stardust ⋮ george weasley

eight :

E I G H T

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The Hogwarts library was filled with a quiet bustle of students poring over books and meeting up with friends. Adeline sat a small table near the middle, cramming to finish up a Potions essay before her next student arrived.

Over the past couple of weeks, Adeline found herself enjoying tutoring much more than she anticipated, which was saying a lot. The students were amazing, and it only reaffirmed her wanting to become a Charms professor after finishing her education at Hogwarts. She loved the feeling of seeing people succeed and become proud of themselves, especially after spending so long working and struggling on a topic. It warmed her up on the inside being able to help people, and Adeline knew for certain that this was what she wanted to do.

The sound of someone clearing their throat interrupted Adeline from her thoughts, and she looked up to see a young Gryffindor boy with black hair staring at her, clutching a Charms textbook in his hands.

"Are...are you Adeline?" When she nodded, the boy breathed a sigh of relief. "I'm Neville."

Adeline grinned and greeted him before gesturing for him to sit down in the seat next to her. Just as she was about to start asking about what he was struggling with, however, Adeline noticed how shaky Neville was and how he couldn't seem to meet her gaze. From what Adeline had heard, Neville was normally a nervous, quiet boy. But this seemed a little bit more than that.

"Are you doing alright?" She asked him in a concerned tone of voice.

Neville looked up at her in surprise, eventually shaking his head. "Just came from Potions," he eventually admitted. "Professor Snape's normally horrible to me, but he's hated me even more since my boggart turned into him during Professor Lupin's class."

"Professor Snape's an arse," Adeline cursed, causing Neville to look at her surprised but also nod in agreement. "I still have no idea how he was allowed around children. He's absolutely horrible to everyone unless they're a Slytherin."

Despite Neville nodding in agreement and trying to put a smile on his face, Adeline could still tell the Gryffindor boy was upset over what had happened in Potions class just before.

"You know...facing your worst fear almost every day makes you incredibly brave. A true Gryffindor if I've ever seen one." Adeline opened up her Charms book. "Now what charm do you want to start working on?"

Now beaming and having almost completely forgotten about the horrid experience that was his Potion class, Neville began working on his Charms work with her. He found himself finally beginning to understand the subject more and more as the hour went on. With the pace he was improving at, even in just that first session, both of them seemed to realize that Neville wouldn't be needing Adeline to tutor him for long.

The pair ended up finding themselves hanging out for long after their tutoring session was supposed to end. Neville liked being around Adeline, but not in the romantic sense. There was this comforting energy to her that Neville was drawn to. When Adeline asked him what his favorite subject, Neville found himself rambling for ages about his favorite plants and how to care for them. Even after Neville apologized for how much he was talking about Herbology, Adeline told him she thought it was fascinating. Plus, it what he was passionate about, so why should Neville apologize?

Needless to say, both of them found a new friend that day.

Meanwhile, three boys were hiding behind a nearby bookshelf in the library with no absolutely intentions for studying.

"Are you guys sure about this?" Lee asked the pair of twins. "Maybe...not in the middle of the library? Madam Pince hates us enough as it is and I don't want to make her even angrier."

"Aww, is little Lee in love?" George cooed, earning a smack in the chest from Lee. "I wish you both the absolute most happiness."

"Shut it, Georgie. She's just absolutely terrifying."

"To answer your question," Fred said, interrupting the pair's banter. "Yes, we absolutely need to prank Flint. He hasn't shut up since Gryffindor lost the last Quidditch match, and the other day I saw him bullying a group of Hufflepuff first years. The guy deserves it."

So when Marcus Flint began writing his essay, Fred used his wand to levitate several explosive dye pellets into his messenger bag sitting beside him. He managed to get them in without anyone noticing, and gestured for George to say the incantation that would activate them.

And with a little wave of George's wand, the pellets exploded.

Flint screamed as semi-permanent dye covered him with a variety of colors, from neon pink to yellow to purple. Madam Pince caught wind of the disturbance immediately, and was already scolding Flint for potentially damaging some of the books. The normally quiet library was roaring with laughter at the sight of the normally horrible Slytherin boy finally getting a taste of his own medicine.

And through all the noise and chaos, George caught a faint giggle from behind a nearby bookcase. When he peered behind it, George saw Adeline with her hand over her mouth, but he could tell that she was grinning underneath it.

Biting his lip, he turned his head back to look at the prank so Adeline couldn't catch him staring at her. George hoped that Lee and Fred wouldn't notice his cheeks beginning to turn as red as his hair, and thankfully they were so distracted by the chaos that they didn't even take a second look at him.

As the trio ran out the library, howling with laughter, the only thing going through George's mind was Adeline's laugh and how much he liked hearing it.

And the strangest part? George couldn't even understand why he liked hearing her laugh so much.

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a/n:

this was a short chapter but!! i really love the idea of a neville and adeline friendship i think it's Baby. also the pranking trio!! absolute legends. i hope you all enjoyed the chapter!!

- g ♡