HOAX | George Weasley

XXVII

George's POV

"What a wanker!" Fred grumbled, dropping into an empty booth in the back of the pub, mostly hidden from everyone else. George simply nodded in agreement, sitting in front of him, while trying to steal glances to where he had left Cassie sitting, without much luck. "It's official then, he played us."

"He did." George answered, still not looking at his brother. There were just enough people inside the Three Broomsticks to make it impossible for him to be able to look further than a table away.

"Oi! Can you pay attention? We need to come up with a strategy to get our money back!" Fred flicked him on the arm, finally getting George to look at him. In retaliation, he simply shoved him on the shoulder.

"I'm sorry, I just...have a lot on my mind right now and—"

Fred huffed. "You want to get back to your date, don't you?"

"Obviously" George answered without missing a beat. He didn't like leaving Cassie to wait for so long, even though he knew it wasn't a proper date, he couldn't imagine she was too pleased with him right now, but, when Fred had approached him with the idea to use this occasion to see if they could talk to Ludo Bagman and get their money back, he couldn't possibly refuse.

It had been fairly simple, George just needed to be in the pub ahead of Fred, as to not arouse suspicion in the case that Bagman was indeed in there. When George got confirmation of it, he simply did a quick transfiguration spell on the watch he was carrying when he went to fetch the drinks and thanks to the help of the Protean charm, it signalled Fred's own watch about it.

But it had been all for nothing, Bagman was slippery. He felt even worse about lying to Cassie because of it.

"Fine, go back to your girlfriend," Fred rolled his eyes, and not a second later George was already on his feet, only being stopped by his brother's grasp on his arm. "But we'll have to come up with a plan soon, don't go around forgetting our priorities now that you have a girl." he mocked him, finally releasing his arm. George decided to ignore his brother and make his way back to his previous table. He had started this date with the wrong attitude, and maybe picking out the place in favour of his own ulterior motives hadn't been the best idea either, but he was sure that he could turn it around. However, the smile that was plastered on his face dropped quite suddenly when he reached his table and found that his date was nowhere to be seen and in its place there was no other that Roger fucking Davies.

The one in question had not noticed his arrival, instead his gaze was fixed on the table and he was holding a bottle of butterbeer to his cheek. "The fuck are you doing here?" George asked, dropping into the seat that had belonged to Cassie. He studied the pub, trying to see if she had seated at another table but there was no sign of her.

Roger lifted his head at that and quickly lowered the bottle to the table. That's when George noticed the redness of it, whether it was from the cold of the bottle or for another reason he wasn't sure, but he thought he could glimpse the outline of a hand. He found that he selfishly wanted that to be from Cassie's.

A smirk appeared on Roger's face instantly. "Someone had to come entertain your date," he shrugged. "And she was dressed too pretty to be sitting all alone." George's knuckles went white where he was clenching his fists. "You know, If she was still my girlfriend, I wouldn't let her out of my sight."

George wanted nothing more than to wipe that stupid grin off his face. Furious, red anger started forming in his gut, a type that he feared would consume him if he didn't let it out. But he simply couldn't in such a crowded place, and hexing another student during a Hogsmeade visit was sure to not land well with their professors. So he bottled it all up, and managed to say the next thing with a perfectly controlled tone. "Well, she is not. She's my girlfriend." He didn't appreciate the amusement in Roger's eyes, the smugness of him. He presented himself with so much superiority, clearly believing himself to be better and not being shy of showing it. It infuriated him, and everytime he remembered that Cassie actually still had feelings for him, he wanted nothing more than to shake some sense in her.