"Acelynne!" someone hissed before reaching a hand out and pulling me into an empty classroom. They pushed me into the wall before I could get a good look at their face, and pressed their lips to mine.
George pulled away and placed his hands on my shoulders. "I'm glad I found you."
"I'm glad you found me too... but why was it so important?" I looked up at him, obviously confused, and took in his guilt face. He wrapped his arms around my waist and spun me around in a full circle, crushing me against the wall again.
"Because I promised" he whispered and crushed his lips to mine. His hands cupped my face before they reached down and picked me up. Instinctually I wrapped my feet around his waist, locking my ankles together and grabbing his hair on the back of his head.
"You're leaving" I said with sudden realisation, pulling my mouth away from his.
"'fraid so" he smiled sadly and kissed me again, pushing his tongue into my mouth, probably in an attempt to keep me from arguing.
I let myself give in and bit back everything I wanted to say. No matter how much I could argue with him, he'd still leave. I just didn't want my last memory at school with him to be an argument, even though I wouldn't be able to feel any of it later. I wanted it to be special, but even more than that... I wanted him to stay.
The salt water tears started to inevitably roll down my face. They dripped off my lashes and slid down my cheeks, mingling with the kiss and giving it a brackish taste. "Oh no, Ace" George pulled away and brushed back a stray piece of my hair. "Please, love, don't cry."
I wiped my cheeks on my shoulders and looked back up at him, smiling sheepishly. "It's okay" I sniffed. "I'm just going to miss you is all."
The idea hit me hard enough to stop the tears. The one thing that George wanted, but I refused to give him, might be the thing that made him stay. I kissed the base of his neck, working my way up to his ear and back down again as my hands started working on the buttons of his shirt.
"Ace" George moaned, his voice sounding guilty as he took pleasure in the contact. His hands forced me against his chest, but his voice was filled with self-loathing. I was confusing him... good. "Ace, we..."
"Don't you want me, George?" I whispered into his ear and finished unbuttoning his shirt. "Don't you want to be with me?" I added before running my tongue over his earlobe.
George continued to kiss me with as much enthusiasm as I kissed him, his hands gripping and releasing the undersides of my thighs in a metronomic rhythm. He slowly pulled his hands away from my legs so I could firmly plant my feet on the ground.
My hands found their way to his belt and began unfastening with haste. The belt fell limply to his side as I got to work on his button, then his fly. My fingers were tugging down on his trousers and pulling at the waistband of his boxers when I felt his mouth tense up and his teeth grit together in frustration.
"Ace... I can't" he sighed as he began to fasten back up. "We... we promised Harry we would do this so he could use Umbridge's office and talk to Sirius. I'm" he sighed again, with more aggravation then before. "I'm on a bit of a deadline."
I felt my face crumble as the overwhelming feeling of rejection flooded through me. Every time we snogged, he always asked if we were going any further and I had always said no. And now, now I was willing to give myself to him and he pushed me away?
Shrinking back against the wall and sliding to the floor, I bit back the swell of tears that were about to break through again. He hadn't just rejected me, but he had thrown away my last chance of keeping him with me.
"Don't get me wrong, Ace" George said in a haste as he slid down next to me and held my chin up so I had to look into his eyes. "You have no idea how much I want you...How easily I could give into you?" He groaned in frusteration again.
"Then why don't you?" I whispered and George shook his head, his eyes closed as he chuckled under his breath.
"Because you're not ready. I can see it in your eyes. But you just want to be ready because you think that if you are, then I'll want to stay here and shag all day long with you. But I've told you before and I'll tell you again, we don't need to have sex for me to love you. I'll always love you" he grabbed my hand and pulled me up so I was standing.
"Do you understand me, Ace?" he asked, staring deep into my eyes as he shifted from foot to foot. "I love you."
I shook my head and looked up at the ceiling, blinking back the tears again. "How do you manage to do that?" I asked, unable to force down the corners of my mouth that smirked up.
"Do what?"
"Read my mind like that?" George pulled me close and kissed my forehead, smiling into my skin.
"Magic" he rolled his eyes and pulled his hands away from mine. "I've got to go now, are you going to be okay?"
I nodded and swallowed thickly. "Yep" I squeaked out and he stepped towards the door.
"I'll see you when the show starts" he winked and closed the door behind him, dropping me into the quiet that I didn't want to bare.
It played over and over again in my head. The rejection, the pulling away, the leaving. The rejection, the pulling away, the leaving. The rejection, the pulling away, the leaving. Everything he said and did between those moments didn't mean a thing because they were overshadowed by the three things he did. He rejected me, he pulled away, and left me.
The vile of potion was in my hand before I had time to think about it, and the next second I was chugging back two mouthfuls, an exceedingly large amount compared to the tiny sip or two drops I took in the morning. It made its way down my throat, coating every inch it could before settling into my stomach.
You might as well just have poured the entire thing into my brain. The perimeter of my vision clouded over and it felt as if I had just taken a giant whiff of menthol, making it impossible for me to smell a thing. I could see my hand touch the wall, but I couldn't feel the coolness of the brick against my skin.
But most importantly, I couldn't feel the pain of the rejection, the pulling away, and the leaving.
A knock came from the other side of the door, and I stuff the vile back into my pocket. "Hello?" I said, running a hand through my hair as I opened the door. Angelina was looking down at me, her quivering lips pulled up into a smile.
"Hey Ace" she said as she leaned against the doorframe. "Do you mind if I hang out with you for a bit? George told me that you'd probably be here." She shrugged and tried her best to keep me from noticing the fact that her eyes were red from crying. Angelina was the tough Quidditch-playing girl, she didn't cry. She didn't let a stupid Quidditch-playing boy mess with her feelings. Or at least, that's what she wanted me to think.
"How are you dealing?" she said, sniffling quietly and pushing one of her many braids behind her ear.
"I knew it was coming" I shrugged. It was an odd sensation, the overwhelming calm that created a white-noise in my ears, but still allowed me to hear everything she was saying. "I mean, and that's the price you pay for loving a Weasley twin, I guess."
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Angelina and I followed the crowd that was gathering in the Entrance Hall, unable to separate ourselves from each other as we told stories about the mishaps we had gotten into with the boys. A familiar laughter filled the halls and we turned to look into each other's eyes then darted after the voices.
The boys were standing in the middle of the crowd, the trademark cocky looks on their faces that would have made my heart swell with joy if I hadn't desensitized myself with the potion.
What made me laugh wasn't the look on Umbridge's face, or the reaction of the students. It was the fact that they had actually used the portable swamp.
Umbridge walked towards the boys, her head steaming in anger. Fred looked at her with a look that was full of bravery as he spoke. Everything the boys said drifted through the air, but didn't make it to my ears. I knew that if I hadn't taken the potion, I'd be able to hear them. But to hear them would hurt me so deeply, I wouldn't be able to breathe. This potion protected me from the emotional pain, from their voices.
Filch held up a piece of paper and looked extremely happy, but yet again, his mouth moved and nothing came out.
She turned to our boys and began to speak in a deadly whisper after turning away from Filch.
Fred glanced over at Angelina and tipped his head in her direction discreetly. He turned to George and his eyes flickered over in my direction.George looked over at me and then turned back to his twin before continuing to speak..
The old hag opened her mouth to speak but instead the boys raised their wands and spoke together.
Following this, a loud crash came from a distance and two brooms came flying towards the boys, one of them still dragging a shackle, and came skidding to a halt in front of them.
Fred climbed onto his broom and George hopped onto his own. They looked around at the silent crowd with triumphant looks on their faces.
George pointed at Umbridge, who was turning a bright shade of red. Umbridge screamed and the Inquisitorial squad leapt in a moment too late. The boys kicked off and went at least ten feet into the air, the chain hanging frighteningly low. Fred looked to the poltergeist, whom was bobbing upside down over the crowd of students, for once going unnoticed.
