Joke's on Me | George Weasley | Book 1

chapter 13 - suspicions

Nat stood, shoulders square, facing the door the room od requirement had provided them.

"Ok, now focus, Natalia." George sat back on a chair to the right of her. Having nearly been caught in a spell-gone-wrong last time, there was no way he was getting in her way again.

She gripped her wand, glaring at the open door. "Colloportus!"

The door moved slightly.

"Hey! That's better than before."

She sighed, dropping her wand. "I can't get this. Charms have always defeated me."

Natalia wasn't entirely sure why she was even there, really. For some reason, when George had offered to help with her charms work that night, she accepted - even though she never accepted Draco's offers in the past. Maybe because it was just George Weasley.
Regardless, she couldn't figure it out, though he seemed to be doing ok teaching her: she'd already mastered Accio, even for things far out of sight, so that had to be something.

He stood, making sure to stay out of range of her wand. "Here, like this." George took her wrist, pointed her wand at the door. "With purpose. Imagine," he chuckled, "imagine me and Fred are on the opposite side coming through to prank you with another lake or something equally inconveniencing, and the only way to stop us is by locking that door."

Natalia raised an eyebrow, sceptical. "Fine. One last try." She held her position, took a deep breath, "Colloportus!"

George laughed in delight as the door slammed shut, locking itself. "Merlin's pants Nat!"

She raised an eyebrow. "What have I said about calling me Nat."

George shrugged, still pleased with the outcome. "Anyway, we've been here for nearly an hour, we should probably go."

"Mm. Draco's already suspicious of the time I spend practising those damn curses for you and figuring out how to change them."

"For me?" George feigned surprise. "Well Natalia, if that's really how you feel about me, I'm sorry but I'm too young!"

Natalia looked at him in disgust.

"Ouch. That look hurts." He pouted, but it made him laugh.

"I'm younger than you, dummy."

"Dummy?"

Natalia shook her head, making sure the corridor was clear before they left, parting ways and not daring to even acknowledge each other.

She made her way quickly to the dungeons, where Draco was waiting for her outside the wall, arms crossed, looked bored as usual. And slightly pissed off.

"You've been missing for an hour." He stated.

Natalia smiled. "I was studying with a few Ravenclaw friends."

He shook his head, "no. I saw Loony in the forbidden forest, you weren't studying."

She froze, the smile still on her face. "Ok, so Luna wasn't studying ith us-"

"Loony is the only one who keeps the peace between you and Cho Chang."

"Yes, and Cho wasn't there either. Are we done with this interrogation."

Draco glared at her, so she made a reminder to get his favourite snacks delivered to his dorm, before they both entered the common room.

Natalia refused to look at anyone, going directly to her dorm and pulling out the countless notebooks she had on curses and modifications. She supposed she'd better get something done tonight, even if it did mean pulling away from Draco even more.