The first half week of classes had been for the most part, normal. There hadn't been any further news on the whereabouts of Black, nor did the Dementors seem to be causing any form of harm or trouble to the students.
However, as it would turn out, almost every class I had this year was scheduled to be with the Gryffindors—which meant George Weasley would have more time to spend teasing me. Little things like winking or smirking at me from across the class, stretching out his arms so that his button-up shirt would rise just enough so I could see his toned midriff, revealing his v-line. Although I had no proof of these things being intentional, the more bothersome I became by his actions, the more he increased the frequency of them. I just knew nothing pleased George more, than teasing me.
Before my thoughts could wander off any further, I was interrupted by Autumn, who had now gotten up from the table we sat at in The Great Hall.
"Let's go." She said rolling her eyes. "Divination starts in ten minutes. " As she began to walk away, I quickly gathered my belongings and headed towards my first Divination class.
Upon entering the room, most students had already taken their seats at the round tables, which were covered in long, red drapes. Upon looking, Wood was seated with the two girls who I had been shortly introduced to on the train. Sitting at the table behind them, were George, Fred and Lee. As I scanned the room to find an empty table, the only one left was the one situated at the middle of the class, right in front of the table where Adrian, Harrison, and Spencer now sat. Autumn, oblivious to the situation, began to make her way towards the table as she smiled back at Adrian who gave her a quick wink and a boyish smile.
That stung.
As I attempted to avoid looking at him, I sat down quickly, my back facing him now as I peered at the front of the classroom where the professor had already begun to speak.
"Welcome to Divination," she said. "How nice to see you in the physical world at last." The professor said in a spacey trance. "My name is Professor Trelawney. You may not have seen me before. I find that descending too often into the hustle and bustle of the main school, clouds my Inner Eye."
As my mind already began to wander into boredom, distant muttering could be heard from where George and his friends sat. Professor Trelawney continued to speak although I'm quite sure she could hear them.
"So you may have chosen to study Divination, the most difficult of all magical arts. I must warn you at the outset that if you do not have the Sight, there is very little I will be able to teach you. Books can take you only so far in this field."
As my mind continued to wander into a more mischievous way, I snuck a glance at George, who was now leaning far back in his chair, his long legs lying out in front of him, and his arms in a crossed position as he played with the ring on his middle finger. His serious gaze as he concentrated on what the professor was saying caught me off guard as I was accustomed to his chaotic disposition. I looked away, realizing that I had probably been staring too long, because once again, Fred had quickly looked up and seen me peaking a glance at his twin.
"We will be covering the basic methods of Divination this year. The first term will be devoted to reading the tea leaves. Next term we shall progress to palmistry. By the way, my dear,' she shot suddenly turning towards me, "beware a red-haired man."
My cheeks instantly became flush at her words, as I was now looking as far away as I could from George, in an attempt to conceal my blush from him.
No one in the classroom seemed to pay much attention to this comment, as she now began to walk away from me, continuing her lecture—that is, besides the corner of the classroom where George sat with his friends. Lee, who I had learned wasn't very good at keeping to himself, began to let out a snarky laugh as he and the rest of his friends turned to George.
"As we will begin with our first tea leaf reading of the year, you may now all come up to the front of the class to collect a teacup from the shelf. I would then like you all to be divided into pairs; however, this year it will be done differently. Seeing as the students in this class consist of two different Houses, I would like your partner to be someone in the opposing House. This will be your partner for the rest of the year. You may still, however, choose who to be partnered with." The moment that phrase came out of the professors mouth, a loud groan was heard from everyone in the class.
Seeing as our class only consisted of Slytherins and Gryffindors, this news was not met with much excitement.
"Now, now, please settle down—this decision is final. So...once you've chosen your partner, please collect a teacup from the shelf, and bring it to me where I will fill them. Then sit down and drink; drink until only the dregs remain. Swirl these around the cup three times with the left hand, then turn the cup upside-down on its saucer; wait for the last of the tea to drain away, then give your cup to your partner to read. You will interpret the patterns using pages five and six of Unfogging the Future. I shall move among you, helping and instructing."
