You thrummed your fingers on the table in the common room furiously in thought.
"You're going to drill a hole into the table if you keep at it," said Hannah.
Hannah Abbott. She was one year below you and sweet as pie. You didn't talk to her much, but she was always around. It was nice seeing her face from time to time. She was always checking in on everyone.
"I'm just thinking," you said.
"Well, think a little softer or you'll hurt yourself," she giggled. "Galleon for your thoughts?"
"It's nothing, Hannah. I appreciate it. I need to figure this out on my own."
"It's almost time for dinner. You coming?"
"Yeah, let's go."
You and Hannah walked side by side to the Great Hall. You exchanged small talk about your first week, and she also relayed her disdain to having Snape for another year. You gave her a few tips for dealing with him, and soon enough, you arrived to dinner.
You could see Harry's face almost immediately, and the perfect thought dawned on you.
"I'll be there in a sec, Han. I gotta talk to Harry first."
She nodded you off and went to sit down. You bounded over to Harry and plopped down next to him. You were thankful it was just him and Ron for the time being and that there weren't many people around to overhear.
"Harry. I need a favor."
"Sure, what's up?"
"Can I borrow your cloak tonight? I want to go somewhere after dark. And I would really appreciate if I could use the cloak to get there. I promise, just tonight. I'll have it back to you in the morning." You put on your best pleading eyes and pouty mouth, and Harry just laughed at you, but good naturedly.
"Fine, alright. Just stop looking at me like that. Where are you going anyway?"
"It's a secret."
"You're not doing anything that's dangerous are you?" he asked.
"Not at all. The most dangerous part about it is getting caught out of bed."
Harry promised the cloak to you, and you made a plan together to go back to the Gryffindor common room for him to hand it off.
Like fate falling into your lap, Fred and George soon came in. You stood up abruptly to go and meet them before they sat down with Ron and Harry. You pulled George away from his brother to speak with him alone.
His face was some mixture of irate and guilty, like he was trying to mask one with the other but failed. "What's up?" he tried to ask cooly.
"Meet me at midnight. I'll come by your common room to get you."
"Didn't take you for a rule breaker. Sneaking out after hours. Interesting."
"You and Fred seem to have that affect on me," you said with a shy grin.
"Where are you planning on taking me exactly? Not going to murder me are you?"
"Hey, that's my line," you teased. "Besides, it's a secret. You owe me."
"Can't resist a pretty face," he grinned. You were both standing so close to each other now, and you were certain that everyone was staring. You couldn't shift away from his magnetic pull. He gazed longingly into your eyes, and you wondered what he was thinking about.
Suddenly, your stomach rumbled loudly, and George's laugh tore you from your momentary bubble.
"Let's eat, shall we?"
"I promised Hannah I'd eat with her. You go on. I'll see you tonight."
George squeezed your shoulder affectionally before continuing over to the others. Good to your word, you went back to Hannah. When you sat down, she had more than a few questions.
"Which Weasley twin was that?" she asked.
"George."
"How do you even tell them apart? It's impossible!"
"George has a couple of moles on his neck," you explained. You wanted to tell her your other dividing factors, but you knew it would mean telling her more about your time with the twins than you wanted to.
"Interesting. I'll have to try and remember that. Though I suppose, it'd be hard to look anywhere than their faces," she sighed dreamily.
"Hannah babes, does someone have a crush?" you teased while poking her ribs.
"They're right handsome, but way out of my league."
"Oh hush! You're gorgeous."
"Yeah, but they only ever go for older girls. Besides, as dreamy as they are, they're a little to chaotic for my taste."
"They are chaotic indeed," you laughed.
"So how'd you become friends? I've never seen you talk to them before really."
"I spent the summer at their home, actually." Your throat tensed up a bit. You didn't want to tell her about your parents.
"Oh?"
"Yeah, my parents were away all summer, so Ron suggested to his mum that I stay with them for company. And that's what I did." Technically, you weren't lying. Your parents were away all summer.
The rest of the dinner passed by mostly in silence as Hannah pulled out some homework to work on.
After you finished eating, you met up with Harry to borrow his invisibility cloak.
All that there was left to do now was wait.
You stuffed the cloak away with your things and headed back through the tunnel to the common room for some reading. You weren't quite interested in doing any studying, so you pulled out your favorite book and curled up by the fire.
"Again?" boomed a voice from behind you after some time. It startled you a bit and made you jump. It was just Cedric. "Sorry, didn't mean to scare you," he said while smiling down at you.
"Again what?" you asked.
"I've watched you read that book a hundred times."
"Sod off! It's my favorite."
Cedric chuckled down at you and rested his hand on the back of the armchair. He towered over you, but his presence was almost comforting.
"It's quite late. Surprised you're not in bed," he noted.
"My dear Cedric, you don't know me at all," you pouted dramatically. "I never go to bed early."
"Fair, fair. It is Saturday anyway. You could spend the whole day sleeping in tomorrow."
"Sleeping in's only fun when there's someone with you," you sighed.
"I'm sure that a woman like you would have no trouble finding someone," whispered Cedric as he leaned down to you. He didn't need to. There was no one else in the common room to overhear. The heat of his breath on the back of your ear sent tingles through you.
"You offering, mate?" you teased. You looked up at him, and you could see his muscles stiffen a bit. His mouth gaped open in surprise, but he quickly snapped it shut.
