Polly didn't know what she had really expected, but she was reminded that Diagon Alley was delightfully the same. Not even a new scuff on the cobblestone. Her mother had kissed her head, and sent her to Gringotts with some money to exchange, and then spend the day shopping for her school things with Angelina and the rest of her friends. A small group had planned to meet up, and Polly had to admit that she was a little disappointed. She had missed George very much, and she couldn't even get some time alone with him that day. It would have to wait. She couldn't just ditch Angelina, what kind of friend would do that? But the twinkle in George's eye as they reunited made her understand the girls who would.
"I missed you," George said, non-remorsefully pushing Lee – who had been trying to give Angelina a hug – out of his way. He easily scooped Polly off her feet, and swung her around before setting her feet back onto the ground and hugging her tightly. "Summer was good?" Polly pulled away from the hug, but their hands remained on each others arms as they spoke.
"You should already know, I told you every detail about it," she said, laughing. He smiled at her.
"I know, but I still want to hear all about it," he said.
They hugged again, ignoring the sounds of Lee and Fred making gagging noises behind them. Polly had given both of them a quick hug as well, telling both of them that she'd missed them over the holidays. They just laughed and joked about how much more attention George got. But George just smirked. Angelina and Polly had to slip into Gringotts so Polly could quickly exchange her money.
After that, they were off on their day.
George had stayed tight to Polly's side, their fingers knocking purposely, leaving both of them to blush. After years, they were still just friends, or at least they were pretending to be. The thing is, they weren't fooling anyone.
"So," Polly said, giving in and looping her arm through George's, linking their elbows. She reached across her body and used her other hand to grab his bicep. "How was Egypt? How was your brother?"
The smile that lit up George's face made Polly's stomach leap. He went into it, telling her every detail of the dragons and how well his brother has been doing for himself. Watching George show so much ease, and happiness, well, it made her happy as well. Just to witness the joy. George had a wonderful Summer, and the only thing that could've possibly made it any better was Polly by his side, enjoying the sights with him. Although, it was nice for him to able to spend some quality time with his family, because he knows for a fact, that had Polly been there: she'd have his full attention, at any moment. Even if she didn't ask for it.
As George spoke, they carried on walking with the rest of their friends. The goal of school shopping always turned into a full days work since they spent so long chatting and catching up from a summer of separation. But it was always a good day.
"What on Earth is that?" Angelina said, pausing in front of the bookstore.
"I'm guessing that's the monster book of monsters," Polly said, glancing at it. "Looks like a creature of some sort itself."
"Thank goodness I don't have that class," Fred said, looking at the horrifying book. "That thing could probably eat me."
"It does look like it wants to attack," Polly said, looking at the book closer. It snapped at the window and she took a few clumsy steps back. George put an arm on her back to stable her, while laughing.
"Oh shove it," she said, pushing his arm lightly.
Making their way to get some food, the group was as noisy and rambunctious as ever. Polly happily joined in on the fun, enjoying the jokes and the laughs with the people she'd missed so very much. It was the best part of the school year. Because with the shopping, and the first few weeks of school – there's plenty of time for friendship and conversation. But a month in, and everyone has homework and assignments due. Busy time.
After the friends had a nice lunch, they were off on their way to get all their school supplies. They didn't have too much time left, since the Weasley's were to meet up soon for supper and Angelina and Polly had too be getting back home.
They quickly made their way through the shops, collecting various books and ingredients needed for the school year. Polly and George played the same game as always; coy looks, hand knocking, whispers. It was the same debacle as always.
"I'd hate to call it quits, but we have to meet the family for dinner in a few minutes," Fred said, wrapping his arm around his twin brother. "So say your goodbyes for nearly, – oh no – two days. Dunno if you'll make it."
"Shove off twit," George said, pushing his brother off of him.
"I'll see you soon, love." Polly wrapped her arms around George, squeezing him gently.