As each student began to pair off with one another, I dreaded having to deal with the task of choosing my Gryffindor counterpart, so I decided on letting fate choose for me by waiting it out—hopefully I would just be paired up with the last pick. As I began to make my way over to the cabinet stacked with teacups, and reached out for one, a long arm reached out in front of me and over my head, easily gripping onto two of the cups with their large hand.
George smuggly smiled down at me, his gaze now beginning to wander down my entire body.
"Guess this makes me your partner then." He said, as he began to confidently walk away, expecting me to follow.
I quickly caught up to him, a smug, yet annoying expression now adorned on his face.
"I don't believe I agreed to us being partners." I stated boldly at him.
"Sweetheart, doesn't look like you have much of a choice now, do you?" He said, pointing out what seemed like everyone having now found a partner. "Or if you'd like, Oliver seems to be free." He said teasingly, as he looked over to his friend who now stood around angrily, refusing every Slytherin who approached him.
"Don't call me that." I stated, as I grabbed one of the cups from his hand and headed towards Professor Trelawney—at this point accepting that I would be stuck with him for the rest of the year.
After the professor had prepared each of the student's tea, we all sat back down with our partners, with whom most people began to have small talk with. As George took one big gulp of his tea, finishing it in one go, he leaned back in his chair, adjusting his tie by tugging on it slightly. As he sat there, now staring directly at me while I sipped at my tea, I shot him a glare.
"Can I help you with something?" I said, while he continued to smile as I finished my drink.
"Just making sure you don't spill anything this time." He said, winking at me.
Before I could make a quick remark at his comment, Professor Trelawney began to speak again.
"By now you should be switching your cups amongst your partner and finding the hidden motif that lies within it." For another hour, the professor approached each table, assisting the students in interpreting what they saw, while the rest of the class watched diligently.
As the professor soon began to get closer to our table, George attempted to grab the empty cup out of my hand; however, my hold on it remained. Without warning, his other hand firmly wrapped around my wrist—his long fingers now covering my tiny wrist with ease.
"What is wrong with you!—stop always grab—" Before I could finish my sentence, Professor Trelawney had begun to speak to Adrian and Wood, who sat behind us, not speaking a single word to each other as they both grudgingly looked into each other's teacups.
"Now, dear," she said looking at Adrian. "what is it you see in your partner's cup?"
"I don't know...I guess it looks like a broomstick broken in half." Wood quickly looked up at Adrian with horror on his face. "Wood, it looks like you won't quite be coming in first this season." At this, the now horrified man peered down into the cup only to see an unidentifiable puddle of tea leaves. He sighed out of relief, frustration still present in his face.
I stifled a laugh at this, gaining back the attention of George. I quickly threw him a dirty look, as I hadn't quite been done with being mad at him.
Professor Trelawney, who seemed to be a bit irritated with Adrian's joke, continued on to George and I's table.
"My dear, what have you identified in your partner's teacup?" The professor said, gazing at George—who up until this point, had been too distracted to have even looked into my cup. As he peered into it for the first time, his face seemed to soft into more of a genuine expression.
"It looks like a flower of sorts...um six petals, perhaps a lily?" George questioned, as he peered into his textbook searching for the word.
"Okay, very good—now what does your book say?"
"It says…" George now read from his book "The lily—one of the most meaningful symbols amongst the Roman Muggles, is said to be the essence of purity and vir—" The words came out of his mouth so suddenly, that even he seemed to be taken aback, as he stopped talking immediately.
Once again, George's words managed to make my cheeks go pink, only this time, he had done it in front of an entire room full of people. Although most of the room was now filled with an awkward silence and the occasional low muttering of whispers, I began to hear a few sniggers coming from behind me. I turned around to see Adrian looking back at Harrison and Spencer, who were now sniggering, the latter who now said, "Either this class is tosh, or that stuff you said on the train was bullshit."
Although not quite loud enough for the whole room to hear, including Professor Trelawney, the one person who I dreaded overhearing—George of course, now looked at me, almost with a sense of guilt.
He quickly grabbed his own teacup, gently handing it over to me, attempting to distract me from my humiliation.
