-

Harri – bleary-eyed and yawning – had stumbled down the steps into the Gryffindor common room that morning. The evidence of her late night shone through in her features; deep, purple circles lay under her eyes and her hair was hastily pulled back into a ponytail. Her fringe seemed bedraggled, sticking out in every direction and her robes – hastily pulled on – were fastened incorrectly. She wasn't looking where she was going as she collided with someone at the foot of the stairs, sending them both tumbling to the floor in a mass of limbs. A familiar whimper of pain told her told her who she'd rushed into:

"Whoops! Sorry Hermione!" Harri yelped, disentangling herself from her friend and pulling the both of them up. Hermione rubbed her ankle and griped "I wish you'd look where you were going Harri!" She went to shoot Harri her angry, "Professor McGonagall" stare, when she caught sight of Harri's appearance. Her eyes took in the dark shadows and tangled hair and sighed. "Another late night?" She reprimanded. "Yeah," Harri muttered. "But I have something to tell y-" she was cut off as Hermione took out her wand and flicked it at her hair, which twisted itself into a neat braid, and began to re-fasten her robes, shaking her head and clucking at her in a way that was remarkably similar to Mrs Weasley. "Honesty Harri," Hermione met her eyes again, but this time with a much softer gaze, "you need to tell someone if you've got something on your mind, it might help you get more sleep." She looked worried – Harri felt a rush of affection towards her as she saw the concern her friend had for her. "Besides, I'm getting fed up of dressing you everyday." She informed her, grinning. Harri smiled back. "I need to tell you someth-" she started, but was once again cut off. This time, the interruption came in the form of arms knocking her off her feet and picking her up. Harri gave a shout of surprise and then found herself nose to nose with George Weasley.

"George! Don't do that, I nearly had a heart attack!" She scolded, clutching her beating chest. He fake poured and then loudly announced "Can't a man give his girlfriend a good morning cuddle anymore?" He grinned, eyes twinkling. His exclamation had the effect he had wanted; across the common room, murmured whispers of surprise sneaked out as their fellow Gryffindors all wondered the same thing. "Girlfriend?" Hermione voiced, looking extremely confused. Harri herself had flushed pink, embarrassed as all eyes were fixed on her. "Hermione I-" she began, wanting to explain everything to her best friend. George loudly cut her off again – "Come along now dear," he began, still carrying Harri in his arms and beginning to stride off to the portrait hole. "Whatever you need to tell her can wait – I'm starving!" Harri glanced anxiously at Hermione, who looked even more confused than she had a few seconds ago. "George I-" she whispered to him urgently.

"Explain at breakfast, you won't be as overheard there" he hissed back as the portrait swung open and they entered the corridor. "Got to start keeping up appearances now Potter." He told her, grinning. Harri shook her head but smiled back. "Will you at least put me down?" She asked, fidgeting awkwardly in his arms. George gave a short, loud laugh. "We'll see about that," he laughed, his hazel eyes containing their usual mischievous glint.

Back in the common room, Hermione was still staring after the pair amidst the confused students' conversations. She saw Fred Weasley on the other side of the room and caught his eye, jabbing a finger towards the empty portrait hole and mouthed "What's going on?". Fred shrugged and shook his head, mouthing back "I have no idea."

-

"So let me get this straight," Hermione looked between Harri and George, who sat opposite her at the Gryffindor Table. When her and Fred has arrived at the Great Hall that morning, they had found the pair with their backs to the Hufflepuff table, heads together and whispering in joyful undertones. George had one arm loosely around Harri's shoulder, and the whole time that Harri had explained George's plan to herself and Fred they had been giggling like children. "You're going to pretend to be in love with each other so that Cedric notices you and gets jealous?" Hermione asked slowly. George pouted. "Who said it was pretend? As far as you know, this is all real." He told her in mock-seriousness, using his free hand to feed himself toast. "And if it goes wrong?" She pressed anxiously. "I don't want to see Harri getting hurt again." George opened his mouth to speak but Fred cut him off. "Then we hex his balls off Hermione." He told her simply, shooting a wicked grin at George and Harri before returning back to his bacon. Hermione frowned even further. "How do you know it's going to work?" She pushed. Once again, she found that Fred was the one answering her.

"Look at the Hufflepuff table. I'd say it's working already." His eyes flicked over to the table directly behind Harri. Her eyes followed his gaze and saw, to her surprise, Cedric Diggory was staring at the pair, who were now feeding each other breakfast, and… frowning? He didn't appear happy at all, and judging by the surprised glances his friends made toward the couple, it wasn't just the Gryffindors who were shocked with the unlikely duo. Hermione's eyes widened. "This might be the best idea you've come up with, George Weasley." She murmured.

