"George!" Polly shouted, running up behind him after classes. They had just finished their first day back, and Polly was in super high spirits. George turned around, as did Fred and Oliver.

"Hello," George said, smiling once he saw her. "Good first day?"

"Yeah, it was great. I'm so excited, did you see how many magical creatures there are on the list to learn about? There's like a thousand, I can't wait!"

"I bet you can't," George said, shaking his head.

"We were in the middle of a conversation," Oliver said, shaking his head.

"Don't bother, he's gone." Fred laughed.

George invited Polly to walk alongside them to the courtyard. They were supposed to be working up some Quidditch plans, but Fred knew very well that he and Oliver would talk and that George would be very distracted by his favourite girl. It made Fred both disgusted and happy to see George like this. It would've been easier to swallow if Angelina had exactly made it to the courtyard like she said she was going to. But she decided to catch up with a few friends tonight.

"Is it true that Harry drove that car to Hogwarts? I heard Ron got a howler, but I wasn't having lunch in the Great Hall." Polly casually linked her arm through George's, making him blush a little. He had gotten used to her being affectionate, but he didn't realize she'd be so open at school as well. He had hoped she would be, but she's pretty shy. George often wondered what he was to her. Did she see him in the same way? They hadn't kissed again, but George wanted to. He wanted to all the time basically. Fred was getting tired of hearing about it. "I heard they drove it into the Willow."

"It's all true, Ickle Ron stole the car. Set mum into a fit. Do you know how much we should be able to get away with for a few weeks?" George said, laughing. Polly giggled.

"No getting into trouble," she said. She tried to sound stern but she couldn't stop her giggles, making her sound not very serious at all.

"Have you even met us, Polly?" Fred asked, snickering. Polly rolled her eyes.

The four of them walked into the courtyard and found a nice spot on the grass to sit and talk. Oliver was working on the practice schedule and talking about the training they were going to be doing this year. He seemed very determined to get that Quidditch cup. Polly laid on the grass, and rested her head on George's lap. She began to read the book she had been carting around. It was a book solely on merpeople. Polly used to love mermaids when she was growing up. They always seemed so beautiful when depicted in children's books and movies. But the ones known to the wizarding world were very different. They were mean, and territorial. But she loved learning about them none-the-less.

George fiddled with Polly's soft hair, and found himself getting lost in thought about Polly. Yet again. Anyone could see that they were head over heels for each other. But for some reason they kept going about as if they were less than romantic with each other. Polly wanted more. And George wanted more. But Polly was too timid to say anything, and George didn't want to spoil anything. He was so nervous.

"George? Are you even listening?" Oliver asked, rolling his eyes. He knew very well that George was a lost cause at this point.

"What?" he asked, looking up from Polly. She looked up from her book to see what they were talking about. "Oh, sorry." Polly giggled.

"I can go if you're getting too distracted," she said, rolling forward to stand up. She hadn't realized George had been transfixed on her. George caught her arm, and pulled her back down to him.

"You're fine, I just zoned out."

"If you say so," Polly said, returning to her book. She was getting to the part about their diet.

George was sure to focus more on the Quidditch conversation now that he'd been busted, but it was so hard when Polly was right there, looking so darn cute.

Fred made absolutely sure George paid more attention to their captain, because he was well aware that Oliver was close to throwing a fit. And while Fred was used to Oliver's ways, it was the beginning of the year, and he didn't need that at the moment. He was having a nice day.

The conversation went on for quite some time. George being more focused this time around. They got some good work done, while Polly got some wonderful reading done.

Eventually, Oliver finished all the planning he had to get done for the day. And left to go reserve the pitch for their practices next week. The boy never stops. Polly wondered when he ever had time to do class work, or if he even bothered to do it.

Fred, George, and Polly continued to sit on the grass in the courtyard until the sun began to set. Polly was so engrossed in her book that they had to say her name about four times before she caught onto the fact they were talking to her.

Polly stuck her nose back into her book, and trusted the boys to guide her safely to the Great Hall. They were used to trips like this, Polly stuck reading while they pushed and pulled her in the right directions. It almost never phased her. Her books were like this little getaway. There were no bullies. And there was no sadness. Just knowledge. The only wrong her books could ever do was prove that she didn't yet know everything there was to know about the creatures she wanted to know inside and out. It was her own utopia.

Or give her a paper cut.

"Look up you goof, we're at dinner," Fred said, elbowing Polly in the shoulder. She looked up and around at all the people socializing at their house tables. She hadn't heard a sound until she saw the lips moving, and then the sound slowly went from silence to this loud jumble of indistinguishable noises.

"I'll catch you lot later then," Polly said, tucking her book under her arm.

"You know it," George said, walking off with his brother.

