Chapter Seventeen

The next day had been a little less awkward as a whole, although not completely. Ginny and Percy were unsuccessfully trying to pretend like they hadn't heard anything about Tori's relation to Sirius Black, and kept throwing her probing glances any time they thought she wasn't looking. Mr. and Mrs. Weasley were clearly trying to maintain some semblance of normal despite the awkward truce they currently shared with their adopted daughter. Tori, for her part, was polite but distant with the two of them, but it seemed clear based on her body language around them that she was nowhere near where she needed to be in order to forgive them. They seemed perfectly okay with giving her the space she needed, although Mrs. Weasley was clearly fighting every instinct in her body to not be overwhelmingly maternal.

The box of photos of her father had been moved to her room by the time they'd gotten back from the treehouse, but Tori had pushed them under her bed and refused to open it. They'd spent most of the next day in the twins' room in order to avoid the stares of her other siblings and maintain the excuse Tori needed to avoid the box of pictures she clearly wasn't emotionally prepared to open. The twins, for their part, were about as awkward as Nessa had ever seen them, although awkward for them really only meant a little less rowdy and obnoxious.

It was likely the most tense Christmas vacation Nessa had ever experienced, although it was still not nearly as bad as the one Harry was experiencing at Hogwarts. Hermione had written to let her know that Harry had wanted to confront Hagrid about his knowledge of Sirius Black, despite her and Ron insisting they focus on something else. It had apparently worked out for the best, however, as Harry was now distracted with helping Hagrid with a case he had at the Ministry, and hadn't brought up Sirius Black since. According to Hermione, Lucius Malfoy was trying for the death penalty for Buckbeak the Hippogriff and Hagrid, who did not want to ask Dumbledore for help after he'd done so much for him already, needed a strong defense to help save Buckbeak's life. They'd spent the majority of their time in the library trying to help since they'd learned of the news.

The impending tirade that Nessa had gone on while pacing back and forth in front of her friends was more intense than it likely should have been. It was hard to tell if she was channeling the anger she felt at Sirius Black into something else, but neither the twins nor Tori made mention of this. She'd always been passionate about fair treatment and vocal about the fact that she thought the Wizarding World had become far too comfortable in the role they played in their ignorance of the magical creatures they oppressed, but never to the point that her friends were too afraid to interrupt the discussion. Even Fred looked like he'd rather have been eaten alive than interrupt her tirade.

As it stood, Christmas Eve night was both emotionally fraught and a little tense. Not even the Christmas decorations or Ginny's excitement was enough to keep the spirits high. Mrs. Weasley had decorated a large Christmas tree in one of the corners of the living room and hung tinsel, fairy lights, and wreaths all around the house. The stairs were wrapped in colorful lights and she'd even dressed some of the garden gnomes in hideous Santa outfits. Or maybe the twins had done it because they both cackled every time they saw one of them peeking their heads out from the garden.

The dinner that Mrs. Weasley had prepared was just as good as the one they'd have eaten at Hogwarts, but Nessa and Tori had mostly taken to pushing their food around their plates and saying very little. Although, Tori had flung herself across the table when Fred had broken down at the awkward silence between them and lit a Filibuster firework under her chair. It was about as close to normal as the dinner had gotten. Well, other than Percy going on a terribly dull speech about how important he was in supporting Dumbledore and the other professors during this difficult time. Even Mr. Weasley appeared to be only politely paying attention by the end of it.

It was almost a relief to retreat to their rooms for the evening. Tori was laying on her bed, throwing a Quaffle up into the air repeatedly, and Nessa reading a book on the cot she'd always used when she'd stayed with the Weasleys, when Ginny came bursting in with a determined expression on her face.

"The two of you are horribly depressing to be around, did you know?"

Tori snorted and continued throwing the Quaffle. Nessa choked on a laugh at the bluntness of the statement, although she didn't attempt to deny it. They'd been sitting up here for at least an hour and had said very little to each other, which might be normal for Nessa, but was certainly a feat for Tori.

