Because I - George Weasley

8: Because I Threw Weeds

"So Lee," said Fred, grinning. "Have you talked to Madeline recently?"

Lee shot me a glare and then looked back down to his pail of weeds.

"A couple times."

"She slips him little letters and notes at least once a week," I said, scoffing at him.

"Shut up!" he yelled, taking a string of weeds and throwing them at me. I caught them and threw them back at him.

"Awe, is ickle Lee embarrassed that we know about his girlyfriend?" George teased, reaching over to ruffle Lee's dreadlocks.

Lee grimaced and slapped his hand away.

"Don't make me slap you with the weeds!" he grumbled. "And she isn't my girlfriend!"

"Not yet, she isn't," I said. "He's too scared to ask her out because she's older than him."

"Will you stop!" he begged. "She's not my girlfriend, and she's not going to be my girlfriend!"

The twins started laughing but dropped the subject, nonetheless.

We'd been out by the Black Lake for an hour. After dinner was over, McGonagall took us down to Hagrid's hut so he could assign us something for our evening detention.

"I don't wanna make yeh do too much tonight 'cause it's gonna get cold real quick," Hagrid had told us. "So, I'mma give yeh each a couple of pails to fill up with weeds from the banks of the lake. Plannin' to plant some trees down there 'for the tournament and I don't need no weeds killin' 'em off before they even get growin'."

It was nasty work, but we were all grateful that McGonagall had given us to Hagrid rather than Filch.

"What about you, Winters?" asked Fred.

I raised an eyebrow at him.

"What about me?"

"What's up with the kid you were with at the Quidditch Cup? Boyfriend?"

I choked on a laugh.

"Chai?" I sputtered. "He's my best friend."

"Friends with benefits?" Fred suggested, wiggling his eyebrows as he said it.

"I mean, I just set him up with a kid from my baseball team. Cute kid, a little short for my taste, and also a guy so... let me think... Nope! Definitely not dating my gay best friend."

Fred's ears turned pink when he realized what I'd said.

"What about that kid from Bulgaria?" asked Lee.

"Which one?"

"The one that worked next door to you when you were staying there?" he specified.

"He was a slob."

"What about Petar?" Lee asked, exaggerating the last syllable of his name.

"The less we talk about him, the less I want to break things," I spat.

"That bad, huh?"

"Worse than you'd think."

"I'm confused," said Fred.

"Me too," added George.

"Doesn't matter," I said, shaking my head.

"So you don't have a boyfriend?" Fred clarified.

"Hope not," I snorted. "Unless some guy comes along and forces me to fall in love with him, I'm not gonna willing put myself into a situation where I'm going to get... hurt. People piss me off as much as it is without adding on a layer of emotional instability."