This Can Never Be Real || George Weasley

Fifty one

𝐒𝐨𝐧𝐠 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫: 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐈 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐛𝐲 𝐤𝐨𝐝𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐞

September past in a blur. To be honest, I didn't pay attention to many of the details behind it.

For one, there was no Quidditch. There was nothing for me to do after class except socialize with my peers and attempt to do homework.

Another thing, the anticipation of the upcoming tournament made me think of everything but what happened in my day to day life. Me and the twins were planning clever ways to get our names into the tournament. Isa had researched endlessly, and found out that the judge who got chosen was the so called Goblet of Fire, which was basically just a fancy mug that spewed fire from it and had some sort of wisdom to it.

Yes; I still...had a thing for George. I had also been keeping in touch with My Dad.

One night I was sitting in the Common Room, George resting his head in my shoulder as I wrote an essay, when Hermione came over and sat down a box on the table, staring at me, then Ron, Isa, and Harry, who were beside me.

"What's that?" I asked.

She took the lid off and I raised my eyebrows. There were about fifty badges inside, quite shiny and colorful with the letters 'S.P.E.W.' on them.

"What's spew?" I asked, making George make himself comfortable in my lap.

"Not spew," Hermione said. "S-P-E-W. Stands for Society for Promotion of Elfish Welfare."

"So... spew," I repeated.

"I've never heard of it," Ron said bluntly.

"Well of course not, I've only just started it," Hermione scoffed.

"How many members are there?" Ron asked.

At this George let out a small whine and shifted around again.

"Five if you four join," Hermione said.

There was a beat of silence when Harry, Ron, and I looked at each other.

"And you think we want to walk around wearing badges that say spew, do you?"

"S-P-E-W!" Hermione hissed, grabbing a badge and tossing it onto my lap. It hit George on the neck and made him sit up abruptly, looking around wildly.

"What happend?" He asked groggily.

"Hermione hit you with her spew badge," I said. "Society for Promotion of Elfish Welfare or some shit..."

"I was going to put Stop the Outrageous Abuse of Our Fellow Magical Creatures and Campaign for a Change in their Legal Status," Hermione said. "But that wouldn't fit."

"Right," George groaned, rubbing his eyes and looking at the little badge. Hermione rolled her eyes.

"I've been researching it thoroughly in the library. Elf enslavement goes back centuries. I can't believe no one has done anything before now—"

"Hermione they don't want to be freed," George said, yawning. "It's their purpose— they LIKE being enslaved—"

"—our short term aims," She continued as if she hadn't heard George, "Are to secure their wages and working conditions. Long term is to change laws about non wand use and get an elf into the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures, because they're shockingly underrepresented."

"Hermione," Isa said. "You know a group like this is going to be useless if the house elf's aren't okay with it, right? And trust me, they won't be."

"We need to start by recruiting members, first and foremost." Hermione said, shooting Isa a nasty glare. "Two Sickles for a badge, and can help fund our leaflet campaign. Ron- you can be treasurer. Harry, secretary. George, Zell, and Isa are just members."

George looked at me and shrugged, handing Hermione two Sickles. Groaning, I slapped two Sickles into her hand, which made her smirk triumphantly.

"Your cooperation is very much appreciated," she said cheerily.

"Gee I feel special," I said, which made George grin.

He sat up and looked at me, brushing hair out of my face.

"You are special," he said, his eyes flickering all over my face.

"And so are you," I said. "You are special. You're funny. You're generous. You're intelligent. You're talented. Athletic. Kind. Thoughtful. Sweet. Incredible. You're amazing, George."

He smiled and But his lip, his eyes looking at my lips, making my stomach flutter.

I cleared my throat after staring at him for a few seconds as he leaned in closer, and looked away, squeezing my eyes shut "I- I'm sorry."

"Zell, no, come back, I'm sorry. That was completely my fault."

"It's fine," I said in a mere whisper. "It's fine— I think I'll head to bed now—"

"You're just so stubborn!"

I turned around at his words, my cheeks flushing a bright red. "What?"

He stared at me, breathing heavily. I saw Hermione, Isa, Harry, And Ron look at us, and when they caught my eye, they got up and left, making my cheeks turn an even brighter red.

"You— You're just too stubborn and scared to admit it," George said, standing up and walking over to me.

"Admit— admit what?"

He ran his hands through his hair and looked at me sadly. "That the last time you really gave your heart to someone... it got broken."

"I- I don't—"

"And I get that," George continued, inching closer and grabbing my hands, making my heart rate increase.

"I've been there..."

I felt my eyes water and stared at him with fixated eyebrows. "No you don't."

"I do," He nodded vigorously with his eyes wide. "I do, Zell. The reason I didn't want you to keep seeing Jacob is because of how I felt when I dated Angelina."

"You... what? When?"

He shook his head, closing his eyes. "That's not the point," he mumbled, caressing the top of my hand with his thumb. "The point is that... somewhere... along the line of your crazy relationships... you have up on the idea that you deserve to feel loved. And I'm sorry the world wasn't kind to you in the past, but I want to help you. I was to try... with you."

I scoffed and looked down, slipping my hands away from his. It was like he was reading my mind, and it was so utterly frustrating. My cheeks flushed even more, and I walked away "No," I said, shaking my head as if it would change my thoughts. "Stop telling me what I feel, George. Because your wrong! Your wrong for that... I don't feel that way..."

I left him standing there, his heart breaking just a little bit.

What was I thinking?

I can't hurt George like I did Jacob. Like Wyatt hurt me. I can't make the same mistake because I didn't want to lose him.

But I already was.