HOAX | George Weasley

XXI

"Stop that," Cassie helped Grace settle on the bed once again. "Now...he asked you on a date just now, right? How does Fred play into this?" she asked, already dreading her friend's answer.

"He doesn't! That was made up by Grace, I barely said that I would like to go on a date with Kenneth and that...if perhaps that made Fred a little bit jealous—"

"Liv—"

"I know! I know! It sounds bad," the girl covered her face with her hands and let out a frustrated noise. Cassie tried to comfort her by stroking her arm but then Grace opened her mouth again.

"I'm just saying, If the bloke didn't invite you to the Ball, I really don't think he's going to be affected by anything you do..." Cassie gave her a look that tried to tell her she was being too blunt and she seemed to get it. "I'm sorry."

Olivia uncovered her face and looked straight to Cassie. "You're one of Fred's best friends, what do you think?"

There it was, the dreaded question. Why was she expected to know what a man was thinking, who even knew, most of the time? Just because she was his friend it didn't mean that he was any more open about his feelings, they didn't braid each other's hair and talk about their feelings. To add insult to injury, she actually thought that Fred...liked Angelina, but she couldn't say that to Olivia, it would just crush her. Then again, it was better to be crushed early than to waste your time behind someone who would never correspond your feelings.

"I think..." she couldn't do it if Olivia was going to be looking at her with so much hope, she wasn't Grace. "I think...it's not right to use someone to make another person jealous."

Fucking Hypocrite, a voice in her mind spoke.

No, it's not the same, she responded.

She wasn't using George to make Roger jealous...or at least it wasn't the main idea. Plus, George knew about it, he knew about the deceit whereas what Olivia was planning involved making Kenneth believe that she actually liked him. It was not the same.

"That's what I've been telling you!" Grace shouted. "But...with other words."

Olivia sighed, "I know, you're both right, I will turn down Kenneth's invitation."

"I actually think you should go," Cassie surprised herself by saying that. "But for the right reasons, don't go because you want to make another person jealous, go for yourself. Who knows? Maybe you end up enjoying it more than you think."

That seemed to work for Olivia and Cassie felt useful for the first time in a few days but then, pretty unexpectedly, she had begun to feel anxious about her own situation, something about talking with her friends about this 'heart' matters made her recall that she was supposed to be preparing the field for when she finally started dating George. But she didn't know what to do, where to begin or what to say, her friends had continued talking not noticing that she was not listening anymore and she was grateful for that. She excused herself saying that she needed to use the loo but actually she escaped Gryffindor Tower as soon as her legs allowed her. She didn't like to lie, or deceive the people she loved, but she knew that if she was honest with them, if she told them about her plan, something would come out wrong.

That did not mean, by any chance, that it wouldn't go wrong anyway, but at least that would be entirely her fault. She found her way to the Astronomy Tower and settled there, near the balcony where she could see the whole of the Hogwarts grounds and beyond. The cold air of December made her nose red and forced her to finally enter the more sheltered area of the tower. She wished she could stay here forever and never have to face reality, the reality that she had brought up on herself. She remembered what had almost happened an hour before and she couldn't believe it, had she actually almost kissed George? Her best friend since first year, George?