Chapter 25
For Draco, the week felt like it was passing much too quickly. By Tuesday, he had no information at all about Sophia and nothing to tell his father. He sat in Potions with Gryffindor, not really listening to Nightshade talking about the upcoming O.W.L.s since he was so preoccupied with his predicament.
I have to think of something quick or else it's over for me...but how should I get Sophia to talk to me? She hates me and what makes it worse is that this whole situation is my fault. Now there is no way she'd even come near me without cursing me, let alone talk to me about something as personal as a possible connection to my father. Maybe if I follow her around a little bit, I can find out more about her. Asking that stupid, git friend of hers, Sylia, was useless. Not only did she not tell me anything useful, now Sophia probably thinks that I am up to something and she's even more on her guard. Draco thought, feeling anxious about his upcoming meeting with his father.
Letting his eyes wander around the room, his eyes suddenly fell on Violet. She seemed to be taking notes like he should have been. This brought her back to his mind.
God, I know she hates me. After all the things I told her about my family's ties with Voldemort, I have no chance...Draco thought dejectedly, but how can I forget about her? I can't do it! She's the only one who's seen me for me, not for my wealth or status. If only my family was like hand-me-down, goody-two-shoes Weasely's...I might be pathetic, and poor, and grimy, but maybe I would feel more liked than used...No use in thinking about this now...but what about Sophia? All I can do is follow her around and hope that something comes to me...
When class ended, Draco felt as though it couldn't have been fast enough. As he was leaving, he stole one last glance at Violet. She happened to look up at that moment and their eyes locked. But quickly she looked away. Although it was only for a second, that look gave Draco some hope that just maybe he still had a chance with her since she didn't seem to be glaring at him. In fact, he couldn't tell what that look meant exactly. He just hoped that it was something good.
Fred and George did not seem much closer to making up, and it was getting very close to their next Quidditch practice. Since Seamus and all of the other fifth years were now studying for their O.W.L.s, Ginny was sitting with both Fred and George in the Common Room trying to read her Potions book. But almost immediately she regretted this decision. Reading was useless. She could feel the tension building up in the room, and every time she looked up from her book, she could see the two staring daggers at each other. Ginny knew at this point she had to step in or else they would get kicked off of the Quidditch team and then Gryffindor would lose some of the best beaters they ever had.
"That's it! I'm so tried of the two of you fighting all the time!!" Ginny said to them both, "You two have got to work this out here and now, otherwise, not only will you annoy everyone around you, you will get kicked off the Quidditch team as well! You heard what Katie said!!"
Fred and George said nothing to her and just looked at her with irritation. Then Fred got up from the couch he was sitting on and gave Ginny an angry look.
"You need to stay out of other people's business, Ginny!" Fred said sharply, storming off to the boy's dormitories.
After Fred had ascended the stairs leading up to the dormitories, Ginny turned to George.
"Okay, what is going on here, George?! I've never seen you two fight like this!" Ginny said in confusion, "What exactly are you guys fighting about?"
"Well...it's more like who..." George said slightly dejectedly, "I guess he does have some right to be mad at me...for a while I pretended to be him."
"What? But you guys are always together! How...?" Ginny said, still at a loss as to what exactly was going on.
"Not all the time!" George explained, "It's just that this one girl Sophia started talking to me and thought I was him...and I just kind of let her continue to think I was him."
"George!" Ginny said, "You really shouldn't have done that..."
"Well, I know. Soon, I got pretty tired of her calling me Fred all the time, and so I had planned to tell her I was George before things got out of hand. But, as you can see, things did end up getting out of hand." George said.
"Wow! What happened? I've never seen you guys so mad at each other before..." Ginny said.
"Well...I never pretended to be him to a girl he kind of fancied before..." George said, feeling a little ashamed.
"Oh, George!" Ginny said, sounding slightly disappointed in him.
"Yeah...I really should have told her who I really was the minute she first made the mistake...but anyways...I tried several times to tell her who I was, but Fred kept popping up some way or another, or something else happened that prevented me from telling her." said George.
"But what did you tell Fred every time you went to go see her?" Ginny said very curiously.
"Hmmm...one time I hexed something he ate to make him vomit slugs – " George started.
"That was you?!" Ginny said in surprise.
"Yeah, pretty magnificent, wasn't it?" George said smiling, remembering how well that had gone off.
