Delirium

Chapter 12 - Fulfillment: Pt. II

quick a/n this chapter is a fun chapter *wink, wink* so, if that's not your thing, you may want to sit this one out.

as for the rest of you, enjoy ;)

~*~

With Jolie next to him in his bed, George found that he could hardly think.

Sure, it might not be exactly scandalous considering everything they'd done, but she'd only been in his dorm once before. And back then, he could only dream of having her this close. Quite literally.

Now, though, he could touch her without her even so much as raising her head. She wouldn't frown or scowl at him. He could simply just reach out and drag a finger down her back. She probably wouldn't even react if he did.

He decided to try it.

Starting at the nape of her neck, he carefully traced his first two fingers down her spine, a barely-there touch. Just as he'd thought, she continued scribbling in her notebook.

With the new rules in place disallowing other Houses in opposing common rooms, he'd had to sneak her in after they'd eaten lunch. It had been a bit difficult.

They'd come straight up to the seventh floor before the meal had ended, George being sure that the common room would be empty. He hadn't quite worked out how he'd sneak her back out. Hopefully, she would stay until dinner. With the amount of time they'd been in here, it was only a few hours away now.

Today being Saturday, George was pleased that the boys' sixth year dorm was empty and would likely remain so. While it was overcast out, it wasn't raining which meant everyone had better things to do than hang out and study in the dorms.

Apparently everyone except Jolie, anyway.

George watched her, noting the tightness in her posture, the frown on her face.

More and more lately, she had seemed a bit... overwhelmed. She was quick to frustration, much more easily riled—which said quite a lot.

Amongst helping her with her studies, George had also been hoping to offer her some form of distraction. And yes, alright, that idea was partly due to his own slow building frustration in the lack of time he'd been able to spend with her.

But he'd also really just like to see her smile more.

He knew the many changes in her family dynamic had been troubling her—he'd known it would since last year when everything had happened.

George had only broached the subject once, casually asking about her parents in Potions one afternoon. She had only given him a swift 'They're fine' before moving onto another subject.

She'd been doing that often—deflecting his questions and comments if they ever had anything to do with her family.

But, during their Tuesday night tradition of smoking in the greenhouses, Theo had informed George that she hadn't spoken nor written to her father since the school year began.

It seemed odd to George. He understood that she wasn't on the best of terms with him, yes. But he'd figured she wouldn't be so quick to shut him out. Her own father. Her family.

He wondered briefly if Felix Carrow had anything to do with that brown, tattered envelope he'd found beneath her pillow a couple weeks back.

Since the party in the Prefect's Bathroom, the night he'd stayed in her dorm, he'd been wanting to ask her about that letter. He wanted to know who had sent it, what it contained. But, he was starting to figure that she'd deflect that question as well.