Chapter Twenty
George POV
The Burrow was alive but with different patterns of life than usual. Instead of children running through the hallways and laughing, it was bustling with Order members discussing plans. Tonks, Lupin, Mad-Eye, Kingsley, his parents, Bill, Fleur, Fred, and Angelina were all squished between the kitchen and the living room, weaving in between conversations where they were needed.
There was talk from Dumbledore that people should go and monitor the Trio when they were on their Hogsmeade trip and at Quidditch matches. George shivered to think of when the Dementors nearly kissed Harry at a match back in Harry's 3rd year. What would have happened then if the young Gryffindor hadn't known the Patronus charm from his lesson with Lupin?
Bill and Fred volunteered to go the Quidditch matches. It made sense that the younger Weasley siblings would go to watch Ginny and Ron if they made Gryffindor team this year again. George offered to watch over them at Hogsmeade when Fred chuckled. "You know you would only be watching out for one of them in particular, mate."
He chucked the cookie in his hand at his twin who dodged out of the way and caught the cookie before popping into his mouth. "Fred is right." Lupin sighed. He looked like he had aged greatly from Sirius' death. "You can be in charge of watching Hermione perhaps, but the other two also need to be watched from afar. It would be too obvious for someone to walk with them. We will devise a schedule I suppose."
Lupin and Mad-Eye pulled out a parchment and wrote down all the dates that needed to be covered and passed it around to the members to write down when they would be available to protect the younger Gryffindors.
George felt his chest lighten a little as he realized that Hermione, although she wouldn't need it with how bright she was, would be protected. "I'll write to Hermione and hint at the plans telling her I would visit and suggest Fred comes to."
Tonks nodded. "That would seem ordinary if it was to be intercepted. I think that's okay. She is bright. She will figure it out." The young Order member placed a hand on Molly's back. "They will be okay, Molly."
His mother wiped away a tear that was threatening to spill over her freckled cheek and she put a fake smile on her face. "I know… I will just be happy when people don't have to tell me that anymore."
Hermione POV
The morning of Gryffindor quidditch tryouts felt strange in the Great Hall. Panic was in the hall as students were afraid their parents were going to pull them from school. The Patil twins' wanted them to come home immediately and had been sent a howler about the matter which filled the Great Hall with a boom.
After they ate breakfast, they began the walk to the pitch. Lavender Brown gave Ron a big smile as he walked past and called out, "Goodluck today, Ron!"
Her friend blushed over his freckled cheeks and smiled in return to the girl. Hermione noticed that he began to strut like Malfoy which made Hermione roll her brown eyes. The girl climbed into the wooden stands next to Neville and Luna who were holding hands as they sat and waited for the tryouts to begin. Hermione smiled slightly at them. "Beautiful day for tryouts, isn't it?"
"The nargles aren't even swarming your head like usual. It is a great day." Luna smiled brightly but her dreamy, silver eyes didn't seem to match.
Neville smiled at the blonde Ravenclaw like she was the Sun in his world. Hermione opened up her Ancient Runes book and began to work on a transcription that needed to be done in a few days. The tryouts were surely going to last a long time, it appeared that half of Gryffindor showed up, and even some people who weren't in our house.
Harry screamed out of frustration and got everyone who wasn't in Gryffindor to leave immediately. About 15 people left the pitch, all girls, and all giggling.
Hermione seemed to watch the Beaters with more awareness. She was noticing that they were not nearly as brilliant or agile on the broomsticks as George and Fred were. The twins would be disappointed with wizards in the air but they would have to do.
When it was time for the Keepers to tryout, Cormac McLaggen was doing far too good. To make matters worse, he kept looking over at her and winking at Hermione whenever he blocked a pass. Hermione remembered the lesson about non-verbal magic that they learned in Defense Against the Dark Arts and sent him flying in the wrong direction on his last save.
No one seemed to notice except for Neville since he had worked with her during the Defense Against the Dark Arts lesson and knew she was capable of producing a jinx. "George must be rubbing off on you if you are messing with a school event." He whispered to his friend with a playful smile.
