One and only ; George Weasley

17

Today was December 15th. Fourteen years ago today, my dad was murdered by Voldemort. He was murdered for helping muggles and defending them.

I hated this day and I always felt terrible. Last year I skipped all my classes and I didn't get in trouble. Dumbledore wanted to talk to me about it but I didn't get in trouble because he knew I struggled that day.

Today was going to be different though. I was gonna fight my way through today and try not to think about it. I was gonna get through my classes and every meal and I was going to act normal.

I had ancient runes, care of magical creatures, history of magic, defense against the dark arts and transfigurations today so it was going to be fine. Also, DADA I had with the twins and transfiguration I had with the twins and Kathleen.

"Are you ready?" George asked. We stood in front of a mirror, he was behind me and had promised to teach me how to tie a tie. I nodded at him and he ran his hand down the fabric of the tie that was lying around my collar. "Right so... you move thins wide end over the smaller one."

He showed me, then glanced at my eyes and I nodded slightly to tell him to keep going.

"Loop the wide end of the tie horizontally around and behind the thin end. Take the wide end over from the top and through the opening of the X and pull tight. Hold the wide end with your right hand and wrap it in front over the thin end, from your right to your left." He guided me while doing what he instructed. "Keep the triangle intact with your left hand, being the wide end towards your chest and from behind the loop, pass it over the X. Use your index finger of your left hand to, open up the triangle that has now formed over the X and pull the wide end all the way through. Now you just need to adjust the length by pulling the knot up towards your collar while pulling the thin end of the tie down."

"You make it seem so easy." I sighed, moving the tie a little. "I'm never gonna learn it."

"Yes you will." George said, gently brushing my hand away before undoing the tie. "Try it yourself. I'll guide you."

I placed the tie like I knew how to do. That's pretty simple.

"Cross the wide end in front of the thin end from right to left." He guided me. "See, now you have a cross. Now you need to loop it around the thin end horizontally."

He continued guiding me while I did it myself but it went completely wrong. I groaned, pulling at the tie until it fell off and I threw it on the floor.

"I can't do it." I said, feeling pretty annoyed. "It doesn't even matter. I don't care if it's part of dress code. They can give me detention, it wouldn't make a difference."

I grabbed my bag from the floor, pulling it over my shoulder. "Why do we even have to wear those stupid ties? It's a freaking school."

As I turned around to leave, George grabbed my hand and pulled me back. "Put down the bag."

"No."

"Just put down the bag, Liz." He told me, taking the bag off my shoulder. He picked up the tie from the floor and started tying it around my neck. "It just takes time to practice it."

"Yeah?" I asked, rolling my eyes. "Five and a half years? We should all just admit that I'm dumb. How am I supposed to graduate next year if I can't do something as simple as tying a stupid tie?"

"Don't call yourself dumb." George told me. "You're one of the smartest people I know. I'm the one getting help from you whenever we're studying, right? Don't degrade yourself."

"I'm not degrading myself." I said. "But you have to admit it's stupid that a sixteen-year-old girl who needs a tie for school, doesn't know how to tie one."

"I don't have to admit anything since there is nothing to admit." He said as he finished the knot. He placed a hand on my jaw, looking into my eyes and when I looked away, he placed his other hand on the other side of my jaw, making me look at him again. "And we both know you aren't this upset over a tie."

"Just leave me alone, George." I sighed, stepping back.

"Lizzie."

I ignored him as I tucked my tie into my jumper and then grabbed my bag again. I pulled it over my shoulder and turned around, heading for the door.

"Elizabeth!"

I opened the door and left the dormitory, hurried down the stairs and past the other Gryffindor students, Fred and Kathleen included. They both looked at me as I hurried out but I decided to just ignore them.

My plan of acting normal to get through the day had started of really bad and I didn't want to look at George right now so I chose to skip breakfast and head straight up to class 6A on the sixth floor where I had ancient runes along without any of my friends.