LIONHEART ❃ george weasley

022 | tomorrow

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TOMORROW.

The first task was tomorrow. Tomorrow. As in tomorrow, less than twenty-four hours away. Tomorrow.

Holy shit, it was happening tomorrow.

Albany couldn't sit still in Transfiguration class. Her legs were bouncing incessantly, her handwriting had become illegible through the growing tremor of her fingers. She couldn't focus on what McGonagall was saying, nor the writing on the chalkboard; what the lesson was even about, she had no idea. Fred and George sat on either side of her, hiding her from the professor's pointed glances as she attempted to practice Carly's spells under the table with little to no success. Faith's occasional glares from a few rows ahead did not make anything easier.

"Don't burn yourself out," George whispered. "Take a break, Albany."

Her wand hand trembled as she glanced over to him, fear swimming in the depths of her brown eyes. "Tomorrow, George," she lamented. "I don't have time."

"Yeah, but panicking now isn't helping you at all," Fred pointed out. "When you panic, you can't cast your spells, and then you panic more."

"Then I have to get over that issue today," Albany whispered fiercely, clenching her fists. "Or I'm dead. Lumine guidante."

A pale spark fizzled out at the end of her wand. She felt her chin wobble and let her arms fall limp under the table with a shaky sigh.

"You had it perfectly yesterday," George assured her quietly. "What you need to be practicing is calming techniques, not your magic."

Albany turned to him helplessly. "I'm out of time.... What can I do in one day?"

"What other spells do you have down?" Fred asked. "Do you know how to send up flares? That's typically a surrender, if you really get stuck tomorrow."

Albany nodded miserably. "We practiced a couple duelling spells too, just in case, but they weren't very strong." She rubbed at her eyes, face screwed up in frustration. "It's impossible! There's too wide a base to cover without knowing what I'll even have to do."

George appeared solemn. "If there's absolutely anything we can do for you, let us know," he offered, though didn't argue her point. "We got you into this mess in the first place, so let us help."

"Yeah, maybe there will be some way you can have us help you," Fred suggested, the slightest evidence of a mischievous smirk pulling at his lips. "Find a loophole in the rules."

"You've both helped me so much already," Albany sighed. "But... thank you."

"It's the least we can do," George said, a kind smile offering her the smallest of comforts.

Classes that day seemed to be going far faster than usual, to Albany's dismay. She would have sat in Transfiguration for an eternity if it meant she would never have to face the first task, yet in what felt like a matter of mere seconds, the bell was ringing across the castle and the students were dismissed from class. Albany felt like a ticking time bomb; every inch of her was bubbling over with nervous energy, and her thoughts were running wild, rushing with the power of a flooding river.