Disclaimer; I own nothing.
Polly took a whole weekend to meditate. She took some personal time to contemplate everything she had learned from Tanya. Polly wouldn't have guessed that the twins would lie to her in a million years. But now she didn't know what was right. Sunday night she finally ventured out of her room, having no more food left in her room to eat. She had to get some dinner.
Polly walked down the hallway quietly, avoiding eye contact with everyone. What did they know about her? Had Laura told her secrets to everyone? What did Laura think she was? A joke? Polly was still angry, and she had every right to be. She felt betrayed. Even though it was a small problem in the grand scheme of life, it still hurt her. She trusted people who were lying to her. Well, Laura lied, but the twins withheld important information.
Upon entering the Great Hall, she was almost instantly tackled by the twins. They asked her a million questions about where she'd been all weekend.
"You were supposed to meet us in the library yesterday," George said.
"We waited but you never showed up," Fred said, crossing his arms. Fred looked upset, but George looked more worried than anything.
"Are you okay, Polly?" George asked, moving his hand up to touch her shoulder. She smacked it away from her, stunning George. Even Fred was surprised; Polly never seemed so angry. "Polly, what's happened?"
"Go away," Polly sneered, moving away from them to walk to her own table.
Justin sat beside her, smiling away. They sat together at dinner sometimes and slowly became friends. Justin was a nice kid, and the fact that they were both muggleborn was nice. He was still getting the hang of things in his first year. Polly helped him out when she could. Justin was happy to have someone who never teased him about the fact that he didn't understand everything right away. His friends did sometimes; never to intentionally hurt him, but just to goof around. But it hurt, and Polly understood that.
"Are you alright, Polly?" Justin asked, getting some food onto his plate. "You seem a little angry."
Polly looked over her shoulder at the Gryffindor table. George was staring right at her, and he looked sad. He didn't look away as their eyes met, but Polly did. George sighed, his shoulders slumping. Other than the prank never had any kind of problem with Polly before.
"Bad day is all," Polly said, trying to dismiss the conversation.
"Do you wanna talk about it?"
"No, no. I'm alright," Polly said, faking a smile. "What's going on with you? Anything interesting?"
Justin quickly started gabbing about Harry Potter, and how he'd somehow managed to make it onto the Quidditch team as the Seeker, which was big news. No first year had ever made it onto the team while Polly's been here, and she'd never heard anything about it when she'd been stuck talking about Quidditch a million and one times with the twins or when Oliver would wander over, meaning there was no chance to change the topic.
"Polly," someone said behind her. She looked over to Oliver standing there. Speak of the devil. "Could I have a word?"
"Uh, sure." Polly had never really spoken to Oliver without at least one of twins around. Even then she barely ever added anything to the conversation. "Talk to you later, Justin."
"Bye," Justin said, returning to his food.
Polly left the table, following behind Oliver as he led her into the hallway. Oliver cleared his throat before he began to talk. He said, "Listen, I think you're a great girl. But I'm just too busy for any kind of relationship, okay? I'm sorry." Oliver looked at her, only to be met with confused eyes.
"What are you talking about?" Polly asked.
"The letter you gave me," Oliver said, handing it a folded piece of paper to her. Polly opened it and scanned it's contents briefly. It was explaining her love for him, and how much she wanted to be with him.
"I never wrote this!" Polly shouted, gripping onto the letter tightly. It crinkled in her fist.
"Look, I didn't and won't tell anyone. You don't have to be embarrassed. I think it's sweet, I'm just too busy with Quidditch." Oliver put a hand on her shoulder. "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine because I didn't write this!" Polly shouted, Oliver shushed her and looked around.
"Alright, alright, you didn't write it." Oliver winked at her, as if they were now sharing a secret. The only secret was that this guy wasn't listening to anything Polly said.
