Things Will Never Be the Same Again

“George Weasley!” I exclaimed, “What brings you to this part of the castle?”
“Well, you,” He replied. I felt my cheeks burning at the thought.
“Oh, so you’re not here to sneak into our common room?” I asked, mainly just to change the topic of conversation.
“Nah, well, only Ravenclaw’s have a real chance of opening that door,” He looked at me and smiled, “most of them anyway.”
“Just so you know I was very close to opening the door just now, you interrupted my thought process,” I replied defensively.
“Oh, I interrupted you? So your next guess was going to be better than food and money then?” He asked in his usual playful tone. I knew he was joking but I still couldn’t help feeling a little offended.
“Yes, actually three is my lucky number!” George continued smirking at me. “Well fine smart guy, what would you say the answer is?”
“Well, obviously it’s a secret.” As soon as the words left his mouth the eagle’s beak opened.
“Quite right!” The knocker sung as the door creaked open.
“Oh you’re welcome,” said George with a look of satisfaction on his face which reminded me an awful lot of Draco, “maybe I got sorted into the wrong house after all…” He pondered looking thoughtful. By now my face had taken on a whole new shade of red. I was embarrassed that I hadn’t been able to figure out the riddle myself, angry that George was being so condescending and rather happy that I was talking to George at all. Over all I felt very confused.

“Right, I’ll just leave you to your thoughts then shall I?” I glared at him, it seemed as though my anger was the ruling emotion at the moment.
“Oh,” said George looking puzzled. “I actually thought, maybe, we could go for a walk, or something,” he said in a quick voice.
“No thanks, there are only so many times that I can handle being made fun, between you and Malfoy my daily limit had been reached.” I spun around and stepped through the door, I tried to throw it shut but something had lodged between the door and the frame. It was George’s foot.
“Jess, I’m sorry if I crossed a line,” He said through the gap in the door while I tried my hardest to ram the door shut. “I was only joking around, I thought you realized”

I knew I was being childish but I really did hate being laughed at.
“Sorry, I’m not the smartest Ravenclaw, but you have already proved that”
“Jess, I’m sorry!” He pleaded. “Let me make it up to you?”
“No,” I mumbled, feeling a bit ridiculous as I noticed how many people were in the common room and watching my humiliating display.
“Let’s do something Saturday,” George said in a soft voice. I was shocked enough to forget about pushing the door closed and the people staring at me.
“I don’t know… Do what exactly?” I whispered toward the gap.
“Hang out, me and you”
“Just us?” I asked hopefully.
“Yeah, of course,” George replied. I slowly pulled the door open to see him leaning toward the door, his foot still next to the frame. His face was a bright crimson red. I smiled at him.
“Ok,” I nodded, he returned my smile.
“Cool, well, I’ve got to get to charms, I’ll see you later”
“You’re supposed to be in class?” I asked, shocked by his complete disregard for the rules.
“Yeah, had to follow you didn’t I? Never been to this common room before,” He shrugged, his face was still the colour of Elmo. I think he realized too because he was suddenly looking down a lot to hide his face.

“You couldn’t have waited until dinner to ask?”
“Too many people around, making a scene isn’t really my thing”
“Really?” I asked, it seemed like making a scene was exactly his thing. He just smiled at me.
“I’ll see you around Jess” He waved walking back toward the spiraling staircase.
“George, red is a good colour on you!” I called to his back as he started his climb down the stairs. I heard his laugh echoing off the walls in response.
For the rest of that day I felt the happiest I had in such a long time. I even managed to smile through the mountain of homework I’d acquired from my first day. It really was quite frightening how much I really had, I knew it was only going to get worse. But the only thing that I could think about was the upcoming Saturday.

“Jess, come on! What’s going on?” Marietta asked, shaking me a little as we started settling down in our room, having eaten an enormous dinner.
“Oh I think it’s too late now, I’ll fill you in tomorrow,” I replied, faking a yawn. Apparently my extremely good mood had been obvious at dinner because I’d been interrogated throughout it.
“You seem very happy,” Luna said dreamily from her bed.
“Yes, very happy,” Marietta agreed. Cho and Padma continued watching the conversation form their beds with interest.
“Alright, alright!” I sighed, “I got asked out”
“Really, by who?” Cho asked, leaping onto my bed.
“George Weasley!”
“Oh my gosh,” Padma gasped, “a seventh year?”
“Well, yeah, I guess. He’s really cute don’t you think?”
“He’s very nice,” Luna said in her high voice as she lay down and turned off her light.
“Thanks Luna!” I grinned in her direction. I was thankful for her response since no one else in the room had said anything. “Well, what do you guys think?”
“I think you will make an adorable couple,” said Cho while the other two nodded in agreement. They looked like they wanted to say something else though, Marietta especially.

“Do you think you will be hanging around with his brother Ron more then?” Cho suddenly asked.
“I really don’t know, why?”
“Because Cho wants to get to know Potter, if you know what I mean,” laughed Marietta from across the room. Cho started blushing.
“Harry?” I asked.
“Yeah, he’s really nice, I think I like him,” Cho whispered. “Can you imagine if I dated Harry and you dated George? We could go on double dates!” She exclaimed in a low voice.
“We could all go into Hogsmeade together and maybe even have meals together somehow…”
“Well, how about you work out if you like him for certain first, then we can go from there,” I answered patting her on the arm. I think she realized she was getting a bit too ahead of herself.
But that night, after everyone had managed to stop debating about the best looking guys in the school, I couldn’t help but sharing Cho’s train of thoughts.
I could just imagine Cho and I double dating with our new boyfriends, sitting down by the lake, having picnics. Sometimes fantasies are so much better than real life.

The next morning went surprisingly well, it seemed like I was getting better at waking up on time. Cho and I even managed to make it into the Great Hall on time without all the frantic running around.
“Look Cho, look who’s sitting behind you!” Marietta giggled as we sat at the Ravenclaw table. Cho and I turned to see Harry’s back sitting directly behind us.
“Shh! He might hear you!” Cho hissed. I laughed along with Marietta as we all started nibbling at pieces of toast.

“Maybe we should go say hi,” I smiled across at Marietta.
“That sounds like a wonderful idea Jess,” She nodded.
“Oh come on, stop it!” Cho sighed.
“Come off it Cho, we’re just having a laugh,” Marietta replied, rolling her eyes.
“Well, maybe you should go over yourself Cho”
“Jess, I can’t!” She replied, shaking her head furiously.
“Sweetheart, if you don’t talk to him how can you expect to be asked out by him?” I asked her. All morning she had been raving about how good looking he was and how proud she was of him. Apparently he had done something spectacular the year before and won some kind of tournament. I thought she would be excited to have a decent conversation with him.
“I will, now just isn’t the right time”
“Right,” Marietta rolled her eyes at Cho. “Will the right time come before our Defence Against the Dark Arts lesson?”
“I don’t think so especially since we are meant to be there in ten minutes!” Cho said glancing at my watch.
“That seems like plenty of time to me,” I whispered to Cho. She gave me a look of contempt before standing up and picking up her bag.

“Come on, we have a new Professor, who knows what she will be like.” I’d never seen Cho so irritable before, I knew to drop the subject straight away and it looked like Marietta did too because neither of us said anything more as we left the Great Hall.