Just Like Magic (George Weasley)

Twenty-Three.

For the most part, this was my summer. I spent a few nights a week with Fred and George, and a few nights at home with my grandparents. Sometimes Bill would come over to visit his twin brothers since he worked at Gringotts down the Alley.

During the first two weeks of the Summer Holidays, I was actually glad to stay inside, things have been chaotic. A bridge collapsed not far from London, there was a hurricane in West Country, and there have been plenty of murders in the area as well, that everyone in the Wizarding world knows was the work of Death Eaters. The Ministry sacked Fudge finally, and he has been replaced by Rufus Scrimgeour, who was the head of the Auror office.

The Ministry is taking Voldemort's return so seriously, they have sent out a free pamphlet to every Wizarding house giving instructions on how to stay safe right now. I was in shock the first time I read mine. That was the first two weeks of my summer. Tonks would come to visit here and there, and we had security questions for each other because you can never be too sure. Usually though, she was off doing work for the Order.

Tonks is taking my father's death hard. She blames herself for it. Saying Bellatrix only got to him because he was trying to save her from getting attacked. It also didn't help that she's fallen head over heels in love with Remus and he won't reciprocate her feelings. She told me her Patronus has changed to a wolf, the same as his was. She truly did love him and he was scared to let himself love anyone because he feels he doesn't deserve love.

George said his mother is terrified to leave the house, which I understand, and that they have taken in Harry and Hermione until they go back to school. The wand maker Mr. Ollivander was taken right out of his shop in the middle of the day. They also took Florean Fortescue, the man who runs the ice cream shop. Whenever I was with Fred and George I didn't leave their shop.

When it came time for the Weasley family to visit Wealsey's Wizarding Wheezes for the first time it was mid-August. Mrs. Weasley had written the twins ahead of time letting them know what day the family would be coming, and made sure I was there that day to see everyone.

Mrs. Weasley walked into the store angry about the ad outside for the prank Product U-No-Poo, saying that it wasn't funny and it was going to anger the wrong people. George and I thought the same thing, but he still allowed Fred to put up the sign.

The boys were both very busy with the store today. Everyone seemed to come to the store today. There must be a lot of families at the Alley today. I walked around the store with Ginny, who fell in love with the Pygmy Puffskiens. She begged Mrs. Weasley to let her get one. She picked one out and named him Arnold. She walked around the store with him perched on her shoulder.

Before they left they couldn't find Harry, Ron, or Hermione anywhere. We searched the entire store and we couldn't find them at all. They showed up saying that they were just in the back. I could tell that Mr. and Mrs. Weasley didn't believe them at all. They knew they had left the store. Ginny mentioned to me that Harry was instructed by Dumbledore not to go anywhere without his invisibility cloak. They definitely used it to sneak out unnoticed.

On the last night of the Summer Holidays I stayed with Fred and George one last time, and they invited Joshua, too. George went with us to King's Cross Station to see me off to school. We met up with his mum and his younger siblings and their friends. Mrs. Weasley was excited to see we made it on time. George walked me to the train, and he even put my trunk into the carriage for me.

I hugged him tightly and said, "I'll let you know when the first Hogsmeade weekend is so you can come visit, okay?"

"Sounds great, sweetheart, I can't wait," he says, patting his hand on my head. It's weird how much I miss him already and he's standing right in front of me.

"I miss you already," I admit to him. He smiles at me.

"Awe," he says, hugging me again, "I love you." He kisses the top of my head.

"I love you, too," I tell him, "Thank you for the best Summer of my life."

"It was for me, too," he says, giving me a squeeze and then he kisses me on the lips. He looks over at Joshua then, "You enjoy your second year, buddy. And don't punch anyone in the face this year."

"I won't," Joshua assured him, a smug smirk on his lips. He was still so proud of himself for that.

George brings his eyes back to me. "I love you."

I look into those kind, loving, brown eyes of his that I love to look at so much. "I love you, too." He kisses me one more time before he lets me leave him so I can enter the train.

