Hello again faithful readers! This here is a really short chapter compared to the last few but I couldn't just leave you all hanging like that ;-). And there will probably be another chapter posted in the next day or so. Enjoy!

-Auvrea Rose

Izzy stared up at George defiantly, Shawn squeezing her tightly, as she waited for the judgement that George would surely pass on her.

She had not planned on telling him, or anyone, about this-one of the most horrible things she had ever done, indeed the only thing she had done in 13 months of war that gave her nightmares- not for a very long time, if ever, and certainly not like this. Telling him after having only known him two days was unthinkable but circumstances dictated some form of explanation.

The twins had sprung to their defense without a thought, remained silent while she took care of things her way, and had been nothing but kind, helpful, and all in all wonderful since they had met. They were the first people she had met in this country that she had even remotely considered herself capable of becoming close to and she wanted desperately to cling to the dream of real friends she had so long considered out of her grasp.

But she would give George the chance to back away first- to get out before he got pulled any deeper into the mess that her life was apparently destined to be.

But George did not back away. He continued to stare at her expectantly, somehow knowing that if he spoke she would run like a scared rabbit.

When Izzy finally realized that the judgement she was waiting for was not going to come, at least not without an explanation, her heart began to slow its terrified tattoo.

She had not realized until that moment how important it had been to her that he at least give her the chance to explain, that the first person besides Shawn to see a glimpse of her true self did not run immediately in the opposite direction.
Slowly she drew a breath and said "I'm bastardizing a rather long and thrilling tale, but long story short is that, that boy's father, Montague Senior, was a Death Eater who near the end of the war was trudging around Northern England in search of any and all Resistance fighters in hopes of bringing us back to Voldemort and earning himself a few extra brownie points with his beloved 'Dark Lord'. Ironically, he found us one day while we were out hunting for Death Eaters. He grabbed Shawn and Disapparated with her. Took me three whole days to track him down and when I finally found him…let's just say he didn't give me much of a choice. It was us or him, and I choose us any day."

She opened her mouth to continue, but she had completely exhausted her sharing quota for the day and closed it again.

Luckily the twins seemed satisfied. George smiled at her in understanding.

"Well that's alright then. I'd choose you too." he said with a wink, trying to lighten the tense atmostphere. Izzy smiled gratefully at him, relief shining in her eyes.

They had all been pushed to extremes in the name of survival and George was not going to begrudge her doing what she had to do. If Fred had been kidnapped, his wrath would have shaken the very heavens. And he knew what it was like when you were terrified the one person you loved most in the world was going to die. Oh yes, he could sympathize with Izzy all too well.

And no matter how well she could take care of herself he vowed to keep a very close eye on Christopher Montague.

"Uh guys, not that I'm not enjoying the sharing of our deepest darkest secrets, but if we miss our first History of Magic class I am going to be really upset." Shawn said timidly, afraid to break whatever spell it was that was making Izzy share so freely.

"Oh bullocks!" Izzy cried, startled out of the moment. "We're going to be late!"

And she immediately started marching down the hall-in the wrong direction. Shawn, Fred, and George waited by the door as she came to a halt about 10 feet away.

She turned back to them. "I'm going the wrong way again, aren't I?" she asked, a rueful smile on her red lips.

Seeing her standing there, looking so helpless and lost yet again, the tension between them finally broke and all four dissolved into laughter.

"C'mon" said Fred finally, a hand falling onto Shawn's shoulder. "We'll take you to class- if we leave it up to Izzy here you won't get there til tomorrow."

Izzy glared at him and stuck out her tongue with a huff as they started towards Professor Binns' room.

"It's not my fault I have no sense of direction. And don't call me Izzy!"

"But George gets to call you Izzy!" Fred whined, an offended look on his face.

Shawn giggled at him- he was going to have to learn that in the world of Izabelle Lyon not everyone had equal status and only her absolute favorites were allowed to call her 'Izzy'. In fact, only one other person that Shawn knew of had ever been allowed to call her so and their relationship had been of an extremely intimate nature.

"Well…well…that's different," Izzy stuttered as she blushed hotly, not willing to admit that the sound of George calling her 'Izzy' made her tummy do this pleasant flippy-thing.

George snickered at her and threw an arm around her shoulders.

"It's alright Izzy, I won't let him tease you. It's because you find me so irresistible isn't it?" George joked, though he was watching for her reaction very carefully. He was not disappointed.

"You are way too full of yourself George Weasley!" she said hotly, shrugging his arm off her shoulders, but her blush was a pink so dark she could've easily competed with Ron's.

That remark had hit way too close to the truth for Izzy's comfort. She'd only known George for two days but she felt more drawn to him than she had ever been to anyone, had shared more of herself than with anyone in recent memory, and had to physically fight her body's responses to his. Which all together scared the ever-living-daylights out of her.

She wasn't the silly little girl that believed in love at first sight any more- all of this was happening too fast for her to process.

After what happened to Shawn she had sworn not to let herself get close to anyone else like that ever again; it was never worth the pain when they were ripped away from you. And they were always ripped away from you eventually, whether it was by Death Eaters or just nature. Everything dies. She could not let herself get carried away with this- she would protect her heart, no matter the cost.

She was pulled from her thoughts when the twins stopped in front of the room that must be the History of Magic class. The corridor was deserted- everyone was inside already.

"I'd like to hear the long and thrilling version of that tale sometime" George whispered to her as she turned to go through the door.

Izzy's eyes flickered fearfully up to his curious aqua ones.

Her lips twitched into a faint smile. "We'll see" she said simply, then turned her back and followed Shawn into the room.

She imagined the look on his face if she told him the whole story, every nasty little thing she had done to that Death Eater. He would run screaming from her if he knew, she was sure. But she could not put out the little spark in her chest that ignited when she imagined him wrapping her in understanding arms, accepting every part of her.

Izabelle sighed. She was aware that she was probably going to lose this battle against falling for George Weasley, but goddamn it she had to try. She had promised herself, and now she had to try. But he wasn't going to make it easy, she just knew it.