didn't say anything, he prompted him to continue. "But?"

George took a breath and shrugged, fighting to stay as nonchalant as he could. "But they said no."

"Who?" Fred's tone suggested he didn't believe George's attempts to seem unfazed.

"It's not important."

"Sounds like it is."

The look Fred gave him almost made George feel bad. They never kept anything from each other. In fact, this is the only time George can remember ever having lied to Fred, and the expression on Fred's face was somewhere caught between concern and annoyance. He debated once again telling him everything, but he wouldn't know how to even if he wanted to. And he wasn't sure he wanted to.

"It doesn't matter," he said quietly. "It's not going to change anything."

Fred opened his mouth to respond, but then he glanced up at something. George turned slightly to follow Fred's gaze. Standing behind them was Jane, with two of her friend's, whom George admittedly didn't know their names. Jane was looking at George, her cheeks flushed a light pink color.

For a moment, all George could see was Eve, remembering the way her cheeks seemed to glow pink every time he was around her. He wanted so desperately to turn around and look at the Slytherin table, to see if he could catch a glimpse of those rosy cheeks, but Jane's voice kept his attention on her.

"I couldn't help but overhear. Is it true you don't have a date to the ball?" she asked, rocking slightly on her feet.

When George didn't answer right away, Fred did for him. "Yeah, that's right."

Jane glanced at Fred, giving him a soft smile, before turning back to George. "Maybe … maybe we could go together?"

She was nervous. George was sure he couldn't have felt worse than he already did, but he was wrong. On top of whatever was happening with Eve and the guilt of lying about all of it to Fred, now here was this sweet girl he had known for years, so nervous to ask him to the dance, and all his thoughts were with another girl. It would be so wrong to take her, but it's not like he was able to go with who he really wanted to go with anyway, right?

Maybe this would be good. It would probably get Fred off his back for one, and it might even help George get his mind off Eve. Maybe. George debated this moral dilemma a little too long. Jane was looking like she regretted asking him, expecting a no since it had taken him so long to answer. Actually, she honestly looked like she might just throw up. George gave her the biggest smile he could muster up in his state.

"Sure, that sounds nice," he finally replied.

Jane seemed ecstatic as she turned to her friends. They all shared a somewhat obnoxious squeal before running off. The guilt immediately sunk in. He shouldn't have agreed to take her. It wasn't fair to her.

"See," Fred said, slapping George on the back. "You'll be fine."

George wasn't so sure he believed that right in that moment, but he wasn't about to explain it to Fred. George gave a half hearted yeah and allowed himself another glance at the Slytherin table. Sure enough, he was met with a pair of deep blue eyes staring back at him and he quickly looked away.

"I'm gonna head back and finish up some homework," he said as he stood up and briskly started to walk away.

Fred immediately stood up, too. "Wait up."

George bit back a groan. He really thought taking Jane to the ball would be enough to get Fred off his back, at least for a little bit, but clearly he was wrong. Fred hadn't even finished eating, but was going to leave just to watch him. George took a breath and collected his thoughts best he could so he could give Fred a convincing shit-eating grin. "No, no, you finish stuffing your face. Then I can be the skinny twin," he said with a wink.

Fred hurled a piece of food at him, hitting him in the chest and getting crumbs all over his robes. But he sat back down; it had worked. George was apparently convincing enough for Fred to believe he was fine, and he took off before Fred could change his mind. George was wiping the crumbs off when he turned the corner. He looked up just in time to stop himself from crashing into someone. His breath hitched for a moment, startled. Then, his breath stopped altogether as he realized who he almost ran into. Eve was leaned up against the wall, arms crossed, staring at George with her infamous blank expression.

"Bloody hell, Eve," George muttered as he tried to find a normal breathing rhythm again. Wait. "How did you … ?"

Hadn't he just seen her sitting at the Slytherin table? There was no way she made it out of the Great Hall before him, especially without him even noticing. Right? Eve ignored his question and stood up straight, crossing her arms and narrowing her eyes at George.

"You've been avoiding me," she said, her voice annoyed.

What is it with this girl? She shot him down when he asked her out, and seemed pissed that he even asked, but now she's pissed at him for ignoring her? George scoffed.

"Yeah, well, figured that's what you wanted."