Peeves, although he wasn't one for taking orders from students, took his hat off of his head and saluted the boys as they spun around to a great applause. The boys took a last look over at Angelina and I, and then sped out of the open front doors and into the sunset.
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It was the next morning when his letter came. Errol went face first into the syrup, but the only thing I noticed was the piece of parchment wrapped around his skinny ankle. I dove for the letter and ripped it off, two of them curling up in my hand. One was for me but the other had Angelina's name on it.
"Here" I passed it to her with a smile. Her face brightened significantly as she took it from me and huddled with Katie and Alicia.
"From Fred and George?" Kelly asked, this time spitting sausages all over me.
"Yep" I unrolled and paper and shoved it so close to my face that I could smell his scent all over it.
Dear Acelynne,
I know what you are thinking, so don't get all worked up. We are fine, at the Burrow, though I'm not sure if we are exactly 'safe'. Mum just about sent a cleaver at my head when we told her about dropping out. We reminded her that we are of age to make decisions for ourselves and now she's not talking to us but she'll come around.
How's Umbridge treating you? Not taking it out on you because we are in item right? We are still in item, in case you thought that me leaving was a free ride to go messing around with some other bloke.
Just kidding love, I'm too adorable to cheat on. I'll send you another letter tomorrow (maybe tonight if Errol is feeling up to it).
All of my love,
George
I sighed and tucked the letter into the front of my robes, pushing back the pain that was rising in my chest. Right about now George should have been plunking himself down beside me and swiping my bacon. I didn't want to feel upset about him leaving, because it was for the best. But I did. Since the potion had worn off from the previous nights sleep, I could feel the emotion creeping right back into my heart.
Laura was looking up at Neville, her crush still obviously going strong even though he didn't seem to notice. Her grades had improved dramatically and yet she was still running back to him every few days asking for his help on homework.
Kelly was talking to Ron about the Chudley Cannons, him looking highly relieved that for once someone actually agreed with him about his favourite Quiditch team.
Hermione was looking over her notes for Ancient Runes with a crazed look in her eye, the OWLs obviously getting to her. She had been so high strung lately I think her hair was developing a mind of its own.
Maybe I was just too good at disguising my real emotions by now, but nobody seemed to take notice to the fact that my eyes were brimming with tears again. Slowly, I got up and walked out of the Great Hall, causing Kelly and Laura to jump up to and run to my side. "Getting our things for class then?" Laura asked.
"Yeah." I walked absently up the stairs, feeling their concerned stares bore into my back. Taking a detour that led me past Umbridge's office wasn't something that I had planned to do, but it seemed to happen anyways. Flitwick had gotten rid of the rest of the Swamp but left a three by three foot piece of it. A three by three foot memorabilia of the boy who should have still been here with me.
"You really miss him huh?" Kelly asked, placing a hand on my shoulder.
"It's for the best" I shrugged, my vision going cloudy with tears that hadn't spilled over yet. "Can I have a moment alone? I'll meet you back up in the dormitories, yeah?"
"Sure" Laura gave me a final look before grabbing Kelly by the upper arm and dragging her away.
As soon as I was sure that they weren't anywhere near me, I took off down the corridor and rushed into the girl's lavatory. The vile seemed to just appear in my hand, taunting me to take it and drown away all of the pain that had built up in my chest.
This isn't a smart idea, you know. The voice in my head said dryly.
I have no clue what you're talking about. Didn't I get rid of you over Christmas break?
Can't you see what you're doing to yourself?
Nope.
And with that, I tilted the bottle to my lips and took two large sips, nearly draining the rest of the vile. The calm pulled me under yet again, and the tears disappeared from my eyes, allowing me to see.
The pain of George leaving? Gone. The worry of getting caught with potion? Gone. Fear of Umbridge? Gone. Everything that had been bothering me had disappeared into the air and left me without a worry in the world, not even a worry for the nearly-empty bottle that was hanging loosely between my fingers.
"That's more like it" I whispered to myself before heading up to the girls dormitories.