Vanessa woke the next morning, wrapped in George's arms. He was still sound asleep, and she didn't want to wake him by getting out of bed. She felt so safe and comfortable being in his arms, and she realized she didn't want the twins switching on and off to stay with her. She wanted George and only George.

She snuggled in closer to him, eventually falling back to sleep. That was until Fred had burst into the room about an hour later, waking them up. "Oi lovebirds, Mum wants me to tell you breakfast is ready."

"Bloody hell Fred, you don't have to shout," she said, throwing a pillow at him.

"Well, if I didn't yell, you wouldn't wake up." He left the room and closed the door behind him.

She turned over and looked at George, who was rubbing his eyes. "You sleep okay?" he asked.

"I did, better than I have in a while. Sorry, you had to stay and look after me."

"You should know by now that I don't mind looking after you."

She blushed, turning to look away from him. She got out of bed and stretched.

"Well, I appreciate it, Georgie. Now come on, before your Mum is up here yelling at us next."

They walked down to the kitchen together, not bothering to change from their pajamas, much like the rest of the occupants of the kitchen, except for Mrs. Weasley and Sirius. When they entered, Vanessa saw Fred smirking at her, and she rolled her eyes.

Mrs. Weasley magically set plates down in front of Vanessa and George as they sat down, and both thanked her.

"Did you sleep alright, Vanessa?" Mrs. Weasley asked, taking a seat next to Ginny.

"I did, thank you. And again, I'm sorry about last night. I've never not been able to get rid of a Boggart before."

She didn't want to talk about it anymore. The memories of the night before were still swimming in her mind, and she wanted them gone.

Mrs. Weasley had proceeded to tell the table that Mr. Weasley had taken Harry to the Ministry for his hearing. She wasn't going to make any of them clean the house that day, as they were all worried about the outcome of Harry's hearing.

Ron had also informed Sirius that his house-elf, Kreacher, had been rummaging through the garbage bags full of dark artifacts, which Sirius wasn't happy about.

During her short time at Grimmauld Place, the only house-elves she had seen were the heads that lined the staircase. However, she wasn't surprised that Sirius' family would have one. They were an old pureblood family, and almost all of the families had a house-elf or two at their disposal. It made her think of Dobby, the house-elf who had tried to help Harry in his second year but ended up doing more damage than good. She had also seen Dobby on her trips to the Hogwarts kitchens with Fred and George, and he was always so happy to see friends of Harry Potter.

She was brought out of her thoughts by Fred, who was elbowing her in the side.

"What?"

He leaned in and whispered so that no one else could hear them.

"So did you and George talk about your feelings last night?"

"No, I was a little traumatized by my Boggart. Sorry to disappoint you."

"I don't know how much longer I can keep this secret for you."

"What are you two whispering about over there," George asked curiously, leaning in to listen to them.

"It's nothing, George. Fred just wanted to know how I was doing."

She finished her food, not noticing George glance over at his brother. When she finished eating, she excused herself and went back to her room, wanting to get dressed and ready for the day.

While she was in her room organizing her trunk from her trip to Romania, the twins were in the next room over, talking about the night before and Fred's exchange with Vanessa and breakfast.

"George, nothing is going on between us. I was just talking to her."

"Talking to her so low no one else could hear you? Seems suspicious."

"You're so in love with her that it's driving you crazy. You just need to tell her how you feel already. I'm tired of being stuck in the middle of this."

"But I can't tell her. It would ruin everything, Freddie."

"You haven't been yourself since she left. And now that she's back, it's almost worse. I mean, the fact that you think something would be going on between us when I know good and well how you feel about her. Come on."

"I'm sorry. I don't know why I'm feeling like this."

"Do I have to repeat it? You're in love with her! You have been since our fourth year, don't deny it."

"Who's he in love with?" Ginny asked, walking into her brother's room.

They looked at each other, then back at her. "No one, you didn't hear anything, Gin," Fred said quickly.

Ginny shut the door behind her, a massive grin on her face.

"You like Vanessa, don't you? Oh, I knew it!"

"Ginny, I swear to Merlin, if you tell her, I'll-" George started.

