Chapter 2: The Truth of It All

Hearing George groan on the other side of my door, I couldn't help but smile. At least I wasn't the only one feeling anything. When I looked around I saw the things that I had brought with me that had been at the musty motel. I pulled out some picture frames and started hanging them around the room.

Satisfied with each frame, I turned around the room, slowly.

"How tacky is this room?" I muttered to myself. Dust covered everything, and it was all so dull and gray.

Smiling, I slowly waved my hands around the room and murmured a simple spell: Miracle. I smiled when the room was now in shades of pale blues, lavenders, light garden greens, and rosy pink.

Walking to my bag again, I pulled out my nightgown and my night bag. Walking out of my room I found the bathroom right beside George's room. Turning on the light, I turned on the shower, and put my necessities on a shelf in the shower. Quickly, I pulled off my clothes and jumped in. The warm water felt like heaven. I didn't realize how sore I actually was from the long day.

I finished shaving my legs with my razor and got out of the shower. Sighing, I started pulling on a different pair of pajama bottoms (Dark Blue with Green Frogs) and a green tank top. The other pair had gotten dirty from George's tackle. I immediately missed my ducky pajama bottoms. Then I walked out of the bathroom, toweling my hair dry, and fell asleep the minute my head hit the pillow.

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I woke up to hearing a scream. "Bloody hell, what's going on?" I wondered. Then it all hit me, Carly's room was right beside mine. I jumped out of bed and ran to her room.

When I opened the door, tears were streaming down her cheek and she was fighting with her pillow. Carly was plainly screaming bloody murder. I walked over to her bed and pulled her in my arms.

"Carly, everything is okay. Shh." I repeated over and over. She slowly stopped fighting me and leaned into my chest. Finally, her tears and sobs had finally changed into soft hiccups.

"Do you want to talk about your nightmare?" I asked quietly.

"He killed you… (Hiccup) Because he knew… (Hiccup) He knew… (Hiccup) I have feelings for you…" Carly answered trying to pull away from me. "I know you're just being nice by being here so you can go back to bed, I'll just go into the kitchen for some warm milk."

Fred and I hardly ever lose are tempers, but when we do… It's not a pretty sight. At this moment, I felt like the top of my head was about to come off. Not only did I want her, not only did I not even know her or who she was talking about, BUT I would rather keep holding her in my arms instead of going back to my bed alone.

"I'm not letting you push me away Carly." I snapped. "So don't even think I'm letting you go down to the kitchen by yourself."

The stunned look on her face made me feel guilty about yelling at her. She didn't do anything wrong, she wasn't the one who had taken my fiancée away…

Finally, I gave in to the wanting inside of me that had wanted to kiss her since I tackled her to the ground. I leaned down…

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When George's lips touched mine, I was still in shock from his little temper tantrum. But when he kissed me, everything bad that had happened in the past year seemed to disappear. There was no Logan, telling me what to do, treating me as if I were a human punching bad, and performing painful curses that he could use later. Instead of ending the kiss, like I knew I should, I deepened the kiss and opened my mouth a little. George answered with a groan and met my tongue with his own. Then I felt his hand toy with the strap from my green tank top. Warning bells kept going off in my head, but instead of listening to them, I ran my hands down his back.

Suddenly, George pulled back. I could see his desire for me in his eyes.

"Crazy." He muttered. "I'm sorry Carly, I didn't mean to… I'm sorry… That would have been a terrible mistake…"

He stood and stared at my wall for a moment. I noticed it was the picture of my little brother, Jeremy.

"I wanted it as much as you did." I said in a small voice. "And I'm not sorry for kissing you back and I wouldn't have been sorry if we had done anything else."

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I just shook my head at her. How could she not understand? I had no idea how old she was, if she had a boyfriend, who he was, and too many questions. And then there was Katie… Katie the Hogwarts Chaser, who I would have married if she hadn't been killed by those death eaters at The Leaky Cauldron over two years ago...

"I'm 23 years old. I've been single for over a year, the he in my dream was my ex-boyfriend, and you can ask me any other questions you have. I'm sorry about your fiancée, but she'll never be really gone George. She'll always be in your heart, because she was your first love and because you loved her." Carly's silky voice came from behind me. I turned around and she smiled. "I've been reading minds ever since Professor Harris dropped his Playboy in the hall when I was in second grade. So far I have answered every single one of your questions, are you going to answer them for me?"

I couldn't help but stare at her. Somehow I told her that I was 25, obviously single for two years, I didn't have a nightmare, and I can't read minds. Carly giggled. Then I yawned, a big tired yawn. And I lay back down on her bed. Crawling in beside me she snuggled into my right shoulder. I couldn't help but pull her closer to me and wrap my arm around her.

Then we started talking. After I told her all about Katie, Carly told me all about Logan. When we finished talking about our love lives, I told her about Hogwarts and the Order of the Phoenix. Carly told me all about being a runaway American and Sarcoma School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

When we started talking about our families, Carly fell fast asleep as I was telling her about Percy. I couldn't have agreed more… Percy had always been a bore, Head Boy, Prefect, making it into the ministry, and his looking down at the rest of us. I was getting angrier by the minute.

Carly must have read my mind because she reached up and gently caressed my cheek with her hand. I kissed her the palm of her hand and looked at her slender, sleeping form. Anything I asked she answered truthfully… Katie had never done that, if it wasn't something she wanted to talk about, it wouldn't be mentioned. Then I yawned and fell fast asleep.

DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN ANY OF THIS EXCEPT THE PLOT AND CARLY HAWKINS!