finlay's bbg

- Jesus christ fred, george, and lee are THE stoners

- #1 suppliers in the whole school

- you were in Ron's year, but you were essentially best friends with the twins

- your first ever experience was accidentally eating one of their edibles

- it was just a wrapped candy sitting on Fred's bed

- you had no idea anything was wrong

- until 30 minutes later you felt your mouth go completely dry, and everything was insanely funny

- you laughed at proffesor flitwick in the hall, resulting in 10 points being taken from your house

- fred and George didn't even notice at first, they just thought you were in a good mood

- until fred looked closer at your face and started laughing

- "blimey, are you high?"

- they didn't know it was an accident

- you were SO confused

- the moment you realized you freaked out

- it only got worse from there.

- lowkey on the verge of greening out, (as it was your first time, and with an EDIBLE)

- fred went back to class, george took you up to his dorm

- literally the best sitter

- food, blankets, water, whatever you needed

- you slumped and woke up just fine a few hours later

- never again.

- until a few weeks later

- fred and George SOMEHOW got you to try it with them

- you were sitting in their dorm with Lee, like most nights

- they had a few joints

- their tolerance is HIGH, but they know yours is low

- when George passed one to you, you kinda of hesitated

- he coached you through the first hit, slow inhale, hold it for a few seconds, had a water bottle on standby

- by god you coughed SO much

- he rubbed your back through it

- he let you take another hit before cutting you off and passing it on to Lee

- he watched you so closely

- he just wanted to make sure you're okay♡

- I went well actually, you had fun

- ended up slumped in George's bed

- he slept in a chair nearby all night

- he didn't want to disturb you

- you're their lookout while they sell

- if you see a proffesor you warn them

- fred gets a bit stuck up when stoned, george gets sweeter (if it counts, Lee becomes even funnier)

- George is SO watchful and gentle with you every time you smoke at first, he coddles you completely

- after a bit he loosens up, but is still gentle

- after a few months of smoking with them occasionally you accidentally take a bit too much

- accidental confession.

- no one heard except him

- he looked so surprised but didn't say anything about it

- the next day when you woke up you remembered

- you tried your best to ignore it

- he didnt say anything about it all day

- until lunch

- "meet at the astrology tower tonight?"

- fred and Lee were surprised he wasn't joining them tonight

- but they shrugged it off

- when you meet him in the astrology tower he's all set up

- blankets, water, snacks

- after 30 minutes of talking he asks you about it

- it's too late now, you admit it

- he starts on a full rant of how he reciprocated

- a joint to celebrate!! 🎉

- now that he's your boyfriend he's even more protective and clingy

- instead of sitting nearby he'll have at least one hand on you at all times

- often keeps you leaned against him

- you always get the first hit of anything he has

- fred teases the both of you often, especially when George fusses over you

- George always keeps your favorite snacks, the fluffiest blankets, coldest water, all for you

- sometimes instead of a late night sesh with lee and fred you two will go to the astronomy tower

BLAM

you hear the door slam shut to your small 2 bedroom apartment. The apartment you shared with your boyfriend, Morris talliver. He's a rising comedian, and he's quite amazing at it. Tonight must have been a tough crowd, who knows. You abandon your blankets in bed to get up and go comfort him. You find him in the kitchen, hunched over the counter, his eyes closed.

You approach him, reaching out your hand to rest it on his shoulder. He doesn't react much, he just takes a deep breath. Tonight must have been horrible, you havent seen him so stressed since he was first starting out. You glance at the stove, neon green numbers read "8:47", he was due home at 11 pm.

"You're home early" you whisper, "are you alright?"

You looks up from the counter to meet your eyes. He looks as though he's going to crumble at any second, his eyes are already watering, his lip is quivering, he looks pale, his eyes have lost their usual light, they now look dull and disappointed. He says nothing, he just wraps you into a tight hug. You hug him back immediately, rubbing his back, it was a habit that typically helped calm him down. You can feel him shaking, and warm wet drops falling on your shoulder. You whisper soft comforting words as you hold him. He's clinging to you as though you're his lifeline and now sobbing. You can hear him sucking in short sharp gasps of air as he struggles to keep his breath. After a few minutes he pulls away, wiping his nose with his sleeve. You reach up to wipe away his tears, his eyes now bloodshot.

"Come sweetheart, let's go to bed, your favorite show is on" you whisper as you place your hand on the small of his back, leading his tall lanky figure to the bedroom. You figure he isn't ready to talk about it yet, you want to give him a chance to calm down. You help him change into his pajama pants and an old tattered t shirt, and settle into bed next to him. You both sit with your backs against the headboard as you turn the channel to his favorite show, a comedy show he often watched when he wasn't out performing. His eyes are on the TV, but his gaze is blank. There's obviously quite a bit on his mind.

"Are you ready to talk now hun?" You ask softly, shuffling closer to him.

"He stole my script" Morris says in a monotone voice, his eyes still unfocused. "Stanley, he took my book"

Around a week ago, morris's book full of his script and jokes had gone missing, he just thought it was missing and it would turn up eventually, he wasn't quite worried as he had everything memorized already.

You feel your heart sink, this was bad, really bad.

"Has he performed it yet?" You ask quietly.

He nods, finally turning his gaze to you, "he performed it tonight, right before I could. I was supposed to close, but he had already said everything I was going to. So I just left."

"I'm sorry" you whisper as you lean your head on his shoulder, placing your arm across his leg, "can you report him?"

He sighs, "maybe, but who knows if he even has the book anymore, or if he left it anywhere someone could find it for proof."

