Just Like Magic (George Weasley)

Eighteen.

It was October when Quidditch started again, and the new Gryffindor Captain iwas Angelina Johnson, and she's just as hell bent on winning matches as the last captain, Oliver Wood. She's expecting all of the Gryffindor Quidditch team members to live and breathe Quidditch like she does. She's taken up a lot of George's free time.
   
The first month of school went by in a quick blur. Quidditch starting up again meant the Gryffindor team was desperately trying to find a new Keeper to replace the spot left open by Oliver Wood finishing school. Ron actually made Keeper. That's why he wanted a new broom. I also got lost in my school work very quickly because of all the work that fifth years have to do to prepare for the O.W.L. exams at the end of term.
   
Harry actually missed tryouts doing detentions with Umbridge. She made him write lines saying I Must Not Tell Lies and every time he wrote. The words cut into his hand. This happened every day the entire week. Hermione and I encouraged him to tell Professor Dumbledore or McGonagall. Just tell someone, anyone, but he wouldn't.
   
Harry had decided to write to my dad about this, and he came to him in the fire and he got to actually talk to him. He said Umbridge sounded like a Horrible woman, and that Remus isn't very fond of her either. Their conversation was abruptly cut short however when we saw Umbridge's pudge ringed hand trying to grab at my dad in the fire.
   
The next day, Hermione beckoned us all to listen to her at breakfast because she wanted us to hear what was said in this article of the Daily Prophet. The front page had big, bold letters that were hard to miss talking about how Umbridge was made the new Hogwarts High Inquisitor. She was now going to be giving the teachers evaluations and she had the power to put them on probation if she thought for any reason they were unfit to do their job. The only thing she couldn't do was actually fire them.
   
As if sitting in her class wasn’t enough, after watching Umbridge inspect and berate the other Professors at school. The students were growing tired of her. They wanted to learn some real Defense Against the Dark Arts but no one knew how.
   
Hermione suggested that Harry teach them. I agreed to stay out of it. The less I know the better, and they agreed on that with me. If they got caught, and Umbridge found out a Slytherin knew what was going on, I'd be in so much trouble. So as much as I wanted to be a part of everything they were doing, it was for the best I stayed out of it.
   
During the first Hogsmeade weekend at the end of October, they met at the Hog's Head Pub to discuss everything. I hung out with Nadine instead and we spent the day together. It was nice to spend the day with my best friend. We met up with George later on in the day.
   
Everything seemed to be going alright, Joshua was doing great in classes, even Professor Snape didn't mind him. Then Umbridge put out Educational Decree number Twenty-four. Which stated that all student organizations, societies, teams, groups, and clubs were disbanded if they had three or more people. We were, however, allowed to ask for permission to reform. Angelina went straight to her office to try and get the Gryffindor Quidditch The to be reformed, and Umbridge took her the deciding upon it.
   
Joshua was very interested in Quidditch, so I would sit with him to watch the Gryffindor practices and we would do homework together. He liked to watch the team on their brooms zooming around chasing the balls.
   
Another few weeks later the Quidditch teams had gotten in enough practice that they could start playing against each other like we usually do. The first match was Slytherin VS Gryffindor, natural enemies. Of course.
   
This was Ron’s very first match on the team. He’s a keeper this year, and he is rather nervous about his first ever game. I don’t blame him, Quidditch is a rough game. No matter what position you played. No one was safe.
   
We all listened to Lee Jordan’s commentary as it ran through the stadium, “Listen to the crowd! They’re loving this! What is that they’re singing?” He took a pause and we could hear what the Slytherin’s were singing
   
It was a song about Ron. About how they loved how awful he was at Quidditch because it meant an easy win for them. They said he was their king. 
   
They got louder and louder as the game went on, making sure Ron could hear them. It got to him, you could tell, because he started messing up. Gryffindor ended up winning only because Harry caught the Golden Snitch and got them an extra 150 points on top of the lead they already had. Harry was hit in the back with a Bludger and fell to the ground, landing hard, so Hermione and I ran out to the pitch to make sure he was okay, we all knew the game was over anyways.
   
