Tonks and Weasley (George Weasley)

Eight.

The next morning George sat with his girlfriend and her friends far from us down the table. It was so odd, but this was our new normal. We found out about the Yule Ball coming up, and it suddenly made sense that we needed to have a formal outfit with us this year. I didn’t have one though. And I certainly wasn't going to the ball. That was just what I needed, to watch George and Cecilia together dancing all close and having a good time. No thank you.
   
I spent the first month of school in a haze. I still had Fred but it wasn't the same as having both Fred and George by my side on the walks to classes. I missed George, I did. And the worst part is that I still had feelings for him. Romantic feelings I mean. That was the hardest part.
   
The contestants from the other school arrived on October 30th. Durmstrang and Beauxbatons arrived in great fashions, and we were all surprised to see Quidditch player Viktor Krum with the Durmstrang students. There was an obvious Veela from Beauxbatons school, we just didn’t know who it was. We just knew there was one.
   
Fred and George were on speaking terms again by the time they all arrived, and I was glad that one of us could still be his friend. Fred and George had been working on a way that they could enter the Tournament. On Halloween, Fred and George ran into the Great Hall with vials of the aging potion they had made this morning. I was sitting with Hermione near the Goblet of Fire.
   
They pop open the Vials and cross their arms like a newly married couple taking a shot of alcohol and in unison they say, "Bottoms up!"
   
They then drank the potions and they did age, but their plan didn't work. They turned into very old men and ran out of the room as their names shot out of the fire at them. All in all, it was a great laugh in the end.
   
The Champion from Durmstrang was Viktor Krum, which made everyone cheer. The Champion from Beauxbatons was a young woman named Fleur Delacour. And all of the Hufflepuffs cheered very loudly when Cedric Diggory was called to be the Hogwarts Champion.
   
Just as everything seemed to be boiling down after all three of the champions were chosen, the goblet spit out one more name, and it did so unprovoked. Headmaster Dumbledore took the name and unfolded it and read it out loud. “Harry Potter.”
   
Silence took over the entire room. Harry Potter, how? He was only 14, how did he get past Dumbledore’s age line? How did he get his name in the goblet without Dumbledore’s magic rejecting it? The Weasey twins tried, and they were rejected right away. How did Harry manage that? It was the question on everyone’s mind right now as Harry awkwardly strutted over to Professor Dumbledore, took his name card from him, and then headed back to where he was sitting.
   
The three heads of the schools agreed that rules were rules and that since it had spit out Harry’s name, he had to participate in the Triwizard Tournament. Harry didn’t seem very happy about this. Over the next few days, everyone wanted to know how Harry did it. How he got his name into the goblet. He claimed to have no idea how his name got there, and he didn’t do it himself. I believed him, because I knew Harry, and Harry wouldn’t put his life at risk just to be popular in school. If he claimed he didn’t put his name into the goblet and that he didn’t know who did then I believe him.
   
Draco made buttons that read the phrase: 

Support Cedric Diggory
-The REAL Hogwarts Champion-

Then after a few seconds it would change to:

Potter Stinks!

It was oh so mature of him to make those. Ron had also stopped talking to Harry, he doesn’t believe that Harry didn’t put his own name into the goblet. I tried my best to ignore them, but like last year when Ron thought Hermione’s cat Crookshanks ate his pet Rat Scabbers and they didn’t talk to each other I couldn’t ignore it, nor could I choose a side. If Ron believed Harry to be lying, I couldn’t change his mind.
   
A few days later Fred was walking me to class when we were stopped. "Hey Tonks!" I heard a voice call out my name, and then they called again, "Hey Tonks wait up!" I turned and I saw Cedric Diggory running my direction. He was smiling when he reached me. "Hey, thanks for stopping, Tonks."
   
"No problem. Can I help you with something, Cedric?" I ask, smiling back at him.
   
"I was wondering if I could talk to you alone for a moment," he says, sounding confident.
   
"She's all yours," says Fred, looking at Cedric with a smile and then he turns to me, "I'll see you at lunch, Vangie," Then he steps away from Cedric and I. Cedric is smiling at me again.
   
"Can I walk you to your next class?" He asks, that confidence still in his voice.
   
"Sure," I say, nodding, "I'm on my way to Transfiguration."
   
"Perfect," he says as we start walking down the hall. "So I bet you're wondering why I wanted to talk to you."
   
"I am curious about that, yes," I admit to him.
   
"I was wondering if maybe you'd like to go to the Yule Ball with me."
   
"What?" I ask, but I had no control over it. It just came out. "You really want to go with me?"
   
He chuckles at my reaction. "I do, yes, if you also want to go with me."
   
