Slip Me That Love Potion, I Dare You, George Arthur Weasley

Two more weeks had passed since I’d first realized I might possibly like one of my best friends. The feelings of fear and confusion I felt definitely did not disappear in those two weeks. Instead, they grew stronger, stronger to the point where I couldn’t deny it to myself at all. The fact was: I liked George Arthur Weasley. The thing that worried me the most was if he ever found out about it, the six years of friendship we cherished would all go down the drain.
For me, that just wasn’t an option.
It was about a week until Halloween, but today everyone third year and above was going into Hogsmeade. The twins and I decided to beat the crowd and use the secret passageway that lead directly into Honeydukes, which was hidden beneath a one-eyed witch statue near the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom. We looked around to make sure no one was looking, and Fred tapped his wand on the statue’s hump.
‘’Dissemdium,’’ he whispered, and the hump of the witch opened to reveal the dark, wooden tunnel.
We all climbed in, and as soon as I was all the way inside, the tunnel closed, leaving us all in complete darkness. One of their arms was brushing against mine, probably George’s since Fred was already ahead of us, which left goosebumps. I silently hoped that I could make it seem like they appeared because of the cold air circulating throughout the narrow passage.
‘’Lumos,’’ we all said at the same time, the tips of our wands lighting up the damp, wooden tunnel. The three of us walked for a good ten minutes, until the square door on the ceiling appeared. George pushed it open slightly, peeking out to make sure the coast was clear, giving us a thumbs up and climbing through the floorboards into the backroom of Honeydukes. Fred and I followed.
The candy shop was absolutely overflowing with people, mainly students. Everywhere you turned stood delicious sweets that could easily get you to empty your pockets of money. It was a task in itself just to maneuver around the place without getting crushed or trampled by excited third years. Speaking of third years, I stumbled across Ginny Weasley, who’d been looking at Exploding Bonbons.
‘’Hi, Ginny!’’ I called over all the noise in the shop. She turned around and smiled, giving me a quick wave.
‘’Hey, Naomi!’’ she replied, moving aside quickly to avoid an oncoming 4th year Hufflepuff. I shot a glare at the back of his head as he ran by. ‘’How’ve you been?’’
‘’Alright, I guess, the usual,’’ I shrugged, getting a plastic bag and putting some Sugar Quills in it, ‘’been keeping your brothers entertained, and let me tell you, that is not an easy task,’’ I laughed.
She giggled and rolled her eyes. ‘’Figures, although I’m surprised they haven’t accidentally killed you yet, what with all these new ideas they keep coming up with. See, we’ve been hearing explosions out of their rooms for ages, but we never actually thought they were making things…’’ She paused to wave to her friend. ‘’We thought they just liked the noise.’’
I knew there was a reason I liked Ginny.
‘’Somehow I’m not surprised,’’ I shook my head, tying up the bag and looking around the store for the twins, ‘’I’ll see you later, alright?’’ She nodded and gave me a quick hug, squeezing her way through the crowd to get to her friends.
The three of us left the store with loads and loads of candy, which would probably last us quite a while. I actually had a secret stash of it under my bed, until Gwendolyn Rundell found it and most likely ate it, the pig. Fortunately, I’d mixed in some Weasley’s Wizard Wheezes prior to that. The next day, I found her in the infirmary with a majorly bloody nose, these nasty welts all over her face, and vomit everywhere. Disgusting sight, really. Oh well, she shouldn’t have devoured my candy like a greedy little hog.
We decided to head over to The Three Broomsticks, a small little nook that served as an inn, as well as a pub, for some butterbeer. We told Madam Rosmerta, the owner, what we wanted, and we settled down in a booth near the staircase, going through our accumulation of candies.
‘’Merlin,’’ George said, staring after her as she walked behind the bar, ‘’if I were just a bit older…’’
‘’I wonder how she is in the sack,’’ Fred wondered aloud, popping a chocolate frog into his mouth before it could make a getaway.
I hit them both on the back of their heads. The frog flew out of Fred’s mouth and started hopping towards the door.
‘’She’s probably more than twice your age,’’ I addressed them both, taking out a liquorice wand and biting off the top. ‘’Oh, and Fred? You’re about to hate me.’’
He looked at me oddly. ‘’Wha-‘’
‘’HEY FARRAH!’’ I yelled across the room. She was sitting alone at a table, drinking her butterbeer and reading the newspaper. I waved her over when she looked in our direction, so she picked up her stuff and got up.