George moved past her to walk by, but she quickly grabbed his arm to stop him. Despite everything, despite how annoyed and confused he was, her touch still ignited something in him. He had missed her, even if he didn't want to admit it, and just her grabbing his arm was enough to make him want to pull her to him and feel her lips on his again.

"What the hell are you on about?" she asked.

George turned to face her in disbelief. She couldn't be serious, right? Had he dreamt the whole conversation or was she really that daft?

"The ball?" George retorted, unable to keep the sarcasm from his tone.

Eve stared at him for a moment, confused, before it seemed to finally click. Then she burst out laughing. George narrowed his eyes at her. Of course, it would be funny to her. It had been driving him insane the last few days, and she's laughing over it as it was nothing. He should have known. George couldn't tell if he was more annoyed with her, or with himself. Eve finally stopped laughing.

"You men and your fragile egos," she said, rolling her eyes.

She gave George a gentle smile and any annoyance he felt was gone in an instant. He had never seen her smile like that. Usually when she smiled at him, it was playful and mischievous. But this one was so different and it nearly took his breath away.

"I didn't turn you down because I didn't want to go with you, George. I'm honestly not going. I wasn't just making that up to get rid of you, you idiot."

"Oh," George replied dumbly.

A sense of relief washed over him. He was very aware that she didn't actually admit to wanting to go with him, but she did admit to not not wanting to go with him. It was a start. And George was elated to learn he had been wrong, but he wasn't quite ready to give her the satisfaction of knowing that. Especially when he still wasn't a hundred percent sure how she felt or if she wanted the same things he did.

"Well," he started, careful to keep some semblance of annoyance in his tone. "How would I know that? It's not like we actually talk about anything."

Eve's gentle smile twisted into the playful smirk he was used to seeing from her and she reached her hand up. George stood completely still as she twirled a strand of his hair around her finger. Her voice was sultry when she spoke. "Are you saying you don't enjoy our little rendezvous?"

George swallowed the lump that had formed in his throat. Damn, she fights dirty. George struggled to maintain his composure, but he was dead set on settling this conversation once and for all. If he let her keep playing with his hair like that, he definitely wouldn't be able to stay on track. "Of course I do," he said slowly, taking her hand into his. "I'm just wondering if that's all we're doing."

Eve's smile disappeared instantly and she quickly took her hand back. She narrowed her eyes at George, her tone with a hint of annoyance when she spoke. "Please tell me you're not trying to have the 'what are we' conversation with me right now."

"I'm not!" George replied quickly. Eve's expression said that she didn't believe him. Which was fair. That's pretty much exactly what he was trying to do, he just didn't want to have to admit she was right.

"I mean, not exactly," he continued sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head. Eve rolled her eyes. "Oh come on, give me a break Eve. Can you really blame me? We've been running around together, sneaking off into random closets to snog, yet you won't go to the ball with me-" Eve shot George a glare and he quickly corrected himself. "-can't go to the ball with me, and then get annoyed when I ignore you. Not to mention the fact that I'm lying to Fred about all this. Do you have any idea how hard it is to lie to someone who knows you better than you bloody know yourself?"

"What do you want me to say, George?" she asked in a huff.

George took a moment to consider that question. What did he want her to say? He hadn't given it much thought, having spent the last few days trying to keep his thoughts anywhere but right here and now he was having to face it head on. He couldn't take her to the ball like he originally had wanted, so what did he want instead? In truth, he really just wanted to get to know her.

"Say you'll meet me tonight," he finally responded. "At the quidditch field. We can meet after everyone's gone to bed."

Eve pursed her lips, seeming to give it a lot of thought. "And do what? Talk?" George nodded, biting his lower lip in anticipation. Eve's gaze traveled down to his lips and stayed there for a moment, before she finally sighed. "Fine," she said as she turned around and walked off.

Eve never gave George much chance to process things before she was gone, but he didn't mind. She had said yes, or well, she said "fine" technically, but George counted it as a win, and that was all that mattered to him in that moment. He ran off to the common rooms after that, his mind racing and heart pounding in excitement. He couldn't wait.

AN:

Hello, lovelies!

So, I'll be without internet this weekend, which means I won't be able to update this on Friday, hence the early update. I might be able to get another chapter out tomorrow, but no promises! I really hope you all are enjoying my story so far. It's posted on 2 other sites and this really seems to be the only site where this story is getting any attention lol so thank you guys! 3

Mae