Begin Again (George Weasley/Draco Malfoy)

Twenty-Nine.

On Christmas Eve night, we all sat around the fire at the Weasley’s while we listened to some music. I am sitting next to my mum and my dad, when Harry comes over to talk to Mr. Weasley. He tells my dad and Mr. Weasley all about what he heard Draco and Snape talking about. They say that Snape is trusted by Dumbledore, so we need to trust Snape. I didn’t like the thought of that, but they were right.
   
"Harry," I say, "can we not talk about Draco Malfoy? It's Christmas Eve, can we drop it for tonight?"
   
"I'm sorry," says Harry, "but I know he is up to something. I just know it."
   
"You don't know anything about Draco Malfoy," I tell him, "You can't say that when you don't know him."
   
"And you do?" Says Harry, quickly.
   
"That's not what I said," I say back quickly.
   
"She's got a point," my dad says, "None of us here know Draco Malfoy personally, he's not his father. We don't exactly know just how dangerous he is right now. That being said, Adelaide, we should keep our guard up when it comes to Draco. His father is in Azkaban. We don't know how desperate he is. Just keep an eye out."
   
"Adelaide always has her eye on Draco Malfoy," says Fred, he has had quite a bit of Eggnog to drink, so I know it was just the alcohol talking George hits his twin's leg, telling him to shut up without actually talking.
   
Then Harry asked my dad if he knew anyone called The Half-Blood Prince, thinking it might be his dad, and the conversation switched to one about Snape’s interactions with my dad, Harry’s dad James, and Sirius during their time at Hogwarts. It wasn’t much of anything we hadn’t already heard, but my dad assured him that no one he knew called themselves the Half-Blood Prince.
   
When my dad asked why Harry was so curious to know who this guy was, Harry didn’t hesitate to tell him about the book with the markings and spells that seemed to be made up by the prince. He told him how advanced he was at potions because of this book and how much it’s helped him. My dad told him he should check the year the book was made, and then maybe he will figure out when this Prince was at Hogwarts.
   
I was sharing a room with Ginny, and when I woke up on Christmas morning, we had presents at the foot of our beds. I had way more presents than her, but that didn’t matter. Some of them were all wrapped in the same looking paper, and I figured that they were from my Mum or something. I unwrapped Mrs. Weasley’s sweater first, that I get every year from her, and I opened a gift from my dad, which I knew my Mum had bought and wrapped saying it was from him and then I opened the note on top of the ones that were all wrapped in the same paper.
 

Adelaide,
          I had already bought all of this stuff before we broke up. It didn’t feel right to return it when I knew you could still use it.

Merry Christmas,
George Weasley

I had to read the letter twice. I was so shocked. I wasn’t expecting anything from George. I start with the smallest one, which was a homework planner for this year, which I desperately needed now that the one from Hermione was now filled. The second gift was a copy of a book I mentioned to him that I wanted to get called “N.E.W.T. Studying Tips” and another book I mentioned that was all about the founders of Hogwarts that I knew Hermione was going to want to borrow after I finished it. There was another book about nonverbal spells that I mentioned would be a good read once, and a few more books. He had probably spent a lot of time at the bookshop on Diagon Alley buying all of these, and the last thing was a box of little things from their own shop, mainly from the Wonder Witch section for the girls, that came with a note from Fred, saying he was sorry for the comments he made the first day we were here.
   
“Who are all of those books from?” Asks Ginny after I had finished opening them all.
   
“George, believe it or not,” I shrug and then I explain to her, “he left a note saying he bought them all before we broke up and didn’t want to return them.”
   
“Wow, that was nice of him,” says Ginny.
   
“It was,” I agree, nodding.
   
We changed out of our pajamas, into the sweater that Mrs. Weasley had made us, and we made our way downstairs. When we got into the kitchen we saw that the only kids that were awake were us and the twins, all of the adults were up though.
   
“Oh, look at you two!” Cried Mrs. Weasley happily. “You both look darling!”
   
