raison d'être (george weasley x reader)

6.14

As the snow began to thaw and the winds grew a little less harsh, tensions rose once more as the second task approached. Y/N watched quietly as Harry, who was rarely ever in the library, stood at a shelf with Hermione. He had figured out the task days ago thanks to some advice from Cedric and had been following Hermione around as she tried to find the best way for him to navigate said task.

Y/N, of course, had offered to help, but they turned her down, insisting that she not worry. That was practically impossible, however, especially since she had grown to view the fourth years as her siblings.

"I really don't mind," she called out, eyes following the two as Hermione pushed another book into Harry's arms after briefly skimming it. "You know I don't care for the tournament."

"You help enough as is," Hermione dismissed, stopping Harry from speaking. "You worry too much."

"Hard not to when the two of you are always on the verge of dying," she retorted. "Honestly, don't you get tired of it."

"I didn't ask for it," Harry muttered.

"Of course not," Y/N responded. "But, you don't exactly run away from it."

Hermione shrugged and returned a book to the shelf, deeming it useless.

"Really, you have me at your disposal and you won't use me," Y/N said. "Why not?"

"I mean, it couldn't hurt," Harry said, glancing at Hermione.

"Don't drag her into this," Hermione hissed, pushed another book roughly into his chest. "Let her enjoy her life right now."

Y/N's eyes widened slightly in realization and she let out a laugh. "Hermione, are you doing all of this because of George?"

The younger girl let out a huff and turned to the next shelf. "What if I am?"

"I can assure you that helping Harry won't impede on my relationship," Y/N said in amusement, leaning forward in her seat. "Honest."

Harry looked between the two girls, unsure of what to do or say. He momentarily contemplated hiding to avoid the exchange altogether.

"You two have been dancing around each other for longer than Harry and I have been at Hogwarts — longer than we've known about magic," Hermione started as she flipped through a book on merfolk. "It was bad enough watching for four years, I can't imagine seeing it for six."

She tossed the book onto the rapidly growing pile in Harry's arms and gave him a look when he stumbled.

"You should at least enjoy the time together now," she continued, gesturing for Harry to place the books on the table in front of Y/N, which is also where they had been seated before the search began. "I'm not sure why you're even in here to be honest. I expected you two to be with each other."

"You're not with Krum," Y/N pointed out simply.

"Well, Krum isn't my boyfriend," Hermione replied, emphasizing the last word.

Y/N reached over and began looking through the aquatic spells book situated at the top of the stack. She leaned back in her seat as she skimmed the pages.

"I'm already here and George isn't nor is he going to come here," she said, tossing the book aside to start a discard pile. "It's not like you two are impeding on our time together."

She quickly flipped through three of the shorter books in the pile, created a stack with the first one she discarded, and pushed them in Harry's direction.

"Could you put these on the return cart?" she asked, reaching for the next book.

Harry moved silently as she looked through a potions book. With this one, she took a more careful look, knowing that it was likely the book would contain something helpful, even if it wasn't the end-all solution.