The Secrets We Leave Behind | George Weasley

Chapter 13

"...so I think once we can make a Zonko's trip, we should have enough rat tails to test the hair potion again. We should probably also reup on dungbombs while we're there since we're almost out and..."

George was doing everything in his power to pay attention to what his twin was saying, which, up until very recently, had always been an easy task for him to accomplish. It seemed, however, that when it came to Vivian, the rational part of his brain liked to take a backseat and allow the embarrassing, anxious worrier side to take control. That side of him presently had the reins as he frantically scanned the crowd of students pushing their way through the Hogwarts Express carriages, the anxiety in his chest squeezing tighter every time he spotted a head of honey blonde hair that wasn't her's. He was quickly realizing that Hogwarts had an epidemic of blonde girls. Why were there so damn many? And why were none of them the blonde he had been looking for all morning?

"George! Are you listening?" Fred's fingers suddenly snapped in his face, begrudgingly pulling his attention back to whatever his twin had been saying. Try as he might to focus on the present discussion–that really, on any other day would have had no trouble holding his attention–his eyes kept darting around him for any sign of the girl he had spent the entirety of the past two weeks worrying about.

"Of course!" George tried to sound affronted, but he was quite certain that the effect was diminished by the fact that he was only able to meet Fred's eyes for all of five seconds before he went back to searching the crowd.

Fred only rolled his eyes in response, sliding open a compartment door and shoving his bag in the overhead storage. George followed in his distracted haze, stuffing his belongings into the compartment beside Fred's and taking a seat across from his brother.

Despite the fact that the Weasley's had arrived less than ten minutes before the train left the station, the twins had somehow managed to secure an empty compartment in the third car they'd entered, though George might have liked the excuse to hunt through the rest of the train in case Vivian had found a seat further down.

"She's probably with Angelina and Alicia. They always find us once the train's been moving awhile," Fred offered after a few minutes of silence wherein George did not move his eyes from the compartment window for even a moment.

Fred of course did not need to be told what, or rather who had gotten his twin in such an anxious state. George had been troubled, and truly bordering on unbearable by the end of the winter holiday, moping about constantly, acting like the entirety of the world was about to end every time Errol returned without a letter for him. It had reached the point where Fred was more than a little relieved to finally be returning to school, something he never thought he'd say in his life. And though he had greatly enjoyed watching his twin bite their brother Charlie's head off the one time the older Weasley had made the mistake of insinuating she had some American bloke back home keeping her "busy", he sincerely hoped the girl was on this train, if only for the sake of his twin's mental health,

George sighed, finally removing his fixed stare from the compartment window to lean his head back in the seat. He knew he didn't need to feel this on edge. Vivian's letter (the one time she had responded, anyway) had made it clear they would see each other at Hogwarts. He really didn't have any reason to worry. But he wanted to see her face; look her in the eyes while she told him he didn't have to worry. He was almost positive that the gnawing pit in his stomach would remain until he was able to do so.

Gods, he was definitely a sap. He was never going to be able to live this down with his brothers, he was sure.

His hopes were brought up when their compartment door slid open, letting Lee, Angelina, and Alica inside but were quickly dashed when the last girl shut the door behind her. George tried not to let his disappointment show on his face, though he clearly did a very poor job of it based on the looks they all exchanged.