One and Only 3 ; George Weasley

232

"Are you ready for this?" Sammy asked from next to me as I looked out of the quidditch stadium. Benches were full of people and my eyes were on our family. Mum was here. Dad was here. Grandma and grandpa. Our remaining siblings sat with them, our uncles, aunts, cousins. Even Simon's family. The woman I've always known as aunt Kathy. Emery sat with them and her and my dad were discussing something.

"I'm a bit nervous." I told him and my eyes moved to the end of the pitch where the Slytherin team was warming up. Luke was there and I was scared to play against him. If my team won, I knew he would feel embarrassed and take it out on me tonight. If his team won, he'd brag about it in my face and tell me how I'm embarrassing my own family.

My dad and his twin was known as the unbeatable beaters so according to Luke, I'd have to prove myself to not embarrass myself. I just didn't get it. I didn't get him.

"Don't worry sis." Sammy threw an arm around me and I tensed up as I closed my eyes.

It's just your brother...

"We're going to smash it." he told me before he kissed the side of my head and walked over to talk to Zane and Thomas. I let out a breath of relief but immediately, the feeling of guilt rushed over me. This wasn't right. That I had to feel relived when my brother removed his arm from around my neck. I used to love getting his hugs or just having him near and now I hated it and wished he would stop touching me.

"Someone need to go ask Slytherin for the pitch." Zane spoke out loud. "We need some time to warm up as well. Vivi?"

I looked at him when my name was called and I noticed everyone looked at me, awaiting my answer.

"No, Vivi shouldn't–" Sammy said but was interrupted as Zane continued to talk.

"Parkinson's your boyfriend, right? He'd be an asshole about it any of us asked."

"Sure." I breathed. I turned back around and walked out onto the pitch. I tried to look straight ahead. Tired acting confident but I couldn't ignore the strange feeling. I felt so small with everyone watching me walk across the pitch in my Gryffindor quidditch robes. I had never felt this way. I never minded the attention. My brother and I would always show off on the pitch and my mum always told us we were the exact same as dad and uncle Fred. We loved the attention but now I didn't. I hated their eyes on me.

All I could do was try to imagine what everyone thought when they looked at me. Did I look fat? Ugly? Were they disgusted by me?

"Parkinson. Your girlfriend's on her way over." Hoggard commented and the whole team turned to look at me. Luke was smirking as he watched me approach.

"Hey baby." he cooed. "Came to wish me luck? Maybe give me a good luck kiss with your parents watching from the seats."

"It's our turn to warm up." I said flatly, staring at his eyes. He ran his tongue along the inside of his cheek as he creeped closer, staring down at me.

"Is that so?"

"Yes." I simply responded, now looking at his chest instead.

"And why should I let Gryffindor have the pitch?"

"It's simply the decent thing to do." I said and slowly looked up at him again. "Besides, the pitch isn't yours to give away."

"Then why are you asking me, Genevieve?" he raised his voice a little.

"Fine!" I raised my voice just as much as I backed away. "Stay here, see if I give a fuck but don't come to me when you get hit in the head by a bludger."

I walked away and as soon as he grabbed my wrist to force me back, my hand connected with his cheek in a slap that echoed through the stadium. I gasped in shock over what I just did and when he looked at me again, his eyes were raging with anger. He clenched his jaw and bit the inside of his cheek as his grip on my wrist tightened.

"Don't ever do that again." he lowered his voice, staring at me as if I was a deer and he was the tiger that waited to attack. He let go of me and I hurried back, not even bothering to look up and see the reaction of my family.

"What was that?" Zane yelled at me when I got back to the tent where we waited for the game to begin. "You can't slap the competition! That could get us disqualified! You might just have ruined quidditch!"

"Leave her alone. Fuck quidditch." Sammy said as he walked closer to me. "Are you okay? What happened? What did he say?"

"Nothing." I shrugged. "He just grabbed my wrist. I was startled."

"You were startled and you decided to slap him?" Zane scoffed.

"Shut up, Lamar!" Sammy yelled at him. "Leave her the fuck alone or we will both quit the team!"

"It's fine, Sammy." I said as I turned to Zane, our quidditch captain. "I'm sorry, okay? If they threaten to disqualify us, I'll just tell them I'll leave the team and you can play without me."

"Without you?" he scoffed. "That would leave one beater."

"No. Roxanne knows how to play so if I'm forced to leave, you can ask her."