don't wanna be torn

1.3

as she rushed down the hall, thestia felt her face burning up and just knew it was bright red. she darted down the stairs, shaking her head and wondering to herself why- of all people- it had to be george weasley that had stumbled upon her practicing. her heart was pounding in her chest, and she chose to pretend it was only the exertion of quite literally running away from him. Silently berating herself as she went.

george had poked fun of her with fred, but he'd also sat with her in the weasleys garden. she'd thought they were friends, but it was easy to brush it aside as the delusions of an eight-year-old with a crush. he and fred liked to have a laugh. it was how she wrote off most of the things that had happened between them- they were children, and he liked to joke. she would just pretend it hadn't happened and go back to ignoring the feelings that welled up whenever they were near.

she knew all of those things were true, but somewhere in the back of her mind a memory resurfaced from the winter holidays the year that she turned eight.

it was the last holiday she'd spent with the Weasleys before her mother died. the three of them had been sitting by the fireplace to keep warm when fred thought it would be a brilliant idea to grab at the mistletoe that hung in the middle of the mantel, knowing how molly would use it as her excuse to greet arthur with a kiss as soon as he arrived home from work. thestia's initial blush faded quickly though when he tossed it across the room. it had started as a game of catch as they threw it at each other until with one poor toss, it landed directly between george and thestia.

or it would have landed there if it had moved beyond the low level levitating it was doing between their heads. none of them had done it on purpose, and their parents were still talking in the kitchen. so, they stood for a moment, confused as to whose accidental magic it was.

finally, fred decided to break the silence with a sly look at george. "well?"

george looked downright panicked, he was only 7 years old. "what do you mean well? well what?"

"you know what you're supposed to do when you're under the mistletoe, georgie."

thestia's face flushed as she processed the conversation with the twins. she glanced up at the small sprig for a moment before glancing back to george and over to fred again.

"oi, if you're too chicken, i can do it," fred said, a smile curling on his lips as he tried to bait his brother.

thestia hadn't actually dared to imagine that it would work or george would do it. though with the challenge issued, she should have realized sooner. especially from fred, who took a step towards her. she didn't have a chance to shout at him and say it wasn't funny of him to be having a laugh about it. george was suddenly there in front of her, eyes tightly closed as he kissed her right there in the middle of the living room of the burrow.

before thestia could even process it, fred was making a horrified face, staring between the two. "i can't believe you actually did it! i can't believe you snogged, thessie!"

george gaped at his brother for another second before he was chasing him up the stairs as they creaked and thundered beneath him. thestia watched the mistletoe fall. "i can't believe you did that!"

"what is all that ruckus about?" molly asked, stepping out of the kitchen and standing with her hands on her hips as she glared up the stairway. "they're going to wake up the whole village."

she shook it away again with a frustrated sigh. why in all of the world had she been cursed to have a crush on george weasley? why couldn't she be like the other girls in her house- and in her whole year- thinking diggory or someone was it. anybody really other than him.

she paused to catch her breath and leant her head against the wall for another beat before stepping down the final step to the hufflepuff common room's entrance. it kept her up sorting through everything in her busy mind, and even when she had been able to close her eyes, her sleep was restless.