George's POV
"I'm going to miss that map," I spoke to Fred as we made our way back into the courtyard, where large snowflakes now fell onto the ground—the first snowfall of the year.
"I'm sure Harry will put it to better use," Fred said, as he stuck a long twig into the side of the snowman we had built, forming its arm. "Besides, we know all the passageways by heart now." I nodded at him in agreement, as I finished off the snowman by placing two stones for its eyes.
"So, what's going on with Angelina then?" I asked, seeing as the two of them had begun speaking to each other again over the last couple of weeks.
"Same as usual...she wants to get back together again," my brother now stated rather grimly.
"And?"
"What do you mean, and? There's nothing more to it—this is just how we do things. You should know this by now George," Fred spoke, although he wasn't even attempting to be convincing.
"Yeah, well she's been getting worse if you ask me...every little thing sets her off, not to mention she's demanding." I regretted saying this, as my twin now shot a glare at me.
"Sorry, I didn't realize you were qualified in giving relationship advice...seeing as you haven't even told Calista how you feel after over a month of you two shagging...and not to mention, you've been hiding it from everyone," Fred spoke, as it was me who now glared at him.
"I don't see why we can't just take things slow...why do I have to rush into telling her how I feel—it's not like she's admitted anything herself," I began to speak. "Besides, Almira didn't make a fuss out about those things…"
"George, don't be thick. Girls never want to be the ones to have to admit their feelings first...trust me, she's waiting for you to say it," Fred spoke with certainty in his voice. "And you really don't want to go basing your decisions off Almira...c'mon George, she's a lot more different than other girls."
Before I could interject, two large snowballs came flying at Fred and I, both hitting us at the same time. As a second one now hit me in my side, I looked up to see both Ginny and Ron throwing as many of them as they could at us—all while Lee, Hermione and Calista began preparing the snowballs, and passing them on to the two.
As Fred and I attempted to duck for cover, I spotted Calista handing over a snowball to Ginny, and with a smirk on her face, whispered in her ear and pointed in my direction. With a quick nod, my sister began running towards me with the snowball in hand. Before I could give her the chance to get closer to me, I ran in her direction, and as I approached her, grabbed her by the shoulders, and threw her into the nearest snowbank causing her to burst into a fit of laughter.
I now saw Calista chuckling to herself, all while the others began attacking Fred. Seeing as she was so distracted by her laughter, I threw a snowball her way, which snapped her out of her hysterical trance. As the snowball now made an impact with her shoulder, she quickly reached down to form one of her own—but by the time she had managed to begin forming it, I had grabbed her by her collar, and shoved her onto a snowbank.
"You're going to regret that!" She yelled, attempting to escape my grip, although I had now managed to pull her down into the snow, pinning her arms to the ground as my body hovered over hers.
"Oh, yeah?" I said grinning at her, as she now struggled to escape my grip on her wrists, eventually giving up and teasingly biting down on her bottom lip.
God, I just wanted to kiss her...in front of everyone...but what if she didn't feel the same way back?
The longer we lay there, staring into each other's eyes, the more I began to not care about what I had just thought. Her teasing smile softened into that of a more kinder, affectionate one, her eyelashes fluttering as each new snowflake fell onto them.
As I slowly began to inch towards her face, thinking that it was now the perfect moment to finally admit how I'd been feeling, a large snowball came at me out of nowhere, hitting the side of my face with an impact.
Looking up to see who had just done this, Fred now had a huge grin on his face as he looked down at me.
"Fred! You git!" I yelled, as I quickly stood up from Calista, who now began to chuckle.
Running towards Fred at full force, I now tackled him into the nearest snowbank, as both Ginny and Ron now began to pile up onto the two of us, all while throwing snow in our faces.
"Seriously Fred?" A voice from the entrance of the courtyard now spoke—Angelina. "This is why you couldn't wait for me?" She spoke with annoyance in her voice while glaring at Fred and our siblings.
As we all now fell silent at Angelina's outburst, I looked over to see Calista attempting to hold in her chuckle from seeing my younger siblings attacking Fred and I. She stopped, however, as Angelina's piercing stare shifted from Fred to her.
Fred pushed Ron off him, quickly standing up and brushing the snow off him as he walked up to his girlfriend.
"I'm sorry...George and I needed to see Harry about something," my brother said in an attempt to convince her. As I now lifted both Ron and Ginny up from their feet, Hermione pulled Calista off hers.
"I thought it was just going to be us," I heard Angelina whisper to him, annoyed.
