Disclaimer: I don't own the characters and I'm definitely not making any money from this.
A/N: Thanks for reading and reviewing. Nothing to really say except I'll be busy for the next two weeks. Next Tuesday I have my Formal (Senior Prom, if you like) then CoS comes out the day before my graduation assembly. Then on Saturday I go on holidays with my friends. Five teenage girls alone in a beach house for a week. I doubt I'll get much writing done but I'll try!
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Chapter 22
"George?" Alicia called softly.
He woke up immediately. It must have been around midnight and Alicia was leaning over him.
"What are you doing?" he asked huskily.
"Don't speak, my love." She pressed her finger to his lips. "I couldn't bare to be away from you. I want you, George."
His eyes nearly popped out of his head in surprise. His unrequited love was being requited! Alicia removed her finger and replaced it with her lips. For a moment George was stunned then without much of a thought he pulled her down on top of him.
"You wouldn't believe how much I want this," he sighed as she showered his neck with kisses.
Suddenly she stopped and drew herself up on her elbows to look at him. "George?"
"What? What is it Leesh?"
"George?" she repeated. Then George realised her voice was much to deep. In fact, it wasn't even her voice anymore.
This time he really woke up. Oliver Wood was shaking him and ordering him to get up. Fred was stumbling around the room cursing his Quidditch Captain.
"Finally! I've been trying to wake you for five minutes!"
"What the hell for?" George mumbled, unable to forget the image from his dream.
"Training," Oliver announced happily.
"Training?!" George demanded.
"Keep it down!" Lee complained.
"None of the other teams are training yet," he explained shortly.
"That's because their captains aren't absolute nutters," Fred snapped.
"I'm going to pretend you didn't say that, Fred. Up you get, George, I expect to see both of you down on the pitch in fifteen minutes." Oliver turned and strode from the room.
"Crazy git," George mumbled. Slowly, he rolled out of bed and headed straight for the bathroom to have a very quick, very cold shower.
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"Then while the Chasers are executing the Porskoff Ploy I want the Beaters to try a Bludger Backbeat. During this Harry will be."
Alicia sighed and closed her eyes. Oliver's voice faded into the background and all she could hear was Fred snoring in her ear. His head fell onto her shoulder and she opened her eyes in surprise. Angelina smiled at them as Alicia closed her eyes again, too tired to shove Fred away. Unperturbed by the lack of alertness in his teammates, Oliver continued to explain his boards.
George spent the whole time trying not to think about Alicia. Like how warm she was right beside him.
Especially not that.
When Oliver finally finished the team eagerly took the field. George congratulated himself on not thinking about Alicia for a whole twenty minutes. He hadn't even thought about how nice she was looking that particular morning. Or how her hair was soft and shiny. Or how her eyes seemed to-
Dammit!
All thoughts of her were finally driven from his head when Oliver began to stress. Nothing unusual about that of course, but this time he seemed to think the Slytherin team had sent someone to spy on the session.
Harry desperately explained that the boy was in Gryffindor. George then spotted a group of students with the distinct green robes of Slytherin.
"And the Slytherins don't need a spy, Oliver."
"What makes you say that?" Oliver eyed George tensely.
"Because they're here in person," he kindly pointed out.
The reaction was immediate. Oliver flipped. Fred, George and Harry hurried after him. As Oliver ordered Flint to leave the Chasers joined their teammates.
Words were exchanged between the rival teams, (A/N: I can't be bother typing it all out. If you really want to know what was said then check in CoS) but the real surprise came when Draco Malfoy was named as the new Seeker.
Alicia eyed the boy carefully. He smiled back contemptuously. Alicia felt George tense beside her. She'd heard enough stories about the Malfoys to know he was trouble.
She was studying his pale, sharp face to try to get a sense of him. He seemed to want to start trouble but not want to really take part in it. Whether that really made him as evil as Fred, George, Harry, Ron and - well, everybody else in Gryffindor - insisted he was was something Alicia wasn't entirely sure of yet.
Then came the pièce de résistance. Seven brand new Nimbus Two Thousand and Ones. Angelina gasped and, despite herself, Alicia felt a heavy sense of envy settle in her stomach.
"I believe it outstrips the old Two Thousand series by a considerable amount. As for the old Cleansweeps," Flint distinctly sneered at the twins, "sweeps the floor with them."
