Surprise. New chapter. I own nothing and don't support TERFs.
Polly was walking down the corridor after having checked on her Herbology project. She was determined to have the best outcome of all her class. It was lightly raining outside, threatening a storm the next day. Her hair was a little damp from the trek, but she kind of liked this weather. A nice rain was good for the plants around the grounds.
Polly was caught off guard by someone yelling her name, and turn to see George running up to her. She smiled softly. George's goofy grin always brought a smile to her face.
"How are you, love?" she asked, wiping his shirt off by his shoulder that has some crumbs on it. Her hand rolled down to stay on his upper arm.
"You sneaky little thing – couldn't even give me the heads up that Hufflepuff was taking Slytherin's place in the match tomorrow," he said.
"Whatever are you talking about?" she asked, moving her hand from his arm to flick her hair over her shoulder. "I don't know anything about it."
"Oh, no?" he asked, subtly moving forward to force her back against the wall. She didn't feel trapped, she felt confident. "So your best friend isn't the captain?"
"You're my best friend, Georgie..." she sighed, running her hand up his chest. She caught his chin between her thumb and pointer finger before dropping her hand to her side. "Silly boy."
George grinned. He put his hand on the wall above her head and leaned down, stopping right as his head was beside hers. "Hopefully I'm just a little more than that."
He moved back to look at her.
"Maybe, just a little." Polly pulled her bottom lip between her teeth, and could tell from the way George's eyes stuck on her lips that she was winning this little interaction. He hadn't asked what she knew about the match again. She moved her hand again to rest it on the back of his neck, fingers tickling the bottom edges of his hair. "Anything else you'd like to accuse me of today?"
"No, I'm pretty much done talking," he said.
George couldn't resist closing the gap between them, and pressing his lips firmly against hers. Polly let out a little moan of surprise and George could've listened to the little noise on repeat. It was sweeter than any music ever could be. Polly's senses were being overloaded. From the softness of his hair, the way he tasted and the way he smelled like Autumn air. Everything about him was home to her. George pulled away first, but kept close to her. His eyes stayed locked with hers. She looked up at him with big innocent eyes, and realized that no matter how slow they wanted things to go – that wasn't how it was going to go. She'd had some of him, and now she wanted all of him all to herself.
"You are so beautiful," he said, voice just above a whisper. She blushed. "I'm serious, Polly. I've never seen a girl as pretty as you. And you're so smart, and dedicated, and loyal. And Merlin, you're so sweet."
"George, stop." Her cheeks were burning by this point.
"I can't, and I won't. You deserve someone who tells you exactly how amazing you are. And it will not be anyone but me." He smiled. "Can't be, I'm in too deep now."
"Don't worry, I don't want anyone else," she said. George smiled, kissing her again gently before pulling away entirely. He offered his hand to escort her wherever she was going. And of course, she accepted.
The next morning had all the weather they had expected, but worse. A real storm was blowing outside. It was making Polly feel annoyed that she had to go to the game in this weather, but she knew she would do anything for George. Even just watch his Quidditch match that she could barely follow when it was bright and sunny out. Flying in this weather seemed dangerous. Muggle sports were cancelled constantly because of weather, but Quidditch? There would have to be a tornado destroying the pitch to stop the teams competing.
Polly and Tanya had spent the morning talking over breakfast. Tanya always wanted to know every detail of what happened between Polly and George. But after their talk, she worried that it was making Tanya feel lonelier. Polly just didn't know how to help.
"Do you mind if I step away to wish Fred and George good luck?" Polly asked, and Tanya shook her head no – and asked for Polly to send along her best wishes as well.
The Gryffindor team were all heading out the door together so she walked a little faster to catch up. Cedric called her a traitor as she passed his spot at the table, but they both laughed when she shoo'd him away with her hand.
"Fred! George!" They turned when they heard her yelling, both of them smiling wide. "Good luck today," she said, stopping in front of them.
"We don't need luck," Fred said. "We're going against Hufflepuff. I don't know if you knew this, but they're nothing to be scared of."
Polly smiled, and reached up for a hug from him. And when he was locked in, with her face close to his ear she whispered, "You won't say that when I hex you to only walk backwards and even Dumbledore can't fix it."
Fred's eyes were wide when she pulled back, causing both George and Polly to burst out laughing. "Polly, you've changed," Fred said.
"That's probably our fault," George said.
"Very true," he agreed. "We better catch up with Wood before he realizes we're not following."
"Yeah, okay. Have some fun out there. And please, both of you – fly safe." She smiled at them both.
"Will do," Fred said, saluting her.
"I promise," George said. "Now give me a good luck kiss." He tapped his cheek and held it towards her. She placed a peck on it with a smile.
"Now do me," Fred said, doing the same action as his brother.
"Dream on," George said, pushing Fred out the door. "She'll never kiss you."
Fred was laughing as they walked away from her, and she shook her head. Polly started to return to Tanya but paused again to tell Cedric and the rest of the team to both win, but fly safe out there. They thanked her while gathering their things to head out as well. She rejoined Tanya.
"You have so many friends," Tanya laughed.
"You have just as many, if not more," Polly joked, smiling. "Can I ask you something that's not meant to be offensive?"
"Of course," Tanya said. "What's up?"
"Did you want me to see if I could set you up with one of the boys from the team? I'm so sure they'd fall for you right away, you're so lovely."
Tanya smiled. "I'm not offended, but no thank you. I was thinking about what you said before, and you're right. If I want something quality, something that will really last. I need to stop rushing everything. And definitely stop trying to force it. My parents tried to force it to work and that did not go very well."
