asking in vain // george weasley

chapter three

About a week later, there had surprisingly been no new visits to our dorm. However, there had been nights that Angelina has been getting back late, but I don't know if that's because of Fred or if it's because of how stressed she is about her grades already and we aren't even halfway through the semester yet. 

Even though she didn't always seem like it, Angie was constantly worrying about grades. Her mum could be quite the treacherous lady if you did something that displeased her, and believe me when I say that anything less than an E would cause Mrs. Johnson to lecture Ang on the importance of her future and how she needed to have exceptionally high marks in order to succeed for hours on end.

Tonight was a night that Angelina had stayed out doing Godric knows what, and she had accidentally caused me to wake up from my slumber just as she slipped into hers, by snoring. When Angie gets too stressed, her sinuses will act up and her clogged nose will cause her to snore, but it doesn't happen often enough for me and Ali to complain about it. 

Unfortunately, now that I could hear the struggle the air is having to enter her lungs, I can assuredly state that it will be damn near impossible for me  to fall back asleep.

After struggling through another twenty minutes of the awful noise, I finally decided it would be best to get some warm milk and maybe a cookie from the kitchen, to help make me sleepy.

I walked down the steps to the common room, which was eerily quiet. No matter what time it is, there's usually at least one person here, so it was weird to see it deserted.

I ignored this thought though, and continued on my way to the kitchens.

"Hello," I greeted the first elf I saw in there.

"Hello, Miss. I am Crawley, what would Miss like?" He was quite a small elf, height wise, but rather stocky compared to the others.

I smiled. "Nice to meet you, Crawley. I'm Ace, and I was wondering if I could get a glass of warm milk and a cookie or two?"

"Of course, Miss Ace!" The elf disappeared, and a second later returned with my items. 

I thanked him and drank the milk while eating my cookies. Hopefully, this would help make me a bit more drowsy. As I felt myself relax, I got up and decided it was time to head back. Crawley took my empty cup and plate, wishing me a good night before disappearing again, but this time he didn't pop back into existence. 

I left the kitchens and kept a slow pace back to the dorm. I didn't worry about Filch because I was a very quiet walker, plus Filch didn't dislike me, necessarily. Just in case though, I had left Bullet in my dorm because if Mrs. Norris smelt him she'd go into a frenzy, like cats usually do.

My ears were alert for any noise, when all of the sudden I heard the pitter patter of someone running, the noise getting louder as they got closer and closer.

It can't be Filch, I thought, because he can't run that fast, plus he has a limp so the foot pattern would not be so consistent. I kept on my way, hoping whoever it was would just pass by me.

However, just as I was passing a corner, a mass of red hair latched on to me, and shoved me into a small door that seemed as if it had popped into existence from thin air. 

I felt a hand on my shoulder and another over my mouth, and a wall of wood pressed into my back.

I used one of my hands to move the hand over my mouth and looked at George Weasley accusingly, saying, "What in the hell?!"

"Shh!" he responded. "Filch might hear you, wait til he passes!"

I rolled my eyes, taking in the small space he had pulled us into. There was only about an inch between George and I, and his back was up against the door with mine up against the back wall. I could barely lift my arms halfway without them hitting the side walls, and my face started to flush at the close proximity. 

"George, what on earth is going on here?" I whispered, careful to keep my voice low and quiet. 

George pressed his ear against the door, then turned to me and sighed. "I think Filch followed after Fred, hopefully he got away too."

"Got away?"

George scratched his head. "Yeah, we had just finished setting up a prank for the awful third year Slytherins in the morning when we saw Mrs. Norris and heard Filch not far behind her. We started to make a run for it but he had already saw us, so we split up. I'm not too worried though, Fred should be able to lose him easy."

I nodded my head, feeling very claustrophobic. I could feel my elevated heart rate and tried to calm my breathing to calm my heart. 

"What are you doing out at this time, Andy?

I furrowed my eyebrows. "Andy? My name's Ace."

George rolled his eyes, "Well I know that, but everyone calls you Ace. With a full name like Alexandra, the nickname possibilities are endless! Therefore, I have decided to call you Andy since no one else does."

I shook my head at him. "You sure are weird, Weasley."

He winked at me. "Most of us Weasleys are."

I gave a soft laugh, feeling the tenseness in my shoulders dissipate. As strange as George Weasley was to me, he also had a knack for calming my nerves just as quick as he elevates them.

"So?" he continued.

I started at him blankly for a moment before shaking my head in realization. "I was just grabbing some warm milk and cookies in the kitchen. Angelina's snores woke me up and I couldn't go back to sleep."

"Ahh," George says, slowly opening the door and peaking his head out. "Free of Filch," he states. "I'll walk with you back to the common room?"

I nodded my head and started following him through the hallways. Neither of us spoke, but it wasn't awkward. It was such an easy silence it was as though I had known George my whole life.

Once we reached the common room, however, George finally broke the silence.

"Crumpled Paper," George said, speaking the password of the week to the portrait.

It swung open and George motioned for me to enter the room, which I did with him behind me. 

"This is where I bid you adieu, Andy."

I looked at George from the base of the girl's steps. "Goodnight, George."

Just as I made it to the top of the steps, I heard a certain boy's voice call up at me.

"Andy!" George whisper-shouted.

"Yes?" I called back to him.

"Next time Fred and I need some help on a prank, you should join. As much as I enjoy Angelina's presence it would be nice to not be the third wheel."

I smiled at the messy haired, tired eyed, ginger boy in front of me. "As long as my homework for the night is completed, I would love to join."

George gave me a wide, toothy grin before nodding and then dashing over to the boys steps.

I couldn't quite put my finger on it, but some part of me lived for these small moments of interactions with George. They made my heart race and my lips smile, involuntarily, and I was determined to figure out why.

**

*edited*