Secrets Only Trouble Knows - George Weasley

56 - My Distraction

{ A/N: This is a little bit of a shorter/filler chapter due to big events coming in the next one that would best be kept in their own chapter :-) }

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The rest of the school returned shortly after New Year which proved to be both good and bad for me.

In some regards, I was incredibly happy to have the castle full again because it meant I could be around the friends I'd missed dearly the past two weeks. When they arrived back at Hogwarts, I practically tackled them all in hugs and immediately asked them everything— how their holidays were, what they'd gotten for Christmas, how their families were doing. When I saw Fred I even asked him about him and Callie's Hogsmeade date since I never got the chance to that day (yes, they had an amazing day together and yes, they were going to hangout alone again).

But in other regards, the return of students for the start of the term also meant I had to be in the same vicinity as George again. And let's just say that was incredibly awkward now that I'd had the... certain epiphany I did over the holidays.

So when classes started up, I didn't necessarily avoid George, but I tried everything I could to not to be around him when he was with Angelina.

First of all, it made me feel uncomfortable and almost even guilty about Angelina because of the feelings I had for him while he was with her. But, most notably, it also made me upset. I wanted George to be happy, yet it was incredibly hard for me to witness him acting the way he did towards Angelina. I didn't like seeing all of their flirting and everything else going on in between, especially since every time it only just brought back the painful memory of them kissing in front of me in The Three Broomsticks.

It didn't help that I had to share a dormitory with Angelina either. Once again, I didn't hate her. She was still a sweet girl and had been kind to me throughout our time at Hogwarts, but now I just felt so awkward and tense around her given the situation.

It helped that I had Callie rooming with us so I was never left alone with only Angelina, but I almost wished it was just Callie and I in our dorm and no one else. That way, I could feel like I could breathe. I wouldn't have this constant reminder of not being in a relationship with George anymore whenever Angelina was there in the dorm at the same time as me.

—

My mind was thankfully taken off all things George and Angelina when Thursday hit. Harry, Jasper, and I were having our first anti-dementor lesson of the year tonight, courtesy of Professor Lupin, and I was too ecstatic about that to think of anything else.

When 8:00 in the evening neared, the three of us left the Gryffindor Common Room and headed for the large History of Magic classroom. It was dark and empty when we arrived, but we lit up lamps with our wands and waited only five minutes before Lupin walked in, carrying a large packaging case that he heaved up onto Professor Binns' desk.

"What's that?" Harry asked curiously, standing up from his chair to get a good look.

"Another Boggart," Lupin replied, taking his cloak off. "Very luckily, I found this one lurking inside of Mr. Filch's filing cabinet. It's the nearest we'll get to a real dementor, because the boggart will turn into one when he sees you, Harry."

He then turned to face Jasper and I. "The only problem is," he continued, "you two don't see dementors as your boggarts which would've made practicing easier. But, no matter, we can make do with that. What I've decided we'll do is each session, we will first practice the spell I am going to try to teach you as we would normally. Then, if Harry is willing, we will have him demonstrate with his boggart so that you all can hopefully see and experience what the spell actually does when used to combat a dementor. Everyone understand?"