A George Weasely Romance

Author's note: well here is number seven. I'm hoping people are enjoying this story. i don't seem to be getting any feed back, so I'm not really sure how i am doing. I would really appreciate to hear people's thoughts on my work. ofcourse, you obviously don't have to review, but it would be nice!

well anyhoo... Enjoy!


Chapter 7

After their talk, Katara had lightened up immensely. She was bursting with life again. she had even began to talk about the fun things she did over in Japan in more detail, rein acting some of the funny things Arashi would get up to. Apparently he was quite the ladies man.

Things seemed to slowly go back to what it was like when they were kids, like they didn’t have a care in the world. They even played tag and hide and seek. Katara had definitely missed this.

She even plucked up the courage to go in and sleep with the twins. The nightmares had become too much for her, and when she crawled into the bed with Fred one night, he had been more than happy to let her stay. George had been rather annoyed when he woke in the morning, and had beaten his brother with his pillow.

So after that, the twins took turns in cuddling Katara at night, since the single bed wasn’t big enough for all three of them.

However, that’s when things were also beginning to get a bit complicated. Katara loved the time she was spending with the twins, but being so close to George was messing with her mind. She was plural after all! She couldn’t think these dirty thoughts she did about George. And his constant flirting didn’t help matters in the least.

She was really missing Kesuki. Dumbledore had said she wouldn’t be able to return to Japan for quite some time, for her safety of course. She wasn’t even allowed to send him letters yet. He had no idea what had happened to her, and was probably worried sick, or maybe even hated her thinking she had just abandoned him.

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Soon enough, the time for returning to Hogwarts was almost here. The twins seemed excited, but Katara was growing nervous. The last time she had been in Hogwarts, she stood in front of students, who would no doubt be here this year, in nothing but tatters, and her dead brother on her back. She wasn’t scared of what people thought at all, it was just the things they could say. She still wasn’t over the death of Arashi.

The twins had also told her that they couldn’t sleep together anymore since they would be in different dormitories. She wasn’t the least bit happy about that.

As usual, she never voiced her thoughts. Molly was fussing over everyone, trying to get them ready to go to Diagon Alley.

“George, you better be on your best behaviour do you hear me? I have too much to do! And where is Fred.” Molly placed her hands on her hips expectantly.

“Mum, firstly I am Fred and secondly, I don’t know where George is.” George smiled. This joke never got old.

“Oh, sorry Fred. Well go find your brother.” She shooed him out the room.

“Only kidding mum, I’m George.” she rolled her eyes and gave him the look. The one that let him know she meant business, and to find Fred A.S.A.P. Just as she turned to get everyone else to the fire, she heard a high pitched scream ad saw Ron running down towards her, panicked. George was laughing and Katara ran after Ron.

“I’m so sorry. I wasn’t trying to scare you with it. I thought I’d take it out before you saw it!” Katara pleaded her case and Fred appeared behind her. She glared at him and headed to the front door putting something in her hand on the ground.

“Sp-sp-sp-spi-spi” Mrs. Weasley just shook her head and pushed Ron over to the floo powder, giving Fred a warning look.

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Katara was amazed by Diagon Alley. It was her first time after all. Molly made sure that she had money (her brother had saved up money and kept it in Gringotts. Dumbledore had sent the details to Katara so she could get to it) and took everyone round the shops.

Fred and George almost cried when they saw all the books Katara had to get. Apparently she was taking every subject she possibly could.

“Well I know most of the stuff in all the subjects already, so why not get qualifications in them all?” Katara had justified. The twins had mumbled something about a year of homework, but she chose to ignore them. It would help take her mind off things hopefully.

“How are you going to manage going to every class? Some classes overlap, I mean you can’t be in two places at once can you?” Fred had said triumphantly, feeling he had put an end to Katara’s crazy idea.

“Can’t I?” she asked with a smug tone in her voice. The twins looked at her sceptically, and she tapped her nose knowingly.

They continued their shop, and Katara got clothes and robes, a cauldron and some other bits and bobs that she needed. They three even had time to go for ice-cream, Katara’s treat.

The rest of the day went as smooth as it could, of course until the twins and Katara set off to head home and ran into a group of Slytherins.

“Oh, well looky here. If it isn’t the weasel twins and… who’s this?” A tall boy with dark hair walked over to Katara and tried to place a hand to her face, but she slapped it away. “ooo. Feisty! I like that.” He said with a smirk. “What’s a pretty girl like you doing with these gingers?” his smile faltered as he heard Katara laugh.

“Weasels? Gingers? Is that the best you could do? And I suppose you think you would make better company, right?” she laughed again at the look she earned from the group.