"That's very sweet of you to say, Ginny," said Tori with a smirk. "You are clearly spreading holiday cheer."

Ginny snorted and put her hands on her hips, giving Tori a stern expression. Nessa bit her cheek to keep from stating how much the younger girl looked like her mother at that moment. It hardly seemed the sort of thing she'd be all that interested in hearing.

"That's rich coming from you, Victoria Hastings, considering you've been sulking in here every day since we've gotten back," Ginny snapped, clearly unperturbed by Tori's attitude. "This is getting ridiculous."

Tori rolled her eyes.

"I don't have time to explain to you the emotional complexities —"

"Yes, I know," said Ginny with an exaggerated eye roll. "Your dad is a mass murderer and probably is the reason your best friend's parents are dead and it makes it hard for you to look at her without hating yourself or him. I've heard this nonsense already —"

"Nonsense?" Tori said indignantly, sitting up abruptly. "Those are valid reasons to be sulking, Ginevra!"

Ginny pointed a finger at her in warning.

"Watch your mouth when I'm mad at you, Tori."

Tori shot Nessa an incredulous look, and she tried to cover her laugh with a cough. The entire thing was ridiculous, but Ginny was clearly not interested in hearing about any of their problems anymore.

"Now, as I was saying," Ginny continued when Tori gaped at her. "I've no interest in being around the two of you when you're both being so…sensitive," she said, waving an arm at the both of them vaguely. Tori opened her mouth angrily to retort, but Ginny kept talking. "We all have problems. Your family lives suck — I get it. But get over it. There are people dying, you know."

Tori shot Nessa a 'she has to be crazy' look, but Nessa couldn't contain her laughter anymore. The absurdity of the statement, mixed with the fact that this was the worst attempt at comfort Nessa had ever been witness to, sent her right over the edge.

"Your bedside manner is horrific," Tori deadpanned, as Nessa continued laughing until her sides hurt.

Ginny snorted and flopped backward onto her bed.

"Well, it's Christmas," she said as if this was a perfectly reasonable explanation for her behavior. "And I'm tired of sitting in here wondering if we're going to jump headfirst out the window or just pretend we don't notice each other at all. I'd really prefer to jump headfirst out the window after I've opened my presents."

"So, you're not opposed to us jumping out the window," said Nessa slowly, trying to bring herself back under control. "Just that we want to do it before we open our gifts?"

Tori snorted as Ginny gave her an exasperated look.

"Well, it'd be horribly rude of me to take your gifts if you hadn't opened them first, wouldn't it?"

Nessa scoffed and chucked her book at Ginny's head. It was Tori's turn to laugh when Ginny had to scramble off her bed to miss being hit in the face.

"It's a real pity you can't fly a broom, Nessa," said Tori with a grin. "You'd make a helluva Chaser."

Nessa smirked as Ginny pushed herself to a stand with a huff and a glare.

"Well, now that the two of you are talking again," she said primly, sticking her nose up in the air in an exaggerated expression of disdain. "We're going to pretend like we're having the best Christmas of our lives. Tori, get out the nail polish and your horde of chocolate. I'm going to go nick some eggnog from the kitchen. I saw Mum putting brandy in it once we all went upstairs."

"You're twelve," said Nessa in alarm.

Ginny threw her a reproachful look that made Tori cackle.

"I don't need your judgment, Nessa," she said with an eye roll. "The only thing you need to be doing is preparing to tell us all about Cedric Diggory. Honestly," she said huffily as she left the room. "How you couldn't have told me about him yet is beyond me. Totally disrespectful."

Nessa gaped after her and then looked over at Tori, who was clearly trying very hard not to laugh at the words.

"I don't know why I thought she was innocent," she said truthfully, as Tori got up to gather the supplies that Ginny insisted were necessary for whatever they were about to be doing for the rest of the night.

Nessa stared as Tori continued to pull out stacks and stacks of Honeydukes chocolate. A 'horde' might have been a nicer word for it. It was more like an arsenal. Personally, Nessa had no idea what purpose all the chocolate served. It would have taken her years to eat that amount of sugar.

