As the year continued, I chanced many glances at Miss Melody Travis and each time I did, I asked myself why I had never noticed that she was really pretty. And all wanted whenever I saw her was to get a closer look since she always seemed to be so far away (at the other end of the table, at the other end of the halls, passing my classroom during her break or vice versa).

But then the year turned bad during the Champions' second and third task of the Triwizard Tournament when . . . when Cedric Diggory died and You-Know-Who came back to life. And it was weird to think now, how we were all happy, waiting for Harry to come out of that damn maze with the Cup and yet he came back with something no one had expected. I remember turning to my family and seeing their expressions and then watching her as she pushed past everyone with Ron and Hermione behind her, hurrying down towards the bottom of the stands, towards Harry. The sight of her anxious face scared me in the process and I could almost tell how absolutely pained she was at the sight of her best friend stuck in the middle of a crowd after what could only be described as a traumatizing experience.

The next time I saw her was in the hospital wing when Harry entered with a big black dog which turned out to be Sirius Black who turned out to be innocent. It was all really confusing. And there she was again, sitting next to Harry's bedside, his hand in hers and for the first time in a long time, I was jealous of someone, like, extremely jealous.

The only other thing that grabbed my attention was when Hermione caught a bug. . . . Sometimes, I worry about that girl.

On the Hogwarts Express, I sat with Fred of course, sort of wishing I could sit with Melody but I did catch her walking past a couple of times, once with Ron, Harry, and Hermione, and another time beside herself.

"Um, I'll – I'll be back," I told Fred. "Got to use the john."

I hurried out of the compartment and down the hall towards the restrooms. Maybe I could finally talk to her . . . that is, if I could think about something to talk about.

Fifteen or twenty feet away I stopped when I saw Melody leaning against one of the doors of the bathroom, that git Draco Malfoy standing across from her. My hand cautiously slipped towards my wand in my pocket, itching to use it but he didn't do anything to her, just talked. They talked in hilariously quiet voices so I couldn't hear what they were saying. I did, however see when he stuck his hand out to, in an almost friendly gesture. Melody didn't take it though, and I took that as my key to step in.

"Hey, Melody," I said as I approached.

She turned to me, a smirk on her face. "Hello George."

"This guy bothering you?"

She turned back to Malfoy who was staring at her blankly. She hesitated before saying, "No. No we were just talking."

She started walking and I followed beside her. "So," I started, fishing for something else to talk about, "are you coming to the Burrow this summer?"

She glanced up at me, skeptically. "Why?"

"Just wondering."

"Um, well, probably. I kind of live just a little bit away from you."

"Oh, er, right."

We walked in awkward silence for a minute, passing my compartment and reaching hers. "Well, see ya," she said, opening her door.

"Yeah, okay," I said. She smiled at me and then went into her compartment while I doubled-back to mine. I felt like a complete bum. I replayed the short conversation in my head. Stupid, stupid, stupid!

I went into the compartment where Fred was still sitting, staring at me with a cocky smile on his face. "Well!" he said.

"Well what?" I said, sitting down across from her.

"What was all that about?" he asked, nodding his head at the door.

"Nothing. I was just – just walking with her back to her compartment."

"Right. After you followed her to the bathrooms."

"What are you getting at?"

"You fancy Melody Travis!"

"What? I – I do not!"

"Uh, yes you do."

"Don't."

"George, listen to me. I'm your twin. You can't hide this kind of stuff from me. It's completely obvious. Not to mention that I saw you dancing with her at the Yule Ball. So tell me, when did this come about?"

"I don't fancy Melody, Fred. I -- I barely even know the girl."

"Right. If you don't fancy her, then I'm the Queen of England. And I don't know why you say you don't know her. She's only at our house every summer for the past three summers and she lives across the woods from us. . . . So when did this come about?"

I sighed, defeated. "Around Yule Ball."

"Aww, I see. Caught up in the moment and now you're completely caught, huh?"

"Didn't you see her?"

"Yeah, I saw her. She did look really nice."

"Really nice? Fred, she looked spectacular!"

"All right, all right, don't get your knickers all in a twist. . . . Why don't you just go talk to her?"

"I can't."

"Why not?"

"I don't know. . . . I tried to talk to her now and all I could say was 'So, are you coming to the Burrow this summer'. Besides, she's just a kid. I'm sixteen."

"She's only two years younger, George."

"I know how to subtract Fred."

"I'm just saying. It's not like she's ten years old or anything; that would be gross. And she'll be fifteen soon, this September, I think. And we'll be seventeen this month."

"What's your point?"

"My point is you're always going to be two years older than her. There's not much point in trying to do anything about that. . . . Here's what you do. Since she'll probably be over a bit this summer, why don't you try getting to know her, try talking to her?"

". . . . I'll try."

The rest of the journey home wasn't that eventful. Fred, Ron, Harry, Melody, Hermione, and I hexed Malfoy and his goons when he said something fowl about Cedric Diggory and then we all played Exploding Snap until we got to Kings' Cross. I had to fight to keep my eyes off Melody. Oh yeah, and then Harry gave Fred and I his Tournament money which you have to admit was pretty awesome. . . .

I sat next to Melody on the way home and watched as Ron helped her take her suitcase into her house while my parents chatted quickly with her.

When we got home, I could hardly wait for the next day to bring Melody back to the Burrow . . . only to find out that we weren't even going to be there. . . .

Damn.