"I thought you were stuck on the whole soulmate idea?" He asked him. At first, George was confused, not understanding what he meant or why he couldn't just say it out loud, then his brain processed what he was being told, and he pulled his hand away...
Cosette was going home for Christmas break to see her mother, so she agreed to go to Hogsmeade with Fred and George for the first time. She didn't like the cold, which is why she didn't want to go in the first place, but they wanted to hang out with her before she left so she caved. She met them in the common room dressed warm, and a little excited to see the village.
They headed to the village together, but once they got there and Fred noticed a girl making googly eyes at them, he left the two of them to talk to her. Neither one of them cared much, and George even preferred it that way. He took Cosette by the hand without a second thought and led her to the Three Broomsticks.
"It's loud in here, but I figured you wouldn't mind," George told her when they found a table in the crowded pub. He couldn't help but smile when she gave a small laugh.
"You aren't wrong," She said, feeling her face heat up a little. She felt herself laugh and didn't like it at all, but it made George happy so she didn't feel embarrassed about it. Someone came up to the table then and asked them what they wanted, and George answered two somethings. She didn't know what he said, but she guessed she would find out.
"Why are you so careful about not making noise?" He asked her, his curiosity burning.
"I can't hear it to know if it's loud or obnoxious, so I just don't do it," She told him, "and it feels weird."
"You don't have to worry about that, you know," he told her with a soft smile.
"I know, it just comes naturally to try and hold it back." She told him, looking up in surprise when the woman who took their order put two heavy drinks down on the table.
She put her hand on the mug and pulled it away quickly, not expecting for the drink to be warm. She'd had cold butterbeer before, but never warm or fresh. She noticed George trying not to laugh at her curious expression over his mug, so she stuck her tongue at him and picked the mug fully.
Fred hadn't stayed with the girl for long and had planned on going back to George and Cosette, but when he saw them through the Three Broomsticks, he decided he would stay behind. They looked like they were having fun, both laughing openly while Cosette reached across the table in attempts to get something out of his hand. From what he could tell, it was a photograph, and he figured he was right because Collin Creevy stood laughing with his camera.
Collin had been standing behind George when he decided that she was too pretty not to take a photo of. The light from outside was hitting her perfectly, making her look warm and her hair shine. The sound of the camera going off startled George, but since Cosette didn't hear it she remained still, only moving to brush a strand of hair behind her ear.
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Collin instantly blushed, suddenly feeling silly about taking a picture of her without permission. He expected George to be angry, so he started to apologize quickly but George waved him off and asked for a copy of the picture. They both knew how Collin was about his photos, and how he liked to show his mother how they moved when he got home, so they knew his intentions were good. Collin gave him the photo, but before George could get a proper look at it Cosette was already trying to get a hold of it.
Neither one of them noticed Fred walk past the window with a grin, or Mcgonnagal watching from a table with the other teachers, ready to tell Remus all about it.
The two of them caught up with Fred eventually, who was surprised by being pelted with snowballs. He wasn't exactly hiding but was coming out of the candy shop when they ambushed him. George told him all about how much fun he had with her that night when they were back in the dorms and admitted to him that he was catching feelings- fast.
Cosette was excited to see her mom after so long and was excited to go, even though she really didn't want to leave school or her friends. Fred and George walked her to the train, and she got off a long time later and left with her mom.
It was nice for her to be home since she wasn't use to staying away for so long, and Lena was excited to hear about how much she liked Hogwarts. She was a little surprised at how well she fit in there, and that she had become friends with the Weasleys. She knew Molly from when they were in the order, so she knew that they were good kids. She remembered babysitting Bill and Charlie when they went out before the war got really bad.
Cosette was having the best time until her mom started to ask her more about George. She could tell Cosette liked to talk about him and knew that there was something there with the two of them, so she decided to take the leap and ask the forbidden question.
"Do you think he could be your soulmate?"
Cosette's eyes went a little wide in surprise at her mother's bluntness, simply because they were talking about a prank the boys had pulled and not anything of the sort. The question was one she never thought of, because whenever she did it just felt wrong, but for whatever reason, it didn't that time. She told herself and her mother that she hadn't considered it, before checking the time and claiming she was ready for bed.
Instead of going to bed, Cosette sat at her work table where she experimented with muggle chemistry, absently stirring together the ingredients for the perfume she was making Ginny. The more she thought about it, the more perfect George seemed to be- the more perfect for her. He was kind, gentle and smart, yet he was also funny and inventive and mischievous. As if all of that was not enough to make her fall head over heels, he was attractive and could comfortably talk to her, which was rarer than it sounded. She decided that yes, he could be her soulmate, but she was going to go for it either way.
Just her luck, Cosette picked up a wax instead of the next scent ingredient and had put it in without realizing. By the time she snapped out of her thoughts it was too late to fix it, but not too late to make it into a candle, so she went from there, focusing on that instead of him.