Before she could tell Tori she probably needed to get her teeth checked for cavities at least four times a year, Ginny was coming back into the room with a glass bottle of eggnog — she had no glasses, so clearly they were drinking directly from the bottle — Christmas cookies, which Nessa felt was wholly unnecessary considering the amount of chocolate Tori had, and a box of Filibuster fireworks and something that looked like a telescope.

She threw the fireworks and telescope at Nessa, who caught them and held them gingerly in front of herself.

"What's this for?" she said, giving Tori a questioning glance.

"Nicked them from Fred and George," she said casually. "For a couple of blokes who want to make a living out of tricking people, they really should guard their things more carefully. They were so busy arguing over some bird, they didn't even notice me coming into the room."

Nessa set the box of fireworks down and turned the telescope over in her hands curiously. It looked like just an ordinary telescope, but if it came from Fred and George, she highly doubted that this was the case. Although, they'd never mentioned anything about a telescope and she had no inkling of what possible use it could serve as a prank item.

"Why do they even have a telescope?" she asked anyway, choosing the safer option of setting it a safe distance away from herself. Ginny only shrugged.

"No idea," she said honestly, laying the rest of her bounty out on the floor in between their three beds and laying flat on her stomach on her bed. "It was next to the fireworks though so I nicked it too. I guess we'll find out how important it is if they come storming in here."

Tori snorted, throwing a couple bars of white chocolate at Nessa and setting the rest of her arsenal in between her and Ginny, mimicking the younger girl's position on her own bed.

"So, what's your plan, Gin?" she deadpanned. "Is this some sort of intervention for the two of us? Because I don't think painting our nails and eating chocolate are going to be of much help."

Ginny gave her a long look.

"Is this your first day being a girl?" she said finally. Nessa snorted at Tori's eye roll. "Besides, if it doesn't, that's what we have the eggnog for. Well, that, and the fireworks. I figure if push comes to shove, we can light them in Fred and George's room once they've gone to sleep."

Tori grinned and bit a chunk off of dark chocolate, pointing the bar at Ginny in agreement.

"I like the way you think," she said. "Hearing Fred scream is like music to my ears. The last time I heard him scream was that time I put your doll under his bed."

"How old was he when you did that?" Nessa inquired with a grin as Ginny was sent into a fit of laughter at the memory.

Tori raised an eyebrow and smirked devilishly.

"Fourteen."

Nessa laughed in surprise.

"George told me about that doll last year," she said, her interest piqued at the idea that it would cause a grown Fred Weasley to scream. "Maybe the twins are just overly dramatic about this doll."

Ginny snorted and shook her head, coming to a stand and walking over to her closet. Tori shuddered when Ginny brought out a long brown box and set it on Nessa's bed with a dramatic wave of her hand.

"It really creeps me out that you keep that in our closet," said Tori honestly.

"Where else am I supposed to keep it?"

"In hell where it belongs."

Nessa rolled her eyes and opened the box in front of her. She tried very hard not to be dramatic about the thing, but it was horrid. She couldn't help the gasp of horror that escaped her mouth when she caught sight of it and the sound sent Ginny and Tori into a fit of giggles.

The twins were not being dramatic.

It was dressed in some weird red dress that covered all of its body except the hands and face. The face was riddled with cracks — likely from age, although maybe it was from someone attempting to destroy it to save themselves and their family, Nessa considered anxiously — and was a pale, porcelain white. An uncanny color of white. An unrealistic color of white. Which made the circles of black around its eyes horribly pronounced. She thought for a moment that maybe it was marker or paint, but when she rubbed the material, it didn't feel texturally any different than the rest of the face, so maybe she was wrong. One of the eyeballs was also missing, and the other was a pale white color, the pupil faded almost completely and looked more milky than black. Its hair was long and red, although matted horribly, and matched the color of Ginny's hair almost perfectly. The hands were the only comical thing about it and only because they were disproportionately large compared to the rest of the body and were yellow which in no way matched the rest of the doll's skin.

Hadn't George said this was a family heirloom? It looked more like something she'd have bought for Halloween to scare Dudley with. This was exactly why she hated dolls.

"What in the fuck is wrong with this thing?" she said in horror. Ginny tried to control her laughter enough to respond.

"Who knows," she said, gasping for air. "I'm too afraid to ask mum any questions about it in case it hears me and comes to life. I'm hoping it gets its kicks from scaring my brothers honestly."

Nessa shoved the box away from herself. Talking about it as if it was alive was not helping her anxiety about the thing. And why did it look like it was looking at her every time she moved? Why did all dolls make her feel like that?

"Maybe we should chuck that thing out the window instead," she said truthfully, trying to pretend she couldn't see it still out of the corner of her eye.

"Molly would never forgive us," Tori said with a shake of her head. "She loves that thing. It's a real pity she doesn't love it enough to keep it for herself. I'd be getting much more sleep."

Ginny snorted and grabbed a few of the candy bars in front of her and tearing into them.

"Enough about the doll," she said, mouth full of chocolate. Nessa rolled her eyes — why did all of the Weasleys act as though they'd never eaten a day in their life? "What's going on with you and Diggory?"

Nessa had just been thinking how nice it was to have just the three of them hanging out again, that maybe they should be making more of an effort to do this more often. She was regretting that now as Ginny was looking at her with something akin to excitement on her face, and Tori grinned around her bite of chocolate.

She never should have agreed to tutor Cedric. He was making her life horribly complicated. Or maybe done herself the favor of tutoring him in secret.

Yes, that's exactly what she should have done. Maybe she could convince him to meet in the dungeons instead….

"She says that they're just friends," said Tori with an eye roll when Nessa said nothing. The added emphasis was already insulting enough, but she'd added air quotes as well and Nessa rolled her eyes. Ginny made a noise of disbelief.

"Did you tell him that?" she said with a raised eyebrow. "Because he looked very comfortable at the train station. I mean, if he looked at me like that I think I might just stop breathing."

Tori raised a sarcastic eyebrow and pursed her lips to keep from laughing.

"Is that so?" she said slyly. "Harry will be so disappointed."

Nessa burst into laughter as Ginny blushed scarlet.

"We aren't talking about Harry," she said with a glare. "We're talking about Nessa and Cedric. Let's focus on the important things, if you don't mind."

Tori snickered but appeared to agree, much to Nessa's chagrin.

"There's nothing going on," she said firmly. "I mean, we flirt a little —"

"And they kissed."

Ginny shot up so quickly that Nessa was worried she might have pulled something. Before she could ask if she'd hurt herself though, she'd begun giggling and clapping excitedly. Nessa truly needed to talk to Tori about blurting things out like this. It was misleading.

"You kissed Cedric Diggory?"

Nessa snorted and rolled her eyes. As if someone as awkward as her would have initiated a kiss with Cedric Diggory.

"He kissed me, but that's not really —"

"Oh my Merlin," Ginny said, mouth hanging open. "How are you — why are you not dating him?" She paused in her excited squealing to look at Nessa in horror. "He's horrible at snogging, isn't he? Is that what it is? Because that would be a horribly big disappointment for all the girls at school, y'know —-"

She was cut off by Tori's raucous laughter. Nessa almost thought that she was going to hurt herself from how hard she was laughing.

"No, she said it was fine," With the air quotes again. Nessa threw a chocolate bar at her and grabbed the egg nog. She was going to need the entire bottle at this point.

"Fine," said Ginny incredulously. "What does that mean? Fine? Is that what I have to look forward to when I finally kiss someone? Just fine."

Nessa rolled her eyes and opened her mouth to retort, but Tori cut her off again.

"No, snogging is fun, Ginny," she said, holding her sides and trying to control the laughter still bubbling up. "Well, most of the time. She just is too busy fancying someone else, you see —"

"Victoria!" Nessa said in irritation. Were there no secrets in this household? "Do you keep your mouth shut for any measurable amount of time?"