He sounds hopeless, it's truly heartbreaking. You don't respond quite yet, racking your mind for words of comfort or advice. He places a gentle grip on your chin and turns your face to him, placing a soft kiss on your forehead. "It'll be okay, I'll figure something out, don't worry too much about it," he mumbles against your skin. You nod, looking up at him, leaning in to place a few kisses to his lips.

"Are you hungry? Do you want dinner?" You ask, hoping to find a way to make him feel better. He thinks for a moment before smiling, "i could eat"

You immediately smile back, happy to see him looking better than he did when he came home. You get up to go make him dinner, nearly leaving him behind before he scurries up to follow you, "Wait I'm coming with!"

The two of you head back to the kitchen, and he sits on the counter as you take ingredients out of the cabinets. You decide to make his favorite, grilled cheese and tomato soup. He goes out to fancy restaurants all the time, hosted by highly successful comedians and other important people looking to collab with him, but somehow such a simple meal is still his all time favorite. He claims that he likes the way you make it, praising how good it is between bites every time you make it for him. You talk about your day as you prepare his meal, you hadn't done anything interesting, you went to work, got fast food for lunch, done a bit of cleaning around the apartment, but he listened intently. He always seemed to love hearing about your day, it was endearing, it made you feel loved. Once you were done you placed the plate and bowl by his side and hoisted yourself up onto the counter on his other side. He ate quickly, mumbling about how good it tasted as he chewed. Once he was done he got down from the counter and placed his dishes in the sink. He then moved to stand between your legs, wrapping his arms around your waist and lifting you into his embrace. He places soft kisses to your neck and brings you back to the bedroom. The next 30 minutes are spent wrapped in his arms as he fell asleep.

*BONUS*

once you're sure he's asleep, you slip away from his grasp and into the small living room to make a call. You call the venue where he had been today, where Stanley's office was. Immediately demanding to speak to the director, and as soon as they were put on the phone, you go off. Demanding for them to search Stanley's office for morris's book, hissing passive aggressive comments of how stupid they were to let this happen. After a few minutes of arguing, they agree to check, luckily Stanley had taken the stage for morris's absence and wasn't there to hide it. And as you suspected, they found it sitting smack in the middle of his desk, not even slightly hidden. They apologized, and promised to handle it.

"Neville!" You shout. The messy haired boy walking a few feet in front of you flinches and turns around at the sound of his name. You aren't quite mad, just confused and disappointed, but you sure sound mad. He has this guilty look in his eyes, and you can see his lower lip quivering slightly. It was something that happened when he was nervous. You felt a pang of guilt, but it's quickly replaced by more disappointment as you notice him heading to the exit, most definitely going to escape to the greenhouse as he'd done all week. Usually he'd bring you, he'd pick you up after class and walk you down, allowing you to sit with him while he tended to his plants. You were the only one who was willing to do it after all. You had tons of friends, he only has Seamus and Dean, maybe luna. But none quite cared enough to visit while he was working on his plants. Even so, the two of you were absolute best friends. You were understanding and patient with him, while he was a good listener and quite interesting underneath all of his nervous energy. You were perfect for eachother. You loved everything about him, how could you not? He was always there, he was so incredibly sweet, and quite handsome too. And quite honestly, that made you feel even more betrayed by his absence. Neville stood and waited for you to catch up to him as he fiddled with his sleeves.

"Where are you going?" You ask, trying to keep the hurt out of your tone, but your tone still coming out sharp.

He hesitates before replying with merely a whisper, "the greenhouse," he looks even more guilty now, he couldn't even reach your eyes, he stood and stared at his feet as if he was being scolded.

It broke your heart to see him look like that, especially because of you.

"Without me again?" You ask, your voice now dropping to a low disappointed tone.

He continues staring at his feet, still not talking above a whisper, "do you want to come with me?"

You feel your heart jump, part of you was hesitant because he only asked when you confronted him, but you hadnt confronted him for nothing, so you agree.

And he walks with you down to the greenhouse, neither of you speak until you start nearing the greenhouse and you hear him mumble something. He looks sort of embarrassed.

"What was that neville?" You ask.

He swallows hard before replying, "please don't laugh"

You glance at him confused, had he done something bad?

"At what?" You ask

He doesn't respond as he opens the door to the greenhouse, still avoiding eye contact. And you're met with the sight of multiple pots of your favorite flowers, all ones you had described to him from the muggle world. It was beautiful, some of them weren't bloomed yet, but it was still as beautiful as ever. And now you realize why he hadn't been inviting you. It must've been a surprise.

"You did this neville? How?" You ask in awe.

"I scoured hogsmeade for seeds last weekend, I've been working real hard on them" he responds, sounding unsure of himself.

You dont even know what to say, it was the nicest thing anyone had ever done for you. You hadnt seen any of these flowers in so long, not since you visited your parents last year. Your mother was a muggle gardener, she owned a shop where you'd spent most of your childhood. You can feel tears forming in your eyes.

"I'm sorry!" He spurts out, having seen your watering eyes.

You don't respond, instead you pull him into a tight hug, burying your face in his chest. He hesitates for a moment before hugging back. After a few moments you recollect yourself and pull away, going to inspect the flowers. They were all perfectly healthy, thriving. Neville trails behind you, watching you closely.

"I wanted to surprise you, I'm sorry i stopped inviting you without telling you" he says sheepishly. You shake your head in response, "no Neville, this is beautiful, thank you"

You pick up one of the pots, inhaling the beautiful scent of the flower inside when you spot a crumpled piece of paper hidden behind where the pot had been sitting. You reach for it and pick it up. Although you can't see, he's standing just behind you, and his eyes widen when he realizes what the paper is. But it's too late to stop you, you had already opened it and started reading.

