Cerise Diggory didn't like annoying people, which is why she tried to avoid the Weasley twins as much as possible, but that seemed nearly impossible with George being made her Divinations partner.
[ cerise aurelia diggory x george fabian weasley ]
[...
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AT MIDNIGHT, THE WEIRD SISTERS finally finished playing and everyone gave them one last round of applause before beginning to make their way out of the Great Hall. Cerise smiled as George grabbed her hand, and laced their fingers together. She ignored the feeling in her stomach and the pounding of her heart, and gave his hand a small squeeze.
They were the last pair to leave the Great Hall, due to Cerise wanting to say goodbye to her mother because she wasn't sure when she would next see the woman.
Everyone else had disappeared, too tired to wait around for them, but neither of them cared. They were enjoying being alone, and it terrified Cerise that she enjoyed being alone. . . With him. The boy she has spent the last four years hating, but here she was, not a single bad thought about him running through her head.
She wished the ball would've gone on longer, George was surprisingly a good dancer, and he proved that to her when The Weird Sisters played their final song — A slow song.
She could still remember the way his hands were holding her waist firmly, but his touch against her skin was still soft.
She could remember the way she looked up at him (he still towered over her, even with the girl wearing heels ), she remembered the way he stared deeply into her eyes. She remembered the butterflies forming in her stomach.
"Are you okay?" George asked as they slowed down their footsteps, wanting to spend just a little bit longer together — Even though they were a few footsteps away from the Hufflepuff common room.
Cerise looked at him, a smile on her face. "Yeah, I am," she said, "Thank you."
"For what?" George asked, clearly confused.
"For making tonight enjoyable," she replied, letting go of his hand and tapping the Hufflepuff door for the password.
"Well, then, thank you, too." George smiled. "I'm glad you asked me to the ball, I really thought I would've had to go with A—"
Cerise snorted. "Just like you saved my life at the World Cup, I saved your life at the ball." She said, making a smile appear on his face. "Goodnight, George. I'll see you tomorrow."
"Goodnight, Cherry."
THE FOLLOWING MORNING, Cerise was the last one in Hufflepuff awake, and she was the last one to make her way into the Great Hall. Breakfast had started half an hour ago, but it was going on for longer than usual due to the night before, which Cerise was thankful for.
She had Oliver on her shoulder. She didn't want to leave him alone today, she left him alone long enough the day before.
Spotting Loralei and Elijah sat at the Gryffindor table, Cerise rushed to join them. She was still in her pyjamas, and when she looked around, she noticed all of her friends were in their pyjamas too.
She snorted. "How to tell we're a really close group," she said, "We all turned up to breakfast in our pyjamas, without planning it."
"Honestly," Fred snickered. "Nice pyjamas."
"You haven't even looked at me, Fred," Cerise rolled her eyes, grabbing a piece of toast and shoving it in her mouth. She was starving.
"I know," he said, "But you and Loralei wear matching pyjamas all the time."
"Of course you looked at Loralei's pyjamas," Cerise muttered with a mouthful. "Thinking of when you can pull them off her, are you?"
Fred and Loralei's faces turned bright red, and the others laughed.
"Obviously he is," Lee grinned, "He's a sixteen year old male."
"I forgot how horny boys are," Cerise said, feeding Oliver some toast. "So, what are the plans for today?"
"Me and Freddie have some planning to do," George said, "Which Lee said he will kindly help us with —"
"You guys bullied me into it."
"Whatever," Fred smiled, as the trio stood up, "He agreed to help us, so it's going to be you three on your own for a while."
"Don't miss us too much," the three of them said, winking at their dates from the night before and walking off.
"That was definitely rehearsed," Elijah muttered.
"One hundred percent," Loralei and Cerise replied.
All three of them were left with their faces as red as the Gryffindor robes, but the blush on their faces slowly disappeared as they began to start a conversation of their own.
"You seemed to enjoy being with George last night," Loralei stated, wiggling her eyebrows. "And you say you hate him."
Cerise rolled her eyes, "I told you both — It's easier to say I hate him than admit I'm madly in love with him."
Her eyes widened and she looked away. "Which I am not!"
"It's not very nice to tell lies," Elijah grinned, "So, how long have you been in love with him for?"
Thankfully, Harry approached them with a nervous look. "Cerise, can I talk to you?" He asked, making the girl eagerly stand up and follow after him. "I've been thinking about the next task, and how I'm supposed to figure out the hint. Cedric told me to take a bath with the egg. . . How is that supposed to be a hint?"
Cerise thought to herself for a moment, before an amused grin appeared on her face. "Maybe he's in love with you and wants to take a bath with you, but got scared and told you to take one with the egg instead?"
Harry shook his head. "Cerise, I'm being serious."
"I thought that was your godfather?"
"How do you — Honestly, I'm not surprised you know. You're smart at figuring out people's secrets, aren't you?" Harry muttered.
"Well, I'd say I'm quite amazing at figuring out people's secrets," Cerise shrugged, "Anyway, back to the topic — The egg. Well, when you open it, it screeches, right?"
"Right," Harry nodded.
"And I know Ced has already figured it out, and considering you told him about the dragon, he felt obligated to tell you how to figure out the hint, which he said to take a bath with it, right?"
"Right."
"Oh, that's easy." Cerise shrugged, "You open it under the bath water."