Polly walked over to her own table. And joined Justin. His plate was full of food already, and he was scarfing it down as if this was going to be his last meal for days. Polly laughed at him, who only nodded to acknowledge her existence. Justin had missed big feasts, where every night was a choice of what you wanted to eat. He loved his mothers cooking of course, but every night at Hogwarts was a buffet. And that was something to look forward to. Polly filled up her plate, and began to eat. Cedric joined the table shortly after, making small talk with Polly and enjoying his food. He made a comment about Justin needing to chew is food which only made the younger boy laugh, and choke. Which of course made the joke even funnier.

"Have you asked about the rumours? Can you confirm anything?" Cedric asked Polly, who nodded through a mouthful of food.

"Yeah," she said, covering her mouth with her hand. "They did fly here, and right into the willow."

"Why did they even have to? Fred and George made it on the train," Cedric said, pushing his empty plate away.

"I know, it's weird. Ron said the gate closed up. Must have been because we were running a little late. Does the gate close up when the train leaves?"

"I dunno, I didn't think so." Cedric thought for a second. "Never really thought about it I guess."

"Hm." Polly took another bite of food before also pushing her plate away.

"Oh god, I'm stuffed," Justin said, leaning back a little to rub his belly. He then proceeded to take another bite of potatoes. Cedric and Polly just laughed.

Polly left the Great Hall with Cedric, leaving Justin behind to pick away at his food. George watched them leave, and only looked back at his friends when Polly was out of his sight.

"It's getting a little sad," Angelina said, laughing. "Have you ever considered not being completely obsessed with her?"

"Have you met her? She's so amazing, she's kindhearted. It's not obsession, Angelina, she's my best friend."

Fred glared over at George. "I'm sorry, what?"

"Relax, obviously you're the top of the list," George said, rolling his eyes.

"Fred, did you just get a little jealous of Polly?" Lee asked, laughing.

"No," Fred said, taking a bite of food. "I just think this love sick puppy thing is getting a little old. Will you just become her boyfriend so we can stop hearing about it?"

"Or would it get worse?" Angelina asked, making Lee laugh. "I bet it would."

"I hate all of you, can we talk about something else?"

"You don't hate us, you love us," Lee said, waving a fork at George. "Not like you love Polly, but you love us."

"No, I'm pretty sure this is hatred."

"It's passion, baby." Everyone laughed at Lee's joke except for George. He was getting a little tired of everyone bugging him about Polly. He didn't ask for this conversation, he didn't bring her up this time. They bring it up, and then laugh at him when he says something nice about her. It's ridiculous. Fred must have noticed the look on George's face, because he immediately stopped laughing and changed the conversation to something else. He loved to tease his brother, but George usually fired back. Fred felt kind of bad about what he said at that point.

On the walk back to their common room, Fred and George were silent. Until finally Fred spoke up once they were alone in their room and said, "Look, we're just goofing around with you. You know we love Polly, everyone does. It's just silly how hung up you get about her, and then don't ask her out officially. You know that's what she wants you to do, right?"

"She does?"

"Oh wow, I didn't think I needed to hold your hand through this. She really does make your brain cloudy, doesn't she?" Fred shook his head. "Ask her on a date. That's final. Doesn't have to be tomorrow, plan the date first, plan the asking her out first, whatever it is that you do. And then do it."

"Alright, alright. Then you ask out Angelina."

"That's different!"

"Why? Because no one has figured it out?" George laughed as Fred's face flushed. "Want to know a secret? Polly figured it out, she told me. And her and Angelina got pretty close over the summer. Maybe they already talked about it." George began to laugh hysterically when Fred threw a pillow at him.

The next morning, Polly attended all her classes with enthusiasm. Typically, students kept their enthusiasm for the first few weeks and then one by one they lost it. Polly managed to keep it until after exams. Maybe it was because she didn't grow up with all this stuff, so she never grew tired of it. She was trying to cram eleven years worth of magical neglect into each semester. It made Cedric laugh the way she scribbled down notes in class, as if she couldn't just look it up later.

She would always defend herself saying, "if they professors wanted us to just look it up, they would've assigned readings." To which Fred or George would always reply with, "you read the whole textbook anyway!"

It couldn't be helped that Polly was into the books. She loved to learn. She needed to work a little harder to keep up with everyone. It was getting much easier though. At first, she would ask a question in class that everyone would giggle, because to them it was common knowledge. But now, she was basically caught up to everyone. And her plan this year was to pass everyone.

"Polly," Angelina said, looking up from her own reading. "D'you ever think George likes anyone else?"

Polly looked up from her potions textbook. She didn't have any assigned readings, but she liked to keep Angelina company. "Are you sure we're talking about George? And not someone identical?"

Angelina looked down at her book, shaking her head. "Guess I should've guessed that you'd figured it out."

"Oh, I knew it." Polly grinned. "They're muppets, we all know this. And I'm positive that you two are feeling the same way."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah."