An update since it's my birthday!

It is becoming easier and easier to write this as I go along, so I think, for now, we're in a good space. I've also been writing at least two chapters before I post one of them, so that may be helping as well.

Had to get some personal Nessa and George time this go round and I think I'm pleased with the result.

At any rate, as always, please R&R and let me know if there's anything you'd like to see in future!

-o0o-

Chapter Six

By the time she had made it to the compartment with the others, George was already lifting her trunk on the shelf above and Peanut was sniffing at Lee curiously. Nessa took a seat next to Tori, who was already captured in conversation with Fred and Lee about the upcoming Quidditch season. George took a seat across from her and winked before joining in on the conversation.

Nessa watched them all as they spoke and was grateful for the time being to attempt to decompress from the stress of their arrival while they spoke. Relaxing back into the seat and closing her eyes momentarily, she continued listening as George argued that Puddlemere United had terrific chances at making it to the World Cup this year, and Lee attempted to defend his stance that it would certainly be the Ballycastle Bats, who had just signed one of the greatest Chasers in the league.

"Do you fly, Nessa?" Lee said to her suddenly, jerking her back to the group at large.

Tori sniggered immediately and Nessa glared at her.

"Our first flying lesson she was supposed to kick off the ground and the broom flew out from underneath her." Tori said, smirking. "Hit some poor Hufflepuff straight in the stomach."

The others laughed immediately and Nessa tried to hide her embarrassment by petting Peanut who had jumped into her lap and was rubbing her face insistently into her hand.

"I prefer being firmly on the ground. Safer on the ground." she muttered, still refusing to make eye contact with anyone.

"More likely to die of boredom on the ground, Vanessa," Tori twittered, amusedly.

"Don't call me that, Victoria!" Nessa stated, finally looking up to glare at her. Tori, who also hated her full name, opened her mouth to retort the same sentiment, but was immediately cut off.

"Now, now, ladies," smirked Fred, "We've got a nine hour train ride to Hogwarts so let's play nicely."

"Nine hours to ask Nessa loads of questions about why she's been avoiding us for the last 2 years," George sighed, eyeing her amusedly. Nessa blushed and hated that she was so prone to doing so with him.

"I wasn't avoiding you," she said, softly. "I was…observing from afar."

"We saw you lunge into the girls' loo once when you saw us coming to talk to you." Fred said, raising an eyebrow in challenge. How had the conversation switched so abruptly to her, anyway?

"It was Myrtle's bathroom, too, so not a very convincing escape route, either, unless you just really enjoy having someone blubber and scream at you while you're trying to pee." Tori smirked from behind the magazine she had pulled from her bag.

"You're not helping." Nessa glared.

"I wasn't trying to help. More of a laugh if I don't, actually," Tori said, nonchalantly.

Fred leaned forward with a smirk. "So, what is it, Nessa? Not scared of us are you?"

"Or maybe, Fred, it's just that we're so devilishly handsome that it's intimidating?" George chimed, grinning at her like a nutter. She knew it could only go downhill from here when Fred mimicked the expression.

"Too roguishly charming?"

"Too marvelously witty?"

"Or maybe," Nessa interrupted, looking them both pointedly in the eyes as if she was entirely comfortable with the fact that she was now the center of discussion. "There just wasn't enough room in the corridor with your big heads taking up all the space."

Lee chuckled. "I reckon that's more likely."

"Don't listen to Lee, love." George said, smirking. "He's always been a bit jealous of our charm."

"Jealous, my arse," Lee muttered, looking at her and rolling his eyes. "I've been listening to these two buffoons for the last three years. I'd almost be relieved to be rid of them, to tell the truth."

Fred gasped dramatically and threw himself desperately into Lee's lap.

"Say it isn't so, Lee! How will I ever survive without you?" he said, planting a loud, dramatic kiss on Lee's cheek.

Lee looked pointedly at her, despite his obvious amusement. "I think I'll duck into Myrtle's bathroom next time, too, yeah?"

Nessa laughed as Lee shoved Fred off of him and wiped his cheek. She met George's eye briefly and he winked at her before beginning a conversation with Lee and Fred again. She smiled softly, grateful for the subject change and that the attention was no longer focused on her. Grabbing the novel she had brought with her for the ride, she swung her legs onto Tori's lap and leaned back against the compartment window to read.

She usually spent the train ride to Hogwarts with Hermione, Ron, and Harry and she deliberately read for the majority of it, so she wouldn't have to listen to Hermione and Ron bicker. It was decidedly harder to focus on reading with the twins and Lee joking loudly and playing Exploding Snap, but she somehow found it more enjoyable regardless. Tori, as usual, shared the sandwiches Mrs. Weasley had packed with her and eventually joined in on a game of Exploding Snap when George lost horrifically to Lee and nearly lost an eyebrow.

Nessa closed her book and set it to the side when he traded places with Tori and came to sit next to her. Peanut stretched lazily and immediately hopped into his lap.

"Not studying already, are you?" he said, grinning at her.

"Not quite," she laughed, holding up the novel so he could see the words Fahrenheit 451 scrolled across the bottom. "Nicked it from the Dursleys before we left. I'm not sure they know how to read anyway, so they probably won't notice."

"There's hope for you yet, Potter." he said, reading the synopsis on the back with a raised eyebrow. "Firemen?"

"They put out fires with big hoses of water and rescue people from burning buildings."

"Muggles," he said, placing the book down and shaking his head. Nessa tried not to laugh at the perplexed look on his face. "Not a fan of the ones at home then?"

Nessa shrugged and tried not to look surprised at the sudden change of topic. She also did not point out that this seemed an obvious question, considering how they had found them over the summer.

"They aren't fans of magic which means they aren't great fans of us. Uncle Vernon tried to burn my letters from Hogwarts when they came the first time."

"Burn them?!" George said, incredulously.

"They thought if they kept it a secret from us – what our parents were, I mean — that they could just go on pretending Harry and I wouldn't be magical either. The letter was just confirmation of their worst fears." Nessa shrugged. "Couldn't have been more of a relief to find out, though, to be honest. I felt horrible for leaving Harry there without me my first year, but honestly being away from them is a gift."

"Do they talk to you about school at all?"

"No," Nessa said, laughing at the thought of the Dursleys listening to her explain how she'd learned to pot Mandrakes and brew a shrinking solution. "You saw the bars on our window, yeah? They'd much prefer we didn't go at all, but they're too afraid Mcgonagall will show up at their door again. They mostly pretend Harry and I don't exist unless they need us to cook and clean. Feels a bit like Cinderella most days."

"Cinderella?"

Nessa tried to ignore how charming it was when he scrunched his nose up in confusion. Giving him any inclination that she thought he was charming would just be the icing on the cake after their earlier conversation. Instead, she shook her head.

"It's a muggle princess, never mind." she said, smiling at him and waving her hand distractedly. "Anyway, there was this one time that Dudley was invited to a birthday party and they had one of those muggle magicians for entertainment. They gave out these books to teach the kids how to perform their own magic tricks as a party favor. I thought Aunt Petunia was going to die right there in the kitchen. She threw the book away and forbade Dudley from ever talking to that kid again."

"Bit dramatic, even for muggles, yeah?" George said, rolling his eyes.

Nessa laughed and nodded. "I stole the book out of the trash when they went to bed that night and taught myself some of them. Imagine my surprise when I found out I shouldn't have bothered."

George eyed her eagerly for a moment and seemed to be debating with himself if he wanted to ask her something. She giggled and turned so that she could sit cross legged and face him on the seat. He did the same, so that their knees were touching and they were looking directly at each other.

"I can show you one if you want," she said, grinning as he nodded in interest. "It's an easy one."

Pulling out a galleon from her pocket, she showed him it briefly and then pretended to place it in her right hand and then closed it around the imaginary coin. She nearly laughed at how hard he was staring at her right hand, as she slid her left hand to her side and slid the coin into place in the crook between her thumb and pointer finger. She opened her right hand at the same time that she reached behind his left ear and pretended to pull the Galleon from behind it.

"That's it?" he said, staring at the Galleon as if it had betrayed him somehow.

She threw her head back and laughed. "Oh yeah? Let's see you do it then."

He grabbed the coin from her and smirked smugly. He followed the same movements, but she laughed again when he nearly dropped the coin trying to grab it from behind her ear.

"First of all, I'm not supposed to see the coin, George." she said, grinning at him as he attempted a second time and failed. She grabbed his hand and the galleon and placed it in the palm of his hand in the crook between his thumb and pointer. "Hold it like this and use your finger to block the view so I can't see it. Then pretend to place it in your right hand."

He followed her instructions exactly and then looked at her expectantly.

"Okay, so the real key for muggle magicians is distraction, yeah? Because it's obviously not real magic –"

"Obviously," He grinned when she rolled her eyes at him and continued on as if he had said nothing.

"- so you have to turn their attention elsewhere while you get ready for the second part. Normally, I ask someone to blow on my right hand while I make sure the coin is situated firmly in my left hand at my side."

"I didn't blow on your hand, though." he said quizzically. She smirked.

"Yeah, well, you were staring so hard at my right hand I figured I could skip that part."

"You've got more snark than I really accounted for, y'know?"

"I prefer to think of it as marvelously witty," she smirked. He grinned at her and raised an eyebrow expectantly. "When you bring your left hand up with the coin, you need to keep your palm away from my face so that I never see it, but you want to move it to your fingertips once it's behind my ear. It should be quick and flawless. A bit of a flourish helps."

He tried again and, while jerky, it had improved a little. She hadn't seen the Galleon that time at least. She laughed and leaned forward taking the Galleon back from him.

"That was better," she encouraged, placing the coin back in her hand and showing him how she moved the coin to her fingertips. "It's got to be quick like that, yeah? Here, try again."

It was several more tries before he managed to get a hang of it – mostly. By this point, Vanessa had become much more comfortable and was amused at how hard George was focusing on getting his hands to match her movements, considering how disappointed he had been with the trick to begin with.

"Muggles must be daft to think this is actually magic." he muttered, squinting in concentration as he continued to attempt to move the coin quickly to his fingertips.

"It's really for children," she explained from behind the book she had grabbed again as he continued to practice. "Adults know it isn't really magic and more sleight of hand and suggestion. The better you are at mastering those skills, the easier it is to make the illusion more complex, so adults still enjoy watching anyway."

"Be easier if I just used my wand to pull this Galleon from behind your ear," George muttered.

Nessa smirked at him before re-concentrating on her book. She had the distinct feeling that he wouldn't give up until he had finally mastered the trick himself and she tried to not feel too smug about it. For a while, the sounds of Lee, Fred, and Tori were the only thing distracting her from her book as George sat in silence in front of her, rolling the coin back and forth in his palm. Eventually, he gave up with a sigh and looked up at her for several moments.

She could sense he was going to ask her something, but she continued reading, as though she didn't notice, wondering briefly how long it would take before he lost patience. It was, in fact, not very long at all.

Unimpressed, he grabbed the book gently from her hands and marked the page with his finger.

"Hey!" she said, indignantly and attempted to swipe it back from him. He smirked and held the book above her reach.

"It's unbecoming to ignore your friends, Vanessa," he tutted, trying to look serious and failing miserably.

She rolled her eyes but said nothing about the use of her full name. She refused to give him the satisfaction of riling her up when he looked so smug with himself.

"Well if we're friends now, I don't think you should be stealing my things, either."

"Just borrowing, love," he smirked. Leaning forward so that he could look her directly in the eyes, he looked at her seriously for a moment. She tried not to show how anxious she was about whatever he planned to say next, but she wasn't entirely sure if she succeeded. "Now that the others are distracted for a bit, what's the real reason you avoided us like we had a horrible case of the dragon pox?"

She opened her mouth immediately to say that she hadn't been avoiding them or maybe ask what the hell the dragon pox was, but she closed it just as abruptly when she looked up from her hands to meet his eyes. He was looking at her without a trace of amusement and seemed genuinely curious about her answer. She wondered briefly if he might even look a bit hurt, but figured that might just be imagining it.

She debated silently for a moment about coming up with some excuse that wasn't true just to avoid admitting that the twins really did scare her a bit. They were her exact social opposites – totally unafraid of attention, chaotic, and constantly optimistic – and she had a hard time believing that someone like them would really be all that interested in being friends with someone like her. To be honest, every time she had imagined speaking with the twins, she assumed it would end in some form of horrible social embarrassment or awkward silences as she panicked about how to carry a conversation with them.

The silence stretched as she continued debating, but George said nothing as he waited for her to gather her thoughts and come to a decision. Typically, by this point of waiting for a response, people got impatient and repeated the question as though she were being petulant or overdramatic for thinking so hard, but George remained silent and didn't seem at all fazed by her hesitance. Something about the way he was patiently looking at her, as though he had all the time in the world for her to articulate her response and how she felt about it, helped ground her and made her feel more at ease with the question.

She snuck a look at the others and saw Tori and Fred arguing about whether or not adding a card to the card house in front of them would set off another explosion while Lee watched with a smirk, waiting for them to make a decision. Glancing back at George, she sighed and decided to just ignore the voice in her head and be honest.

"I, uh, it's stupid, really," she twisted her hands in her lap and picked at a hangnail on her thumb to avoid looking at him. "I just…you two are a bit more…lively than I'm typically comfortable with in social situations, honestly." He continued to eye her expectantly and she sighed again. "I'm not really all that confident in social situations and you two are the exact opposite of me – loud, confident, surrounded by people. It's…intimidating to tell you the truth. At some point, after convincing myself I'd embarrass myself or run out of things to say and it would be horribly awkward, it just became easier to avoid the situation entirely."

He finally sat back and smiled kindly at her. She relaxed immediately and realized that a small part of her had expected him to laugh or judge her for being so dramatic about something that most people found to be so much easier than she did.

"I get it," He laughed when she looked at him incredulously. "Not entirely in the same way, obviously. Social situations aren't as daunting for me, but I do tend to get nervous around other people, believe it or not. Not enough to dive into the girls' lavatory to avoid them, mind you, but Fred's really the one who instigates the majority of the social situations we're in."

"Trust me, I've noticed," she muttered, ignoring his amused smirk and raised eyebrow.

"In any case, it's not as though I don't realize Fred and I can be a bit lively, as you put it. It's never been our intention to make you feel nervous, though, love." She raised a disbelieving eyebrow at him and he chuckled. "Alright, well, maybe a little nervous – it's amusing to watch you get flustered. But hardly to the point of being afraid to talk to us."

She chewed her lip and debated again whether to just put it all out there and be done with it. He had advised that she wasn't likely to get rid of them any time soon.

"I think a part of me really doesn't know why either of you would want to be friends with me." He looked at her, cocking his head to the side slightly and eyeing her bemusedly. "It's not as though we've got all that much in common, I mean."

There was a moment of silence for a second as he stared at her and Nessa was just beginning to feel the first signs of discomfort before he finally spoke.

"I don't think I'd say that," he said, softly. "I mean, aside from the obvious shyness, I'm given to understand that you can be quite a bit lively yourself once you open up. Did you or did you not tell Tori that you didn't mind her blowing up cauldrons as long as you didn't have to smell the Dungbombs?"

Nessa snorted.

"Yes, well, she was doing us all a favor. If I'd had to listen to Adelaide Murton go on about how she just doesn't understand how anyone could look at her and not be just simply in love with her, I'd have vomited up my lunch. Or maybe have hexed her myself."

The last part had been muttered softly to herself, but George's grin gave every indication that he had heard her anyway. Further amusing him, she did not look at all sorry for having said it.

"It'll be good fun getting you to embrace your mischievous side, Potter," he mused with a grin. "At any rate, I think you're harder on yourself than the rest of us would be. Tori adores you and that's enough for us." She blushed slightly at the pointed look he gave her. "Besides, you know, between Harry and Tori, Fred and I are a cakewalk."

Nessa laughed and rolled her eyes. Part of her wanted to say that he was being dramatic, but personally, she felt as though he was probably right. Harry and Tori made her want to rip her hair out at least once a day, so what difference were the twins, really?

"Seems a bit odd now to have been so nervous about it, honestly." she said, relaxing back into the seat and grinning sheepishly at him. "I might still embarrass myself, of course, but the fact that I thought that it would be awkwardly silent around the two of you seems a bit preposterous."

"Maybe a bit," he said, handing her book back to her. "Moving forward, I will endeavor to fill every silence and pretend not to notice if you embarrass yourself."

"You don't have to fill every silence," she snorted. "Just the awkward ones."

George laughed for a moment and placed his hand comfortingly on top of one of hers before pulling back and grinning mischievously at her again. She eyed him suspiciously and leaned further away from him, wondering why he was suddenly looking at her like the cat who'd eaten the canary. Her unease only seemed to cause his grin to widen.

"So, how long did it take you to master this coin trick?"

"I don't – a couple weeks?" Her head spun at yet another abrupt change of subject and the answer came out more unsure than she had intended.

She tensed when he leaned closer to her, still grinning widely and reached behind her ear, successfully pulling the coin from behind her ear as flawlessly as she had done to him only an hour earlier. She stared at him in shock before bursting into laughter as he raised his eyebrow smugly.

"Show off," she muttered, rolling her eyes again at him despite the grin still plastered on her face.

He was just turning to sit properly in the seat once again and stretch his legs out in front of him when the compartment door slid open and Hermione came into view. Nessa's grin dropped immediately at the look of nervousness on her face.

"Er, sorry," Hermione muttered when they all turned to look at her, quizzically. "It's just…well, I was reading for a while and I got a bit distracted and well…" she hesitated a moment, eyeing Nessa nervously. "Have you seen Harry and Ron?"

"No, I thought they were with you," Nessa said in alarm, her eyes shooting over to Tori's in surprise. They stared at each other for a moment, as if communicating silently with each other, but it was George who grounded her again with a small squeeze to her knee.

"We were running a bit late today," he said, reasonably to Hermione, though he was looking at Nessa as he spoke. "If they missed the train, mum and dad will make sure they get to Hogwarts."

She relaxed again and nodded at Hermione, who was still chewing her lip nervously.

"He's probably right, Hermione. I was in such a rush to get on the train myself, I didn't even notice if they got on or not." she said, beginning to stand. "I can come sit with you if you need company."

"Oh, no, that's alright, Nessa, really," Hermione said, immediately, smiling at her appreciatively. "Neville and Ginny are back in the compartment waiting for me. I'm sorry if I worried you. I'll see you at the feast?"

Nessa smiled and nodded at her as she left. Sighing, she tried to push the concern for Harry to the back of her head.

"Only Harry and Ron would miss the train," Fred muttered, shaking his head before turning back to the game in front of him.

Eventually, after the game had ended and Lee had horribly singed one of his dreadlocks, she and George ended up joining for the next several games in order to pass the time. Nessa surprised herself by winning three of the five games they played while managing to keep her hair and eyebrows completely intact.

"Right," Fred said, stretching his arms above his head. "I'm never playing with Nessa again, that's for certain."

"Sore loser, Freddie?" Nessa smirked, flicking a card at him and causing it to explode and burn off both his eyebrows.

"OI!" Fred cried, as Lee and George roared with laughter next to him.

"Personally, I think you should consider leaving it like that," Tori remarked, crossing her feet at the ankles and raising an eyebrow at Fred. "Really helps detract from the size of your forehead."

Fred chucked a stack of the cards at her own head and Tori shrieked when her bangs caught fire.

"You know, personally, I think you should leave it like that," Fred said pompously, watching her bristle immediately. "Really helps detract from the size of your nose."

"There's nothing wrong with my nose, you moron!" Tori said, hotly, her eyes glinting murderously.

"You know, I think it might even be worse than Snape's." Fred continued on, ignoring her completely and bouncing on the balls of his feet as if he were having the time of his life.

Tori shrieked again and lunged for Fred, who laughed gleefully, but Lee grabbed her around the waist before she made contact. George rolled his eyes and shot Nessa a look of exasperation as she tried to hide her amusement behind her hand.

"I will wring your neck, Fred Weasley!" she said, trying to remove Lee's grip on her waist without letting her glare waver.

Fred laughed again and walked up to her until they were face to face, which Nessa thought was rather brave considering Tori really did look as though she would kill him. He leaned down so they were at eye level and touched her affectionately on the nose.

"Now, now, darling," he said, dodging the swipe she took at his head. "You know, I'm only joking. You have a very cute nose." He chuckled again when Tori stilled but continued glaring at him. "Professor Snape could only ever dream of having a nose as perfect as yours."

Tori rolled her eyes and huffed. "That's laying it on a bit thick, but I'll take it. Now fix my hair and I'll fix your stupid eyebrows."

Fred smirked and with a wave of his wand, Tori's hair looked as impeccable as it normally did. Tori tapped him on the forehead with her wand – a bit rougher than was probably necessary in Nessa's opinion – and crossed her arms petulantly when his eyebrows returned. Fred grabbed her around the waist and pulled her with him onto the seat so she was tucked into his side.

"I despise you," Tori said, but she was smiling and made no attempt to move away from him.

Fred chucked her under the chin affectionately and closed his eyes.

"I love you too, Victoria. Now hush. It's hard to sleep with you nagging me."

Tori grumbled something Nessa couldn't hear, but Fred seemed to find it amusing and poked her in the side and told her to shush again. Nessa eyed them in wonder and tried to determine how someone could go from ready to kill to cuddling in the span of two minutes. George, unfazed, was already stretching out next to her so that his feet rested on the seat across from him, crossing his ankles and resting his hands behind his head.

Lee, who was rubbing his temples, looked at Vanessa and shook his head sympathetically.

"It's too late for me, Nessa," he said dramatically. "Save yourself."