Blue moon ; George Weasley

Twenty

George sat on the bench while Esme stood in front of the mirror, brushing her wet hair back.

He had told her what had happened in Umbridge's office. He told her to at he had been banned from Quidditch, and Esme was absolutely livid but right now, she just needed to be there as a way of comfort.

"Was it wrong for me to kiss you?" He asked, and Esme looked at him through the mirror before turning around.

She sighed.

"No... I guess not." She looked down. "I enjoyed it. I really did."

She said the last sentence quietly, hoping that he wouldn't hear, but at the same time, she knew he did.

"So where does this lead us?" He asked, resting his elbows on his knees, his chin resting on top of his folded hands.

His eyes were on her as she nervously fidgeted with the hem of her shirt.

"I dunno..." she muttered, pursing her lips. "...I had no idea you liked me until you said it to Angie."

George chuckled softly, and the sound went straight to Esme's heart. She glanced at him.

"Am I that good at hiding it?"

A smile tugged on the corner of her lips, and she shrugged, feeling a little playful with her next words.

"Maybe I'm just oblivious."

He laughed, nodding immediately.

"You most definitely are." He said, and Esme rolled her eyes. "I've loved you since forever and you couldn't see it."

She looked at him.

"You didn't know about my feelings either. I'm not the only one here who can act oblivious." She folded her arms over her chest and George smiled at how cute she looked.

"How do you expect me to pick up on your feelings when you didn't even know it yourself?"

This time she didn't say anything. These feelings were knew to her. She had been in love before but this felt different in a way. It felt more natural to be standing here, having this conversation with George.

Almost like it was meant to happen.

"Alright... how about this—" George stood up. "...let me take you out on a date. We can have a chance at trying this out, to see if it'll work."

Esme bit her lip but nodded, and George broke into a smile. For a moment, he had forgotten all about earlier, and the ban of Quidditch for life.

Esme hesitated, then walked closer until she stood in front of him.

"This weekend?" He asked her and she nodded again while lifting a hand to touch the tender skin in his cheek.

It looked like Malfoy had gotten just a few throws in as well.

"I'll be at your room at eight." George said, his voice barely a whisper. "Saturday evening..."

She nodded a third time.

"Does it hurt?" She asked but when she let her fingertips run over the bruise faintly, he hissed in pain and automatically moved his head back a little. "Oh... I'm sorry."

"It's just a bit sore." He said and brought a hand up to his face. "I imagine it'll pass soon."

Esme nudged him gently with her elbow. "Go to the hospital wing. Madam Pomfrey will fix you up quickly."

George smirked.

"But I look rather devilish, don't I?"

"Devilishly handsome." The words left her mouth before she could stop them, and she felt herself blush in embarrassment.

George laughed at her words, ran a hand against her jaw before pulling her in for another kiss, but this one was shorter and it calmed her down.

"That was nice..." she whispered and looked up at his hazel eyes while he stared down at her blue ones.

His thumb caressed her cheek, stroking it soothingly and Esme felt at peace, just standing here with him.

"George?!" Fred's voice made the two pull apart and look towards the door. Fred walked through a second later, his eyes focused on George. "Did we get banned from Quidditch? Harry says we got banned."

He was holding the door open with one hand, his body turned towards his twin brother. His eyebrows had fallen into a frown and he looked confused and miserable at the same time.

Esme wrapped her arms around herself, looking between the two.

"You've got to be kidding me." Fred laughed as he saw the truth on George's face. "We got banned because you couldn't contain your anger?"

"What?" George frowned. "You'd have done the same if it hadn't been for the girls holding you back!"

Fred scoffed, then immediately left again, the door slamming shut behind him, and George laughed in disbelief, dropping onto the bench.

"He's just upset." Esme said, trying to reassure George. "He's not blaming you. He's just— you both love quidditch. Imagine if you had been banned for something he did."

George looked up at Esme as she turned to pack her things together.

"Malfoy was provoking me..." he said. "And did he get banned? No."

She didn't answer, which George found annoying. She was walking around in her own little world, gathering her stuff so they could leave the dressing rooms.

"Why do you seem to calm about this?" George asked and this caused Esme to turn around and look at him. "Fred, Harry and I got banned. The team now only consists of three chasers and a keeper."

Esme didn't worry that much. Of course, it angered her that Umbridge would even threaten with that, but McGonagall surely wouldn't let that happen.

"I'm not really worried about it." Esme shrugged. "Do you actually think McGonagall would let Umbridge throw three people off the Gryffindor team?"

George sighed and stood up.

"McGonagall was there, Ess. She couldn't do anything. Umbridge's got all of the power."

Now she was at a loss for words. She stared up at George for a while before shaking her head with a laugh rolling off her lips.

"That's not— well there must be something!" She exclaimed. "She can't kick you off! She doesn't— she shouldn't have the authority to do that! Who does she think she is?! We need to win the cup and we can't do that without you and Fred... Harry too of course, but you're the best beater the team has had!"

George tugged at his bottom lip, his eyebrows in a frown as he watched her upset expression.

He was nervous about this. He had played Quidditch since his second year and now he couldn't anymore.

It was one of the only things he loved about school. ...well, except from Esme of course, and now it was being ripped away from him.

"I'm so sorry, George." She apologised but she knew she had no reason to. "You're the reason I'm on the team and now you're... not."

George didn't know that. He knew that he and Fred had suggested it to her back when she started, but he didn't know that he was the reason she had decided to try out.