Begin Again (George Weasley/Draco Malfoy)

Thirty.

Sleeping with George again was just that, sex. We stayed as quiet as possible, which was easier for me than it was for him, but we managed not to give ourselves a way thanks to a soundproof spell I told him to use, considering both of our parents and all of George’s siblings were downstairs. The awkwardness that was between us was gone when we reemerged downstairs. Fred raised his eyebrows at his twin, as he noticed how close George and I were standing next to each other.
   
“Oh, there you two are,” says Mrs. Weasley, “everything alright?”
   
“Yes, everything is fine,” says George. “Just had to talk her down from a frantic episode is all.”
   
Everyone knows I am riddled with anxiety, so that wasn’t a shock to anyone here.
   
“Sleeping bear,” says Ron, shaking his head.
   
The next week at the Weasley’s was nice, a few days after New Year’s we went back to Hogwarts. Mrs. Weasley made me promise her I’d look after myself and not overwork myself. I was feeling a lot better about mine and George’s break up now that we had talked things over, or at least that’s what we had told everyone. But it wasn’t awkward to be around him anymore, and that’s what really was important.
   
When we got back to Hogwarts, Hermione was waiting for us, and we told her all about what Harry and I heard Draco and Snape arguing about. She still wasn’t talking to Ron, which was sad, but it’s whatever. Harry, Ginny, and I were all used to it at this point. She said that Snape was probably just pretending to help Draco, but we told her that she can no longer deny that Draco is planning something now, to which she agreed was true.
   
When I got back to my house, I saw a bunch of sixth years surrounding a memo that was on the wall in our common room. I made my way over to Jude, who was reading the memo with the rest of our friends, and I asked her, “What’s going on?”
   
“Look!” she beams, “Apparition lesson sign ups are happening!”
   
Sure enough, that’s exactly what the memo was about.
   
The first apparition test wasn’t successful at all, but that was fine because it was our very first lesson. The only other interesting thing that happened during the month of January was that Harry told us he needed to retrieve a memory from Professor Slughorn, since that’s what he’s been doing with the Headmaster, watching old memories of Voldemort’s past. He watched one of Professor Slughorn’s and it was tampered with so Dumbledore has asked him to retrieve the untampered with memory.
   
Harry has become obsessed with Draco and what he’s doing, he watches him on the Marauder’s Map, and he talks about finding out what he’s up to nonstop and it’s getting on Hermione’s nerves. I’m honestly worried about Draco, curious to know if he is working for the Dark Lord or not. I didn’t want to know what he was doing if he was working for Voldemort, but I did want to warn him he needs to watch his back, because Harry is going to stop at nothing to take him down and find out what he’s doing, because he’s figured out that he is, at least, up to something.
   
I asked him to meet me in the library at our old spot again during Charms, he sniggered and said, “You better not make a habit out of this, Fawley.” And you think that would have been enough, but that didn’t stop me from wanting to warn him, however.
   
That night, just like the first time, I was already in the library when he arrived, and just like last time he pretended that I wasn’t even there until we were at our spot in the back of the library. His grey eyes were cold and hard as he stared me down.
   
As soon as I know the coast is clear, I just tell him what I asked him here to tell him, “Now, I don’t want to know if it’s true or not, that’s not why I asked you here, but you should know that Harry knows you’re working for someone, and he’s pretty sure it’s the Dark Lord.”
   
“What?” He asks, his stare somehow harder than it was before.
   
“I know, okay, he might be losing his mind, I don’t want to know if he’s right or not. I don’t care, I just thought you should know. Because whether it’s true or not, you need to watch your back, because Harry is going to stop at nothing until he’s figured it out for himself.” 
              
He’s quiet for a moment, not saying anything, and I begin to think he isn’t going to say anything at all until he does, “Why are you telling me this?”
   
“Because, I just thought that you should know,” I say, shrugging.
   
“Yes, but why?” He asks, his face now holding a puzzled expression. “Since when do you care about me?”
   
My arms cross over my chest, “Who said I ever stopped caring, Draco?” I ask, curtly.
   
A sly smile perches his pink lips, “You still have feelings for me, don’t you, Adelaide?”
   
“I told you that I smelled you in the Amortentia potion, didn’t I?” I ask, keeping my tone hard.
   
“It’s sweet,” he says, relaxing some now. “Really, thanks for telling me this.”
   
“Yeah,” I say not looking at him, “no problem. I just figured that you should watch your back. Like I said I don’t want to know if you’re doing anything or not, but even if you’re innocent stay on guard because Harry has ways of knowing exactly where you are at all times.”
   
“Okay, but if he has his ways of knowing where I am, won’t he know that you’re with me right now?”
   
“I’ll make up something, you wanted to copy my Charms notes or something. He’ll believe that.”
   
“Thanks,” he says again. “Is that all you wanted to tell me.”
   
I nod my head, “Yeah, that’s all.”
   
“Okay,” he nods his head and then starts to walk away, but he stops, turns around again, and asks me, “Um, did you ever read all of the letters I wrote you last summer? I know you said you read the first two, but did you eventually read the last two?”
   
I shake my head no, “I didn’t.”
   
“Do you still have them?” He asks.
   
I nod my head, “I do.”
   
“You should read them,” he says, and then turns back around and leaves. I had kept the letter’s from last summer, but I never knew why I wanted to, but now it makes sense. It was because I still had feelings for him. Strong feelings that I told myself was just my hatred for him. I was wrong.
   
When I exited the library, I saw Harry was coming my way. “What were you doing with Malfoy?” He demands as his greeting. “And don’t lie to me, I saw you talking to him in Charms class, too.”
   
I keep my cool and I start walking, Harry traveling with me, “Yeah, I know, he was asking to borrow my notes.”
   
Harry doesn’t buy it, but I kind of expected him not to right away, I was prepared for this. “Why would he want to borrow your notes?”
   
“Because he doesn’t want to fail the class,” I say as we keep walking.
   
“Since when do you care if he fails classes or not?”
   
“Do you not know me, Harry?” I ask stopping to turn to look at him. “Whether he’s working for the Dark Lord or not I don’t care. This was a school matter. He was embarrassed about not doing well in the class, and none of his Slytherin friends are in the class with him so he couldn’t borrow the notes from them. So, he asked me as a last resort, because I’m the smartest in our year next to Hermione, who he knew wouldn’t give them to him. As a Prefect and a Hufflepuff I can’t just sit back while a classmate of mine fails, Harry.”
   
For someone who values honesty, I sure got the Gryffindor gene of talking my way out of things by making shit up. I was pretty good at it too, if I do say so myself.
   
“That’s all that it was, just Charms notes?”
   
“Yeah, that’s it, he’s going to copy them and give them back tomorrow.” I assure nodding.
   
“Okay,” he says eyeing me. He finally believes me, and he leaves me alone, walking away, finally satisfied with my answer.
   
When I got back to Hufflepuff House, I noticed all the girls in my year were in the common room, so I decided to head up to the sixth year girl’s dorms and I tear through my trunk until I reach my letters. I kept all of them from Draco, except for the one that I threw into the fire last Christmas. I find the two sealed ones from last summer, and I rip them open with so much force I almost ripped the letters themselves. I was disappointed to see that the first one was just a little note, of him asking me to reply to his first two letters.