One and only ; George Weasley

51

Here I was, standing in the astronomy tower, my hands tightly wrapped around the railing as I stood on the balcony and watched over the courtyard. Students kept walking by on their way the common rooms for curfew which was in less than half an hour.

I wasn't wearing my glove. It was currently lying on the floor up here. It was itchy and it hurt the wound even more.

After dinner, I went straight up here to get away from everything. I wasn't really that sad about detention anymore. I just needed to clear my thoughts and get a chance to calm down.

Of course I was in shock over what happened but I couldn't let Umbridge hold me back from living my life here like I used to.

As I stood there, lost in my thoughts, a thump sounded from behind me. I spun around quickly, my heart skipping a beat but I calmed down when I saw George who had almost tripped over a box on the floor. As he steadied the box, he looked at me from under his lashes and then straightened up while clearing his throat.

"Fred said you might be here."

"Yeah." I shrugged, turning back around to look at the courtyard. "He found me up here before Christmas last year. That's probably why he knew I'd be here again."

George showed up next to me, watching the courtyard as well for a moment before he looked down at me. When I noticed his eyes on my hands, I let it slide off the railing and hid it in my sleeve.

"Harry informed us about what happened in detention."

I turned my head to look up at him. He stared out into the air and he looked quite bothered. His jaw was tense and his eyebrow was were scrunched together into a frown.

"He showed us his hand and said you got the same treatment." George said before he looked at me as well, our eyes meeting. "May I see your hand, please?"

I shook my hand out of the sleeve and wrapped it around the railing but George grabbed it to hold it in his own while he turned his back to the railing.

"I must not do pranks." He read. "How'd she do this?"

"She told us to write lines on a piece of parchment." I said. "We had to use her quill and not our own so I'm guessing it was enchanted."

George sighed, running his thumb over the area around the words and I flinched due to the pain. "Sorry. Does it hurt a lot?"

"Yeah." I nodded. "It's not supposed to be so red, is it?"

"I don't know." He spoke as he pulled out his wand. "But it's going to get infected if you don't take care of it. Why haven't you gotten it wrapped?"

"If I went to the hospital wing with it, madam Pomfrey would ask and I'd be forced to tell what happened."

"And why is that so wrong?" He questioned, tapping my hand with his wand. "Ferula."

Bandages shot out of the wand and wrapped around my hand, tightly but not too tight and at the same time, the pain eased a little.

"I wasn't aware of that spell." I said, looking up at George while he pocketed his wand again.

"Growing up as a wild child, it was something I eventually learned." He told me. "It wraps a wounded spot and helps with the pain as well. It's pretty brilliant, isn't it?"

I offered him a small nod, looking at my hand which he was still holding. George placed his hand under my chin, lifting my head to make me looked at him again.

"We need to go see McGonagall."

"No."

"Liz, stop being so stubborn for once. We have to go see Professor McGonagall and tell her what Umbridge did to you and Harry."

"George—"

He pushed some hair behind my ear and rested his hand against my jaw, kissing me gently.

"Elizabeth—" he mocked in the same tone, brushing his nose against mine.

"Why are you so darn good at convincing?" I groaned, throwing my head against his chest. George let out a quiet laugh, wrapping his arms around me.

"You're just easily convinced and that's because you know I'm right." He said. "Plus, Professor McGonagall is going to dislike this very much. C'mon. Better get to it before you change your mind."