Blue moon ; George Weasley

Nine

Days had passed since school had started again, and Esme was studying in the library.

She sat hidden down at the back, her quill silently scribbling across the page. She had an essay due and like usual, she wrote way more than minimum.

She felt comfortable in the clothes she wore. She wore a white jumper and some black overalls and she sat with her feet on the chair next to her.

Her hair was pulled up into a high ponytail and she wore glasses that sat perfectly on the bridge of her nose.

She rubbed her eye with the back of her hand before yawning into it.

She didn't know that Elliott stood by the bookshelves, watching her with a smile on his face.

"Why don't you take care of yourself and go to bed?" He asked and Esme looked up, relaxing when she saw him.

"I can't go to bed now. It's just getting exciting."

He laughed quietly and walked over to pull out the chair where she had her feet, and as she pulled her feet down, he took a seat.

"What's the essay for?" He asked and reached for my notebook.

"It's for my apparition class." She told him. "I don't see why you haven't taken the class."

"I might take it next term." He shrugged, looking through the pages I had written. "It costs twelve galleons, right?"

Esme nodded and watched Elliott start to read a page. That caused her to snatch it from his hands and he looked at her, chuckling while she slammed it shut.

Esme never let anyone read her assignments. Did was insecure about her hand writing and she didn't think she was very good at writing essays, though she still loved it.

"Alright, alright." He laughed softly and leaned in, kissing Esme's cheek. "I'll walk you to your dorm. You look tired."

"I am." She sighed. "But I haven't finished it yet, El."

"You can finish it tomorrow." He said. "When is it due?"

Esme shrugged. She knew she had just started on it right away and that it wasn't due until next week, but she didn't want to admit that she wasn't in a hurry to have it finished.

Elliott raised an eyebrow at his girlfriend. He stood up and started gathering her things while she looked at him, and then she heard footsteps, but she didn't get to react before George showed up.

Both Esme and Elliott looked at him while George slowly folded his arms over his chest.

"I'm sorry, but what are you doing?" George's eyes were focused on Elliott and then he looked at Esme. "Is he bothering you?"

Elliott let out a laugh of disbelief, then stood up. He looked at Esme, hoping she would come clean and tell her friend that Elliott was her boyfriend.

She didn't know how to do that. She didn't want George to know, so she simply looked at him and shook her head.

"Are you sure?" George asked. "He's taking your things."

"Mate, I'm not taking her things." Elliott spoke. "Merlin's beard. I'm her fucking boyfriend."

Esme's heart skipped a beat, and immediately her eyes sought some kind of reaction on George's face, but there wasn't any.

He stared at Elliott for a moment while Elliott reached over for Esme's bag to carefully put her stuff into it.

Then George scoffed. He hadn't felt his heart break this badly before. Immediately he turned and walked away, out of the library.

He had wanted to come make sure that Esme didn't overdo it, that she didn't put too much pressure on herself but someone else had beat him to it.

Esme's boyfriend.

Esme got out of her chair and as she went to go after George, Elliott grabbed her upper arm to hold her back.

She looked up at him, her eyes full of tears.

"What are you doing?" He asked in a whisper.

"I have to—"

"No, you don't have to do anything. Esme—"

"He's mad at me, Elliott!" Esme exclaimed. "Why did you tell him?! You know I didn't want to!"

"Because I don't feel like wanting to be your dirty little secret!" He raised his voice. "You don't have to explain yourself to him. You're your own person and you're allowed to date."

Esme shook her head.

"Let go of me."

"Esme..."

"He's my friend!"

"He's in love with you!" He yelled, his voice echoing through the library, and Esme knew that at any second, Madam Pince would be marching down the corridor.

Esme shook her head, ripped her arm from his grip, then grabbed her bag and ran after George.

She caught up with him in the corridor on the way back to the common room.

"George, I wanted to tell you."

"No, you didn't."

"No I didn't..." Esme muttered and George stopped walking before he turned towards her.

"Him?" He asked, motioning towards the library. "You hate him."

Esme shrugged, wiping her cheeks. She was crying, but only because she hated confrontation and she hated upsetting George.

"I don't hate him anymore." She said quietly. "I really like him, George. Please don't hate me."

"Why would I hate you?" He laughed. "I don't care who you're dating Esme. I just don't understand why you'll keep it a secret!"

"Because... I don't know."

George rolled his eyes at her and continued walking, but Esme followed him.

"He thinks you're in love with me."

Immediately, George scoffed.

"That's ridiculous."

"Ridiculous. What's so ridiculous about being in love with me?"

"What's not ridiculous about it, eh? You're stubborn, you're selfish—"

"Selfish!" Esme exclaimed and grabbed his arm to turn him towards her. "I am not selfish! With every boyfriend I've have, you're the one who throws a fit about it—"

"See, every. You jump from guy to guy and you throw them out as soon as you're tired of them."

Esme couldn't believe what he was saying. She was far from selfish so she didn't know where all of this was coming from.

"You're being mean." She said, raising her eyebrows while tearing up. "You know that isn't true. Cedric dumped me. Aleksandar left me as soon as he took my virginity, but with Elliott. We've known each other since we were born. It's different with him."

"Sure." George nodded. "If that's what you want to believe."

He turned around and made his way up the grand staircase, leaving Esme at the bottom of it.

She was mad. She was angry — raging. How dared he insinuate that she was a slut, sleeping around with every guy she could find.

And why did George even care? He was dating Angelina Johnson.