Polly looked at the note, knowing for sure that Laura was the one to write it. It had the big loopy 'L' she always used. Tears of frustration fell from her eyes. Polly sat down and brought her knees up to her chest. She was tucked away in a corner, completely aggravated at everything that just kept piling up on her shoulders. Her eyes were closed as someone sat down next to her, she knew it was George, she could tell by his smell. He always seemed to smell like the wind on a mid autumn day.
George didn't say anything, but he wrapped an arm around her, pulling her closer to his side. Polly leaned her head on his shoulder. George soothed her by rubbing her arm, and whispering sweet things to her. Once she stopped crying he said, "I'm sorry I didn't tell you about Laura. I wanted to, but Fred was afraid that you'd have a harder time in school if you were rooming with two people you didn't get along with. I'm so sorry."
"I don't think I've ever heard you sincerely apologize to anyone," Polly joked, smiling. George chuckled, wiping away the tear tracks off her cheeks. He kissed her head, resting his cheek on the top of her hair.
"Don't get used to it," he joked, smiling.
"Look," Polly said, shimmying over a little so she could sit up straight. George shifted too, keeping his arm around her shoulders. He looked at the letter she was holding. George read it, squinting at the words.
"Are you going to, uh, give this to him?" George asked, looking at Polly's face.
Polly ripped it in half. "Obviously not, you muppet. I didn't write this."
"It didn't sound like you," George said.
He let Polly rant about Laura until her little heart couldn't take another insult. She deflated after a few minutes. Polly sighed, getting comfortable against George again. George knew he was forgiven, he and Polly could never stay mad at each other. Even if he had no evidence to support that, he knew it. George had to take a moment to think about his feelings. When he read the letter to Oliver he had been kind of jealous. He tried to determine whether or not he was jealous of Oliver getting a love note, or Oliver getting a love note from Polly.
Polly looked up at George's face. He was zoned out, just thinking about everything. Polly looked around the empty hallway and saw Fred walking towards them.
"Still angry at us?" Fred asked, eyeing the two of them sitting so close.
"No," Polly said, "I'm over it."
"Over what?"
"I found out about Laura," Polly said, nudging George with her elbow to catch his attention. He snapped back into the conversation.
"So why were you mad at us?" Fred asked, sitting in front of Polly.
"Because we didn't warn her," George answered, looking at his shoes. He still felt kind of bad about it. "But all is well now."
"Mhm," Polly mumbled, hiding her face in George's neck. She felt George shiver but she said nothing about it.
Neither Fred nor George said anything else about the topic, seeing as Polly was still upset about something. George understood, but Fred was still in the dark. He looked at George, asking him with expression what was bothering his dear friend. George whispered to Polly asking if it was okay to show Fred the letter. Polly sighed, thrusting the ripped sheet at Fred. He held it together and read it quickly, trying to stifle a laugh. George glared at him in warning.
"You're upset because Oliver didn't return your 'undying love'?" Fred asked, George kicked him in the knee.
"She didn't write that, idiot."
"Laura wrote it and gave it to him," Polly said, pushing herself tighter against George. She was very embarrassed.
"Oh, oh well that just won't do." Fred stood up. George smirked at him.
George looked to Polly and said, "perhaps you should head to bed for the night."
"I need George's help with some... business," Fred said, holding out his hand for Polly. She used it to pull herself up.
"What're you gunna do?" Polly asked, wiping her cheeks on her sleeve.
"Defend your honour." George stood up, giving Polly a hug. He kissed the top of her head again, having to lean over quite a bit due to the height difference. "Go to bed, Polly. We'll see you in the morning."
With that, Fred and George walked away from Polly, leaving her to her own devices for the night. She began walking away from the spot when Tanya caught up with her, warning her that the whole school knew about the letter. Polly was confused, as Oliver had said he wouldn't tell anyone. He was ignorant, but he wasn't a liar. Polly wanted to crawl into her bed and never return.
Tanya left the dorm after Polly was in bed. Her friend in the year above came to get her with some important gossip. Polly just went to sleep.
