George Weasley x Reader ~ Jaffa Cake

21 - Zoned Out

George, Harry and Fred were all sat on a small, slightly mouldy bench on the grounds of the castle, accompanied by you and Hermione who were sat huddled on the floor, your head on her shoulder as you listened to her quill scratching furiously across her parchment. It was a breezy day in late February, and you were all occupied with three different sets of homework. Yours and Harry's work was a Potions essay, Hermione's was an advanced Ancient Runes translation and Fred and George's no longer existed - in other words, they'd both taken to drawing rude things on them before shrinking them and holding them up to be taken away by the wind. As you watched the two teeny pieces of parchment resembling little feathers float away, Harry's quill paused on the parchment that was flat on his potions book.

'Y/n, what are Lacewing Flies again?' he asked you, looking down at you from his paper. 'I need to describe them for some extra empty words.'

You lifted your head from Hermione's shoulder and gave him a look before reciting exactly how you'd described them yourself. 'Lacewing Flies are mundane flying insects named for their large, transparent laced wings. They are green in colour, and are most commonly used in Polyjuice Potion where they must be stewed for twenty-one days. The diet of these particular insects consists of mainly aphids.'

'Brilliant', he replied eagerly once he was sure you'd finished speaking. 'Could you repeat that for me in English?' 

Giggling at his attempt at a light hearted joke, you repeated what you'd previously said much slower so that Harry could copy it down and alter it as he pleased. You noticed Fred was eyeing up your parchment, so you gathered it to your chest and held it tight.

'No Fred, you're not shrinking my parchment', you told him firmly, earning a cheeky grin from him. 'Anyway I think I'm done, so I'm gonna drop this off in mine and Hermione's dorm room.'

Everyone nodded at you except for Hermione, whose frantic scribbling was getting faster and faster as she processed more and more information. She merely waved her free hand, before gripping it to her parchment and bringing her face closer to it. Leaving your bag and belongings on the floor, you rolled up the essay you'd successfully written and began speed walking towards the Gryffindor tower, not wanting to spend too much time away from the others. 

After about 2 minutes, you were panting and gasping for air as you hobbled up the tower having finally reached it. Clearly speed walking was a skill you didn't realise you had until now, the only downside being low stamina. Allowing yourself to recollect a steady breathing pattern, you said the password to the Fat Lady, who'd become quite fond of you despite your house. You rushed to the dorm room you and Hermione shared, placed your parchment under the first of your two pillows, then pushed the door open and rushed back down the tower. That must have been a record time, and you had to admit that you were pretty impressed with yourself. 

Speeding along a thin hallway back towards the group, you thought to yourself how right now was probably the right moment for you to miraculously walk into someone you most likely knew. You held onto the thought, braced yourself for possible impact as you reached the end of the hallway and turned the corner, before walking (as you had predicted) straight into Cedric Diggory.

The familiar sickening jab engulfed your body. You ignored it.

'Sorry Ced', you muttered, dusting yourself off and smiling up at him. 'I was bound to walk into someone.'

'It's okay y/n', he replied, fluffing his hair and returning your smile. 'I'd rather it was you than Cho at the moment.'

At the mention of Cho, your smile disappeared, which was quickly replaced by a frown of concern. You wondered if Cedric knew what had happened between you and Cho.