The American. (George Weasley)

Four.

My first two months at Hogwarts weren't as bad as I thought it was going to be. The people were nice, and the classes were challenging but they weren't too hard. The professors were nice, with the exception of Snape. Professor Lupin was without a doubt my favorite. He always makes sure all of his students were on the same page, and he taught us a lot about defensive magic, much more than I've ever learned before.
   
I made a friend in Genevieve. While Katie was at Quidditch practice and Leanne and Devon were doing homework, I was hanging out with Gen. She had a huge crush on Fred Weasley, but I figured that out right away with her. She didn't exactly hide it, only around him did she hide it.
   
Whenever Fred was near her that girl turned into a big pile of nervousness. It was kind of funny, kind of cute both at the same time. I asked her once why she liked him, and she went on a five minute rant about how nice Fred was and how she loves his pranks and how funny he is. That wasn't even mentioning anything physical about him. She truly likes him for who he is. It's sweet. But he likes Angelina Johnson so she doesn't think she has a real chance.
   
George and I talk to each other casually. I wouldn't consider him a friend, but he is the only person that I have told the real reason that I'm here at Hogwarts, and as far as I know he has kept his word and hasn't told anyone.
   
It was Halloween when the very first Hogsmeade trip was here. Only third year and up can go to the little village. We ate breakfast and then headed there. I hung out with Fred, George, and Lee, and of course Genevieve tagged along with us.
   
Fred actually talked to her somewhat, and every time he did she nearly all but fainted. She needed to get used to being around him. You'd think four years of living in the same facility as him would make her used to him but no, she was a mess every time.
   
George did most of the talking to me, he kept telling me everything he knew about every spot we went to. Honeydukes Sweet Shop, Zonko's Joke Shop, the Three Broomsticks pub, the Shrieking Shack, even the post office. He knew a lot about this village, and his stories were interesting enough to keep me invested in what he was saying.
   
We ate the Halloween Feast in the Great Hall. The Feast finished with entertainment from the Hogwarts Ghosts. When we reached the corridor where the portrait of the Fat Lady was, we found it jammed with students. We had no idea why everyone was outside of the Common Room. I was shoved in between the Weasley twins as the crowd rushed to see what was going on.
   
Percy Weasley used his Head Boy status to push through the crowd and a silence fell over the crowd, and we heard Percy say, “Somebody get Professor Dumbledore.”
   
We stood to the side, letting everyone pass us. “What’s going on?” Asked Ginny Weasley, who had just arrived. A moment later Professor Dumbledore was there sweeping towards the portrait. Us Gryffindors squeezed together to let him in.
   
“Oh my,” said Hermione, grabbing onto Harry’s arm.
   
The Fat Lady had vanished from her portrait, which had been slashed so viciously that strips of canvas littered the floor, and great chunks of it had been torn away completely. Dumbeldore took one look at the ruined painting and turned to see Professors McGonagall, Lupin, and Snape hurrying towards him. He told Professor McGonagall to go find Filch and tell him to search every painting for the Fat Lady.
   
It was Peeves the Poltergeist who told us where she was, “Ashamed, your headship, sir. Doesn’t want to be seen. She’s a horrible mess. Saw her running through a landscape up on the fourth floor, sir, crying something dreadful, sir. Poor thing.”
   
“Did she say who did?” Asked Dumbledore, calmly.
   
“Oh yes, Porfessorhead,” said Peeves, “He got very angry with her when she wouldn’t let him in, you see. Nasty temper he’s got, that Sirius Black.”
   
Professor McGonagall led us to the Great Hall, and we were handed a sleeping bag and a pillow each and told we were sleeping here. There were reports of Sirius Black being close to the castle at the beginning of the month, but I didn't pay it any mind because I didn't think he'd actually get into the castle. I thought the Dementors guarding the school would keep us safe like they are supposed to.
   
The other houses started piling into the Great Hall house by house. The Hufflepuffs arrived first, then the Slytherin’s, and last came the Ravenclaws. Which made sense because according to George the Slytherin and Hufflepuff Common Rooms are in the lower part of the school and Ravenclaw is in a tower at the top of the school.
   
Percy Weasley volunteered to go looking for Sirius Black, and he did. Professor Snape did too, he searched the Dungeons alone looking for him. I couldn't shake the thought of the fact that there was a murderer in the castle tonight. It was scary. I hadn't even noticed that George was laying next to me until everything had calmed down and I heard him and Fred talking to Lee.
   
I couldn't decide if I wanted to tell my family about this or not. I mean it was kind of their fault I was here. They didn't challenge Ilvermorny to help get me to stay. They just stood there with their tails behind their legs and let them expel me for protecting my siblings when Ilvermorny wasn't.
   
"Hey, Daisy," said the voice of George Weasley, "you okay?"
   