Tori ignored her, grinning wider, when Ginny whipped her head back to stare at Nessa in shock.

"You fancy someone? Who?"

"George," Tori said.

Nessa grabbed a pillow and screamed into it in frustration. Honestly.

Ginny looked between them in confusion.

"George? George who?" Maybe if she just hid in this pillow for long enough, she could pretend that this conversation wasn't happening. "Wait a minute —- George Weasley? My brother, George. You fancy my brother?"

Nessa whipped her head up from the pillow, blushing profusely, and shushed her loudly, looking apprehensively at the door.

"Well, don't say it so loud, for God's sake!"

"Why?" said Tori with an eye roll. "He already knows. It's not like it matters much at this point."

Nessa glared at her.

"It does," she insisted vehemently. "The last thing I need is Mrs. Weasley tittering about us and making it even more awkward than it already is."

Tori immediately grimaced at the thought and nodded sympathetically. Before she could say anything, Ginny was interrupting angrily.

"You've been making fun of me this entire time about fancying your brother and you're over here pining after mine?" she said indignantly.

"It's nothing, Ginny," she responded with an eye roll. "George is with Alicia and he's not interested in me anyway —"

"That's a lie," said Tori at the same time Ginny said, "He acts like he is."

Nessa gaped at her.

"Oh, not you too, Ginny," she said in exasperation. "I can't handle three people telling me that he fancies me when he doesn't. Can we be done with this please? I'd much rather drink that entire bottle of eggnog than have this conversation."

Tori raised the eggnog bottle and took a swig.

"Cheers to that."

-o0o-

Hours later, it became clear that the eggnog had been a poor choice. They'd heard Percy and Ron go up to their rooms while they'd been indulging in chocolate and painting their nails — Ginny insisted on painting them either a dark green or bright red, as she insisted it was 'festive. The eggnog had been passed between them as they'd continued gossiping about anything that did not consist of Sirius Black or Nessa's parents. Neither Ginny nor Tori had let the George conversation go, but Nessa's tongue became much looser the more she drank.

The three of them had managed to drink the entire bottle between them, although Ginny had barely drank anything, but was still somehow just as delirious as Tori and Nessa. It was because of this that the three of them thought that sneaking their way up into Fred and George's bedroom was a good idea. It was certainly the reason that Nessa had not protested at all when Ginny suggested they take the fireworks, the weird telescope, and the horrible doll up with them to see if they could pull one over on the pranksters.

If she'd been sober, she'd have realized how absolutely ridiculous that idea was. For one thing, pulling one over on Fred and George Weasley was about as difficult as beating Dudley in a wrestling match. It was made worse by the alcohol. None of them seemed to care about how loud they were being outside the doorway to the twins' room. Tori had tripped on one of the stairs on their way up and the three of them had fallen into hushed giggles that nearly had them wetting themselves in amusement. Nessa kept bouncing between whispering at them all to be quiet and trying to explain through her laughter that Tori's head had bounced off the wall comically and she couldn't stop laughing.

When Ginny opened the door in what was supposed to be a stealthy move and began tiptoeing in, they were all still giggling and completely unaware of how loud they were being. Nessa and Tori in particular were holding onto each other and trying not to fall over from laughing.

"Shhh," Ginny whisper-yelled at them when Nessa stepped on something on the floor and went careening into the wall, dragging Tori with her.

"Relax, they sleep like the dead," Tori giggled not at all quietly.

"They're dead?" said Nessa in horror. "Oh no. You said the doll wouldn't kill them, Ginny."

Tori was sent into another round of laughter as Ginny exhaled loudly.

"They aren't dead, Nessa," she whispered back. "Now focus, the both of you. If they catch us in here, they'll put Dungbombs under our pillows."

Nessa gasped in horror and hushed Tori again. She did not need to be smelling like dung for Christmas, she knew that much. Although, she couldn't really think otherwise. It was like all of her anxiety had evaporated and been replaced with a sort of giddy excitement. And her head felt weird. Somehow heavy and light-headed at the same time. There wasn't a single thought in her head at all and she'd sort of forgotten what the hell they were supposed to be doing anyway.

