Polly was working in the library one Friday afternoon when Fred and George strolled in, their usual grins painted on their faces. It was the first Hogsmeade trip of the year, and that's when they would stock up on supplies. Lately, they'd been selling their creations, and always turned enough profit to buy even more ingredients for the next batch, and have money to spare. Not a lot, but enough for their pride to absolutely burst through the roof, and that made Polly very happy.

And she was happy to go on a trip to Hogsmeade. Her years here were numbered and she wanted to take full advantage of everything that came with being at Hogwarts.

And she had promised to give Justin the best possible tour she could. It was always really fun when the Hogsmeade trip and Halloween were the same day, because then everyone got to go to Hogsmeade and then after had a great big feast in the great hall with all the halloween decorations that've been up, plus even more because at nighttime they add even more. Magic was awesome.

Fred and George sat down at the table and did an hour's worth of work – the bare minimum to pass their classes, before Fred left. George just sat with Polly, watching as she focused on her potions essay. To George, her work ethic was absolutely incredible, boring, but incredible. He was just excited to be able to tear her away from work, and her plants long enough to spend a day with her. Even if they would be joined by Justin and Fred. And Angelina. Maybe Cedric. Lee would probably tag along at some point. He was hoping they could sneak away to have a glass of butterbeer together, just the two of them. But in their friendship it was super unlikely.

George eventually grew tired of just watching her work, and leaned in closer to her, nuzzling the side of his face onto her shoulder. She froze momentarily, but then giggled and returned to her essay. So he wrapped his arms around her too, pulling her even closer. She blushed, and looked around the room. Most of the students were paying no mind – they had their own work. But a few students were looking towards them. Slytherins mostly, but they were giving judgemental looks.

"Ignore them," George mumbled, as if reading her mind. "Who cares?"

And he rose a good point. Who cared if he was being affectionate towards her. They were just jealous that Polly and George were happy, and they had yet to find someone.

"You're right," she said, turning to place a sweet kiss on George's head.

"I'm always right."

Saturday morning, bright and early. Polly was in the common room waiting for Justin and Cedric. Unfortunately, Tanya had gotten herself behind in homework, and couldn't make it on the trip. A bummer, but her own fault. Polly had invited Tanya to the library over and over but she always said no.

Justin came down first, still wiping sleep from his eye. He wasn't used to waking up this early on a Saturday. He usually preferred to sleep through lunch. Polly giggled at him, bringing him closer so she could fix his tie and straighten out his collar.

"You're acting like you don't get up this early for classes," she said, brushing some dirt off the front of his robes.

"Yeah, but my body makes up for it with extra sleep on the weekends, and now that's been taken away." He crossed him arms.

"You're acting like a child," Polly said, rolling her eyes. "Stop huffing and puffing. You're welcome to back up to bed."

"No, no, I want to go," he said, sitting on the sofa. "We just waiting for Cedric, then?"

"Yeah, he should be down any moment," she said, locking her supplies back in the closet.

When Cedric came down the stairs, Polly was immediately shooing them out of the common room. They had to eat and then be off. Bus left with or without them.

After a few hours of Polly showing Justin all of the fun shops to check out. She could sense that George was a little moody. He'd barely spoken to her the whole trip. Although, she never really gave him an opportunity to. Letting Fred lead the way, Polly fell back a bit, walking alongside George. She slipped her hand into his, interlocking their fingers. This put a small smile on his face, but it wasn't enough.

"What's the matter?"

George said nothing, and lost the smile. He looked at Polly, and then looked away again. She could feel his grip tighten slightly. She giggled.

"Don't tell me you were jealous," she said, putting her free hand on his elbow and leaning in closer. He fought a smile by frowning dramatically at her.

"Don't make fun of me, you were just – you were giving him all your time, I want some of it too." George smiled when Polly laughed. He loved her laugh, he loved the way it lit up every inch of her face. And he also loved her sympathy laugh when someone told a bad joke because he could tell she was only laughing to make whoever feel a bit better.

Seemed like Polly was always doing stuff to make people feel better.

"Why don't we grab our butterbeer and sneak away for a little bit? Just the two of us." George thought she'd say no, that that's rude and they shouldn't ditch their friends.

But she just smiled up at him with that beautiful smile of hers and said, "I'd love to" because spending time with George was about one of her favourite things to do. And she could never get enough of quality time with him. She didn't really like sharing his time either, so she understood why he was feeling so moody.

When they got into the three broomsticks, and settled into a booth (on the same side – they were that couple) they just began to talk. Polly was close to him, and his arm was draped lazily around her shoulders, as it if were the most natural place for it to be. And to them – it was.

The two giggled and cuddled their way through two glasses of butterbeer, before deciding to rejoin their friends.

