stardust ⋮ george weasley

nineteen :

N I N E T E E N

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Spring flew by much faster than Adeline could've imagined, and before she knew it, she was sitting in a compartment on the train back to Platform 9 3/4. With the stress of the O.W.L.S. off their shoulders, the four girls could finally feel themselves relax for what felt like the first time in weeks.

Of course, not all of Hogwarts had a calm end to their year. It seemed like it was almost a tradition by this point for Harry, Ron, and Hermione to get themselves in a near-death situation that would ignite a firestorm of gossip in the school. This year it was apparently an encounter with Sirius Black, who had managed to escape the dementors again. Adeline knew he was a mass murderer, but she was fascinated with how he managed to escape the dementors so many times and would love to learn how he had done it.

Adeline had visited Hermione in the hospital wing – "Merlin, are you always getting involved in these crazy, potentially deadly incidents?" – but strangely Hermione didn't seen shaken up by the experience with Sirius Black in the slightest. If anything, Hermione, alongside Ron and Harry, seemed calm and almost happy. Maybe the experience was mild in comparison with their other adventures that it didn't really affect Hermione. Either way, Adeline was just relieved to learn that they were okay.

The four girls sat in the compartment, talking about their favorite moments from the year. The conversation had taken a negative turn, however, when the topic of Professor Lupin's resignation had come up. All the girls had been initially shocked to learn the beloved professor was a werewolf. Melanie, Ophelia, and Estelle were especially freaked out, given the many stories they had heard growing up about werewolves and the prejudices the wizarding world held against them. But as they kept thinking about it, the more the girls thought the discrimination against Professor Lupin – and werewolves in general – was absurd.

"It's absolutely ridiculous," Adeline asserted in a furious voice that was unusual for the normally calm and kind girl. "Professor Lupin is the best Defense professor we've ever had. He's absolutely brilliant, and I don't think he would ever harm any of his students. He was an amazing professor this year!"

"There are a lot of horrible werewolves out there, but there's just as many horrible wizards," Melanie added, earning a several nods of agreement from the girls. "Professor Lupin always made sure to stay away from people when he transformed, so no one got hurt! I wish he didn't resign."

"I hope he can get a job now," Estelle sighed sadly, causing all the girls to look at her with confused expressions. "Do you guys remember Umbridge? That nightmare of a woman my dad works with?"

"I specifically remember you referring to her as 'Um-bitch'," Adeline pointed out with a teasing smile before beginning to suck on a sugar quill. "I'd like to know what caused her to earn that sort of nickname."

"You'd know if you ever met her," Estelle muttered darkly, thinking back to the horrible dinners and encounters she had shared with the woman. "Anyways, she got all this anti-werewolf legislation passed that makes it nearly impossible for werewolves to get jobs."

Shocked, Ophelia dropped the box of Bernie Botts beans she had been eating out of. "You're kidding, right?"

Estelle nodded sadly. "And they wonder why werewolves hate wizards..."

A few moments passed and Adeline stood up, needing to go out to the bathroom. She pushed open the compartment door, and just as she walked outside, Adeline felt herself collide with someone and nearly fell to the floor. "I'm so sorry, I didn't even–"

"Why is it that we're always colliding with each other?"

Adeline looked up in surprise and saw George beaming down at her, holding onto Adeline's shoulders as a way to steady her. She couldn't tell if this was because of the happy rush of their last day of fifth year, but she couldn't help but notice how cute George's smile was.

"Sometimes I can be a little oblivious," Adeline told him with a nervous smile. "But I'm usually not this clumsy, I swear."

Adeline didn't want to add in that the reason why she was so clumsy around George was because of how anxious she got around him. especially since she didn't entirely know why she felt like that,

Over George's shoulder, Adeline could see Fred bounding down the carriage towards his brother, loudly asking what taking him so long to get the Cauldron Cakes from the trolley. However, when Fred saw what was distracting George, he rolled his eyes dramatically and forced himself through the two of them, muttering something along the lines of, "Of course this is why."

George sighed and gestured to his clearly peeved brother. "I think I need to go with him to the trolley. I have the feeling Fred might try and slip something in my Cauldron Cake."

With a chuckle, Adeline replied, "I wouldn't doubt it."

After giving her a quick wave goodbye, George turned to make his way towards his brother once more. Before he could, however, Adeline found herself blurting out,

"Would you want to write over the summer?"

Behind her, a flustered Adeline could hear Melanie and Ophelia giggling, but two dull thuds silenced them quickly, making Adeline think it was Estelle who made her two friends go quiet.

It took George a few seconds to get over his shock, nodding silently because his brain had gone blank and he couldn't really find the words to say.

Adeline was feeling pretty similar, surprised that George had actually said yes. If Adeline tried to speak, she felt as if she would end up stuttering and embarrassing herself. Instead, Adeline chose to run back into the compartment, ripped the corner off a piece of parchment paper in her bag, and made her way over to a confused George. She handed him the piece of paper once she finished writing on it, and George looked down at it in surprise. "Write your address on here," Adeline explained quickly. "We can write back and forth with Cecilia."

The brown owl hooted with excitement upon hearing her name as George began to scribble down the address for the Burrow.

Nearby, Fred, who had been patiently waiting for many minutes to get past the two and go back to his cabin, was getting exhausted of standing around and holding a stack of Cauldron Cakes in his hand.

"Alright, conversation's over now, lovebirds," Fred sighed, grabbing George by the elbow. "I'd like to get back to my cabin now, thanks. Adeline, have a great summer holidays. Hopefully George's love letters don't ruin it for you."

Adeline went bright red in the face, and she heard George smack his laughing brother upside the head. When George was out of sight and Adeline stepped back in the carriage, Melanie burst into giggles once more, but now no one was wanting to stop her. "You two are some of the most awkward people I've ever met," She managed to say before laughing so hard that she was now bent over in her seat.

Adeline threw a Chocolate Frog at her head. "I love you, but please be quiet for once in your life."

"I absolutely will not," Melanie shot back cheekily, biting the head off of her Chocolate Frog. "Thanks for the chocolate, by the way! Feels like a reward."

Adeline went to weakly snatch the Chocolate Frog out of Melanie's hand but, before she could, Melanie stuffed the rest of the frog in her mouth, her cheeks puffed as if she was a chipmunk. The cabin burst into laughter, and that mood carried on for the rest of the train ride home.

And as they sat there, the four girls teasing each other to no end and eating more sweets than their bodies could handle, Adeline clutched tightly on the piece of parchment paper with George's address and couldn't help but hope that the rest of her years at Hogwarts would feel like this.

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a/n:

and that's the end of part one, folks!! i hope you all have a lovely day/evening and i'll see you soon with an update!!

- g ♡