Secrets Only Trouble Knows - George Weasley

42 - I Adore You

{ A/N: 'Adore You' by Harry Styles was stuck in my head while I wrote this, so it partly inspired this chapter :-) Give it a listen if you strangely never have before lol }

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George's POV

"George, stop bouncing your leg, mate," Fred said from the other end of the sofa. "You're making me nervous."

The time was 11:45 in the morning. My brother, Kol, and Lee were keeping me company in the common room as I waited for Nova to descend the stairs any minute for our date. Up until this very moment, I hadn't been anxious about what she and I were going to do today. Now, with just a few minutes to go, I was a complete mess.

She and I had been alone before, doing things just the two of us, plenty of times. But we'd never considered them to be "dates." Today was different, and the formality of it all was making me overthink everything.

"I can't help it, Fred," I grumbled, rubbing frustratedly at my eyes. "I'm kind of freaking out here."

"But why?" Kol wondered as he casually sunk further into the armchair he was sitting in. "You both like each other. There's nothing to lose. I don't think anything can go wrong," he shrugged.

"What if she doesn't like what we're doing?" I ran a hand through my hair. "What if she's bored? Do I even look okay—?"

"George, relax," Fred cut in firmly. "She's gonna like what you're doing, she won't be bored, and you look great. Stop getting in your head, mate."

"Yeah, everything will be fine," Lee assured me. "You've got nothing to worry about."

Out of nowhere, two hands clapped down on my shoulders, causing me to jump. I swiveled to see it was Jasper looming above me from behind.

"George," he drawled in greeting, gliding around the sofa and plopping lazily into the space between myself and Fred. He stretched his arms out along the back of the frame. "It's almost noon, isn't it?"

"Hey, Jasper. Yeah, it is," I looked to my watch, "Nova should be down momentarily to meet me."

"Right. Speaking of Nova..." he leant over and placed a hand on my shoulder again. "I'd like to have a little chat before you go off with her. Just to... reinforce a few things. Do you mind?"

Oh fuck. He was going to give me the classic protective brother spiel.

"Uh— n-no, not at all," I answered, swallowing the nervous lump that had just formed in my throat.

Jasper smiled, then politely asked the others nearby, "Can you give us two minutes, boys?"

He wanted to speak in private.

Suddenly I was terrified. Fred noticed and snorted. He saw the panic that had just spread across my face and found it utterly amusing.

Asshole.

"Certainly," he replied simply, pushing off the sofa.

Kol stood from the armchair with a smirk and brushed passed me.

"You two have fun."

"Don't traumatize him too terribly, Jasper," chuckled Lee.

Thanks for the help, lads.

"Only a bit, Jordan," Jasper promised, and my eyes went a little wide with fear.

He waited patiently for our friends to find their place amongst a group of students playing cards on the far side of the room before turning to me.