Ginny just gave George a righteous look that wiped the smile off of his face and made him continue his story.
"Ummm...anyways...That time when I tried to tell Sophia, she just walked off for some reason I still don't know. Another time, I told Fred I wasn't going to Hogsmede...and I secretly went to go meet her later in the Three Broomsticks. Right when I was telling her who I was that time, Fred walked in! So I just asked her to the Valentines Ball, and hoped that I could get her alone for a minute so that I could tell her there. Now this is when things got bad. I told Fred that I wasn't going to the Valentines Ball since I couldn't get a date. Then the night of the Ball, I waited until Fred and Lee had long left with their dates before I ran out to meet her. Near the end of the Ball, I finally got her alone for a minute, so I took her outside to tell her. I guess while I did that, Fred ended up running into Cho Chang, who is friends with Sophia. Then I suppose Fred asked Cho who Sophia ended up going with to the Ball, and she said Fred. You can probably guess what happened next."
"Wow, no wonder Fred got so mad at you!" Ginny said, finally understanding.
"Yeah..." George said sadly.
"But what happened at our last Quidditch game?" Ginny asked.
"Well...Fred was still mad at me about the whole thing with Sophia, so he kind of just started trying to hit me with all of the Bludgers instead of the Hufflepuff team. That's when I started getting mad at him, he was doing that even after I apologized!" George said.
"Did you apologize before or after Fred tried to pelt you with all the Bludgers?" Ginny said, slightly suspiciously.
"Well...after...but that's beside the point!" George said, feeling helpless.
"Look, George...go right now and apologize to him for real, okay? Then, maybe, he won't be so mad at you anymore." said Ginny.
"Yeah...I suppose you are right." George said, getting up from the Common Room couch he was sitting on.
Ginny watched him go up the stairs to the dormitories and then reopened her Potions book.
I really hope Seamus gets back soon...And I hope Ron is no where near him, so Ron doesn't try to rip his head off. Ginny thought, a smile creeping onto her face.
Now that it was only two days before he was to meet with his father, Draco was getting more and more anxious since he had found nothing out to tell him. His anxiety caused him to completely block out anything Professor Binns was saying in History of Magic, but Draco didn't feel so bad about that since he usually zoned out in that class anyway.
Okay...It's over...dad's going to have my head on Friday. Maybe I just shouldn't go? No...it would be so much worse if I didn't show up...Draco thought with a shudder, picturing what his dad would probably do to him.
When Draco walked out of class, he walked slowly into the corridor. But as he walked through the corridor, he looked up and saw Sophia coming out of another classroom.
Maybe I can follow her a bit and see if she'll say something interesting I can use to get her to talk to me! Draco thought, feeling slightly relieved that a chance to find out some information had finally presented itself.
He started walking towards her, but then realized that she would never say anything he wanted to find out if she saw that he was near by. This caused him to suddenly duck behind the crowds of people coming out of their classes and try to stay unseen from Sophia and her friends. But he was too far away to hear anything. He crept closer, still staying behind all the people that were traveling in the opposite direction. Finally, he got close enough to hear something.
"...yeah...and it was just the coolest robe! It even had matching shoes and everything!" Sylia said.
"Stupid git..." Draco muttered, rolling his eyes and remember his unfortunate date with her.
Draco sincerely hoped he wouldn't have to listen to her going on and on like he did on that date again. The conversation continued similarly, but soon they began to move.
Oh, no! Draco thought as he heard their voices getting fainter, I think they're going somewhere!
Draco hastened to move in the direction of their voices before he lost them. But in his hurry to keep up with them and stay unseen, he bumped into someone. He looked up and he saw that he bumped into a really big, really angry looking student.
"Watch where you're going!" the student said, looking like he didn't take kindly to people just randomly ramming into him.
Even if Draco was in a great hurry to keep up with Sophia, he would not stand to be talked to that way.
"You watch where you're going, you stupid git!" Draco said contemptuously.
However, Draco's courage failed when he saw the look that the student gave him. Draco turned from the angry student and saw that Sophia was turning down the hall. He knew that if he did not keep up with her now, he would lose her completely. Draco found this an opportune time to run away as fast as he could.
"Hey!! Come back here!!" the student said after him.
But Draco was saved since the student lost him in the crowd of other students coming out of their classes. Once Draco also turned the corner, he breathed a sigh of relief.