When Hermione, Ginny and I reached them on pitch Draco flew by on his broom and hovered over the air where Harry was so we could hear his nasty, smug voice. “Saved Weasley’s neck, haven’t you?” He said to Harry. “I’ve never seen a worse keeper…but then again…he was born in a bin…did you like my lyrics, Potter?” Harry did not answer; he turned away to meet the rest of the team who had just reached him as well. “We wanted to write a couple more verses!” Calls Malfoy, “But we couldn’t find rhymes for fat and ugly, we wanted to talk about his mother, see we couldn’t fit in useless loser either for his father, you know.”
   
By now the twins have realized what’s going on, the Slytherin’s laughed, but the Gryffindor’s stiffened. “Leave it,” I whisper to George. “He’s just sore that he lost.”
   
“But you like the Weasley’s, don’t you Potter?” Continued Draco. “Spend Holidays there and everything, don’t you? Can’t see how you stand the stink, but I suppose when you’ve been dragged up by Muggles even the Weasley’s hovel smells okay.”
   
Harry then grabbed George and the three other female players kept Fred back, and Hermione was talking Ron down now. 
   
Malfoy just didn’t know when to quit it, he decided to keep going. “Perhaps, you can remember what your mother’s house stank like, Potter, and Weasley’s pigsty reminds you of it.”
   
Harry releases George then. A second later they were sprinting at Malfoy together. Harry tackles him and they both start punching Malfoy as hard as they could anywhere they could land a hit. So many of us were screaming at them to stop it, but our cries landed on deaf ears. I grabbed Joshua to keep him out of the way of the fight.
   
Madame Hooch came and broke them up with a spell. The three of them were forced to go see their heads of house, which was not about to be a pleasant visit. They told me at dinner that night that George, Fred, and Harry were banned from playing Quidditch and they had to give up their brooms to Umbridge.
   
The twins weren't very upset about it. They could play Quidditch whenever they wanted. And now they could focus more on their shop. They nearly had a premise. I wasn't happy that they were fighting, but on the brightside George and I would have time together again.
   
That was at the end of November, when December came, it brought the snow with it. It was frigid outside and cold, too. Like it gets every single year. During the second week of the month, I was called into Professor McGonagall office after dinner, and I had no idea why.
   
"You wanted to see me, Professor McGonagall?" I ask as I enter her office.
   
"Ah, yes, Miss Black, Dear. Would you please escort your brother back to Gryffindor Tower? I believe a chat with his sister would be good for him right now."
   
"Of course," I say nodding, "Let's go, Joshua."
   
"Very good, thank you, Miss Black," she looks to Joshua now, "You will be notified when your detention is set up, Mr. Mallard. And I will have no choice but to notify your father about this, too. You may go with your sister."
   
"Detention?" I repeat the word, confused as we start to head for the door. "Joshua what on Earth is going on?"
   
He keeps his eyes forward, not looking at me as we walked. "I got into an argument with another student. A Slytherin kid."
   
"Okay, well what exactly happened? You can tell me."
   
"I punched him in the face, okay, right in his stupid mouth" he says, his tone hard. He was obviously still upset about this, I could tell by the look on his face right now.
   
"And why did you do that?" I ask, shocked. It wasn't like Joshua to do that to someone at all. The kid I knew wouldn't hurt a fly, and now he's punching kids in the face. Who was this kid and what has he done with my little brother?
   
"Because George told me to," he says quickly. He didn't even have to think about it.
   
I was confused now, "What do you mean? George would never tell you to punch some kid in the face."
   
"He told me to stand up for myself," he says, his tone hard again. "I watched him fight Malfoy. I knew what he meant. Someone talks about your family, you take care of them. He was talking about you, and I didn't like what he said. It was no different than when Harry and George went after Malfoy after he talked about their families."
   
