Disclaimer: I don´t own Harry Potter, but I hope I own the plot.

A/n: I´m gonna reply to my reviewers this time, ´cause it seems that people really liked the last chapter, and I got more reviews than I dreamed of getting.

Satinzevi89: And I love you for reviewing! Thanks!

Jamie 0: And you think mine´s good? That´s so cool!

Lily pod: Hope this is soon enough.

Rockingouttomanson: I know, I promise I´ll make it up to him.

Eruaphadriel: Who wouldn´t feel sorry for him? I know I do!

Starrycat: Well, Alicia has her problems too... But she shouldn´t have done it, I know.

Believe-in-yourself4ever: WOW! You got teary-eyed? That´s fantastic! ... I normally don´t become this happy when I make people cry.

Bel-o-kiu-kiuni: I´d love that! I don´t know when I´ll be finished with it, though. If you´re looking for more G/A stories, check out "Remember When" by Eruaphadriel and "Only Joking" by Lora Tempesta (unless you´ve already read them, of course). They´re both great stories, and I recommend them strongly.

LPLC: Thanks for saying that!

And so the chapter begins...

For a long time I was in love

Not only in love, I was obsessed

With a friendship that no one else could touch

It didn´t work out, I´m covered in shells

-No Doubt

George´s PoV:

After leaving Alicia, the only thing I wanted to do was sleep and forget what had just happened. I still couldn´t believe that she had really used me to get over my twin brother. She´s supposed to be one of my best friends and she knows how I hate it when people think that Fred and I are completely identical. Then she does this, showing that she didn´t understand at all.

And the worst part was that I still loved her.

On my way back to the Great Hall to tell the others that I was leaving, I ran into Felicity. She looked at me in a very strange way, and then ran off without saying a word. I assumed that I still looked a bit angry, so I relaxed my face before entering the Hall. Once there, I quickly made my way over to the table where Lee and Katie were sitting.

"Hey, mate!" Lee turned towards me. "We wondered where you´d got to, you´re missing out on all the fun." Over his shoulder, Katie mouthed the word Alicia´. I shook my head, and she got a disappointed look on her face. Lee, who hadn´t noticed a thing, continued talking.

"We found out why that Hufflepuff girl went so mad when you wouldn´t go with her." He grinned. "Turned out she had set her eyes on Roger Davies, but when he decided to go with the Veela, you were her last resort."

I nodded absentmindedly. "Well, that explains it. You know, I think I´ll go to bed now. I´m a bit tired."

"Already? It´s not even midnight!"

"Yeah, but I´ve got a bad headache," I lied. "I think I´ll try to sleep it off."

Lee looked like he was going to say something more, but Katie stopped him. I left them and headed back to the Tower before I could run into Fred. I wasn´t sure if I could bear to talk to him right now.

I spent the rest of Christmas trying to avoid Alicia, since I didn´t feel ready to talk to her yet. I wasn´t sure if I ever would. So I took to never being around her except at meals and when all of us friends were together. If she tried to talk to me alone, I always excused myself and left. I even started hanging out at the library, knowing that she´d never look for me there.

Of course, the others noticed that something was up. Fred tried several times to make me tell him what was wrong. I always refused to answer. What should I have said? Oh, it´s just that Alicia doesn´t return my feelings for her, she´s in love with you, and she therefore used me to get over it? There was no way I could tell him that. So I stuck to avoiding both his questions and Alicia.

However, when Christmas was over, avoiding her became harder. We had most classes together, and none of our friends except us took Advanced Potions. But by trying hard, I managed to keep her away for almost two weeks. Then Snape ruined everything, of course. Trust him to try to make my life a living hell.

"Today we´ll be making an Aging Potion," he declared during our Thursday class in the second week of term.

I smiled to myself – this would be easy. I´ve always been good at Potions, and I´d made this potion before, when Fred and I tried to put our names in the Goblet of Fire. That didn´t work out so well, but the potion was good.

"Today's partners will be... Let me see, Flint and Montague, Rogers and Bond, Spinnet and Weasley..." I didn´t hear the rest of the names, but I didn´t need to. I´d heard the important part, that I´d have to work with Alicia. And worse – talk to her. Grumbling, I made my way over to her table and sat down.

"Well, looks like we´re stuck with each other," I said before she could say anything. " So let´s try and make the best of it. There will be no talking except about the potion. All right?"

"But George..." she began.

I quickly interrupted her. "I mean it, Alicia. No talking."

She opened her mouth, then closed it again. I nodded in satisfaction.

"Okay, then. Let´s get started."

For the rest of the lesson we worked quietly, without any unnecessary talking. A couple of times Alicia looked like she was about to say something, but she always decided against it. When the lesson was finally over, I gathered a sample of the potion and handed it in to Snape. It had turned out perfect, and I knew we´d get a good grade on it. Alicia and I have always been a good team.