I hope that she likes the flowers, she had always talked about these. They're just a beautiful as she described. Almost as perfect as she is. Shes just so sweet and she's always there for me. I love everything about her, her hair, her eyes, the way she smile as she talks about the things she loves, her voice, her lips look so soft, I could go on for hours. I would give anything to tell her, to kiss her, to hold her hand, I'm just so scared of ruining our friendship. I don't know how I'd handle myself if she found out and never spoke to me again. I guess maybe it is better just to keep it in my diary rather than tell her. Although I wonder what it would be like to be her boyfriend instead. Or even her husband someday. We'd have a beautiful wedding, filled with flowers. .. I'm getting too ahead of myself, I can't even ask her on a date. Forget it.

Neville stood frozen as you read, too nervous to stop you. His face growing redder by the second in embarrassment.

By the time you were done, your heart was racing. This must've been a diary page he discarded and forgot to throw out. You felt kind of bad for reading it, but on the other hand, he LIKES YOU BACK? you turn to see him, he's so red you could've thought he got horribly sunburnt. His lower lip was quivering worse than you'd ever seen. He was paralyzed, watching you with almost blank eyes.

"Neville! It's okay, let's talk" you say gently. He takes a deep breath and starts chewing on his lower lip, clearly preparing himself for the worst.

"Stop chewing on your lip for a second nev" you say softly as you step closer to him. You watches you closely and stops chewing on his lip, his face somehow going redder. You place your hands on his shoulders and lean in, "is this okay?" you whisper as you glance between his lips and his eyes. He swallows hard and nods, leaning in slightly as well. You close the distance, closing your eyes as you press your lips against his. It's a bit awkward at first, he's clearly never kissed anyone before. But after a moment he gets the hang of it, and wraps his arms around your waist to pull you against his body, his lips finding rhythm with yours. He was so gentle with you, it was quite endearing. When you finally pull away, he looks completely starstruck.

After he catches his breath, he whispers the words you've been wanting to hear for forever,

Suddenly you hear a light knock on your door, and george slips in holding a bag. He smiles at you brightly as he makes his way to your bedside.

“I heard you were sick sweetheart, i brought you some things”

You glance at the time, “george! Its halfway through your first class! What are you doing here?” you rasp out.

He chuckles as he sits on your bed, “i didnt go, i went out to hogsmeade to pick up supplies instead. Class doesnt matter half as much to me as my sweet sick baby”

You scoff softly and roll your eyes, although you were secretly pleased.

“Dont give me that look! You know you missed me” he murmurs as he leans in to press multiple soft kisses to your forehead. You couldnt help the smile that spread across your face. He pulls away and ruffles your hair before opening the bag and pulling out various items, a box of your favorite tea, 3 small potion vials, a bottle of pain reliever, a small box of chocolate, cough drops, tissues, and a packaged bowl of soup. First he picks up the vials, “these wont taste great, but they should help with your just about everything, i just brought muggle cough drops and pain reliever for backup” he says softly. One by one, he uncorks the vials and hands them to you, laughing as you shudder at the taste but rubbing your back for support. Once you were done with each, you could feel your aches and pains melting away. He throws away the vials in your bedside trashcan and turns back to you. “Are you hungry?”

You shake your head, you havent gotten your appetite back yet, so he places the chocolate and soup back in the bag, he takes the rest of his supplies and places them on the nightstand.

“What about your classes george?” you ask, his smile widens

“Im not going to any of them, im staying here with you the whole day” he responds, sounding insistent.

“Youll get sick if you stay in here with me!” you argue, not wanting to get your beautiful boy sick. You had only seen him sick once and he dramatically acted as if he was dying.

“Who cares? We’ll be sick together then” he reassures you. And that was good enough for you.

You reach out your arms to him, and he smiles warmly as he gets under the covers with you and scoops you up in his arms. He wraps his arms around you, rubbing your back gently.

“Get some rest love, im not going anywhere” he whispers softly, placing more kisses against your forehead. Eventually you succumb to your tiredness, falling into a deep sleep within his arms. When you wake back up coughing, hes snoring next to you. Only a few hours had passed, and your body had started to ache again. But that didnt matter to you yet, you were still caught up in a rough coughing attack. George wakes up after a moment, sitting up next to you and rubbing your back as he helped you up into a sitting position. “Shh, shhh its okay” he whispers in a groggy voice. He quickly reaches to the nightstand to grab your water bottle, holding it up to your face for you take drink. You happily accept his offer and take a few sips. Once you had calmed down, he pulls you into his lap facing him, allowing you to bury your face in the crook of his neck as he rocked you back and forth, gently running his fingers through your hair. You wanted to stay like this forever, the feeling of him kissing your cheek and doing everything in his power to comfort you felt amazing. He truly cared for you so much, he treated you so delicately with such intense love. “Gimme a kiss” he murmurs.

“Youll get sick!” You protest, but you still pull away to face him. He smirks and leans in the press kisses all over your face, finally landing on your lips, delivering a long sweet kiss as you giggle. Over the next few hours he made sure you had everything you needed, and when classes finally ended for the day, he stayed despite hermione and ginny returning to the dorm to drop off their schoolbags. You were starting to feel a bit better now, and restless. So he helped you up and brought you out the common room along with ginny and hermione so you could socialize a bit. He kept you on his lap the entire time, leaning his head on you shoulder with his arms around your waist, handing you new cough drops from his pocket everytime the one you had completely dissolved. Eventually you unintentionally fell asleep against him, and he carried you back to your dorm and placed you in bed. He made sure to get permission from hermione and ginny to stay the night with you, and thats just what he did. The next day, you felt moderately better, but he kept you in bed anyways, just in case.

