Royalty (George Weasley) (Completed)

Draco's Vendetta

"No, no, no, Mr. Mclaggen! Nonverbal! How many times will I have to remind you?!" Professor McGonagall harped, causing George to chuckle beside me. I nudged him in the side, making him chuckle even harder. I looked over at a put-out looking Cormac, who had been whispering spells under his breath to no avail.
The first day back after the holidays was a blur. The news of George and I being a couple had spread like wildfire, and everywhere we went people would whisper and point at us. I'm not sure I liked being the center of attention..
Our lessons proved to be even more difficult now that exams were approaching faster. Professor McGonagall was being particularly ferocious.
Walking out of the transfiguration room was like a breath of fresh air. George and I walked hand in hand towards the Great Hall, the smells of a wonderful roast chicken filling the air. The ceiling was showing snow steadily falling outside, and I was quite glad our Care of Magical Creatures lesson had been cancelled due to a shortage of blast-ended skrewts, this way we didn't have to freeze in the cold.
George and I joined Fred, Harry, and Ginny at the Gryffindor table. Hermione was helping Ron with a potions essay in the library, apparently.
"Seems you two are all the school wants to talk about today," Fred told George and I, wiggling his eyebrows at us.
I rolled my eyes back at him, throwing a dinner roll at him. He not-so gracefully caught it and took a bite of it, smirking and winking at me.
"Eliza, how was your holiday? I heard that little shack you stayed at was really lit up in holiday lights.."
Turning in my seat, I watched Draco approaching us, Crabbe and Goyle lurking beside him like a pair of goblins.
"Watch your mouth, Malfoy.." Harry warned, eyes narrowing.
George had reached for his wand, hand resting on his pocket.
"Don't, he's not worth it." I warned him, resting my hand on his.
"Oh, that's right. You and the blood traitor are something of an item now. I heard he got to meet your mother, too. I can see why she didn't approve.." Malfoy trailed off, turning his nose up at George.
I stood up from the table, standing in front of Draco as he grinned down at me. It was difficult to look intimidating while he had easily a foot on my height.
"You should go," I warned him, keeping my voice low as we were starting to draw attention.
"Or what?"
I whipped out my wand, pointing it at his chest. Draco did the same, aiming for my space between my eyes.
"I think you know what," I spat, feeling my blood begin to boil.
I saw a wand raise to my left, looking beside me to see George with his wand arm raised, pointing at Crabbe, while Harry moved to my right and pointed his wand at Goyle.
"What are you oafs doing?! Wands up!" Malfoy snapped at Crabbe and Goyle, who both looked at him in shock and then wrestled through their robes for their wands, looking quite ridiculous.
"Not too confident without your body guards, huh?" I asked, smirking at him.
"You filthy blood traitor! Depulso!"
"Protego!"
Draco and I both yelled at the same time, my shield going up just in time to block his jinx.
"Impedimenta!" I yelled, causing Draco to fall backwards as he approached me.
"Expelliarmus!" I heard Harry yell to my right, collecting Goyle's wand he had easily disarmed. George, meanwhile, had hit Crabbe with a nasty bat bogey hex, and Crabbe had since run from the Great Hall howling in terror.
"Levicorpus!"
All of a sudden, my feet were swept out from under me, causing me to hang upside-down in mid air.
"Liberacorpus!" I heard George yell, and suddenly fell through the air towards the ground until I felt George catch me around my middle, my feet hitting the ground.
"Stupefy!" George, Harry and I yelled in unison, our wands pointing at Draco and causing him to flip through the air until he landed on his knees on the ground.
"Cruc-" Draco started, my eyes going wide.
"SILENCE!"
Professor McGonagall's voice rang through the great hall. We all turned to see her and Snape speeding towards us. I looked back to Draco in shock, seeing him look around anxiously, clearly wondering if anyone had heard what he had been about to say. He was about to use an Unforgivable Curse on me. He was about to use the Cruciatus Curse on me. I could hear my heart pounding in my ears.
"What is the meaning of this?!" McGonagall asked us angrily, coming to a stop between us and Draco.
"S-she attacked me!" Draco yelled out, pointing a long finger at me. George stepped forward to fight back.
"Lying git, you attacked her without warning and-"
"That is enough. Now, Professor Snap if you would please take care of Mr. Malfoy's punishment." McGonagall asked him, turning to us.
"Now, Minerva, I don't believe he had done anything wrong.. He was simply defending himself."
"Severus, please! I would rather not get the headmaster involved!" McGonagall was angry now, I wouldn't be surprised if steam began pouring from her ears.
"This way, Draco. Now." Snape growled, grabbing a handful of Draco's robes in his fist and dragging him out of the Great Hall.
"You three. My office, now." McGonagall snapped at us, leading us from the hall and through the corridor.