"You'll what, hex me? I'm quicker than you. Plus, I'll tell Mum, and she won't like that very much. Besides, I was just messing around to get you to tell me." She smirked deviously at her brothers.

"Gin, please."

"Calm down, George. Your secret is safe with me. But I think you should tell her."

"Oh, like you've told Potter how you feel about him?"

She glared at him, cursing him under her breath before walking out of the room. None of them knew that Vanessa had been listening to their conversation from her room.

When Harry returned to Grimmauld Place later that day, it was with the news that he would indeed be going back to Hogwarts on the first of September. Mrs. Weasley prepared a celebratory dinner that night for everyone.

That night, George stayed with her again, claiming that Fred had preferred to sleep alone, though he was doing it so his brother could spend more time with Vanessa. As she fell asleep in his arms, he looked up at the ceiling of the room, contemplating if he should tell the girl next to him how he felt about her.

After about half an hour, she had started to mumble in her sleep. George had been so close to falling asleep himself that the action startled him. He couldn't completely understand what she was staying at first, but the more it went on, the clearer she started to sound.

"Please don't kill him. I don't want him to die. I don't want any of them to die. I love you, George, I always have."

His eyes widened as he looked down at his best friend. He figured he hadn't heard her right, but she kept repeating herself over and over again for at least ten minutes before she eventually stopped and started lightly snoring again. He suddenly felt the need to leave, knowing he shouldn't have heard what she had said, even if it was in her sleep. He slowly got out of bed, careful not to wake her as he went.

He left the room and went back into the room he shared with his brother, slightly annoyed that Fred was still awake.

"What happened?"

"Nothing. I'm just going to stay in here tonight."

"You're lying, Georgie. You know you can't do that with me. Now tell me what happened."

"She was talking in her sleep. She must have been having a nightmare or something because she kept saying, 'don't kill him,' and 'I don't want them to die.' And then she said, 'I love you, George, I always have.'"

"Bloody hell mate, you sure she wasn't awake?"

"Positive, because she went back to her cute little snores right after."

Fred laughed. "You must be in love if you think her snores are cute."

George rolled his eyes and went to his bed. He was more confused than before. Was it possible she felt the same way about him?

The next morning, Vanessa woke up alone in her bed. She figured George had just gotten up before her. She got dressed and went down to the kitchen to have breakfast with the few people who were up at that time, but George was nowhere to be found. When they were finished, Mrs. Weasley led Vanessa into another room of the house, and the two began cleaning. This room had been slightly more challenging to clean, thanks to the nest of doxies who had made a home there.

It took them almost half the day to dispose of all of them, some mysteriously vanishing into Fred and George's pockets when they came to see what had been going on. When they had finally finished, Mrs. Weasley had set off to make an early dinner for everyone, while Vanessa went to clean herself up. She almost laughed at her appearance in the mirror, as dirt and dust were splattered across her face.

She had been in her room reading when Fred came in to talk to her.

"You talk in your sleep. Did you know that?"

"How would I know that if I'm asleep when it's happening?" She rolled her eyes at his question.

"Well, George said he heard you talking, and at the end of it all, you said that you loved him and always had."

Her eyes widened, and her jaw dropped. She had recalled the dream she had the night before. Death Eaters had surrounded the lot of them, and she begged and pleaded for them not to harm anyone. In her dream, she had finally admitted her feelings to George, but she was mortified that she had been talking aloud in her sleep.

"Looks like you'll finally have to tell him how you feel. You can't hide it anymore."

She threw her book down on her bed and stood up.

"I can't. Not now. Not with what I have to do."

Fred looked at her curiously.

"What are you talking about?"

"I have to tell you both something."

She took his hand and pulled him out of the room and into the room next door. George was sitting on the floor, going over what looked like an order form. Vanessa sat down next to him and looked over at what he was filling out.

"George, focus for a minute." He looked up at her, not realizing she had entered the room. "I have to tell you something, and you both have to swear you won't tell anyone. I'm going to tell Ginny, Hermione, Ron, and Harry soon too."

They both nodded their heads, and she proceeded to tell them about her meeting with the Order and what she would be doing at Hogwarts this year.