Luna smiled dreamily. "How kind of you to think of Ron."
Hermione blushed. "He needs something to distract him from school is all. He has to make the team."
As Ron mounted his Cleansweep Eleven, Lavendar Brown stood up and bounced excitedly. "Good luck, Ron!"
Thankfully, Ron had saved all five of the penalty shots in a row. Hermione cheered before noticing that McLaggen was storming up to Harry with a bright red face and shouting at him. Hermione rushed down to the grassy pitch and caught the end of the loud conversation as Harry was explaining to the angry Gryffindor, "You've had your go. You saved four. Ron saved five. Ron won fair in square. Ginny wouldn't go easy on him. I think it's best you leave."
After McLaggen stormed off, Harry went over practice schedules with the other Gryffindors before saying goodbye. Ron walked up to stand next to Harry, Hermione, and Ginny and laughed "Did you see McLaggen when he went into the completely wrong direction? Looked like he's been Confunded…"
Hermione went bright red and bit her lip. Of course, the one-time Ron notices something, it would be her trying to help him. Harry noticed this exchange and raised his eyebrows at her before she shook her head. She didn't want to dim this moment for Ron.
When they got to the Great Hall, Hermione ached for a hot cup of green tea. As she was pouring herself a cup, an owl dropped a letter that smelled like vanilla. She ripped open the seal and read through it to decipher any hidden messages from George. She tapped Harry's arm. "I think the Order is watching over you again. I knew George would be visiting me but look he says that Bill is so excited to watch Ron play Quidditch and that Fred and Angelina want to go to Hogsmeade to price check Zonko's. They told me they weren't ready to buy a location at Hogsmeade for a couple years."
"I bet Dumbledore is telling them when all the matches and trips will be. I wonder who will be there." Harry thought as he bit into a fork full of mashed potatoes with brown gravy. His green eyes were clouded over with thoughts and concern.
"They'll have to be discreet whoever it is. George won't be as obvious to be watching over me if we walk down Hogsmeade but it's not like Mad-Eye or Lupin could walk down the shops with you two." Hermione bit at her bottom lip like she always did when she began to worry.
Ron glanced at the letter. "I hope Bill does come to my match! No one ever comes to watch me play."
After that, the days seemed to go by slowly for the next Hogsmeade trip because Hermione knew that would mean she could see George. When the day finally came, she was nearly bouncing up and down as she was waiting for Filch to take her permission slip. "Honestly, Hermione. Calm down." Ron looked at her. "People are going to think you've gone mental! I'm starting to think that. It's only George you're seeing. He's not special."
She rolled her brown eyes at the boy. "Whatever, Ronald. You wouldn't understand."
He grew red in the face. "I'll have you know; I would understand."
When they got to Hogsmeade, they met up with George at the Three Broomsticks. He whispered silently to them that Tonks was going to be tailing Ron and Harry to make sure they stay out of trouble. As he leaned in to tell them, Hermione closed her eyes and smelled the fireworks and vanilla roll off of him in a comforting manner.
He was finally in front of her.
Her George in the present.
George POV
Sitting next to Hermione felt like a dream. He knew that the time they would have together today would be far too short for his liking, but that didn't stop from him holding her hand or having his arm wrapped around her the entire time, as if holding her would keep her next to him longer.
He listened intently as Harry and Ron discussed Quidditch tryouts and filled him in on everything going on at Hogwarts. He jokingly chided at Hermione for taking away joke shop products from students. "That just looks bad for business! My own girlfriend, nicking products from paying customers." George shook his head jokingly and took a drag from his butterbeer.
"It's not my fault that they are banned! I'm just a prefect doing her job." She sniffed and held her head up high showing that she had no regrets on enforcing the rule.
Once they all finished their drinks, Ron's stomach growled. "Could we get some candy?"
Harry laughed. "You're always worried about getting to Honeydukes. Of course, we can go there."