"What does mine say?" He said softly, peering at me as if I would break any moment now.
He wasn't wrong
As I looked down into George's cup in an attempt to distract myself from the situation, what appeared to be a single cloud casting over another one, now lay at the bottom of it.
"A clo...a cloud, with," my lips managed to stutter, my voice becoming shaky.
Before I could begin guessing what this meant, the sound of the booming class bells rang, which caused the entire class to begin getting up out of their seats.
As I quickly began to collect my things, George looked at me as if he were about to say something. Before I could give him the chance to say anything, I got up from my seat and stormed out of the room.
If it weren't for the rest of the afternoon before lunchtime being a free period for me, I hated to think how I would have reacted if I had George in another class that day. Although he sat at the Gryffindor table located right next to the Slytherin's, his back faced towards me, as he was now having a conversation with his friends.
As all my friends had now left the Great Hall to attend their classes, I now sat alone at the Slytherin table, finishing off my lunch. As I saw Professor Mcgonagall walk up to Andy, as well as another Gryffindor in the same year as me—Mclaggen, she handed each of them a sealed envelope. Before I could listen in on the conversation, I saw Professor Snape hand an identical envelope to Adrian, muttering a few words to him as he now headed in my direction. Approaching me with a cold expression as usual, he handed over an envelope with a red seal with the initials A.B. on them.
"From the Headmaster," he stated "All the new prefects are expected to attend a meeting Saturday morning. Everything is written in the letter—I don't think you need further explaining." He then walked away, immediately vanishing out of the Great Hall.
A Prefect?
To be honest, I wasn't too surprised about receiving it, seeing as I was probably one of the more responsible girls in my year—not that my encounters with Adrian backed this case up at all. If it weren't for the fact that I had heard many great things about being made a prefect—such as the exclusive use of the Prefect's bathroom, along with the fact that maybe taking away a few points from some Gryffindor's would be fun.
As I attempted to read the letter I had just been given, my thoughts were interrupted by two irritating voices.
"Does it hurt terribly Draco?" The Slytherin girl who seemed to have taken on a fancy for Malfoy stated.
"It comes and it goes. Still, I consider myself terribly lucky. Madam pomfrey said another minute or two I could've lost my arm. Can't possibly do my homework for another few weeks."
Maybe I'd take off some points from him too, I thought as he continued to dramatize the events of his broken arm.
"He's been sighted! He's been sighted!" One of the young Gryffindor boys shouted as he came running down the Great Hall towards Potter and the others.
"Who?" George's younger brother now questioned.
"Sirius black!" Everyone at the Gryffindor table had now begun to gather around, peering at the newspaper that sat on the table.
"Dufftown? That's not far from here." I heard George's voice for the first time in class, and quite honestly I could barely handle it. Trying to forget about my embarrassment, I continued to listen in on their conversation.
"You don't think he'd come to Hogwarts, do you?" A scared looking boy asked.
"What with dementors at every entrance?" Granger spoke.
"With dementors? He's already slipped past them once. Who's to say he won't do it again?" I shuddered thinking about this, as having seen Dementors once, was more than enough.
Before the others could continue with their conversation, a boy at their table joined in.
"That's right. Black could be anywhere," he said, looking at the others. "It's like trying to catch smoke. Like trying to catch smoke with your bare hands."
As he said this, I now peered down at the newspaper that had been dropped by one of the owl's that flew above me. It of course was the same man I had seen from previous clippings; however, this time his deranged expression had me more unsettled than ever.
George's POV
As I headed out the entrance of the Gryffindor common room, leaving Fred and Angelina alone to do whatever it was they got up to when I left, I headed towards the library. Although it wasn't what I had in mind on a Friday night, Oliver took it upon himself to force us to read up on a new Quidditch strategy book he had seen when we stopped by Quality Quidditch Supplies before term had started.
After a few minutes of walking down the near empty corridors of the school, I had finally reached the dimly lit library—which at this point, only a few students remained, each sitting a far distance from each other.
As I headed towards the proper section, a small figure I had easily come to recognize, now sat alone at one of the large, round tables, situated off to the side where the large wall of books stood. Combing back my long hair with my fingers, I headed in her direction, still not noticing me as I was now walking towards her with her back facing towards me.