"No, I'm not. Not that I wouldn't! I mean...I wouldn't...because we're just friends...but it would be nice. Not that I'm saying anything-" He stumbled around his words before you cut him off.
"Cedric! Chill. I'm teasing. Don't have an aneurysm. Please," you giggled.
"Right," he said as his brows furrowed together. "I'm going to go off to bed then..."
"Cedric," you whispered.
"I'm fine," he laughed.
"No, you're not. You're being weird. You're never this tongue tied. What's going on?"
"Nothing. Promise. Just tired. Goodnight." He turned on his heel and quickly stalked off to his tunnel while running his fingers through his hair.
Great.
Just fucking great.
What was going on with Cedric? He kept acting so awkward around you every time either of you mentioned being friends. You didn't think it was possible he had feelings for you. He never looked at you that way. He could have literally any girl at school. Why would he choose you?
You shook your head and tried to untangle the thoughts that were colliding in battle together.
It didn't matter now.
You had a secret meeting to attend with George. Someone who liked you. Someone who told you straight up how he felt.
You went and grabbed the cloak and a couple of blankets. You wrapped the cloak around you and snuck out of the common room. It was easy to remember your way to the Gryffindor tower. It was the tallest part of the castle aside from the Astronomy tower.
George was there leaning against the wall, waiting for you, just like he promised. He seemed to nearly jump out of his skin when you revealed yourself from under the cloak.
"Bloody hell! Warn a guy next time," he hissed.
"I believe we're even for that," you whispered while sticking your tongue out.
You swore you saw George's breath hitch in the darkness. "Is my tongue that intriguing?" you prodded.
"Honey, if you knew what that tongue made me feel, you'd lose your mind every time you saw it too."
"Get under here you lug." You lifted the cloak so he could slide in with you. "Just keep quiet and I'll lead the way."
You had to cramp close together to ensure you were both concealed. You could feel your ass pressing back into his groin with every step, and you could feel him growing as well. George didn't seem to mind as he kept his positioning and pacing firm.
The only time you ran into anyone was near the entrance you needed to go out of. Professor McGonagall was doing her rounds but quickly moved on. You took your opening and squeezed through the castle doors.
The crisp autumn air easily penetrated the thin layer of the cloak, and you were glad you brought more than one blanket. You kept the cloak on you until you were generously out of eyesight of the castle.
When you found the perfect spot, you pulled the cloak off of the both of you and laid out one blanket. George stood by and eyed you curiously. You sat down on the ground and patted a spot next to you to invite him. George eagerly sat beside you, and you pulled the other blanket across both of your laps and laid down.
George still looked at you, but didn't say anything, and planted himself next to you.
"Wow," he breathed after a few seconds. "That's an incredible view."
The nice thing about being away out in the middle of nowhere is that the night sky was always so clear and bright. Of course, there was the ordeal of having to sneak out just to see it, but it was worth it.
"Thought you might like it. It's quiet out here. Peaceful," you said.
You turned your head to look at George who was still staring upwards.
"It's easy to forget about the simple things in life, huh?" he asked.
"George," you whispered.
"Yeah?" He finally turned his head to look at you.
"Wanna talk about things?"
"Suppose we should..." his voice trailed off in shame, and you reached for his hand and clenched it in yours tightly.
"I'm here," you assured.
"I see the way Cedric looks at you," he started.
"Cedric doesn't look at me anyway," you blurted back. But how much did you believe that?
"Darling, he definitely looks at you with stars in his eyes."
"Okay. That's his business. Why would you get so upset about it?"
"I'm always the lesser brother. FRED and George this, FRED and George that. Fred, Fred, Fred. His name is always said first, people pay more attention to him because he's the executor for our pranks. Girls pay more attention to him."
"So you were jealous that I'd maybe place Fred AND Cedric above you?"
"I guess. I know it's stupid. And insecure."
"This is exactly why I didn't want to go along with this plan," you muttered.
"What do you mean?"
"You're already getting jealous. What will you do if I don't choose you? I don't want to lose a friendship with you."
"It's mostly just Cedric. Truly, if you picked Fred, I would be happy for you both. But Cedric, the man just sets my teeth on edge. Thinks he's all cool and high and mighty."
"George, I'm not going to let you talk about my friend like that."
"You're right. I'm sorry. Listen, I've been a git. I know it. Especially after listening to you mope about Fred's behavior. I went and did the same thing."
"I gave Fred another chance, so of course I'll give you one too. Look, this is weird, unprecedented territory for all of us. It's going to take time to get used to it."
"Thanks for talking me off the ledge."
"Can't resist a pretty face," you grinned at him.
"Cheeky lass."
You rolled onto your side and you were fully pressed up against him. You looked down at his face, watching his features dance under the illumination of the moonlight. You pressed your lips down onto his sweetly, but he pulled you in by the nape of your neck and deepened the kiss.
His fingers trailed down your spine tentatively, the touch alone a whisper of what it wanted to be.
Your lips melded together as one. The softness cradled your doubts and fears as you relaxed on top of him in a pool of safety.
His kisses left you sacred promises of tomorrows to come, ripe with a new hope, a new peace, and new understanding. You pulled away and rested your forehead against his, and all your disquiet dissolved away to nothing.