"No...he told you Calista and I were coming along, and that Lee might join later," I now interjected, as the others were too distracted with something Lee had begun to talk about.
"Besides," Fred now spoke to soften the blow from my remarck. "Ron and Hermione are meeting up with Harry, and Ginny's not allowed out to Hogsmeade anyways." He said, trying to reassure her.
"Whatever...let's just go," Angelina said, now beginning to walk down to the path to get to Hogsmeade. Before I turned around to face the others, I saw Fred reach for her hand, but he was quickly refused as Angelina batted it away rather annoyedly.
I now turned to face the others who continued to joke amongst each other.
"You lot coming then?" I questioned as Calista, Lee, Ron and Hermione all nodded their heads at once and followed my direction, now making our way down to the village.
As we finally arrived in Hogsmeade, Ron and Hermione quickly greeted us off, as they had plans to meet up with Harry.
Before the other five of us headed into The Three Broomsticks, I noticed Fred's gaze linger in the direction of a short Ravenclaw girl who was now seated alone at one of the benches outside of Tomes and Scrolls, her nose buried into a book.
"C'mon," I said, giving my twin brother a quick push from the back. "Before Angelina sees you."
As we all took our seats in the pub, Angelina continued to pester Fred about every little thing.
"So, where's Andy and Oliver? Are they not going to join us today?" Calista asked, attempting to break the rising tensions between my brother and his girlfriend.
"Oliver mustered up the courage to ask her out...finally," Lee now spoke up, looking up at me with his last words, insinuating the obvious, to which I glared at him for.
"Do you hear that Fred? The two of them are out on an actual date, just the two of them...alone." As he continued to ignore her remarks, Calista stood up to remove her jacket, revealing her bare legs in her skirt. As Fred, Lee's and I's gazes momentarily rested on her, Angelina quickly spoke up.
"You should wear that skirt more often Calista," she now said looking her up and down with a deathly glare. "It makes you look a lot taller."
"Um, thanks," Calista said, sitting back down into her seat with a look of discomfort on her face. Before I could angrily retort back to Angelina's backhanded compliment, Madam Rosmerta approached our table to begin taking our orders.
"Nice seeing you all today...excited for the Holidays?" She now asked, looking around at everyone's awkward expressions caused by Angelina. "Anyways, what can I get for all of you?", she asked as everyone now began to give her their orders. I turned to see Angelina now elbowing my brother quite angrily, setting off one of my last nerves with her.
"Uh, sorry...can you make that two instead?" Fred now asked Madam Rosmerta uncomfortably. I guess the anger on my face showed, as Calista now placed a gentle hand on my arm, calming my nerves instantly.
"Speaking of Holidays...Calista what're you up to during the two weeks?" Lee now asked, trying to break the tension that had gone far past being awkward.
"Oh, I normally stay at the castle...catch up on schoolwork or whatever…" she now trailed off with a rather sad expression on her face.
For some reason, the thought of what she'd be doing for the break had never crossed my mind up until now. However, now that she said this, the others and I were normally back at home each year, which is why this detail always went unnoticed.
"Why don't you come to The Burrow then? Harry and Hermione usually join us...they are this year," Fred now spoke up. Although I'd normally be irritated at the fact that it wasn't me who got to ask her, I felt as though Calista would feel a certain pressure if it was me who asked, so I let Fred be the one instead.
"Oh...no, that seems like a very last minute thing to ask of your parents. I wouldn't want to put that burden on them," she now spoke to Fred, although her gaze slowly shifted to mine, as if she wanted me to say something.
"They wouldn't mind at all, honestly. I think you should come," I said, now directly speaking to her. A small, yet shy smile began to form on her face as she began nodding her head.
"Yeah...I suppose it would be quite nice to take a break from here," she now said in agreement. "As long as your parents say they're fine with it," she said looking at both Fred and I.
I must have completely forgotten about Anglina's outbursts only minutes ago, because the look on her face now said it all as she turned to Fred in anger.
"You never ask me to come over to yours during Christmas, what's up with that?" she now spoke angrily to Fred, as she nodded her head towards Calista. This seemed to be the final straw for my brother as he now spoke up angrily himself.
"What do you mean, why? You go to Portugal every year with your family! Why would I ask?" Angelina quickly stood up at his words, and began to head for the exit.
"Wait, Ang..." my brother calmly said, as he began to sit up.
"Fred, what're you doing? Just let her be...she's doing it on purpose," I now spoke to him, however it flew right over his head as he continued out the exit, quickly following her.
It was now Lee who stood up following Fred's exit, and began to speak.
