Miss Mischief ▶ George Weasley

Chapter Thirty-One

The Twins and Emerson spend every spare moment of their time together. From them showing Emerson the idea's they'd come up with for pranks to annoying the workers at Florean Fortescue's, the three of them were inseparable. It wasn't unusual of course, but Emerson seemed to be having much more fun than ever before.

It was the last day before they would board the train for their fifth year and they were trying to make the most of it. Emerson just wanted one more night of not having to worry about responsibilities and seeing people she had no interest in seeing.

Really, she just didn't want to see Oliver.

Emerson knew that he was not happy that she declined being his girlfriend, but she was worried about how he would change in the way that he acted towards her. He already kicked her out of the running for Quidditch captain, what was he to do next? She didn't care about it that much, considering Coralie had stuck to her word about not wanting her daughter to play Quidditch. But it was the fact that Oliver had already begun to take things to the extreme.

To say that Fred and George were not happy about Angelina becoming the next Quidditch captain was an understatement. They were furious. George stated that he was about to knock some sense into Oliver himself.

George was another thing that Emerson was anxious about. She wanted to be around him every second that she was staying at the Leaky Cauldron but she was worried about it seeming strange. At the same time, however, George was welcoming to her wanting to spend time with him. He seemed to want to be with her just as much.

The three of them were making their final checks for their trunks, making sure that they had everything that was needed for the year. Even though Emerson had only packed a few days prior, Mrs Weasley still ordered that she went through everything.

Fred and Geroge had made a mess of their room; clothes were laying in piles on the beds, dirty socks hung off the sides of the bureau, and endless amounts of pranking supplies spilled onto the floor. In order to keep her belongings from getting lost in the tornado of theirs, Emerson shoved all of her things into a corner of the room where it could not be touched by their underwear.

"Merlin, you too," Emerson said after she peeled a shirt off of her trunk. "Organization might do you a bit good in life."

George snorted and looked at her. "That's a funny joke."

Emerson stuck her tongue out at him before throwing herself onto his bed. She had been sleeping in the room Ginny had claimed as Mrs Weasley wouldn't allow her to share a room with the twins. Emerson didn't argue, understanding where Mrs Weasley was coming from. Besides, she wouldn't be able to sleep in this jungle of a mess anyway.

"I don't want to go to school yet," Emerson sighed into one of George's pillows. It smelled of the forest. "Let's go live with Charlie in Romania."

George glanced down at her for a moment. "Emmie, you'd take one look at a dragon and cry for your mum."

From the depths of the pillow, Emerson smiled. She liked hearing George call her "Emmie." It was new. No one had ever called her that besides George. It was different from how Oliver called her "Em," which everyone had called her that at least once.

Emerson rolled over and saw that George was still looking at her. When he saw her he quickly looked away and began refolding a shirt.

"Let's go get ice cream," She told him.

"Fred's still in the shower, should we wait?" George asked.

Emerson shook her head and got up from the bed. "No, let's go now. We can bring him something back."

George smiled at her and agreed, tossing the shirt sloppily on the floor. They hurried towards Ginny's room, where Emerson grabbed her wallet and then together they left the Leaky Cauldron. Florean Fortescue's was right next door. They were silent as they each ordered an ice cream cone, and then they began walking down Diagon Alley.

"So," George began. "Your mum has a boyfriend?"

Cringing, Emerson nodded. "Some man called Remus. She knew him when she went to Hogwarts and then they connected through the Prophet."

"Interesting."

"I spose," Emerson took a lick of her mint ice cream. "They're all going bat shit crazy about this whole Sirius Black thing, though."

George raised an eyebrow. "Why? It sounds like he's after Harry, not you."

Emerson shrugged. "I know. But Mum told me some things that made me understand why she was so worried."

"Like what?"

Emerson took a seat on the nearby bench and George sat down next to her. "My mum thinks that Black might have killed my father." George furrowed his eyebrows, but he remained silent as he continued to let Emerson speak. "One of the big things in the war was blood purity and that nonsense. My mum was already a Muggle born so she was hated by a lot of people and then she went and married a Muggle. She said that one day she came home from work and he was just there, dead on the floor."

It remained quiet as the two sat in the heaviness of Emerson's words. George seemed sad for her, however Emerson wasn't even sure what to feel.

"It's hard to miss him, you know," Emerson said quietly. She looked down at the ice cream cone in her hands, watching as it slowly began to drip down. "I don't have any memory of who he was or what he was like. It's hard to grieve for someone you never knew. For my entire life the only thing that I knew was that he just died one day. I never knew how or why."

Sensing that Emerson was saddened by talking about this, George wrapped an arm around her and pulled her towards him. Emerson leaned into the inviting warmth of his body and smiled.