"Cedric, you're a School Champion. You can go with anyone you want to. Why would you want to go with me?"
   
"Why not you, Tonks?" He asks, shrugging. "I don't know if you have noticed or not, but I've had my eye on you for a while, and I figured that it's time that I made a move."
   
"Don't you think that I'm a bit too young for you?" I ask, and again I didn’t have control over it, it just came out. "I'm only a fifth year and you're a seventh."
   
He shrugs, "it's just two years. It's not that bad."
   
"I guess you're right, when you put it that way," I say, shrugging.
   
"So, what do you say, Tonks?" He asks, gripping the handle of his crossbody school bag with both of his large hands so they're resting on his chest, "Will you go to the ball with me?"
   
By now we were at the Transfiguration classroom. We stood outside of the door to the side, not to block the doorway for other students. He stared down at me, those beautiful blue eyes of his were burning a hole into me. He was so intense but yet so not at the same time. I've never been so intimidated by a human being like I am Cedric Diggory right now.
   
"Um," I say looking down at my feet, "can I think about it? I'll let you know tomorrow. It's just a lot for me to process. This is very unexpected."
   
"Of course," he says, nodding at me. His chestnut brown hair flopping as he nods. "I'll find you tomorrow morning and we can talk about it."
   
"Thank you," I say, nodding.

   
At lunch that day, Fred wasted no time at all asking me about Cedric. He wanted to know everything that I could tell him. "What did Diggory want to talk to you alone about?"
   
"Oh," I say, suddenly feeling sheepish with the eyes of him and also Lee Jordan on me, "You're not going to believe this, but he asked me to go to the Yule Ball with him."
   
Hermione Granger, who was sitting across from us, almost dropped her fork. Ginny, who was next to Hermione, stared at me hard, her eyes even grew a few sizes in shock. Harry kept his head down, looking at his food. Ron stared in awe as well, he was in shock like Ginny was.
   
"Come off it! You're lying!" Ron exclaims.
   
"Why would I make that up, Ron?" I scoff at him. "It doesn't matter. I asked him if I could have time to think about it, but I'm not saying yes."
   
"What? Why not?" Asks Fred, sounding confused, "He's got to be into you if he asked you, he wouldn't have asked you if he wasn't."
   
"He is, you were right this entire time, he said he's had his eye on me for a while," I admit to him, "But I don't want to go to the ball. I told you that already."
   
"It's too bad," says Fred, with a sigh, then he leans in so only I can hear him and he whispers, "It would make George so jealous, which would piss off Cecilia so much."
   
"No it won't," I say, in just as hushed of a tone as he just used, "They don't care about me. They proved that a long time ago."
   
"Cedric keeps looking over at you," says Fred, changing the subject. He had a proud smile on his face, smirking at me. I made the mistake of looking Cedric’s way, and he waved at me instead of being embarrassed he got caught looking at me. I shyly waved back as Fred said, "It's too bad that you don't want to go to the ball. You'd have a great time with Cedric. You know he's a perfect gentleman. I know you, Vangie, and you will regret it if you don't go. I don't want that for you. It won't be as fun without you there."
   
I sigh, he had a point. The only reason that I didn't want to go was because I didn't want to watch George and Cecilia together dancing having a good time all night. I deserve to have a good night just as much as they do.
   
"Okay, fine, have it your way, Fred," I say, and then I stand up and I make my way to the Hufflepuff table right behind Cedric. I tap his shoulder and he stands when he sees that it's me.
   
"Tonks, hi," He says, smiling at me, "to what do I owe this visit?"
   
"I've made my decision about the ball," I tell him, "I will go to the ball with you on one condition."
   
"What is that?" He asks, eager to know.
   
"You stop calling me Tonks," I say with a chuckle in my voice, "My sister goes by our last name, but I don't. Please call me Evangeline."
   
"Okay," he says nodding, "Thank you, Evangeline. You won't regret this."
   
"I know I won't," I say, smiling at him and then I walked away from him. I took my seat next to Fred at the Gryffindor table, and I smiled at him. "There. I'm going to the ball with Cedric Diggory."
   
Fred smiles proudly at me, "And aren't you happy about that?"
   
I snuck a quick look over to Cedric at the Hufflepuff table, I caught a glimpse of him smiling, talking with his friends. He really was handsome, that was for sure, and he said he's had his eye on me for a while now. He could honestly be the perfect person to help me finally forget about George Weasley and put my stupid crush on him aside. "I am," I admit, looking at Fred again.

______________
Here's part 8!

I can't believe that I have finally posted this because I've had this part particularly in my head for so long.

As you have probably noticed. Cho Chang isn't really going to be a thing in this story.

She will be, but just not like she was in the original stories.

-Emily Winchester.