"You're malfoy's sister, huh?" An unfamiliar voice piped up from behind you, you turn to be met with two tall identical boys. They had the trademark weasley ginger hair, various small scars across their bodies from pranks gone wrong, which you would eventually use to tell them apart before you knew them better, you could immediately tell that these were the trouble making weasley twins. Your brother, Draco, had complained about them for ages even before attending the school. You had just transferred in from ilvermorny, where your parents had sent you for the first 3 years so Draco could be the star at hogwarts. You and Draco were close in age, Draco only being 10 months older than you. Eventually your father had gotten tired of your complaining of ilvermorny, and allowed you to go to hogwarts.

"What do you need?" you ask them in a flat tone. All you had heard about them was that they were foolish and annoying, causing trouble everywhere they went.

"Calm down sweetheart" one says as the other adds on "we were just checking out the new malfoy," "hopefully she's not a wretched as her brother," "I sure hope not," "we don't need another entitled malfoy"

They go back and forth, talking as if you weren't even there. Maybe Draco was right, they are quite annoying, and rude.

You scoff and walk away, still hearing their banter from behind you.

Your second interaction with george was when you were unfortunately paired with him in potions class. You groaned as you heard both your names called out. You thought for sure you were going to fail the project, but surprisingly he worked well in class. And when you arrived at the library later that night to finish up the project, he was actually really sweet, and easy to talk to. Time flew by as the two of you chatted, laughing and talking about anything you could think of. He showed you his scars and explained each one, you listened intently. Your father would have never let you have even half as much fun as George did. That was when you started to grow fond of him, and when he realized that not all malfoys are jerks. And now at least you could tell him apart from fred, George has a small scar on his neck from fireworks gone wrong that fred didn't have. You talked until you realized that it was much past curfew, and you'd be in so much trouble with your father if you got caught and they contacted home. George helped you calm down after you freaked out and showed you a secret passageway that led you almost straight to your house tower, and you got in without getting caught. The project wasn't even finished, but you were still happy with how the night went.

Eventually, sneaking around with him became a regular thing, staying out late every night just to spend time with the sweet ginger boy. And when the yule ball was coming up, he finally asked you to be his girlfriend. You happily accepted, and instead of going to the ball you danced with him in his dorm. You wish that you could've been seen with him at the ball, but Draco would've snitched immediately and you would be sent straight back to ilvermorny.

You kept your relationship secret for years, only Fred knew, and Ron who had accidentally walked in on the two of you snogging once, but he kept his word and never told anyone.

And then hogwarts ended, you graduated 2 years after George did. (Although he still snuck in just to see you, and you spent weekends at his shop)

2 weeks after graduation you got the worst news of your life. You were being married off into another rich pureblood family. Your parents cared about nothing more than keeping the family line wealthy and pure, no matter how much you cried and begged. They were marrying you off into the flint family. To Marcus flint. Who was an undeniably ugly man, inside and out.

You cried for weeks, sending endless letters to your devastated boyfriend, who tried his best to comfort you despite his own sorrows.

And now was the night before the wedding, you laid in your bed, sulking. Your eyes were already completely cried out, you had absolutely nothing left to cry even if you had the energy to. You didn't want to do anything, you couldn't eat or sleep or shower and take care of yourself. You truly looked a mess and your parents screamed at you until their voices went hoarse. But you didn't care. You knew the house elves would clean you up tomorrow anyways, but it's not like you wouldn't show up to the wedding looking as if you had lived in the woods for the past month if you could. The only thing that brought you any joy was rereading letters from George, luckily you had kept them well hidden so no one had found them.

Suddenly you hear tapping on the window, and you look up to see am owl there, holding a letter. You immediately jump up to open the window and recognize the weasley's owl, letting it in and petting it before taking the letter. It stood on your desk as you read.

"Pack your things, take everything you will need. I love you sweetheart, I'll see you soon. -yours truly"

You had little to no idea what this meant, but you sent off the owl with a few treats and immediately locked your door to get to packing. Luckily your parents and your brother were off having dinner with another rich snobby family, but you couldn't risk it. You packed your hygiene products, perfumes, jewelry, important items, and clothes, leaving behind the wedding dress in the closet and hiding the packed trunks underneath your bed. You cleaned up your room the best you could, leaving it as close to how it looked before as you could.

When your parents finally arrived home late, they didn't even bother to check on you, they went straight to bed along with your brother.

You waited for hours until you couldn't help drifting off to sleep, awoken later with sharp knocks on your window. You jumped up in shock, glancing at the window to find.. George? He was in the passenger seat of the weasley family's flying blue car. You room was 3 stories off the ground, and it made you slightly nervous.

You open the window and speak in a hushed whisper, "what are you doing here?"

"Coming to save you, get your things" he whispers back, giving a small smile.

You hesitate before grabbing 2 packed trunks and hauling them over to the window. Fred, who was driving the car moved it around and popped the trunk, allowing you to lug your belongings in before turning the car again to the door of the backseat. Ron, who was in the back, opened the door for you. You hesitate, looking at the long distance between your window and the ground. If you didn't make this jump you'd be seriously injured, or dead. Ron leaned out and held out his hands to help you, and you took them, holding on tightly as you stepped up onto the window sill. Taking a deep breath, you jump, barely making it, and he pulls you into the car and shutting the door swiftly. And just like that fred hit the gas, speeding off before any of your family could notice the blue car outside of their mansion, or that you were gone.

Eventually they arrive at the weasley's home. You were nervous and you'd never actually met any of George's other family. But as George led you into the house while fred and Ron grabbed your trunks, molly was waiting at the door with open arms, pulling you into a hug.

