𝐂𝐈𝐍𝐍𝐀𝐌𝐎𝐍 𝐃𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐌𝐒 // George Weasley

𝟑𝟎. 𝐢 𝐦𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐭𝐞𝐥𝐥 𝐥𝐢𝐞𝐬

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Elle turned around in shock almost dropping her pumpkin juice as the voice rang out behind her. She saw him sitting in the shadows half of his face lit from the orange glow of the fire matching the brightness of his hair. From this angle it would have been hard to tell which twin it was but after knowing them for a year Elle noticed little details no one else did leaving her aware that it was George observing her and not Fred.

Her mouth was suddenly dry despite the large quantity of pumpkin juice that she'd drank, she didn't know what to say and her face resembled one who had seen a ghost. The colour ebbed out of her skin as she remembered the reactions she'd made up in her head, the reactions of her friends when they discovered the identity of her brother.

"Well?" George persisted as Elle sat gormless staring back at him. She couldn't admit she'd been hiding from them all because if she had done that then she would have to explain why which was the last thing she wanted to do. Elle had completely frozen, her brain was like a dry sponge. Words would not come to her there was no plausible explanation to why she had been missing all this time, at least not one that George would believe.

"Elle are you ok?" His voice softened and he seemed less annoyed as he saw his friend in such a wrecked state, he could tell by the shadows under her eyes that sleep had not been kind to her recently, her face was pallid and her hair a mess. In fact she'd lost that sparkle that he'd come to know so well. It was as though the girl he was looking at was a completely different person.

Elle felt ridiculous not knowing what to say. She just stared at him, silence had fallen for a few minutes now but as her mind whirred there was still nothing that she could say.
"Hi" was the only thing she could speak out, it came barely above a whisper and she realised since she hasn't talked much all day her voice had decided to just stop working.

If George hadn't looked concerned before, he most definitely did now. He stood up and walked over perching daringly on the sofa opposite Elle's. She visibly tensed at his closeness and back further into the cushions behind, still clutching her pumpkin juice as though it was her protector in this situation.

"Elle" he repeated louder this time no longer caring if any other students heard, the state his friend was in concerned him deeply and it seemed there was no way of getting through to her anymore. The brunette just shook her head and placed her drink down on the coffee table carefully realising how cold her palm was becoming. She felt stupid, all she wanted to do was act normally but it seemed that was unachievable now. George already thought she'd gone mad.

She was willing herself not to cry but seeing George had reminded her of how happy she'd been last year, of all the fun she'd experienced with the only friends she'd ever had. Now it seemed she could never get that back as she didn't want to lie to them but she also had never been more terrified to tell the truth. Elle already knew the stigma surrounding the dark lord and his followers and how this scared her friends, she wouldn't blame them if they turned from her when they knew the truth.

George didn't know what else he could say now, it was obvious that Elle wasn't planning on talking anytime soon. Her eyes were now vacant as though she was looking through him not at him and when they blinked he could see tears forming slowly. Elle could feel them but she didn't want to cry, all she wanted to do was run away. If she cried she'd look weak and she hated that more than anything, then again the worst reason was that if she cried she would need an explanation and she still hadn't thought one up.

She looked at the red head in front of her and wished more than anything that she could confide in him. When her dreams got bad last year, he was the one she had gone to because she trusted him deeply. However now it wasn't that she didn't trust him it was that she couldn't rely on him not to leave her like all her friends probably would eventually.

This was the final straw for Elle she couldn't contain all of the emotions that had been so well suppressed inside of her. Tears streamed down her face and she held her head in her hands muttering something so muffled that George couldn't hear. He assumed it was a sob as more followed afterwards. Truthfully he had no idea what to do, he was never good with emotions specifically what to do when someone breaks down into tears.

He moved to sit next to her placing his hand timidly on her back,
"Elle it's ok" he murmured as she cried, she shook her head sitting up and turning to him. Her eyes were red now which made the dark shadows look less noticeable. Some of her hair had stuck to her face and honestly she looked a complete mess.
"I'm sorry" she sniffed "I'm being a complete idiot" wiping the tears off her face she stood up abruptly,
"I'm going to bed now" she stated and began to hurry off to the direction of her dorm room.

George dashed forward and grabbed her arm causing her to spin around, she looked at him in surprise and he now found himself unsure of what to say,
"You have to tell me what's wrong" his deep brown eyes showed sympathy, Elle sure this would disappear when he learned the truth but George's grip on her arm was so tight that she couldn't see a way of escape.

"Nothings wrong I'm just so happy to be back" Elle's voice was even more scratchy now because of the crying, she never thought for a second that her lie would convince the ginger and she was right. He pulled her back to the sofa and sat her down placing himself closer to her this time.
"Seriously Elle" she looked at him and her heart seemed to melt, she couldn't lie to him the twins had always been great to her and now she was being ridiculous.

"I can't tell you" Elle settled on this as she was proud to say it wasn't a lie, she couldn't tell them that had been a given since she had learnt the news of her brother in the first place.
"Why not?" Elle frowned trying to think of another truth that wouldn't turn him against her,
"Because you'll hate me" she decided this probably wasn't the best thing to say because now he knew it was something bad.

"I'll not hate you" he contradicted "it can't be that bad" Elle shook her head vigorously and the twin sighed,
"At least tell me where you've been all evening"
"I was hiding" Elle admitted "because I can't lie to you but I also can't tell you the truth"
"Well that is an odd predicament" he frowned "where were you hiding" the brunette turned to the fire place and the twin sighed in realisation.

"I'm going to regret showing you these secret places now, I didn't think you'd use them to hide from us"
"Neither did I" George fell silent for another moment, Elle sniffed again her eyes still burning from the tears.
"Please just tell me" his voice was now even softer than before as he gazed at her solemnly.
"George I can't" she whispered "I'm sorry" with that she stood up abruptly and practically ran to her common room so that he wouldn't catch her again.

The red head sat stunned on the sofa gazing at the half drunk pumpkin juice and wondering what on earth could be so bad that she couldn't tell him. She'd told him about her dreams before, she'd trusted him with that before anyone else so why couldn't she confide in him about this. Did she no longer trust him?

Elle on the other hand had never felt more guilty in her life, she was turning her friends against her without even telling them the truth which was arguably worse. The other four girls in the dormitory were asleep so she slipped under her covers gently as to not wake them. She was still dressed in her robes but she no longer cared getting changed would be too much noise and it wasn't as though she was going to sleep anyway.

George made his way back to his room as well thoughts whirring through his head like rockets. He had no idea what was wrong with Elle but he was sick with worry. He cared about her a lot and feared that something really bad had happened to her. She couldn't think of any reason that could lead to him hating her even if he tried. He could never see himself hating Elle but as he lay there and pondered to himself he worried that she didn't feel the same.