George’s face was full of amusement, while on the other hand, Fred looked as if he would like nothing better than to hide under the table forever…or stab me in the throat. It was hard to tell.
‘’Here, come sit with us,’’ I smiled to her, motioning to the empty spot next to Fred, who was focusing very intently on a crack in the ceiling.
‘’Oh, well thanks,’’ she beamed, sliding into the booth and putting her mug down, sticking the newspaper in her bag. Madam Rosmerta came with our butterbeers, which we all started drinking straightaway.
I had to try very hard not to laugh at how nervous and shy Fred looked sitting next to Farrah. Honestly, it was so adorable, I nearly squealed, and I don’t squeal very often.
‘’So Farrah,’’ George grinned, ignoring Fred’s glare, ‘’you know my brother Fred here?’’
‘’Indeed I do,’’ she smiled, adjusting the knitted white hat on her head, ‘’sold me some Canary Creams and Patented Daydream Charms a month ago. You two are bloody brilliant, by the way. I could never create half the things you guys do.’’
‘’Why thank you, you’re too kind,’’ they both gushed, clinking their mugs together and drinking some more of their butterbeers.
‘’You’re in my dormitory,’’ she said to me, cocking her head a bit to the side. I thought for a minute before I realized she was right. Farrah slept four beds away from mine.
‘’That’s weird, I never realized that,’’ I laughed lightly, rummaging through my rucksack and pulling out an Acid Pop. ‘’Want one?’’ I offered.
‘’I’ll pass,’’ she giggled, sipping at her butterbeer, ‘’I kind of need my tongue. It’s sort of a necessity, you know.’’ That caused Fred to blush like mad. Farrah noticed it and blushed too, trying to hide it by looking down at the table. Holy fruitcake…this was too adorable. I snuck a peek at George; you could tell the gears in his head were turning by the way he looked back and forth between the pair…which somehow caused me to blush. It was like a god damned blushing festival, I swear.
‘’Naomi and I have some…knitting to do,’’ he finally announced, getting up and pulling me out of the booth with him. I looked at him confused. What the fuck, I don’t knit!
‘’What-‘’
He clasped his hand over my mouth. I was tempted to bite it. ‘’We’ll leave you two to chat.’’ He saluted them both and bowed to Farrah. He’s such a goof. ‘’See you later, then.’’ And before I could protest, I was being dragged out of The Three Broomsticks by my scarf.
I was hit in the face by a gust of ice cold wind the second we stepped outside. I wanted to hit George for dragging me out…but the look of determination on his face made me want to kiss him at the same time. Oh, and I was still hungry.
‘’Knitting?!’’ I exclaimed, grabbing my scarf back from George and walking briskly beside him. He just shrugged and zippered up his jacket.
‘’I just wanted to give them some privacy,’’ he said in all seriousness, ‘’I had this feeling the chicken shit was finally going to ask her out.’’
I thought he might’ve been right on that one, but I guessed we’d find out once we ran across them again. We went into Zonko’s Joke Shop and got some more Dungbombs before heading back to the castle. We couldn’t get back in through Honeydukes, since most of the staff was hanging out near the hidden entrance, so we had to walk. It was more of a struggled waddle, really, what with all the wind nearly knocking us over. Finally, my legs couldn’t take it anymore, and I collapsed overdramatically, laying eagle spread on the half frozen ground.
‘’Go on without me!’’ I yelled, resting my hand on my forehead to add onto the effect. George’s face peered over my limp body quizzically. He rolled his eyes.
‘’If I didn’t care about you, I’d be walking away right now,’’ he sighed, grabbing my arm and pulling me to my feet, ‘’but since I’m in an odd mood…‘’ He paused to smirk at me evilly. ‘’I’m carrying you.’’ And before I knew it, I was slung over his shoulder like a sack of Gurdyroots. Oh, fuck no; heights do not sit well with me.
‘’GEORGE ARTHUR WEASLEY!’’ I screamed, flailing around like a dying Grindylow in hopes of no longer being airborne. Yeah, it didn’t exactly work, considering he started hysterically laughing, tightening his hold on me so I wouldn’t escape. Ruddy bastard.
‘’Yes, Naomi Aldina Marwick?’’ he asked mockingly, the tone in his voice making those Blast-Ended Skrewts in my stomach start rampaging again. Oh, how I wanted to kick him.
‘’…You’re my very best friend in the whole wide world,’’ I said as sweetly as possible. All that got me was a smack on my bottom. Whenever he puts me down, this boy is getting hexed into another dimension.