"I'm okay," I admit to him, I turn my head and see Genevieve is fast asleep. I could talk to him and it would be okay. "I'm just debating if I should tell my family about this or not. My parents have enough to worry about with Irina and William still at Ilvermorny. I don't want them worried about me now, too."
   
"Well, let me tell you, this is nothing, last year we had a giant snake in the pipes that was petrifying Muggle Born students. And then it lured my sister down to its chambers and Harry and Ron had to save her. It was a big mess."
   
"Hasn't that Harry kid been through enough?" I ask but I'm not exactly looking for anwer. 
   
"You'd think so, yeah," he agrees, a chuckle in his voice. "But I wouldn't worry about it. This was a one time thing. He won't ever get into the castle again. Don't bother your parents with this. You're safe here."
   
Percy came back and told us to go to bed and then Snape was here too and they reported they didn't find him, and Dumbledore said that he was certain Sirius had left the castle by now, but he would keep us here for the night out for safety. Now that I knew that Sirius was gone, I could fall asleep peacefully.
   
All everyone at school talked about for about a solid week was Sirius Black. There were rumors going around school about all of the crazy things that Sirius can do and turn into, but anyone with a brain wouldn't believe them. The teachers began to keep closer eyes on Harry, even Percy Weasley was always tailing behind him. 
   
The Slytherin team backed out of the very first Quidditch game. Apparently it's because Draco Malfoy's arm still isn't healed, but we all know that they just didn't want to play in the persistent rain that's been pouring since we arrived at school two months ago now. Since they backed out, Gryffindor is now playing Hufflepuff in awful weather conditions.
   
That weekend was the game, and it was a nasty one. Professor Snape took over for Professor Lupin’s class, and when I asked him where he was he said that Professor Lupin was too ill to teach. He made us start the chapter on werewolves. He assigned an essay on the ways to recognize and kill werewolves. Hermione said he assigned the same assignment to her class too.
   
During the game, I sat with Genevieve under umbrellas and watched our house play the very first game. She loved watching the games as much as I did but she has never played. It was halfway through the game when Gen asked me, "Who are Irina and William?"
   
I force myself to keep my eyes forward, feeling all of the color leave my face.
   
"How do you know those names?" I ask, my tone hard.
   
"I overheard you talking about them to George on Halloween. How come he knows who they are and not me? You said Ilvermorny wasn't protecting them. And I have just been curious about it since. I just didn't know how to bring it up."
   
"They're my brother and sister. We're triplets. They were getting bullied at Ilvermorny and no one was doing anything about it. I got into a few fights for it, so many that I got kicked out. Hogwarts was the only school that would take me."
   
"Why were they getting bullied," she asks, "it's okay, you can tell me."
   
"My brother is impulsive, really bad temper and other behavior issues, and he has ADD and has trouble focusing in school. On top of that he has Dyslexia and has trouble reading. Kids were calling him stupid. Saying he'd never finish school because he wasn't smart enough. And my sister has a bad stutter. And if she gets excited or frustrated or angry it gets really bad. People would follow her around imitating her. It made me so mad."
   
"Kids are such assholes," she scoffs, obviously upset to hear this. "I'm glad that I've met you though, if that means anything. If it weren't for you, I'd probably be still too shy to talk to Fred."
   
"Well, if there's any silver lining to this then it's definitely that," I joke with her, and she smiles. "I'm sorry I didn't say anything earlier. I didn't want anyone to think I was violent or something. I would have never laid a hand on anyone if they would have just stopped.
   
"I don't think you're violent, I think you're a good sister. You protected your siblings when no one else was. It was very brave of you."
   
"Thanks," I say, and then we turn our attention to the game.
   
During the game, the Hufflepuff Seeker Cedric Diggory and Harry both saw the Snitch around the same time. Harry kept his eyes on the snitch, but Cedric was smart enough to stop. Harry kept going and he flew into a swarm of Dementors that were flying above the pitch. He came tumbling down from about 70 feet in the air.
   
Fred and George and the rest of the Gryffindor Quidditch team left to go visit Harry in the Hospital Wing with the rest of the Quidditch Team. Ron and Hermione had gone too. I would have gone but I didn't want to crowd Harry. I sat with Genevieve in the Common Room worried about Harry. First Sirius Black sneaks into Hogwarts and nearly makes it into Gryffindor Tower and then the Dementors attack Harry again during a game of Quidditch. It was madness.
   
When Fred and George returned, they went straight to their dorm before I could stop them and ask them how Harry was. Luckily for me I shared a dorm with one of the team members. When Katie returned I followed her  and asked her how he was once we had reached our dorm. She said he was okay, that he was awake and he was going to be fine.
   
I felt instantly better after she told me that.

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Here's part 4!

She was pretty grumpy at the beginning there but she's lightening up a bit now.

-Emily Winchester.