"What do I do with this stupid telescope thing?" said Tori, pulling it out of the pocket of her hoodie and dropping it so that it clattered on the floor.

Nessa put a hand over her mouth to stop herself from screaming. Or laughing. She couldn't tell which at the moment.

"Tori," Ginny whispered loudly. "Get it together. I thought you pulled pranks with the twins all the time."

"I do," she said, hunting around on the floor for the dropped object and making a delighted noise when she finally found it. "But not with a bloody telescope. How do I work this thing anyway? We really should have thought this through before we came up here, you know."

"It's okay, Tori," Nessa comforted. "If we can't figure it out, just throw it at George's head and we can make a run for it."

"Yes, excellent thinking, Nessa," Ginny agreed. "Now give me your water bottle, so I can light these fireworks."

There was a long silence.

"I didn't bring my water bottle," Nessa whispered frantically. "You told me to bring the doll."

"They're wet start. How am I supposed to light the bloody things without water?"

"This is a disaster," said Tori emotionally. "Let's just throw the telescope at George's head and get out of here. I'm getting hungry anyway."

A male voice spoke from one side of the room through the darkness.

"Merlin's beard, there's a glass of water on George's nightstand. Just use that and let us sleep."

The three of them startled at the sudden voice. Nessa and Tori screamed and there was a loud thump.

"Blimey, what the hell did you just throw at me?" said the voice again, this time angrily.

There was a shuffle and then a click and they were bathed in light. Fred was rubbing his head and glaring at the three of them. George was eyeing the three of them in confusion, but clearly trying to withhold his laughter.

The three girls stared at them in shock for a moment, looking comically ashamed of being caught.

"How'd you know it was us?" said Nessa with hands on her hips.

Fred and George shared an incredulous look before looking back at them.

"We heard you giggling like lunatics out in the hall," said Fred with an eye roll.

"And that was after Tori tripped on the stairs," said George. "You weren't exactly stealthy, love."

Nessa and Ginny glared at Tori as if she were the only one who had ruined the plan.

"We were trying to scare you," said Tori with a pout.

George snorted when Fred gave her a long, probing look.

"Are you drunk?"

"No. I had some chocolate."

"How much chocolate?"

Tori squinted and then widened her arms as much as possible.

"About this much. How much is that, Nessa?"

"Uhhh, I don't know, I can't remember what happened after we drank all the eggnog," Nessa said sheepishly.

Fred rolled his eyes at George. Ginny was giggling, but the sudden sound of someone stomping down the stairs made the three girls freeze and stare at each other in horror.

"It's the doll," said Nessa in fright.

"You're holding the doll," said Ginny with an exasperated eye roll. "Honestly, we never should have shown you the doll. You're insane."

"Oh, right. Here, George, you take it," she said, shoving it toward him.

"I don't want it!" he said adamantly.

"Well, neither do I!"

There was a loud knock on the door that cut their argument short and Ginny went careening into the closet to hide. Tori started spinning around frantically as if she had no idea what to do with herself.

"It's midnight! What are the two of you doing in there?"

It was a very angry Percy Weasley. He banged on the door again when no one answered him.

"Act natural," Nessa whispered frantically when Fred rolled his eyes and went to open the door.

"PERCY!" Tori said in fake excitement, throwing her arms up into the air, as if she were on a rollercoaster and having the time of her life.

"That was too loud," Nessa whispered to her seriously, causing George to snort.

"Oh," said Tori before switching to a whisper. "Percy!"

Percy, who had been glaring at Fred, eyed her oddly. His eyes shifted to Nessa, who was standing very still and giving him a very stiff smile, and then to George, who was still lying in bed and looked torn between laughing and rolling his eyes.

"What are the four of you doing?" he said, clearly trying to understand why they were looking at him strangely.

"We came to give them this doll," said Nessa suddenly, shoving the doll in front of her as an offering. "Do you want it, Percy? Isn't she beautiful?"