"I'll be counting the minutes," he said, kissing the top of her head. Angelina and Fred both rolled their eyes.
Polly and George weren't fooling anyone anymore, including themselves: they had it bad for each other.
Later in the day, Angelina was back in Polly's room, giggling as she read one of George's past Christmas cards to her friend. She was letting Angelina read all the notes that George had written her, except a small few, that Polly felt too personal to share with someone else. She wanted to keep those to herself.
Angelina kept pointing out obvious signs of affection, while Polly just shook her head as she folded and put her clothes into her trunk.
"I thought we were going to go over the summer coursework," Polly said, rolling her eyes.
"We were going to, but this is way more interesting," Angelina said, rolling onto her back holding the letter above her to read. "My dearest Polly," she started, but Polly cut her off.
"Oh shove it!"
Before she knew it, Polly was in the train car with Angelina, Fred, George, and Lee. Luckily, both Fred and Lee wanted to sit beside Angelina, so Polly and George didn't have to squeeze. They were all just chatting about the upcoming year and the classes they've taken.
Polly was excited and nervous about going back to Hogwarts. It's not like it wasn't safe or anything, but last time she was there she got knocked out halfway through and missed a whole bunch. But George had filled her in about everything. Told her that he was there everyday, and he was holding her hand, everyday. Polly felt the love the second she was awake, and she's been feeling it ever since. Polly told herself in a stern voice that this year, at least, George would take her on a date. After all the shit they'd been through, seemed like it would be the only way to go. As much as she liked it, the time for timid kisses and 'accidental' hand touches was over. It was time to move forward.
"So," George started, looking at Polly. "What are we going to do differently this year?"
Date, she thought. But, "Not stay stuck in my books all the time," is what she actually said.
"That's right. You missed so mush potential fun last year – this year is going to be full of adventure." George smiled, putting his arm around the back of the couch. A good start to moving forward. Polly smiled.
George got onto telling her all the funny things they've done to Percy after learning he'd become head boy. She laughed at most of it, but did mention that they should be a little more proud of him. Yeah, he was kind of a twit, but he worked hard and while following the rules is no fun – it's what he does and he does it well. Although it's super boring to the twins. Polly typically followed the rules, but the occasional one she turned a blind eye to.
As George talked on, Polly looked out the window, the scenery appeared to be going slower than usual. When she looked closer, she could tell that the train was slowing down. When she mentioned this to George, he only shook his head.
"We're no where close," he said. But he did see that, gradually, the landscape out the window was moving slower with every moment. "Weird."
"What d'you think is going on?" Polly asked. The idea of the train stopping in the middle of the route seemed weird. And freaky. Polly was a little confused and weirded out. She didn't know what to think. What had happened? Was everyone okay?
Eventually, the train came to a complete stop. Angelina was sound asleep on the other side of the booth. Both Lee and Fred were trying to gently wake her up when Polly rolled her eyes and sent her leg up to give her friend a swift kick to the knee. Angelina sprung up and grabbed her knee, gasping while doing so.
"What was that for?" she asked, holding her knee. Polly just gestured out the window and Angelina realized they were stopped. "Oh," she started, "right on then. What's going on?"
"Join the 'who knows' club, we're actively seeking members," Polly said. George laughed at her remark.
The lights went out in the cabin, she reached out to grab George's shirt, just to know he was still there. She couldn't see a thing. It was pitch black.
The air around the group cooled suddenly, send shivers down Polly's spine. Within ten seconds, she could see her own breath. "What is going on?" she whispered to George, even though she knew that he would have no idea. She scooted closer to him, trying to get warmer. He put his arm around her shoulders, and rubbed her upper arm. "Bit nippy all of the sudden," she said, trying to lighten the mood slightly, even though she was terrified. When the window filled up with frost she knew something was wrong. It was like happiness was sucked right out of the air.
