Secrets Only Trouble Knows - George Weasley

05 - First Day Gossip

"Up and at 'em, Nov!"

Was this my life now? Was I going to be annoyingly woken up every morning with someone over top of me?

I groaned and opened my eyes to see Callie standing next to my bed. She had pulled the red curtains that lined the side of my bed back for good measure, making sure I'd wake up once the sunlight was directly hitting my face.

Her brown eyes were warm and filled with happiness, her freckle-covered cheeks were split into a bright grin, and her black curls were perfectly framing her face. She was clearly already ready for the first day of school. How, I couldn't fathom.

"Listen, Callie, I know you're a total morning person and that's really great for you but I'm not so go ahead and politely piss off—" I muttered.

I tried to roll over and pull my bed covers closer around my body whilst talking to her, but she didn't let me. She grabbed onto the ends of them and gave them a nice tug, and I was immediately hit with cold air as they flew off me.

"Ah! Callie!" I yelped, gasping in shock. "Seriously?!"

"I tried to go easy on you but you gave me no choice! Come on, up you get, lazy," she said, poking my leg incessantly for added effect.

"Why?" I protested. "It's only 7:30, I can sleep in a little longer!"

"Well, I thought if we headed down to the Great Hall early we could have a nice family breakfast with everyone and go over each other's schedules to see what we have before the day begins," she answered simply. "So get up!"

"Fine," I grumbled, begrudgingly climbing out of my bed.

She turned on her heel.

"I want you ready and down in the common room in twenty, sunshine!" she called to me over her shoulder.

Squinting and cowering from the bright sunlight filling my room—much like a little gremlin that lived in the dark, I imagined—I watched after her retreating back until she'd disappeared out the door, leaving me alone. Apparently I was the last one to awaken, even as early as I deemed it to be. Angelina and Alicia weren't anywhere to be found and their beds were already nicely made.

Ugh. Morning people.

What was it like being able to function properly before at least 10 AM? I wouldn't ever know.

After I cleaned myself up and pulled on a fresh Gryffindor uniform and my robes, I grabbed everything I'd need for the day and made my way down the stairs to the common room. Per usual, a warm and inviting fire was blazing in the fireplace and lots of sunspots were cast around the room from all of the windows. There were some other people already awake, sitting and relaxing on the big red couch or at the tables drinking cups of tea.

I caught up to Callie just as Kol came rumbling down the boys' staircase.

"Ah! How are my favorite ladies doing this morning?" he greeted us, walking between us and throwing his arms around each of our shoulders.

Just like Adrian, Kol had also grown taller since the last time I'd seen him. He, like many of the boys in our year, was beginning to fill out. He'd lost his round baby face and had started to gain some toned muscle, something he had being a Gryffindor Quidditch Chaser to thank.

"I was great until Callie abruptly woke me up," I laughed.

Kol began steering the two of us toward the entrance of the common room.

"She did the same to me," he chuckled as we stepped through the portrait hole together.

"Is it a crime that I wanted to spend a little extra time with some of my favorite people who I haven't seen properly in months?" Callie countered with a pout.