lost cause ϟ george weasley

016

"I KNOW I CAN LIE BUT I WON'T LIE TO YOU. WHEREVER I GO, YOU'RE THE GHOST IN THE ROOM."

—

TWO owls carried a medium sized box into the Great Hall one morning. They gently dropped the box in front of Arden before they flew away. Arden already knew what was in the box and continued to eat, ignoring Luna's stares.

"Aren't you going to open it?" The platinum blonde asked.

The sixth year just shook her head and continued to eat her yogurt and granola. "If you're wondering, it's just my dress for the ball."

Luna grinned. "So it's true? You're going with George?"

"Yes."

Without much else said, Arden finished her breakfast and walked away, holding the box securely in her hands. The ball was coming fast; in about two weeks George Weasley would be escorting Arden to the Yule Ball.

It was a lovely surprise to see George Weasley standing outside the Ravenclaw common room. "You know," the freckled boy began. "Common rooms are mostly kept a secret from those from outside houses. So only students from the house can enter the common room. Doesn't that make it an uncommon room?"

George was pleased when Arden laughed in response. She shrugged her shoulders, asking what he was doing up in the Ravenclaw Tower.

"Well, I know it's pretty chilly out–"

"It's snowing pounds out there, Weasley. Chilly is a bit of an underestimate don't you think?"

"Shush, anyways, I was wondering if you wanted to go get a butterbeer or something. You know, it's been awhile since we got to sit down and really talk and have fun. My treat." He insisted, flashing the girl a bright smile.

It was just another Saturday and Arden had nothing else to do other than study. She would get a free butterbeer out of it and George did have a point. Lately all she's been doing is school work and research on her case.

Fortunately, she was convinced and agreed to go with him. "Yeah, let me just go put this away and I'll meet you down in the Great Hall in ten minutes?"

George nodded with a grin. "By the way, what is in the box?"

"Just my dress for the ball."

The grin on George's face seemed to widen after hearing that. He watched as Arden answered the riddle correctly and then entered the room. George was able to catch a glimpse of the luxurious common room and he took note of the ceiling high bookshelves along with the floor-to-ceiling windows.

Excitedly, George made it to the Gryffindor Tower in record time and raced to his dorm, opening his trunk to get dressed. Since it was freezing out, the boy dressed warm in Gryffindor colours. For a second he thought he looked funny but then he decided he didn't really care. Everyone knew how proud the Weasleys were about being Gryffindors.

After dressing appropriately, he made his way to the Great Hall where Arden was already waiting. Her hair was pulled out of her face in a braided bun and she was dressed cozily in grey and blue clothing.

Before George could even meet her, Arden was walking towards him and towards the exit. Together, they made their way out the warm castle and into the bitter cold.

Once they arrived, the two took a seat in the corner, appreciating the warm air surrounding them along with the scent of yummy pastries and cups filled to the brim with butterbeer.

"You sparked my interest with your earlier question about common rooms actually being uncommon. How do you know where the common rooms are?"

George shrugged, "We prank everyone, Arden. We found out where each common room was located in our first year. And what I'm about to tell you, you can't tell anyone else."

The Ravenclaw pretended to zip her lips before grinning.

"We had this map but we gave it to Harry Potter. The map was charmed and it showed us where everyone was in the castle at all times– except the Room of Requirements. That's how we perfectly timed all of our pranks. And get this, it only showed you everyone if you said the precise words, 'I solemnly swear I am up to no good.' So even if we hadn't found them on our own, we would've had help from the map."

Arden nodded along, her eyes lighting up with the new knowledge. It seemed knowledge was the one thing that Arden was passionate enough about to say she "loved."

One could say that George was growing unknowingly very passionate about Arden.

"Hey, what colour is your dress? So my tie can match."

It seemed like Arden was trying to remember which colour her dress was but then she recalled that she had a photo from her father of it in her pocket; she had forgotten to take it out the last time she wore her jacket. She took the picture from her pocket and slid it to George, smiling. "That's it."

George stared at the dress. Despite not knowing much about the latest fashion spreads and what not, he thought the dress was gorgeous and thinking about what Arden would look like in it made him internally swoon. He knew that Arden would be stunning in any dress but now that he's seen the dress, he was 100% positive he would send death glares to half the student body for looking at her.

The only word George Weasley could possibly muster as a reaction to the photograph of the dress was, "wow" making the brown haired girl roll her eyes and smile.

"You'll look beautiful in this dress." George complimented, handing the picture back to her. He was suddenly more excited to attend the ball with Arden Gosse on his arm.

"Tell me something I don't know, Weasley."

The two teens laughed together, enjoying each other's presence in the warm shop in which each person in there had a story, and George's favourite just so happened to be the one sitting across from him.