"Somebody please hex me- I can't take it any longer, she's driving me crazy!" I whispered fiercely to Ginny. We were outside cleaning out the chicken coops. I had actually begged Ginny to let me help her with the messy, smelly job, just so I could get out of the house. That was what Fleur had driven me to: cleaning up after chickens.
"I know!' Ginny exclaimed, not bothering to whisper. "She's insufferable. The way she flaunts about like she owns the place." She rolled her eyes after flipping her hair in a viciously accurate imitation of the annoying Veela. "And the way Ron keeps drooling any time she's in the room, I'm having to fight not to hex him."
"Has it really only been two weeks? It feels like I've been stuck with her for years," I mumbled, sweeping up the hay on the coop's floor. Another month and a half and I would be able to use magic legally. I'd be seventeen and of age.
"You're lucky. She's been here since I started summer break. It's like torture - I didn't think you'd ever get here. Thank Merlin I get to share a room with you instead of her. I really would hex myself," Ginny said, picking up a broom and sweeping up some chicken feathers. I laughed at her expression, but had to agree. It would have been torture to have to share a room with the veela. Bad enough that we had to share a house with her. None of the men in the house got why she was so annoying. It was like constantly being reminded you weren't beautiful, and being made to look ugly even if you weren't. In the light of her breath-taking beauty any human woman was struck ugly. It could, and did, really wear down one's self esteem. However, that line of thought brought me to another pleasanter thought.
"Is George coming over for dinner tonight?" I asked, trying to sound casual. Ginny saw right through my seemingly innocent inquiry and laughed, knocking over a bucket of chicken feed as she did so.
"Yes," she said, bending down to shove the feed back in the bucket. "He is. Haven't they been over every other night?" she asked, rising with the bucket. I smiled sheepishly at her. They had been over every other night, something I was enjoying far more than I really should. I didn't get to see as much of George as I would like, but I did enjoy our dinners. That was honestly the best time at the Burrow. After the whole Kreacher betraying us thing, everyone had been a little paranoid about going back to Grimmauld Place, so the Burrow had taken over as headquarters. Sirius had wanted to punish the house elf, but had refrained from doing so after I begged him not to. He did, however, forbid him from seeing any other member of his family that was not a member of the Order.
Because of the headquarter switch, several members would join us for dinner now, often while giving a brief summary of the latest news. Tonks, Remus, Sirius, and Kingsley came over almost every night, and Moody visited lots too. It was a lot of fun, and far easier to find out information this way.
Mrs. Weasley had wanted to remain tight-lipped about the Orders goings on but everyone else had won out over her. We argued that the battle at the ministry would never have happened if we had just been told some of what was going on, and the adults had no choice but to agree with us. It helped that I had spent most of my time at my parents coming up with a very airtight argument as to why we should be let in on the Order's business.
So, we weren't allowed to be members (at least until September for me and March for Ron), but we were now allowed to have a general knowledge of what was going on with out having to stoop to extendable ears. It didn't hurt that George and Fred had also officially joined the Order, and made it a point to share any information with us.
"I can't wait till Harry gets here," Ginny said, tossing the broom to an empty corner of the coop. "Maybe then we can play some Quidditch."
I smiled knowingly at that. "I can just hear Fleur now. 'Arry, eet 'as been to long. I 'ave meesed you. 'Ere, come watch me flounce my 'air and sweeng my 'ips," I said, strolling around the room like a model. Ginny laughed at thatbefore rearranging her face to look vacant.
"Oh Fleur, please let me follow you around like a lost puppy!" she said, in a shockingly good imitation of Ron. I laughed really loud at that before I covered my mouth in an attempt to muffle them.
"Seriously though," Ginny said, in her normal voice. "If she tries that Veela stuff on Harry I'll turn her hair blue."
"Geeny! 'Ermione!" a throaty, musical voice called from the yard. We both froze and looked at each other.
"Speak of the devil," I whispered. The door to the coop burst open and Fleur came floating in.
"O girls," she said, smiling disarmingly, "Mrs. Weasley wanted to see you een ze kitc'en."
Ginny pushed past her, huffing in annoyance. I put on a sweet smile, seething on the inside. "Of course, Fleur, we were just finishing up in here." I set the broom in the corner and followed Ginny out, rolling my eyes when I saw Fleur fluffing her hair. We only had one more month until school started, just one more month.
"I will 'elp you weet' the chores," she said, following us out the door.
August couldn't get here fast enough.
I snuck up to Ginny's room after Mrs. Weasley had Ginny and I peel potatoes. I couldn't take any more Fleur, of Phlegm as Ginny had dubbed her. Dinner wouldn't be ready for another twenty minutes, so I decided to read for a few minutes. I opened my book and read the first page when I began to feel like I was being watched. I raised my eyes from the page and nearly screamed when I saw George smiling down at me.
"George!" I gasped, raising my hand to my racing heart. I looked up at him and couldn't help but smile when he laughed at my startled expression. I hopped off the bed and rushed into him, squeezing him in a hug. I had more momentum than I expected though, and accidentally knocked him backwards and onto Ginny's bed. He held onto me as the bed bounced us, taking advantage of my distraction and tickling my side.
