Authors Note: Thanks so much guys for the follows/favorites/reviews! I didn't even think I'd get more than one or two on this story. I'll continue to post chapters, hopefully a couple each week. If I could I'd write all day long, but class and work continue to suck my hours away. Thanks again for all the support and love!
Chapter 5: That Little Voice
Their early lunch consisted of eggs and sausages. Right when the food was ready, Bill, Charlie, and Percy showed up.
"Just Apparated, Dad," said Percy smugly. "Ah, excellent. Lunch!"
They had gotten about halfway through their lunch when Ludo Bagman showed up. Mr. Weasley got to his feet and started waving like mad.
"Aha! The man of the moment: Ludo!" he said grinning.
Ludo Bagman was wearing his old Quidditch robes (which were at least 2 sizes too tight) and a wide smile.
"Ahoy there!" Ludo called happily to the group. "What a day! Couldn't have asked for better conditions. Hardly a hiccup in the preparations. Not much for me to do honestly….Blimey! That can't be little Kaylee Osmund!?" Ludo had just caught sight of Kaylee sitting between Fred and Charlie.
"Hullo Ludo!" she said brightly, getting to her feet. Ludo pulled her into a hug.
"Hardly could recognize you! Look how much you've grown since I last saw you! You look just like your mother, only prettier!" he said chuckling. "Don't tell her I said that, mind you, or she'll have my head."
Percy eagerly hurried forward to shake Ludo's hand. Mr. Weasley then went about introducing them all (with some help from Kaylee, where the twins were concerned) to Ludo.
"Everyone, this is Ludo Bagman. You know who he is. It's thanks to him we've got such good tickets!" Mr. Weasley beamed at Ludo.
Eagerly, Ludo asked if anyone wanted to bet on the match. Kaylee sat back down and saw that Fred and George were counting their money.
"So that's 37 Galleons, 15 Sickles, and 3 Knuts," Fred was muttering.
"What are you going to bet on?" asked Kaylee, quietly.
"That Ireland wins, but Bulgaria gets the Snitch," said George in a low voice.
"Well Krum has never failed to catch the Snitch yet and Ireland has three of the best chasers I've ever seen…I'd say you have good odds then. Here, add this in," she said pulling out her money bag and adding 10 Galleons.
"Are you sure?" George asked.
"Definitely."
"Alright. We'll pay you back 20 Galleons if we win," said Fred.
"Nah, don't worry about it. Just call it my startup investment into Weasley's Wizard Wheezes," said Kaylee with a grin.
"You'll be getting one hell of a Christmas present then," said George, staring at her in awe. Kaylee just waved him off.
"Any other takers?" asked Ludo, after he wrote down Mr. Weasley's bet.
"They're a bit young… Molly wouldn't like it…" Mr. Weasley began.
"We'll bet 47 Galleons, 15 Sickles, and 3 Knuts that Ireland wins but Viktor Krum gets the Snitch. Oh, and we'll throw in a fake wand," interrupted Fred, who walked over to Ludo and handed him the fake wand.
"You don't want to go showing Mr. Bagman rubbish like that!" Percy hissed.
Ludo thought the wand was hilarious and roared with laughter as it turned into a rubber chicken in his hand. Percy froze in stunned disapproval, while Kaylee smiled proudly at the twins. The fake wands were entirely created by the twins, no help needed from Kaylee.
"Excellent! I haven't seen a wand that convincing in years! I'd pay 5 Galleons for that," Ludo said jovially.
"Boys, I don't want you betting. That's all your savings! Your mother…." Mr. Weasley began.
"Oh don't be a spoilsport Arthur. They're old enough to know what they want. You reckon Ireland will win but Krum will get the Snitch? Not a chance! We'll add on 5 Galleons for the funny wand then shall we?" Ludo boomed excitedly.
Ludo wrote down their names and gave Fred a receipt of their wager.
"Cheers," said George, tucking the slip of parchment down the front of his robes and sitting back down next to Kaylee.
Ludo sat down as well, while Mr. Weasley made him a cup of tea. Ludo began explaining that he had been looking for Barty Crouch when he had spotted Mr. Weasley. Apparently, Ludo couldn't speak a word of Bulgarian and he was having a difficult time ushering the Bulgarian Magical Games and Sports Liaison around.
"Barty will be able to sort him out. He speaks about a hundred different languages," Ludo said.
"Mr. Crouch speaks over two hundred languages! Mermish, Gobbledygook, and Troll…" Percy began with evident admiration on his face.
"Anyone can speak Troll," Fred interrupted. "All you have to do is point and grunt." Fred pointed at Bill and made a low grunting sound in his throat as an example. Kaylee laughed. Percy threw Fred an extremely nasty look.
Mr. Weasley and Ludo got into a conversation about Ministry affairs. A few minutes later, a very prim and proper looking man Apparated right beside the fire.
"Talk of the devil! Barty!" said Ludo. "Pull up a bit of grass."
"No thank you Ludo. I've been looking for you everywhere. The Bulgarians are insisting to add another 12 seats to the top box," said Mr. Crouch briskly.
"Mr. Crouch, would you like a cup of tea?" asked Percy breathlessly.
"Oh yes, thank you Weatherby," said Mr. Crouch distractedly.
Kaylee let out a snort of laughter, and Fred and George choked into their own tea. George started coughing violently, still half laughing, and Kaylee had to beat him on the back so he could breathe again. Red faced, and slightly damp from spilled tea, George caught his breath.
"Don't do that when I'm drinking!" he said with a smile.
