Begin Again (George Weasley/Draco Malfoy)

Thirty-Six.

It had been a month and I hadn't gotten any notice about my detention that I was supposed to do. Jude was so proud of me for telling both Draco and Snape off. She made a joke that she had finally rubbed off on me. She was my best friend after all.
   
I told my mum what had happened in a letter, she wrote me back saying that I should respect Snape as Headmaster, because he is my Headmaster if I like it or not. George sent me a letter saying he was proud of me, he even referred to Snape as Snivellis like Sirius used to all the time. It made me laugh. My mum must have shared my news with them at an Order Meeting.
   
The Carrows weren't a fun bunch, that was for sure. They were cruel, and irritating. During our first lesson of October, Draco raised his hand and asked Amycus what he thought the most dangerous creature out there was.
   
I knew exactly what he was doing straight away.
   
Draco bated Professor Carrow into saying Werewolves were the most dangerous creatures out there. I rolled my eyes and scoffed.
   
"Do you have something to add, Miss Fawley?" Asked Professor Carrow, looking at me now.
   
"Not exactly," I say, "just that I'd have to disagree."
   
"I believe you would," says Professor Carrow, smirking now. I wished I could slap that smirk off his face. "Your father is a werewolf, isn't he?"
   
"He is," I say, "And everyone in this room knows he isn't dangerous. He's only dangerous one night a month during the Full Moon, when he has had any Wolfsbane potion."
   
"Remus was the best Defense Against the Dark Arts Professor we had," says Neville Longnottom. He's gotten a lot of confidence recently. It suited him, honestly.
   
"Yeah," says Seamus Finnegan, "He was the best. We actually learned when he taught us."
   
"It seems you all have had your minds clouded," says Professor Carrow, "Don't worry, you'll all see the truth by the end of the year."
   
I scoff again, not caring if anyone heard me.
   
"You doubt me, miss Fawley?" Asks Professor Carrow.
   
"No," I say, "I think I will learn from you. I'll just have to work on my own to separate the facts and the actual truth from your personal opinions."
   
Professor Carrow becomes angry now, "Your father has warped your mind into thinking he's not dangerous, child. You will see the truth."
   
I don't back down. I won't. I know my father. I know he can be dangerous, but he's not that person all the time. I will argue that until I have no more breath in my lungs.
   
"I've seen him in his wolf form before, I know just how dangerous he can be. But that's not who he is the other says of the month. You will never change my mind about this. You're wasting your time trying."
   
He laughs lightly to himself, "I wonder what it must be like for you. Tell me, what's it like to be on the wrong side of this fight?"
   
"I don't know," I say. "What's it like?"
   
"Detention, Miss Fawley. For your backtalk."
   
"Add it to the one Headmaster Snape gave me the first day," I say, my tone showing how not bothered by this I was.
   
That day after class, Neville kept bye as we walked to our next class. "That was awesome back there," he says.
   
"Thanks," I say, "I don't care who he is, I don't tolerate people talking about my father like that. I will never tolerate that."
   
"As you shouldn't," he says. "That wasn't right of him to do that. Malfoy baited him into saying Werewolves. He knew it would make you angry."
   
"He did," I say, nodding. "I guess now that Harry, Ron, and Hermione aren't here he needs someone else to pick on."
   
"But why you though?" He asks, his tone obviously confused. "What have you ever done to Malfoy to make him so angry at you?"
   
"There's a lot about Malfoy and I that you don't know, Neville," I tell him.
   
He nods his head, but he doesn't ask questions. That was when Ginny came running up to us with Luna they said they had worked out a plan. I had no idea what this plan was but I wanted in, no matter what it was.
   
I sat at the Gryffindor table with them at lunch and we worked out a plan. They wanted to keep Dumbledore's Army going, and so did I, honestly. We made a plan to sneak out at night and graffiti the walls so people would know that the D.A. was still recruiting.
   
We didn't get caught. Which was good. They knew it was us though. Ginny was the only Weasley at Hogwarts, they had to have known that she had something to do with it.
   
Snape left it up to Amycus Carrow to handle my detentions. I spent both of them with him. He tried to make me use the Cruciatus Curse on a first year student and I was beaten when I refused. This happened during both detentions I had with him.
   
By the time Halloween came around, Ginny had an idea to try to steal the Sword of Gryffindor from Snape's office. I was in, I would help them.
   
That was when we got caught. We all got detentions for sneaking into the Headmasters office after hours. It wasn't exactly a detention. We had to go into the Forbidden Forest with Hagrid. He let Ginny and I go off by ourselves.
   
"I've never been in the forest like this after dark," says Ginny once we were far enough from the others.
   
"Me neither," I say. "It's kind of beautiful."
   
"It is," she agrees. We're quiet again as we walk around until she asks, "have you heard from George at all?"
   
"Not since he told me he was proud of me for telling off Snape the first night back," I say, a chuckle in my voice. "That was back in September."
   
"You know he probably misses you like crazy," she says, smiling a bit.
   
"I know, because I miss him, too," I admit.
   
She pats my shoulder, "Just one more month and you will see him again at Christmas."
   
"I know," I say, nodding.
   
George and I were lucky, we got to see each other eventually. Ginny wasn't so lucky. She didn't know where Harry was, or Ron and Hermione, for that matter. We were all worried about them, but no one as much as Ginny was.
   
The next day, I got into it with Alecto Carrow in Muggle Studies when she tried to convince us that Muggles were below us and we were superior beings. She didn't like that I was brave enough to share my opinions. I didn't care.
   
I got detention, and I was physically beaten again. I would take a few more of these beatings before Christmas, too, for not keeping my opinions to myself. I wasn't the only one. Neville got a few for also standing up to the Carrows. But no one got it as bad as Seamus Finnegan.
   
The three of us ended up with a black eye before we made our way home for Christmas. On our way home, the train was stopped again. They took Luna this time. There was nothing we could do about it, either.
   
My mum was happy to see me of course, but she wasn't happy about my black eye. When I told her what happened she was enraged. I knew she would be. I can't imagine how my dad was going to react when he saw me.
   
My mum didn't want me to leave the house. So I didn't see George until Christmas Eve. He and Fred were already at the Burrow when my mum and I arrived. He looked at me, I watched his smile turn into an expression of panic.
   
"What the bloody hell happened to you?" He asks, walking over to me.
   
"Hello to you, too, Darling." I say, a chuckle in my voice.
   
He hugs me, saying, "Hi, sweetheart. What happened to you?"
   
"It's a long story," I say, waving it off as nothing. "Let's just say I don't get along with the new Professors that the new Headmaster hired."
   
His hands cup my face. "You're still beautiful to me, love." 
   
He pulls me into a kiss on the lips then, and we hug for a good moment. It felt so good to be in his arms again. "I missed you so much."
   
"I missed you, too," he says as we hug.

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Here's part 36!

I couldn't not add a cute moment with George there at the end.

-Emily Winchester.