I squealed and tried wriggling out of his grip, but he just tightened his hold, flipping us over so that I was trapped beneath him, unable to escape his tickling onslaught. A sudden inspiration hit me and I leaned up, taking a quick breath of air, and kissed him firmly on the lips. He stopped tickling me instantly, bringing his hands up to my hair and hip. I smiled against the kiss before flipping us again and going for his ticklish ribs. He let out a snort of laughter as I redoubled my attack on him.
"EWW!" A voice in the door way squealed. I jumped up turning around on George, choking on my laughter. I was sitting on his lap, more like straddling it, while he lay down on a bed. I had even been wiggling against him. A blush colored my cheeks as realized how very bad this probably looked. George pulled me to his chest, turning to see who had interrupted our tickle fight. Ginny stood in the doorway, a look of disgust on her face.
"Do you two mind not going at it on my bed?" she asked, walking into the room. I felt my whole body heat up in a blush as I looked at her in shock.
"We weren't, he wasn't…" I stuttered, going even redder.
"Nothing to be shy about Hermione," George said, winking at me. I blushed even harder and glared at him, smacking him on the arm.
"Don't you start," I warned before turning back to Ginny. "He was tickling me," I said, trying to explain.
"Really?" Ginny said, raising her eyebrows. "I've never heard that one before."
"I'm serious! He was tickling me!" I said, growing even redder. Ginny just shook her head, looking like she didn't believe me.
George finally let out a snort of laughter and wrapped an arm around me giving me a hug. "Only joking Gin, we were just tickling." He gave me a cocky smile. "Not that I could blame you for trying, what, with such a good looking bloke and a nice big bed."
"George," I warned, smacking him on the arm again. He didn't even have the decency to look ashamed, he just smiled wider.
"DINNER!" Mrs. Weasley called from downstairs. I stood up quickly, and headed out of the room. I'd had enough of this conversation. Thank Merlin it was dinner time.
I raced down the stairs, forcing my blush to go away. I would not be embarrassed, I would not blush. Merlin curse who ever invented blushing. Why did I have to blush so easily? And why did I have to be so obviously blushing when I blushed? I always lit up like a Christmas tree.
The table was already fairly full by the time I got down the stairs. Mrs. Weasley was at the head of the table, Bill, Fleur, Ron, Kingsley, Remus, and Lupin sat on one side, Tonks, and Fred on the other. I sat in the seat next to George. He was sitting next to Fred of course. Ginny sat on my other side, and Sirius sat down next to her. Mrs. Weasley summoned the food and everyone began to fill their plates up. We had delicious French Onion soup, and fresh bread to go with it.
The conversation was light and happy, with no mention of any Order business. Fred and George talked about the shop, and how things were going well with it, that business was picking up as the new school semester neared. The soup was excellent, but I wasn't really all that hungry. My mind kept replaying the earlier encounter in the bedroom and the conversation that had followed. I'd never actually talked about anything like that with George before. We'd never talked about, well, sex, before. We'd never gotten that serious with snogging either. George was incredibly patient with me and knew I had never done anything like that before. He wouldn't grope me like I had seen some boys do, he rarely let his hands move from my hips, only occasionally running his hands along my body. The most serious we had ever gotten was that night when the DA had been found out.
I felt upset suddenly, thinking about the possibility that George had done that with someone else. I started playing over everyone I had seen George with in the past. Katie Bell stood out the most - he had dated her for both his fifth and sixth year. I could see her in my mind, her athletic, curvy body. I was thin, with very few curves. Katie also had a beautiful face and long, straight, silky hair. My plain face and bushy hair couldn't compare to that. How on Earth would I compete with her in that manner? For that matter, why was he even interested in me when he could have his pick of girls? Every girl (and some guys) in Hogwarts would swoon if either of the twins so much as looked at them, even the Slytherins, heck, maybe even some of the teachers.
I ate my soup as fast as I could, needing to get away from the crowded table so I could be alone with my confused thoughts. I finished the soup, and grabbed my napkin, meaning to dab my lips but I stopped before I could, noticing someone had written a message on it. I pulled it away from my mouth so it could come back in focus and I felt a small smile tug at my lips as I recognized George's loopy writing.
Meet me at our tree after dinner.
I smiled happily, unable to stop it, and gently pushed my chair away from the table.
"Thank you for dinner, Mrs. Weasley," I said, trying to stop the goofy grin from taking over my face. Mrs. Weasley smiled happily before turning back to Tonks. I left the room, trying not to run, and headed outside. It was getting dark, and the night was cooling down considerably. It wasn't chilly, but it was pleasantly cool. I made my way to the oak tree at the edge of the garden and lowered myself beside the trunk. I leaned back into it, pulling my hair around so that it was draped over my shoulder and wouldn't get caught to the bark of the tree. I hadn't been sitting for five minutes when I heard footsteps behind me.
"Hey," George said, lowering himself down beside me.
A/N: Thanks to a Ninja Goldfish for betaing this for me :)