She didn’t wait for an answer as she dragged the twins off. They of course voiced their opinions of how they should kick their asses, but Katara wouldn’t loosen her grip. The twins hated how she was stronger than they were, but found it cool at the same time.

They left the group to shout comments and hurl abuse until one of them called out

“Wait a minute, isn’t she that whacko that brought that dead dude to school last term?” Katara stopped walking. “Yeah. The one who was talking to herself! Who was your dead friend huh? Your boyfriend?!” Katara’s grip on the twins faltered, and before she even had time to register what had happened, they ran into action. They kicked and punched their way through the group, and received a couple of blows themselves.

Images of her brother flashed through her mind and she felt her control boundaries crack. Tears were filling her eyes as she quickly came back to reality, seeing the boys all jump the twins at once. She rushed over and started pulling people off the twins, throwing them in all directions. She wouldn’t hit them, but by Merlin was she going to throw them far.

Eventually the fighting stopped and the twins walked off with Katara. She tended to George’s burst lip, and Fred’s busted nose and other random bruises on them both with some medical techniques she had learned. They were fairly impressed, and thankful that their mother wouldn’t see that they had been fighting.

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It was the last night Katara would spend at the burrow before they headed off to Hogwarts. Her nervousness was oozing out, but only Fred and George noticed. They had tried to comfort her, but she was adamant nothing was wrong. They thought maybe it was to do with what the Slytherins had said, but they were far from the truth.

That night she cuddled up between the twins. It had been even between the two, an they couldn’t decided who would get her, so for there last night they all just slept on the floor. George played with Katara’s hair while Fred snored away. Katara lay staring at the ceiling, thinking about the lonely nights to come.

“What’s the matter? I know you said it’s not about what those shit heads said, but just so you know. Me and Fred ain’t gonna let them bother you. So don’t worry yeah?” he looked over to check if she was still awake. When he saw her, he looked deep into her eyes, and saw a sad loneliness he hadn’t seen in a while. It was the same emptiness he had seen when Arashi had died, but hidden better. He wanted to hold her forever, protect her from anything and everything, wanted to breathe in her sent and not feel bad for doing it, wanted to kiss her, on the lips, and tell her how he felt. But he couldn’t. All he could do was sit back and watch her. Watch her have feelings for someone else. Watch her disappear, out of his reach.

“I don’t want to be alone” Katara spoke so quietly George wasn’t sure she had spoken at all. He wrapped his free arm around her waist and held her tight, rolling her around so he could rub the small of her back. She seemed to like it when he did that. She rested her head on his chest and closed her eyes. “We won’t be able to do this anymore. I’ll have to sleep by myself.” George felt helpless. He couldn’t tell her what she wanted to hear, but didn’t want to say that there was nothing they could do. He thought some more on what to say when he heard Katara’s breath even out, and realised she was finally asleep. He still held her, and continued to stroke her hair until he joined the other two in slumber.

____________


The next morning was the usual disaster. The twins were still packing, and Molly was having a fit. Katara was helping out since she had already packed. She would smile, laugh and make jokes, but the twins knew she was hiding something, and George told Fred what she had said the night before.

They all had breakfast and headed to platform nine and three quarters, and of all the crazy things Katara had done in her life, running through a wall was not one of them. The twins had assured her that it would be fine, and just to take a run at it. She wasn’t sure if this was a prank or not, even though the twins never did pull one on her, there was always time for a first. However they went through first demonstrating how it was done. Convinced, she made her way through to platform nine and three quarters successfully and unharmed.

The platform was so busy, and a great red steam engine stood awaiting the students.

“Wow!” Katara exclaimed, feeling excitement finally come. Mrs. Weasley gave her usual speech to the twins about behaving, and asked Katara to keep an eye on them. She turned to the golden trio and asked them to stay out of trouble and to be safe. She handed out hugs and kisses, everyone saying their farewells to Arthur and Molly when Fred and George smiled dragging Katara away onto the train to find a compartment.

When they found an empty one, they stored their trunks and began to talk about their plans. After a while, Fred pulled out a pack of cards and they played exploding snap.

“So, you excited about Hogwarts?” George asked making conversation. Katara smiled

“Yeah. I can’t wait to get started y’know? It’s going to be fun learning loads of stuff!” she exclaimed. George and Fred looked at each other smiling. They loved to taunt her about her geeky, bookworm side.

“Oh yes! All that homework, you’ll have so much fun!” Fred said sarcastically.

“Yeah! Essays, Practice, book upon book of knowledge you’ll need to learn, N.E.W.Ts, and of course you’re still helping us out!” George added in a chirpy tone. They had always supported Katara in her decisions, but this one was just too crazy, and involved too much work for the twins liking. Katara smiled, not letting the twins spoil her fun. She looked out the window. Rain was pouring down hard, and she couldn’t help feel a little down. It had been raining the Arashi died, and the day they cremated him.