We walked in silence, the three of us occasionally exchanging looks of fear. An angry Professor McGonagall was what nightmares were made of. No matter how much I truly cared for the lady, she could be downright scary.
"Have a seat," she mumbled through tight lips as she opened her office door, conjuring two extra chairs in front of her desk. I sat in the middle, Harry and George flanking me on both sides.
"Now.. I must say, I am surprised at every one of you, well maybe not you Weasley, but definitely you two." she pointed between Harry and myself, taking a seat in her high backed chair. She crossed her hands on the desktop in front of her, eyes turning to slits.
"Professor, I'm sorry, I-"
"Sorry, are you? Because I don't think you are, Miss Lestrange! I believe you have been wanting to do that to Mr. Malfoy for quite some time now!"
I sunk back in my chair, wracking my brain for a way to get us out of this.
"Professor, he was about to use an unforgivable curse on her.." George mumbled, anger slowly seeping into his words.
Professor McGonagall's eyes grew five sizes.
"An unforgivable curse?! Really now, Mr. Weasley! I do not enjoy being lied to, and such an outlandish lie at that!"
She was clearly more angry now. Her chest rose and fell quickly with deep breaths, trying to maintain her composure.
"He's correct, Professor. He was about to use the cruciatus curse." Harry finally spoke up, leaning on the arms of his chairs.
"Draco Malfoy is a seventeen year old boy. There is no way nor reason he would be needing to use such a curse."
"Well, there might be if he'd been spending a bit too much time with his aunt." I mumbled quietly, half hoping she wouldn't hear me.
She paused, staring down at me, like a raven on its perch stalking its prey.
"Do you really believe he was intending to use such a curse on you, Eliza?" her voice was more quiet now, almost comforting as if she was trying to coddle information out of a young child.
I nodded slightly, "He clearly began to say it, Professor."
She sat back in her chair, eyes looking aimlessly around the room and eyebrows crinkling in concentration.
"Very well. I will discuss this with the headmaster. However, I will be assigning you all detentions.. yes.."
We all nodded, feeling it was best not to argue with her.
"You may go now, however I ask you do not relay any of this information to your fellow students."
We all nodded, hastily standing and walking from the small office.
Closing the door behind him, George turned back to me, eyes full of concern.
"I think we may have broken McGonagall." he mumbled, scratching the back of his head and shoving his other hand into his pockets.
"Well, it is quite a shock, you know. Draco was always rotten, we all knew that.. but to use a curse so bad on another student on school grounds? That is a whole separate level of awful.." I began walking as I spoke.
We walked back to the common room in silence once again, the light from outside the large windows were dimming, telling us the day was coming to a close. George grabbed hold of my hand, his grip feeling tighter than usual. I could see him from the corner of my eye checking around every corner we passed, clearly on the lookout for Malfoy in case he tried anything again.
We arrived to the common room to be welcomed by a large crowd of awaiting Gryffindor's. They were all clearly hoping to hear details on the duel and about the punishments dealt out.
"Oh, just a few detentions with McGonagall, that's all. No clue what Malfoy got.." I explained to Lee Jordan, who seemed disappointed in my disinterest to discuss further details of the actual duel.
Thankfully, many people began to clear out relatively quickly, realizing we were not interested in discussing the deeper details.
"You'd think people would have more important things to do than worry about you lots' punishment." Ginny sighed out, throwing herself onto the sofa beside Harry, who threw an arm around her.
"That's Hogwarts for you.." Ron muttered, playing with a loose strand on his sweater.
I sat on the windowsill looking out onto the snow covered grounds. I wasn't too focused on the conversation happening between my friends at the moment. All I could think about was Draco. I meant what I said earlier, I always knew Draco was bad. Just take a look at who raised him and that'll show you what you need to know. But for him to go this far, for him to use a spell that could land him a one way ticket to Azkaban.. well it seemed beyond even him to say the least.
It wasn't that seeing this side of Draco upset me necessarily.. it's more that he is still my family. I clearly want what is best for him, I feel that for most everyone. So it is a bit disappointing to see him following in the family footsteps. I think I always knew deep down he would, but it didn't make me feel any better to see it first hand.
"What are you thinking about?"
I snapped out of my thoughts to see George sitting next to me on the windowsill.
I sighed, stretching my legs so they laid across George's lap. He rested his arms across my legs, crossing his hands and twiddling his thumbs.
"Nothing," I mumbled, giving him a small smile.
He grinned at me, raising his eyebrows.
"You are an awful liar. Absolutely dreadful.."
"I'm thinking about Draco," I let out, avoiding his gaze and focussing on the smoke coming from Hagrid's chimney.
"I thought as much.."
We sat in silence, watching as people left for their dormitories one by one. Soon, Hermione, Fred and Ron had all three gone off to bed, leaving George and I with Harry and Ginny, who had moved to the sofa closest to the fireplace, leaving George and I to ourselves.
