Sketchbook ~ George Weasley

Chapter 1 - The New School

"You need a boyfriend," is the first thing Lavender Brown said to me when she walked through the door only minutes before curfew. All the other girls in our dorm are getting ready for bed and I sat silently on my own bed, drawing in my sketchbook and only look up when Lavender addresses me, and I know she is addressing me because for the past couple of days all she would talk about was me getting a boyfriend or just attempting to convince me not to be a social reject.

"Lavender, we've been over this, I don't need a boyfriend." Our conversation sparks the interest of a couple of the other girls in the room, but conversations between Lavender and I usually did.

We gained an unexpected friendship over the first few days of school (at least completely unexpected for me), which I have been pretty grateful for, despite the constant nagging. Entering a new school in your fourth year made it difficult to make friends when everyone already has their own clicks. Thankfully, Lavender latched onto me and she had quite a few friends at this school. They don't seem too keen on letting me into their circle, which I'm fine with, because I'm usually pretty good at wearing people down over time.

"Well, you need to do something! You sit here and scribble in that book thing of yours all day long. Also, other than classes, I never see you out of this dorm and then you don't even let anyone see your drawings, then what's the point in drawing them?" Her voice grew louder, gaining even more glances from the girls.

"Can I at least see what you're drawing in there?" She moved towards the side of my bed to try and peer over my shoulder to get a peek at what I've been drawing, but I closed my book before she could and placed in down in front of me.

"Nope," I said, shaking my head. I could feel my ponytail move from shoulder to shoulder.

"That's another thing," she went on. "It's creepy how protective you are over that thing."

"Hey, a couple charms never hurt anyone," I said.

"A couple?" she tisked, throwing herself onto the end of my bed. "This thing has about twenty on it."

She picks up the book and turns it slowly in her hands, "If I try to open it will it shock me?"

"Leave her be. If she wanted to share her sketches with us, she would. We should all be going to bed now anyways," Hermione said, peering over her book from where she was sitting on her bed. It's surprising that she would try to defend me, since we've never really talked, but still, I'm grateful for it.

Lavender not only blatantly ignores Hermione's request, but doesn't even bother to send a single glance in Hermione's direction. Ultimately leaving Hermione to roll her eyes and refocus her attention to whatever she was reading. Although, I hoped that she saw the grateful glance I gave her before she looked away. Another thing I still don't understand is why those two don't like each other.

"Come on, Paige, you're mysterious, foreign, and super cute, guys will be crawling over you!" She moves closer to me on my bed, and crosses her legs.

"I'm not mysterious or foreign," I almost laughed, "I'm just American. I really don't need a boyfriend, Lavender." I tried to give as sincere of a plea as I could. I didn't mention to Lavender that I had just gotten out of a relationship. My boyfriend back at my old school, David Petoga and I had just broken up at the airport a week ago, just before I got on the plane to head here to my new home. Well, at least I think it was a break up. There were no tears or broken hearts. We both agreed that a long distance relationship wouldn't work out and I boarded a plane. We haven't communicated since the awkward exchange, but that doesn't mean I'm ready to move on so quickly. A part of me really does miss him and hopes that he will write to me.