Now and Forever | G. Weasley

20. In the Middle of the Room

THE PAST TWO WEEKS were not only torture for George Weasley, but also for Rosalie Hunter.

Of course, she was happy, her and Oliver had been spending much more time together, and he had asked her to make things official and be his girlfriend.

She told him she didn't exactly like labels, but they were practically a couple. She did like labels, though, she just wasn't one hundred percent ready to commit into the relationship with Oliver Wood.

The Quidditch season was flying by, and Oliver grew more focused on that than he did with schoolwork. Any free time he had, he was spending it with Rosalie, which she actually really enjoyed.

Oliver was a fun guy, and she slowly felt her feelings for George being suppressed. Not fading, but suppressing.

George. He had been completely ignoring Rosalie any chance he got.

He stopped going by her dorm room, stopped sitting besides her at lunch, stopped walking with her in the hallways, and overall didn't talk to her as much.

She was heart broken.

Now, she took her normal seat in Charms, ready for another class of having to work besides George in silence.

But what she didn't expect was George smiling at her when he sat down.

"Hi, Rose," he mumbled, beginning to take out his Charms book.

"You remember my name? Wow," she said sarcastically, writing her name on the worksheet Flitwick had passed out.

George frowned, looking down shamefully.

"I'm sorry, that was rude..." she muttered.

"No, I'm sorry," he began, "I've kind of been avoiding you recently, and I just don't have a good reason why. You've just been with Wood a lot, and I just didn't want to be around the both of you at the same time."

"Why not?" She asked, slight hope in her voice.

Hope that it was because he was jealous. Hope that he wished it was him who had his arms draped around her shoulders like Wood did.

George bit his lip, "Um... I just didn't want to see you guys snogging and things like that... not my favorite thing to do, watch couples kiss, I mean."

He chuckled slightly, making Rosie do the same although she didn't feel like laughing.

"Oh... you should've said something," Rosie replied, "We don't usually do anything like that around people..."

George nodded, chuckling, "Okay... that's good."

"So will you start talking to me again?" She asked quietly, twirling her quill between her pale fingers.

He looked at her, desperately wanting to tell her how he felt, to tell her he didn't want to talk, but kiss her.

With a single nod, he whispered, "You're the one person I always need to talk to."

She looked down at her book, feeling the blush rise inside of her cheeks, which she was chewing at again.

Before Rosie could reply, Flitwick called for the classes attention to begin on page seventy eight, and she let out a very relieving breath.

She hadn't found the right words quite yet.

~~~

Rosie was sprawled out on the couch of the Gryffindor common room on this windy Thursday of November 1993, her very close friend, Oliver Wood had her thighs in his lap.

She let him place books on her thighs, using it so he could scribble out new Quidditch plays and tactics as she read to him.

He was a lefty, so he had his right hand twirl her long blonde hair any chance he got between his fingertips.

"Your voice is nice to listen to," he suddenly said, making her stop in the middle of a sentence.

His eyes were squinting as he scribbled angrily at his paper, but besides his anger at the Quidditch plays being wrong, he was soft to her.

"Could you read to me more often?" He asked, balling up the paper and throwing it into the fire in front of them.

She smiled as he turned to look at her, his brown eyes flitting between her green ones.

"I suppose," she muttered, watching him place his books and pencils onto the table.

She furrowed her eyebrows as he folded up the book in her hands and placed it softly on the ground. But any confusion she had disappeared as he cupped her cheek and leaned in to put his own lips on hers.

She giggled into it, holding onto his bicep as she felt herself truly happy, more than she had been in awhile.

He placed his hand on her hip as the kiss got more passionate, his tongue finding hers.

She was a bit nervous, considering the only person she had never kissed like this before, so she wasn't sure if she was good or not.

"This room isn't empty," a sudden voice said, making the two pull apart.

Rosalie practically jumped out of her seat when she saw Fred, Lee and... George, taking seats around the fire.

She took herself out from under Oliver, making him frown, and she pushed her hair behind her ears.

"Sorry," she mumbled, looking guiltily at Oliver.

"It's fine," he whispered, smiling softly to her.

"Don't you have a dorm room, Wood?" Fred asked grumpily, hating how George suddenly became quiet once he saw them.

"Right... Do you want to go up stairs?" Oliver asked Rosalie softly, placing a hand on her knee.

She bit her lip, connecting eyes with George for a second before he looked back down at his hands.

"I-I actually have some unfinished homework that needs... finishing," she said in a rush, grabbing her book and standing up. "Sorry for kissing in the middle of the room... and I'll see you later, Ollie."

"Yeah, at breakfast tomorrow," Oliver nodded, standing up and wrapping a hand around the back of her neck in order to press a kiss to her temple.

She smiled forcefully, waving to Oliver and the group as she walked to the portrait hole.

She turned slightly, looking at George and connecting eyes with him one last time before disappearing into the corridor.

Oliver disappeared up the stairs to his dorm, bringing his Quidditch plays with him as he sensed the tension in the atmosphere amongst Rosalies friends.

"I'm not sure if he's a good influence on her or not," Lee began to say, his eyebrows pulled together as he stared into the fire.

"What are you on about now?" George groaned, sinking further into his red chair.

"I mean, Rosalie would never kiss anyone in the middle of a room like that," Lee explained, "she's been a bit... different lately..."

"You mean happy?" George asked, raising an eyebrow at him. "She's happy with Wood, that's the difference... she's never had a relationship before, and she's just enjoying the experience, let her be."

Fred and Lee gaped at him, both scoffing.

"So you don't care that you just watched the women you love kissing another guy right in front of you?" Fred questioned, "I mean, you were just pouring your heart out to us about how you hate seeing her with Wood-"

"And you haven't even spoken to her for two weeks," Lee added, "just been giving her these looks-"

"I spoke to her today in class," he explained, a soft smile on his lips. "Made her blush... no big deal."

Lee rolled his eyes, "You and the little things..."

~~~