misdirection ⤷ g. weasley

[21] slap and bang

"Where is everyone?" Harry asked. I looked around at the crowded room.

You mean this isn't everyone?

"We had our meeting at St. Mungo's, that way you children wouldn't listen in," Molly explained.

"We weren't going to listen in," said Fred, offended.

Harry looked at Sirius, "How did you go without getting caught?" Sirius simply put a finger over his lips and winked.

Molly made everyone stay for dinner but some like Professor Moody left without caring. The house was now loud and bustling. At dinner I got to meet the eldest Weasley, Bill.

"Now which one of my dim-witted brothers are you dating?" he asked.

I laughed politely, "Oh I'm not—"

"George," Ginny cut in while shoving some potatoes in her mouth.

"Ah George, he's one of the better options," Bill whispered so his other brothers wouldn't hear, although I doubt they would have due to the multiple conversations that were going on in the room.

"Ginny was just lying," I glared at her, "I'm only friends with George."

"Just friends? We'll see how that turns out," Bill snickered and took a bite of his chicken.

"We can be just friends! Besides he has a girlfriend but she's with her family right now," I explained.

Bill rubbed his chin. "And yet you're the one here meeting me, his brother and his mother," his voice trailed off and this got me thinking. Was it odd that I was meeting his family before his girlfriend? "Just something to think about," Bill added, leaving me dumbfounded.

I spent the rest of dinner in my thoughts, silently listening to Ginny and Ron talk about candy...or something—I wasn't really paying attention. I was mainly paying attention to the redhead that was sitting down the table talking to Remus and his twin. George had that side smile on his face that was usually there. A difference between him and Fred was that George was usually smiling while Fred had more of a smoulder.

After dinner, all of the adults left and the rest of us helped Molly clean up. I went to gather Mr. Weasley's plate and he said, "Now who might you be?"

"Oh sorry, I forgot to introduce myself," I held out my hand, "Marlee Chang. I'm a friend of...multiple of your children."

He shook my hand despite his physical state while replying, "Arthur. You said Chang? Does your father work for the Ministry?"

"Yes he does!"

His face lit up, "Oh you must be the daughter he talks about all the time! The Ravenclaw?"

I felt a pang in my chest but pushed it away as George came over to take Mr. Weasley's plate from my hands, muttering, "I can take those."

"Oh no, that's my sister Cho. I'm actually in Slytherin," I explained.

Mr. Weasley looked at his son. "A Slytherin?! Blimey, I thought you were scared of Slytherins son," he teased George.

"Eh she's a mild one," George winked at me and I rolled my eyes in response.

Mr. Weasley let out a hardy laugh. "Well he's a wonderful lad, your father. Say, how's Nora doing?"

I froze for a moment and awkwardly cleared my throat. "She's great!"

"Oh brilliant to hear!" Before our conversation could go on longer, Molly called him over to get him in bed.

I walked over to the sink where George was washing dishes and began helping him. Others were wiping the table, cleaning the stove or drying the already washed dishes.