"OH my sweet George has told me all about you!! You're just as beautiful as he described. You poor soul, I'm just so glad my boys could get you!" She exclaims.

The hug felt weird, but not in a bad way. You've never really been hugged before, but it felt,, comforting. After a moment you hug back.

"Thank you Mrs weasley, George is just amazing. You clearly raised him so well"

She pulls away with a huge smile on her face.

"Come! Come inside! Let me show you to your room" she urges you, leading you into the house.

It was beautiful, it wasn't as big as the mansion you had previously lived in, but you liked that. It was warm and smelled of cinnamon and caramel.

Molly leads you up some stairs, bringing you to a decently sized bedroom with the 3 boys following close behind. Fred and Ron drop off your trunks and rush off to the kitchen as they had missed dinner. George leaned against the doorframe, watching as his mother showed his girlfriend around the room she had worked so hard to set up. Molly eventually left, allowing them to get settled in as she prepared more food.

You sit down on the bed, it was amazingly soft, unlike anything you had ever felt. George sat next to you, wrapping his arm around your shoulders.

"So? What do you think?" He asks gently, "I know it's a lot and this is all going really fast but I just couldn't let you get married to that jerk, not when you belong with me"

You smile at him, this was all so new to you, and yes it was overwhelming, but you loved it.

"George, this is the most amazing thing you could have ever done for me" you whisper, your emotions already taking control of you. You could feel tears forming in your eyes, happy tears.

He leans in to kiss you gently, cupping his hands to your face and gently rubbing your cheeks with his thumbs.

"You better get used to it, I'm never letting you be away from me again." He whispers softly. Molly calls the two of you down for food, and you realize how much you were starving.

George smiles at you, "are you ready to start your new life here?

You smile and nod in response, "I've been ready"

**bonus**

After around a year, George had found a house for the two of you, and had recently proposed. You don't know what your parents were up to now, or if they even knew where you had gone, all you knew is that they had publicly disowned you, and you were fine with that. You had george's family who were a thousand times better anyways. You were at home doing dishes when you heard a knock at the door. When you go to open it, there is no one there, just a letter. It was addressed to you, written in green ink.

You open it and read it slowly.

"I hope this finds you well. I've missed you since you left, but I understand why. I hope you know that I never hated you, and I support you relationship with the weasley. As much as I hated them during school, George is good for you, and I'm glad you have him. I won't tell mum or dad about where you are, or who you're with. I've known for a while now, I just couldn't bring myself to write until now. If you're up for it, maybe we could meet and catch up. And if that goes well, hopefully we can finally have a good sibling bond. Love you Lil sis."

- draco

You smile and immediately start a letter back, excited to tell your soon to be husband of the letter you recieved when he returns from work.

You are sitting in the common room with Ron, Hermione, Harry, and Neville, all talking about weekend plans. It was Ron who brought up the topic, asking everyone what they planned to do at hogsmeade. You hadn't gotten the chance to speak yet, everyone addin in their plans one by one. Harry was lucky enough to get Fred to agree to sneaking him in again, and you wondered why he said just Fred and not George as well. Usually those two did everything together, you would know, if they're not off causing trouble they're always at your side. Maybe George had something to do that day? You felt a pang of disappointment, you had wanted to ask him to accompany you during the trip. You pushed the confusion and disappointment down as you listened to everyone else speak. Hermione was going with Ginny to J. Pippin's potions shop with Ginny to restock on supplies for Snape's class and work out where to stop as they went. Ron was going to Zonko’s and honeydukes with Harry, once Harry arrived. Neville was insistent on making a strict schedule so he could visit The Magic Neep, Dogweed and Deathcap, Brood and Peck, while still leaving room to spend the rest of his time at Honeydukes. It was quite interesting to listen to Neville talk about those shops, you'd never cared much for plants or beasts but you admired Neville's interest in the subjects. Suddenly ron piped in, turning to you,

“What do you plan on doing?”

You had not yet realized you didn't know what to do anymore without George, and you didn't want to intrude on anyone else’s plans.

“I think i'll just sit at the three broomsticks” you reply quietly.

Surprisingly, Ron looks pleased and nods, quickly changing the topic. 

Feeling left out, eventually you just get up to go roam the halls. As you're walking past the kitchens, Fred and George pop out, looking pleased. George seems to light up when he sees you, making his way over to you with a smile, Fred follows behind as he stuffs baked goods into his pockets.

“Hello gorgeous, what are you doing out here? Ron told me you'd be up in the common room with them.” he asks.

You don't want to admit the real reason you left so you reply with,

 “It was getting too stuffy in there, I needed fresh air.”

Fred suddenly speaks up,

“I'm going off to see angelina!! George dont forget what we talked about”

You watch as fred moves a painting nearby and dips into the passageway behind it, it was the first secret passage george had ever shown you. You turn to George with a puzzled look.

“What is he talking about?”

George looks flustered for a moment before composing himself.

“It's nothing! I mean, its something stupid, nothing important”

He looks as if he's holding something back, but you don't pry.

“Want to uh, head up to my dorm with me? I've got new charms to try” he asks, looking hopeful.

You smile and nod, always happy to spend time with George, especially when he’s showing off new flashy charms he learned. As you enter the common room, your friends are all still chatting. When Ron spots the two of you he shoots George a questioning glance, and George shakes his head back. Ron groans and turns back to his conversation. That was weird, why are both ron AND fred being strange? Was George planning some extraordinary prank? Without you knowing? George awkwardly shrugs it off and gently grabs your hand to lead you away to his dorm. His hand felt so natural in yours, you're not even sure if he meant to do it. As you arrive in his dorm, you flop down on his bed, propping your head up with your hands to watch him. 