I got out of the classroom as fast as I could when Snape released us, but I wasn´t fast enough. Just as I was heading to lunch I was snatched by the sleeve of my robe and dragged into an empty classroom. I turned and found that it was Alicia who had forced me in there. She´s surprisingly strong, that girl.

"What´s this?" I asked, knowing perfectly well what it was. There was just no way I´d make it easier for her.

"George, I really need to talk to you," she began nervously.

"Oh yeah? About what?"

"Please, George, don´t make this so difficult." She looked almost desperate, and for a moment I almost forgave her. Almost.

"I´ll do whatever I want," I said.

"Oh, come on now! I´m trying to tell you that I´m sorry here!" she yelled, suddenly angry. I arched my eyebrows.

"And I´ll have to say that you´re doing a great job with that. I´m sure yelling at me is the right way to do it!" I countered.

Alicia looked like she regretted what she´d said. If I hadn´t been so mad at her, I´d probably have felt sorry for her. But since things were the way they were, I instead used the opportunity to leave before she could say more.

Alicia and Katie didn´t show up at dinner that day. When Lee asked Angelina where they were, she told him that Alicia was really upset about something. Apparently she hadn´t been to Divination either. I didn´t comment on this, but inside I couldn´t help but wonder what was wrong. Had I been too harsh on her?

After I had finished my meal, I went to the common room to get a sample of our latest product, the Confusing Caramels (which are really great stuff, believe me!). To my surprise I was met by Katie, who dragged me into a corner and told me we had to talk. I didn´t have a chance to resist. (Yeah, I know that makes it two girls who have overpowered me in one day, but what can I say? They´re stronger than they look!)

"Listen to me now, George," Katie said sternly. " I know everything that´s been going on between you and Leesh, and I understand that you´re angry, but it´s really about time you made up."

"You know everything? Even..."

"Yeah, I know about Fred. But that´s not what we´re going to talk about now. We´re going to talk about you and Leesh."

"That´s none of your business!" I protested. "Besides, there´s no way I´ll forgive her if she can´t tell me that she´s sorry without yelling at me! She acted like it´s all my fault!"

"Oh, just shut it, will you?" Katie growled. "All right, you won´t forgive her yet. What do you want then?"

I shrugged, not sure of what I wanted.

"Just a proper apology without any yelling, I guess. Then we´ll see."

"Great! I´ll see what I can do!" She grinned and ran off. I stood in the corner for a little longer, feeling confused, but finally I decided that it was probably just Katie being herself. She can act like that, running off in all directions without any particular reason. It wasn´t important. Still, I was a bit worried what she might do.

"George, get over here!" It was Fred.

"What?" I looked at him. He was standing on the doorstep of our dormitory, looking down at something. I walked over to him to see what it was.

It was a rose.

"What´s this? Nobody gives any of us flowers!" he said.

"Perhaps it´s to you from Angelina," I suggested.

"Or to Lee from Katie," he answered.

I bent down to get a closer look at it. There was something white attached to it.

"Hey, looks like there´s a note here," I announced. "Perhaps it can tell us who it´s for."

"Well, what are you waiting for? Pick it up!"

"Me?" I got up quickly. "Why should I do it? You do it."

"Why can´t you do it? It´s not dangerous."

"Then why don´t you do it. It´s probably not for me anyway, it´s for you or Lee. And since Lee isn´t here..."

"And why shouldn´t it be for you? You´re hot as hell, plenty of girls wanna give you flowers."

"Oh, come on, Fred," I said, pretended to be blushing. "You only say that because we´re identical." We both grinned.

"Hey, look who´s coming!" Fred suddenly said. "It´s Lee! The man of the day!"

"Our saviour!" I followed up, instantly knowing what he was up to.

"Ok, guys, what do you want me to do?" Lee said. He really knows us too well.

"Want you to do? Have we asked him to do anything, George?" Fred said, his face a picture of innocence.

"Not as far as I can recall, dear brother."

Lee shook his head. "Sure, whatever you say. Hey, what´s this?" He bent down and picked up the rose. As he read the note, a grin started to spread across his face. After finishing, he handed the note to me.

"It´s for you, mate. Looks like you´ve got yourself a date."

I looked at the note. It was clearly written by a girl, and it said:

Dear George,

Meet me at the Quidditch stadium in the girls´ locker room tomorrow at one. Come alone.

Love...

I could feel that I was starting to smile. This looked really promising. Suddenly I was very excited about what the next day would bring. I know I´m hopelessly in love with Alicia and stuff, but you don´t expect me to live in complete celibacy meanwhile, do you?