The Other Potter (George Weasley)

Nine.

Ron had cut me out of his life like he did Harry, after he asked me how I felt about Harry getting his name into the Goblet of Fire and entering the Triwizard Tournament, and I told him that I believed him that he didn't enter his name. It was fine with me, because if it came down to Ron or Harry I would choose my twin brother in a heartbeat.
   
Hermione and I told Harry he needed to write to Sirius and tell him what had happened with the Goblet of Fire. He was going to end up finding out anyways. He wrote Sirius a short letter and then we went up to the Owlry. I let him use my owl Skylark to send the letter so his owl Hedwig could have a break from long journeys. 
   
Draco loved teasing Harry about him being a Triwizard Champion, telling him he was going to die. Which meant that Hermonie and I told Draco to shut up a lot more than usual. Hagrid took Harry for a walk about a week before the First Task of the Triwizard Tournament and he found out that the First Task had to do with Dragons, and that he was only allowed to use his wand. So Hermione and I were helping him practice his summoning charms so he can get his Firebolt out of his room and then fly around the dragon.
   
On a walk back to Gryffindor Tower one night, it was just Harry and I tonight, and Harry said, "I heard George asked you to go to the ball with him."
   
"He did," I say nodding.
   
"I'm glad someone asked you," he said, a smirk on his lips.
   
"Did you not think anyone would?" I ask, slightly offended.
   
"No, no," he says quickly. "It's just, the ball isn't far away and no one had asked you yet. I was getting worried that if you didn't get a date soon and I hadn't plucked up the courage to ask a girl myself l that I'd have to take my twin sister to the ball."
   
"Awe, Harry," I smile at him, "you'll get a date to the ball soon. I know it. You're a Triwizard Champion after all I'm sure there are a lot of girls who would love to go with you."
   
"I asked Cho Chang," he says sheepishly.
   
"You did?" I beam, but the look on his face said this wasn't a good thing.
   
"I did," he nods, looking miserable now. "She already has a date though. She didn't say who she's going with. But she said she would have said yes if she didn't already have a date."
   
"See, she wanted to go with you, but someone got her first. That's all. You gotta get the courage to ask a girl to the ball."
   
"Well, you're going to have a great time with George at the dance. He will make sure of it."
    "I think so too," I admit, nodding."I'm really glad that he asked me. I was hoping that he would."
   
Harry gives me a questioning look. "Savannah, do you like George? Like in more than friend kind of way?"
   
"I do," I admit to him, "he doesn't know yet though. I'm planning on telling him at the ball, so don't say anything to him."
   
"I won't say anything," he assures me, smiling.

About a week before the First Task, Colin Creevy came to retrieve Harry from Potions class, he was gone through most of dinner as well. When he came back, he told me where he had been. There was a wand weighing ceremony where he had to get his wand checked over by Mr. Ollivander and made sure his wand was in condition to use in the Tournament. Then there was a photoshoot with all the Champions and their school's headmasters. Then Harry had to do an interview with Rita Skeeter, a reporter for the Daily Prophet who likes to twist everyone's words around.
   
The article came out the next day, and it was all about Harry. She mentioned Viktor and Fleur at the very end, and Cedric Diggory wasn't mentioned at all. It gave Harry such an ashamed feeling. She reported him saying things that Harry claimed to have never said. Like him saying he gets his strength from our parents and that he still cries over them at night. She also tried to make it seem like Harry and Hermione were a romantic thing, which was just so far from the truth.
   
Hermione kept trying to get Harry and Ron to speak to each other again, but once the article came out Ron became even more angry at Harry, and Harry said that he wouldn’t forgive Ron until Ron admitted that he believed Harry didn't put his name into the Goblet and apologize for calling him a liar about saying he didn't. But like I said, the article didn't really help Ron's anger.
   
Unlike Ron, I've never compared myself to Harry. And unlike Ron I am perfectly fine with just staying in the shadows. Ron, being the youngest boy in a family with some pretty impressive individuals that he felt he had a lot to live up to. With Bill, Charlie, and Percy all Prefects and Bill and Percy being Head Boys and Charlie the Captain of the Gryffindor Quidditch Team. And then there were the twins, they're not Prefects and Lord knows that neither of them are going to be made Head Boy next year, but they are very highly creative and inventive and keep everyone they meet laughing. Ron has always thought that he needs to prove himself just as important as his older brothers are to everyone he meets.
   
Then his best friend was Harry Potter, who was famous at the age of one, even if he didn't know it until he was 11. Harry was The Boy Who Lived, being the only individual to ever survive the Killing Curse, and he did it at such a young age.
   
Unlike Ron, I didn’t want the fame, and the gory, that came with being Harry Potter. I truly didn't. I just wanted to keep a low profile, out of everyone's way, do as best as I can in school, and date George Weasley. I didn’t think that was asking too much if you ask me. As much as I thought Ron was acting like an idiot, I'd be lying if I said that I didn’t understand.
   
