Every Step of the Way

Ch 3: I'll Even Show You How to Strut One Day

As the Yule Ball drew nearer and nearer, George and Mary spent more time together. He discovered that she was quite a talented witch and exactly the kind of girl he never knew he was looking for. She on the other hand, was steeled in her decision that he was the right wizard for her. They talked about things that George had only discussed with Fred and by the night before the ball, George found himself completely in love.

"You sure she didn't slip you something, mate?" Fred asked with a laugh as George came into the tower late for the third night in a row.

"Sure I'm sure. She's amazing, Fred. You should look for someone like her."

Fred snickered. "I don't think Angelina'd much like it if I was off looking for other skirts while promised to be her date for the ball…she'd have my ass at practice."

George joined his laughter as he flopped down onto his four poster. "Well, you'd better hope that she's not as vicious off the field as she is on," George advised his twin, "or you might not even be able to handle being on a broom for a while."

"Very funny." Fred chucked a pillow at George, then crawled under the covers. George kept the extra pillow, but stood to undress for bed. "She really has got you under some kind of spell though," Fred told his brother as he lazily shot a hex at him from under the blankets.

"Ow!!! Git!!!" George roared as the stinging hex took effect. He glared at his twin until the pain was gone and he was safely in his own bed. "Freddie?"

"Hmm?" Fred replied, clearly having forgotten hexing his twin.

George sent a tickling hex at his brother, which he knew bothered Fred the most, as he settled down for the night. "Night, Freddie!"

Fred mumbled some indecipherables as his breathing returned to normal. He turned over, secretly grinning because George still hexed him back, and fell asleep.

"What are you lot on about?" Fred asked as he and George approached the Gryffindor table to find Hermione insulting Ron. Harry shot him a warning glance before Hermione stormed off, eyeing him like he was a foul piece of meat. The twins took a seat on either side of Harry and raised their eyebrows questionably at the young hero.

Ron stormed off after noting that they were going to question Harry about him while he was sitting just across the table, and they started in. "So?" George pressed.

"Ron's just discovered that Hermione is a girl…albeit a last resort one. She's got a date to the ball already, though and he's pissed."

"Sounds like baby brother has a bit of a crush on the bookworm," Fred said gleefully.

"How's he going to like seeing her with some other bloke all night?" George wondered out loud.

"Not something I think I want to be around for," Fred put in.

"Well we're going with the Patil twins, so things can't go too wrong, can they?" Harry asked as though the twins were actually able to grant his wish for a decent evening. They shrugged at him and tucked into breakfast, leaving him wondering just how bad the ball was going to be. They, on the other hand, were perfectly content in how they imagined their evenings going.

George felt a bit bad for Ron when his little brother caught sight of Hermione looking quite stunning on the arm of Viktor Krum, the quidditch star Ron had once cheered for during the World Cup game. His feelings about anything other than Mary disappeared, however, when Fred nudged him and pointed him in the direction of his own date. He, Fred and Angelina had been conversing about the upcoming game against Ravenclaw and George didn't feel the least bit bad leaving the conversation when his eyes found the sight of Mary MacDonald in her ball gown.

He took in the sight of her for a moment as she descended the stairs and though she was surrounded by Erin, Katie, Serena Cowslip, Ella Rowe and followed closely by the Patil twins, she clearly stood out. Her hair had been twisted up into a messy cascade of curls held in place by glittering hairpins and her makeup was slightly more accentuated than usual. She had a simple string of pearls around her neck and an elegantly sexy form fitting black dress that certainly made a statement. The dip of her cleavage had caught the eyes of many of the guys in the entrance hall, but George didn't really care, because she would be with him that night and him alone. The dress fell to just above her knees, where it feathered out a bit at the ends for a slight swishing effect when she walked.

Mary stepped down to George and he immediately kissed her full on the mouth, earning catcalls and whistles all around, his twin being the only one to yell out "I hope she likes twins!" which George was sure had earned him a smack from Angelina. When the kiss finally broke, he looked into her chocolate eyes and grinned. "How about that for an entrance?" he asked with a smirk. She grinned right back at him and he was once again assured it was love.

"Hello to you too, George," she replied.

George led Mary over to where Fred stood with Angelina, who still didn't look entirely pleased with him, but smiled warmly when the other girl approached. "You remember my brother," George introduced with a laugh. "Fred, Mary."

"How do you do?" he asked primly, looking at Angelina with a barely contained smirk.

"And Angelina, of course."

"I do know pretty much everyone you know here," she reminded him, slipping her hand into his.

"Right…well I suppose we should just get down to the wild partying then!"

Things started out quite well and after three hours of dancing and conversing, George escorted Mary out to the gardens for a walk. "This is great," she said looking around at the décor.

"Yeah…the view is beautiful," he replied, not taking his eyes off of her.

"A bit cheesy, but I'll take it," she told him with a grin. He pulled her down onto a bench and brought his lips to hers very gently. He ran his tongue along the seam of her lips and nearly moaned when she opened up to him. The kissed turned a bit less innocent when he brought his arms up to wrap around her middle and hold her close to his lean form, but she didn't seem to care much as she traced his shoulders with her fingertips.

"Excuse me," a voice interrupted their heated snogging session. They looked up to find Professor Flitwick grinning. "I know that young love is strong, but we have to maintain a sense of propriety," he told the pair. "So I suggest if you want to carry on, you find a more secluded place."

Mary blushed a bit but George laughed heartily. "Suppose we'd better move up to the tower," he told her, leading her inside. "Later, Wiki!"

"Wiki?" she asked looking from George to the tiny professor as she was led away.

"Yeah. He's a good mate when he professor robes come off," George told her. She laughed with him as he led her up to the seventh floor to return to the tower and they found themselves surrounded by a host of first through third years.

Mary cleared her throat. "I suppose we should…retire, now, George. Thank you for tonight. It was amazing!!!"

"Thank you," he countered with a huge smile. I don't think I've ever had so much fun without Fred right beside me, but wouldn't you know he was busy snogging Angelina all night."

"Can't say you blame him," Mary replied. "She did look lovely."

"You don't…fancy girls, do you?"

"No," she laughed. "Just paying a girlfriend a compliment."

"Oh…" he sounded a bit relieved and she couldn't help but laugh even harder. He joined her after a moment and they only settled down when they shared another kiss on the stairs.

"'Night, George," she whispered.

"'Night."

"Want to watch a muggle movie tomorrow?"

"Sure," he agreed, more than ready to see her again.

"See you after lunch, then," she winked and was gone, leaving George grinning on the stairs.

"So how was your night?" Fred asked when he came back to the dormitory at two in the morning, looking thoroughly shagged.

"Pretty damned good."

"Get her in bed?" Fred asked, vanishing all of his clothes and crawling into bed naked.

"No…just…it was good, Fred. I really like her."

"I can tell."

"Think she'd make a good Weasley wife?"

Fred snorted. "Thinking about marrying her already?"

"I think I love her."

Fred went immediately silent. "Really?"

"Yeah."

"Then go for it, mate," Fred said gently. "But don't forget that you've got to take me where ever you go…"

"I'm not leaving you, Fred."

"I know…it's just…my twin is growing up," he said with a fake sniffle, breaking the solemn moment.

"Forge, you're going to have to share your love."

"Gred, you're a crazy man if you think I'll share anything…she has your romance, but I've got your heart!"

George smiled, thinking about his brother's statement. Though Fred hadn't come out and said it, he was happy and George knew that. He only hoped that Fred would find someone as wonderful to be crazy about. With Angelina, he reasoned, Fred had come pretty close.