Polly had quickly figured out how to hide her feelings from George. She would just act normal, and if she could only stop blushing whenever he said something nice about her, she could stop looking like a loon because she hides behind her hair. If anything was going to blow her cover it would probably be someone catching onto that.
At the moment, Polly was sitting in the library, doing some homework. It was a beautiful Wednesday afternoon, and Polly felt very content where she was. The sun was shining through the windows, warming the back of Polly's neck. She had opted to sit alone today, since Cedric was in such a fowl mood he wasn't interested in doing school work. He and Anya were ranting about what 'Harry Potter and those other first years' had done. Polly thought it sucked that Slytherin was looking at another year as the House Cup winners but she wasn't mad at anybody. Annoyed, not mad.
Polly watched Fred and George walk into the room. This only meant one thing, that Polly would no longer be doing schoolwork. She would now be stuck in a conversation that she had been trying to avoid.
"Polly," Fred said, sitting down at the table Polly was using. "Can you believe it? One hundred and fifty house points. Gone."
"Heard about that, sorry you're out of the lead." Polly reached out and placed her hand over top of George's as she spoke. She smiled at him, and made it his stomach flip.
"I'm here too." Fred clicked his tongue. "Just in case you forgot."
"The sorry was for both of you," Polly said, retracting her hand.
"I really felt like it was for both of us."
"Don't be crabby at me because someone else got into trouble." Polly kept an easy tone, because she knew that Fred's anger wasn't at her.
"Sorry," Fred mumbled.
"You don't seem as upset as the rest of the school," George said. "Aside from the snakes."
"I'm a little disappointed but there's nothing we can do about it now."
Polly tried her best to do her work while also talking with the boys but not paying attention to them wasn't really an option. They'd just talk louder and annoy everybody until Polly paid full attention. Three years with these boys and now she's finally got it figured out. Fred left to go and annoy Angelina Johnson on the other side of the library. Polly and George could still hear him from where they were.
"He should just tell her he likes her," Polly said. "You'd think that's be easier."
"You'd think," George said, laughing awkwardly and scratching his neck. But it wasn't. And they both knew the full extent of that.
For the next half an hour George was surprisingly quiet, just mindlessly flipping through one of Polly's textbooks looking for anything interesting while Polly worked away at some questions. George paused on a page, and read about a love potion with interest. It shouldn't have even crossed his mind, but the thought of Polly falling all over him was pleasing. George blushed. Quickly, he hid his face in the crook of his arm, and the book fell backwards on the table landing right by Polly's arm. Polly looked up at George, saw his blush, and then looked at the book. Putting two and two together she asked George what has him all riled up.
"Just this, uh, girl."
Polly was suddenly on the verge of heartbreak. If George liked some other girl then what chance did she stand? She was just a friend. She knew he must have felt some kind of way about someone, but without an answer she had the ability to imagine it was her. With an answer she wouldn't even be able to imagine she stood a fighting chance. Polly sighed.
"What's her name?"
George looked panicked as he said, "Lea."
Polly nodded slightly, looking down at her lap. So it wasn't her. Polly felt oddly alone, and she just wanted to cry. She snatched up her books, and nearly ran out of the library, knocking past Fred on the way. Her books flew out of her hands, but she didn't care to stop. She was gone before Fred could get a word in.
Fred picked up Polly's books, and brought them over to where George was currently hitting his forehead on the edge of the table. Angelina walked up from behind Fred to see what the commotion was. Fred smirked at her closeness.
"What going on?" Angelina said, watching George.
"I don't know but I'm curious," Fred said. He put the books down on the table. "You know any Hufflepuffs?"
"Yeah, why?"
"These are Polly's books." Fred gestured to the small stack.
"My friend Anya can take them up." Angelina picked up the books. "Give me an update later?"
"Yeah, later."
