"No."
"What do you mean no?" Emmie turned to look at me, momentarily forgetting about adjusting her hair.
"I mean, no." I said crudely, sticking my face farther into my book.
Emmie fiddled with the short black skirt she was wearing before crossing her arms. "Why not?"
"Well for starters, I wasn't invited." I stated matter of factly.
"Yes you were! I invited you!" Emmie interrupted.
"No, you were invited. You're just pitying me by inviting me." I said, my tone as cold as ice. "And besides, you said Fred was throwing this party for George, right? Since he was the whole reason they just won the most recent match?" Emmie nodded sheepishly, realizing my train of thought. "I don't know if you've noticed, but he wants absolutely nothing to do with me." My face fell. "So I'm not going."
Emmie made her way over to my bed, sitting down beside me. She placed her hand on my shoulder. "Y/N, George is worried sick about you."
I stiffened at her words. I'm sure Emmie felt this as she quickly removed her hand from my shoulder.
George was worried about me?
I quickly loosened up, hoping Emmie hadn't noticed the hope flicker across my face. "You're mental." I said, before diving right back into my book. "Maybe I'm wrong, but I'm pretty sure the last words he said to me were 'don't talk to me'."
Emmie looked at me, genuine and sincere. "You're still his friend, aren't you?"
"I'm not so sure I am." My shoulders fell as I continued to read.
Emmie sighed. "Go, don't go. I won't force you to. But will you at least walk with me to Gryffindor tower?"
I thought for a moment. As sure as I was that George hated me, I still wanted to be his friend. Although any hope of being more than friends was completely insane to think.
I nodded "Sure, I'll walk you up there."
Emmie pulled me in for a hug. "Thank you!"
---------
I stood with Emmie in front of the Fat Lady painting, although she looked much more ready for a party than I did. Which made sense.
I wasn't going.
Emmie was wearing one of the many Hufflepuff jumpers the school supplied us with. It was tucked into a black, knee-length skirt that flared just a bit at the bottom. With that, she wore black tights that led all the way down and tucked into her black ballet flats she'd brought from home. (She'd had them hastily delivered by owl, although I couldn't imagine why.)
She'd curled her hair ever so slightly, making it appear to be just a bit shorter than normal and she'd clipped it back and out of her face with a small black barrette. She'd even put on a bit of mascara, making her lashes look extra long, and some pink tinted lip gloss.
She looked pretty, as always.
As for me, all I was wearing was one of my dad's old Hogwarts sweatshirts and a pair of striped pajama pants that had that bell bottom sort of look.
"Password?" The Fat Lady asked once more.
"I've already told you like a thousand times!" Emmie said angrily. She'd been screaming at the Fat Lady for about ten minutes now, and she seemed ready to fall over just from the screaming. Her face was the same shade as the Hogwarts express.
"Oh, I know." The Fat Lady giggled. "But look at how red you are!" She began to laugh even harder, and her hearty laugh echoed through the empty halls.
"Just let me in!" Emmie pleaded. I could see tears begin to prick at her eyes, but she quickly wiped them away. I placed a hand on her shoulder.
"It's okay Emmie. Guess we'll just have to head back." I said, taking her hand and beginning to turn towards the stairs.
"No!" Emmie said, pulling her hand out of mine. I turned back to the painting. "You're going to let us in!" Emmie took a moment to think. "Please."
The Fat Lady paused her laughing, but quickly resumed, laughing even harder now. "Why should I? You're not Gryffindor students."
"Hey lady, I'm not the one trying to get in." I quipped.
"But I was invited by one!" Emmie said, ignoring my comment. Her frustration with the Fat Lady was becoming more obvious by the second. And it seemed to be wearing her down too.
"Oh really? Who?" The Fat Lady snickered.
"Freddie!" Emmie yelled. Both I and the Fat Lady stared at Emmie, shocked. Her sudden anger from the outburst quickly faded and she cleared her throat. "Fred." She looked down to the floor sheepishly. "I meant Fred."
The Fat Lady's expression of shock morphed into a smirk. "Ohhh, so that means you must be-" But she was swiftly cut off as the painting flug outwards.
Speak of the devil, there stood Fred Weasley himself. His face looked a little flushed, most likely from dancing and screaming. He was wearing one of his Quidditch jumpers, to celebrate the victory. I could hear loud music blasting out of magically conjured speakers coming from inside. He was faced away from us and yelled back into the common room, "I'm telling you! I heard my name!"
He whipped around to face both Emmie and I, confusion on his face. It quickly disappeared and Fred's face lit up as his eyes landed on Emmie.
Despite having no knowledge that Emmie had been the one to yell his name, he smirked and said, "You called Causon?"
I watched as Emmie melted. She sighed and smiled tiredly. "Hi Fred."
"You look worn out luv." Fred said while leaning against the doorway.
"Well of course. I've just had a screaming match with this stupid painting." Emmie looked down at the floor, her face still red. Although I assume the reason was no longer because she was upset. "I'm sorry for screaming. I just wanted to get into the party."
