George waited until his parents were safely up the staircase before collapsing on the sofa. He reached out towards me.
I shifted my weight from foot to foot, biting my lip nervously. "This is what I meant by the whole 'moving very fast' thing," I reminded him.
He grabbed my hand and tugged me to him. "We're not doing anything. We are just going to lay here and talk because I know there's too much on your mind."
After lying down in front of him on the sofa, he snagged a quilt off the back of the sofa and wrapped us in it. I looked at him with a smile. "Why must you be so perfect?" I whispered.
George chuckled. "I'm hardly perfect, darling." He glanced at the clock. "We have five hours until Mum wakes up to cook breakfast, so if we want to sleep at all its best you tell me what's bothering you."
Minutes passed by us before I gave a huff of frustration. "I don't know where to start! I don't know what's appropriate to say! I just feel like I don't know anything anymore!"
His hand curved around the back of my head and he held me against his chest. "You're tired," he insisted. "Just start talking, even if it's nonsense. It'll help, I promise."
"Could I… Could I tell you about my family?" I asked meekly.
He nodded, pulling me in closer as our legs tangled together.
And so for the next hour all I did was tell him stories of my past. I told him all about my parents, and how my mother lost her powers when she used her magic to protect my father outside of Hogwarts. My eyes filled with tears as he listened to me speak of my parents and the way they always supported me no matter what I wanted to do.
"They mean the world to you," he whispered, running his hands through my hair.
"They do," I agreed.
"What about Hogwarts? I wish I had met you then. We'd already be starting our lives together."
I smirked up at him through some fallen tears. "Our lives together?" I repeated. "You're quite ambitious, Mr. Weasley."
He chuckled and rubbed his cold foot along my calf. I squeaked in surprise, only making his laughter louder. "You've been thinking the same thing since you saw me."
"You know, the first time I saw you was at Hogwarts in my first year."
His eyebrows rose in wonder, but he stayed silent.
"Fred and you were pranking some of the other first years. You were setting smoke bombs around the Ravenclaw common room, and I was sitting by the window reading a book. Neither of you noticed me, though I suppose most people tended to just ignore me altogether."
"We thought the room was empty, darling," he assured.
I nodded almost imperceptibly. "Well either way, you never noticed me sitting there, but when you two left I deactivated all of them," I admitted quietly.
He laughed, grinning down at me. "Do you know that for the past eight years, Fred and I have tried to figure out what we did wrong with those?"
"Maybe if the timing had been different I wouldn't have done what I did, but I'd been picked on enough times to know that it hurt more than most thought. I know that you two were doing it as an ice-breaker of sorts, but… I don't know… It just didn't…"
"I know what you're getting at," he assured. "And you're right. It was too soon in the year to be pranking first years."
I tried to stop myself from yawning, but it was too late. I gave up trying to keep my eyes open as I snuggled further into his arms. "I haven't been up this late since quidditch started," I mumbled.
"You haven't told me about that yet," he said suddenly.
I shrugged my shoulders. "There's nothing much to it. I started playing for a little recreational league during the summers, and during my seventh year some of the coaches of the bigger teams made me a few offers. I went with the Chudley Cannons because they provided my parents with benefits too."
He shivered when my cold feet rested against his legs, but otherwise ignored it. "What about Galvin? And Joey?"
I rolled my eyes and finally looked him up at him again. "That's what you're getting at?" After taking a moment to laugh at his expense, I breathed out softly. "Joey is dating Elizabeth, and Galvin has a girl in Ireland. They're brothers to me, that is all. Besides," I shuffled around a bit, "they were just giving me a hard time after the game because they knew about you."
"Knew about me?" he repeated.
I blushed, trying to hide my face. "You're the only boy I've ever mentioned around them," I admitted.
He squeezed me tight. "And I thought you were playing hard to get," he joked.
I tried to glare at him, but he wouldn't let me move. I huffed before nestling down into the blanket. "Are you going to sleep here?"
"Who will protect you if I don't?"
"Always set on saving me," I muttered.
He chuckled and within moments I found myself drifting off to sleep quicker than I had in months.
**The Next Morning**
"Don't wake them up," someone said in a hushed voice.
"But George looks so peaceful," Fred replied with a teasing tone.
I opened my eyes against the light that was flooding in through the open windows of the living room. George's arms were wrapped around me as he snored quietly. I smiled, leaning up to kiss his cheek before starting to untangle myself from him.
A smirk graced his lips. "Kiss-and-run kind of girl?" he whispered.
"I thought you were sleeping."
"Mum! Ron read my letter!" Ginny yelled as she came running down the staircase.
Ron was close behind her. "Why are you snogging Harry?"
"That's none of your business, Ronald!"
George sighed, rolling his eyes at his siblings as they continued their fighting in the other room. "Are you hungry?"
I nodded. "A little." I slid off the sofa and got to my feet as he took my hand.
"Just ignore my brothers and Gin," he mumbled in my ear.
"Are they all here?"
He shook his head. "Charlie, Bill, and Percy shouldn't be—." He groaned upon seeing the packed dining room table. "Never mind. Of course they're all here."
"I told you not to wake them!" Molly chastised a smirking Fred.
He held his hands up defensively. "I didn't!"
"It was your cooking, Mrs. Weasley," I interrupted. "It smelt too good to stay asleep any longer."
George's hand squeezed my hip as she smiled at the two of us. "Well you'll fit in just fine here," she said with a nod. "But call me Molly. Mrs. Weasley is my mother in law."
"Molly," I agreed, smiling.
She waved us towards the table, ignoring my attempts to help her.
George chuckled, pulling me onto his lap. I began to protest when his arms locked around my waist. "All the chairs are taken, darling."
"I'll sit on the floor," I said through clenched teeth. His brothers were waggling their eyebrows at us suggestively and his sister was failing to hide her giggles.
"George never let us meet any of his girlfriends," Bill told me.
I took a sip of the water Molly gave me. "You seem like the lot to scare away girls rather quickly."
He grinned at me. "Ah, you're a keeper."
Fleur was sitting next to him, clutching his hand in both of hers. "Another girl around zere will be nice," she said.
"I love your accent," I told her honestly. "So much better than the accent I've scrounged up."
"Merci!"
"One of you boys give Sophia your seat this instant!" Molly ordered as she set a tray of pancakes on the table.
George rolled his eyes. "Mum, she's fine." I attempted to move off of his lap, but his hold was unwavering. "You're leaving soon, aren't you?" he checked.
I nodded with a glance at the clock. "Elizabeth might be awake. I should be there with everyone."
"Then you can sit with me right here until you leave."