"What might be?"

It was Ron, sliding into the seat next to Hermione and then staring, open mouthed at Harri and George. "Oi! George, what are you doing with my best friend?" He suddenly demanded. The piece of toast halfway to Harri's mouth stopped and George looked at his brother irritably. "Treating her the way a good boyfriend should of course, what else?" He drawled slowly. Harri's cheeks suddenly blushed, giving her emotions away the way they often did. Did he mean that? She asked herself, before shaking the thought off. He's just a good actor, she told herself firmly. Ron, meanwhile, had turned a funny shade of red, eyes bulging. "Harri - that's my brother!" He shouted. Ron's shouts had caught the attention of the hall. Students at all tables were turning round to see what was causing the noise. "Ron, I-" Harri began, but Ron waved her away.

"So you just didn't think you'd tell me?" He exclaimed

"Ron just lis-"

"Let's all just forget to tell Ron that his BEST FRIEND and his BROTHER have started going out!" Hermione grabbed his arm, but he shook her off and stood up. "Ron would you just let them speak!" She pleaded. "So they can tell me all about how they fell in love but decided not tell tell ickle Ron because he might get upset?" He scoffed. As Harriet answered "No!", George had nodded and said "Exactly". This angered Ron even further.

"Maybe you should get your story straight before you try to lie to me!" He sneered. "I've had it with you already Harri. Bye." He snatched a piece of toast from the table and marched off, followed by the hoots and "oohs" of the surrounding students. Harri looked up after him, and then turned to George. "Why did you do that?" She demanded, fixing him with an angry stare that Hermione would be proud of. "Now he's mad at me! We just made friends again!" She bit her lip anxiously. "He won't talk to me now to let me explain either." She sighed, sitting up and slumping over the table. "Hear me out Harri," George placed a hand on her knee. She sat back up and met his warm eyes, sincere and devoid of their usual mischievous glint. "Everyone saw that right? Now, everyone knows we're a "thing" because of Ron's outburst. It was the easiest way to make sure we convince everyone with a reaction like that." He explained. Fred quickly chipped in; "I'll talk to him Harri, he'll listen to me and I'll explain the whole thing, don't worry." He told her. Harri's posture relaxed and she allowed herself to smile.

"Oh alright, but some warning would have been nicer Weasley." She muttered, punching him jokingly on the arm. "Ouch!" George yelped, clutching his arm and looking wounded. If it wasn't for the flicker of a smile that threatened to emerge, Harri would have thought he was hurt. "You see this? Days in and she's resorting to physical violence!" He exclaimed. Harri allowed herself to laugh. "Come on," she told him, standing up and pulling him up with her. She interlaced her fingers into his. "I've left my bag in the common room, you can come with me to get it and then you can take me to transfiguration." George gave a deep bow. "Certainly, lead the way my lady!" He declared. Harri waved goodbye to Hermione and Fred and left the Great Hall, George in close pursuit. Hermione noticed that as they left, Cedric's eyes had followed them. Once gone from sight, his usually cheerful demeanour became almost surly – like he was sulking! Hermione grinned. This was going to be interesting.

-

George not only walked her to Transfiguration, but also Divination AND Herbology. It seemed that as soon as Harri left the classroom, he was there – ready and waiting to slip his hand into hers and chat loudly as they were jostled through the corridors. The other 4th year girls had been shocked to hear that Harri was now dating one of Hogwarts' most well-known (And for the most part, well liked) 6th years – and they had been even more surprised to see his presence before and after each of their lessons. When George had met her after Herbology – which was Harri's last lesson of the day – Harri had pulled him far from the gossiping murmurs as soon as she had stepped out of the class. "Where are we going? Are we sneaking off to a broom closet for a cheeky snog Potter?" He smirked, following behind her as they pushed through the corridors. "I want to talk to you actually, somewhere where we aren't going to be followed by all these gossiping girls." She shot an irate glance at two 5th years who had been openly discussing the pair as they walked past. George chuckled. "Broom cupboard it is!" He said brightly, putting a hand on her waist and steering her towards the closest one. Harri slapped his hands away. "No!" She found herself blushing again – this was really becoming embarrassing now – but she recovered her composure quickly. "The library, it's quiet and I need to do some research anyway." She told him, looking back to see his face fall.