Wow...that was too close...Draco thought, Now where'd she go?
Draco was in the hallway of the one eyed witch with the hump. As he looked around the hall, he didn't see Sophia anywhere. He walked down the hall until he was right by the witch. Disappointed, he was about to give up his search when he suddenly heard voices coming from the room that was right by the witch. He realized that the voices were slowly getting closer to him. Finally, he recognized Sophia's voice as one of the two he heard.
Crap! If I stand right here, they're going to see me! What should I do?! Draco thought frantically.
He had only seconds to do something before they would see him. As the voices closed in on him, he saw only one real option: hide behind the one eyed witch statue. Just as Sophia and Cho walked out of the classroom, he pressed himself close against the wall and crouched behind the witch. He tried to be as quiet as possible because if he just made one sound, they would hear him since Sophia and Cho were standing just on the other side of the witch statue.
"Am I glad we finally could get rid of her! I really can't put up with her sometimes, you know?" Sophia said frustratedly.
"Maybe you're being a little harsh, Sophia. I know that Sylia can be a bit superficial sometimes, but she still is our friend." Cho said.
"Yeah...I guess..." Sophia agreed hesitantly.
"Why are you in such a bad mood? You've been like this for a few days now...is it because of that whole thing that happened with George at the Ball?" asked Cho.
Sophia made a noise to indicate her annoyance and said, "Don't even mention that Weasely to me!"
"You haven't even told me what happened!" said Cho.
So Sophia is having some trouble with one of those free loading Weaselys? Draco thought.
"He pretended to be Fred for the few months that I talked to him!" said Sophia angrily.
"Really?! I'd only thought it was for the dance." said Cho.
"No, it was the whole time." Sophia said disdainfully.
"Wow...that really wasn't good of him at all, then..." Cho said.
"Yeah, no kidding." Sophia said, "You can't trust men at all. This just proved it."
Sophia began to stalk off right by where Draco was hiding behind the witch with the hump. Draco gasped softly and pressed himself to the wall even more, but there was no use in that since he was already as close to the wall as he could get.
Oh no! She's going to see me! Draco thought, convinced he was doomed.
"Hey, Sophia, wait! I don't know why you're so mad! Do you want to talk about this?" Cho said, stopping Sophia from walking to where she could see Draco.
Sophia took a second to calm herself down and then said, "No. I'm okay...the whole thing just upset me I guess..."
"Are you sure? Because I think it's rather unfair to judge all men based on this one experience." Cho said, only half kidding.
"Yeah, I'm sure." Sophia said.
"Okay." Cho said, not quite convinced that Sophia was really okay, "We should get back to our Common Room then, right?"
"Yeah." Sophia said, turning around and heading in the opposite direction.
Cho followed. Only when Draco was sure they were a good distance away did he relax and step away from the wall from behind the witch statue. At that time, he realized how much his knees were aching from crouching uncomfortably for so long. After stretching out his legs a little bit, he began to walk to his own Common Room.
I never thought that there would actually be a day I'd be thanking any of those good for nothing Weaselys...Draco thought, I actually have some information that I can use!
As Draco walked to the Slytherin Common Room, he smirked to himself. He felt more relaxed than he had in days since he got that letter from his father.
Things look like they're finally going my way. Draco thought.
George walked up to their boys dormitories thinking about how exactly he was going to apologize to Fred.
I can understand why he's so mad at me...I mean, I would be mad at him too if he did the same thing. George thought.
When George got to the doorway into his dorm, he paused a moment to gather his thoughts. Then he walked up to Fred who was sitting on his own bed.
Right when George got up to Fred, Fred said, "I don't want to talk to you, George."
"Look, Fred. I was a real git for impersonating you like that, especially when you weren't in on it and since it was a girl who you'd fancied first..." George said very apologetically.
After a long minute Fred spoke.
"It's okay George. At least you admitted that you were a git." he said.
"I'm never doing that again. If someone thinks that I'm you, I'm setting them straight right away." said Geroge.
"Well, that is if I'm not in on it." Fred said, cracking a little smile.
George smiled back.
Draco sat in his dorm thinking about how to use the information of one of the Weasely twins getting on Sophia's bad side.
What was it that she said? Draco thought, what I understood was that one of those useless gits pretended to be the other...how can I use this to get her to talk to me?
After thinking about this for a few minutes the idea struck him.
