Not Alone After All

Chapter LVIII

It was the 15th of November, and Laura was sitting by herself in the library. She was studying for Advanced Arithmancy, the one class she was having trouble with. Her studies, however, were interrupted by one George Weasley.

"What the-" she exclaimed when he grabbed her book from her hands, earning a shush from the librarian. "George what are you doing?" she whispered at him rather harshly.

"We need to talk," he told her, grabbing her hand and pulling her form her seat.

"Did you have to literally pull me from my seat?" she frowned, following him outside the library.

"I can't be seen in the library, I do have a reputation to uphold." Laura rolled her eyes, but she didn't say anything until the two came to a stop in an empty corridor. Only then was she able to notice the emergent look on George's face.

"What's wrong-"

"Fred just asked Angelina to the Yule ball," he blurted out. Laura's jaw fell to the ground. Had George not told Fred about Angie? Even if he hadn't, how little attention had he been paying for him not to realise George had a thing for her?

"What? When?"

"Just now. In the Great Hall. It was a dare. Ron dared him to ask someone and he asked Angie," George spat, a look of disgust on his face. "I was planning to ask her to Hogsmead. It was gonna be perfect. Fred just had to come and snatch that away. It doesn't even make sense, he doesn't like Angelina-"

"George slow down," Laura told him, placing a hand on his arm. "He doesn't like Angelina? Then why did he ask her?"

"Well, he wanted to ask you but-"

"What?"

The two froze, both pairs of eyes wide in surprise of what George had just said.

"I mean... H-he was debating it. But he thought it was kind of weird, seeing the age gap. I mean, he's almost of age."

"I mean, Hermione is going with Krum, they're three years apart, and Cedric just asked Cho Chang, and that's a four year difference- wait, don't change the subject. He was going to ask me?"

"I mean, yeah- wait, you said Diggory asked Cho Chang?" George asked her, his face going paler by the second. Laura frowned.

"Yeah, he did," Laura told him. "Why does that even matter?"

"He though- we thought..."

"You thought Cedric had asked me?" Realization fell upon Laura's face. "Is that why Fred's been cross and acting like an idiot? He though Cedric had asked me and I had said yes?" George pulled a face and scratched the back of his neck.

"Uh..."

"That's the dumbest thing I've ever heard," she snapped at him. "What happened to communication? Had he asked me about Cedric, I would have told him the truth: Cedric wanted my help to ask Cho out, seeing as she's in my year. Had you told Fred you wanted to ask Angelina to Hogsmeade, he wouldn't have asked her. What is wrong with the two of you?"

"Well, you could have asked-"

"I could have asked?" Laura repeated incredulously. She couldn't believe her ears. "I did ask. I asked Fred what on Merlin had him so mad at me, and he told me I knew what I'd done wrong. Turns out I did! I did absolutely nothing wrong! You two are absolutely bonkers. I usually mean that in the good way, but I'm not sure anymore."

Laura turned on her heels and walked away, back to the library, not giving George the chance to respond or stop her.