Fred grunted and clenched his fists. George took a step forward but Alicia grabbed the back of his robes and prevented him advancing on Flint and knocking him out, which was what he obviously wanted to do. For a second it looked like Fred would do just that but a distraction appeared in the form of Ron and Hermione.
They were just as shocked that Draco had made the Slytherin team. Then they noticed the brooms and Hermione suddenly understood.
"Good, aren't they?" Malfoy said smugly. "But perhaps the Gryffindor team will be able to raise some gold and get new brooms too. You could raffle off those Cleansweep Fives, I expect a museum would bid for them."
The Weasley boys all turned a startling shade of crimson as the Slytherins laughed, snorted and guffawed. Alicia tugged harder at George's robe, willing him to stay put.
Angelina was about to say something but to everyone's surprise Hermione beat her to it. "At least no one on the Gryffindor team had to buy their way in. They got in on pure talent."
"Whoa," Fred mumbled.
"No one asked your opinion, you filthy little mudblood," Malfoy snarled.
Alicia forgot to restrain George and he leapt at Malfoy. "How dare you!" she shrieked over the chaos that ensued from that single comment.
Flint shielded Malfoy from the twins and Alicia fumed. Being half-blood herself, she hated the thought that the 'purity' of ones blood could be used to define a person. Quickly she'd made up her mind. This Malfoy kid was evil.
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By the time Halloween rolled around George had learnt to cope with his infatuation with Alicia to some degree. When he was with her he thought about her less and it was just like old times. Unfortunately, this didn't extend into his dreams. They just got worse.
At the Halloween Feast Alicia made an announcement that caused George to choke on his pudding.
"Georgie, you need a girlfriend," she said thoughtfully.
"No I don't," he said quickly.
"Yes you do," Alicia insisted.
"As much as I hate to admit it, Spinnet's right. You need a girl." Fred jumped into the conversation and for once he wasn't on his brother's side.
"What about Meredith from Hufflepuff?" Angelina suggested.
Katie looked thoughtful then said, "Crystal-Jade?"
"What about that blonde chick? Charlotte?" Lee joined in.
"No. Cordelia would be perfect for George," Alicia spoke as if he wasn't even sitting right across from her.
"Cordelia? She the leggy brunette in Ravenclaw?" Lee frowned.
"Yep," Katie confirmed.
"She's hot," Fred interjected.
Angelina glared at him dangerously. "Pardon?"
"Hot in an entirely unattractive and repulsive way, of course."
"Guys, I don't need a girlfriend. If I wanted one I'd do it myself anyway."
"No offence, George, but I've heard some of your pick up lines and well, they aren't all that effective," Katie said gently.
"I know how to pick up girls, thank you very much!" he replied defensively.
"Then why don't you have a girl?"
"Because I don't want a girl!" he yelled a little too loudly.
Ginny looked down the table at her brother and shook her head in embarrassment. Lee just snorted into his pumpkin juice.
"I know what you're going to say, Lee Jordan, and I am not gay!"
This attracted the attention of everyone rather effectively. Lavender Brown whispered something to Parvati Patil and they giggled.
"And I'm not bi-sexual either!"
Alicia smiled to herself. He so needed a girlfriend. Luckily Cordelia was in need of a boyfriend.
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"Maybe this wasn't such a brilliant idea after all. Playing match maker always ends in disaster," Lee whispered.
"It's too late to back out now, Jordan," Alicia hissed.
They were in Ancient Runes a few days later and had just been given an assignment that required them to work in pairs. Alicia had immediately paired with Lee and subtly suggested that George should pair with Cordelia.
"Sure, I've never worked with a Weasley twin," Cordelia said eagerly. She smiled brightly and looped her arm through his.
George gave Lee a pleading look but he just grinned and winked in encouragement. Cordelia dragged him across the room to the last empty table. She pulled out her Ancient Runes book while George just sat morosely staring at a spot on the wall.
"What about that business with Mrs Norris? Weird isn't it?" Cordelia drawled in her thick Australian accent.
"Huh?" he turned his attention to her belatedly.
"Are you awake?"
"Partially."
She shoved a piece of parchment under his nose. "Then start drawing some runes."
While she wrote from the textbook he lazily drew scribbles that were supposed to represent ancient runes. They just looked like scribbles though.
"Done." George shoved the parchment back across the table without looking at her. He was afraid if he did he would find her pretty and start having disturbing dreams about her too.
