Blue moon ; George Weasley

Seven

It was raining by the time the friend group reached the castle in the carriages. Fred held open the door of the carriage, allowing Esme to walk down first. She stopped by the door, staring up at the castle with a small smile on her face. She had been so excited to return, but also nervous. This was the same school where Cedric Diggory had died.

"Essie, you're sort of in the way." Lee spoke and Esme looked back at Lee who was waiting for her to move so he could get off the carriage.

"Oh, sorry." she chuckled and walked to the side, reaching up over the small wall of the carriage where George and Fred stood. "I forgot my bag."

George grabbed the white backpack from the seat where Esme had been sitting, and as he lowered it down to her, she put it over her shoulders, then laughed as Lee slipped in a mud puddle, his robes getting stained immediately.

The air immediately filled with the laughter of his three friends, but Lee didn't see anything funny about it.

"Oh you've got to be kidding me!" he groaned, trying to get up but he kept slipping. Mud had gotten on his face and in his dreadlocks. His hands were covered and he definitely needed to change robes or clean them with some magic.

"Mate, you need some help there?" Fred teased as he jumped down from the carriage, followed by George who pulled down their luggage.

As Fred and Lee interacted, the carriage moved away, making room for the next one filled with students. George placed himself next to Esme, carrying both of their trunks while they watched Fred and Lee.

"Here, I'll give you a hand." Fred spoke and held his hand out to Lee but as Lee grabbed onto him, he pulled Fred down with him into the mud. George quickly stepped back to avoid being hit by it, but Esme felt the coolness of it hit right above her socks, where her skirt ended.

She looked down at it, seeing the mud drip down on her sock and onto her shoes. She shook her head but still couldn't stop laughing at her friends foolishness.

"Lee!" Fred yelled, now soaked in mud as well. "Git!"

Esme looked back at George, smiling from ear to ear and he just stared at the scene. He looked tired and Esme knew he'd rather be inside than out here in the rain, watching his brother and their friend roll around in the dirt.

"Should we leave them and go inside?" Esme asked, earning his attention. At first he didn't answer, but then Esme grabbed her trunk from his hand so she could also grab his hand. She led him inside, hearing him silently agree to leaving the horrible weather. "They're gonna need washing up anyway and I'm hungry."

They put their luggage by the Great Staircase before walking into the Great Hall together, finding seats at one end of the Gryffindor table. They sat across from each other and while Esme sat and looked into the room to see who were already here, George was watching her.

"Who're you searching for?" he asked, earning her attention again. Esme raised her eyebrows, pressing her lips together before licking them. She shrugged and pushed some hair behind her ear, then looked towards the Slytherin table for a short second.

"No one." she said, her voice light and sweet - way too sweet. George didn't dare question it further. Instead, he looked up at the staff table, trying to see if Dumbledore had managed to find a teacher for Defence Against the Dark Arts.

And he had.

A woman who very much looked like a toad, sat at the staff table, dressed in nothing but pink clothing and just her sickening smile alone, annoyed the hell out of George.

"Reckon that's our new DADA teacher?" he asked quietly and Esme followed his gaze to look at the woman.

"That's Dolores Umbridge." she stated. George looked at her. He hadn't expected Esme to know the woman, let alone recognise her so quickly.

"Who's Dolores Umbridge?"

"Oh... she works for the Minister." she said, smiling sweetly at George. "Senior Undersecretary, I believe."

George folded his arms on the table and chuckled, tilting his head. "Do you just happen to know everything?"

Esme ignored his question to look up at Umbridge again, the woman smiling at the sixteen-year-old girl when she recognised her.

"Dad used for work with her." she explained. "He brought me to work with him a few times. She watched me. She's a horrible woman... hates children."

Cocking an eyebrow, George scoffed. "Seems obvious why she's at a school, then."

His voice was full of sarcasm and Esme cracked a small smile, shaking her head at him before she looked towards the Slytherin table again, watching Elliott take a seat with his friends. His eyes met hers and he smiled, then sent her a wink and Esme found herself blushing.

She looked at George again who was watching her. Immediately, she felt the fear rise. Hopefully he hadn't seen that.

"Do you reckon they've gotten out of the puddle yet?" she asked and leaned closer to George so that she could lower her voice. "Watching them roll around in the mud was quite funny."

The Great Hall slowly filled up and in the middle of the sorting hat's annual song, Fred and Lee came hurrying over to join George and Esme at the Gryffindor table. Lee took a seat next to Esme and Fred next to his brother.

They had both cleaned up their clothes but both still had visible mud on their skin and in their hair. Esme suppressed a laugh at how they looked, and then she turned her attention to the front of the room.

The sorting ceremony took place and Esme watched as all of the first-years got sorted into the four different houses. She was waiting for the food to be served. She was starving and couldn't concentrate on anything else.

When Dumbledore finally announced the welcome feast, food magically appeared on each of the tables, filling up the plates, and the four friends immediately grabbed food, filling their own personal plates.

"Fred, hand me the tea, will you?" Esme asked and reached out her hand for the can of tea that stood closer to Fred so that Esme couldn't reach.

When he handed it over to her, she poured up her cup and then looked at George, asking with her eyes whether or not he wanted some. When he nodded, she also filled up his cup and then put the can down.

"Thank you." he muttered.

"Who's the lady?" Lee asked and nodded up towards the staff table where Dolores Umbridge sat, chatting with Snape who looked rather disinterested.

"Dolores Umbridge." Esme explained. "My guess is that she's the new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher."

"And according to Essie, she's a real hag." George said before taking a bite of the chicken wing he was holding.

Esme frowned.

"I didn't say that. I said that she's... I don't want to call anyone a hag, but I don't like her and neither did my dad when he worked alongside her."

The three boys all watched her as she spoke.

"Though that was years ago when they were both quite young. She might be a different woman now." Esme shrugged. "We can't know, can we?"

George sniggered while Fred simply grinned, eyes focused on the woman dressed in all pink. "We'll probably figure it out soon, don't you reckon?"

Esme didn't respond. She was enjoying her food as well as her tea, and soon she caught herself drifting away from reality, thinking about tomorrow and her first day of her sixth year. She wondered what her schedule would look like, what subjects she'd have tomorrow.

She knew the subjects she had. She had chosen them herself for her NEWTs years but she had absolutely no idea what days each subject had been placed on. Though she did know that she wouldn't have even one class with her friends which she had always hated. She was an entire year beneath them and it sucked.

She felt quite anxious as well. Her sixth year was starting. Her sixth and their seventh. This was her last year with them and then they'd leave her alone in the castle.

The thought frightened her.

She didn't want to feel lonely.