It killed Georgia to say those things. She had to get out of there. She turned her back on her twin and Harry Potter, keeping her cold mask in place until she had made it all the way back to the Common Room. Georgia grabbed Draco's hand and dragged him with her into her room.
Draco looked concerned with her actions, she'd never been so forward in front of their housemates. "Is everything okay?"
"No," She whispered, looking up at him with a slight pout. "I just need you to cuddle with me for a while. Is that okay?"
"Of course it is." He smiled and sat on the bed pulling her with him. They lay down together, falling asleep and not waking until the early sun shone through the window.
Draco sat up quickly, "Georgia! We have to get ready for classes, we have Snape first."
In response Georgia merely rolled away from him a grumbled something akin to "Don'wanna."
Sighing, Draco sat her up and looked her in the eye. "I know something happened last night with your sister and I won't push for details, but it's important that you continue on with what has to be done. I can't fathom what it must be like for you, but I know it's tough. You just have to put it out of your mind. Okay?"
With a mild pout Georgia muttered a quiet "Fine. Let's get going."
o0O0o
The two Slytherins, after eating a quick breakfast, made their way to the DADA classroom. He seemed to be in an almost happy mood, or as close as the dour man could get while teaching Hufflepuffs. The Professor smirked as he walked down the centre of the classroom.
"We will not be needing books today. Get all your things off of your desks and draw your wands." Professor Snape waved his wand and all of the furniture moved to the edges of the classroom and stacked themselves up to clear space for the students to move around for the lesson.
"To see whether or not each of you are up to scratch, everyone will be required to perform the Patronus charm, and produce a corporeal form. If you don't know what a Patronus charm is, I truly wonder how you managed to pass your OWLs and I ask you leave my classroom immediately." Like suspected, nobody moved. Even if there was someone who didn't know what a Patronus was, they'd likely be too scared to walk from the room.
Snape got all the students to stand in a circle, and went around them, one by one, asking them to cast the charm. Most students could produce a Corporeal Patronus, however the few who couldn't were told to evaluate the 'happiest memory' they were using.
When Snape got to Georgia, he looked her right in the eye as he said his next words. "One thing to look for when someone is casting their Patronus is what animal it takes the form of. The form of a person's Patronus can tell you a lot about a person and their current way of thinking, or state of mind, a person's Patronus will likely change if they begin to use a different memory. Because you're still relatively new here, if you don't mind Miss Prewett, I will use yours as an example. Assuming you can cast the spell."
Georgia sneered at her Professor, but did as he asked all the same. "Expecto patronum."
As she cast the charm a bright Snow Leopard leapt from her wand. Most people in the room stared as the Leopard stalked around the room, eyeing everyone with suspicion. Professor Snape looked on with amusement, "As you can see, Miss Prewett's Patronus is a Snow Leopard, which typically represents mystery, self reliance, and power."
The class remained silent, yet each mind was buzzing with internal activity, no one could forget what happened to Zacharias the other day at breakfast, nor what she said to him about beating Voldemort in a duel.
Snape continued around the room until he got to Charlotte, "Ah, the otherMiss Prewett. You've finally decided to come to class I see. It shall be interesting to note how much you and your sister differ seeing as you were separated by the sorting."
Charlotte looked down sheepishly at his words about skipping class, but looked back up to cast the spell. As she did a huge Chinese Dragon burst from her wand, it flew around the room performing tricks for the class.
Snape hummed in contemplation at the revelation of what went on in the girls head. "The Chinese Dragon here represents, ambition, energy, histrionics, and a preference for defying rules. You may look almost identical on the outside, but the two of you couldn't be more different."
o0O0o
At lunch time Charlotte made her way to the Gryffindor table, it was her first meal in the Great Hall since the opening feast. When she sat down she was treated to the glittering smiles of her friends. "Charlotte! You came, I thought we'd never see you again." Ron exclaimed wrapping his cousin in a tight hug.
"Something weird happened today." She mention, they'd been sitting and chatting for almost the whole lunch period. "Professor Slughorn was apparently passing by the Defence classroom when I was casting my Patronus, which he saw, and now he's invited me to go to some club thing of his? Apparently he holds dinner parties and the like."
To be honest, she was confused, why would a teacher hold dinner parties for students. It didn't make too much sense to her, but to each their own, she supposed. She would still go, she just wasn't sure if there was really a need for it.
"Oh! Harry and I were invited on the train, the first dinner was rather uncomfortable but Professor Slughorn is hosting a Christmas party soon, and members of the club are allowed to invite a plus one." Hermione told the group excitedly. "I think I heard someone say he was trying to get talented students to forge better relations between each other or something similar."
Ron then grumbled about not getting any such invite, and Harry quietly said that he was also a member. In an attempt to make Ron feel a little better Harry quickly changed the subject to something his friend would find less upsetting, "Quidditch try-outs are tomorrow, you nervous?"
"A little." Ron said, still mumbling.
Hermione smiled at her friend. "Don't worry about it Ron, I'm sure you'll do great."
o0O0o
Ron had successfully made his way onto the Gryffindor Quidditch Team, and was walking around the castle with a new found confidence. A confidence that Draco, if not currently occupied, would have been determined to get rid of.
It was soon time for the Slytherin Team's try-outs. Georgia had been tossing it up since she had been given her task. On one hand it would provide an escape from said task, along with the adrenaline rush from flying. But on the other hand it would suck up valuable time she could be using to finish her task. However, when the day finally came, Georgia decided that she didn't have much to lose. Especially considering that her family would probably never speak to her again after this year.
