Pairing: George Weasley x Fem!reader
Summary: The Hogwarts Express is packed beyond belief, and Y/N ends up squeezed into the last available compartment with Fred, Lee, and Kenneth and.... George Weasley.
Warnings: Friends to Lovers / Fluff / Slow Burn / Soft Romance / George Weasley Being Soft
The Hogwarts Express had never been this full before.
At least that was what everyone kept saying.
Apparently Hogwarts had accepted an absurd number of first-years this year, which now resulted in complete chaos on platform.
Students everywhere.
Owls screeching.
Trunks rolling over people’s feet.
Someone crying near the sweet trolley already.
You had spent the last fifteen minutes trying to find literally anyone you knew.
Every compartment you checked was packed shoulder-to-shoulder already.
“Sorry!”
“Full!”
“Absolutely not.”
“I’m saving this seat.”
“One more person and I die.”
At this point, death honestly sounded peaceful.
You adjusted your grip on your trunk and squeezed farther down the corridor just as the train whistle blew loudly overhead.
You were going to spend the entire trip standing between someone’s cauldron and a terrified first-year.
Then through the compartment window you spotted familiar red hair.
Actually, two familiar red heads.
Fred and George Weasley sat sprawled across opposite seats alongside Lee Jordan and Kenneth Towler, all four somehow taking up enough space for at least twelve people.
Fred was mid-story, waving his hands dramatically while Lee nearly choked laughing.
And immediately noticed you standing in the corridor looking one inconvenience away from losing your mind.
Without hesitation, he slid the compartment door open.
“You look murderous,” he observed calmly.
“There are no seats left on this train.”
Kenneth leaned sideways to glance past George into the corridor. “That sounds like a personal problem.”
You sighed heavily. “Helpful.”
George’s eyes flicked briefly toward your trunk, then back to you.
Kenneth looked horrified instantly. “Absolutely not. We’re already dying in here.”
“There’s literally no space,” Lee added, although he sounded far less committed to the argument.
Fred, meanwhile, had gone strangely quiet, because George was already standing to make room for you.
He ignored the complaints entirely and reached for your trunk like this decision had already been made.
“Move over,” he said simply.
Kenneth pointed accusingly. “This is favouritism.”
“Yes,” George agreed easily.
Fred’s mouth twitched violently like he was trying not to laugh.
“Oh, this is fascinating,” he murmured.
You narrowed your eyes slightly. “You really don’t mind?”
George looked at you like the question itself was stupid.
“You’ll survive the tragic hardship of sitting near us.”
Fred immediately leaned forward. “Near George specifically, apparently.”
You climbed awkwardly into the compartment while George shoved Kenneth farther across the seat using one foot.
Kenneth looked deeply betrayed.
“Comfortable?” George asked once you finally settled beside him.
You exhaled dramatically. “You may have just saved my life.”
Fred immediately pointed at George. “Look at him, the gentleman of the year.”
George kicked his shin without even looking.
The train finally lurched forward moments later. And somehow despite the cramped compartment, despite Fred loudly stealing sweets from first-years every twenty minutes, despite Lee and Kenneth arguing over Exploding Snap rules you relaxed.
Slowly and naturally. Like you always did around them.
Especially around George.
You’d known the twins for years now, obviously. But Fred filled rooms effortlessly and George was different. Quieter, somehow, but not shy. Just calmer beneath the chaos.
People noticed Fred first.
But George… He stayed in your head longer, and that was arguably worse.
“You’re thinking very hard over there,” Fred informed you suddenly.
Fred narrowed his eyes suspiciously. “Dangerous behavior.”
“She’s trying to calculate how to escape this compartment alive,” Kenneth said.
“She’ll survive,” George replied lazily beside you.
Your shoulder brushed his slightly when the train hit a turn. Neither of you moved away.
Fred noticed immediately.
His grin became absolutely unbearable.
“Oh, wow,” he breathed softly. “This is already progressing beautifully.”
George didn’t even glance at him. “I’m going to throw you off the train.”
“Can I give a speech at the wedding first?”
Lee looked between both twins once before immediately lighting up with realization.
“No,” George said instantly.
Lee pointed dramatically between you both anyway. “OH, THIS IS—”
George reached over and shoved chocolate directly into his mouth.
Lee nearly inhaled the chocolate whole from excitement alone.
Kenneth looked between you and George slowly, and then “Oh, this explains so much.”
You frowned immediately. “Explains what?”
“Nothing,” George said flatly.
“Everything,” Fred corrected happily.
You looked even more suspicious now, which only encouraged Fred further.
Fred Weasley loved chaos, but more importantly Fred loved chaos that did not involve him personally for once. And watching George accidentally behave like a man in love was currently becoming his favourite hobby.
“You know,” Fred continued casually, stretching his arms behind his head, “George gets weirdly helpful around you.”
George looked exhausted already. “Fred.”