“Why are Ron and Fred acting so weird?” you blurt out, curiosity taking over. He looks stunned for a moment, as if trying to come up with a believable response. 

“Don't lie to me George,” you say sternly, noticing his brain working to fabricate a story, “does it have something to do with the trip to hogsmeade?” 

It felt sort of stalkerish to ask that, but it had been picking at your mind ever since you learned of it. 

He goes a deep shade of red, you couldn't tell if it was blush or anger, probably both.

“Which one of them told you?” he sounds a mixture of nervousness and anger, maybe a bit of sadness? You couldn't exactly tell. 

“Tell me what?” you ask, clearly this was deeper than you thought. What did their secrecy have to do with you? 

He hesitates for a moment, before asking “you actually don't know?”

“ know WHAT george? All I know is that Ron and Fred are being weird, and that Fred is helping Harry into Hogsmeade but for some reason you aren't this time. It just sounds to me like you are planning something  stupid you don't want me to know about. What kind of prank are you planning george?” you say, watching him intensely.

He processes your words for a moment before sighing in relief, only for his shoulders to tense back up when he realizes he has to explain to you.

He walks over to the bed, sitting beside you as you sit up as well to face him.

“Listen, I wanted to ask you on a date to Hogsmeade and they've been pestering me about it ever since I mentioned it, but i havent had the courage to actually ask you. I understand if you say no, you're probably already busy with your friends anyways. I just thought it'd be easier to not ask rather than be rejected.” he says quietly, “just promise me this won't ruin our friendship, i can't lose you”

You sit still for a moment. Is this real? Is it finally happening?

He takes your silence as a no, and looks absolutely heartbroken, you can see his jaw clenching in an attempt not to cry.

“George,” you say softly, and he looks back at you, he looks as if he's preparing himself for bad news, “you should've asked me, i'd love to go with you”

His face lights up, his stress evidently melting away, “you mean it?”

“Of course I mean it! I wasn't even going with any friends, i was going to sit alone at the three broomsticks because i had been hoping you'd be there, but then i heard you weren't going with fred and i assumed you were going with someone else, or that you just didn't want to go” you explain. He smiles softly, “you know i'd never abandon you for someone else” he says, moving closer to you to look you in the eyes. You feel a warm surge spread through your body, completely endorsed in the smile on his face. You lean in instinctively, and in return you feel his lips pressing against yours, his hands moving to your hips. You kiss him for a few moments, but it feels like forever, you can feel your heart beating so hard it might explode, kissing him felt like fireworks. When the kiss is finally broken, he pulls away looking mesmerized, his cheeks turned a light red. 

“I choose the shops we go into though” you say jokingly,

"George?" You call out into the hall, you had been searching for him all day. The boy you admired so much had been unseen all day, which was unusual considering he was always by your side.

He wasn't in potions class earlier, neither was Fred or Lee. But fred and Lee escaped off to hogsmeade just for fun, and from what you had heard, without George. Fred had invited you, but you stayed to go to your classes.

There was no response other than a faint sniffle. You pause, trying to locate the source of the noise, it seemed to be coming from 3 classrooms down. As you approach, the sniffles and shaky breathing becomes more audible. As you gently push the door open, you spot george sitting on the floor near a window, his knees hugged up to his chest and his body slightly trembling with each of his sobs.

You hesitate for a moment, you had never seen this sweet outgoing boy so upset before, it was hard to know what to do. Your heart aches at the sight. You feel your body moving forward, slowly approaching him mindlessly. He doesn't seem to notice you until you crouch down in front of him. When he finally does notice your presence, he looks up at you with teary eyes. The smell of alcohol hits you in the face. You had always been George's closest friend other than fred and Lee despite being part of the golden trio, but you'd never known him to drink.

"George?" You ask in a breathy whisper, worry hitting you like a cold icy shock.

He doesn't respond, he only groans and slumps his head back down.

You definitely don't know what to do now, so you reach out to try and comfortingly rub his arm. He seems to lean into your touch but otherwise doesn't react much.

"George, what's wrong?" You ask gently.

He groans again and looks back up at you, he looks messy and miserable, his eyes are unfocused and seem blurry.

"Nnnothing" he responds, his speech slurred.

By now you were quite concerned, his long hair was a mess, strands sticking to his sweaty, tear stained face, his eyes were bloodshot from crying, his clothes were wrinkled and there was a stain across the front of his shirt, and it smelled like straight firewhiskey.

You cant leave him here, he needs help.

You reach out for his hands, holding them gently despite them being hot and clammy.

"We need to get up, okay george?" You say as calmly as you can, "can you do that"

He hesitates then nods, looking unfocused.

You stand, still holding his hands, he tries following but stumbles slightly as he rises, gripping your hands for support. You catch him as he loses balance, his tall, lanky frame still towering over you despite him being leaned over on your shoulder. Little by little, you help him take his next few steps, allowing him to get used to walking.

Luckily the gryffindor tower is nearby, so leading him as he leans against you isn't so tiring. By the time you get him into the common room, only Harry, ron, and Hermione are sat on the chairs near the fire. The three are laughing and talking, relaying the events of their day. Ron is somehow the first to notice his sloppy, groaning brother leaned against one of his best friends. He stands up quickly, looking alarmed.

"Bloody hell, what happened?" He asks as he walks over, watching george closely.

"I dont know yet, I just found him like this in one of those unused classrooms" You respond, the worry audible in your voice.

"What do i do? Where do I take him?" You continue, hoping ron has any idea of your next move.

