Protégée (George Weasley)

Chapter Twenty-Nine

It was a late night for Noel, having gotten back from mass detention with a load of homework still needing to be done and not enough time to do it. He decided to pull a late nighter, walking back to the Gryffindor tower with a stack of books in his arms which he had to beg Madame Pince for, as he had caught her in the middle of closing down the library when he came. The castle was quiet at night, Noel enjoying the momentary peace.

His heart almost leaped out of his chest as he saw a pair of people standing at the hallway leading to the portrait hole, calming down as soon as he had realized that it was only the Branson twins. There was an odd look of determination on their face, during the years that Noel had known them he had never seen quite a serious look on their faces. "Cal, Maise, what are you two doing past curfew?"

"We could say the same for you, Noel." Maisie countered, "So you can't really hold that against us."

"We need to talk." Callan said tersely, Noel's brows raising at the serious looks on their faces, "O-kay. About what, exactly"

"You know what it is." Maisie said to him, arms crossing over her chest, "Our sister. You like her. She doesn't like you back. Your friendship is falling apart."

Noel blinked at this, "I don't have to talk to you two about this. Its a matter you're too young to be apart of--"

"Please," Callan rolled his eyes, "Its not Arithmancy. We understand what's happening perfectly. We get it, you need your space to mull around in your feelings--"

"But Lis is your best friend." Maisie finished, "You two were practically connected at the hip. This is getting ridiculous, Noel. Have you seen her? She's miserable without you. And we both know that she doesn't have that much friends to begin with--"

"Or any friends at all," Callan interrupted, "Except you and Katie."

"Its not like I don't miss her too." Noel frowned, "Godric's sake I miss her everyday and it hurts not being around her but... I just don't know if it will be the same anymore. I can't look at her knowing that I'm in love with her and she doesn't feel the same way."

"No offense, Noel, but you need to get over yourself." Maisie deadpanned, a look of shock passing through her twin brother's face at her bluntness, "You hid your feelings for my sister all these years because you didn't want to ruin your friendship, correct? Well, its out in the open now and there's not that much you can do anymore to hide it--"

"--nothing at all.." Callan chimed in, nodding his head.

"--and you're still letting it ruin your friendship now? Even when there are things you can do to save it like oh, I don't know, talking to her?"

"Or setting things aside because if she really is your best friend then you will always have her best interest at heart." Callan added, "No matter what, you should always have her back. You can't keep avoiding her because she's trying to find happiness with a boy that she actually likes. Lisa's never really liked anyone. You should be happy that she does."

"Even if it's not you." Maisie quipped in, "She'd do the same for you if the roles were reversed. If she was the one who loved you, and you loved someone else, she would set things aside and be happy that you're happy."

Noel was stunned to silence, a brief moment of silence passing through the three of them as Noel processed what he had just heard. A feeling of guilt washed through him, realizing that the twins were making perfect sense, Noel feeling rather confused as to how these twelve year olds gave him some sense of clarity.

"Yeah, feeling real guilty now, aren't you?" Maisie spoke, cutting through the silence, Callan putting a hand on her shoulder, "Don't rub it in, I think he gets it now."