Baka! She scolded herself silently.

George seemed to notice, and rested his hand on her shoulder. She smiled back at him and laughed at herself. Later on in the journey they were joined by the twin’s friend Lee. He had introduced himself to Katara, and went on to talk about some ideas he had come up with during the holidays.

The four of them then exchanged stories of the summer. The Quiddich World Cup seemed to be the main topic. Then Lee turned to Katara

“So, where did you come from? This your first time at Hogwarts?” Katara sighed at the innocent question that she had hoped to avoid. George came to the rescue as always.

“We knew her when we were kids. She went to another country to study, and then came back. She’s in sixth year.”

“What country did you go to?” Lee turned to Katara again looking quite interested.

“Japan” Katara added smiling sweetly. Lee looked impressed

“Wow! Japan? Man that sounds so cool. I heard they do different kinds of magic over there, and they don’t use wands.” Katara went silent. She didn’t want to explain about any of it. The less people who knew about her, the better and safer they were.

“Well yeah. Just learn how to use their magic differently. They didn’t know about wands, so didn’t use them. But I learned from my” She swallowed “brother, magic with a wand. That’s why I could come to Hogwarts and jump right into sixth year.” Lee looked impressed, but seemed to be ready to ask another question when Fred changed the subject to Lee’s holiday. He told them all of his “adventures”. Katara thanked Fred silently as she sank back in her seat.

“Wait a minute. Have you sat your O.W.Ls then?” Lee had suddenly asked. Katara smiled.

“Yeah. I sat them with Dumbledore during the summer.”

“Cool. What did you get?” Katara blushed. She didn’t want to brag about her results. When Mrs. Weasley had found out during the break, it had been so embarrassing. Celebrating and hugs and kisses all round, all for her. As if she didn’t feel like a burden already.

“Go on! Tell him what you got!” Fred had said excitedly, still proud of her.

“All O’s” she said timidly, blushing further. Lee’s eyes opened wide and he smiled broadly.

“Nice one!” and they continued to talk about school and exams for a while.

The train journey had flew in, and before the four new it, it was time to put on their robes and get ready for alighting into Hogsmede station.

When they were standing on stationary ground, they heard the roar of a giant man shouting.

“Firs’ years! Firs’ years o’er ‘ere!” Katara watched as shy first years approached Hagrid with fear etched in their faces.

“Better join ‘em. We’ll keep you a seat.” George winked and headed with Fred and Lee over to a carriage.

Katara walked over to the tall man, and pulled on his arm to get his attention. He bent down and looked her over.

“You mus’ be Katara! Dumbledore has told me loads abou’ you! Jus’ stick wi’ me, ‘n’ you’ll be fine” he led Katara and the group of first years to some boats. They all settled themselves in after some instruction, and they made their way across the lake.

On reaching the great hall, Katara grew nervous. This was where she stood that night, barely covered and a complete mess, and her dead brother on her back. All those eyes staring at her. It’s not like they could miss her. She looked at the spot where she had lay her brother down, trying to wake him up, as if he was only sleeping.

Her attention was brought back when a giant hand pressed onto her back and pushed her towards the doors of the great hall. Looking around, she noticed she was almost double the height of everyone else. She sighed as she was put at the front of the line, and ushered into the hall. Silence fell on the students, and Katara felt her face heat. She looked for the twins subtly, and saw them waving at her. She gave a small wave back before Professor McGonagall started her annual hat speech.

The hat sang a song, which had a rather dark message behind it.

“Kurosaki Katara!” Professor McGonagall called out. Katara walked over to the stool and sat down on it. The hat was placed over her head, and it flopped down covering her eyes. She felt silly.

“Oh! Yes. A very interesting person you are, indeed! Hm… I’m going to have real trouble deciding for you. You have all the qualities for the four houses, but which would be best for you?” the hat mumbled on a bit more, trying to pick a house when Katara thought,

Can everyone hear the hat talking?

“Oh no dear. You are the only one who can hear me, now where was I, oh yes!” the hat continued.

The rest of the room sat patiently. The hat had never taken this long.

“Any preferences my dear?”

Well, I would like to be in Gryffindor I think, Fred and George are there, and I don’t really know anyone in any other house.

“Hm… Gryffindor would be very good for you I think, that or Ravenclaw were the two I was thinking. Very well… GRYFFINDOR!” the hat was removed and Katara walked over to the cheering table, and as George had promised, he had kept her a seat.