Fred watched Angelina walk away. He grinned and tapped his brother on the arm. "She's so into me," he said, nodding. Fred looked back at George, squinting at the painful sight of his brother, who was now chanting 'stupid' over and over in a barely audible whisper. "You wanna tell me what happened or...?"
"I told Polly that I had a crush on Lea." George stopped hitting his head, and just stared at his shoes. He was sitting leaning against the table.
"Who's Lea?"
"I don't even know a Lea," George said.
"And why on Earth would you do that?"
George just sighed, and looked up at his brother. George told Fred a very detailed version of the story. Fred listened, fully aware that this meant a lot to George and now wouldn't be the time to poke fun. George looked so upset as he spoke, that Fred felt himself getting upset as well. Maybe it was sympathy, or maybe he and his brother really were two parts of one person. Who knows? But as George finished his story, Fred couldn't think of anything to say except, "just tell her how you feel".
George didn't say anything, returning to stare at his shoes. Fred didn't know how to act around an insecure George. They were both always so confident. But something about this situation, only made Fred more sure that Polly and George were so crazy about each other that they were actually beginning their descent into insanity. Soon they would both really be crazy.
"Do you want me to say something?" Fred asked, desperate to help his twin.
"No."
"Do you want me to do anything?"
"No."
"Do you want me to leave?"
"No."
"Okay."
So they sat in silence. Fred was willing to sit there all night if that's what George wanted. But what he really wanted to do was take action and just scream at Polly that George liked her. Eventually Fred would snap and just force them to admit their feelings. Because this was getting tedious.
Meanwhile, Polly was crying on her bed while Tanya leaned her head against Polly's shoulder as she rubbed her back. Polly was cross legged as she hugged a pillow tightly. Tanya was saying nice things, just doing anything that would cheer Polly up. Frankly, Tanya was surprised when Polly told her what happened. She was so sure that George liked Polly. She was certain. Everyone was certain. How could they not be? It was so obvious. But evidently it wasn't true.
"Polly, you're going to be alright." Tanya caught Polly's eye.
"I feel like I'm dying," Polly said. Her tears weren't stopping.
"I know, bub."
"Polly, Angelina said these were yours," Anya said, stepping into the room without taking stock of what was going on. When she looked up she stopped dead in her tracks. She set the books on the floor and walked over, asking sweetly what the matter was.
"I'm so alone," Polly wheezed, choking on her own voice.
Anya and Tanya stayed with Polly until it was late, and Anya had to go to her own room to sleep. Tanya stayed awake with Polly a little while longer before the two of them fell asleep in Polly's bed. In the middle of the night Polly woke up. Polly's eyes stung like she had just been pepper sprayed. She tried splashing cold water on her face but all that did was make it look like she had just begun to cry again. Polly sighed. She dried her face up before walking back into her room. Tanya was still sleeping, and probably would be for the next couple hours. Why wouldn't she be? It couldn't have been later than four o'clock.
Polly walked into the common room, surprised to see Cedric sitting on the couch with a book in his hands. Cedric smiled at her, and instantly grew concerned when he saw her eyes. He gestured her over so she cuddled up next to him. He tossed his book onto the floor and held Polly in a hug. He didn't say anything, he just held her. Polly watched the dying fire. The bright orange coals were temporarily burned into Polly's vision, making her see the outline of the coals when she looked at the floor. Cedric was making Polly feel so comfortable that she was able to fall asleep right there.
Outside, the sun was beginning to rise. Inside, Cedric and Polly were snoozing on the couch, as other Hufflepuffs walked by whispering. So began a rumour that would haunt both Cedric and Polly for weeks. But as they slept, everything was fine.
George, however, was on the verge of a nervous breakdown in the Great Hall. Fred had heard about Cedric and Polly from Lee who heard from Angelina who heard from Anya who saw them napping together. Fred had of course told George, who was now silent, and completely still. He had the image of Polly cuddling with Cedric etched into his mind and its wasn't fading away. Fred quit trying to talk to him, and just let him think for a minute. Fred was surprised as well, but obviously, he wasn't taking it as hard as his dear brother.