Grabbing her wand, Polly quickly whispered Lumos. In the time that the light shone from the end of her wand, she saw something large and black drifted up to the door. It didn't open it, it just seemed to look in and drift off. But it had no eyes. And the sheer sight of it scared the hell out of Polly. She grabbed onto George's shirt, bringing her feet up onto the cushion of the seat. The light from her wand died out and she had no intention of relighting it. She didn't want to see that thing again.
The more time progressed, the warmer it got.
After another twenty minutes, the air had completely warmed and the train had once again begun moving. But Polly still clung to George.
"Is somebody going to tell me what the hell that was?" Polly asked, looking around. Everyone seemed too calm for the situation that just happened.
"Oh sorry, I figured you knew. That was a dementor, I'm pretty sure. They guard Azkaban. Probably just making sure that Sirius Black hasn't smuggled his way on the train or something." George kept his arm around her as he spoke, while she stayed curled up in his side.
"Why would they be worried about that? Do they think he's coming to Hogwarts for something?" Polly asked, eyes wide with fear. The idea of more crazy shit happening at Hogwarts was unfathomable. "I'm getting tired of waiting to hear if someone's killed Harry."
"Why would he be after Harry?" George asked her, looking down at her.
"They're always after Harry." Polly looked super serious while she said that. And even though that was the truth, and kind of scary, it was also kind of funny. Fred, George and Lee laughed while the girls just smiled, everything was calm for moment.
It was probably just a precaution.
Polly sat between Cedric and Justin at the Hufflepuff table. Tanya was across from them, staring off at the Ravenclaw table. She was talking about some boy that she'd spoken to on the train. 'An absolute delight' she had called him. They could only wonder who would be an 'absolute delight' next week. But, Tanya liked boys. And there was nothing wrong with that.
Polly shook her head as she heard Tanya sigh. You want a reason to sigh? Try 'kinda seeing but not really but kinda' the same guy for a few years. See how much you sigh then. It'd become like a new habit of Polly's at this point. Sigh, sigh, sigh. It was driving her mental. And she was thinking too much about it, all the time. She could think about George and George only, it seemed. She wondered if he was stuck in the same loop (he was).
The feast commenced after Dumbledore's traditional speech and the sorting ceremony. Polly felt two things after his words. Pride for Hagrid, a great man even after life had treated him so badly, and nervous about the dementors. She did not like them. And she didn't like what it meant to have them looming around the entrance's. If she didn't love going to Hogsmeade, she would avoid the exits like the plague. In fact, the dementors reminded her of the plague. Terrifying and nothing you want to be near.
"Do anything interesting this summer, Polly?" Cedric asked, beginning to put some of the food onto his plate. The feast had begun and so had the sounds of distant chattering as old school chums caught up after a summer of being apart.
"Not really, Angelina mostly came over and we went swimming." Polly grabbed a plate of food as well. "You?"
Cedric began to tell a story about his summer and something he did with his dad while everyone ate, and laughed along at certain bits. While she missed her family, she loved Hogwarts. She loved magic! There was always something out of the ordinary happening. Something extraordinary waiting around every corner. Hogwarts was awesome.
Meanwhile, George was staring at Polly: wondering what Cedric could be saying that was so funny. It wasn't until Fred slapped him on the back of the head that George snapped out of it.
"Don't you dare," Fred said, rolling his eyes.
"What?"
"Don't be getting all jealous of Cedric again," Angelina answered for Fred, "we all know that they're just friends."
"I wasn't jealous," George said, rolling his eyes and crossing his arms.
"Yes you were and knock it off," she said, taking a bite of food. "Besides, she told me this summer that she's been waiting for a date with you for like, a year now."
George nearly choked on his food. "What? She said what?"
"Wow, are you ever blind." Angelina shook her head.
"Dude," Fred said, slinging an arm around his brother. "Do you think she was laying kisses on you last year as a friend? If you think that, you must be thick."
"So I should ask her out then?"
Both Fred and Angelina just stared at him like he was an idiot.