‘’Not a chance in hell I’m letting you go, sugar cup.’’ I could practically hear the smirk in his voice. I was beginning to have a problem staying mad at him; the boy was just too…too…adorable. I sighed in defeat, knowing how he gets when determined, and let him carry me the rest of the way back to Hogwarts. We passed a few students along the way, probably thinking George was off to go bury a dead body according to how I looked, but I could honestly care less. All I wanted to do was eat my candy, go on a sugar high, and pass out.
It was a couple of hours later, and the Gryffindor common room was packed. I’d already gotten into my candy, and let’s just say… can you picture the Weasley twins cowering in a corner?
‘’George,’’ Fred said nervously, watching me carefully in fear of being tackled or something similar, ‘’if we die today, I just wanted you to know that I’m still better looking than you and mum considered giving you to muggles when you were first born.’’
‘’Fred, I just wanted to let you know that you’ll always be a right bloody git.’’
I wasn’t really paying attention to their petrified banter. Instead, I was running around the common room in circles, causing people to run and dive out of the way in fear of being run over. In reality, I was too hyper to give a shit who I trampled, hence why the twins were huddled in a corner, clinging onto each other like scared magnets. I’m sure it was quite the entertaining sight to anyone who was brave enough to watch.
I jumped up on the couch near the fireplace and started bouncing on it like a child. I reached into the bag on my shoulder and took out some Pink Coconut Ice, popping it into my mouth and doing this funky little dance. I could feel numerous eyes watching me.
I heard someone yell ‘’ACCIO BAG!’’ over the noisy chatter of other people, and before I knew it, my bag was off my shoulder and flying towards George. He caught it in midair with a satisfied smirk, Fred’s face mirroring his.
I stopped jumping for a minute and stood there in shock. I guess the twins were expecting a different reaction from me, because when I pouted and made myself start to cry, they looked scared and unsure of what to do. I love having acting skills.
‘’Aw, don’t cry, Naomi,’’ George said sincerely, running his hand up and down my back. As upset as I was acting, his touch didn’t fail to give me the chills. He handed me my bag back, but the second he did, I took off at a run. I nearly fell on another Weasley as they were entering.
‘’Sorry, Ron!’’ I yelled back to him, pushing open the door to the Gryffindor common room and taking off down the corridor. I could hear footsteps running after me, so I ran faster, turning the corner and hiding behind a suit of armor secured in the corner. I knew this whole thing was over candy, but damnit, it was my candy, and nobody touches my candy.
I heard the footsteps stop a few yards away from me, and I held my breath in fear of being caught and picked up again or something. I then heard more footsteps, but they were coming from the opposite direction I’d come from. When I heard the voice of Severus Snape, I started to panic.
‘’Out of bed after hours, Mr. Weasley?’’ he said dangerously. I could hear the tiredness in his voice. ‘’And you, Miss Marwick? Get out here where I can see you.’’
I slowly stepped out from behind the suit of armor. George was looking at me from the corner of his eye. Even when he was a kid he wasn’t scared of Snape.
‘’May I ask what you are both doing wandering the halls this late?’’
‘’We could ask you the same thing, Professor,’’ George shot back, crossing his arms over his chest as if he had some sort of authority over the glaring teacher. Snape did not look amused in the least.
‘’Five points from Gryffindor, Mr. Weasley. And another fifteen for the Decoy Detonator I found in my office this morning. Your little pranks and practical jokes are not nearly as amusing as your little brain thinks they are.’’ He paused to aim his poisonous glare at me. ‘’Off to bed, both of you.’’
I grabbed George’s arm and pulled him back in the direction of the common room.
‘’I wonder what he does to his hair to get it that greasy,’’ George pondered, slinging his arm around my shoulder. I shrugged in response, trying to hide my fluttering nerves by laughing.
‘’He’s probably never seen a bottle of shampoo in his life,’’ I giggled, reaching the large picture of the Fat Lady that hid the Gryffindor common room.
He grinned that grin of his and gave the password. ‘’Polyjuice.’’
The painting swung open and we stepped inside, finding the room fairly empty, apart from a few third years playing Wizard Chess. I was about to ask George if he knew whether or not Fred had grown some balls and finally asked out Farrah, but I didn’t have to. They were engaged in a snogging session on a sofa chair near the middle of the room. You have no idea how happy I was; I nearly gave away the fact that we were watching them.
George smirked to himself, whispering in my ear, ‘’he finally grew a pair.’’
I felt very much like a proud mother