Wizard Swears and Weasley Twins

George’s POV:

Seeing Caroline in just a bikini made me remember that summer after our fifth year of school.

Ron, Caroline, Harry, and Hermione had all just finished their third years. Harry was staying with us for the summer and Caroline and Hermione were coming for a few weeks around the beginning of July. I had been sitting in the kitchen waiting for them to arrive by floo powder. Fred was supposed to be waiting too, but he was much more impatient than I was even.

Suddenly, I heard a thud, some coughing, and someone muttering Dang it! She had never been good at travelling by floo powder. I walked into the living room to see a gangly figure with long, brown hair sitting on the floor, covered in soot and trying to brush it off. Then, she looked up, her big chocolate eyes shining, and broke into a grin. I would know that smile anywhere, and against the black soot on her face, it was even brighter. She jumped up and hugged me despite the soot everywhere. Actually, she probably did it on purpose, but anyways. Hermione followed shortly after, in a slightly more graceful manner.

I called to Mum, who came rushing in from the garden, hugged them both, and then quickly got a towel for Caroline to use to wash up. While we waited for her, I took Hermione down to the lake behind our house where Harry and Ron were, and as it happened, where Fred had ended up as well. I couldn’t get Caroline off my mind. There was something different about her. I couldn’t quite place what it was.

Then, she showed up behind me, making me jump. She was wearing a large t-shirt that looked like one of mine or Fred’s. I asked her why and she just smiled and said Because I won’t be wearing it long, after which she pulled it off and sauntered down to the water. In just her bikini, I noticed what had changed about her. She had a body. She had curves. She was gorgeous. I mean, she had always been pretty, but she had been so stick skinny for her tall frame. I had never seen her as anything other than the funny, quirky, smart little girl that followed us around pulling pranks on people and getting out of it with her charming little girl smile. She wasn’t a little girl anymore.

I stared until after she dove in the water and had resurfaced, smiling and bobbing along. I didn’t quite understand. This couldn’t have happened in just a month since we’d seen her last; it had to have started during school. But I never noticed.

During the next three weeks while she stayed at our house, I started to like her. *Really* like her. She seemed way more mature, which I’m sure had also started during school, and everything she said was funnier or smarter or sweeter than usual. She wasn’t the little girl tagging along anymore, now she seemed to be in charge. Fred and I basically followed her every command, and went along with all her schemes.

To be honest, I think all the guys in the house fell in love with her briefly during that summer. She pretty much got her way on everything. I think she might have known too, but she never said anything about it.

Anyways, during the next school year, they all got over it. I didn’t. She still had some kind of hold over me. I wanted to do anything and everything to make her happy. I tried not to show it because I didn’t think she felt the same way, but sometimes, I couldn’t help it; she would look up at me with her big brown eyes and smile, and any intention I had of ignoring her went away.

She became my best friend, other than Fred of course, that year, and has been ever since. The three of us were super close, and everyone just started referring to us together. It wasn’t just Fred and George anymore. It was Caroline, Fred, and George. Then, that led to the summer after our sixth year when she stayed with us for a few weeks again, which led to this year when I still liked her as much as I ever had, but could never tell her.