Percy took an alarmed step backward and gave her a strange look.

"No, I don't want — what is going on?"

Fred huffed a breath.

"They were trying to scare us," he said in a long suffering voice. "They were just going back to bed."

"Well, I hope so," said Percy in annoyance. "You're making a horrible racket. I'd hate for Mother and Father to wake up over something so ridiculous."

George rolled his eyes and opened his mouth to say something, but Nessa cut him off.

"Has anyone ever told you that you look like a giraffe?" she said, squinting at Percy and tilting her head to the side. Fred and George groaned.

Tori started giggling when Percy stared at her blankly.

"Just go to sleep," Percy said in irritation. "If I have to get up again, I'm getting Mum."

Tori blew a raspberry at him as he was leaving.

"He's mean," said Nessa immediately after he left, crossing her arms over her chest. "He hurt my feelings."

"Well, you called him a giraffe, so we'll call that even," said Fred with a barely repressed grin, opening the closet and groaning loudly when he saw Ginny sleeping with her head on the wall. "Did you let her have eggnog?"

"She started it," said Tori seriously. "I don't think she had that much. Me and Nessa had loads, didn't we, Nessa?"

"Yes, that's very clear," said George in amusement as Nessa nodded vigorously.

He sighed heavily and came to a stand, grabbing Nessa gently on the arm and then grabbing Tori with the other. Fred lifted Ginny into his arms and led the way back downstairs to Ginny and Tori's room. It took far longer than it should have because Nessa and Tori kept stumbling down the stairs and then stopping to giggle at how ridiculous they looked.

By the time they'd reached the bedroom, Fred was already laying Ginny on her bed and turning off the lantern next to her bed. He rolled his eyes with a grin when Tori, who was a rather emotional drunk, threw herself at him and started rambling about how much she'd missed him. George sighed heavily, shaking his head in feigned exasperation, before leading Nessa to her cot and making her lay down.

"Here, love," he said, leaning over to grab her water bottle and setting it next to her. "You'll want this tomorrow, I'm sure."

"Not as good as the eggnog," she mumbled sleepily, cuddling into her pillow. "Do we have more eggnog?"

George snorted and pulled her blanket up around her shoulders, causing her to sigh happily.

"No, I think you cleaned us out," he said as seriously as he was able. "We'll get you some in the morning. Just get some sleep."

"I'm not tired," she said, despite the yawn she gave. She could hear Fred and Tori talking next to her, although it sounded more like Tori was doing most of the talking and not a whole lot of it made much sense. "I don't want to sleep. Have to scare Fred and George."

"How about a rain check?" he said placatingly, watching her eyes droop. "Maybe when you haven't had so much — er — chocolate."

Not bringing up the eggnog seemed a safer option, now that he'd gotten her to stop talking about it. He'd be here another hour if she kept asking for eggnog and it was already far too late.

"I didn't have chocolate," she said indignantly, her eyes shooting open in offense. "You didn't forget I hate chocolate did you, George?"

"No, love, I —"

"I bet Alicia likes chocolate," Nessa grumbled petulantly, glaring at the window. "She has a stupid face though. We don't like her, okay?"

George raised an eyebrow at her, but had to bite his lip to keep from laughing at how seriously she was looking at him. Her eyes were wide in her face in an innocent sort of way, but there was a spark of fire in her eyes. She had such startlingly beautiful eyes — he could see everything she felt in them if he looked long enough.

Clearing his throat awkwardly, he said, "Why not?"

"Because she makes you sad."

George tensed, startled slightly by her alcohol-induced candor. It was very unlike her to be so frank unless she was angry. She'd always chosen her words very carefully and he'd not yet figured out if it were for her benefit or others'. It kept her somehow eloquent, but reserved. He almost wondered if she was too afraid to voice her thoughts to anyone half of the time.

But she'd always been very observant, a characteristic with which he suspected partially came from trying to blend so much into the background.