Two hours later, she was shaken awake by Tanya, whose grin spread across her cheeks like that of a crazy person. It startled Polly when she saw it. She sat up and rubbed her eyes, asking Tanya what was going on. Tanya just started laughing. It took her a moment to collect herself, Polly just watching in amusement.
"You don't understand what has happened in the last two hours," Tanya said. "We were all in the Great Hall when someone asked Oliver about the letter. He was so confused because he didn't tell anyone. The other guy said Laura told them, so Oliver asked who told her and she was so confused! She thought Oliver would tell his friends or something. Then Laura broke and told Oliver everything. So if it makes you feel any better, Oliver knows it wasn't you, and I think he wants to talk to you." Tanya laughed a little more.
"That's good," Polly said, yawning.
"That's not even the best part!" Tanya shouted, smiling. "Oliver set everyone straight. Everyone knows what a horrible person she is!"
"Oh, uhm, good?" Polly said, not sounding sure. She didn't want to ruin Laura's life or anything; she only really wanted an apology.
"But, of course, if someone wrongs you they deal with the terrible two," Tanya said. "The twins slipped her a love potion, no idea how they got it. The person she fell in love with is Justin!" Tanya started laughing harder than ever. "The poor boy ran away in fear!" Tanya continued to cackle.
"How did they sneak it to her?" Polly asked, getting out of bed and putting her robes on quick.
"No idea," Tanya said, moving to her own bed. "Twins were looming around the hallways hoping to see you, though. Better hurry, only thirty minutes until curfew."
Polly rushed out of the dorm, then out of the common room. She was looking down the hallways for her boys but didn't find them, and she only had twenty minutes left. Otherwise, she'd have to wait until morning. It would keep her up all night if she waited. After ten more minutes she found the boys walking towards her. They both waved, smiling at her, as she ran to them and wrapped her arms around them. George grinned, knowing he was definitely back in her good books. Fred noticed the smile.
"Thanks for always looking out for me," Polly said, giving them a squeeze before letting go.
"You're our girl," George said sweetly.
"Our girl?" Fred asking, grinning. George elbowed him. Polly pulled back from the hug and yawned again.
"So how'd you do it?" Polly asked, curiosity getting the better of her. "I can't see her trusting you guys."
"Convinced a first year to give them to her," Fred said.
"Justin?" Polly asked, laughing.
"That's the one," George said. "He's your friend, we used that to our advantage."
"You're the best," Polly said, hugging George again. But this time just George. He hugged her back, enjoying the moment.
"It was my idea!" Fred said, throwing his arms in the air dramatically.
"I have to get back to my room, don't wanna miss curfew," Polly said, beginning to walk away. "Goodnight, boys!"
"Night!" they shouted back simultaneously.
Polly walked back to the Hufflepuff common room, getting there about five minutes after curfew. The prefect shook his head at her, but said nothing. He only gestured for her to get up to her room. Polly earned lots of house points through homework and class participation, so when she did have her toe slightly over the line it was usually over looked. Not that she ever really had her toe over the line.
When she got to the room she was nearly tackled by Laura, who asked a million questions about Justin. Polly just ignored her, not wanting to get in a fight before bed. She tucked herself in, and went to sleep.
Polly woke up in the morning feeling odd. Not good, not bad, just... odd. She stretched as she sat up. The dorm was empty, both Tanya's and Laura's bed unmade.
After getting dressed, Polly made her way down to breakfast. Having missed dinner last night, she was starving. She took a seat next to Justin and began to eat some scrambled eggs. Justin was going on about Laura not leaving him alone, while Tanya – being only a few seats away – could be heard laughing hysterically. No doubt at what Justin was saying. Laura was about twelve people down from Polly on the opposite side of the table. She was staring at Justin sadly. When Polly pointed it out, Justin groaned loudly and nearly ran out of the Great Hall. Polly started to laugh.
What goes around comes around, Laura.