Still not aware of my presence, I leaned over her body, placing both of my arms at either side of hers and resting my hands on the table. Moving my head close to her, I whispered, "Hi sweetheart."
She immediately froze in place, and feeling quite bad about this, I removed my hands from where they were, backing away to the side of her where she could see me. From this angle I could now see the large book that sat in front of her. The instant she saw me, she gave me a glaring look, following an adorable look of embarrassment.
God...it drove me crazy how easily I was able to make her do that. I had never had that type of effect on a girl before, and quite honestly, it turned me on.
"Have I not entertained you enough this past week? Or are you just enjoying bothering me so much that you thought you'd come and entertain your thoughts while I try studying."
Taken aback by her statement, I walked closer to her, our bodies close enough so that she had to stretch her neck far up to look at me.
"Not that it's any of your business darling, but I don't fancy watching my brother shagging his girlfriend," she looked shocked at my bold statement, getting the exact reaction I wanted out of her. "Not to mention Oliver's got us practicing Quidditch through books now." I gritted through my teeth.
"Well that's not my problem then, is it? If that's truly what you came here for, then you can go."
"Well, I did come here for those things—but, I've got to say, I do love teasing you." She didn't have to say anything for me to interpret her creeping blush.
"Well I don't exactly enjoy you teasing me—and as I've said, you can feel free to leave me alone whenever." With her last few words, a mischievous look appeared in my eyes, holding myself back from saying something I so desperately wanted to utter. Not being able to resist myself, I leaned in towards her ear, taking her now lustful looks as a sign to whisper, "I think I could change your mind about that."
I could tell what I was doing to her. I just knew I had her mind racing with constant thoughts of me teasing her—just like I had been doing ever since we arrived at school this week. I could tell with the way she would pretend to not be staring at me when my shirt rised above my midriff, the way she blushed when all I would do is wink at her, and starting now, with the way I heard her release a deep sigh as I whispered in her ear.
As she quickly realized what I was doing to her, she got up from her seat, taking along the book that she had just been reading. Catching up with her in just a few of my short steps, she stopped in her tracks to look at me.
"Please tell me right now what you want from me. I don't know what kind of impression you've gotten from me the past week—and in today's class specifically, but you're widely mistaken." My face instantly changed from a grin to a look of guilt as she said these words.
I really was just teasing her, and I guess I shouldn't have assumed she enjoyed it as much as myself.
"I'm sorry, I really have been just joking around...I'm not trying to get anything from you—it's just that you get all hot and bothered when I joke around—I thought it was cute. There's nothing more to it." By the expression on her face now, she seemed to have been put at ease slightly.
Turning back around to now face the wall of books we stood at, she began to prop her knee up on one of the edges of it, in an attempt to place the book she now held back into its spot. Although now I felt extremely guilty after realizing how I made her feel, I couldn't help but stare at her round arse in those leggings she wore, especially as she stretched to reach the right shelf.
Before she could turn back and see me, I tugged my trousers down slightly, as to alleviate the growing excitement I now had—the joggers I wore thankfully loose enough to cover it.
As she lifted her arm to do so, her blouse lifted up from its original spot, now revealing several small bruises at the sides of her waist. Quickly realizing she had now exposed her skin, she tugged her shirt down in an attempt to cover them.
As she continued to struggle to reach the spot on the shelf, I gently grabbed the book from behind her, and steadied my hand at the small of her back to prevent her from falling, as I put the book back in its place. As I stood by where she had propped herself up, the differences in our height were made noticeable as I still remained a significant amount taller than her, even with her advantage of the shelf.
A noticeable scent of sweet cherries and vanilla filled my senses as we stood close to one another. My attempts to help her surprisingly didn't garner a negative reaction, as she allowed me to help her back down, taking her hand in mine as she took a step down from where she was propped up.
As she realized neither of us had spoken a word in a while, she began to speak up, in a calm voice—different from the one I had come accustomed to.
"It's late," she whispered. "I should go." She looked at me once more, now with a different kind of look in her eyes, gathering her belongings and walking out of the library.