"Okay, well. Let me know if you change your mind. I'm happy to help," Polly said.
"Polly, you don't have to help everyone all the time. We like you just as much when you're not doing stuff for us. You know that right?"
"Yes, of course..." Polly chuckled. "Sometimes I worry that I have nothing else to really offer. But I know that it's just my own brain doing that."
"Maybe we should both be nicer to ourselves," Tanya said.
"That's deep."
"That's true."
"You're a good friend, Tanya. It started out weird, but I really really love you." Polly smiled wide.
"Awh! Polly! I love you too," Tanya said.
"Hey guys!" Anya said, walking behind Polly. "You guys want to walk up to the pitch with me and Rita? We're heading up now."
"Yeah, I'm done eating. Are you ready, Tanya?"
"Yeah, I'm good. Let's go sit in this rain to watch a game we won't be able to see," Tanya joked. All the girls giggled. As they all began to walk out together, they were passing Laura sitting by herself at the table. She was pushing a piece of egg around her plate. Polly wanted to walk right past but, she was ready to leave the past behind and move on.
"Laura, we're heading to the pitch now if you'd like to come," Polly said. Tanya smacked her on the arm and looked at her confused.
"Uhm, yeah. That'd be great," Laura said, scrambling to her feet and joining the group. There was just no reason to hold any grudges.
While Laura, Anya and Polly made awkward small talk, Rita and Tanya walked a couple paces behind them. Happily chatting as if they'd been best friends for years. As soon as they hit outside, however, small talk ended and a fight to make it to the pitch without falling began. Even with umbrellas, they were soaking wet head to toe. Polly wished she didn't have to sit through this match at all, and rather get to stay in bed with a nice book. Polly felt the uncomfortable squish of wet socks, and groaned knowing a cold would most definitely float around the school for the next few weeks.
The stands weren't much better. Even with cover above them the seats were wet. They said their goodbyes to Rita when she went to join Slytherin house. Tanya had a small smile on her face. Without an unaware bystander, the conversation quickly lulled. Polly knew everything wouldn't be fixed in a day, but at the very least she could extend the olive branch.
Polly couldn't have been happier when the match began and the need for small talk ended, being replaced by excited cheering. Hufflepuff vs Gryffindor were both her favourite, and somehow least favourite as well. She could watch all her best friends play at once, but then she also felt bad no matter who won. At the end of the day, if she was forced to choose – of course she'd pick Hufflepuff.
As the match went on, Polly struggled to keep up with what was going on. Between the heavy rain, and thunder and lightning it was impossible to see and hear everything. She tried to keep constant eyes on everyone, but it was a waste of energy. From the last announcement she heard Lee make, Gryffindor was in the lead. If Harry or Cedric would catch the snitch and end the game, whoever caught it would win and they could escape this weather. Flying in this couldn't be safe.
"Polly, look! Up in the sky there, is that those things?" Anya was shouting, and pointing above the Ravenclaw stands.
Anya was right, a handful of the dementors were making their way onto the pitch. When Polly asked what was happening, Anya just shrugged. None of them would have any way of knowing. Polly squinted to try and see what the faculty was doing, and she thought she saw Dumbledore leaving his seat in the stands.
"Cedric Diggory has caught the snitch! Hufflepuff wins!" Lee shouted. But they didn't have time to be excited, because at the same time Harry Potter was falling to the ground.
People were shouting in fear. Polly wasn't one of them, but she couldn't bring herself to watch either.
"Polly, it's okay. Look," Tanya said. Harry was still falling, but slower. He slammed against the ground and was immediately moved on to a stretcher, carried magically by Dumbledore towards the school. The look on Dumbledore's face could easily be recognized as pure anger and Polly could tell, even from as far away as she was, that he was yelling.
Polly started to push her way through the crowd to get down the ground. She rushed passed people down the stairs and kept running. She passed by Cedric arguing with Hooch that there should be a rematch. Polly stopped right outside the Gryffindor dressing room, where she almost collided with Angelina. They moved a couple steps away from the door with Angelina holding onto Polly's biceps.
"Is he okay?" Polly had to speak loudly, because with the wind picking up it was getting harder to hear. "Is Harry okay?"
"He's fine! Just knocked out I think. Dumbledore slowed his fall," Angelina replied, letting go of Polly.
"He looked dead. I thought he was dead," Polly said. "That was so scary."
"I know. You should've heard Dumbledore. He was so pissed."
"Why were the dementors even on the pitch? I thought they couldn't come on the grounds." Polly watched as the team exited, looking for George.
"They can't, that's why he was mad." Angelina looked towards the school. "I should go, I don't want him to wake up without the team there."
"Yeah, go. You better, did the boys already go?"
"Fred and George threw there brooms in here and ran out right after Dumbledore. They're probably already in the hospital wing. Bye, Polly, I'll catch up later." Angelina rushed off towards the school.
Polly backtracked to Cedric, who was still arguing with Hooch. Polly put a hand on his back, and smiled at the professor. She suggested that Cedric let it go, and move on. Hooch's decision was finally. He relented, although Polly could tell he didn't want to.
"C'mon, go get changed and get out of this weather." Cedric nodded, and listened to her advice. He headed toward the dressing room without another argument.
The noise around was bustling as everyone talked about what happened as they mobbed towards the school. Polly's soaked hair stuck to her face. And she was completely soaked to the bone. But she couldn't dwell on that yet. She had to go catch up with George. She had to see for herself that Harry was okay. And also Fred and George. So she made off towards the school, winding freezing her face as the rain hit it. Polly didn't slow down as she ran towards the school.