O to the W L-zzle

[mischief_george]

It wasn't often that George Weasley waffled over something. He might sit back and let a lot of things wash over him, but he was far from indecisive. And yet, he found himself going back and forth over what he should send out with an owl to a girl

Comments

[busty_robin]

Uh-huh. Steph had been in the joke shop once before, and knew perfectly well that it possessed sufficient lighting. This here was nothing but an attempted to ‘set the mood’, so to speak. Oldest trick in the book.

She rolled her eyes...and then grabbed George's hand, lacing their fingers together. Hey, sometimes the standards worked for a reason. Also, he blushed pretty easy, and it was very cuteamused her.

Like right then! No mood lighting could disguise that blush. She grinned and tipped her hat, pretending not to notice. "I do my best."

"Yeah. One thing, first." Steph reach up, and put her hands on the base of George's neck, running her fingers lightly through his hair. She leaned in, very closely...

...and adjusted his hat, smirking impishly. "You were a bit crooked, just there. Okay, I'm good to go."

[mischief_george]

He let out a small breath that was most definitely not an 'eep' as Stephanie took his hand. But, head ducking down and smile teasing out along his lips, lighting up his eyes, he recovered quickly, rubbing his thumb lightly along her knuckles a few times. Her hand felt nice in his and he enjoyed it thoroughly.

That wasn't to say, though, that he didn't fall completely for her little trick. Her fingers playing at the nape of his neck sent pleasant tingles along his spine and his heart jumped out of beat in delicious anticipation. Ah, but wait. The old fake-out.

Recovering quickly, he merely gave her a jaunty smile, reaching out to beep his finger once on the tip of her nose - and immediately silently berate himself because, seriously, what the sodding hell had that been? - and offered her his arm. "Brilliant. We'll stop for provisions first," he said, grabbing a small canvas bag that folded up easily and fit in his pocket. "And then we come to the tricky part of the evening. What sort of movie we'll see." George shook his

[busty_robin]

Did he...was she just beeped? Did poor George just resort to a beep?

Steph raised an eyebrow, plucked the offending finger off her nose, and held George's hand in her own. No more beeping for him! Then, she put their clasped hands on his chest, leaned in, and kissed him softly on the lips. It wasn't a long kiss, but there was time enough to reach up with her free hand, and trail across the base of his neck with her fingers.

Pity kiss? Kind of. But it was a Steph Brown pity kiss, and that was worth something! She winked, and took his arm. "Provisions are important!"

Hmm. "I haven't seen a movie since 2004, so no sequels. I vote for a comedy."

[mischief_george]

Hey, he would beep her nose every bloody day if it got him hand holding. And George was a red-blooded British male. He had no pride. Pity kisses were perfectly acceptable.

Leaning in to her lips, he moved one hand to lightly trail down her back, fingers sliding along her spine. He was one big shiver and goosebump, all from just a simple kiss. Oh, Merlin, he was in so much trouble. Grinning goofily at her, he struggled to get his mind away from thoughts of doing things other than sitting nicely in a movie theater. Like how her hair would feel running through his fingers. Or how the skin just along her cheek just seemed to be begging to have kisses scattered along it.

Right. He really needed to just switch off that portion of his brain, now. Giving her hand a brief squeeze, he lead her out into the night. The theater was only a couple of blocks over and a broomstick wasn't exactly inconspicuous in Muggle London, so walking it was. "Ah, we're doing good so far," he nodded. "Comedies are a nice start. But please," George

[busty_robin]

"Wait a sec." She stopped on the sidewalk, grinning, eyes bright, at George. "This is my first time in London." Steph looked around, half amused, half gaping. People -non-costumed, non-magical- people were walking around. There was traffic, gutters, and gum on the sidewalk. There were children, and couples, and holy hell when had cellphones gotten so small?

There was life. Normal, everyday life. She took it all in before shaking her head clear. "Sorry. You were talking about Eddie Murphy? I can live without him, I think. And it's absolutely tragic about the singing popcorn."

[mischief_george]

What? Stopping, George boggled at Stephanie for a moment before grinning broadly at her. "Why didn't you say so?" It was seriously mind blowing to him that someone would not know London, at least in passing, so he took a moment to stop and think. "Right. You, missy, are now in for the George Weasley London Tour in Ten Minutes, patent pending."

Hmm... Turning in a slow circle, he then pulled her gently down the street. "This is a sidewalk," he told her gravely in his best Tour Guide voice. "If you look to your left, that is a window. Behind the window is..." he checked, "a lot of random rubbish and some pans." He paused for emphasis. "London pans." His fingers still threaded with hers, he kept on walking. "Now up ahead, you'll see a street light. Run on eckeltricity." George leaned in to whisper in Stephanie's ear. "My Dad works for the Ministry in the Misuse of Muggle Artifacts division. Collects plugs. He's mad about eckeltricity

[busty_robin]

Steph went along with the tour, letting out various exclamations of "'Ah-hah', 'Mmm', or 'yes, I see, quite a window'", trying her best to keep a serious face. "Eckeltricity? