Egos and misunderstandings

In the evening it was like the entire great hall was looking at George and Tori, and not just because George’s hair was still changing color. It was hilarious, and it honestly did not look half bad Tori had thought before feeling disgusted for thinking that about her enemy. Or currently he was becoming more and more frequently her alley. It was annoying how often he was helping her out, though in this case it was much more out of convenience and a case of the enemy of my enemy is my friend. Not that their common enemy was really an enemy, it was their best friends. But they both while appreciating what they had done for them, wanted it known that they did not like being manipulated. The other reason everyone was looking at them was because since George and Tori had returned from the pitch, separately of course, not only that they both been in a sour mood. But she had been yelling at him, and he had goaded her on like perusal about how stupid the pranks was at each other. Tori had been glad to be able to call George an immature imbecile once again, it was almost freeing. George had also thoroughly enjoyed calling her a hotheaded hyana while he was teasing her. Currently they were sitting at two different tables but clearly starring daggers into each others eyes. Everyone had bought it, probably because they were so good at fighting anyway there was no way a fake fight of theirs could look unnatural. It had felt natural, good and even been fun they both thought, to fight each other again. Though something was not exactly like it used to. It was not quite as liberating as usual since it was all pretty much scripted by themselves. George knew he could not call her a brute like he used to, after Tori had told him, even if she probably had not meant to, that people did not understand how someone as fit as him would go out with someone like her – he had decided to cool it with those comments. She was a brute, but the insults was meant to be teasing not actually hurt her feelings. And Tori could not tell him how much she despised him like she usually would. How would people think that they were still dating or had even been boyfriend and girlfriend at all if they said those things, like they currently only could in private. So to keep the rest of the school off of their backs while maintaining the illusion that Fred and Ana had gotten their way, they had to keep up appearances in some shape or form at least. Ana and Fred had shared a small but also reluctant smile as they saw their best friend behaving this way. But they had accepted that this was a better outcome than them actually dating and hurting each other.

Tori and George kept this up for the next few days, and while George felt a relief to be sort of back to normal, a little part of him was missing being forced to hang out with her. He thought back to how much fun it had been to be on “dates”, where he could amuse himself by annoying her to no end. Where she would hit his arm when he said something rude. Where she sometimes could not help but smile or laugh at his joke, but still always rolled her eyes at him. He shook these thoughts from his head, it was weird and he had clearly just warmed up to her both out of having to work with her and because he had been forced to be around her for the better part of a month. He still definitely did not like her! He was just annoyed by having to think before he spoke when they fought. He did not miss hanging out with her, he missed getting on her nerves like he always would. He missed her really getting on his nerves. That was all. 

He tried to shrug the feeling off more that first night where they had a moment to themselves at one point and she had laughed at him and sighed in a content form before saying.

“Merlins beard that went so well! Not only that but my word have I missed yelling at you.” She said and he laughed back nodding.

“Yeah, I have definitely somehow missed that too. Being nice to you is just against the laws of nature I think.” He said and she nodded like she understood and could apparently not help but laugh as she said:

“At least you didn’t kiss me mid fight this time.” She said and he nodded and laughed like he normally would, but a little part of him could feel his heart sink as she said this. He was probably just horny or something he thought to himself trying to surpress whatever that feeling was. 

George said goodbye to Fred as he walked in with Angelina in his almost matching dressrobes. They may have been second hand but they did not look terrible at all he thought. Angelina was in a wonderful dark red dress and he definitely saw a different side to possibly the only other girl in this school who had a chance at going pro in the coming years. Speaking of quidditch girls, he glanced up at the clock to see that she was going to be late soon. He heard the crowd gasp and looked up to see Hermione coming down the stairs, he almost had to do a double take to notice that it was really her. He could almost laugh as he turned and saw how his little brother was Oogling her. He understood, and had always thought that those two could be good together, eventually. His brother would have to stop being such an idiot first. He turned back and sighed, he had spent the better part of the afternoon getting ready with Fred where he was complaining about having to still have Tori as his date for this thing, just like he normally would have in this situation, was he actually mad at her. But at the moment he wasn’t, he was about to be if she was really late, he hated standing there alone feeling exposed and lonely.

“Hey dickhead.” He finally heard her voice from the top of the stairs, he sighed a little relieved he would not have to stand there any longer. But he quickly wiped the smile off his face and was looking up slowly and putting an annoyed expression on.

“I’m not the one whose late.” He said annoyed before his eyes finally landed on her. He felt like his heart skipped at beat as he saw her, and every expression of his was completely forgotten. George cleared his throat as the girl he barely recognised neared him. Hermione had been a transformation to say the least, but the same could be said for Tori here. She walked with Cho and Ana down the stairs, and her sisters held herself with the same poise and put togetherness as always. She always looked pretty and sophisticated, but Tori, in her similar chinese inspired robes looked marvelous. They were a simple design in a light blue color, and she even had her hair up in a similar way. She looked like a proper lady, she looked pretty. He however tried to quickly forget that as she neared him and he finally looked at her face where he found what he knew to be fake annoyed expression. She stopped in front of him smirking lightly but crossing her arms.

“Perfection takes time. You would know that if you actually ever cared.” She said annoyed and I just rolled my eyes at her. Ana stood beside her and looked at us a little saddened as her date another Ravenclaw boy neared her.

“Some of us don’t have to spent an hour in order to look pretty. But you wouldn’t know would you?” He said back sarcastically and she balled up her fists. He sighed and offered his arm to her she grabbed it with a grimace and they walked into the ball.

They spent most of the ball like this, fighting with each other and calling each other names, that and pretending to drink. They only danced with their friends but had to look sour for the one dance that they were being pestered to have. It was a slow dance but while they both looked outwardly like they hated it, it was actually quite fun. Tori even had to tell George to stop spinning her so much and making fun because she was having a hard time not laughing. It made George want to do nothing more, but one look at their friends and a step on his foot made him stop. After some time they both wanted some air and so glaring at each other they stepped out into a side hall that was completely deserted and exhausted from the dancing George sat down on the floor leaning against the wall behind him. Tori sat beside him, they were silent for a moment, just enjoying that they could be themselves and not pretend to either love or hate each other.

“This is going great! They definitely think we’re back to hating each other.” Tori said with a small smile and George laughed.

“Of course they do! I’m a great actor.” This comment of course earned him a smack on the arm and he laughed a little. 

“You are a terrible actor. By the way did you see those horrible robes your mother put your brother in. I swear to Merlins beard if it was you I would not have accepted even fake dating you right now.” She said with a laugh and he could not help but return it.

“Oh I would have completely understood it if you fake dumped me on the spot.” He said and they laughed a little lightly at the thought of Rons terrible robes. Something had been bothering George and seeing as they were currently on pretty good termes he could not help but take the chance and ask her.

“Why did you even start hating me? We were friends for a little while you know? Back on the train.” George said and she nodded but sighed leaning her head back against the wall they were sitting against.

“I will be honest. I actually don’t remember anymore. I think you and Fred said something that pissed me off after a prank. And then we got to yelling. And then I pranked you guys as a revenge, and you laughed but kept annoying me and goading me on. And I think it just took off from there.” She admitted feeling a little embarrassed at this. He looked at her in a perplexed manner.

“You don’t even remember anymore? That is a terrible basis for hating two people for six years! I remember you yelling at me like that like it was yesterday, you have always been so hot headed and stubborn.” He protested and she laughed a little along with him and nodded. 

“Hey! It’s not like you respond in a cool and collected manner? But I mean, do you remember?” She asked smirking and he sighed and seemed to stop and think, he looked a little shocked.

“Wow. I don’t remember either. I think it was maybe our first batch of dung bombs and you had to have Flickwick remove the stench.” He paused for a moment her eyes widened and she remembered that exact moment.

“I remember why I was yelling at you! It was because you dung bombed me right before I had a studying session with the boy I fancied and I couldn’t get the stench out all day before talking to Flickwick. That was so mean! I could have been in happy relationship right now if not for you two trolls” She protested with a small smile hoping he did not remember who she had fancied. Sadly the look on his face told her that he did.

“Oh my god! I remember! It was that nitwit Gordon! Why did you like him anyway? He is such a nerd, and he talks weird.” He said laughing she did smile as she hit his arm lightly.

“Shut yer puss. He was cute, and I didn’t have standards back then. I was not dating for three years after that you know!” She said and he laughed but suddenly stopped.

“Right that was before you went out with Wood, what was that like? Did he shut up about quidditch for once in his life.” He looked at her small glare and paused.

“Scratch that you love Quidditch, why did you two break up again?” He said looking from her to the distance and seemed to shiver, probably at the memory of her and Oliver snogging practically everywhere. It was a cool relationship, Oliver was nice, loved Quidditch as much as her, and great kisser, she thought, but part of her also shuddered at the embarrassment of their break up.

“You’re going to think it is stupid.” She said with a small pause and he just shrugged, and she took a deep breath and sighed before speaking again, wondering why she was giving him more ammunition for bullying.

“We broke it off, because and I quote: “I just need to focus on my career and I think you should too.” He’d just became captain and I get that he had responsibilities all of a sudden, plus, he was really intense with keeping secrets. It was like he was cheating on me. With you guys!” She said with a small laugh at how stupid it sounded now. George did smile a little but just put his hand on her shoulder padding it once.

“Well, Wood has always been a bit blind. Don’t take it personal.” George said and she shrugged before punching his arm lightly and starting to get up from the floor.

“Stop being sentimental Weasel. I can’t recognize you if you’re being nice to me.” She said with a small smirk turning to him he grinned before getting up and they walked beside each other to the other end of the room. They both knew the moment was over and we needed to get back to work. But it was nice, hanging out with George. She used to remind herself that she hated him, but she was being honest she was warming up to him a wee bit.  

“Let’s get back before anyone catches us being alone together and not looking like you’re murdering me.” George said and she nodded almost annoyed that she had to go back to acting, she was honestly getting tired of acting all of the time, and these breaks were becoming less and less frequent. She thanked Merlin it would be over by tomorrow, at least then they didn’t have to lie to their siblings and best friends. They could also actually fake break up. A wee part of her felt weirdly about this and tried to push the thought from her head with a dumb joke.

“Just be glad that we are not in the 18 hundreds. Then you even being caught alone with me would force you to marry me. With you getting all of my allowance.” She said with a small laugh as he almost spit out his drink he was about to take and he looked at her shocked and almost horrified.

“Never say that again. You almost killed me!” He said laughing loudly and she did the same but then stopped and shrugged.

“Well, that would make till death do us part much easier. Ha! Us. Married? Can you imagine?” She said laughing and he did as well.

“Yeah. That would be the most awful idea we had ever had, and you have had quite few. Like insisting on hating me for NO reason!” He said with a small laugh. She did a little too before shoving him lightly.

“Oh shut up. You didn’t even remember either! And you, without a shadow of a doubt, definitely started the pranks. We would have gotten at each others throats eventually.” She said pointing a finger at him, making him grab it clearly annoyed making her laugh that she could annoy him this easily.

“What on earth?” Cho said in sync with Harry going:

“Are you two laughing?” Which only made Tori snort a little, like getting caught doing something stupid as a child, and she had never been good a keeping a straight face. George slightly shoved her as a way of telling her to stop laughing, but that only made him laugh a little as well. It was quite amusing seeing her sister and friend completely baffled as to what was going on.

“Are we dreaming? What is happening to you two? What could you possibly talk about that doesn’t have you at each others throats?” Cho said sounding utterly baffled by all of this. She laughed a little before looking at George, but he straightened himself up and looked at them seriously and she sensed what he was doing and did the same. Or tried to at least.

“Nothing. But our future wedding of course.” He said mockingly sounding like a perfect gentleman, making Tori chuckle lightly, to which he gave her a glare where he could not contain his smile.

“Your what?” Harry said looking absolutely horrified.

“I say, it shall be the most marvelous of affairs. Possibly spectacular, right George?” Tori said also mocking a fake posh accent. He laughed a little which in turn made her smile, that she had made him, one of the famous Hogwarts pranksters, break, during what was clearly a jest.

“Well let me escort you back to the ball so we can discuss it further. We can also talk children.” He said offering his arm, making her snort as she took it.

“Oh of course my lord. I have always wanted 12 of them.” She said in the same mocking voice clearly over dramatizing her words, clearly much to his amusement.

“I shall be happy to oblige you. Perhaps your wonderful genes could ensure that our children do not end up another redhead.” He said and she laughed putting a hand on her chest.

“Oh, but Mr. Weasley, what is the point of marrying a Weasley if not to get the red hair?” She said and he laughed. They both knew that those two would soon follow.

After a little while of staring Harry cleared his throat, breaking both of their trances.

“Have we gone mad. Or were they, laughing, together? Making jokes?” Harry said still looking utterly both horrified and baffled. Cho laughed a little and shrugged, trying to conceal her own confusion.

“Well, either we have gone mad, or they definitely have.” She said making Harry laugh a little before following their friends and sister inside.

Later that evening Ana noticed that George and Tori had disappeared and she went to find Fred who assured her that it meant nothing. She however panicked when she asked Cho if she had seen them and she said they had told her they were going to Georges room, and how cosy they had been. That had of course all been a set up. Cho found Tori a little while later and Tori explained everything to her sister who reluctantly agreed to help them their plans.

“Anything to see you put your weird feud put to rest. What is it that ma always says? Anger gives you wrinkles?” Cho had said earning her a glare from her sister making her laugh a little. 

So after telling them this Ana and Fred of course were storming up the stairs towards the Gryffindor common room to see if what the girl had said was true. They had done all of this to stop them being cosy, and both of them thought if they were truly drunk how they would have to stop it so neither of them did something they regretted. As Fred let Ana in the fat lady complaining about how those Weasley twins could not keep bringing more Ravenclaws inside they knew Cho had not been lying. Fred lead her up the stairs and unlocked the room opening the door. Both of them preparing for a horrible sight. Instead they saw there two best friends sitting in two chairs looking directly at them as they walked into the room pausing for a moment in confusion. Then both of them let their wands do a wush and with that one wave Ana and Fred were both suddenly being drenched in what they could both instantly smell was shaving foam. They first looked at each other then their bestfriends, utter confusion and horror on both of their faces. On the other hand where there had been smirks before on George and Toris face now they were laughing and highfiving.

“What the-“ 

“How-“

“Why-“ They both said in overlap never truly getting more than a word or two out. Tori and George turned to them grinning. 

“Sorry. But we had to show you how annoying it feels when you’re being manipulated.” Tori started and they looked at each other once again with more understanding this time, Fred and Ana knew they had been busted.

“Yeah, we know you’re the prankster. Both times.” George said smirking. 

“We’re so sorry, we never really meant to hurt you and-“ Ana started but Tori just waved her hand at her.

“It was funny. It’s fine.” She said and Ana sighed but Tori stood up and looked at them both seriously.

“But no more parent trapping us and trying to get us to like or unlike each other. Al right?” She said pointing at them George nodded behind her to show he agreed. Fred and Ana looked at each other once before looking back and nodding.

“We promise.” They said in unison. 

Then there was nothing but smiles in that room, everyone seemed to silently or insolently forgive each other, in the end everyones, well maybe besides Tori and George’s, intentions had been good, and there had been no harm done. Besides something else would have happened to make them yell at each other like that any ways. Fred and Ana went down to the bathrooms to wash off the shaving foam, they had picked it knowing that that smell would stick to their hair for days. They had planned for this to be the end and had borrowed an extra towel so that Ana did not have to walk across the castle covered in shaving foam. This left George and Tori alone together in the boys room waiting for their return. 

Now that it was all over and they could even break up, Tori felt a wee part of her feel bad about not having to hang out with the boy as much. Hell she had somehow even had fun during the yuleball even if she had to spend it in a dumb dress. George noticed how uncomfortable she looked and even if she was beautiful in the dress he felt like she should be in something else, but he stopped himself before throwing her a pair of his shorts and shirt. The thought of her in his clothes gave him a weird feeling in his stomach, that one feeling that seemed to not go away lately. It was probably just disgust he thought to himself. 

They ended up sitting by the foot of his bed on the floor sharing some fire whiskey George had found under his bed. They talked of little nothings and insulted each other completely back to normal. Well their new normal. Which was a weird almost teasing tone.

“You know what? It has been surprisingly fun working with you Weasel.” Tori suddenly said and George looked at her almost surprised to hear it but then shrugged and nodded.

“Yeah. It has been weirdly fun. Still I cannot wait to go back to normal. If I had to call you babe instead of brute one more time, I might puke.” George said and she laughed nodding.

“Oh yeah, it is the worst nickname, and not calling you sh*thead feels unnatural to be honest.” She said and he laughed a little, knowing exactly what she meant.

They were back. Though the light tone sort of hung in the air for a moment, as they sat there on the floor leaning against George’s bed. They were looking at each other for the first time in a while, and something about it felt strange. The way that Tori was currently looking at him, with this almost hopeful look about her, made George feel strange. Tori also noted how she looked at Georges almost nice gaze, and felt a strange sensation inside of her. Neither of them really realized it, or thought about who initiated it. But after starring at each other for a good while they shifted and suddenly, Tori felt Georges lips on hers, and without hesitating she kissed him back. He did the same, and as he was kissing her a little part of him wondered, how he had managed to go those last few days without doing that. It was a perfect middleground of their two other kisses, not as awkward but definitely as soft as their first, but not as brutal and passionate as their second but still somehow pretty needy. Just right. George could not help but put his hand on her cheek, as they deepend the kiss. Tori felt wonderful and it was getting harder and harder to think anything resembling a coherent thought as she was kissing him, and putting her hands around the nape of his neck. After what felt like both too short and long a time, they heard the door open behind them, and they both immediately got off of each other and sat beside each other awkwardly. Well only for a moment Tori got up quickly not wanting to sit at the scene of the crime. She put on a grin and put her arm inside of Ana’s.

“Thank god you’re back! Their fire whiskey is terrible, almost as terrible as the company.” Tori said and Ana just smiled fondly at her and shook her head.

“I can’t help that you have bad tastes.” George said trying to look smug like he normally would, clearly figuring out that they were going to play this cool, or pretend like nothing happened. It had definitely been weird, so he understood not wanting to say anything.

“Let’s go yeah? See you, Fred, sh*thead.” She said with a small smile George rolled his eyes at her.

“Very mature, brute.” He said and she just shrugged. Ana waved goodbye to Fred and they turned around leaving through the common room going to their own.

“You look weird, are you alright?” Fred said George looked at him almost impressed, then again he could always tell when something was wrong with him, and something was definitely wrong with him, because he had just been snogging Tori Chang. George however did not feel like talking about it right now, for once he wanted to figure that out on his own, and so he just smiled.

“Oh I’m fine. Just tired, I mean Merlins beard I have endured so much of her company recently. It has honestly been exhausting.” George complained and Fred grinned.

Both boys went to bed, but George was lying awake thinking about, what on earth this could mean. They obviously still despised each other, even if it was based on him throwing a dungbomb on her in their first year. Tori was annoying, she was rash, stubborn, hotheaded, definitely not like all his other girlfriends, especially in the regard to how unladylike she was. And she was very unladylike. She was rude and crude, swore like a sailor and was one mean witch when she wanted to be. She dressed in an oversized uniform, but he knew underneath it she was muscular and toned. She was also a snitch and no one got under his skin quite like she did. She was also kind of sweet. She was also smart, and agile, strong and took no shit from no one, not even himself, and everyone always put up with his shit! It was almost like he was thinking of two different people as he was picturing her, the one he probably actually kind of liked, the one she probably also was when they had been kissing, those amazing kisses, that were better than any rush from a prank or escape he had done with his brother. How on earth could they be the same annoying person who had been yelling at him countless times in the last six years? 

She was thinking the exact same thing in her bed across the castle. How could the sweet, funny guy, who treated her more like an equal than anyone else, and respected her, the guy who when he was kissing her made her feel not only wonderful but like she could do anything, like she was enough and not too much. How on earth could that guy be the same guy who was rude, and lazy and the cause of her thousand outbursts of anger in a day?

The following day they spoke no words, but did slowly started spreading the word around the school that they had officially broken up. She knew George had begun telling people this when she heard a girl yell from the Gryffindor table, and in a few seconds after a small ginger girl stood in front of her at the Ravenclaw table saying:

“Please, I was so looking forward to having you in the family. Whatever stupid thing he did I’m sure he didn’t mean it.” She begged and I could not help but smile at the wonderful girl in front of her.

“Oh Ginny! Sweet bairn, he will never stop being a wee shite, that’s the problem really. But that doesn’t mean I can’t be friends with you, you know?” She said at least trying to comfort the girl, she pulled herself together and nodded.

“He truly is an idiot isn’t he?” She said and George yelled from across the room:

“I heard that.” To which Ginny blushed and shook her head before stalking back to their table. Tori could not help but laugh.

The reactions to their breakups were weird, girls all over seemed to be relieved, which was no surprise, neither was the ones whispering how they had just known that George would not want to be with someone as boyish as Tori. Tori could not help but sneer at those girls but then also thought: 

You have no idea. 

Thinking about they recent wee misshap. They had yet to exchange a single word about this, but something in Tori did not want to talk about it, not yet at least. It had probably just been some drunk accident, Tori thought. They had been a wee bit drunk and horny, and they both knew how good kissers the other person was. 

Nothing more than something physical there – because observing him from afar, Tori noted how this boy was definitely the annoying George that she knew, and not that weirdly sweet one she had seen glimpses of this past month. 

George watched her when she was not looking at him, and he thought, about how she looked like her normal self again – the same brutish boyish girl she had always been, she was back in her slightly oversized uniform, a far cry from the pretty girl in the dress from last night. But something about her comfortable like that did not bother him, at least like it used to, he actually noticed, that he liked how oversized her shirt was on her – he even caught himself thinking, just once, about how she would look in one of his? 

He thought about their kiss, he actually had a hard time stopping thinking about it. He could not wrap his head around why on earth they had done it? 

And what it meant? 

Did they like each other? 

Clearly it was not their personalities they liked, they had always hated each other! It had to just be something purely physical, and they had both been drinking. He wanted to talk to her about it, mostly just to clear the air, and get any awkwardness out of the way. So when he saw her with Cho later in the day, he could not help himself, and he asked to pull her aside. They went into an empty room, and she leaned against a desk not knowing where to look. She had this weird sense that if she looked at him it would all be too real. He stood at a little bit of a distance as well, but not too much – he wanted to prove that he was not scared of her.

“So…” He started not really knowing where to start, it was the first time he had had to have a talk like this, he realized, and he felt awkward now that she was in the same room. She still didn’t look at him. He found this odd but he figured if he kept talking, she would have to eventually.

“Tori, the reason I wanted to talk is. Obvious I think.” He said daringly, and he looked at her seeing if it got any sort of reaction – still nothing. Something about her refusal to look at him was pissing him off, and so he walked forward in his quick anger.

“Look at me you dug bog. I wanna talk to you about that kiss.” He said slightly annoyed crossing his arms. 

Finally, she knew she could avoid him no longer, and even if she was feeling awkward, a little part of her got angry, that he thought that he could boss her around. She looked up at him defiantly. But she paused as she noticed his slightly awkward, and while he held an annoyed expression still he, somehow, seemed nervous. She wanted nothing more than to avoid this conversation, and looking at the state of him, she felt like talking was entirely the wrong move. 

“Thank you. Now, that kiss yesterday…” George started but Tori soon started tuning it out, not hearing a word he said, because for some reason she had accidentally glanced down at his lips. Which naturally made her think of their wee kiss the day before. She looked back at George feeling annoyed and something she could not quite place. He finished speaking and looked at her annoyed, realising that she was in fact not listening. He had felt like panicking when he started speaking, and did not exactly feel like repeating himself.

“Oi! Are you even listening to me? I said-“ But this time she cut him off mid sentence.

“George. For once in your f*cking life. Would you please just shut the f*ck up?” She said annoyed, it had been completely impulsive, and like she had just spoken without really thinking. He gave her a confused look.

“What?” He said, and she had no idea what she was doing, but all she knew was that she would like to not have this conversation with him. Looking at him once again, she had this need to kiss him again. She thought about it very little but the thoughts she did have were along the lines of: two birds with one stone. Apparently she needed no more convincing, and so she stepped forward looking George straight in the eyes.

“George. Shut. Up.” She said, and he looked still puzzled mostly because, he had never seen this side of her before. But even if it had been not that long ago that he was kissing her, he felt like she was a bit like a drug, and if she was offering at the moment, his stupid hormonal brain thought: We’re not gonna pass on that opportunity.

And so he grabbed her waist and pulled her close, before quickly closing the gap between them.