Sketchbook ~ George Weasley

Chapter 40 - The Truth and Little White Lies

It was already dark when we made it to the castle from Honwydukes, and I had missed all of my afternoon classes. Still, I didn't regret going out like that, and I was glad Fred and I could gain a closer friendship. Sometimes, even when you think you're really close with someone, you don't realize how little you know about them.

I helped carry the bags back to the common room, and we both went to our respective dorms. When I walked into the room, none other than Hermione was immediately in front of me, bombarding me with immediate questions.

"Are you alright?" Hermione said. "You weren't at the dorm when I got back, but you said that this is where you would be."

"It's okay, Hermione. I was with Fred. We spent the day together," I said, walking into the room a bit more to get ready to head to bed.

"Oh, was someone out on a romantic rendezvous with one of her secret boyfriends?" Lavender said.

"What?" I whipped my head to the girl behind me. She sat on her bed in pink silk pajamas, brushing her taut curls.

"We all know that you jump around from guy to guy," Lavender said, not looking away from her hair. "There's really no need to start playing coy about it now."

Suddenly, a sickening realization sunk in as I turned back to the girl before me. "Are you the one who started the rumors about me?" I ask.

Lavender stands up now, stalking towards me. I could tell we were garnering the attention of the others around the room. "It's not a rumor if it's true."

"First, that's literally not how rumors work. And, second, it's not true," I say.

Lavender scoffs, "Please, you just used me until you could get your hands on those Weasley twins. And when you were done with them, you went after poor Cedric and Harry. I drew the line at the Yule ball when you were there with your date, stealing another girl's date, and flirting with Ron Weasley."

"Flirting with Ron? We probably talked for all of two seconds," I say before my eyes widen, and I stumble backward. The world almost seemed to spin, but I caught myself so that I could keep going. It was you. You were the one who stole my sketchbook that night at the Yule ball. You were the one leaving those notes?"

"Well, I had to. Someone had to put you into your place! I helped you out because I felt bad for you, but, in reality, you were just using me until you could fuck over all of these innocent guys."

"Firstly, again, not true. And even so, you decide to sadistically leave notes for me to find, scaring the shit out of me and the people who care about me, and then steal my property and leave it in your best friend's nightstand?" I yell, practically shaking, with either anger or anxiety or both. Every simple emotion suppressed over the past few months finally made its way up, bubbling to the surface.

"You did what?" Parvati asked, staring at Lavender, who ignored her. She was too fixated on me as she was clearly straining her brain for something to say back. All of the girls in the room were looking in our direction now.

"Oh, so you went through all our drawers looking for it?" Lavender finally retorted.

"No, you left the drawer cracked open, so I saw it in there," I almost laughed. "You're not even good at stealing things and then trying to set up your best friend for the whole thing. You're lucky I didn't go to a professor about this. She could have gotten into serious trouble for something she didn't do."

"N-no," Lavender said. "That's not- I wasn't trying to set her up. I just thought since you two were close, you wouldn't look there."

"That doesn't matter, Lavender. I could have gotten detention or even expelled because of you!" Parvati pipes up. "I'm sorry if you thought poorly of me because of this, Paige. I promise I didn't know anything about this."