"Harri, do you know who I am?" He pouted. "I'm George Weasley – I don't go to the library!" He protested. Seeing the stern look Harri shot him, he allowed himself to be towed behind her to the large and impressive library, muttering something about "revenge". Harri had made her way through the library, pulling books off the shelves carefully and making her way to the very back of the room, where a small table was tucked, lit in a soft, rosy glow by the candle nestled on the table. Harri put the books down and pulled up a seat, patting the space next to her and indicating for George next to her. He was still grumbling as he sat down. He suddenly jumped back up. "Eurgh!" He cried, pulling the chair out to look at it. On it, sat a large and slightly squashed beetle. "It stung me – or maybe it bit me? Ouch!" He complained loudly. The beetle began to buzz angrily, and crawled off the seat. They followed it as it scuttled – rather lopsided – down past them, through the bookshelves and towards the door. "You okay?" Harri asked, turning back towards George, who was eyeing the beetle with a look of disgust and confusion. "Yeah," he told her, shrugging. "That was odd." He commented, sitting back down on the chair gingerly. "So why are we here?" George asked, drawing her attention away from the beetle and back towards the books on the table. "Well, I was thinking that maybe you could help me prepare for the second task?" George's face looked extremely unimpressed and she quickly pressed on. "I thought that way, we could get to know each other better and I'd get help from a more experienced wizard than if I asked Hermione. I mean let's face it – aside from the fact that you're Ron's brother, I feel like I barely know you!" She told him. George lent back in his chair, a smile spreading across his face. "So, I'm your experienced wizard am I?" He smirked. Harri elbowed him in the ribs. "Don't push it Weasley" She warned. He wheezed in pain but Harri shushed him, pointing a finger through a gap in the bookshelves to where Madam Pince was patrolling.

"I suppose I could be of some help…" he mused. "And it would be nice to get to know you better I guess… sure, why not?" He agreed, flashing her a wide grin. Harri heaved a sigh of relief.

"I thought you'd be harder to convince than that! Here, you take that one and see if there's any languages that are mainly screams, I'll look in this one!" She told him promptly, pushing a large and dusty tomb about "The Many Magical Languages" towards him. George groaned and hit his head on the desk.

-

"So you're telling me you never had a teddy-bear?" George had exclaimed in surprise. The books lay forgotten, strewn in a pile on the other end of the table. The candle on their table had burnt low, making the area feel even more cramped and cosy. After several hours of searching, the pair had become distracted and were now taking it in turns to ask each other questions about their lives.

"Nope." Harry told him. George looked at her incredulously.

"But what did you hug when you were scared at night?"

"Nothing." Harry replied. George looked down-right upset.

"But the Dursley's knew you were scared of the dark and didn't even give you a teddy bear to talk to when you were scared? That's horrible!" He protested. Harri simply shrugged.

"I'm too old for one now anyway, but I'm sure I would have liked one." She mused.

"You're Not too old, I still sleep with m-" George quickly stopped speaking, feeling his ears turning pink in embarrassment. Harri gave a gasp and looked at him, her eyes glinting. "Do you still sleep with a teddy bear, George Weasley?" Harri was grinning, delightedly, at him.

"I- I might do" he said stiffly.

"Awww, is my precious Georgie scared? Does he need his teddy to keep the monsters away?"

"Shut up."

"I'm only kidding George! It's… quite cute." She told him. He didn't reply, his ears now a hot pink, and he was suddenly fascinated with the bookshelf in front of him. "Seriously, George! It's not a big deal, I think it's cute. Really! I'm sure if I had a teddy then I'd be sleeping with it every night too!" she told him, putting a hand up to his face and turning it towards her. "You better not tell anyone." He growled. Harriet grinned and pinched his cheek. "Or what Georgie?" She teased again. He opened his mouth to reply, but at that moment his stomach gave a rather large gurgle. Harri laughed. "Your secret is safe with me, now let's go eat, I'm starving" she grinned. George was still frowning slightly. "You can plot your revenge over dinner!" She sighed impatiently. She was quickly slotting books back onto the shelves when she felt hands – yet again – knock her off her feet and pick her up. George was grinning at her. "My revenge is already planned, don't you worry Potter." He murmured. When she was this close to him, she couldn't help but turn pink again. "Am I always going to be carried like this into the Great Hall?" She protested.

George's laughter told her all she needed to know.

A/N Hiya lol. Another short one but I do plan to write some thick and juicy chapters soon lol:) hope you enjoy xxx