"I should probably try calming them down," Lee said; and with that, Calista and I remained to be the only ones left from our group. I let out a frustrated sigh as I combed back my hair with my fingers.
"Sorry about that," I now said, turning to Calista who gave me a look of concern. "She really gets on my nerves when I see her treating him like that."
"You don't need to apologize, I understand," she calmly spoke with a small smile on her face.
"Do you want to go elsewhere? I'm starting to get sick of this place." She quickly nodded her head in response to my question, as we now made our way out of the pub.
Calista's POV
For the rest of the afternoon, as I attempted to get George's mind off of everything that had happened a mere couple of hours ago, we browsed the many shops of Hogsmeade, including Honeydukes, which we now began to head out of.
"God...today was a weird day," George now spoke as I tore off the packaging from the lolly I had just bought. I quickly nodded my head in agreement as I placed the red sucker in my mouth, George now turning to me as we walked down the snowy village. "You're very quiet today," he said with a grin on his face, as I now noticed his gaze rested on my mouth.
Noticing this, I decided to tease him, as I slowly pulled the lolly from my mouth, making sure to suck on it gently as it made its way out of my mouth. As I now grazed it against my lips all while looking up at George with wide eyes, he suddenly stopped in place, grabbing my arm that held the sucker.
"What do you think you're doing?" He spoke with a smirk on his face. As my arm now began to drop, he reached for my lips with his fingers, now gently grazing them while tugging slightly. "Didn't I tell you what I'd do if you continued to do things like this?" He asked with a huge grin on his face, as I teasingly shook my head no.
"Maybe you need to tell me again."
"Fred's not here anymore darling."
Before he could further do or say anything, a sudden invisible force crashed into me, nearly knocking me to the ground—luckily George's quick reflexes came to my rescue as always, as he easily gripped my arm with one of his large hands, pulling me into his chest.
Although his actions normally would have caused me to be distracted, the footprints that I now began to see form in the snow were much more alarming.
"Sorry, sorry! Excuse me, sorry!" A concerning voice, who I now discovered to be Hermione's, shouted. As she and Ron both began to run down the path out of Hogsmeade, I looked up at George, who gave me just as a bewildered look as I had, the two of us now running after Hermione and his brother.
As I attempted to catch up with George, we now reached the edge of the forest, where the three of them stood—Hermione now giving a concerned look to all of us as she turned to face the large boulder on the ground. I quickly walked up next to where Hermione stood, a confused look on my face as she reached her hand out grabbing at what I thought to be air; however, it was Harry who now appeared to be underneath the shimmering cloak that Hermione pulled off of him. He seemed to be distraught, with a mixture of anger.
"Harry, what happened?" Hermione now asked gently.
"He was their friend...and he betrayed them," I turned my head to Hermione, giving her a muddled look. "He was their friend! My own godfather!"
As I turned around to see George, he gave me just as a confused and worried look as I did.
"I hope he finds me," Harry continued, as I now began to catch on to who he was talking about—Black. "I hope he finds me...because when he does, I'm going to be ready."
"When he does, I'm going to kill him!"
Although Harry had come to grow on me over the past few months, it was only until now where I felt a huge wave of sympathy for him. The boy, who only months ago I held bitterness for, now sat in front of me with watery eyes, as I now couldn't begin to imagine what he went through.
"Harry…" I spoke gently, now reaching out a hand to his arm. "I'm so sorry."
He gave me a small nod as he quickly wiped his eyes.
"Harry, let's head back, okay? It's beginning to get dark out…" Hermione now said to Harry who gave her a nod, as the five of us now headed back to the castle.
As the three friends now walked quite a ways ahead of George and I, the two of us walked in silence for most of the way, as he seemed to be very concentrated in his thoughts.
"You look like you've had something on your mind all day...are you alright?" I eventually asked him, breaking the silence as we began to near the entrance of the castle.
"I have had a lot on my mind today to be quite honest," he now said, not making eye contact with me as he scratched the back of his head with a look of nervousness on his face.
Now standing in the courtyard, we both stopped in our tracks, as George continued to speak.
"There's just some things I've been wanting to say…" his words began to slow down, as he looked down at me shivering, my bare legs shaking from the drastic temperatures.
"Are you okay?" he now asked concerningly. I quickly nodded my head, as I wished for him to continue speaking.
"Yeah, I'm fine...I guess my choice in wardrobe wasn't smart for today."
"Maybe you should go change, no?" He asked. "Do you want to meet in the library instead? We have some time before dinner."
Although I really didn't want to wait to hear what was on his mind, I didn't think I could bare the cold any longer, so I quickly nodded in response.
