Flames of Eternity // George Weasley

25. The Quarrel Between Brothers

Song for this chapter ~ Just Say Something by Nathan Ball

Calista's POV

With only two days left before the start of term, everyone was scrambling to get things done including some last minute shopping in Diagon Alley. Everyone had become so consumed with all the talk about the events that took place at the World Cup a couple of weeks before, that it left many of us forgetting how close we were to the end of the summer holiday.

However, school books weren't the only thing that seemed to have left everyone's minds. Shortly after Mr. Weasley's recount of the events that took place that night involving The Ministry and the sighting of the Dark Mark, everyone who had witnessed Charlie's unusual outburst towards me had seemingly forgotten about it.

Although there were no further interactions between the two of us despite his ongoing stay at the Burrow, it seemed as though George's older brother was not particularly fond of me—walking out of the room whenever I'd enter it and the glares he sent my way when I spoke were only proof of it.

Despite the fact that his dislike for me was quite obvious, it had seemed as though I was the only one who took notice of it. Although it did bother me quite some bit, I chose to not bring it up to George seeing as I didn't want to be the cause of any more arguments, especially seeing as we'd be heading back to school within the next two days.

As I now sat outside Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour waiting for George to finish his school shopping with his mum, I began to reminisce of my time spent here one whole year ago, and how drastically my life had changed ever since.

It was quite bizarre to think about—the way we used to act around one another had drastically changed ever since which I found to be quite amusing. I smiled at the thought of crashing into him that rainy night in Diagon Alley, taken aback by how brazen he was with me.

I now looked around the cobblestone streets from where I sat, attempting to see if George was anywhere nearby, however, my eyes instantly stopped at a familiar figure I now saw from afar. With their back faced towards me, all I could make out was his tall, lean, frame and his dark hair.

I began to feel my heart race at the thought of who this could quite possibly be, which is why I quickly stood up from my seat, taking rather large and swift steps as I headed down the opposite direction to where I saw the figure.

As I paced my way down the street, I looked over my shoulder to try and see if he still stood in the same place, however, I turned around a little too late, now walking right into someone.

"Dammit—sorry," I mumbled, now looking up to see Cedric's familiar face peering down at mine.

"No worries...are you alright?"

"What?" I looked back over my shoulder, still anxiously looking out towards the crowds of people, no longer seeing who I thought I had. "Oh, sorry...yeah, I'm fine," I spoke, relieved as I turned back to face him.

"Calista, right? We didn't get the proper chance to speak at the match," he spoke calmly, smiling.

"Right, Cedric," I said awkwardly, returning one back as I didn't know what else to say.

"That night turned out to be pretty crazy, huh? Did you...um...did you and the others make it back alright?" he stammered, scratching the back of his head.

"Yeah, we made it back fine."

"So, are you back to playing quidditch this year? I noticed Malfoy took your place for a while."