Every Step of the Way

Ch. 4: I Want You Every Step of the Way

George spent the day of Christmas with Fred, Ron, Ginny, and Harry in the Great Hall and later the Gryffindor common room, while Mary visited her brother Grey at the Slytherin tables. He saw her back to Gryffindor tower and she joined George and Fred for nearly an hour by the fire watching them perform parlor magic. She slipped him a wrapped box before heading up to her dormitory and he found himself being scrutinized by Fred.

"Did you get her anything?" Fred asked curiously watching his twin unwrap the silver covered gift.

"Should I have?"

"I suppose not...it's a bit early," Fred assured him.

Inside the package was a muggle book which the twins regarded curiously. It was apparently book Mary had previously read, but was in excellent condition. '10,000 Dirty Jokes, Puns and Innuendos' graced the cover and George looked up at his twin confusedly. "Did you know muggle shops had this kind of thing?" he asked, eyes dancing.

"I would own one of those books if I did know," Fred countered. "Open it and let's get started." George chuckled and opened the front cover to find a short handwritten note from his girlfriend.

'George,

I know we've only been seeing each other for a few weeks, but I wanted to give you something and thought you might get some use out of this book. And if Fred's reading over your shoulder tell him Happy Christmas from me.

Yours,
Mary'

"Blimey," George said with a grin, looking over at his brother. "Knows a bit about us, doesn't she."

"I should hope so," Fred replied. "Good on her…looks like you had the right idea with this one."

George feigned a hurt look. "You question my judgment with women at other times?" he questioned and received a punch on the shoulder for his trouble.

"Get over you git! You'll not have to worry about it now you've got one I approve of!"

George rolled his eyes and allowed a smile to overtake his freckled features. He turned to the first page and started reading out loud, much to the amusement to his brother. They stayed up for nearly two more hours laughing and finished a third of the book. "This is bloody brilliant, mate!" Fred said as the two tripped up the stairs to the dorm they shared with their fellow sixth years. George was still laughing when he fell asleep, very pleased with the gift that Mary had chosen for him for Christmas.

For the rest of the Holidays, Mary spent the vast majority of her time with George and Fred, laughing about the book of jokes, hurling snowballs at each other and whoever else wandered within range, and chatting in front of the fireplace. Fred became even happier for his brother as he got to know Mary even better. She seemed to fit into their circle of immediate friends even better than either of them had imagined before the ball. She was even ok with them ruffling her feathers a bit, which they thoroughly appreciated, though George was a bit more pleased than Fred; he told his twin that he found her sexiest when she was a bit riled to which Fred simply laughed.

They were a bit disappointed to see school come back into session as they had been enjoying the holiday so much, but things moved on and as quidditch started up again, George reluctantly cut down the time he spent with Mary in the evenings. "I'll just come watch you practice, then," she said in hopes of solving the problem. George kissed her hard on the mouth, causing her to blush a bit and hurried to express to Fred his extreme pleasure in having such a girlfriend.

When Gryffindor triumphed over Slytherin for the final game of the season, George pulled Mary under the stands for a heated snog, which he had hoped to carry on a bit further, but was promptly interrupted by Professor Flitwick. He complained a bit, but exited the stands with her, and they headed instead toward the crowd of people in red dancing on the pitch. After some celebration the team broke away to get showers while the rest of the House prepared for a party in the tower.

There was a roar when they triumphant players entered the common room and Mary handed butter beers to her favorite gingers. The party lasted into the early morning and people were finally starting to drift up to their dormitories when George pulled Mary aside to chat. "Hey you," he greeted, a sloppy grin on his face.

"Hello there," she replied with a chuckle.

"You wanna come upstairs with me?" he asked.

"Sure. If you don't think your mates will mind," she replied.

He ran a finger down her cheek. "If they mind they can bugger off," he told her with a wicked glint in his eyes.

"Alright then," Mary said, kissing his cheek. They were headed toward the stairs when Fred waved at them, grinning widely. "He looks happy," she commented.

"He's sloshed."

"So are you."

"Hardly," he said, wobbling on the spot.

"Right…well let's go then, before one of the prefects decides to make sure we're behaving." They made it up the stairs and to George's bed, but just barely. He flopped down onto his bed and dragged her with him, 'oompf'ing when she landed a bit heavily on his solar plexus. She kissed him soundly as her pulse started to race. She had been dating George for several months now, of course, but the farthest they had gone physically had been some heated snogs that somehow always got interrupted by Fred. She had a feeling he was doing it on purpose, but had to admit that it was a bit funny if it wasn't happening to you.

"I suppose I should have asked earlier," he said, fairly soberly. "But have you ever…er…been with a man?"

"No," she said quietly, glad for the darkness that hopefully hid her blush.

"Oh…well that's good. I mean, I had hoped that…well I wanted to be your first, not that I would have been upset if I wasn't…not with you anyway."

"Ah well, I suppose you don't have to worry about that."

"Do you want me?" he asked. "Who could say no to this body, really?" he added for humorous effect.

"I do, George. But I want you to promise me something," she told him seriously.

"Anything, love."

"Promise me that we'll still be us…not some pair of hormone crazed kids who are only together to shag."

He looked at her squarely. "I love you," he told her for the first time. She gasped a bit and he continued before she could respond. "And I can't promise that I won't want to shag you all the time or be a hormone crazed 'kid,' but that's not all I'll have you for."

Mary blinked away the tears that were threatening to spill over her lashes and grinned at him. "I love you too, George Weasley, and don't you forget it!" He kissed her in response and she knew that she was ready to take the next step in their relationship.