Ron sighs as he thinks for a moment, "take him to his dorm"

"But I don't know the password to his prefect dorm" you respond.

"I do, I'll let you two in" ron replies as he motions for you to follow.

You readjust george slightly before bringing him after ron. Ron leads you to George's dorm, whispering the password and moving to the side as the door opens.

"Call me if you need me, I promised Hermione I'd help her study" ron says, looking sheepish, you knew he liked hermione. You chuckle softly as his face glows red, "go ahead, I'm sure it'll be okay"

He nods quickly and glances at george before rushing off back to the common room.

You help george into the room, setting him down on the bed. He looks at you with an unintelligible face as you sit next to him.

He doesn't look upset with you, he looks kind of,, longing? He looks absolutely torn.

"Are you okay?" You ask softly, watching his face closely.

You see fresh tears begin to prick at the corners of his eyes, his bottom lip twitching slightly.

He mumbles something you can't understand, turning his head to avoid your gaze.

"What was that? I'm sorry george, I couldn't hear you" you say gently, not wanting to upset him any more.

"Yeah i- am finee" he mumbles, his voice insteady.

You know it isn't true, there has to be something on his mind, but you don't want to pry too much.

"How was your day?" You ask, hoping that will help you get an idea of what happened.

He grumbles, huffing quietly.

"Fine."

That wasn't the answer you had hoped for, but you had pretty much assumed already.

You notice that he keeps glancing at you, he looks broken and devastated.

Without being prompted, suddenly he speaks up.

"You know, if you like fred more just say that, everyone does, I won't take it personally" he says, sounding as if he's wanted to say that for a while.

You feel a wave of confusion course through you, why had he asked that? What made him think that?

You had thought it was obvious to everyone that you had a bit of.. a thing for George, and even before that you had a preference for him over fred.

"Why do you think that?" You ask, sounding bewildered.

"Because fred invited you today and not me, and he told me you wanted to snog him"

George sounds bitter, a mix of emotions tainting his usually calm voice.

You feel a spike of disgust amd confusion course through you.

Snogging?? Fred?? That's the last thing you'd ever want to do, while fred and George were similar on most levels, fred just wasn't someone you could like. Not the way you like George. Sure, fred is intelligent, he's more popular, more outgoing, more daring. But fred could never have the deep conversations you and George did, he could never notice the small things about you that George does, he could never make you feel so special. Sure, George is quieter, but he's just as intelligent, if not more, and he's so much sweeter and willing to show real emotion.

"I declined their invite today George, and whoever made him think that I could ever get close to his face is stupid" you reply, disgust evident in your voice at the last part.

George seems to pick up on it.

"Are you sure? Please don't lie to me" he says quietly.

"I'm sure, I pinky promise" you respond, "why?"

He looks stuck on the question, unsure of how to answer.

But thank lord for the firewhiskey loosening his lips.

"Because I like you, duh" he says as if it was the most obvious thing ever.

You feel your heartbeat start to pound against your chest, your face glowing red.

He seems to realize what he said and goes red as well, groaning as he places his face in his hands.

"Are you being serious george?" You ask quietly, hoping he'll confirm it.

He glances at you through his fingers before responding with a muffled, "yes".

You decide to just go for it, and you reach out to pull his hands away from his face.

His face is flushed, he looks flustered.

"George, i- i like you too" you reply in a moment of confidence. It felt weird saying it out loud, you'd never told anyone, nor did you ever plan to.

He looks at you, finally making full eye contact, he looks bewildered for a moment before his face melts into a sheepish smile.

He leans in closer to you, hesitating for a moment before connecting your lips. You can faintly taste the firewhiskey he had downed earlier on his lips as you kiss back gently. After a few moments he pulls away slowly.

"You have no idea how long I've wanted to do that" He says in a dreamy voice.

You smile at him softly.

You hastily get up after defeating the last wight after a long struggle, looking around frantically to make sure everyone was present and unharmed. You breathe a sigh of relief when you see everyone unharmed, feeling peace only for a second before your heart drops. Where is enoch? Emma and Jake had returned, but enoch was nowhere in sight.

"Wheres enoch?" You ask, your voice wavering as you speak.

Your stomach churns as Emma and Jake turn to eachother with confused and concerned looks.

Emma looks around carefully, her face going pale as she realizes that enoch was the only one missing.

Immediately everyone scatters, searching the halls and all of the rows of seats for the missing boy.

You walk slowly, your legs feeling weak and heavy, your mind spinning with anxiety. You knew something was wrong, you could feel it in your gut. The thought of what you knew you would find making your heart pound. It felt as though you were suffocating, your chest growing tighter with each step down to the basement, the place he had last been seen going.

The air grows frigid and heavy, making you shiver.

A splatter of blood on the wall nearby makes your heart stop.

It could be a wight's, or it could be enoch's.

As you approach, you notice a trail of blood on the ground, heavy streaks coating the dirty floor as though someone had been dragging themself across it.

And despite all of your silent prayers, you see it.

A leg sticking out from behind the corner, you Immediately recognize his shoe, and the leg of his pants.

Your body is frozen in place, completely stopped in your tracks.

You push through it, ignoring the possible danger and gripping the knife you had left in your pocket.

Approaching slowly, you hear nothing but faint raspy breathing.

Enoch is laying on the ground, at the end of the blood trail in a pool of dark thick blood. A few feet away is a wight, laying completely still, seemingly dead, but that's not your worry right now.

You can feel the contents of your stomach threatening to spill, but you swallow it away and rush to his side.

There's a deep gash in enoch's side, his once clean and neat shirt torn to shreds around the gash.

"Fuck, fuck fuck fuck" you whisper, dropping to your knees and quickly tearing off your sweater and pressing it to the gash. You can feel him flinch as he emits a low groan.