Surely Sophia would go talk to that Weasely if he wanted to apologize to her...Draco thought, an evil smile coming to his face, But when she gets there, she'll find someone she didn't bargain for.
As Draco plotted how to arrange this meeting, the smile left his face.
I'll finally find out how she's connected to my father...and if she is connect to Lord Voldemort. he thought, remembering when he had seen Voldemort face to face with a shiver.
Thoughts of Voldemort made his mind drift to Violet. As he thought of her, he began to ache with a strange kind of loneliness. He missed her so much after not getting to be close to her for so long, and their risky, yet exciting, rendezvous'. After telling her everything at the Valentines Ball, he was sure that he'd lost her to Weasely, but after the way he saw her look at him that one day in Potions, he felt a small glimmer of hope that just maybe he could still have a chance. But he pushed that out of his mind, and once again focused on the task at hand: finding a way to get Sophia to meeting using George Weasely some way.
I know! I can write her a letter! I just really hope that she's never seen that Weasely's handwriting...Draco thought.
Draco took out some parchment and a quill and began to write.
Dear Sophia,
It is imperative that we meet. I must talk to you about something. Meet me at the Astronomy tower tomorrow night at 7.
Sincerely,
George
Draco read what he wrote and thought, Bah! That's horrible! She'd know it was a fake right away!
Draco crumpled that parchment up and took out a fresh piece.
Dear Sophia,
We must meet very urgently. I was completely in the wrong to pretend I was my brother. That was very inconsiderate of me to do. I would be very grateful if you'd come and talk to me at the Astronomy Tower tomorrow night at 7.
Sincerely,
George
That's even worse!! Draco thought, ripping up this piece of parchment and throwing the pieces aside in frustration.
Draco racked his brain trying to remember exactly the way that the Weasely twins sounded and how they talked. All he knew for sure was that they didn't talk anything like they way he had written either letter.
Hmmm...maybe this is too formal...I know those good for nothings don't sound like that...Draco thought.
Draco got out another piece of parchment and tried again.
Dear Sophia,
Hey. I think we need to talk. Meet me at the Astronomy Tower tomorrow night at 7.
Sincerely,
George
Wait a second... "Sincerely"? No way would that simple git sign a letter like that. But how would he sign a letter? "Yours truly"? "Your friend"? Oh, forget it...the less time I spend trying to figure out how that idiot would sign a letter the better. I think I'll just leave it with "George". Draco thought, crumpling up this letter too.
Draco got out another parchment and finally wrote his final draft.
Sophia and Cho sat in their Common Room studying for a test in Herbology when they finally decided to call it a night.
Yawning and getting out of her chair, Cho said, "Wow...it's getting late...why don't we get to sleep already?"
"Yeah, let's." Sophia replied, also getting up.
Just as they were about to make their way up the stairs to the dormitories, an owl flew swiftly into the window and startled anyone who was still left in the Common Room. It stopped right in front of Sophia and dropped the letter it was carrying on to the table in front of her.
"It looks like you've gotten a letter." said Cho.
"I wonder who it's from..." Sophia muttered as she opened the letter.
Dear Sophia,
Hey. I think we need to talk. Meet me at the Astronomy Tower tomorrow night at 7.
George
"It's from George." Sophia said in surprise mixed with annoyance.
"Really?! Let me see!" Cho said, snatching the letter from Sophia's hand.
After reading the letter, Cho said, "So, are you going to go?"
"I don't think so." Sophia replied.
"Oh, why not?" Cho asked.
"Why not?! I've had enough of giving this guy chances, that's why not!" Sophia said, starting to get a bit angry.
"Look...George did seem like a nice guy. Well, except for the whole pretending to be Fred thing...but still! I really doubt he faked liking you and everything." Cho said.
"I guess so..." Sophia said, starting to get swayed.
"I'm not telling you to go off and marry the guy or anything...all I'm telling you to do is hear the guy out. Don't write off all of mankind just because of one thing like this! Sure it wasn't good of him to pretend to be his brother, but he did genuinely look sorry." Cho said, "I mean, the least he can do is apologize."
"That's true." Sophia said, feeling a little stupid for getting too carried away, "I guess I'll go see him tomorrow then.
"That's good. Well, it's really time to get to sleep now." said Cho.
They went up to their dorms, said good night, and went to sleep.