I didn't make Head Girl this year, to be honest I didn't really care. I didn't even really want to be a Prefect and I was still made one my fifth year. I didn't know who was going to be Head Girl for Slytherin House this year.

After the meeting Ron, Hermione, and I found Harry, Nadine, and Joshua in a compartment together and I joined them.

"How was your Summer, Penelope?" Asked Hermione.

"It was great. I spent most of my time with Fred and George, actually. It was nice to have them so close to my family's home. I got to go there all the time."

"Yeah," Ron says, an evil smirk on his face, "I'm sure you and George did a lot of sleeping those nights."

Hermione sasses him quickly, "That's none of your business, Ron."

"It's alright, Hermione," I tell her. "It's not like he's wrong. I just wasn't going to bring it up like that. Or at all, actually. Not with my twelve year old brother sitting next to me."

Ron smirks, proud of himself that he was right. That's all they were going to get out of me about it though. They didn't need to know anymore than that.

Harry started talking about my cousin, Draco Malfoy, and then he and the other told me all about what they saw when they snuck out of Fred and George's shop. About Draco trying to buy something in Knockturn Alley. Mrs. Weasley would have been furious with them if she knew where they had gone.

Harry was asked to join a new professor for lunch in Compartment C. He didn't return for the rest of the trip. He also wasn't at dinner, either. Hermione, Ginny, and I were all worried about Harry. Ron was bust stuffing his face with a chicken drumstick to be worried.

Harry entered the Great Hall with Professor Snape towards the end of the feast, all that was left was dessert to eat. His face was covered in dark, now dried blood that looked like it came from his nose. He quickly made his way to the Gryffindor table, looked around for a moment, and then sat in-between Ron and Hermione, who both looked relieved to see him.

When the puddings took over the table, Professor Dumbledore made his way to the podium for his annual beginning of the year speech. He introduced all the staff, as he always does, and he threw us all for a loop when he introduced Professor Slughorn as the new Potions Master, saying Snape would be our Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher this year. We all started buzzing in conversation, and the Slytherin table clapped and cheered in excitement, but the rest of us did not.

The next morning, Harry told me it was Draco who had stunned him and kicked him in the nose, breaking it, but Tonks was there to help him out. That's why he was covered in blood when he arrived last night. Harry was trying to spy on the Slytherin's to see what Draco was up to.

He heard Draco say that the Dark Lord was going to take over and he was going to quit school and join him. I assured him that was all his father talking and that he probably didn't truly mean it. Then Harry told us he also heard him say that he hinted that the Dark Lord had already given him a job, and the Dark Lord didn't care that he was only 16 and unqualified, that it was something he didn't need to be qualified for.

That made me nervous. With his father in Azkaban because he was the leader of a failed mission, Draco would be desperate to stay on Voldemort's good side so he didn't feel his wrath. If the Dark Lord gave him a job to do this year, Draco would have accepted it out of fear for his own life, or his mother's life.

I was just scared Draco would try to hurt Harry in any way. If he was working for Voldemort, he had an insider in the school. An insider that hated Harry about as much as Voldemoert himself did. Draco was ruthless, and if Voldemort told him to hurt Harry, or bring Harry to him, or worse, kill Harry, Draco just might be in a dangerous enough mindset to do it.

Besides that, I was excited to start my final year at Hogwarts. I will be 18 this spring. A true adult. George asked me to move in with him and Fred after this Summer, and I might take him up on that offer. I would like to be in some kind of Wizard law enforcement, so that what happened to my father never happens to anyone else.

I know Slytherin House has produced the most dark wizards, but I don't care. I will make sure that whoever deserves to be in Azkaban gets thrown in there, and whoever deserves a fair trial gets one. Tonks has said she'd trained to be an auror if that's what I choose to do, and I think I might take her up in that, too.

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Here's part 23!

I didn't really know how to end this chapter, so it kind of ended abruptly there.

Sorry about that.

Oh well, what are you gonna do?

-Emily Winchester.