Satisfied that he'd accomplished his half of the work, he leant back in his chair and looked across the room where Alicia and Lee were working and laughing. George scowled. Lee was sitting much too close to her. He might as well be in her lap, he thought bitterly
"George?" Cordelia said gently, she'd been watching him for the past few minutes.
"What?" he snapped unintentionally.
"Can I just give you a little tip?"
He shrugged annoyed at being interrupted. "Free country."
"If you wear your heart on your sleeve it's more likely to get broken."
That got his full attention. He suddenly focused on her. Damn. She was pretty. "What do you mean?"
"Your feelings for Alicia." She leant across the table to speak softly under the various conversations in the room.
"I don't have feelings for her!" he spluttered.
"You were staring at Lee then?"
"No! I wasn't staring at anyone!"
"Fine. I was just trying to give you a bit of advice but if you don't want it."
George sighed. If she already knew then there was no point denying it. He might as well take advantage of the situation.
"You were saying something about hearts and sleeves?"
Cordelia smiled knowingly. "Don't make it so obvious. You're asking for heartbreak that way."
"I didn't think I was being that obvious about it," he said indignantly.
"Well, I noticed didn't I? I'm surprised Alicia hasn't picked up on it yet. If you keep leering at her like that you're only going to get a bruised ego and quite possibly a slap in the face."
"Alicia would never slap me," he said dismissively.
Cordelia smirked. "She would if she knew you were undressing her with your eyes."
"I wasn't undressing her with my eyes!" George protested loudly. A Slytherin boy at the next table glared at him and growled something about stupid Gryffindors.
"Whatever you say," she said quickly, raising her hands in submission. "My point is you should try to drop hints and be subtle about it."
George winced. "It sounds complicated."
"Not if you do it properly. I'm only suggesting a hug or a compliment every once in a while. Even someone as oblivious as Alicia will eventually get the picture."
"Eventually? What if I can't last till then?"
"Get yourself a distraction then," Cordelia flicked her long brown hair back over her shoulder.
"A distraction? You know, Alicia was trying to set us up."
"I figured as much. Though I'd love to be your distraction, George, I have a prior engagement with someone," her said coyly, her pale green eyes sparkling.
"Really?" George hid his disappointment carefully. "With who?"
"Lee."
George nearly fell off his chair. "Lee Jordan?"
"The one and only," she said.
George laughed. It would be just like him to ask her out now and ruin Alicia's plan. "You like him?"
"I guess I'll find out on Saturday. He invited me into Hogsmeade with him. He's even going to buy me a Butterbeer."
"Don't get your hopes up. He'll probably spend all his money on Dungbombs." George smiled as the bell that signaled the end of class rang.
"I'll keep that in mind. Good luck with not having your heart broken and all. I'll see you around, George." Cordelia shoved her book back into her bag then left with the stream of students.
Alicia and Lee came over to accompany George to Care of Magical Creatures. Alicia was looking positively thrilled. Lee on the other hand looked a little frightened.
Alicia beamed at him. "You looked like you were getting along well."
George shrugged nonchalantly. "She's a nice enough girl I suppose."
"Did you ask her out on a date?"
George glanced sideways at a suddenly agitated Lee. "No, apparently someone beat me to it."
"Oh, look at the time, we better hurry." Lee tapped his watch in Alicia's face. "You know how Professor Kettleburn hates it when we're late."
"Since when do you care about being on time?"
"Since now, George. Come on, let's stop talking so we can walk faster." Lee bounced on the balls of his feet.
Alicia ignored him. "So who is she going on a date with?"
"I think maybe Lee should be the one to tell you that."
"Lee?" She turned to him and dropped his eyes to the ground. Alicia gasped. "You didn't!"
"Well, after you were talking about her and stuff I just couldn't help it."
"You could have told me this before I tried to set her up with George!" She whacked him with her Magical Creatures book and George just laughed.
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A/N: I apologise for the uninteresting chapter. It's really just a prelude to the next one. I'm sure you'll all be excited to know the next chapter will take place on Valentine's Day. George decides to give Alicia a Valentine but chickens out at the last moment. Fred takes it upon himself to write one on his brother's behalf. As you can imagine, chaos will ensue.
So I won't be able to update for about two weeks. I apologise but it's not really in my control. I will try to write while I'm away. Then all I'll have to do is type it up.
Please review and don't hate me for my lack of updates!