“Merry Christmas, Mum!” says Ginny, giving her mum a hug, “Thanks for the sweater.”
   
“Oh, Merry Christmas, Ginny dear,” she says as she gives her only daughter a kiss on her forehead.
   
I was next, standing in front of Mrs. Weasley as she grabbed me into one of her amazing hugs, “Merry Christmas, Mrs. Weasley, thank you so much for the sweater.”
   
“Oh, you’re welcome, sweetie, Merry Christmas,” she cups her hands around my face, “I swear you get more and more beautiful every day. I knew that shade of pink would look great on you.”
   
“Thank you,” I say, not hiding my smile.
   
She lets go of my face then, and tells me to go sit and have some tea while she prepares breakfast. The only open seat is next to George, which was done by Ginny’s doing leaving it open for me. He was also wearing the sweater from his mum. I say Merry Christmas to my parents, giving them both a hug and thanking them for the gifts before I took the seat next to my ex.
   
“Merry Christmas,” I say, trying to stay cheerful.
   
“Merry Christmas, Adelaide,” Replies George.
   
I reach for the pot of tea and bring it towards myself, not looking George in the eye as I speak to him, “Thank you for the books, and the planner.”
   
“You’re welcome,” he says, “Like I said in the note, I had bought it all before, well, you know.”
   
Oh I did know. And I was trying my hardest not to think about last Christmas, when George and I had our first kiss by the fire. He sure planned on spoiling me this year, and he did, even though we didn’t even make it a year.
   
“Yes, I know,” I say nodding, “Thank you anyways, for still giving them all to me.”
   
“No problem,” says George and that was all the talking that he and I did over breakfast.
   
When the rest of the kids woke up, we were already starting breakfast. Ron looked miserable in his Maroon colored sweater. He hates the sweater he gets every year. Absolutely hates it. Harry, however, looked dashing in his dark blue sweater with the big H in the middle.
   
We all sat around by the fire, sharing stories and reminiscing all day, while I helped Mrs. Weasley clean up and get ready for the big dinner. When it was finally time for dinner, it was 6 p.m. and we were all finally hungry from our big breakfast that we ate.
   
Once again, I was forced to sit next to George. I didn’t let that deter me, we were all having a good day, and it was just a seat at the table, that’s it. It wasn’t like I had to stay here for the rest of the night. During dinner, the Weasley’s had a visitor that they weren’t expecting. Percy, their third oldest son, showed up with the Minister of Magic. Mrs. Weasley was so happy to see him, and Rufus Scrimgeour had said that Percy wanted to come see his family, but the look on Percy’s face told us that was a lie.
   
He then asked Harry to have a walk with him, and Harry reluctantly obliged. They weren’t gone very long. Harry came back without the Minister and he seemed angry. He went back to his dinner, but he was just playing with his mashed turnips when he said, “So, Umbridge is still working at the Ministry. I figured she would have quit.”
   
I drop my fork onto my plate, causing a loud clanking sound to take over the kitchen, “U-Umbridge?” I ask, stuttering my voice was so shaky.
   
If Umbridge was still at the Ministry, I can kiss my dreams goodbye. She wasn’t exactly old, she will still be at the Ministry when I am trying to become an Auror. I might as well just give up on my N.E.W.T.’s and prepare myself for an unsuccessful life that she assured me that I am destined to have.
   
“Excuse me,” I say standing up and taking off upstairs up the Ginny’s room and I close the door behind me and then I sit on the bed that was made out for me in Ginny’s room, and I start crying into my hands. I was really hoping that people like Umbridge weren’t going to be at the Ministry for much longer, but I guess I was wrong. I was stupid for hoping that I would ever become an Auror. I need to give up that dream. It’s never going to happen for me and I need to accept it.
   