The corner of the Three Broomsticks had gotten rather rowdy after George and Polly joined. They had to really squeeze in to even fit in the booth. Justin, George and Polly were squished together like little sardines. And when Ron and Hermione walked up to the counter looking confused, Polly of course had to help and then insisted that they come sit with the rest of the group. Cedric disappeared and then reappeared with Cho Chang and her friend from Ravenclaw. And then finally, Lee Jordan showed up with Angelina. Conversation was absolutely booming in the group, and everyone was having a great time.

Witches and wizards were constantly looking over and judging the friends, but none of them cared. They were too engrossed in their conversation about quidditch. And how they all wanted to be the house to win the cup. It was all friendly, of course. It ended as a debate of sorts, with Lee Jordan commenting and Polly giving out points. It ended with Cho and Katie winning because they had the most sound logic. Everyone else just kept saying they were trying their hardest. As they all got their last round of drinks – Cho and Katie drinking for free since they won – the conversation slowly winded down, ending with the lot of them getting up, putting the extra chairs back from where they got them. And after Polly's nagging, they brought their cups up to the car instead of leaving them at the table. "We've left too many," she'd said.

George grabbed onto Polly's hand as they walked, swinging it up to his mouth the lay ginger kisses along the knuckles. If she wasn't already crazy about him, she would've fallen for him right then and there. Polly giggled as he peppered more kisses long her hand before dropping it back in between them.

"Disgusting," Fred joked from behind them. "We're in public."

George ignored his brother, and simply swung her arm before, before he turned to her and picked her up around the waist, making her squeal in surprise. She put her hand son his shoulders as he spun her around slowly, placing kisses to her cheek as he did it. When he stopped, he placed her back on the ground and gave her one more kiss on the cheek with a loud smack at the end of it.

"Sorry Fred, what was that?" he asked, smirking at his brother. He draped his arm around Polly's shoulders again.

"Gross."

The feast was as grand as it always was. The food was amazing, the only thing stopping her from gobbling all of it up was the slight stomach ache she had from several rounds of butterbeer. But she did enjoy a full plate of food. Justin was telling Tanya about all the things he saw and she just didn't have the heart to tell him that she'd seen it for herself a bunch of times. So they all let him chatter on about how excited he was to go back next time.

The rest of the night went along without a hitch. No trolls in the dungeons this time, thank merlin.

When the feast ended, everyone was giggling and chatting as they made their way back to the common room. Halloween was such a good holiday, and the ghosts put on better performances every single year. It's almost as if Nearly Headless Nick practised year round to get the perfect re-enactment of his 'botched beheading.'

Tanya and Polly parted from the others, wanting some time to talk about the more important parts of the trip. How cute George Weasley had been. Tanya openly admitted how jealous she was of Polly and the relationship she had. But she was also really happy for Polly, and that's all that mattered.

In the middle of Polly's story about George picking her up and spinning her around, their prefect came into the room, telling them to head down to the common room immediately. Professor Sprout was in the hallway outside of the common room, waiting to walk everyone down the great hall. Polly was very confused. One moment she was excited, and the next: slightly terrified.

Upon entering the great hall, Polly saw that the rest of the school was already waiting in there. Faces just as confused as hers. She spotted George immediately, looking like he had more answers than she. It was hard for her to fight the urge to run into his arms, and have him hold her in hopes the problem would go away. This school was chalk full of problems, she had to wonder if other wizarding schools had these problems as well. Dumbledore silenced the room.

"The teachers and I need to conduct a thorough search of the castle. I'm afraid that, for your own safety, you will have to spend the night here. I want the prefects to stand guard over the entrances to the hall and I am leaving the head boy and girl in charge," he said, looking to Percy to add: "Send word with one of the ghosts." Dumbledore moved to leave, but stilled again, as if remembering something. "Oh, yes, you'll be needing..."

With a flick of his wand, the tables in the great hall had been cleared and there was now purple sleeping bags lining the length of the hall. She didn't know if she had to sleep with her house, but she was going to try to sleep next to George anyway. "Sleep well," he said, closing the door on his way out.

Once he was out of the room, it filled back up with noise. Polly made a beeline for George, running into his open arms right away. She was less scared now, it was like he was her own personal calming charm.

"What's going on?" she asked, staying tucked into the hug.

"Peeves says he saw Sirius Black trying to break into the tower," he said. He was hesitant to say anything in fear of scaring her, but he also couldn't lie. "And the Fat Lady was all tore up. She's hiding somewhere in the castle. Won't come out of hiding."

"What do you think he wants?"

"I'll let you know if I find out, love." George kissed the top of her head. He wanted her close. So he could protect her should anything happen.

"Everyone into their sleeping bags!" Percy shouted. "Come on now, no more talking! Lights out in ten!"

Polly climbed into a sleeping bag beside George. They both laid on their sides, just looking at each other. Polly closed her eyes first, but held her hand out towards him. He grabbed it, holding it tightly as the two of them drifted to sleep.