𝙿𝚊𝚛𝚊𝚖𝚘𝚞𝚛 | 𝐅𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐖𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐥𝐞𝐲

• Chapter 19 •

George's POV:
I had been waiting outside the Hufflepuff common room waiting for Hallie and Sage. Finally after what felt like forever Sage came out carrying her usual mass of books.

"Hey sage! Where's Hallie?"
She looked at me with such an expression she didn't even have to say anything for me to know what she meant.

"Sorry, good morning Sage. How are you?" I corrected
She nodded "Hallie is sick."
"What?"
"She woke up with a fever."

"Is she ok?"
"Of course."
"Well who's going to take care of her if you're not there? Has she eaten? Have you taken her temperature? Did she take medicine? Did she-"

Sage placed a calm hand on my arm "She's fine."
"Are you sure?"
She nodded. Of course Hallie was fine, I knew that. She wasn't a child in need of constant attention but I couldn't stand the thought of her being alone all day.

"Go on then." Sage sighed waving me off in the direction of the common room and their dorm
"Thanks." I said heading in

I passed the common room and up to the girls dorms. I knocked as quietly as I could trying not to startle or draw attention to myself.

"Sage you don't have to knock, I'm not stripping in here!" Hallie coughed
"I'm afraid it's not Sage but if you wanted to strip I wouldn't be opposed." I joked

"George! What are you doing here?"
"Well I heard my girl was sick so I came to take care of her."
"Well aren't you precious." She smiled
"I try."

I set my bag down and sat next to her on the edge of her bed.
"So what's the temperature?"
"A hundred and one."
"Oh that's not too bad." I said making sure she wasn't too warm

"Don't you have classes?" She sighed
"Yeah but I'd rather hang out and take care of you."
"You mean skip class."
"Tomayto, tomahto."

"Mhm." She rolled her eyes
"What can I get you?"
"A cup of tea please?"
"Of course."

I left her in her dorm room and headed to the kitchens, making sure to avoid most open spaces and getting caught. I got her some tea and refills to take with me as well as some food, one of my sweatshirts and blankets because she too often complained about getting cold.

"Gone to see your girlfriend then?"
"She's sick and shes not my girlfriend Fred." I replied
"Please, you only give your sweatshirts to girlfriends."
"Really? Then you should be handing yours over to Sage any day now."
Fred went beet red, I knew it.

"What would give you that stupid idea?." He mumbled "Shouldn't it be Angelina?"
"Really? Really? Really?"
"Shove off."
"Thought so." I said walking away

I headed back up to Hallie and Sage's dorm with all stuff in tow.
"What took you so long?" Hallie laughed
"Fancy seeing you here." Sage smirked
"Go harass Fred, he misses you."

Sage gave me the most passive aggressive look I've ever seen, she was good at that. Hallie snorted a laugh which turned into a coughing fit."
"Karma." Sage stuck her tongue out at her and headed for the door
"Bye." I laughed
"Bye."

"You brought me a sweatshirt?"
"Of course, anything for you."
"Kiss up."
"Haven't I told you? A smart man sucks up."

I went into her bathroom and went through her mirror cabinet, where she told me the medicine was.
"Georgie."
Oh Jesus.
"Yes?"
"Can you hand me that brown bear off of Sage's bed?"

"What! Do you want her to kill me?"
"No, no, no, she would be fine with it."
"Really?"
"Yes. She always lets me have it when I'm sick."

"Why? Isn't that kind of... strange?"
"Well, it smells like her."
"Hallie that's creepy."
"No! She smells like lavender which is supposed to have a calming affect."

"You're, scaring me." I said handing her the bear
"Hey! Its not that weird!"
"Okay... sure."
"Shut up."
"Take this." I said handing her the normal dosage of medicine

"Thanks." She said downing the cup
I looked over her books trying to decide which one. I ended up picking the most worn looking one.
"What are you doing?"
"Not sniffing someone else's stuffed bear, that's for sure."
"Drop it."

"Im going to read."
"You are?"
"Sure! Scooch over."
Hallie moved so she was next to the wall and there was enough space for me to sit next to her. She looked at me suspiciously pulling the covers up to her chin.

About twenty minutes into me reading aloud the most depressing book I think I've ever seen Hallie had drifted off and I stopped reading.
"You freak with the depressing books" I whispered

Fred had been making fun of me for weeks that I had obvious feelings for Hallie. I thought he was just teasing like I teased him about Sage but the twitch in my hand that ached to brush the hair away from her face and the instinctive need to be as close as possible to her told me otherwise.

I hadn't really considered it before. Was my flirting with her more than playful? Have I secretly known that I've had feelings for her this whole time?

Was there, even a small chance she might like me too? I don't think it would be worth jeopardizing our friendship though. Maybe that's why I came here.

Maybe I wanted to take care of her cause I maybe, loved her. Or is that ridiculous? It's probably ridiculous. It's not like I was gonna do anything about it anyway.

I slowly got up from the bed, deciding to let her sleep in peace. I grabbed my bad from the cubby of her nightstand. I took one last look at her peaceful figure and turned to leave when I felt a hand grab my wrist.

I felt horrible, I'd woken her up with my movement probably.
"Will you, will you stay with me?" She asked
"Huh?"
"I- I want you stay here with me. You know, you make me feel, sort of better."

Nope, no amount of feelings I had would be worth jeopardizing this. Fred can tease me all he wants.
"Stay?"
"Of course."

1050 Words | May. 1 2023

It's the first of the month 💃🏽
How is it May already? Time is passing too quickly!