I’m not alone for long, I didn’t look at who was in the room with me, I just heard the door open and then someone was sitting on the bed with me. It wasn’t until I smelled the familiar teakwood scented cologne that I knew who it was. I wrap my arms around George and continue to bawl. He doesn’t say anything, he just lets me cry, and I do. For about another five minutes I just cried.
   
When I let go of George, I sit up straight and wipe my eyes with the sleeves of my sweater and sniffle my nose. “Thanks,” I say, my voice hoarse.
   
“No problem,” He says, looking down at his large feet. “I knew when you came up here that you might need to talk.”

I stand up, and I walk over to my trunk and pull out the hair tie and pull my hair into a ponytail that rests in the middle of the back of my head. George’s eyes were on me the entire time. I plop back down onto the bed, reclaiming my spot next to him looking out at the frost covered window. “I think I officially need to give up wanting to become an Auror,” I say, softly, my voice wasn’t as rough anymore now that I am now more together.
   
“That’s rubbish, Adelaide,” Says George with a sigh, “How many times do I have to tell you? With your grades, and your O.W.L. marks, you can do whatever you want.”
   
Tears were threatening my eyes again, “And how many times do I have to tell you that you didn’t hear her. You didn’t hear her tell me that I will never be considered for anything. You don’t know. You weren’t there. No matter what I do, no matter how good my grades or my O.W.L’s were, I’m never going to get the jobs that I want. She will make sure of it as long as she’s got her power at the Ministry.”
   
“Well,” he says, trying to keep cool for my sake, “You don’t know that you’re right, and I don’t know if I’m right. Only time is going to tell.”
   
I sniffle again, not wanting to let the tears win again. “You’re right,” I say nodding.
   
George gives me a smile, “I don’t think you have anything to stress about.”
   
I smile lightly, looking down at the bed. “You’re too nice to me, George Weasley.”
   
He chuckles lightly. “You’re too hard on yourself, Adelaide Fawley.”
   
I don’t reply with words, I hug him, and he responds by wrapping his arms around my torso. I hold onto him for a good moment. I missed this. He was so sweet to me, but that’s not a good enough reason for me to want to be with him. I release the hug, but I sit back only inches from his face, he smiles at me like he knows what I am thinking, because he’s thinking about doing the same thing.
   
I don’t love him, I say to myself in my head, I don’t love him. I love Draco.
   
But it didn’t work. The next thing I knew our lips were touching, and we were kissing on the bed. I didn’t pull away, and neither did George, so it naturally escalated. Before I could register what I was doing, we were full on making out. Once I had come out of my haze he was trying to get me to lay down. I pull away from him in an instant. Standing up off the bed, my hands over my mouth as I let out a gasp.
   
“I’m so sorry, George,” I say frantically. “I am so, so sorry. I don’t know what came over me.”
   
“Adelaide, it’s okay,” says George standing up now too.
   
“No, it’s not,” I say, sternly. “I promised I wouldn’t lead you on anymore.”
   
“You’re not,” He says, with a little bit of a laugh.
   
“Kissing you just then was leading you on, George. How do you not see that?”
   
“How is it leading me on, exactly?”
   
“Because, it could make you think that I have feelings for you again and give you a false sense of hope that we’ll get back together. That’s leading you on.”
   
He actually laughs at me, he steps forward getting close to me, so close that our chests were touching. “Oh Adelaide,” he says reaching up to my face, bringing his hand to the back of my neck, “Sometimes, you can have a physical connection with someone and that’s it. I know that. I know you don’t love me, and that is fine. I told everyone not to come up, that we’ll come down when we were ready. So, we can be alone as long as we want to.”
   
“A-are you sure?” I ask, not buying it. George has had a crush on me since we met, and then we dated for almost a year, and I am to believe that he doesn’t care all of the sudden? I didn’t believe it.
   
But you know what, fuck it.
   
“Ah, who cares,” I say as I press my lips to his again. His hands are on my hips as he turns my body and walks me over to my bed, and lays me down onto it.

_________________________
Here's part 29!

See they're already getting close again!

-Emily Winchester.