BLOOD MAGIC | GEORGE WEASLEY

72 - Reconsideration

"If you believe me, then you should understand why we can't be together."

"I love you." The words spilled out of him before he could stop them, like a river pouring itself into a waterfall. George couldn't help it, and he wasn't sure he wanted to help it. Just looking at Cassie made him want to spout love confessions all day, make her understand just how badly he loved her. Make her believe him enough to take him back.

Cassie didn't respond, but the look of devastation on her freckled face said it all – she still loved him too. He loved her freckles, the way they moved with every expression she wore. George had tried to count them once, when she was asleep in the dorm room they had once shared. He'd lost track and dosed off into a sleep of his own after around 70. He wanted to start again, to track constellations in them, maybe even find one that looked like Cassiopeia. But that wouldn't be able to happen until he won her back.

"You don't even know me." She shook her head.

"Yes, I do." He insisted, tucking a strand of loose, wet hair behind her ear, before leaning in and whispering, "I know you better than anyone. I know you're scared. I know you don't want to feel the way you do about me, but you do."

She took a step away from him, shaking her head once more, this time with more vigour. "How are you doing that? Get out of my mind."

"I love you." George repeated his earlier phrase. Cassie had backed herself into a wall, and when he moved closer to her, there was no more room for her to run away. Not that he would force her to stay there if she truly didn't want to be, but he knew deep down, that she didn't want to leave. "More than anyone. More than Fred, more than the rest of my family. More than any of my friends. It's you, Cassie, it's always going to be you."

A stray tear fell down her cheek, that she hastily wiped away with the palm of her hand, clearly trying to hide it before he could spot it. But he had noticed.

"Don't cry." He pleaded, a lump forming in his throat. "Shit, please, don't cry."

"You're making this so hard. Why do you have to make this so hard?" She sniffed. Another tear ran down her cheek, but this time, she didn't try to conceal it. So George did, resting her chin in his hand, and wiping it away with his thumb.

"I love you."

About a dozen different emotions eclipsed her face at the same time, going by so fast that it was impossible to make out and distinguish from each other.

Then, Cassie straightened her posture, turned her head up towards him, and pressed her lips against his.

Pure bliss flooded George immediately, the sensation of her lips against his providing pure ecstasy to his brain, giving him a better high than any drug could. Who was he kidding, Cassie was a drug, a drug he was addicted to, as he instantly melted into her kiss, grabbing her hair with one hand and her waist with the other, pulling her close, as if scared she might run away.

Never let me go. He silently begged her, and though he didn't voice his thoughts out loud, Cassie obeyed. Her breath was heavy against his mouth, her chest heaving with effort, but they didn't stop, not even when his hands trailed under her shirt before he could stop himself. He couldn't resist, he needed her, he'd been deprived of his Cassie for so long, it was unbearable. He needed the sweet touch of her soft skin against his more than he needed air.

She didn't try to stop him as he pulled her shirt off, tossing it to the side carelessly, it landing on the floor with a soft thump. Then, as George planted kisses on her jaw, he made the horrible mistake of opening his eyes.

Cassie seemed to realise her mistake at the same time he did, when his gaze was met with the grizzly mark of You-Know-Who on her left arm.

She recoiled instantly, taking a sharp breath as her skin went cold to the touch. George backed away from her, his heart racing even faster than it had been when they'd been just moments away from sleeping with each other.