They stood up together and George checked his surroundings for any death eaters or anyone looking suspicious. When he looked down, he saw that Hermione was staring at him with concern in her warm brown eyes. "Coast is clear, love. No need to worry." He rubbed her arms and smiled down at her. "Let's go before Ron eats all of the shops candy!"
When they were walking towards the store, they were following behind Katie Bell and a Hufflepuff girl that she was friends with. The other girl tried to smack a package out of Katie Bell's hand which made the skilled Chaser lunge for it so it wouldn't fall to the ground.
George sucked in air as he realized that his old teammate was being yanked into the air with her arms outstretched by some curse. Her hair whipped dangerously around her face and her eyes were glassed over. He turned around and cast a patronus to call for Tonks and Fred who were waiting for any back up that would be needed.
Hermione gripped his other hand. "Don't go."
"I'm not, I promise." He reassured her.
George cast a spell to bring her closer to the ground since now she was screaming in the air and levitating well over 8 feet in the air. As she was being lowered, Harry and Ron grabbed a hold of her arms and legs to pull her down to the ground. It took the work of all three guys to bring Katie to the ground.
Once she was on the ground, she began to thrash and scream loudly. Tonks reached them first and looked at the young Gryffindor chaser. "She's been cursed." The Order member turned to the others. "No one, touch that object!"
Tonks raised her wand and levitated the girl and the object and began to walk quickly to the castle. "I will take her to the medical wing and inform Dumbledore immediately what has happened. You know what to do." She nodded once at George. Protect Harry and the others. He heard the warning multiple times in the Order meeting. This is what they feared the most. There would be some type of dark magic happen in the presence of the three.
He wrapped his arm around Hermione's waist and pulled her to his side tightly and looked around for any sign of danger. George turned his attention to the shaken up Hufflepuff girl that was walking with Katie. "How did Katie get a hold of this? It is filled with dark magic."
The Hufflepuff girl began to cry. "Leanne, it's okay." Hermione said quietly which seemed to give the other girl enough courage to speak.
"That's why I tried taking it from her. She came out of the bathroom in the Three Broomsticks with it and she said it was a surprise for someone at Hogwarts. She looked all funny and… oh no…" fear washed over the blonde girl the same time that an icy feeling went through George's bones. "Imperious curse. She wouldn't tell me who gave it to her!"
George nodded once. "It'll be alright. Dumbledore will get to the bottom of this. He always does." He looked to his twin who was running up to meet up with them. "You need to make sure that Ginny is safe. Katie Bell was put under the imperious curse, I will explain more later."
Fred nodded once before running off again to find their sister. Ron looked between his brothers and began to turn pink. "You don't seem to worry about me."
Hermione punched her friend's arm. "He's here right now, isn't he? Also, we spent our time with you lot instead of going off on our own, didn't we?"
His brother blushed. "I suppose you did."
"Don't you reckon I'd want to be snogging my boyfriend instead of talking about Quidditch? That's all you two is talk about Quidditch." Hermione exclaimed in frustration.
"Please don't talk about snogging one of my brother's ever again." Ron looked like he was going to puke which made George roll his brown eyes.
"Grow up, Ron. You just saw someone be cursed and you're worried about Hermione and I kissing. Real rich. Anyways, we should get back to the castle. I'll walk you all back to make sure you are safe before going back to Hogsmeade to find the others." He felt Hermione's grip tighten on his hand.
When he looked down into her eyes, he was shocked with how sad they were. "I thought we had more time…"
He lifted her chin slightly as the others began to walk back to the castle without them. "I know, love… it's okay. I have to do my job in this war you know." George smiled down at the girl and placed a long and passionate kiss on her warm lips. "I'll make it up to you somehow, I promise."
She smiled softly and held out her hand. "Muggle pinky promise?"
George kissed the tip of her nose. "Yes… I muggle pinky promise." He wrapped his large pinky finger around her dainty one, already thinking of ways he could make it up to his Hermione.