Ella tried not to groan when she saw him approach her table. The library was supposed to be her safe haven, where no one could bother her, disrupt her, or even enter her thoughts as she completed her work. But here he was, ready to bother her, ready to sit at her table, ready to distract her, to enter her safe haven. Furrowing her brow, she gripped her quill tighter between her fingers, and attempted to keep her train of thought on the differences between the proper techniques to care for grindylows and Cornish pixies. If it hadn't been so utterly boring, and so utterly easy (Hagrid hated assigning parchments to his Advanced students, but Dumbledore enforced that they at least had one parchment every few weeks, so Hagrid usually assigned boring and simple parchments, although Ella would had preferred more interesting ones….)
She bit her lip when she realized she was no longer focusing on her parchment as she should be and tried not to groan (again) when she realized she still had half an inch to write. Her musings made her almost forget that he had sat down at her table.
Almost.
He sat there for a few minutes without saying a word. He took out his own parchment quietly, twirling his quill between his fingers silently, staring at her from underneath his lashes. He started to smile when he saw her bite her lip. She was always doing that around him. And although it was seen as a nasty habit for some people, he found it almost endearing. She did it when she was angry and annoyed, when she tried to focus on something, when she was daydreaming during class (which was rarely. She was your typical Ravenclaw, always paying attention, always taking copious notes).
He coughed. When she didn't look up, he smiled and whispered, "Working on your parchment for Hagrid?"
She looked up, her clear hazel eyes glaring at him. He smiled, knowing she was trying to intimidate him, and even she knew she wasn't succeeding. "I was, Weasley, until you disrupted me."
George smiled, "You're almost done, and so am I, so we can swap if you want –"
"No, Weasley, thanks, but no thanks. This wasn't that hard, and I'm doubt Hagrid will be worried about my grammar." She looked back down at her parchment, "And I'm not going be giving you the answers."
George laughed, "Ah, Miss Wilson, you doubt my intelligence? Am I not in the library with a completed parchment for class tomorrow?"
Ella raised an eyebrow, but didn't look up, "Please leave me alone, Weasley, or I will be forced to yell 'Troll' and dock points from Gryffindor."
George didn't say anything else, but he didn't make a move to leave either. He held his quill poised over his parchment, but he continued to watch her. She wasn't the prettiest of girls, nor the friendliest, especially to George, but he couldn't get over his infatuation with her; she had this mysterious aura, this peculiar hold over him that he hadn't been able to shake for six months, ever since she had caught him and Fred attempting to prank Filch. Instead of giving them detention, she had smirked and said softly, "He deserves it," and winking finished, "I never saw you." Ever since than, George had 'attempted to woo' the maroon-haired Ravenclaw prefect.
He watched her now as she scrunched her nose slightly as she tapped her fingers lightly on the tabletop, trying to finish a sentence. She was very fair, and had an odd splash of freckles over the bridge of her nose that didn't quite fit with her complexion, eyes or hair color. Her hair color in general was very odd, and George was quite aware that she had been teased for it, just as all the Weasley's had been. But as he watched her now, the way the low lights of the library reflected off her hair, he couldn't help but think it beautiful.
She was well aware that he was watching her. And it annoyed her to no end. He had never bothered her in the library before, and that frustrated her to no end. He pestered her in class, in Hogsmeade, during meals, during frees. He'd ask her on dates, to study, to help with pranks, to beg her to lighten up, to tell her how beautiful she was, but he was never serious. Or at least that's what she told herself. He always had a playful smile or a smirk, and she knew he couldn't be serious.
But it seemed that no matter how many times she rejected him, no matter how many times she refused him, told him to shut his face or she'd kick his arse, he'd continue.
So when he started to talk to her again, she looked up, her clear hazel eyes almost blazing. "Weasley, I will dock points."
George scoffed, "Please, Wilson, you'd never –"
"Five points from Gryffindor for talking the library and talking back to a prefect," she gathered her things up quickly and stood up, smirking. "Who's laughing now, Weasley?"
George watched open-mouthed as she sauntered out of the library, completely in disbelief. She had never taken points or even given him a detention, and yet, now she had. Shaking his head, he gathered his own things. He had finished his parchment long before and there was no other reason for him to be in the library anymore.
But a Weasley never gives up. He'd continue for as long as it would take to break her down. He was determined to figure her out, to figure out why a Ravenclaw prefect allowed the infamous Weasley twins to prank Filch. Why she loved Magical Creatures and Runes. Why she didn't have a boyfriend. And why she was so resistant to the infamous Weasley charm.
Ella frowned as she walked into the common room, throwing her things down on a chair so she could finish her parchment. She was mumbling loudly to herself and didn't hear her best friend cough until she was nearly right on top of her. "Uh, El, you all right?" She nearly jumped out of her skin when Ramona touched her shoulder. "Merlin, calm down! It's just me! You were bloody mumbling loud, what's up?"
Ella ran her fingers through her long maroon hair and quickly tied it back with an elastic, "Haven't finished my bloody parchment. Weasley was in the library."
Ramona rolled her bright green eyes and ran a hand through her short, blonde hair. "Ella, you're blowing this way out of proportion, okay?" She sighed at Ella's indignant look. "Please, this is ridiculous, Ella! You either need to ignore him so he'll leave you alone, you need to find a boyfriend or something, so he'll leave you alone, or you need to admit that you like him, and snog him. But you need to do something because I can not take hearing about it anymore!" She took a breath, "Sorry, didn't mean to get so upset. But seriously. Figure it out, Ella."
Ella nodded, "Thanks, Ramona." Ramona nodded and gave her best friend a hug, "Don't take too long, get to bed soon, yea?"
Ella smiled and sat down to finish her parchment, but bite her lip, thinking about what Ramona said.
She didn't like him. She couldn't.
And anyway, what did they even have in common? He was the prankster who didn't care about school, and she was the prefect who wanted to be Head Girl.
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A/N: Okay, so I have some written, so I should be updating relatively quickly, but we'll see. It moves rather quickly, I think, but I want to hit some key points before George and Ella graduate and all that. This is kind of like your typical James/Lily story, but with George and a character of my own creation. I think maroon hair sounds beautiful, and I hope you do too!
Thanks for reading – please review!!