Disclaimer; I own nothing. Oh boy.
George Weasley was livid.
He was storming down the hallway in search of the snake named Laura. George was uncertain of what he was going to say when he got to her, but he figured the words would come to him when he needed them to. How could anyone bully sweet little Polly? What had she done? Nothing, that's what. George pushed past his brother Ron, shoving him to the ground. Ron shouted after him but George was on a mission. Ron raced after him, and when he caught up to his older brother he had to keep a fast pace to talk to him.
"What is going on with you? Where's Fred?" Ron asked, nearly tripping over his own feet. He kept himself balanced and continued to follow George.
"Go away," George sneered. Ron was shocked. Many, many times in the past George had teased Ron, and fought with him. But he'd never heard that tone of voice before. It was like George was possessed or something.
"George, seriously." Ron grabbed onto George's arm and pulled him to a halt. "What are you doing? It's almost curfew."
"I'm defending a friend, what's it you?" George asked, pulling his arm away from Ron. He didn't leave though.
"You have friends?" Ron asked, attempting to lighten the mood. George just glared. "Okay, honestly. Is everything alright? You look off your rocker."
"I am," George said, then he whispered, "I'm gunna kill her when I get my hands on her."
"Whoa, maybe you should calm down before you do whatever you're going to do," Ron suggested. George crossed his arms.
"Everything alright here?" Hermione asked, walking up to the brothers with Harry by her side. They had waited for Ron to return but Hermione began to nag Harry, not wanting to be late for curfew.
George threw up his arms, getting annoyed by the amount of people asking him what the matter was. The moment he was stopped it was like he was absolutely deflated, and he went from being insanely angry to just upset in a flash. George sat on a bench a few feet away from the three first years'. George was acting crazy, he knew that. He left Polly to go 'avenge' her but what he didn't know was that all she really wanted was for George to comfort her. But right now she was with Fred, crying and wishing George was there. George pinched the bridge of his nose, thinking of anything to justify him turning her skin into sand paper.
"Is there anything we can do?" Hermione asked, walking up to the frustrated third year.
"Can you go into the Great Hall and see if Tanya is there? Polly could probably use her right now," George said. Hermione nodded, asking where Polly was. George mumbled, "second floor."
"What happened to Polly?" Ron asked, sitting next to his older brother.
"Girls are horrible to each other, that's what happened."
Meanwhile, Polly was sitting with her knees scrunched to her chest while tears rolled down her pale cheeks. Laura was a viscous person, who has no excuse for what she said. This was the pile-driver that would permanently end any future they could have together as friends. Polly was sharing a room with the devil.
"Polly? What do you want me to do?" Fred asked, sitting beside her. He put his head on her shoulder. "I don't know how to help you."
"I'll be alright," Polly said, "Jus' hurts is all."
"It was rotten," Fred said. "I can't believe she could say something like that to you. You deserve better."
"Thanks Fred," Polly said, resting her head on the top of his. "Means a lot."
"Anytime, kid."
"Polly?" a voice shouted. Polly looked over to see Tanya running towards them. Fred stood up, holding his hand out to help Polly up as well. When she stood up Tanya had made it to her.
"What happened? All I was told was that you needed me," Tanya said, "I've got it from here, Fred. You may want to go find your brother."
"Why?"
"I don't know, the girl who came to find me told me that he was acting crazy." Tanya put an arm around Polly.
"Polly, you're sure you're fine?"
"Yeah," Polly said, smiling. "I'm alright. Go get George."
"Do you ever have them wrapped around your finger," Tanya said, laughing. "Anyway, what happened?"
Polly explained everything that happened to her as the two girls walked to their room. Tanya was shocked, and disgusted by everything Laura did. Not only did she say those things to Polly, but Justin as well. Laura was a disgrace to the Hufflepuff name. And Polly had thought they were the best of friends. Awful. Tanya listened to everything Polly said, and made little suggestions here and there. Polly got herself into bed, already dreading having to get up for classes tomorrow. Tanya said goodnight, and got into her own bed. When Laura walked into the room the air became so tense it was almost hard to breathe. Laura got something and then left, but even after she had left the atmosphere around Polly was off. She hated it.
In the morning things weren't the slightest bit better. She woke up later then she normally did, so getting ready was a rush. Also, Tanya and Laura got into a screaming match which made Polly feel awful. The whole situation was just bringing down Polly's spirits. Not to mention she had to pay attention in class but her mind wandered far beyond the classroom. Had she paid attention she would have caught the glare of Laura, who looked ready to murder her. Laura was crazy, which is weird, because Polly had thought she was so nice.
The only joy Polly got during the day was lunch, when she got to spend time with the twins. Even though George was tense and angry, partially the fault belongs to Polly. Or she thought it did anyway. But even with Fred trying to lighten the mood, everything around Polly was tense. She felt responsible. She wasn't, of course, but that's just how she felt. George didn't blame her for even a second, he was mad that anyone could ever say a bad thing about Polly, especially to intentionally hurt her. It made him feel like screaming.
At the end of the day, while Polly was sitting comfortably in her bed reading the assigned chapters of her textbook, Laura came in looking absolutely defeated. Polly almost felt bad, because Laura looked absolutely terrible. She wasn't crying, but she didn't look like she may have cried earlier. Polly didn't dare look up from her book. Suddenly the words on the page seemed so mundane. Polly snuck glances at Laura, who was lying on her own bed staring at the wall. Polly still had three hours before she usually went to sleep, so she figured she may as well go look for the boys. They were always somewhere around, causing trouble. And she wanted to know what happened to Laura, she knew they had something to do with it.
