Sparks Fly || A George Weasley Story

Year 5: Lovesick Idiots

Juniper's POV:

Pages of notes floated around me, as I tried to memorize anything that I thought would be helpful for my upcoming O.W.Ls. I'd been so busy with everything else that I'd almost forgotten to study this year. So, a week before they were scheduled, I began filling the room with the smell of dry parchment and dried ink. Books that I hadn't gotten to yet were sitting in tall piles around my bed, and the ones I had made it through, were sitting opened on random pages on my patchwork quilt.

I'd been reading for six hours now, and the words were starting to blur together while I found myself reading passages again and again trying desperately to hold onto any meaning behind the words. I knew I needed a break, but I couldn't stop.

I couldn't bring myself to face the empty bed next to mine.

The blank wall where posters of muggle celebrities were once plastered. The bedside table that was at one time, littered with sparkling hair ties, expensive bottles of perfume, and a pristine pair of glasses that rarely saw the light of day. The floor that occasionally became home to piles of expensive clothes when she was trying to figure out what to wear.

It was wiped clean, as though it had only ever been me, Colleen, Tamara, and Robin residing here.

The dormitory was no longer a warm and cozy place where friends would rush to talk about upcoming quidditch games, or gush over cute boys. Instead, it had become cold, and hollow. It was like when Heather l left, she took all those good feelings with her. It hadn't been the same.

Not just the room either. Things were different with my friends now. We rarely spoke to one another anymore. We spared each other of polite small talk to avoid talking about what happened. We had all been instructed to not have any contact with her now that she was gone, and to us, it had felt like she'd died. With her, our bond seemed to pass.

Hence, me studying alone in a room big enough to house five girls.

We were all studying in different places, hoping that if we put enough space between one another, the place that Heather once occupied wouldn't feel so empty.

Tears began to prick my eyes and I clenched them shut, refusing to cry over this again. It hurt, but I had told her that I'd do well on my O.W.Ls, and that was the least I could do for her after getting her expelled because I was too busy dealing with stupid boy problems.

I needed to focus.

But I couldn't.

I'd been at it too long. If I had to read another rendition of a transfiguration spell gone wrong, my head was going to explode. A week of nothing but class and studying was starting to take a toll on me. I had to get my mind off of school for a while, but I couldn't just do nothing, or else I'd think about how I failed her.

Bang. Bang. Bang.

The sudden knock on the door stole my attention, and all of the papers I'd been subconsciously holding in the air fluttered to the floor.

"Uh... come in," I called, wondering who was taking time out of their studying to come and talk to me at the most convenient time.

The door creaked open to reveal a very disheveled looking Cedric, "There's an arsehole in green robes at the door for you. He's been waiting an hour because he's afraid of getting the password wrong and well, you know."

"Derrick?"

"Who else? I can't very well call Pandora an arsehole, can I?"

"You could, but you wouldn't dare," I said, wishing that the smile I gave him wasn't fake.