Embers of the Heart ; George Weasley

One

Present day.
17 years old.

The train was right there, looking as big and majestic as always. I was pushing a trolley full of my stuff, ready to get out of here and back to Hogwarts for my final year. Finn was by my side, chatting away about this year's Quidditch and how we were totally going to beat Ravenclaw this year. Honestly, we'd been saying that for years, but for some reason, Ravenclaw's team were better than ours. I didn't play Quidditch. I was just really involved. Finn played chaser though, and Eva was the team's keeper. I played for my second year, but then the assaults from Mr O'Malley started and I quit it like I quit all my other free-time activities.

"Here, let me help you." Finn said when we reached the baggage cart of the train. Finn helped me get my trunk down and inside, and then he grabbed his own smoothly, yanking it onto the train.

"Let's go find Eva." he said, dragging me with him and onto the next cart. We walked down the aisle between compartments, looking for our muggle-born friend. We found her by the open compartments, drawing something in her sketchbook. At our arrival, she looked up and she smiled widely. I smiled back, but my smile dropped when I saw who was next to our table.

The. Weasley. Twins.

And suddenly I was fuming. I didn't know what it was about them, but they irritated me by just existing. I took my seat by the window, making sure to be as far away from them as possible. I caught Eva's glance towards them, and I realized she was still as in love as ever.

She was obsessed with the twins. I didn't even know if she had a favourite. She was just so damn obsessed with them that if one of them dropped to one knee right now, she'd say yes in a heartbeat.

"What's up guys?" Eva smiled widely at us, packing away her sketchbook. "Guess what. My parents moved Brandon to the opposite side of the house."

Brandon was Eva's little brother. He was just five years old and Eva acted like she hated him. She'd been an only child before, and suddenly she had to share the parents attention with a little kid. Of course it was difficult for her, but I knew she secretly loved her brother.

Eva and Finn made conversation while my eyes searched for a gaze that I felt hot on my face. My eyes landed on the Weasley twins, the two sitting opposite each other, and my eyes met George's. A smirk was playing on his lips, and when our eyes met, he blew a kiss in my direction, which only made me fume more.

"Did we have to sit here?" I asked my friends. "There're perfectly fine compartments just down there." I gestured down the aisle.

"No! C'mon. It's the senior compartment." Eva said. "We have to sit here. We get just one chance to sit here."

"That's not actually true." Finn said. "We're going home for Christmas, coming back after Christmas, going back home again when the school year ends. That's three more chances to sit here."

"Shut up, Finn. We're sitting here and that's final." Eva folded her arms over her chest.

I leaned back in my seat, focusing my eyes back on George whom was still staring at me, so I stared back. I stared back, refusing to back down. I had no idea why he was so obsessed with me, why he was always staring and why he was choosing me for his little pranks, but this year, it had to stop.

So I sat there, staring at him for what felt like ten minutes before he laughed quietly and turned away to answer something Lee Jordan said.

That's right. I won.

—

I slid onto the bench on one side of the Hufflepuff table, excited to get some food into my stomach. I rubbed my stomach dramatically, something that made Finn huff out a laugh. He settled next to me while Eva walked around the table and took a seat on the other side. We always sat furthest away from the front of the room so the first-years wouldn't sit by us and expect us to explain them how things worked. Nope, that was in the hands of the Prefects, and I was very much, not a Prefect.