Sketchbook ~ George Weasley

Chapter 2 - Meeting New People

"Where do you think you're going?" Lavender storms up in front of me after we leave our last class of the day, probably because I was trying to get away from her. She stops abruptly, in turn, also making me stop abruptly and making other students practically run into the back of me and forcing the rest to circle around the little scene the two of us have created in the middle of the hallway.

"Back to the dorms," I say it simply enough, but Lavender didn't seem to find it all that convincing.

"WIthout me you wouldn't even be able to find your way back to the dorms," She says. "Honestly you're already going the wrong way. Besides, you said you would let me show you around today and introduce you to some people." Her voice goes from confident to whiny within seconds, but one thing is for sure, I actually do need tour guide to get around. All the halls in this school look the same to me and I still don't know where to go. Hell, first years are even giving me directions.

"Okay, where to?" Asking is pointless at this point, especially since she is already dragging me down the hall, and before we got there I realised where we were going. "Lavender, this is the way to the common room, I thought you were going to show me around."

"Well, I will . . . eventually, but first I want to introduce you to people first." I had hidden from most people during my short time at Hogwarts. Dodging their greetings and hoping that they would just assume I was shy, but now that Lavender has me in her talons, I have no other choice than to mingle with my fellow classmates.

"What about the library?" I say. "Never been there. Heard it's pretty great."

"Oh, please, you're not that much of a nerd, are you?" she asked. I untangle our interlocked arms as we approach the common room.

"I'm not a nerd," I mumble.

The very first group Lavender rushed me over to was a group of three. I knew two of them already. Hermione I knew from our dorm obviously, although we've never had a formal conversation, she is always nice to me. Then, there was, of course, the famous Harry Potter himself. If you didn't know who he was, then you've got to be living under a rock or something. I wouldn't say I was starstruck or anything, but it was pretty cool to be going to school with a boy you always heard stories about growing up. The last one I didn't know by name but he had bright red hair and I know that he's in most of my classes.

"Hello! This is Paige. I just thought that I would introduce her to people so she would feel more comfortable here at Hogwarts." Lavender said all sweet-like. It was ironic too, because the last thing I felt at this moment was comfortable. Hermione sent a look of pity in my direction and Harry Potter looked up from his game of chess, he was playing with the redhead, even though the redhead didn't even seem to notice that we were there.

"Hi," and my voice cracks, because this wasn't already embarrassing enough. Some would actually think that I'm purposely trying to make it more awkward, but I swear that I'm not.

Potter smiled back politely anyway, even though he was trying to hide the look of pity in his eyes. Or it could be amusement. Or both. Either way it's not helping, "I'm Harry." Yeah, I already knew that and he knew that I already knew that, but neither of us said anything. I smile back.

The redheaded boy looks up from the game when he notices his competitor isn't making a move, and he notices me and Lavender for the first time. His face quickly switches from aggravated to embarrassed, and his ears tint a bright pink.

"This is Ron. Ron Weasley." Potter spoke up for him. Well, now I know he's related to those twins from earlier. Which I guess explains the hair. Do all weasleys have red hair? Are all the redheads in this school Weasleys? So many questions.