Euphoria ; George Weasley

Twelve

I just tested positive for covid...

-

Mention of self harm

The fresh cuts in my thighs were stinging as the fabric of my trousers rubbed against them.

I had relapsed, and I hated myself for it, but that's what happened when I got to the point of pure anger, and after last night, I had definitely gotten angry.

But I was calm now.

I always calm down after using the razor blades.

I was on my way to the courtyard where I was meeting with George to work on our project. I had actually taken the time to figure out what we had to be doing, so today we could get started.

George was already sitting in the grass when I approached.

He tilted his head back to look up at me, and I offered him a kind smile as I sat down, wincing at the pain from my thighs.

"I uh—" I cleared my throat as my voice came out quite hoarse. "I went and asked Professor Flitwick to explain the assignment again."

George nodded once, his eyes glued to me, and I couldn't read the expression.

It made me nervous, not knowing what he was thinking while staring at me.

Do I have something on my face?

Carefully, I dug into my bag for my small pocket mirror. I opened it to look at myself, and I heard George let out a breathy chuckle as I studied myself.

"What're you doing?"

"I—" I stared at him, slowly closing the mirror. "...thought I had something on my face."

He shook his head, still laughing.

"No. You just— you look more relaxed today." He said, and I felt myself blush.

That's because I sliced up my skin last night and it felt good.

"But what did you find out?" He asked and sat up, folding his arms over his chest while studying me. "What're we supposed to do with this project?"

"Uh—" I stared at him for a moment, feeling my stomach flip at the way he looked at me. "...we have to practice non-verbal spells and document our progress."

"Oh?" George raised his eyebrows at me. "Shit. I am terrible at non-verbal spells."

"Me too." I muttered, picking at the grass.

George scooted closer to me, and I quickly looked up, alarmed. He seemed to notice, putting two hands up in surrender.

"I didn't mean to scare you." He said. "I'm sorry."

"You didn't scare me." I said, shrugging. "Where should we uh... practice?"

He looked around, and I watched his face, watching him search for somewhere we could practice.

"Let's go off grounds." He said, getting to his feet. He turned towards me, offering a smile as he held out his hand.

I stared at it for a moment before glancing at his face. Then I grabbed his hand and he pulled me to my feet.

"Here you go." He smiled and picked up my bag, handing it to me.

I thanked him quietly, and his smile just grew. He waited for me to lead the way, so I did, walking towards the outdoor corridor.

"Can I ask you a question?"

"Depends on what the question is." I said, staring at the ground as I walked.

"You and Montague—"

"Then no. You can't ask me a question." I cut him off.

"Alright. Fair enough. I won't ask."

He mentally thanked him, pushing my hands into my pockets as we walked.

"Can I ask you something else?"

"Depends on what the question is." I repeated, and he let out a small laugh, catching up with me before matching my steps to walk the same pace as I did.

"Can I see some of the things you draw?" He asked, and that question caused me to stop walking.

He noticed, and he stopped as well, turning to look at me with a cocked eyebrow.

"Why?" I asked, feeling the need to defend my sketchbook.

Had he seen the drawing of his eyes?

"I'm curious." He said and shrugged, smiling widely at me. "I noticed you draw a lot. You draw while eating in the great hall. You draw in class. You draw in the library. You draw in the corridors sometimes when you sit against the wall."

I gulped.

"You've noticed?"

"Yeah." He nodded, tilting his head. "I told you I'm gonna make you my best friend, and best friends notice these things."

I watched him for a minute, licking my lips before I slid one strap of my bag off my shoulder, reaching in to pull out the sketchbook.

I went through my drawings before turning it around, holding it up to show him the drawing of Fleur Delacour.

"Is that..."

I nodded.

"I draw people. I draw other things too, but I like to draw people. I drew this last year." I said and then shut the sketchbook again, letting it drop into my bag.

George's eyes watched me with something I couldn't read.

"Impressive." His lips split into a wide smile. "You're really talented, little bird."

"Thank you." I muttered, feeling myself blush as I walked around him and continued walking.

We rounded a corner but then I froze. My eyes were locked on Graham and he seemed shocked to see me here.

Then his eyes landed on George who turned the corner after me.

"Anna?" Graham asked, his eyes glued to George. "Where're you going? With Weasley."

"We uh— we—"

"C'mon." Graham said, and grabbed my hand. "I don't want you hanging out with him."

"Graham, no."

He ignored me and tried pulling me, but George reached out and wrapped his fingers around his wrist, earning Graham's attention.

"Mate, she said no."

Graham looked at George and let out a laugh. He glanced at me and then looked down at George's hand.

"Let go of me if you want to keep that hand."

"Oh, you're threatening me?" George asked. "I'll let go of you once you let go of her."

"Dude. Mind your own fucking business. She's my girlfriend and you have no right—"

"Girlfriend or not, she doesn't want to go with you." George said. "So respect that and back off. If she wants to go with you, she will, but she clearly said the word no."

Then George turned his head and looked at me, his expression softening.

"Anna..." the way he said my name was soft, and I felt everything inside of me calm down. "...do you want to go with him?"

I didn't know what to do. I really didn't want to go with Graham, but I was terrified of him, and if I said no and humiliated him like this, he would kill me.

I looked into George's eyes and I didn't break eye contact. I never kept eye contact with him and I watched him realise that.

He knew what my answer was, and I didn't even have to say a word or move an inch.

"She's not going with you." George said, still looking at my eyes. "And if you don't take your hand off of her, I will hit you in the damn head with a bludger."