lost cause ϟ george weasley

002

"MAKE THE FIRST MOVE. STOP FEARING REJECTION. STOP OVERTHINKING. STOP WASTING YOUR FUCKING TIME."

—

GEORGE decided to call his plan, "An-Alternative-to-Love-Potions-and-Curses-for-Arden" or ALPACA for short. It needed some adjusting but it was the best he could come up with over night. It did have a sneaky abbreviation so no one would know what he was talking about in case he decided to tell anyone— which was his first problem. He had no idea if he wanted his friends to know. He told Fred everything but he knew that if he or any of their other friends knew that they would just scold him and talk him out of it.

So for now, ALPACA was George's own little secret. The first on the agenda of ALPACA was:

"1: Find out her schedule and purposely walk around her. Make small talk and then start walking her to her classes even if yours are on the other side of the castle."

George was waiting for the perfect opportunity to ask to see her schedule during breakfast despite his timetable only having one class with Ravenclaw. It was, as the stereotype goes, Astronomy.

Arden arrived to breakfast thirty minutes before first day classes started. Again, George secretly watched her while he ate. She was spreading blueberry jam on her toast when Professor Flitwick handed her her syllabus. George wondered if the staff knew of Arden's situation, he knew it was likely but he also knew that it wasn't that important for the staff to discuss. She wasn't in danger, her love life was.

When Arden stood, so did George, startling his twin who was concentrated on his waffles. "What're you doing?" He asked, looking up at his brother. "Class doesn't start for another 10 minutes. I haven't finished my third waffle yet!"

George smiled slightly at his best friend as he tried to come up with a lie. "I just realised that I've forgotten to put deodorant on. I'm just gonna run up real quick because you know how hot some classrooms get and I don't wanna be all gross."

Fred crinkled his nose, before nodding. "Alright, I'll see you in class then." He said before refocusing on his food.

It wasn't the first time George lied to Fred, but it still made him feel guilty. He hated hiding things from his twin, especially something such as this. George sighed in relief when he exited the Great Hall despite knowing the guilt of this secret would bother him all day.

Arden was difficult to track down since she left earlier than George due to the alibi the boy had to create. But she wasn't impossible to find.

She was walking slowly towards the Advanced Arithmancy Studies classroom, which meant that she was extremely smart. Of course, she was incapable of feeling so she was intellectual. George kinda digged it, but he'd never admit that so soon.

The freckled Gryffindor took a deep breath before stepping in line quickly, purposely bumping her shoulder. He turned around swiftly, apologising before cracking a smile. "Oh! Hey, Arden. I can call you Arden now right?"

Arden smiled too, a little surprised by George's sudden appearance. "Yeah, yeah that's fine." Truth be told, she never liked her first name. At least, not until George said it.

"Are you heading towards Arithmancy?" He inquired, though he knew the answer.

A light tint rose to Arden's cheeks. It was faint due to the pigment of her skin, yet still noticeable to someone like George, who was observing her closely. He wondered if she was embarrassed or if she felt nerdy. He assumed she didn't care, and why would she? She didn't like anybody so he assumed she didn't care about anyone's opinion. Maybe she was flushed from the proximity of the students, though the hall wasn't too crowded as not many people were skilled enough for Advanced Arithmancy. Still, the two sixth year students stood pretty close, and that could possibly be the reason she was blushing.

"Uh, yeah, actually." She answered, glancing at the watch on her left wrist. Three minutes until the bell would ring, eight until she would be considered tardy. "I should probably get going. Professor Vector isn't lenient on students who are late. I'm sorry, I'll uh, I'll see you around?" Arden was hoping she wouldn't but she knew deep down that George would probably be persistent and she would see him again.

The redhead nodded. "Yeah, um, when do you have Astronomy? If you're taking it. I have an astronomy class with Ravenclaw and I was wondering if you would be there."

"Tuesdays at 10 pm." She replied, realising her class was with Gryffindor and most likely George. Her thoughts were confirmed when George grinned and said the same.

Realising that George wasn't going to give up on at least being her acquaintance, Arden checked her watch again before saying she needed to go and that she would speak to him later. Which was a lie because Arden knew she would avoid George Weasley the best she could. It was better hurting him this way than the way she hurt Harvey.

George just nodded and watched Arden walk away and turn into her classroom before he glanced around the near empty corridor. He would be late and he realised he was on the seventh floor of Turris Magnus when his Defence Against the Dark Arts class was taking place in Classroom 104 in the North Tower. He had approximately two minutes to make it and he knew that this year's new professor, Professor Moody, was not going to have mercy on him for being late on the first day of classes.

++

Lee Jordan and Fred Weasley had their eyes narrowed at the younger Weasley twin as they sat outside during their break. George had entered the classroom three minutes late and he didn't have an excuse for his brother and friend. They knew his excuse of slight irritable bowel syndrome, which he didn't suffer from at all, was complete bullshit.

"What?" George asked, raising his eyebrows while he rested against a tree.

Fred scoffed. "What do you mean 'what?' You lied in first period! I want to know where you were."

George knew that this question would resurface repeatedly until he answered so he had another lie (he preferred to call it an alibi since it sounded much nicer) prepared. "I was flirting with some girls from Beauxbatons." He shrugged, trying his best to act nonchalant so they would believe him.

"See, that is something I could believe." Lee stated, clapping his hands slowly. He slapped it onto George's shoulder with a grin, making the boy slightly jump. "I'm proud of you, my man!"

Afterwards, the subject quickly changed to Quidditch and how it was rubbish that the sport was cancelled that year due to the tournament, which was also rubbish to the boys since they weren't of age to participate. Basically, the word 'rubbish' was repeated multiple times.

"You know what else is rubbish?" Fred asked.

George cringed. "Okay, we need to stop saying rubbish. I swear, the next time someone says it I'm going to implode."

The other two ignored George's statement and Fred continued what he was saying.

"The Yule Ball. Complete—"

George glared, Fred rolled his eyes.

"Shit. Complete shit. Are you happy? Anyways, I don't understand the point of it. And why is it mandatory that we have to go? With a date? It's stupid."

Lee shook his head. "You are the reason why gender stereotypes still exist. I think it'll be fun. I mean, the drama is always hilarious. Plus, pretty girls in pretty dresses."

"No, Lee. You are the reason why gender stereotypes still exist." George chuckled along with the two boys. "But I agree. It gives us a chance to talk to pretty girls."

Fred nodded slowly. "I suppose you guys are right. I mean, every girl is practically waiting to be asked."

"Except one girl!" Lee corrected.

"Who?"

"Arden Gosse." George cut in, sighing silently. His plan just improved because now, he had intentions on taking Arden to the ball.