"I should be down in fifteen...I won't be long," I now said in anticipation.
"Okay, see you then," he gave me a small smile as we now both began heading back to our respective common rooms.
George's POV
As I hurriedly, yet nervously made my way down to the library, my mind raced with ideas of what exactly it was I was going to say to her. All I knew is that I could no longer keep my feelings for her bottled up, and that waiting any longer wasn't an option. The more time I spent together with her, the more those feelings intensified, as I'm sure they now became more obvious to everyone around me.
Upon entering the library, only a few students were scattered across it, as my eyes now searched for her. After looking around, only to find she hadn't gotten here yet, I waited about ten more minutes before deciding to head towards the Slytherin dungeons, as I no longer had the patience to tell her.
My heart raced a million miles a minute as I neared the lowest part of the castle, only now noticing that I had my fists clenched in anticipation. Although I had no way of knowing how she'd react, I had some intuition on how she was feeling as well.
As I clambered down the last set of stairs, skipping three steps at a time, I began to hear quiet whispers nearing the entrance of the dungeons. As I neared, the whispers suddenly transformed into almost complete silence until I turned the corner.
"Mm...I knew you'd cave in…"
Standing only meters from where I now stood frozen, was Pucey, with his hands wrapped around Cali, his lips pressed against hers. As both of his hands now reached down to squeeze her backside, my instinct was to rush to grab him off of her, but she only further continued the kiss.
No longer being able to stand the sight of the two together, I quickly made my way back up the stairs and far away from them as possible.
Calista's POV
As I quickly changed into my warmer clothes, I rushed down the stairs of my dormitory and out the doors of the common room, anticipating what George planned on telling me in the library.
My excitement; however, was almost immediately brought down to angst, as Adrian now walked towards me with satisfaction in his step.
Although I attempted to just ignore and walk past him, he grabbed onto my arm, pulling me back towards him.
"I'm not doing this anymore...let go of me you prick." Although I thought my words would only anger him, a devilish grin appeared on his face.
"So you and Weaselbee are actually going at it then?" He now said placing a loose strand of my hair behind my ear. "I'm impressed Calista...I thought you'd stay a prude forever."
I decided to remain silent at his words, as I now grabbed his hand off my wrist, which he surprisingly let go of without hesitation. I gave him a glare as I began to walk away, my back now facing as I neared the staircase.
"Oh, Calista...one more thing," he began to speak, although I continued to walk away. "I don't know if I ever told you that my father is the head of supervising in the Department of Magical Law Enforcement."
I suddenly stopped in my tracks, as I didn't like where this was going.
"Last I remember, the Misuse of Muggle Artifacts office is part of it...isn't it?" My heart nearly stopped at his words, as I now knew where he was headed with this.
"I don't have time to discuss your family's career choices...goodbye."
"It's funny...I remember hearing that Weasel's father works in that joke of an office," he now said quite cockily, as I felt my eyes begin to water. "No wonder him and his family live in a shack...he couldn't have chosen a more useless career than that one." He began to approach me once more, now placing one hand at my waist, and the other firmly grasping my face.
"He's lucky I haven't reported him to the Headmaster yet...after what he did to me," he said with anger to his voice. "It wouldn't look good for his poor father if the Ministry found out about his son's violent attack on the Department head's son, would it ?"
"Leave him out of this," I now said sternly. "It's not his fault you missed your chance." With my last words, Adrian let out a loud scoff.
"Please, I never wanted you and I never will," he said, his eyes now beginning to wander down my body, as his grip on my waist and face still remained. "But seeing as Weasley now gets to enjoy you, I want in too."
As I now understood what I had to do, I let him press himself against me as he brought his face to mine, now desperately kissing me.
"Mm...I knew you'd cave in…"
Not wanting to give him the satisfaction of fighting back his kisses, I went along with his advances, as he now brought his hands down to my ass, roughly squeezing it. As my eyes remained closed the whole time, I attempted to imagine George being the one kissing me right now—yet it remained impossible.
Adrian now suddenly stopped, and pulled away from our kiss as he now spoke with a smirk on his face.
"I don't want to spoil all the fun at once," he now spoke with a glimmer in his eye. "Besides, I plan on staying here during the Holiday...we'll have plenty of time to continue then." He gave me one last grin before heading back into the dormitories, as I now allowed the tears to come streaming down my face.
All I wanted at this moment was to be wrapped around in George's strong arms, and be pulled up against his chest, as he told me that everything would be okay.
