Part 15 - Good Business

The second task of the tournament had arrived and as the students headed down to the lake, George was carrying a box of money as he and his brother called for more bets. This tournament had been wonderful for their business as they took full advantage of students wanting to gamble on their favorite champions. While Krum had seemed to be the favorite of the first tournament, the majority of people were placing their bets on Fleur today.

George and Fred made their way through the crowd, like salmon swimming upstream, fully focused. The two of them didn't take much in life seriously, but their business ventures were an exception, even if it was just being bookies for the day. They were yelling out for bets, doing what they could to draw more people in.

Even in the midst of the crowd, Eve stood out to George as he saw her coming down the hill towards him, her eyes locked with his. As she got closer, he noticed the sly smirk on her face and wondered what she was doing. When it became clear she was headed straight towards them, George shot his brother a quick, warning glance. He never told Eve that Fred knew, unsure of how she would react to the news, and wanted to make sure he wasn't going to do anything to give it away now.

"I'm pretty sure that's against the rules," she said as she approached George and his brother.

"Oh, it definitely is," Fred replied with a wide grin.

Even as Fred spoke, Eve's eyes stayed trained on George. She reached into her pocket, pulling out a handful of coins, and handing them to Fred.

"Put it on whoever you want."

And just as quickly as she had come, she was gone, flashing George one last smirk before following the rest of the students down to the lake. Fred turned to George as soon as she was gone, wiggling his eyebrows at him.

"I think I'm going to like her," Fred said as he put the money in the box George was carrying. "Who are you going to bet this on?"

"Whoever wins," George admitted with a shrug.

Fred frowned. "That's not very good business, Georgie."

"It is for me," George said proudly, winking suggestively at his brother before continuing his trek uphill. He could hear Fred's roaring laughter following after him, quickly followed by calls for more bets as they both slipped back into business mode.

...

George and his brother were the last to reach the stands set up on the lake. They had to wiggle their way through everyone to find a spot by the railings. Much to George's surprise, Eve was only a couple people away from them. She was standing next to Malfoy at the rails, Crabbe and Goyle leaned up against the stairs behind them.

Eve seemed to notice him not long after he had noticed her, and flashed him a quick smile before turning her attention back to her conversation with Malfoy. George closed his eyes for a moment, straining to see if he could make out any of what they were saying. They hadn't talked about Malfoy much since their first conversation about him, and George was still curious about their relationship.

George himself hadn't had too many interactions with Malfoy, so he couldn't even begin to imagine what they would be talking about, and it seemed it was just simply too loud to make out any of it. He quickly gave up and tried to keep his focus on the tournament instead. With a short speech from Dumbledor and a fire of the canon, the champions were off, diving into what must have been very cold water.

It didn't seem like long before Fleur had already resurfaced, without her "treasure" in tow. She was quickly helped up onto the platform and wrapped in towels and blankets to try and warm her up. Even from where George stood, he could see the disappointment on her face. She was also the favorite for this task, so a lot of people were about to be out a good chunk of money.

"The Beauxbatons champion, Miss Delacour, has unfortunately been forced to retire," Dumbledor announced. "So she will take no further part in this task."

You could hear the grumble of disappointed students immediately following Dumbledor's announcement. A few minutes later, Cedric resurfaced with Cho, followed quickly by Krum with Hermione in tow, but Dumbledor made no announcements of their arrival right away. George watched the water closely, expecting Harry to appear next. He was admittedly a little surprised when his little brother surfaced instead with Fleur's little sister.

They were both helped on to the platform, Fleur seeming overjoyed to have her sister back, but the noise quickly settled and was replaced with an uneasy quiet as everyone watched the water. Harry certainly knew how to make an entrance. He came flying out of the water at full speed and landed on the deck with a loud thump that George could hear even from where he stood and the quiet was quickly replaced by loud cheers.

"Attention!" Dumbledor roared a few moments later, using his wand to make his voice loud enough for everyone gathered to hear. "The winner is … Mr. Digory!" Cheers erupted, people calling out his name. "Who showed innate command of the Bubble-Head Charm.

"However, seeing as Mr. Potter would have finished first, had it been for his determination to rescue not only Mr. Weasley, but the others as well, we've agreed to award him second place for outstanding moral fiber."

The cheers for Harry were speckled with a few "boos" from those who were rooting for Krum. George couldn't help but glance over at Eve, who seemed happy to see Harry succeed despite Malfoy's clear distaste with it. The kid next to Malfoy, who George could not for the life of him remember his name, earned himself a smack on the head from Malfoy as he cheered for Harry.

After the quick smack to the back of the kids head, Malfoy was off, headed to the lower levels of the tower and Eve quickly followed behind him. George knew he would probably have to wait until they were all back to shore before giving her her winnings.

George and Fred took a boat back with their brother and Harry, giving their congratulations and some teasing about moral fiber. They were lucky enough to have not been too far from Eve and as George spotted them headed up to the castle, he turned to his brother.

"Go on, mate, we'll catch up," George said with a smile, motioning for Ron to continue on without them. Ron turned towards his brothers, looking between them with a bewildered expression.

"Well, go on," Fred added, shooing Ron with his hand.

"Whatever," Ron muttered as he turned back around and headed up the hill on his own.

Once Ron was a good enough distance away, George hurried after Eve, Fred following closely behind him. It didn't take long to catch up with them and both Eve and Malfoy turned as they heard their approach. Malfoy looked completely confused and maybe a little disgusted by them, but Eve looked terrified. She stared at George with wide eyes, probably worried he was about to do something incredibly dumb. George couldn't help but smile at her lack of faith in him.

George grabbed out her winnings, or rather, the winnings of someone who had bet on Cedric, anyway, and held out the coins to her. She opened her hand almost instinctively it seemed, and George dropped the coins into it, making sure his skin brushed against hers as he did. He could see the hint of redness in her cheeks just at his simple touch and his smile grew into more of a smirk.

"Your winnings," he said casually.

"For betting on Digory," Fred added with a hint of playfulness in his voice, and George gave him a quick warning glance that hopefully no one else noticed.

Malfoy turned to Eve, one eyebrow quirked up at her and a slight sneer on his lips. "You bet on Digory?" he asked, confusion clear in his tone.

Eve suddenly looked very guilty as she gave Malfoy a sheepish smile, rubbing the back of her head for a moment. "Uh, well," she started slowly. "Technically, you bet on Digory." George immediately understood, and did his best to stay quiet, but Malfoy still looked quite confused, so Eve clarified further. "I may have borrowed some money from one of your robes."

Fred was quick to cover his humor with a cough, but George couldn't help the laugh that escaped his lips. Malfoy shot him the best death glare he could muster, which really just made George want to laugh even more, but he kept his composure.

"Shut it, Weasley," Malfoy spat before turning back to Eve. He snatched the coins from her hands quite aggressively. "Give me that!"

Malfoy stormed off, stomping loudly up the hill. George and Fred laughed in unison as soon as Malfoy was out of earshot. Eve flashed George a playful smirk and a quick wink before she turned and sprinted after Malfoy, catching up to him quickly.

"I definitely like her," Fred said, clapping his hand on George's shoulder.

"Me too, Freddie, me too."

An:

Hello, lovelies!

I got it done in time! I really didn't think I would, especially with Christmas and everything, but here we are. Just a short, fun little chapter before we get down to some serious business next chapter. We get to learn a bit more about mysterious little Evie next chapter that will probably finally start clearing some things up, so I'm excited for that, and I hope you all are as well!

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas, despite how odd this year has been lol

Until next week!

Mae