P A R A M O U R || George Weasley

03 || MIDNIGHT STROLL

Lyra Malfoy walks through the deserted halls of Hogwarts in a state of relaxation. It's her turn to patrol the halls and send any wandering students back to their common rooms. So far, most students she has stumbled upon have been first years who are lost. It's only a matter of directing them down the right path.

As a night owl, she loves patrolling. It gives her time to think and go through the things that happened throughout her day. Some people are scared of the castle at night, but not her. Lyra loves it because it reminds her of home.

Malfoy Manor is a grand estate with many floors, halls, and rooms. When she was younger and couldn't sleep, she would walk around exploring the many abandoned spaces. Sometimes her father would accompany her, telling her the stories of their ancestors and their legacies.

It's one of the reasons why she is so close to her father, not to mention she takes a lot after him. Meanwhile, Draco takes more after their mother. Lyra misses her parents, she might be in her fifth year, but she won't ever get used to being apart from them for so long. Luckily, Christmas is around the corner, and she'll get to go home again.

Her peaceful walk is interrupted by a person falling into step beside her. As soon as she gets a glimpse of red hair, Lyra rolls her eyes. She's getting sick and tired of Weasley following her around.

"Nice to see you around here, Malfoy," George Weasley says, looking straight ahead with his hands behind his back.

"We must have different meanings for nice," Lyra mutters.

Seems like even now, she can't have alone time. It's all she wants because she is surrounded by students, professors, or friends the whole day. Sure, it's nice sometimes, but when it's every day of the week, she gets tired of everyone around her. This is supposed to be her time to recharge.

"Ouch," he feigns being hurt, placing a hand on his chest, "You wound me."

"Good, maybe you'll go away," she pans, quickening her step.

"Now, now, you'll have to do a lot more than that," George jokes, his long legs quickly catching up with her pace.

George has been roaming the halls for close to an hour now. He overheard the Hufflepuff prefects saying it was her turn to patrol the halls, and he took the opportunity to talk to her. He thought that if they were alone, she would be more lenient. There is no need to keep pretenses up and all that rubbish.

"How about some detention for being out after curfew," Lyra tells him, a faint smile on her pink lips.

"Eh, already got detention with Snape this week, can't be worse," he tells her. Looking down at her profile, he sees her smile turn into a frown.

"What do you want?" She asks him, stopping in the middle of the hallway to face him.

It's a stupid question, but she asks it anyway. Lyra knows what he wants, and there is no way she is giving it to him. Not today. Not tomorrow. Not within the near future. She is still angry over what they did; it's like she reached her tipping point with them.

"Accept my apology!" He exclaims arms extended at his sides.

"Why?"

"Because it would make me feel better," he says matter-of-factly.

When Fred brought up the prank, he wasn't too sure about it because it did sound a bit cruel. He understood that it wasn't the best timing either with Sirius Black somewhere around the castle, but he let himself be persuaded by his twin.

They didn't mean to target Lyra Malfoy either. She was there at the wrong time and the wrong place. That was almost always the case with her. Yes, they have directed pranks at her, but many others were coincidental.

"You know what would make me feel better?" Lyra dryly asks him, "If you hadn't done it in the first place!"

George flinches at her outburst but quickly responds, "I know, but it's too late for that."

"Then it's too late for me to accept your apology," she shrugs as she continues to walk.

"Lyra, please," George pleads, holding her arms.

Lyra stares down at his hand that grips her arm lightly, and then glares at him. George quickly lets go of it and awkwardly coughs out a 'sorry.' Lyra is not the biggest fan of people touching her, not even her closest friends, especially not a Weasley.

"Why are you so insisting? It's annoying," she wonders, continuing her walk along the maze that are the Hogwarts halls.

"It's part of my charm," he nervously chuckles.

There are many reasons why he keeps insisting she forgives him. One, George admits they might have traumatized her. Two, it was a poor joke. Three, they've targeted her one too many times. Four, it's better not to have a Malfoy as a rival. Five, his biggest secret, George Weasley, has a massive crush on Lyra Malfoy.

Last year, McGonagall wanted to promote house camaraderie and paired each Gryffindor with a Slytherin. Lyra was his assigned partner. He didn't know what to expect from it, but he certainly did not expect to end up with a crush on her.

Something about how she didn't instantly complain, unlike the other Slytherins, drew him in first. Then, it was the way she sat with him for hours in the library until they finished, even when she had already finished her part.

But, also, he got to see how she would put her hair up with tiny strands framing her face, and he thought she was beautiful. Maybe puberty made him believe that, but it's been in his head since. She would occasionally smile at her friends who sat on the other side of the library, and he could only focus on how bright her smile was, lips forever pink and soft-looking.

Another thing is Lyra is unlike her twat brother, Draco. She isn't actively looking to bully people. She does make off-hand comments but mainly keeps to herself and tries not to draw any attention. But that's hard when your last name is Malfoy, and you're beautiful and intelligent too. Safe to say that his crush was engraved on his chest once the deadline approached to hand the assignment.

One day he was planning a prank with Fred, and she was the mouse that fell into the trap. Lyra got so furious she's completely ignored the both of them since. Barely glances their way, now. It hurts his heart a little.

It's foolish because nothing would have ever happened; not only is she a Malfoy, but it looks like she has a thing going on with Adrian Pucey too.

Fred doesn't know about his crush. George never found the opportunity to mention it to him. Also, Fred has an ongoing rivalry with her; he loves to mess with her. While George has stopped him from some of his extreme pranks, he can't stop all of them. Hence, Lyra's hatred towards them grows as the years go by.

"You want me to accept your apology?" Lyra says, looking up at him. Although Lyra is tall, standing at 5'8, George towers over her.

"Yes," he nods, trying to sound as sincere as possible.

"Get your brother to apologize to me," she proposes with a glint in her eye, "Then we'll talk."

If there is anything she has learned from attending school with the twins, Fred Weasley is the one to plan out their shenanigans, and George is the one to follow. George's apology means nothing if Fred doesn't apologize. It'll be entertaining to see him accept defeat, not to mention satisfying.

But Lyra knows that won't happen. Fred Weasley hates her too much, which is the point of her proposal. Fred will never apologize, and George will leave her alone.

"U-um," George stutters, knowing that will be hard to achieve.

"Now, this is your stop," Lyra tells him, pushing him up the stairs to the Gryffindor tower.

All this time, she had been steering him in this direction, and he never noticed. 'It's the Malfoy sneakiness,' she thinks to herself. George looks confused but starts making his way up the stairs.

"I'll get him to apologize, I promise," he loudly says, walking backward, asking to injure himself.

"Sure," Lyra voices out, already walking away.

"Finally, some peace and quiet," she sighs, heading back down to the dungeons where her bed is waiting for her.

She's satisfied knowing Weasley will leave her alone from now on. A win for Malfoy.