Georgia's preferred position was Keeper. It was a difficult try out, mainly because she was going up against Goyle. Who nearly covered all of a Quidditch Hoop by just flying in front of it. But as it turns out she had far quicker reflexes and managed to block almost all of what was thrown at her. And so, Georgia was the new Slytherin Keeper and they didn't have long until the first match, which happened to be against the Gryffindors.
o0O0o
Both team's players were in their designated spaces on the pitch. Georgia and Ron glaring at each other, waiting for Madam Hooch to release the Quaffle.
"You're going down, Weasley." Georgia sneered.
"Dream on, Prewett."Ron bit back. Then the Quaffle was tossed into the air and a cheer swept through the crowd, excluding the Slytherins, as the Katie Bell managed to catch the ball before the Slytherin Chasers.
Through the first half hour of the game Georgia barely moved at all, it appeared that the Gryffindor chasers were struggling a bit. As the game went on she heard her fellow Slytherin's chanting.
"Weasley cannot save a thing,
He cannot block a single ring,
That's why Slytherins all sing:
Weasley is our King!"
On the odd chance that the Quaffle came toward her Georgia blocked it easily. However, Slytherin's chances of winning the game was knocked out of the sky, just as Georgia was hit by a bludger aimed at her head from the Gryffindor team. She had fallen unconscious before she even reached the ground.
o0O0o
To be honest, Georgia wasn't surprised when she woke up in the Hospital Wing. Through her time at Hogwarts she hadn't ever really been unwell but she knew she'd be here eventually, especially since she had joined the Slytherin Quidditch Team. However, she was surprised when Draco burst through the curtain that sectioned off her bed from the others. She'd been awake for barely an hour, though she supposed it was enough time for him to be notified.
"Draco! What are you doing here?" She asked, blinking remnants of sleep out if her eyes.
"I found a way to get the Death Eaters into Hogwarts." He whispered as he came close to her with a small, relieved smile on his face. She grinned back at him and pulled him into a kiss.
"That's great! I'm so proud of you. What is it?" Curiosity getting the better of her.
"In the Room of Requirement there's this cabinet, a Vanishing Cabinet. And it has a twin in Borgin and Burkes, do you remember it? The only problem is that the one here needs repairing. But whilst you were in here I found a spell that should work, though it will take a sometime to work because of how much damage has been inflicted." Draco explained, his whole face appearing much calmer then when she'd last seen him. His words, however, made her frown.
"How long have I been out?" He gazed back down at her.
He grimaced, "Over three weeks…"
At this Georgia's eyes widened, and she sat up in her bed ignoring the dizziness and throbbing she felt in her head. "A month?! I'm running out of time! This is impossible. Draco… He's going to kill me. If I don't complete this task, he's going to kill me. I know it."
Draco sat next to her on the bed, drawing her closer. "There's no way he'd kill you. You're the only family he has on his side, and I know this won't be very comforting, but you're also very good leverage to gain more of the order changing to our side."
"You're right, that wasn't very comforting, but thank you."
o0O0o
"Don't you think he's just been acting really weird? He keeps vanishing off the map! So he's either aparating, which we know isn't possible inside Hogwarts, or he's going to the Room of Requirement. But what could he possibly need the Room for?" Harry was sitting in the Gryffindor Common Room with Ron and Hermione.
"Don't you think you're getting a little obsessed Harry? Maybe he just needed some space since Georgia's been in the Hospital Wing for so long." Hermione tried to reason.
o0O0o
It was Georgia's first night back in the Common Room since her injury, and something seemed a bit off. Not in a 'someone died and no one's told me yet' kind of way, more of a 'people aren't acting as they normally do around me' kind of way. None of the Slytherins, not even Blaise or Theo, said a word to her. Most of them just watched subtly as she and Draco walked in.
"Draco, what happened while I was unconscious?" Georgia asked worriedly.
"Not much really, why?"
"Everyone seems to be acting differently…" She trailed off realising that it was probably because they all had assignments and homework to complete.
"Forget about them alright? It's just you and me here, nobody else matters right now. I love you Georgia." He smiled at her leading her to where their friends were sitting in their usual seats. When they sat down Georgia instinctively curled her legs up on the couch with her, lent her head on Draco's shoulder, and grabbed one of his hands whilst his free hand ran it's fingers through her hair. As a couple they were usually fairly discrete, most of the rumours going around about them were merely speculation, until now of course. The group of teenagers stared at them for a brief moment, surprised by their actions. They'd thought that something may have been going on but never had so outright proof.
Though one thing the Slytherins didn't pick up on, however, was that while they were together, the two mainly spent time together in order to come up with ways to kill Professor Dumbledore.
o0O0o
It had been a while nowsince Georgia had been released from the Hospital Wing, and Draco finally decided it was time to tell her something he'd been keeping a close secret since she'd woken up from her coma.
"I tried out one of your plans to kill Dumbledore, I gave Katie Bell the cursed necklace but she ended up cursing herself instead of the old man."As Draco spoke (sneering the last few words) he could see them processing in her mind and he saw as her face changed from 'happy to see you' to 'what the f*ck were you thinking' in a split second.
"Georgia, I'm so sorry I didn't tell you this when you first woke up. But you had so much to take in already and I didn't want to over whelm you." He explained before she could ask him why he hadn't told her sooner.
"Yes, but Draco, you could have gotten in serious trouble. Or worse, if you'd succeeded and got in trouble with the Dark Lord because it wasn't your task to complete in the first place. It seems like something he'd do. This is my task, you focus on getting the cabinet repaired."
"No!" Draco protested, "We agreed to help each other out with these tasks. That doesn't mean you get to help me but I'm not allowed to help you. You said it yourself, you can't do this on your own."
"I never said that,"Georgia corrected. "I said that I couldn't do it with such little time left. And I was having a meltdown, you can't blame me for saying things I didn't mean, because I fully intend to complete this task…alone."