The twins were sitting in the library when Polly found them about a half hour later. George was smiling, his anger seemed to have dissolved in the blink of an eye. Polly sat next to him, and said nothing. The boys looked at her but kept talking about whatever idea struck Fred earlier in the day. Polly was just content sitting with them, enjoying their company.
"Polly," George started, "What's on your mind?" George could see the thoughtful expression on her face. She was wondering how to ask about Laura.
"What did you say?" Polly asked, looking up at George's face. He shrugged, then said, "ow." Polly guessed Fred kicked him from under the table.
"It was amazing," Fred said. "He was ready to prank her, right? All set up and everything. But before she could get to the target George bailed out. And instead of pranking her he just, confronted her. Asked her why she did all the things she did to you and then he threatened her."
"What, why?"
"Because no one messes with us," George said, "Or you."
"What did you say?"
"That if she so much as spoke to you again she'd never go another day without George coming down on her full force," Fred said, laughing at the memory. "It was great."
"Thanks, guys." Polly gave George a brief side hug.
"Anytime," George said. He really meant it too.
"Hey, wanna sneak out like we were suppose to?" Fred asked, grinning.
"Let's do it, sounds like fun." Polly stood up, watching as the boys did the same.
They all walked to the statue of Gregory the Smarmy. They snuck out, leading themselves into town to kill some time. They were laughing, and just joking about (which they could have easily done in school but somehow sneaking out made it more fun) when Fred suddenly decided that he needed candy, leaving George and Polly alone, sitting at the base of a random tree, staring towards the ominous Shrieking Shack. Polly suggested they go with him, but both the twins seemed to rather splitting up. Polly just shrugged, adding that to the list of things the boys did that confused her.
"George?" Polly asked, leaning back on her hands. She had to readjust when a twig poked into her skin, hurting her a little. George made a lazy sound resembling "mmm?" but said nothing else. She knew it was his way of answering her. "What made you snap at Laura?"
George looked over at Polly, who was already investigating his features. His ears were red, but Polly couldn't determine whether or not that was because he was embarrassed or the nippy wind had just made them cold. He looked back at the shack, just trying to find the right words. Polly gave him the time, not pressing the matter to irritation. She was just curious as Fred didn't seem as angry. Fred was upset, and defensive of his friend but George was angry. George sighed. "I don't know." George didn't look over at Polly, but her eyes stayed glued on him. "I just saw you crying, and when you explained why," George started but paused. "I just got so angry, I mean, I still don't understand how someone could do that to you."
Polly moved over so she was flush against George's side. She looped her arm through his, and rested her head on his shoulder. "Thanks for being great, George." George rested his head on the top of hers.
"Anytime," George whispered. Polly shifted her head. To George it felt like she was tickling his neck with her nose as it was dragged up to near his ear. Then she kissed his cheek, letting her lips linger on his cheek, before pulling her lips away. Polly smiled, and George smiled, because he could feel her smile against his cheeks. Her lips were so soft, George loved the feeling. George pulled his arm away Polly's, and wrapped it around her shoulder, bringing her even closer to him. She put her head back on his shoulder, and looked back out towards the shack. "You're pretty great too."
Polly realized a couple of things while sitting on the ground that day. She may have developed a slight crush on her friend, George. She realized that he was the one she trusted more then anyone in the whole school. And she realized that her chances were slim as he may see her as his sister.
But nothing of the sort was brought up until the day after Halloween, after the whole fiasco of the troll in the dungeon. She went to find George first thing in the morning, just wanting to see him. George brought her in for a hug when they met up, he having wanted to see her as well. Fred stood slightly away from the two, talking to Lee Jordan but stealing quick glances at the pair out of the corner of his eyes. Their interactions made his smirk.
"I was petrified all night," Polly said, pulling away from the hug. The troll being in the school had really frightened Polly, and even though the Hufflepuffs and Gryffindors went in the same general direction to their common rooms, the crowd was so thick that she didn't get a chance to see George. Polly trailed her arms down his biceps as she pulled back a bit, but left them placed near his elbow. "I heard Ron helped Harry defeat the troll. That's pretty cool."
"Ron's not that cool," George said, "but he did good."
"Yeah," Polly said, pulling away from George completely. "I'm surprised you didn't say 'I taught him well' or 'he learned from the best' or something."
"Well I was going to." George chuckled slightly. "But I figured you would just hit my arm and continue to compliment Ickle Ronnie, so I made the executive decision to compliment him myself and move on." Polly smiled, but smacked him on the arm at the same time. "Couldn't avoid the smack." Polly laughed, forgetting all the worries from yesterday at once. George made everything okay.
"I can't believe a troll got in," Polly said, "I thought they were supposed to be dumb."
"Expect the unexpected," George said, tapping the end of her nose lightly. She scrunched it up and shook her head quickly. "You never do that."
"Must be why I was so surprised you weren't a complete dullard," Polly said, laughing.
"Oh you little," George said, reaching down to squeeze her hips, which was the easiest way to tickle her. She was so sensitive to tickling that it made her burst into such loud laughter that Lee dropped his books, making Fred laugh hysterically. Polly backed up enough to get out of his reach while pushing his hands away with her own.
"Don't tickle me!" Polly said, pointing at him sternly while her other hand was pressed against her hips.
"Tickle you? When have I ever?" George asked, playing completely innocent. Polly glared at him, fighting the smile that threatened to blow the stern front she was putting on. George smirked when he saw the corners of her lips twitch upward, but he said nothing.
"You're a twit," Polly said, crossing her arms and looking away.
"You love it."