A/N: Guess who beta-ed again? CrazyRopeDragon. Truly a shining light in the darkness that are my grammar and spelling mistakes. :D Shorter chapter this time around because of reasons unknown. Prepare for potential George Feels (you're welcome ;D).

Chapter Four - I Solemnly Swear that I Don't Care.

Sirius Black had managed to break into Hogwarts and attack the portrait of the Fat lady. The students could speak of nothing else. For once, George was genuinely afraid of this Sirius Black character. He'd been worried, yes. But frightened? Not until now. Everyone was whispering their conspiracy theories all the way down to the Great Hall. Maybe he'd paid off the dementors, or flew in on a super fast broom, or had taken a polyjuice potion and had been in here the whole time.

All the students had been made to sleep in the Great Hall, while the teachers searched the school and the prefects took turns to patrol the hall itself. The only exception to this were students like Daisy, who were in the hospital wing.

George lay next to his brother, unable to sleep like many other students. And while he was fretting over how in Merlin's frilly knickers Sirius Black had managed to get into Hogwarts, he was also itching to tell Fred all that had happened in Hogsmeade. But dreaded it at the same time. Would he be annoyed that he'd revealed the secret passage to Daisy? Possibly. But that wasn't what bothered him. What bothered him was the way Daisy herself had behaved after. She fainted…or did something a lot like fainting. It was scary. She wouldn't speak or respond to George. It was like she couldn't. She fell to her knees and her eyes glazed over, her whole body was stiff and she kept mumbling incoherently. Madam Pomfrey didn't seem as fussed as she ought to be, and said it happened to her often enough.

"Oi, eyes shut Weasley." Aquila nudged George's foot as she passed him.

"…yeah, yeah…" He mumbled, rolling over onto his back and closing his eyes.

Sirius Black. He'd managed to get into Hogwarts. But how? How did he… George couldn't help but open his eyes again as realization dawned on him. The passage. Maybe McGonagall hadn't been the only person who'd seen them in Hogsmeade. Maybe…somehow, Sirius Black had been there too. Maybe he'd followed them in. Had George really led a murderer into Hogwarts?

Between the guilt he felt for having led Daisy astray, the spiralling conspiracies about Sirius Black whirling around his head, and the uncomfortable floor of the Great Hall, George barely got a wink of sleep. Oliver had them all up at the crack of dawn as usual to practise Quidditch. He thought maybe he'd be able to beat the frustration away. Alas, he was all over the place, missing Bludgers and occasionally getting hit by them. He was exhausted and one second behind the Bludgers, which was pretty much an eon in Quidditch time. Thankfully he wasn't the only one off his game that day so it didn't come off as strange. He, Angelina, and Katie ended up in the hospital wing.

"Daisy!" He smiled as he spotted the small Hufflepuff finishing off a braid not too dissimilar to the ones Aquila was wearing today. She didn't look at him, instead she picked up her large brown owl and swept right past him as she left the hospital wing. She looked pale and sickly. He felt a sharp pain and swore it was his broken rib.

"Wonder what's wrong with her…" Angelina said,

"Bad news from home, maybe?" Katie suggested.

Neither, George thought. Her mum had probably sent her something nice from home was all, but she was in too bad of a mood to appreciate it. She'd probably come to the same conclusion he had. Naturally, she'd taken it far worse.

Just as he'd resigned himself to the idea that Daisy would never speak to him again, she appeared some ten minutes later, without her owl Alfred.

"What happened to you?" She asked, sitting down on the bed near him.

"Bludger, what else," He grunted, "How're you doing then?"

Daisy took a shaky breath, "Honestly…well…it's not the," She mouthed the word Hogsmeade, "Thing if that's what you're worried about."

He frowned, "Really? What is it then? Did Cedric turn out to be a Slytherin in disguise?"

Daisy grimaced at him, "No, just…" She swallowed and said nothing.

"It's Black isn't it?" The colour drained from her face, "Yeah…me too…" He said quietly.

"What? What about him?" She snapped, suddenly looking terrified.

"Well…," George whispered, "He got in because of us, didn't he?"

"What…what are you talking about?"

George looked around (slightly annoyed with Daisy's usual naivety), "The passage to Hogsmeade…remember?"

Daisy genuinely looked as though she didn't for a moment, her eyes searching the floor for answers it didn't appear to have, if the expression on her face was anything to go by. Then she looked at him again, "Look, I can't…deal with this right now. I can't. I need to…go somewhere. Haven't got my books or anything…sorry George, I'll talk to you later." She moved to get off the bed but George grabbed her wrist.

"Daisy, we need to talk about this now. We need to tell someone, just in case!"

