Vulnerability || George Weasley

Conversations About House Elves

"You screamed..." said Fred in a soft voice that remained Phoenix greatly of Mrs. Weasley. "...It was horrible... you sounded like you were in pain or something... we thought-"

"We thought for a moment that the curse had hit you instead of the spider," said George. "It literally scared the living day lights out of us."

Phoenix smiled at George and used her thumb to stroke their enclosed hands, "Thanks for worrying George,"

"Are you coming to dinner then?" asked Fred.

She bit her lip, unsure that she wanted to face the rest of the school where the story of what had happened in class had spread no doubt. Maybe, she thought, she could simply change her appearance into something less recognisable or even do something that she never liked to do, blend in with everyone else.

"Yeah sure," she said, and she allowed Fred and George to help her to her feet and put their arms around her shoulders. "One second..." she squeezed her eyes tight shut and her hair turned her natural, mousy brown colour.

When they entered the Great Hall, Phoenix was glad that nobody turned to face her or look at her. It also seemed as though Lee, Angelina, and Alicia had made a decision not to bring up what happened and not to tell Katie what had happened either. Instead, they all talked about the Triwizard Tournament and about the other schools, Durmstrang Institute and Beauxbatons Academy of Magic.

"I've never really heard of any other schools apart from Hogwarts," said Lee.

"I have," said Phoenix, who was cheering up very quickly though she couldn't get the image out of her head of the body dead upon the floor. "They are in An Appraisal of Magical Education in Europe; Hermione gave me a copy a few years ago,"

"Of course Pixy knows about it," said George, giving her a nudge, "She has read every book ever at least twice!"

"So tell us about Durmstrang and Beauxbatons then," said Fred, dumping some shepherds pie on his plate.

"Well Durmstrang is a very old school, it has existed since at least 1294 and like Hogwarts it is Unplottable, so nobody knows their exact location but they wear thick fur coats and hats so it must be somewhere really cold. And Durmstrang also puts a lot of emphasis on the Dark Arts and their current headmaster, from what Will has told me, does not allow admission of Muggle-born students ..."

"He sounds like a jolly chap," said George bitterly.

"What about Beauxbatons?" Lee asked.

"There wasn't much about Beauxbatons but it is mentioned that it is in France but students come from Spain, Portugal, Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands,"

"You are like walking Encyclopaedia," said George in admiration, twirling a piece of her hair, which made her cheeks turn a bright red and her hair turn a flush pink.

Fred, Angelina, Alicia and Lee all laughed silently into their dinner, but didn't say anything.

"I just know a lot of things," said Phoenix smiling, her face still burning red, "But thanks anyway,"

The day of the arrival of Beauxbatons and Durmstrang came very cold and windy. When Phoenix, Fred and George arrived in the Great Hall for breakfast, they were surprised to find that it had been decorated overnight. Silk banners hung from the walls, representing each of the Hogwarts Houses: red with a gold lion for Gryffindor, green with a sliver serpent for Slytherin, blue with a bronze eagle for Ravenclaw, and yellow with a black badger for Hufflepuff. To finish off the very grand effect, behind the staff table was the largest of all the banners, where it bore the Hogwarts coat of arms.