"Do what?" asked Kaylee, blankly.
"You did that noise. You know, when you're trying not to laugh but it slips out anyways in the form of a snort. Gets me every time," chuckled George.
"I do that?" asked Kaylee in mild disbelief. "I hadn't noticed."
After a quick conversation with Mr. Weasley, Ludo and Mr. Crouch departed.
"What were they talking about, Dad? What's happening at Hogwarts?" asked Ron.
"You'll find out soon enough," Mr. Weasley said.
"It's classified information until such time as the Ministry decides to release it. Mr. Crouch was quite right not to disclose it," Percy said stiffly.
"Oh shut up Weatherby," said Fred.
Kaylee snorted again, which made George break out into another bought of laughter.
The afternoon wore on, and they all went about their own agendas. Kaylee had just got into a game of wizard's chess with Fred inside the tent when Ginny asked George if he wanted to go have a look at the rest of the camp. Kaylee looked up and caught Ginny's eye just before she disappeared through the tent's flap. All the color seemed to slip from Kaylee's face. She had a pretty good idea what Ginny was up to.
George strolled through the sea of tents with Ginny, looking at the decorations people had put on their tents to support Ireland. The majority of the tents were covered in green shamrocks, so it looked like they were walking through a very green, lumpy forest. Salesmen were Apparating every few feet, their voices calling out loud as they advertised their merchandise. Every now and then George saw a friend from school looking out from under a green hillock.
"Hey Ginny!" Dean Thomas, a fourth year boy called a few feet away. Ginny smiled and waved. Fred noticed Dean continued to watch Ginny as she kept walking.
"Looks like I'll have to protect you too," muttered Fred.
"Protect me from what?" asked Ginny.
"Blokes like him, who have more than friendship on their minds,"
he said irritably.
"You know, I'm going to date eventually. Might as well get used to that fact."
"Not while I'm in school, you aren't. I'll follow you around 24/7 if I have to," warned George. He had always been protective of his little sister.
"Or you could start dating yourself like a normal person. By the way, when are you going to ask Kaylee out?" asked Ginny curtly. George stopped walking.
"What are you talking about?"
"You. Kaylee. When is it going to happen?" Ginny asked slowly, as if George was a small child.
"I don't understand. She's my best mate, why would I ask her out?" asked George.
"Oh no reason. You've only fancied her for at least the last 2 years." Ginny said, rolling her eyes. George just gaped at her, completely stunned.
"Look, even if you don't want to admit it, I've seen the way you look at her. There's a lot more than friendship on your mind, George Weasley," she said in a tone that reminded George of their mother.
"You're off your rocker! What makes you think I fancy my best friend?"
"Well first, there's the way your eyes are completely glued to her whenever she enters or leaves a room. Then there's the way your face goes all soft and doughy-eyed whenever she laughs at one of your jokes."
George opened his mouth to argue, but Ginny quickly continued.
"And then of course there's the way you get all shy and quiet and your face turns brick red whenever Kaylee compliments you in any way. Not to mention the fact you haven't showed any other girl the slightest bit of attention in quite some time, which is very much unlike you. Honestly George, you're kind of an open book. It's a wonder no one else has noticed," Ginny finished.
George was lost for words. He went over his sister's words in his head. Did he really act like that whenever Kaylee was around? George would never admit it, but he had been having conflicting emotions lately whenever he thought about his best friend. He didn't understand why he couldn't keep his eyes off her, or why he felt an overwhelming urge to impress her or make her laugh. He remembered how only this morning he had felt a fierce desire to punch Cedric Diggory in the nose when he caught him looking at Kaylee with avid interest. He had just assumed this violent rage had more to do with his dislike for the pretty-boy and his Quidditch history than with jealousy over Kaylee. Could he really have romantic feelings for his best friend?
Ginny saw an internal battle etched on George's face.
"Listen, you don't have to ask her to marry you or anything. Obviously you hadn't realized you fancied her until I just pointed it out. I'm just saying, think about it, alright? It might be time to start looking at her in a different way," she patted George on the arm.
"Why is this so important to you? Why even bring it up?" asked George suspiciously.
"No reason in particular. I just figured you needed the push, and it was about time someone gave it to you. Honestly, I'm tired of seeing both of you act so weird around each other. Might as well get it out in the open, you know?" she said.
"Wait….both of us? You mean…..she acts weird around me too?" George asked slowly.
"What? No. I mean…That's not what I meant. I only meant..."
"What has she told you, Ginny?" asked George sternly. He had watched his little sister lie enough over the years that he could recognize the signs.
"Nothing!" she said desperately.
George just stared at her.
"Look, if you want to know how she feels about you, you're going to have to ask her yourself," and with that Ginny turned on her heel and walked away quickly, before she could do any more damage.
George had plenty to think about as he made his way back to the campsite. The first thing he needed to do was to figure out where he stood. He needed to figure out if he really did fancy Kaylee, and if so how deep did it run. Was it just a physical attraction, or something more? And how could he find out?
"You could kiss her. That would tell you if your emotions are purely physical or not," said a small voice in his head.
No, he couldn't chance his friendship with Kaylee. If he kissed her and then realized that he didn't harbor any romantic feelings for her after all, he'd have a job trying to explain that to Kaylee. George valued Kaylee's friendship above almost everything else, and he didn't want to risk it like that.
"But what if you kiss her and you do realize that you are in love with her?" asked that small voice again.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa. Who said anything about love?" asked George, before he realized he was talking to himself.
George sighed deeply and combed a hand through his hair. What had he gotten himself into?