Chapter five: Aiming for the trees

When George awoke the next morning, he had the worst headache he'd had in months. It felt like his brain had been battered with a sledgehammer and thrown to the dogs that'd undoubtedly had their fun with it, and then stuffed back inside his skull for recuperation.

He found his underwear beneath the bench he'd been sleeping on. It hadn't taken him long to figure out where he was – in the Quidditch dressing-room, one of the only safe places you could be alone in.
He looked up at the single window. By the looks of things, it was pretty late in the afternoon. The sky was pallid, and the sun's precious beams were few. The weather was terrible.

Why hadn't Katie awakened him? She was nowhere around to be seen, so obviously, she'd gone up to the castle again, leaving him in a quite vulnerable state.
Would you have awakened her? His question's answer was apparent – he wouldn't have. It would have been too awkward, waking up together and all that, going to the Great Hall for breakfast together… nah, he would've sneaked off himself if it'd been him.

"Why the hell is this door sealed shut?"
"Someone's been here."
"Well, obviously, dimwit. You know what I meant."
George turned his head to the door, his heart beating very fast. Those were familiar voices, all too familiar…
He froze as he realised the truth.

It was the Slytherin Quidditch team. This was the day they usually had practice. They were already here, which meant that the time was 2 PM, maybe a bit later.
"This just isn't happening," he muttered, quickly getting his boxers and pants on. He sent a mental thank-you to Katie for at least sealing the door. It was something that Alohomora didn't work on – he didn't want to speculate as to where she'd learned it, or what it was, for that matter. Any minute now the Slytherins would get it open, he was sure of it, and if that were to happen, if they were to find him there, he'd rather be fully than partially dressed.
He pulled on his shirt and lay himself down on the bench where he'd awakened minutes ago, pretending to be asleep.

Seconds later, after someone had uttered a to George completely strange word, the door burst open, and the entire Slytherin team stumbled in, a familiar blond boy first.
"Hey, it worked. Cool. Now, let's…" He stopped in the middle of his speech and stared blankly at George, who'd just turned his head to look at the newcomers. "What the hell are you doing here?"
"Slept here tonight," he answered, as if there was nothing wrong with that at all. "Figured a change of environment ought to do me good."
"Change of environment?" Malfoy looked extremely sceptical but amused at the same time. "Thought you'd feel at home if the sleeping quarters were a bit more frugal, did you?"
"Oh, yeah, that's right, Malfoy. Come on. Let's talk about my family being poor, 'cause I've never heard that one before," George sneered and got to his feet. "Meanwhile, I've got places to go, classes to attend, so if you don't mind…" He advanced through the crowd of Slytherins, leaving a sniggering Malfoy behind him as he went. When he was outside, he felt his heartbeat slowing down from having raced terribly. He'd actually pulled it off. He'd tricked them into believing… well, whatever they wanted to believe, really. But he'd got off the hook, and that was what mattered.
"Stupid dunce," he muttered to himself, making his way up a muddy hill that led to the castle. "I'll get him some day, I swear…"

When he arrived in the Great Hall, students who had just departed from their separate lessons where coming together everywhere in the room, chattering about nonsense, homework and such. George searched the room for Fred, but didn't find him anywhere. He heard from Lee that his brother had been looking for him, though, and that at least calmed him down slightly. Fred had, after all, promised him a nice talk today.
Now, there was just one problem left to deal with.

Katie Bell was sitting with Alicia and some other girl from Ravenclaw George didn't know when he approached her. He caught her eye and beckoned here silently with a nod of his head. She understood immediately and excused herself from the table, walking tentatively towards him as though he was dangerous in some way.

"Morning," he said as cheerfully as he could.
"Morning? It's late in the afternoon, Weasley. Where have you been?" She was playing a game, he understood that now. There were people everywhere around them who could be eavesdropping, and she obviously thought it best to save the real conversation for some time when they'd be alone together. Whenever the hell that'd be. George decided to take the initiative.
"Look, there's something I need to talk to you about… there are classes I've missed, and I thought I'd ask you to help me with homework."
She smiled. "Sure, Weasley, let's take a stroll. We have a half an hour 'til class starts anyway."

They went out to the courtyard. No one else was there, except a runaway bird from the Owlery flying in wide circles above their heads.
"So," said George, looking at her to try and read her expression.
"So," she retorted, her face as neutral as though they'd indeed been talking about homework, "so I hope you don't mind my little early exit. It's just I had classes…"
"I did, too," he said, smiling.
She looked uncomfortable. "Yeah, but… well, you know, I didn't want to… I thought…"
"It's okay, I totally get it," he assured her. "But you put me in a downright dreadful predicament. Luckily I got out."
"Oh, sorry!" She blushed violently. "What happened?"
"The entire Slytherin team came barging in on me, 's all," he said nonchalantly. He wanted it to seem like he'd had a hard time, but pulled through anyway, under the worst ever circumstances. It would make him look good.
"No!" Katie gasped, concealing her head in her hands. "I'm so, so sorry, George! I had no idea…"
"I told you, it's okay. I got out didn't I? Used my wits and all… they barely got the chance to heckle me."
Katie laughed, and George felt like the talk was going better than he had anticipated.
"Great. You could wriggle your way out of anything, I bet," she said when she'd stopped laughing.
"Probably."

"Well, anyway, was there something in particular you wanted?" she asked carefully. "Or did you just want a moment to reminisce last night?"
"Err, a little of both, actually. I was just wondering… what do you reckon we should do next? Where has this landed us off?"
"Umm… what do you mean, 'do next'?" Katie asked uncertainly.
"I mean, should we, like, go on real dates? Should we tell everyone? Should we… you know, stuff like that."
Katie looked at him, a broad smile on her face. "Are you serious? You want to… tell people? Go on dates, not just fool around?"
"Well… umm… yeah." George felt awfully awkward all of a sudden; had she not expected him to talk to her after 'getting what he wanted', or why else was she so surprised?
"That's wonderful!" She beamed at him, positively aglow with happiness and calm. "I thought… well, I guess it's silly, but I thought you'd dump me now that we've… you know."
"Had sex?"
"Yeah," she confirmed, staring down at her shoes, apparently quite abashed.
"Suppose I'm not that kind of guy." He shrugged.
"Remind me not to doubt you again," she said, and leaned forward and kissed him quickly on the cheek. Then, she turned around and started walking away, and didn't look back. As she'd almost reached the gates, she called, but without looking back, "I'll see you around, George… I'll be in the common room, by the fire, awaiting you at midnight."
"Great!" he shouted after her, but she'd already closed the door.
He sighed, sitting himself down on the grass beneath him.

It was all so hard. All his feelings were mixed up so that he didn't know what to believe anymore.
He wasn't sure how he felt about Katie. He just knew it wouldn't be fair to discard her after having sex with her – he was positive she'd been a virgin before he'd come along – and so, he played his cards the way he needed to.

His brother was always a shadow in the back of his head he couldn't get rid of. But if he tried really hard, he could ignore it, just like he'd done last night. Besides, the brother-thing, it wasn't going to work out. For one, Fred wasn't interested in him that way, and second, incestuous relationships were forbidden by law. It was taboo feeling anything other than friendly love for your sibling.
Katie, on the other hand… she was permitted. And he liked her, he really did.
So why shouldn't he go for the things he could have, instead of getting his heart inevitably broken?

Why aim for the stars when you were destined to only reach the trees…