Is this a game?// Weasley

Chapter IV.

„Well hello there partner."

George approached the table with a grin on his face. He exchanged hoodie and sweats for a grey sweater and slacks. From the neckline, you could see the collar of the white shirt underneath and a knot of the Gryffindor tie. I turned to Cedric, with minor irritation in my eyes.

„Anyhow, Soph, I guess I will see you at the end of the class," said Cedric already taking his things. It felt like I could hear slight disappointment in his voice but I didn't read much into it. He eyed George and took off to find his partner. When he was gone, George plopped on the chair next to me, putting his backpack to the leg of the table. His face was still in possession of that grin and I started to wonder if it's not just how he always looked.

„So I guess we will see each other more now." He winked at me and crossed his legs on the table.

Immediately a light flashed from across the room and swept his legs from a table. He almost fell off his chair which earned few snickers from others. I followed George's glance and my eyes landed on Snape. Of course. He would take any chance to harass Grifindors in some way.

„Ten points from Griffindor," he said with his nasal voice without hesitation, „one more senseless thing from you Weasley and it will be a detention."

I pulled out my book and turned to the correct page, trying to get working on the potion. George got closer and peeked over my shoulder. Apparently, the fact that he had just lost ten points from his house was a normal activity, some sort of welcome ritual between him and Snape.

„We will need an infusion of wormwood, powdered root of Aspho.." I started naming ingredients.

„Sooo, have you already figured out what is that game that we are playing?" he asked and playfully poked into my shoulder, completely ignoring my attempt to do the work we were actually supposed to do.

„No."

I stood up and headed to the storage room, taking the cauldron with me. I couldn't get into more trouble. I already had detention with Snape and I didn't want to add more days of it. On the other hand, I would really like to get a better picture of what happened yesterday. Yeah, my thoughts were pretty conflicted at that point.

„You really don't remember anything from that night?" he followed me with questions.

Without giving any answer I put the cauldron in his hands and started putting in the stuff we will need to make the potion. Half in my thoughts, I almost spilled a jar of dried leeches. I could practically hear Snape from behind his table stating another bunch of hours I would be in the detention but a hand swiped from behind me. George caught it and put it back on the shelf.

„Not even that part where we kissed?" he continued.

At that moment you could literally hear my jaw clattering on the stone floor. I spun towards him, my eyes almost out of the sockets. He looked at me, his eyes indicated nothing. Just a smirk lingering on his features had traces of some emotion.

„We what now?" I managed to spill after I collected myself.

At first, he looked pretty serious but then he couldn't keep it together anymore and burst out laughing.

„You really don't remember anything." Giggling, he looked at me, „There was no kiss between us, I was just joking...." he took another ingredient from my hand and put it in the cauldron, „...or was I?" he winked and took the cauldron to our table, leaving me in a storage room questioning my sanity.

The rest of the class went by pretty quickly. Except for some stupid moments, George was quite helpful and we were able to finish pretty decent draught. Snape even marked our work „below average" which is actually high praise from him. By the time the class ended we had a clean cauldron and a handful of notes for the potion.