“It’s true,” Lee chimed in immediately after swallowing. “Remember third year when she said she liked sugar quills and suddenly George bought enough to bankrupt Honeydukes?”
Your eyes widened slightly.
George looked murderous. “That was not... for her.”
Fred gasped dramatically. “You bought romantic confectionery for another woman?”
“I bought them because they were discounted.”
Kenneth snorted. “You hate sugar quills.”
You bit down on a smile immediately.
“Oh, she likes this,” he announced delightedly.
“I hate all of you,” George informed the compartment calmly.
“You especially,” he added to Fred.
Fred looked emotional. “That’s the nicest thing you’ve ever said to me.”
The conversation dissolved into chaos after that. Lee started telling an obviously fake story involving a cursed owl. Kenneth argued every detail. Fred contributed increasingly dramatic lies just to worsen the situation.
And somewhere during all of it you stopped paying attention to everyone except George.
Easy enough that you barely noticed.
One second you were laughing with the group.
The next George was quietly pointing out which parts of Lee’s story were impossible while you tried not to laugh too loudly beside him.
Then somehow your knees brushed, George started leaning closer whenever he spoke, you started replying quieter too.
Until eventually the others became background noise entirely.
You blinked and looked toward George. “What?”
Without another word, George reached down beside him, grabbed his jumper from his bag and held it out toward you.
Your brain stopped functioning briefly.
“Oh,” you managed intelligently. “You don’t have to—”
“You’re literally freezing.”
“You’ve tucked your hands into your sleeves.”
You looked down and he was correct.
Fred looked up from his cards immediately and nearly burst into flames from excitement.
“You know,” Fred said conversationally to nobody, “when George starts giving girls his jumpers, it's usually serious.”
George threw a Chocolate Frog directly at his forehead. “Shut up.”
Fred cackled loudly while you pulled the jumper over your shoulders anyway.
It smelled faintly like smoke, parchment and something unmistakably George. Which honestly felt unfair.
“There,” George said quietly beside you.
You looked up at him. And something about the way he was already watching you made your stomach flip stupidly. “…Yeah.”
Fred saw that look exchanged between you both and immediately sat up straighter like a man witnessing history.
Kenneth remained tragically oblivious.
The train grew quieter gradually as students disappeared compartment by compartment at different stations.
Sunlight faded gold.
Then orange.
Then softer still.
Lee eventually fell asleep upside down against the window. Kenneth vanished at some point in search of food.
Fred lasted the longest. Mostly because he refused to stop staring at George with the expression of someone watching an extremely slow-moving romantic disaster unfold in real time.
“You know,” Fred said eventually, breaking the quieter atmosphere, “this is painful to witness.”
George didn’t even look up from where he sat beside you. “Nobody’s forcing you to stay.”
“Oh no, I need to see how this ends.”
You laughed softly beside George, sleepier now than before.
Your head had started dipping occasionally during conversation.
George noticed every single time.
“You can sleep if you want,” he murmured quietly.
You blinked slowly. “M’not tired.”
Fred made a noise that sounded suspiciously like disbelief.
“I hate him,” George muttered.
“Impossible,” Fred replied. “You’re in love.”
You laughed quietly beside George, too tired now to properly hide it.
The compartment had gone soft around the edges.
Dark windows.
Low voices.
The rhythmic sound of the train against the tracks.
It felt strangely cozy now that most students had left.
George glanced sideways at you again just in time to see your eyes slipping closed for the fifth time in ten minutes.
Fred pointed dramatically. “Compelling argument.”
You rolled your eyes weakly before letting your head fall back against the seat.
George watched you for a second too long. Then quietly “You can lean here if you want.”
The entire compartment went silent.
Even Lee woke up slightly.
Fred slowly turned toward George with the expression of someone witnessing divine intervention.
George ignored all of them completely.
Your heart did something deeply embarrassing inside your chest.
George shrugged one shoulder like this wasn’t affecting him whatsoever. “Better than sleeping against the window.”
Fred looked personally devastated by how smooth that sounded. “Oh, he’s good,” he whispered to himself.
George closed his eyes briefly. “I regret teaching you how to speak.”
But you were already moving slightly closer. Carefully, like you were trying not to make it obvious this affected you too.
Your shoulder brushed his first. Then your head rested lightly against him.
George went completely still.
Fred’s eyes widened instantly.
Lee looked like he might scream.
Kenneth returned at the worst possible moment carrying crisps.
“…Why does George look like he’s been shot?”
“Nobody speak,” Fred whispered urgently. “You’ll scare him.”
George very calmly reached across the compartment and kicked Fred directly in the knee.
But he never moved away from you.
And after a while... after the warmth of the compartment and the steady movement of the train and George beside you melted together into something soft and safe... you fell asleep.
George realized it when your breathing changed first. Then when your hand relaxed slightly against his arm. Something in his expression softened immediately.
Fred saw it and nearly lost consciousness from secondhand emotions. “Oh, he’s gone,” Fred mouthed dramatically toward Lee.
