Sparks Fly || A George Weasley Story

Year 5: It All Comes Out

Juniper's POV:

"Hey, listen," Derrick said with a sigh, rain dripping from his pale blond hair, "I know how I acted before wasn't exactly friendship material, but I promise that I've grown as a person as I've gotten older. I can tell that you have too."

"Yeah, I have grown a lot over the last year or so, but I have some good friends to thank for that," I said.

"Oh really?"

"Yeah, Fred and George Weasley sort of adopted me third year and I couldn't not change after hanging out with them for so long," I said, noticing that he seemed to stiffen at the mention of the boys, "But my dormmates also sort of helped me out of my shell."

He cleared his throat, "Well, it is always good to know that you've got friends who can help you change for the better. It's been harder for me because with my pureblood parents and everything, I can't make too many friends outside of what they allow."

"Oh, Derrick, I'm sorry about that," I sighed as we finally stepped inside the castle, "I've got a lot of pureblood friends, and I know that some of their parents are pretty strict as well."

"Pureblood parents tend to be like that," He chuckled, and paused, "Wait, you're not pureblood?"

"No," I said, contemplating whether or not he should know this, "I was petrified last year, didn't you hear about it?"

"That is right," He nodded, "My apologies, but I'm sure that what my parents don't know can't hurt them."

"You don't think they'd like me?"

"No, especially not since you're a mud- muggleborn."

"Right..." I nodded.

The rest of the walk was completely silent. I wasn't sure what to say to him considering we hadn't talked since Pandora ran him and his sister off my first year, which was Derrick, and his sister's second year. I wasn't even sure what he'd want with me in the first place. We didn't seem to have any of the same interests and it wasn't like he would have any classes together considering we were in different years.

But, I tried to tell myself that he was just being friendly. Thus far, he hadn't given me any reason to believe that he had any ulterior motives. Well, besides when he almost called me a slur just now, but that can be somewhat forgiven. He didn't actually say it, and it could just be because he's trying to cut the word from his vocabulary. I wanted to give him the benefit of the doubt.

He hung back by the door where his sister had been waiting for him while I continued into the great hall to where I knew my friends would be gathering soon.

"Cedric!" I cheered as I saw him standing beside the Hufflepuff table, still dripping wet from the rain outside.

He turned at the sound of my voice and I ran over to him. I didn't think that I'd ever been more excited to see him since I hadn't seen him all summer. When my family had gotten back, Cedric and his family had been busy with renovations to their house and he hadn't had time to drop by. But by the look on his face, I could see that he was just as excited to see me again too.

"Sunny!" He called, holding his arms open for me to run into.

I crashed into him, throwing my arms around his shoulders. Cedric went to spin me around, but only got me about an inch or two off the ground before simply sitting me back down on my feet with an embarrassed smile on his face that made my stomach sink. He couldn't pick me up like he used to... Merlin, I really hoped that he wouldn't actually mention it and that we could just move on from our little blunder.