"You're going to kill yourself thinking about everything wrong with that git. I know he didn't turn out how you'd have liked, but some people just aren't interested in being good." George finally spoke after a moments silence, making my eyes meet his.
"I know, it's just a big let down. I was hoping he would never stoop to that level. I think I always hoped that he and I could be the ones to start a new generation in our family.. one that wasn't so awful, I mean." I admitted, taking George's hand as he led me to the sofa that had since been abandoned.
He threw an arm around me as I cuddled into his side, breathing in the familiar smell of gunpowder forever lingering on his clothing. This boy and his explosives..
"Maybe I could help him.. who knows.." I thought out loud, playing with George's hand in mine.
George sighed, his demeanor changing slightly, "I imagine if anyone could help him, it's you.. but he's in with a bad crowd, Liz. It's a strong possibility that he's just in too deep, You-Know-Who's seem to got a pretty tight hold on him."
"But I'm his family, that's got to count for something." I stated matter-of-factly, crossing my arms over my chest.
"You'd think it would.. but just look at Percy. He hasn't spoken to my parents in over a year now, he doesn't even acknowledge their existence, and that's his family. You may be his blood, but that doesn't matter if Malfoy's not interested in being helped."
I let out a deep breath, relaxing back into George's side. He placed a gentle kiss on my forehead, sensing my unease with this. There had to be something I could do. I couldn't just sit by and watch him throw his life to Voldemort.
"Don't stress over it now, we've got enough to worry about with McGonagall's detention." George tried to lighten the mood, making me groan slightly.
"Don't even remind me.. the poor lady is trying so hard with me and I'm being simply awful to her.."
"Well, it was self defense." George defended me, adjusting us so we were facing each other.
"I know, but I could have walked away before things escalated. I let Draco get to me. She's just trying so hard, constantly reminding me that she's on my side. She has all of this support to give me and here I am cursing everyone who blinks!" I threw my arms up in defeat, plunging myself into the sofa even further.
"Oh, relax. She knows you appreciate her. She's a wise lady."
We sat in silence for a bit longer, watching the snowflakes gather on the windowsill and listening to the embers crackling in the fireplace. After a while, Ginny and Harry had bid us both goodnight and we were left alone in the common room.
I began thinking more about Draco. I needed a plan. I needed to think of a way I could connect with him, to forge some sort of familiar bond between us. He had to know, deep down, that the path he was on led to nothing good, surely.
The problem was his parents, and of course my
mother now that she had taken up residency in Malfoy Manor. They all had too tight of a grasp on him, they had placed their influence on him at such a young age so it is all he knows. But he needed to be shown that there is another way to live. There is a much better way to live your life, one where you're not in fear of something or someone so much worse than you had ever imagined, and you can live freely with friendship and freeness of heart. Surely, he could be shown that.
"You think too much, you know that?" George interrupted my thoughts, causing me to jump slightly.
"And you interrupt my thoughts too much." I poked him in the chest, giggling as he feigned hurt.
George looked back to the portrait hole, then back to me with a large grin spreading across his face.
"Fancy a late night stroll around the castle?"
"Oh yes, because that's the cherry on top with my
relationship with McGonagall, is it? I'm sure she'd be thrilled to find me traipsing around the castle after hours!" I rolled my eyes, imagining her expression if she found out.
"Oh, come on. We'll take the secret passageways, Filch is still too dull to find most of them."
I bit my lip, glancing towards the portrait hole and back to my hopeful boyfriend. It did seem nice, to get out and stretch my legs for a bit. And I was nowhere near tired, perhaps this would help me.
"Fine,"
And with that, George excitedly grabbed my hand and led me off through the portrait hole. We ignored the Fat Lady's warnings of us being out so late, of course.
"Where are you taking me, Weasley?" I asked, noticing we were headed towards the eastern part of the castle, nearing a stairwell.
"You'll see," he smirked down at me, towing me along behind him.
We ended up in front of a tapestry of Barnabas the Barmy, and realization dawned on me. I smiled up at the cheeky boy to my left, who had a proud look on his face.
"If you wanted somewhere a bit more private, you could've just said so.." I teased, already starting to pace in front of the tapestry.
We paused again in front of the tapestry, watching as a door morphed in front of our eyes. George twisted the doorknob as it settled, and opened it for me to enter.
The Room of Requirement was now a small, oval shaped room. There stood a fireplace with a roaring fire with a loveseat set in front of it. There was a warm glow all throughout the room, making it cozy and welcoming. On a small table next to the sofa lay a vase of deep red roses, and I grinned back to George as I examined them closer.
"You can be quite the charmer, Weasley.."
He wiggled his eyebrows at me, coming to a rest in front of me and placing his hands on my hips.
"Ahh, but only for you love."
We spent the night wrapped in each others arms, forgetting about the threats that were currently aimed at us. All that mattered was that he was there, and so was I. We were together. We were safe. For now, at least...