Lee nodded solemnly. “Tragic.”
George ignored both of them. Mostly because he couldn’t stop looking down at you.
You looked comfortable, warm and peaceful.
Trusting him enough to fall asleep on him this easily did something dangerous to his chest.
Fred watched his brother carefully for another minute before grinning slowly.
“Your arm’s dead already, isn’t it?”
George answered without looking away from you. “I can’t feel my spine.”
Fred looked delighted. “And yet look at you. Still refusing to move.”
George finally glanced at him once. Very calm and very serious.
And somehow that shut all of them up for a second.
Because there it was again. That thing George did.
No dramatics.
No flirting.
No showing off.
Just quiet care like it was the most natural thing in the world.
Fred leaned back against the seat afterward with the biggest smirk imaginable.
Because oh, this was bad.
George Weasley was finished.
By the time you woke up, the train was almost empty.
The compartment lights had dimmed softly overhead and outside the windows the world had dissolved into darkness broken only by the occasional flicker of passing station lamps.
For one confusing second, you had absolutely no idea where you were.
Then warmth beneath your cheek.
Your eyes blinked open slowly. And you realized you were lying against George.
Your head tucked against his shoulder.
One of his arms trapped awkwardly beneath yours.
A jumper draped over you at some point during the night.
Your eyes blinked open lazily.
Outside the windows, darkness stretched endlessly across the countryside.
The train compartment was nearly empty now.
Fred sat across from you looking deeply offended by life itself.
“Oh good,” he muttered the second he noticed you awake. “Sleeping Beauty returns.”
You straightened instantly. “Merlin's beard— I fell asleep.”
George’s voice came low beside you. “Bit, yeah.”
You rubbed at your eyes. “What station are we at?”
Immediate.
Suspicious.
Terrible silence.
Fred pointed directly at George. “His fault.”
George looked unimpressed. “You were also there.”
“Yes, but I’m not the one who looked physically ready to fight me when I tried to wake her up.”
Your brain caught up several horrifying seconds later. “…Wait.”
Fred crossed both arms dramatically. “Congratulations. We are now approximately nowhere near where we were supposed to get off.”
“You missed the station?!”
George had the audacity to shrug slightly. “You looked comfortable.”
Your heart did something catastrophically stupid at that answer.
Fred made a violent disgusted sound immediately.
“See? That! That exact tone! We could’ve been home an hour ago!”
“I said we should wake her eventually.”
“And then you said: ‘No, she’s tired.’”
George looked entirely unapologetic.
At some point after falling asleep against him, you’d curled closer unconsciously and George had known immediately he was doomed.
There was genuinely no recovering from a girl trusting you enough to sleep on your shoulder like that.
Especially not when she kept making tiny sleepy noises every time the train moved.
Fred threw his hands upward dramatically.
“I cannot believe I suffered through this for romance.” Now Fred looked between both of you again and narrowed his eyes. “You know what’s sick? Neither of you even look upset.”
“I am upset,” you argued weakly.
George glanced sideways at you.
You were still wearing his jumper.
Still sleepy.
Hair slightly messy from sleep.
You looked devastating, actually.
George smiled before he could stop himself.
“Oh, he’s finished,” Fred announced immediately. “You missed your own stop for her!”
George looked thoughtful for a second. “…Worth it.”
Your face burned instantly.
And George only looked more amused about it now.
Fred complained the entire walk across the empty platform.
“With proper planning,” he informed the universe, dragging his trunk behind him, “I could currently be home eating my mother’s cooking instead of wandering the countryside with two emotionally compromised people.”
“You’ll survive,” George said calmly.
“That’s easy for you to say. You’re in love.”
George shot Fred a warning look immediately.
Fred gasped. “Oh, so now we’re pretending that wasn’t obvious?”
“No, because personally I think missing an entire station for a girl should qualify as a medical condition—”
George shoved him lightly toward the exit doors.
Fred grinned victoriously anyway.
Outside, the night air felt cool against your skin. Quiet. Still.
The station was almost empty now, lit only by soft golden lamps overhead.
You adjusted the sleeves of George’s jumper around your hands unconsciously.
George noticed instantly.
“You can keep it,” he said before you could speak.
His voice softened slightly then, quieter beneath Fred’s continued complaining somewhere ahead of you.
“Looks better on you anyway.”
Your chest hurt a little at that.
Fred turned around abruptly while walking backwards.
“If the two of you start flirting again before we find transportation home, I’m leaving both of you here.”
George didn’t even look away from you.
Fred stared at him in horror.
You laughed softly before you could stop yourself.
George looked at you immediately at the sound.
everything else disappeared again.
The station.
The cold.
Fred’s dramatics.
Just you smiling at him beneath dim station lights while wearing his jumper like you already belonged there.
George felt something settle quietly in his chest then. Like maybe this had been happening long before either of you finally noticed it.
Missing the train stop suddenly felt like a very small price to pay.
