The Order and The Ravenclaw (A George Weasley Love Story)

Worry and Woes

After a quick stop by the kitchen Fred, George, and Lyra headed for the griffendore common room, their arms full of food and drinks. Once in the Common room, Lyra found a comfy armchair to sit in, and the twins grabbed Lee and went back to get more food. 

Hermonie came up spotting her by the fire"You really shouldn't be here you know," she said sitting down.

"If you want I'll leave," Lyra said honestly. "I'm not one to pick a fight with a perfect."

"No," she sighed "It's fine, I'm pretty sure the twins would never forgive me if I cast you out now. Plus we're supposed to be strengthening inter-house relationships anyway." 

Lyra grinned at her, "Whatever helps you sleep at night." 

She could see that Herminoe was tired, and after Ron had found the two of them and told them the good news Hermione drifted to sleep. Lyra rose quietly, leaving her friend to rest. She grabbed a butterbeer and soon spotted the twins and Lee.  

George put his arm up and she slipped under it. A huge roar of cheers filled the room as Lyra felt a familiar aura. She turned towards the door to see Harry standing there, Ron already running towards him. 

She wasn't sure, not with all the commotion of emotions pulsing around them, but something seemed wrong. He seemed, scared. Lyra debated whether she should reach out to him, to try to understand why he was upset or to calm him, but she knew if she did it would leave her vulnerable to the sea of emotions around her. 

A strong arm tightened around her. "Whatever you're thinking Lyra Stone forget about it." 

She turned to look up at George, her brow furrowed. "I wasn't thinking anything." 

"Right, and I'm next in line for Minister. I know exactly what you were thinking and I said forget about it." 

"Do you?" her tone holding an edge of mockery. Last time she checked, George was not a mind reader.

"It's not like you make it very hard."  he said, "I bet you can tell Harry's upset, and I bet you were just debating how to go about making him feel better without completely zapping all of your energy." 

Okay, maybe he was a mind reader... she thought frowning at her defeat. "Alright George, you got me, but I'm still a bit lost in why you don't want me to make Harry feel better." 

"Listen," his voice was hushed now, and he leaned in to whisper into her ear. His abrupt closeness made it hard for her to focus on what he was saying. "Every time you try and calm someone down when they're upset like this, it takes a lot out of you. Last time you did Serious had to carry you up to bed. Harry's probably just upset because he's getting back from his detention with Umbridge. That's no reason to go risking your health over that."

She knew he was right, but as her eyes wandered over Harry, and spotted a red deep cut on his hand, it was hard to deny that instinct to protect. She leaned her weight on Geroge putting her face against his chest and breathed him in. "I can't explain it, a year ago, before I met you all I never had this urge to mettle. But his pain is always so loud George, I just want to protect him from it. I want to protect you all from it."

"I get it," but he could feel she did not believe him, "Lyra, after you almost got taken, especially the night Fred and I stayed with you in dumbledores office, I could feel your pain. Even when you shut me and the entire world out I swear I could physically feel your heartbreaking. You were scared and afraid, and I couldn't really understand why. Drove me mad."

"I'm sorry-"

"Don't you dare say sorry." he spat cutting her off, "That's not the point in me telling you. I'm telling you because as badly as I wanted to take your pain away, it was important. Just like it's important for Harry to feel his own pain too." 

She looked up into his brown eyes, and it was such an odd feeling. His face was serious, the usual mischievous grin or warm smile missing from it. It made him look much older, and she could not tell if this scared her or thrilled her. 

"Not a lot gets by you huh Weasley? I think you've been holding out on me." 

And just like that, his boy like grin was back. A mischievous spark in his eyes as she quoted his own words back at him. Lyra may have been thrilled by a serious Geroge, but she was glad to have her jokester back for now.

"Let's get you a drink huh?" he said and pulled her over to the table full of food. 

Though their conversation slipped from her mind for the rest of the party she found it crept back in as she laid down to sleep that night. After the third time tossing in her bed, and not being able to sleep Lyra sat up and went over to sit by the window. She lit a candle and grabbed some paper and a quill. If she wasn't able to sleep then at the very least she could be productive. 

As she curled up by the window, using partly the moon and partly the candle as light, she began to write her first letter. 

Dear Penpal,  

She thought it best not to write to Serious using his name. 

 Dear Penpal,

I realize I may not be the person you would expect a letter from, but I still hope this letter finds you well. How have you been? Did you talk about my previous offer to anyone in our shared friend group? 

Speaking of mutual friends, I'm worried about your close friend. They seem to be having a harder time adjusting to the curriculum this year. Maybe you could speak to them about it, I think they relate more to you than I ever could to them. 

My older friends want me to stop meddling, but I worry about your friend. The thing is, my older friends don't really have any influence over you, so maybe even if I can't meddle, you can check up on them for me. 

I hope all is well, and I hope to hear back from you soon!

Much Love, 

 your penpal

ps. I'm sorry how I acted last time we saw each other, I didn't know it was you and it caught me off guard. 

She placed the quill down and read through her letter. It was very hard to write so vaguely and she wasn't sure what to sign it as she hoped penpal was okay. It would have to be, she thought placing that letter down and writing a new one. 

Dear Victor, 

Please forgive me, I know as I write this you are probably very frustrated with me. I dropped off the face of the earth on you without so much as a warning. This was nothing you did, and it hurt me to leave you stranded, but I have reasoning for it.

You see, we had some surprise guests come to visit my household during the summer. My parents did not warn me they were coming and I was not able to send letters because of it. The curse of being a muggle-born is it's hard to explain the sudden appearance of owls carrying letters to your muggle relatives. 

I'm back at school now, and able to write freely again. Though I understand if you don't want to write anymore. If by chance you do, tell me how you've been. Has Quidditch been going well? George and Fred had me sit in on their team's tryouts, and are determined to have me sit in on their practices and games. They're determined to make a quidditch lover out of me yet. I mostly play along to deter them from making me get on a broom myself.  

The way everyone talks about you, you must be a good player. Your probably sick of talking about quidditch though. Tell me about everything else, good books you've read, how your family is, anything you can think of. I feel like I've missed so much.  

I hope to hear from you soon, 

Lyra Stone

Her Letter's written, and her mind finally calming down into a tried drizzle. She rolled up her scrolls and blew out her candle. Using that great big moon, that she had no idea how to feel about, to find her way to her bed, and go to sleep.