“Bloody hell! You took ages! That was the longest sorting I can remember!” Fred had complained. Katara laughed, feeling bad for holding everyone up.

The sorting continued until all the first years were sorted. Dumbledore gave his speech about the rules of the castle, introducing the new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher, Professor Moody (or Mad Eye Moody as George had kindly put it), and then went on to explain a thing called the Tri-Wizard Tournament. The twins had seemed incredibly excited about it. Unfortunately, an age restriction had been put on the participants, meaning you had to be of age to compete. Fred and George were outraged; they were of age in April. Katara was silently grateful since it meant they wouldn’t be in danger.

After all was said, food had appeared, and everyone tucked in. The twins had already begun discussing their plans for getting into the tournament.

“Why do you want in so much?” Katara had asked.

“It would be well cool, and for the money you win at the end!” Fred had answered excitedly.

“Yeah, it would be enough to start off our joke shop!” George too was bouncing about, excited. Katara laughed at the strange way their minds seemed to work, but she loved it all the same.

After dinner, the twins showed Katara around a bit, just to refresh her memory. Once in the common room, they stayed up and talked for a while, before Fred announced he was tired, and headed up to bed. George had stayed with Katara to make sure she was okay. It was her first time sleeping on her own in a while, and she didn’t look happy about it. Never the less, she smiled reassuringly at George, hugged him, and disappeared up to the girls dormitories.

She found her room, and went to her bed, drawing the curtains, and getting changed into her pyjamas. She lay awake listening to the quiet snores of her room mates.

I’m not alone. I’m in a room full of people. It’s fine. It’s fine.

She tried to consol herself. Eventually she fell into a light sleep.

______________


She woke to find herself lying on a stone floor. She looked around not recognising her surroundings. She got to her feet and started walking in a random direction, but didn’t seem to be getting anywhere. Every step she took, the wall she was walking towards would move further back. She tried to run, but her efforts were in vain. Suddenly, there was a presence in the room that made her feel sick. She spun on the spot, trying to see who it was, when a hand landed on her shoulder. She froze as things fell into perspective. Standing in front of a mirror, she could see someone lying on the ground behind her, blood pooling around. As she strained to see who it was, she noticed red hair. She then looked upon the man who was holding her, her worst fears coming reality. It was him, with that stupid smirk, and long snake like tongue licking the back of her ear. Katara tried to run over to the body, to see if it indeed was a Weasley, when she felt herself being lifted from the ground and thrown unceremoniously down next to the body. She looked at her hands as they slipped in the blood as she tried to break her fall. They were covered in the crimson liquid. As she tried to wipe it off, it spread over her body holding her down. She turned to see the face of George right next to hers, eyes wide open and unseeing. She tried to scream, but as she opened her mouth, the blood had rushed into her lungs, suffocating the life out of her. She fought against her restraints, trying to catch a breath, but she was drowning, drowning in George’s blood.

Katara opened her eyes as she stared at the space under a bed. She looked around and saw herself lying on the floor next to her own bed. A layer of cold sweat clung to her skin. Her breathes were harsh and irregular. She looked down at her hands to see the blood was gone.

George!

She jumped to her feet and ran out the door, down into the common room, and over to the boys dormitories. She threw open the door and began to run up the stairs, forgetting that the twins had previously explained how they were enchanted. As she reached the fifth step, the staircase flattened and she fell. As she hit the floor, she cursed as she got ready to shout up when a hand landed on her shoulder. She suppressed a scream as she looked up to see a very worried and tired looking George. Before he knew what was going on, Katara had launched herself at him, pinning him to the ground as she held onto him for dear life.

“What the- what’s gotten into you?” He looked down at her shaking form, and pulled her closer to him. “Nightmare?” Katara nodded slowly, her head buried in his chest. George sighed as he tried not to think of how close their crotches were to touching. “Want to tell me about it?” Katara didn’t make any sign of reply as she just lay on George. She sat up; finally registering the position they were in. Katara’s body was pressed against his, her legs on either side of his hips, her crouch now touching his. Both of them turned red as Katara jumped up.

“Sorry” she mumbled as she rushed over to the couch. She sat staring at the fire as George dropped down next to her, blush still firmly on his face. He put an arm round her still shaking frame, and pulled her closer to him so she could cuddle in. “You died. He killed you.” She blurted out, causing George to tense up.

“It was just a dream. See?” He took her hand and placed it on his chest so she could feel his heart beating. “I’m not dead.” He smiled as she moved her ear to his chest, just to be sure.

“Right… Yeah… Just a dream… Seemed so real…” George moved so that he was now lying across the couch, pulling Katara up to lie next to him. He stroked and played with her hair as she drifted off again, her breath levelling out.