Harry met with Sirius in the Gryffindor Common Room fireplace the Saturday before the First Task. He couldn't stay long, but he said someone dangerous definitely put his name into the Goblet and he needed to keep on guard. This, obviously, didn't ease Harry's worries at all.
   
On the Tuesday of the First Task, Harry ate breakfast quickly and then headed to the Forbidden Forest for the First Task. Hermione and I snuck to the tent that held the Champions in it and we found Harry. We each both pulled him into a big hug. Since we both knew about the dragons, we were very nervous and scared for Harry. Then, as Harry and Hermione were hugging Rita Skeeter snapped a photo of them saying something about young love. Viktor told her to leave, but she didn't listen. She asked if I would like to give a statement about my brother, but I knew better. I told her no comment and Hermione and I left the tent.
   
Hermione and I were beckoned over by George, who had saved both of us seats next to him. Fred was on the other side of him, and Lee Jordan and Ron on the other side of Fred. Hermione let me sit next to George, of course, and we watched the First Task together as a group.
   
Cedric came out first, up against a Swedish Short-Snout dragon. He used a Transfiguration spell to turn a rock into a dog to distract the Dragon. He seemed to be getting away with it, too. It actually worked long enough for him to get the egg. I sat there, nearly biting my nails the entire time.
   
Then the chosen Beauxbatons Champion, Fleur Delacour, came out second, up against a Common Welsh Green Dragon and enchanted the Dragon to sleep long enough for her to get the egg.
   
The Durmstrang student Viktor Krum came out against a Chinese Fireball. He used the conjunctivitis curse on the dragon to get the egg.
   
Harry came out last against a Hungarian Horntail, which Harry had told me that Charlie Weasley said was the fiercest of them all. He used a Summoning Charm to retrieve his broom and zoomed around the dragon to get the egg, but he did get scratches by the dragon in the process.
   
After the First Task, Harry and Viktor were tied for first place, with Cedric in second, and Fleur in third. The champions were told that the Golden Egg they retrieved contained a clue for the Second Task. Hermione and I got up, saying we were going to visit Harry, who was taken by Madam Pomfrey, and Ron stood up and said he was coming with us, which made Hermione and I both smile happily.
   
Ron and Harry made up then, and it made Hermione and I tear up. Ron apologized for getting angry with Harry, said he would have been barking mad to put his name in the Goblet of Fire, and then he apologized to me for getting angry with me too. I hugged him tightly and to him I forgave him.
   
That night in the Gryffindor Common Room Harry was treated like a God amongst men. He was lifted into the air by Fred and George and paraded him around while everyone cheered for him. When they put him down, Seamus asked him to open his golden egg, so he did, and it let out a high-pitched scream and Harry closed the egg after a few seconds.
   
We had no idea what the clue meant, but Harry had to figure it out before the Second Task of the Triwizard Tournament came up.
   
The rest of November was very quiet, then December came, and soon enough it would be Christmas and time for the Yule Ball. Professor McGonagall had given us all a talking-to, saying that us Gryffindors better not act out at the ball and embarrass the name of Godric Gryffindor. One afternoon in early December, I had Ginny come down to the Common Room in her dress for some finishing touches on it for her now that she had shoes to wear with her dress.
   
While I was doing this, Fred, George, and their friend Lee Jordan entered the Common Room. The twins smiled at their sister. "Look at you, Gin," said George, as the three of them walked towards us. "Is that your Yule Ball dress?"
   
"It is," says Ginny, nodding. "Savannah is just putting some finishing touches on it."
   
"You know Savannah, you could have made some gold making Yule Ball dresses and dress robes for the students this year," said Fred, who was making himself comfortable in the seat by Ginny.
   
"Probably," I say, not looking at them but keeping my eyes on the hem of Ginny’s dress, "But then I wouldn't have time to do my homework, or make my own dress. And if I didn't have a dress, I wouldn't be able to go to the Ball and George would have had to ask someone else."
   
"I love your dress, it is so pretty, Savannah," said Ginny, dreamily.
   
"Thank you, I'm quite proud of it, actually," I admit to her.
   
"What does it look like?" Asks George, eager to know.
   
"You'll see on Christmas," I say, quickly.
   
"Oh come on, Savannah," says George, "at least tell me what color it is so I don't clash with you."
   
"You don't need to worry about that," I say finally looking over at him, "it's balck."
   
"Brilliant," says George, smiling. "I can't wait to see you in it."
   
"You're going to faint, George, she looks so beautiful in it," says Ginny.
   
"Okay," I say quickly, "let's not talk it up too much."
   
"Oh please, Savannah," scoffs Fred, "you could come down here in a potato sack and George would still faint when he saw you."
   
That made me blush. I looked at George, and I saw that he was blushing too.