"Enoch? ENOCH" you exclaim, frantically pressing down harder to stop the bleeding as you watch his face.

He's pale, paler than usual, his face smeared with blood and dirt.

He gives no response, just a faint raspy cough.

"Oh my god, oh my god" you whisper, "you're going to be okay, you're okay? Right? You have to be okay. I can't do this without you. You have to be fucking okay"

He gives no response, laying eerily still with only a faint rise and fall of his chest, getting weaker with each passing minute.

"Please, please enoch you can't do this to me, it's not fucking fair, you can't do this. There's so much I never even told you, I need you to be okay, i- I can't live without you, I'd have nothing left." You beg desperately, hunching over on his chest as tears start to spill down your face.

"Enoch please, you mean everything to me, i- you make everything better, I wake up and the first thing i think of is you, I go to sleep thinking of you, I look for you in everything and everyone, you make every day worth it for me, just please be okay, you can't fucking do this to me" you sob, putting all of your weight into holding down the sweater to his wound, feeling his hot, sticky blood seeping through onto your hands.

You sit back up, searching his face for any response, but there's nothing.

You know he's going to die, there's no way he'd survive this amount of blood loss.

You let out a deep sigh, your breath wavering as you breathe back in.

"I love you enoch, I always have" you whisper softly as you lean down, pressing a gentle kiss to his lips.

"I'm sorry i never said it before, and I'm sorry if wasn't here to save you" your voice breaks as you speak, fresh tears falling down your face.

Your body shakes with sudden intense sobs, allowing yourself to fall back onto his chest as you wail your heart out.

Everyone can now hear you, frantically rushing to the source of the wailing. One by one the other peculiar children arrive, each reacting in different ways. Millard got sick, olive lead claire and bronwyn away, but not before they saw enochs still body and you hunched over him, sobbing so hard you didn't even notice the others.

After a moment Emma approaches you, placing her hand on your shoulder and gently guiding you away as Jake leans beside enoch, quickly tying the sweater around his abdomen and picking him up. Surprisingly Jake was stronger than he looked. Emma kept her arm around your waist as she led you after Jake and enoch, olive making sure no one else saw anything else as the four of you hastily made your way back to the boat, placing enoch in an empty room on a pile of the few clothes everyone had taken along. Olive took the rest of the children to another room, keeping them entertained.

"We need to get him to Mrs. Goldfinch's loop, she has a healer" Emma exclaims, pointing out the loop on the map, "her loop is nearby, it's only 40 minutes away by boat."

You stay silent, sat frozen by enoch's side, watching him intently while your mind went numb. The blood rushing in your ears is deafening, your body feels heavy and you can't form a single thought. All you can do is stare at the boy in front of you, the boy who had brought you all of the happiness and comfort you could have ever needed for the past however many years since you joined their loop.

Time rushes around you, and suddenly you're being nudged gently by Emma as Jake picks enoch back up.

You get up and follow Jake and Emma mindlessly.

They bring enoch 5 minutes away from shore, and into a tent, when you emerge from the tent you find yourself in a warm environment on a sunny day, the sand roads bustling with people, none of them seeming to notice any of you.

Jake quickens his pace, rushing enoch into a nearby bigger tent, made of royal blue silk.

Emma holds you back before you can go in.

"We have to wait here until we are invited in, I'm sorry" she whispers, you don't quite process her words, but you nod and stand completely still.

Around 20 painful dragging minutes later, a tall, thin man exits the tent.

"You may come in to see your friend" he says in a strange, crackling deep voice.

You dont pay attention. You immediately enter the tent, the interior turning into a large house.

Enoch is laid on the floor in the center of what looks like a ballroom, Jake is sitting nearby, dozed off.

You waste no time and sprint over to enoch, dropping at his side and scanning his body carefully.

The color has returned to his face, and his breathing is now stable.

He's dressed in new clothes, a loose white silk shirt and khaki pants.

He's not yet awake, but at least he's alive.

A small girl walks in from a door at the end of the ballroom. She approaches you both and looks at you sympathetically.

"You're lucky you got here when he did, he would have been gone forever if you had come just a minute later. We wouldn't have been able to revive him." She says carefully.

"Revive him?" You rasp out, gently reaching out to hold his hand.

The small girl nods.

"He was dead hun, we were barely able to bring him back, because of that we couldn't fully heal him. You'll have be careful with him, we don't want the wound reopening before it fully heals."

You look down at enoch sleeping peacefully in front of you. You can't respond, you don't know how to.

"I'll leave you be, feel free to bring the rest of your group and stay here for as long as you need, we'll get rooms set up for all of you." She says softly before walking away to talk to Jake.

You sit still, carefully watching the rise and fall of his chest, ignoring everyone and everything around you, barely noticing as the rest of the group is brought in, then led away, people checking on you, offering you food and water, or just coming to see enoch. You ignore everything except for the sight of your beloved breathing.

After a few hours, the small girl returns.

"I think it's safe to wake him now, as long as you promise to be gentle with him, he likely wont be up for longer than a few minutes at most" she says in her soft voice.

Finally, you look away from his body to glance up at her and nod.

The girl leans down and holds her palm to his chest, and enoch's eyes flutter open.

"Y/n?" He rasps, his voice barely audible.

You nod, feeling tears prick at your eyes again.

"I'm here enoch, it's okay" you whisper softly, feeling pure relief and adoration.

He let's out a deep breath, seemingly exhausted.

"I love you too" he rasps again, as his eyes flutter back shut, falling deep into sleep again.

You can feel your heart warm, and you squeeze his hand.