"So what you're saying is, to be undercover, you can't be seen hanging around with us because that would look suspicious?" Fred asked.

"Exactly. Most of my housemates like me but don't fully trust me because you two are my best friends. It's not like they're going to tell me things if you two are hanging around me all the time. I honestly don't think they'll be very open talking about Voldemort, but I still have to listen for any chatter."

George looked almost heartbroken. "Why did you even agree to do this?" he asked.

"For my brother."

They both understood, but it didn't make it any easier.

"So what, do we have to have some massive fight when we get to school? Show everyone we're not friends anymore?" Geroge asked.

"Or we just go into school not talking to each other. I won't be able to share a compartment with you on the train as it is because I'm Head Girl. We could just make it seem as though we had a falling out over the summer or something. But we've still got time to figure it out, and it's not like it's going to be real."

"I guess we could try not to like you," Fred said, smiling at her.

"But it won't be easy," George said, turning back to his form.

"I thought your Mum had put a stop to all this?" She was back to looking at the order form.

"Please, we'll never be done with this. Not now that we've got the money to open a shop officially," Fred said.

"We're told we have you to thank for part of that," said George.

"Harry offered me the winnings because of Cedric. I merely told him I had no use for it and figured it would help the both of you out after Bagman cheated you both out of your money at the Quidditch World Cup last year."

"You're always looking out for us."

"Of course I am, Freddie. You're my two best friends. But I'm not testing any products, so don't ask."

"Don't you worry, we've got a plan for that."

She looked at them curiously before they both turned and looked at her, devious smirks upon their faces.

"First years," Fred said.

"You can't do that. You'll be breaking so many school rules."

"Oh, that's right, we've got a Head Girl here. Shouldn't be telling her our plans, for fear of detention or something worse," George said, laughing with Fred.

She smacked him over the head. "Shut it, both of you."

They sat around the rest of the afternoon, laughing and talking about the different products they had been working on. They had even asked for Vanessa's input on various potions they wanted to sell.

The few weeks they had left in their summer holiday passed quickly. They finally found themselves headed to Diagon Alley to get their school supplies for the upcoming term. She did her shopping, as Fred and George had gone off on their own without her. She purchased new robes, shirts, and skirts for her final year, before making her way to Flourish and Blotts to get all the items she needed from her book list. Her last stop was Quality Quidditch Supply, where she purchased new Quidditch robes and a Broomstick Servicing Kit.

When they arrived back at headquarters that night, Mrs. Weasley had prepared a massive feast in honor of Hermione and Ron for becoming Prefects and Vanessa for becoming Head Girl. The kitchen was packed, as most of the Order members had joined them. Moody had told them all that they would be escorted to Kings Cross the next morning.

Once everyone finished with dinner, Vanessa had Ginny, Hermione, Harry, and Ron follow her to her room. She proceeded to tell them all the same thing she had told the twins a few weeks prior. All about her plan to get information out of her fellow housemates. They all understood and told her they would help her in any way that they could. Ginny and Hermione weren't happy that they wouldn't be able to spend as much time with her. Hermione knew she could pretend to talk about Prefect duties with her, but it wouldn't be the same.

When everyone had left to go back to their rooms, George came in, looking ready for bed. She couldn't help but smile. She had grown so used to being with him that she wasn't looking forward to being back at Hogwarts and putting up the facade that they weren't close anymore.

She left to go to the bathroom to change for bed, and when she returned, George had already made himself comfortable. She crawled into the bed and cuddled up next to him. He immediately started playing with her hair, which soothed her.

"Nessa, there's something I've wanted to tell you for a while. I-," but she cut him off before he could say the words she knew were coming.

"I know." She took his hand in hers, lacing their fingers together. His hand fit perfectly in hers. "I do too. But we can't, not now. Not with everything going on."

"You feel the same way?"

"I have for a while now."

They left it at that. The three little words they so desperately wanted to say to each other remained unspoken, but at that moment, they knew they didn't have to say it. Both knew now how the other felt. She fell asleep in his arms again that night. He fell asleep shortly after, both dreaming of a life where things were different, where Voldemort wasn't back, and where they could be together.