"She was supposed to end up with me!" George said, slamming two fist down onto the table, startling everyone near him.
"George?" Fred had never once seen George's face look like that. Like he'd gone crazy.
"She was supposed to end up with me," George said, "And I pushed her away and now, now, ugh!" He stood up and walked away from the table.
"Is he alright?" Angelina asked, sitting beside Fred who was, at the moment, completely dumbfounded and staring at the back of his retreating brother. For the first time in a long time, Fred couldn't care less about the sudden lack of space between him and Angelina.
"I dunno."
Justin Finch-Fletchley had been quietly eating breakfast when he heard George's outburst. He knew what it was about, and honestly, he thought this would've been a bigger thing than it was had Harry not lost so many house points in one go. Justin wasn't like Fred. Justin wasn't fourteen years deep in an emotional investment that could only be between twins. So he could force George and Polly to admit their feelings and he wouldn't be betraying anybody. He would be doing all of Hogwarts a favour. He'd probably even win house points.
"What's up with him?" Anya asked, leaning towards Justin. People sometimes assumed that the twins and Justin were close because the twins and Polly were close. Just because they have mutual friends doesn't mean they're best friends.
"I'm assuming that rumour got around to him," Justin said, standing up from the table. "Better go find Polly."
"Why?"
"Because this is becoming intolerable."
Justin made it to the common room with a little less than an hour to spare before classes. Their was no one on the couch where Polly had been earlier. Justin poked around the common room for a second, and almost left but the Polly walked down the steps.
"Have you heard the great news?" Polly said, her voice sounding uncharacteristically angry. "I'm the floozy who stole Cedric from the female population!"
"You're not a floozy," Justin said, opening his arms to hug her.
"No don't touch me!"
Justin retreated quickly. "Polly?"
"People will say things about you, that's how the world works, don't you get that?" Polly wiped her tears on the back of her sleeve. Justin had no idea what to do. Polly was having some sort of breakdown, while Justin and a few other Hufflepuffs looked on. "People suck."
"You know who doesn't suck? George," Justin said. "I bet he'd make you feel better."
"Yeah," Polly said, hugging Justin quickly. "George always makes me feel better. It'll have to wait until after class, shoot."
"Polly, are you okay?"
"Get back to me at the end of the day."
Classes were more stressful today then they'd ever been in Polly's entire Hogwarts career. The ladies were very unhappy about Cedric's 'relationship'. They were friends, they fell asleep. Move on. Polly wanted to set the record straight, right in the middle of Herbology but logic got the best of that inner war. Laura, who had been glaring daggers at Polly all morning, was glaring something worse than daggers now. It was physically painful, and made Polly extremely uncomfortable. She didn't even do anything wrong.
For some reason, Polly attracted these kind of scandals like moths to a flame. First with Oliver, then with Cedric. It was getting to be a bit extreme. Why were thirteen year olds so hellbent on destroying everyone else? Why was this place more about a power struggle between the students and less about learning? If looks could kill Polly would already be an angel. At this point, Polly was ready to talk with George and just spend time with him, even if he didn't like her back. Having him in her life as just a friend would be better than not at all. She had to sacrifice her own feelings for their relationship, and she was willing to do that.
Polly found George right after her last class finished. She smiled when she saw him but he pushed passed her like they'd never met. Fred was right behind him, shaking his head in Polly's direction. What had just happened? They thought she was a floozy too? The two most important people in her life decided not to be part of her life anymore.
"Wow," Laura said, walking up to Polly. "Looks like everyone finally saw beneath your innocent little exterior. Don't worry, I'll be sure to fix George's broken heart for you."
Laura laughed as she walked away, leaving Polly tearing up in her tracks. Polly was lost without the twins. They were her home away from home, and now she felt like a runaway.