Only now remembering I had planned to meet him in the library, I quickly made my way up towards it on the first floor of the castle, tears still remaining to stream down my face.
As I walked into the library, wiping my face with the sleeve of my shirt, the only person I noticed to be in here was a Ravenclaw girl, who was now seated at one of the tables, scribbling on a piece of parchment.
I continued to look around the room; however, George was nowhere in sight. Seeing as how tonight's events unravelled, every bit of energy and sanity I had left in me, I let loose as I began to once more weep into my hands, now taking a seat at the table closest to me.
I knew I was being terribly loud, as the Ravenclaw girl hesitantly approached me and began to speak.
"Um, hey...is everything alright?" My cries only became louder as she began to speak to me. "Sorry, that was a rather dumb question...is there anyone I can fetch for you? Perhaps a friend?" Although George was the only person I wanted to speak to at this moment, I couldn't possibly ask a stranger, so I quickly shook my head no in response.
"Calista?" A familiar voice spoke suddenly.
With puffy red eyes, I looked up to see Fred now standing directly in front of me with a worried expression on his face. He kneeled down to get on my level, as he now looked me directly in the eyes.
"What happened?" He asked, attempting to get my eye contact; however, I couldn't possibly face anyone right now except George.
Seeing as I wasn't responding to him, he looked up at the girl who continued to awkwardly stand there with a look of empathy; however, clearly having no idea what to do.
"I have no idea what happened," she now spoke to Fred, who's gaze she had now earned. "She only got here a few minutes ago."
"Hey, Calista, speak to me," he said, now placing a reassuring hand around my forearm.
Although my sobbing had now died down, I remained silent as I knew there was a high chance of me breaking down if I attempted to speak.
I believe the girl who now stood before me could sense this, and spoke up once more.
"I think it's best that I give you two space to talk," she now said, giving Fred a small smile. "I believe she's in good hands."
"Thanks…" Fred began to speak, seemingly waiting for her to give him her name.
"Rowan," she now said.
"Thanks Rowan," he said with a look of admiration. "Fred," he now said, introducing himself.
"I know...have a goodnight then," she said, as she now gathered her belongings and exited the library.
Fred now finally turned back to me, his worried expression still remaining, although my crying had now ceased.
"I won't pry if you don't want me to," he now began to say. "But at least try to speak to George about whatever this is about."
"Did you mean it when you and your brother invited me to stay at yours this Christmas?" I now managed to speak for the first time.
"Yeah, of course," he said with a small smile on his face. "It'll be the first time we have a Slytherin over...and dad never misses the opportunity to discuss anything Muggle related—I'm sure you'll be a catch." His words had now managed to reassure me, as he now got up from where he crouched.
"You coming?" He spoke up again, this time nodding his head for me to stand up. "George should be heading down to The Great Hall for dinner now."
Now standing up, I felt slightly light headed from all the crying, as I continued to wonder where George had been all this time, seeing as he said he'd meet me here. Nonetheless, I followed Fred out of the library and headed towards The Great Hall.
As the walk from the library to The Great Hall gave me enough time to compose myself, I felt a weight lifted off my chest as I now saw George walking down the corridor that connected to the courtyard. Fred, who now noticed his presence from afar, gave me a quick nod and told me he'd now head into the hall.
"George," I spoke, as he now looked up and noticed me. Although I expected the look on his face to be much more cheerful than it was now, I still managed to give him a small smile.
"Oh...hey," he now said, rather dully.
"I uh...couldn't find you in the library just now," we both now stopped in our tracks to speak.
"Oh, right...forgot about that." Although I attempted to ignore the strange air he was currently giving off, it bothered me either way.
"It seemed as if there was something you had to say earlier."
"No...I don't believe there was," he said with an annoyed look on his face. There was definitely something up with him; however, I couldn't pinpoint it.
"Is this about earlier...with me getting invited to yours for the Holiday?" I now asked with the only thing I could think of that would possibly make him act like this.
"No, why would it be?" He now asked, seemingly unbothered by this conversation.
"I just didn't want it to be weird...that's all," I said, taken aback by his tone.
"Why would it be weird if you came? We're just fooling around."
If this evening's events weren't already making me feel so low, I still don't think I would be able to handle the words that George now spoke. It felt like a piece of glass was being dragged across my chest, as he now stood there, not even looking at me in the eye, as he spoke to me.
"Right," I now said, holding back my tears.
"Anyways, I'm not hungry tonight...I'm heading back to the common room." And with his last words, he immediately headed back to Gryffindor Tower, without even looking at me, or saying goodnight.