Choices

Valerie narrowed her eyes when she spotted her younger brother with his gang facing off against Harry Potter and his band of friends. Draco was looking down his nose at the people in front of him and there was no doubt that a heated argument was in progress between the two groups. Valerie sighed out loud and quickly walked towards the angry cluster.

It was Draco’s second week of his first year and Valerie already knew that things were going to be a lot different than the other two years she had been at Hogwarts. With her brother here all the rules she had lived by were gone, such as the one that stated not to go near the Weasley family. Draco had broken that one as Valerie could clearly see three bright redheads as she weaved across the crowded hallway towards her brother. She should have seen this coming, Draco had clearly made an enemy of Potter and the Gryffindors and unlike her, he wasn’t going to avoid confrontations. Valerie cursed the stupidity of boys and the fact that their father pushed his pureblood ideas on Draco so hard that she knew her brother was only doing this to make him proud.

Valerie was now close enough to see that her brother must have said something to upset the Weasleys because the three present moved forward towards her brother with obvious threat written in their posture. One of the twins grabbed her brother roughly around the collar and she could tell from the tension in his body that he was moments away from punching Draco.

Her protective instinct rose up. There was no way in hell that Valerie was going to let them hurt one blonde hair on Draco’s head. There might not be much she could do at home against her father’s constant bullying of her brother but the same was not said here.

“Get your hands off my brother,” Valerie said coming to stand next to Draco and turning her grey eyes to the twin holding him. She let the warmth from her eyes disappear and the Malfoy family mask of superiority slip on.

“Merlin’s beard another Malfoy! One was bad enough,” groaned the twin Valerie recognized as George.

It was strange to think that even thought she was in the same year as him and his brother this was the first time she was having a conversation with George. Usually if they were in the same classes she had left them alone and they hadn’t bothered her. It had seemed to work pretty well but the arrangement looked like it was now over.

“I said get your hands off my brother,” Valerie repeated making sure that there was a hint of warning in her command.

“I am not deaf… which is why I heard the maggot you call brother insult Fred,” George’s grip tightened on her brother’s neck and Draco made a choked noise.

She hadn’t expected this behavior from George who had always acted more mature and calmer than his twin—which wasn’t saying much—yet she guessed that like her when it came to his brother he would do anything to protect him.

Valerie moved on instinct and placed herself right in the middle of the two boys. There wasn’t much room so she ended up being much closer to George than she anticipated. Not only could she see that George was lean yet still broad in the shoulders she could feel the subtle muscles and the strength in him. From her position she found, much to her dismay, that he was rather handsome. His hair was of course a shocking ginger color that would have made him stand out even if he wasn’t so mischievous and a troublemaker. The color and the fact that it boldly pronounced him as a Weasley—blood traitors in her family’s eyes—should have been an immediate turn off. However, Valerie had the oddest reaction of wanting to run her fingers through the hair and see if it was as soft as it looked. George’s tall height made her tilt her head back so that she could meet his sparkling brown eyes that spoke of his impish and roguish nature. Valerie was even more shocked when his scent of cinnamon invaded her senses and made her lose focus for a second.

She never lost control of herself.

Valerie prided herself on always being cool and collected and if just a few minutes in George’s presence was doing this to her she was worried. Better to get this confrontation over and done with as quickly as possible.

“Let go of Draco,” Valerie demanded, placing her hand on the one that was holding her brother. Then to add more emphasis she dug her wand in his chest while trying to ignore the way it had felt like she had pointed it into a hard wall.

“Going to curse me little lamb?” George taunted with a wicked smirk while he waved his twin, who was about to rush over to help him, away.

“Without hesitation,” she answered with conviction, pushing down the strange feeling of not wanting to hurt the boy in front of her.

George’s grasp on her brother slackened enough so that Draco sucked in a lung full of much needed air but despite this Valerie only had eyes for George as he looked her up and down with such intensity that she felt exposed in a way she never had.

“Looks like the little lamb has a bit of spirit,” George grinned once more before abruptly letting go of Draco so that he fell flat on his butt. Valerie stepped away from George’s hypnotic presence and knelt next to her brother.

“Are you okay?” she whispered to him, knowing he would be embarrassed about her having come to his aid as well as falling down. He nodded as she took his arm and they both stood.

“This is far from over Potter!” Draco immediately spat out at his foe. “You all better watch your backs!”

He eyed George evilly once more before spinning around and walking down the corridors, heading for the Slytherin common room. Valerie didn’t follow after him instead she lifted her wand once more at George.

“Threaten my brother again and I will curse you,” Valerie warned. Fred chuckled and George didn’t look remotely worried.

“You might as well do it now because I have no doubt that I will be having words with that thing you are unfortunate to call your sibling.”

Valerie wasn’t about to let him taunt her so with a last cautionary look she swept past him with her chin held high. She was all the way across the corridor and about to turn down a smaller hall when George had the audacity to call to her with dozens of people around.

“Until next time little lamb!”

Valerie blushed red in embarrassment and mumbled to herself that she should have cursed him.