Chapter 10 A Journey begins

Without any warning, the summer suddenly was over.
Holly was busy packing all the stuff she would need for the new term, rummaging in her room to find everything. Weirdly, many of her possessions had found their way out of her room, laying about all around the house. Especially books were spread all over the place, so it took her quite some time to get everything together.

Whilst carrying a huge pile of all different kinds of stuff out of the living room, that she'd collect there, she nearly bumped into someone just coming through the door.
George.
Of course.

Ever since that night she had tried to keep out of his way, ashamed not only about opening up to him like she did, sharing that story, letting him see her true self down to the bottom of her soul, but more about the way she had felt with him.

She still felt herself blush just at the memory of his touch against her body or the way his bright eyes twinkled down at her.
The way he smiled, one corner of his mouth slightly higher than the other.
The way his broad chest had felt against her cheek, under her small hand the sound and rhythm of his heart beat.
And his smell… Damn it, Potter, get yourself together!

Right, it was too embarrassing to even think about it!

In order to keep herself from exactly that, she had tried her best to spend as little time possible in his proximity, always keeping enough distance between them just making sure she would be able to think straight. After all, hadn't she always thought the twins to be like brothers to her? How could she think like that about someone she also thought of as a brother? That was not natural in her opinion.

She had managed to keep her distance, up until now. She sighed.

"Oi, milady, need some help with this?"

Before Holly could even answer, he'd already pulled out his wand and taken over.

"Thanks, George, but I'm perfectly capable to manage myself", she heard herself say dryly.

For a moment he was stunned by the irritated tone of her words.

"Pardon, milady. I merely wanted to offer you a helping hand, as a real gentleman is supposed to do. Now, would you like to take up my offer or shall I let yourself be the strong independent woman you certainly are?"

Holly smiled sheepishly.

"I guess I would be happy to take you by your words, Mr. Weasley. Prove yourself worthy of the honour, dear friend."

George laughed and magically brought everything up into her room.
He even helped her sorting the whole lot and packing it into her trunk. He explained, his stuff had already been safely stored.

Even though Holly and George didn't talk much whilst working side by side, she did not feel uncomfortable next to him. Whenever Holly kept her silence with the other Weasleys or Hermione, it would always feel sort of awkward. She had actually kind of gotten used to it by now.
But there was no such thing with George.
Holly began to relax a little next to him. Maybe all the things she'd been thinking lately were not real after all. Maybe she had just needed a little distance from him, time for herself and now everything was back to normal between them. Back to how it used to be and should be, in her opinion.

But then unintentionally their hands touched briefly, just for the split of a second. It was enough for Holly to feel that odd tingling again.
So much about everything being back to normal.
Why couldn't she just turn this stupid dragon's shit off?

When they were done and had her trunk locked up, George sat down on her bed and looked at her, his head just slightly bent to his left side. Even though they hadn't talked whilst packing either, the silence that filled the space between them suddenly changed. Holly felt herself getting uncomfortable again and hugged herself, trying to keep her thoughts straight.

George simply smiled at her.
Not jokingly like he usually did, it was more like a calm, honest sort of smile.

"Relax, Holly, don't get all tensed up again."

Holly let out a breath she hadn't even noticed she'd been holding and let her arms swing down by her sides freely. George's brow furrowed slightly, as if in concentration about what he had to say next.

"I… I just wanted to tell you that I've been thinking about that night. I know, it's not easy for you to let people in right now, but I'm just really glad you opened up to me like you did… I really appreciate your trust in me and I want you to know that I'd like to be there for you whenever you need someone to talk to or someone to be silent with for that matter.
So please, stop being ashamed about anything you said or did… I noticed you stay away from me since then whenever you can, but I don't want you to.
You really don't have to do that, there is nothing you have to be embarrassed about with me."

George finished, and looked her straight into the eyes. She couldn't think of a time before that, where he'd been that serious. Normally he wouldn't stop fooling around, playing pranks, thinking about new ways to skip certain school subjects and other things like that.
Never before had he talked to her in such an earnest way.
For some moments she stared into the freckled face of George Weasley, sitting there on her bed, talking like he actually cared about something. For no apparent reason at all, she felt herself blush, just a tiny bit, but still she hated her body for betraying her.

"Thanks, George."

She hardly heard her own voice, it had merely been a whisper but it seemed as if George had gotten the meaning since he stood up, stretching his arms ever so slightly.

"Well, I should better get back downstairs now or else Fred might start wondering where I am."

With those words and a crooked smile on his lips, he left through the door.
For once, not apparating.

...

Next day was the 1st of September.
After a hearty breakfast prepared by none other than Mrs. Weasley (Holly would miss her cooking, even though Hogwarts' food was delicious as well) and a stressful last minutes of packing, everyone had their trunks brought down to the hallway, ready to head over to King's Cross.

Just when she wondered, how they would go there as she left through the door, she saw a stunning old-timer car parked in front of the house. Holly felt her mouth drop open at its beauty.

"Quite some sight, don't you think?" A barking laugh came from behind her.

"This, my beautiful goddaughter, is another part of my heirloom: a Mercedes-Benz 230 Capriolet, the 1936 model in the colour champagne."

Holly circulated the vehicle once, marvelling it from all sides. She hadn't ever thought much about cars and hated listening to uncle Vernon's never-ending talk about different brands, comparing everyone with another. But not even she could deny the obvious beauty of the car in front of her.
Sirius chuckled and opened up the door for her like the gentleman he was:

"Your Highness, please get inside the car now, we will be leaving soon."

When Holly climbed inside she wasn't surprised to find its interior to be enlarged. Even a family as big as the Weasleys could fit inside comfortably, she thought.

While one after the other climbed inside, her presumption was proven right. Even with the cages of their pets, there was still plenty of room left. She leaned back against the soft leather seat and looked back at Grimmauldplace, 12 whilst leaving it behind.
It felt weird to be leaving, actually. Holly couldn't explain why or how, but that dark place had over the last weeks become more of a home to her than the Dursley's ever had been.
At least this year, she would come back to spend Christmas with her godfather and probably several members of the Order including the Weasleys.
Holly found herself looking forward to it already.

Arriving at King's Cross, the annual stress began. Even though they had left earlier than they had often before, they only just made it in time through the barrier. Everyone hurried to get their trunks inside then it was time to say good-bye.

First, Holly hugged Mrs. Weasley. The motherly redhead held her tightly and told her once again to stick to the rules, stay safe, not to do anything she wouldn't do and if ever there were any problems, not to hesitate and inform her immediately.

Then Remus took over.
Holly had to promise nearly the same things again. It kind of amused her, she never had thought of Mrs. Weasley and her uncle having that much in common.

Lastly, it was Sirius' turn. He too told her, to play it safe this year:

"Holly, sweetie, listen: I know what it's like to be your age and I know I never kept to the rules myself back in the days.
But times have changed, and I don't want you to stumble into dangerous happenings just for the fun of it.
I love you, Holly, as if you were my own, so please, try to stay below the radar this year, for me."

Holly stared into her godfather's caring eyes and nodded.

"Of course, Sirius."

She pecked his cheek good-bye and jumped into the train just in time before it started leaving the gate.
Touched by her uncle's words she watched him get smaller and smaller, as the Hogwarts Express picked up speed and finally pulled into the turn, pushing Sirius out of her sight.