"Whoa, kid, I don't think that's what George meant when he told you that," I say, "George would never tell you to physically hurt someone unless they were hurting you first. If all this kid did was say something about me, that doesn't mean you hit him."
   
"Then why did George teach me how to fight?" He asks, his tone nonchalant now. We had reached Gryffindor Tower now. He said the password and we entered through the portrait hole.
   
"You get to bed. Now," I say, my tone commanding. Joshua rolls his eyes at me but doesn't protest. My eyes begin to scan the room for George. When I found him I started towards him. He smiled when he saw me, but I didn't smile to see him.
   
"My little brother just got detention because he said you told him to punch some kid in the face," I say, my tone very accusatory. I needed to get to the bottom of this.
   
"No, Darling, I did not tell him to do that," he says quickly. "I told him to stand up for himself. Tell the kid to shut up, and quit bothering him. I never told him to hurt anyone."
   
"Then why did he tell me you taught him how to fight?"
   
"I taught him some self defense moves in case the kid tried to hurt him first. That's it. I never told him to hurt anyone and I never taught him how to. You know I would never do that."
   
"Well that's not what he thought you were doing," I say, crossing my arms over my chest, "He saw when you went after Malfoy and he wanted to do the same to this kid, whoever he is. He didn't tell me. But I bet I have a kid with a busted lip in Slytherin House that I have to go deal with. Now I would like you to head up to the first year boys dorm and explain to my brother what you were really trying to do. And please don't teach my brother anymore fighting moves, defense or not. He's a sweet kid, and he adores you. He looks up to you, but doesn't need to be fighting. He doesn't need to be violent."
   
"You're saying I'm violent, are you?"
   
"You can be sometimes, yes," I admit, "you punched Beckett in the face last year. You did the same thing to Malfoy last month. I understand it's how you grew up because you have a lot of brothers but Joshua wasn't raised that way. He can't go around fighting everyone who says something he doesn't agree with."
   
"Alright, fine, I will talk to him, okay?"
   
"I know you were just trying to help him," I say, my hand reaching up to touch his face, "it was sweet of you. You had good intentions. Your message just didn't come across right."
   
"I know," he says, sounding sheepish now, "I'm sorry about that. I should have been more clear with him. He is only 11 after all."
   
"Exactly," I agree, nodding. "Now I have to go do damage control at Slytherin House."
   
"Alright, I'm going to go talk go Joshua," he says, nodding. "I love you."
   
"I love you, too," I tell him, we share a quick kiss before I leave Gryffindor Tower and head down to the dungeons. Once I'm in the Slytherin Common Room I start looking for a kid that has signs of evidence of a physical altercation. There was only one. Draco Malfoy was sitting on the couch surrounded by a gaggle of girls with a busted lip.
   
There was no way my brother punched Malfoy, did he?
   
There was only one way to find out.
   
I walked over to him, and I asked, "What happened, Draco?"
   
"Why don't you ask your lunatic little brother," he snaps at me. "He attacked me for no reason."
   
"No reason, huh? I'm sorry, but that doesn't sound like Joshua. Can you tell me what happened exactly?"
   
"He attacked me, he jumped on me and started punching me like a mad man. He was mental. Don't worry though, he will get what's coming to him."
   
I scoff. "He'll get what's coming to him, eh? Well, I can assure you Malfoy, if you lay one finger on him, I don't care what he did to you first, you will have what's coming to you. You won't just have an eleven year old to deal with. I know my brother, and he wouldn't attack you for no reason. You deserved it. You know you did. You better stay away from him if you know what's good for you."
   
"Are you threatening me?" He asks, his tone accusatory.
   
"No," I say, shrugging, "Just giving you a fair warning."

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Here's part 18!

The thought of Draco getting punched in the face by an 11 year old about two weeks after George and Harry attacked him is absolutely hilarious to me.

I make myself laugh sometimes writing this shit I swear.

-Emily Winchester.