"No!" Her voice trembled, "Don't you dare, don't you feckin' dare, George Weasley." She finished in a whisper.

"Daisy, this is Sirius Black. He's mad, a murderer! He could–" She suddenly wrenched her wrist away and took off out of the hospital wing as he called after her.

"What did you do?" Katie snapped from her bed, looking beyond affronted.

"I…I dunno…" He pretended to look confused. It must have been convincing because Katie said no more of it.

Daisy could hide from this as long as she liked. Merlin, George could join her if he'd wanted. But he didn't. This felt wrong to him. Even if Sirius Black didn't get in that way, who's to say he wouldn't figure it out another day? No, he needed to say something to someone. Soon.

George would never forget that sight as long as he lived. Harry Potter falling from his broom with hundreds of Dementors below him. In that moment his blood ran ice cold, he had an urge to fly over and catch him but he was frozen to where he was. All he could do was watch as Harry went down into a swarm of Dementors below him. If ever he were to face a boggart, he thought maybe this would be what he'd see from this day on.

But Dumbledore stood up, and all was put right somehow. George remained hovering there, his bat having long since fallen from his grip. He only moved when Fred slapped him on the back, bringing him to his senses, "He's fine!" He yelled over the howling wind, "He'll be fine Georgie! Come on!"

The entire team came to land as near to Harry as they could with the massive crowd around him. McGonagall reassured them that he would indeed be fine. George couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief and put his face in one hand. He was okay. Harry was okay. He wasn't crying though. No, it was just the heavy rain; or that was what he and Fred would tell each other later.

As if Harry falling from hundreds of feet in the air wasn't enough, Aquila finally succumbed to whatever it was the Dementors did to her with her fairy blood and collapsed. Oliver carried her up to the castle while the rest of the team trudged behind, sopping wet, cold and beyond miserable.

"Harry almost falls into a swarm of Dementors, Aquila passes out, we've lost the match. All in all, I'd say it was a brilliant day, wouldn't you George?" Fred tried to sound cheery.

"Oh yeah, if only Sirius Black had made an appearance. That really would have made my day!" At least then he could convince himself he hadn't gotten in through the One-Eyed Witch passage, but that wasn't a thought he shared with the rest of his friends.

Despite managing to cheer the rest of the team up both twins seemed to remain slightly less energetic and mischievous over the coming weeks. Everyone seemed to be in a more depressed state of mind. Did the ministry up the number of Dementors? Or was it just all the misfortune that had seemed to befall the school since they'd arrived? Or maybe it was just George who was in a bad mood. He really didn't know.

The only thing that could have made it all worse ended up happening as well.

There he was, minding his own business with Fred, plotting revenge against a Ravenclaw that had wronged them when he saw them; Cedric with Daisy, sitting on a stone bench, talking very quietly. They were sitting way too close. Just as he was about to jeer them (with something brilliant of course) when the unthinkable happened.

"Oh don't you fuckin'…" George breathed as Cedric gently put a hand around the back of Daisy's neck and kissed her. She froze for a second, and George found himself wishing with everything he had that she'd shove him off that bench. He'd pressured her, surely he had. She looked so stiff, so uncomfortable. But she didn't push him off the bench. Instead, she relaxed, and seemed to be kissing him back.

"Well, who'd've thought." Fred commented.

"Yeah…fancy that…" George's voice was strained as he tried, desperately, to keep the lump in his throat from choking him. He swallowed once, and took a breath before looking away, "Now, where were we?"

George lay awake that night staring at his canopy, replaying the scenes in his head over and over; the moment Daisy collapsed, when he was told Sirius Black had gotten into Hogwarts, Harry falling from his broom and Cedric kissing Daisy. He just couldn't shake how utterly miserable he felt. Miserable wasn't even the word for it. For the first time in years he felt like he might just shed a few tears he was so…so very…hopeless.

When everyone else was down in the dumps, he and Fred acted as the comic relief. It was what they did best. While Fred looked to George when he was blue, George tended to…

Oh Merlin, he looked to Daisy.

Did Cedric even talk to her? No, no not really. But he'd make her laugh. Somehow. Not that she was hard to get a laugh out of. Why? Why did he always do that? Why did he care whether or not Cedric could do that? What if he didn't know how to cheer her up? Or calm her down when she got all scared and jumpy? What if he didn't care? Or told her to just 'get over herself' or something? What if he only liked her because she was pretty? That made him angry. That was what bothered him so much. He could have any pretty girl in the school, so why Daisy?

"…why do I even care…" He mumbled into his pillow, trying desperately to quiet his mind. He knew exactly why he cared. But he'd snog Cedric Diggory before he'd ever admit it, to even himself.