"Aww Em." Emmie looked up at him as he stretched out his arms, inviting her in for a hug. "Come here." Emmie slowly walked into his embrace and sighed as he wrapped his arms around her. "Yell all you want to."
I looked away, knowing that I shouldn't have been intruding on this very private moment between the two of them.
I silently wished that it were George and I.
After about a minute, I cleared my throat and looked back at the two of them. Fred looked up and smiled at me. He and Emmie broke out of their embrace and Emmie turned towards me. Fred kept an arm wrapped around her shoulder as he spoke. "Hey Y/N, are you joining us this evening?"
I scoffed and smiled. "Do I look like I'm party ready?" I joked.
Fred laughed. "Hey, who am I to judge your fashion choices!" Fred joked back. "But you're more than welcome to come in."
I shook my head. "Nah, I'm good. Was just dropping Emmie off." I turned to leave when a certain ginger stuck walked up to Fred.
"Fred, who was at the door?"
I knew that voice. I turned back to the door to see George standing there. He noticed my presence and the atmosphere immediately became awkward. "Oh." He said. I couldn't detect anger in his voice, it was more...shocked? Surprised?
"I was just leaving anyway." I said quietly, turning back around. Even though Fred had invited me in, I felt the subconscious tone of 'you are not welcome here' was quite clear in this awkward encounter.
"Wait!" George said. I turned back around once more, surprised and confused by his request. He looked nervous, like he had something more he wanted to say. "Could we talk?" He shot a glance at Fred. "Alone."
Fred and Emmie both quietly backed away into the party, leaving George and I alone. He walked out of the common room, shutting the door as he did.
I shifted uncomfortably where I was standing. Neither of us spoke for a moment. After way too long of a silence, I spoke. "Listen, I know you hate me-"
"Hate you? I don't hate you." George said calmly.
"You've been avoiding me ever since...since...well, you know." I said, looking everywhere but at him.
He took a deep breath in. "I just...I just needed some time to think, that's all." I looked up at him. "I'm sorry I yelled at you. That was out of line. I really didn't mean what I said, about the whole 'don't talk to me'. I was just upset and hurt and I really regret that I said it."
"It's okay." It wasn't okay, but I wasn't going to tell George that I'd spent days crying about him.
"It's not okay. I should've explained instead of accusing you and yelling and letting my emotions get the better of me." I anxiously twiddled my fingers. "It's just" He took a long pause. "The Malfoy's have never really been good to my family. They're entitled pricks who think they're better than everyone else just because they're rich and pureblood."
"You can't judge someone based on their family." I said. Draco had been good to me through my entire fight with George. I wasn't about to let George talk bad about him.
"No, I know. I guess I just figured Malfoy might be the same, and I just didn't want you getting hurt." He took my hands in his, something that surprised me. "And normally it wouldn't have bothered me so much, but my mind was just so fogged up with emotions, I didn't take the time to stop and think." He pulled me into a hug, squeezing me tightly, as if he never wanted to let go. I didn't hug back at first, but I eventually wrapped my arms around him. "Just please tell me you'll be careful." His head snuggled into the crook of my neck. "Please." He whispered.
"I will, I always am." I whispered back. "And like I said before, Draco and I are just friends. I promise."
"I'm sorry I didn't believe you." I could feel something small and wet hit my shoulder. "I don't know how you could ever forgive me. I've acted like a total prat."
"You've always been one." I joked. My voice came out shaky and I hadn't even realized I'd begun crying. "And you're George Weasley, how could I not forgive you?"
He let out a small laugh. "Oh come on, that's no reason."
"I sure think it is."
He squeezed me even tighter. "Merlin, I've missed you." This time, I felt the tears roll down my cheek, but I knew they weren't ones made from sadness. I squeezed back."I've been so worried about you, what with the monster, the nightmares, and then oh! The bloody troll. The heart attack you almost gave me after that." He said, laughing a bit as he did.
"You were really worried?" I questioned. I knew what I wanted the answer to be and I hoped he'd say it.
"Of course." We broke apart, although the space between us didn't change much. His hands cupped my face and he wiped away tears from my face. He was crying too, but he did nothing about his own tears. "After how shaken up you were after the monster, I was so worried you were enduring more nightmares." He stroked my cheek with his thumb and my hand flew up to his. "It gave me nightmares just thinking about how distraught you could be. I wanted to do something so badly, but I didn't think you'd even want to talk to me."
"George." He looked at me, regret filling his face. He looked so nervous about my next words. "That's all I wanted."
Tears streaming down both our faces, we both smiled. I wanted him to pull me in for a kiss; our faces were so close, he could've if he wanted to. The look on his face almost made it seem like he wanted to. He pulled me, the gap between our lips closing.
At the last second, he pulled me back in for another hug.
It felt nice for him to hold me so close. I felt safe once more. All the nights I'd spent crying over him had led up to this moment.
So as I stood there in my pajama pants, I didn't care anymore that he hadn't kissed me. I had him back in my life. That's what mattered.
Finally, we were friends again.