He supposed he hadn't been terribly good at pretending to be happy in the last month anyway, but she'd never brought it up before now. He respected her for that — Alicia certainly had no problem speaking ill of her, even after he'd told her not to; even if she knew it upset him. He could only imagine the sort of restraint it would take for Vanessa to extend her a courtesy that she was not being given herself.

This train of thought always made him want to throttle himself for being such a prat to her in the last few months, so he shook his head and focused on her again.

"I'm alright, love," he said softly to which she gave him a comically stern look.

"I don't believe you," she said seriously. "Tori is going to push her off her broom. She told me so."

George snorted and rolled his eyes. It sounded exactly like something Tori would say, so he hadn't had any doubts to begin with.

"I'm sure she did," he said with a sigh.

It had been nice in the last few days not having to talk to or about Alicia. A nice way to clear his head, so that he could figure out if it was a relationship he really had any patience left to pursue. He had no idea why he even agonized over the decision, really. He was unhappy and all they did was fight. That seemed answer enough.

But she was…confusing. Some days she was totally apologetic and sweet and then others she was intentionally cruel. Or at least he seriously thought it was intentional at this point. He had a harder time reconciling the person he'd been friends with and played Quidditch with for years with the one that she became when she was angry. It was hard to let the entire thing go when he had no idea what he was even doing wrong half the time. And she was content to let him flounder to figure it out which was even more irritating. The sweet episodes came after though. It almost felt like she built him to hope it would be better just to tear it all down again. Like pushing every single one of his buttons was some sort of game. She knew exactly which buttons to push to piss him off, too, and talking about Nessa was her favorite one to exploit. He supposed that could be considered partly his fault — he was always quick to defend her and he'd been just as unwilling to compromise on their friendship as Alicia had been.

He'd never really considered how his relationship with Vanessa Potter would look to someone he was seeing. They were close and it wasn't as if he found her unattractive. She was gorgeous in all honesty, and knowing she fancied him didn't make him uncomfortable or awkward at all. On the contrary, the idea had delighted him. For reasons he didn't quite understand and didn't want to think too heavily about because he had a girlfriend already and it was just making the entire thing so bloody complicated.

Which had been a big part in not speaking to her for weeks — he had no idea what any of it meant and thinking about it too much had scared the hell out of him. Talking about it now made him want to run away again, truth be told, but he was starting to feel pathetic. And being on such shaky terms with her made him feel like he'd been hit in the head with a Bludger.

"Why don't you break up with her?" Nessa said suddenly, still looking at him with those eyes that were still far too honest. Maybe even a little too understanding and he hated that too because of all of the people who should hate him, Nessa was top of that list. He'd almost have preferred if she hated him. "She's mean to me."

And didn't that just feel like being punched right in the stomach. He released a whoosh of air at the intense feeling the words brought up. He was truly pathetic.

"I know she is, love," he said, floundering for something else to say. And the whole thing was made worse by the fact that she was drunk and this was, truthfully, possibly the worst time to have this conversation. "I'm sorry — you don't deserve that," And because this was absolutely not the time he wanted to have this conversation — because it would be painful enough to say one time and he wasn't entirely sure if she would even remember this tomorrow, he said, "How about you sleep and we can talk about this tomorrow, okay?"

A delightful conversation for him to overthink while he was pretending to sleep.

"Are you just trying to find a nice way to tell me that you're choosing her over me?"

Merlin's beard, she was trying to rip his heart out. Or maybe he was doing that himself, he couldn't tell anymore. She was doing a very good job of pretending the conversation wasn't painful for her, but her eyes were a dead giveaway. Even without the tears in them, they were so sad.

So he said the next thing without even giving it an ounce of thought.

"Love, if she made me choose between you and her," he said, refusing to look away from her. "I would always choose you."

And those words were, perhaps, the other reason he should just accept that his relationship with Alicia wasn't worth saving. Because even if he refused to think about the implications those words held, he knew, without a doubt, that every single one of them was the truth.

-o0o-

Ahasjhsyasw. Spazzing because George is so stupid but also just makes my insides melt when he's not being an idiot.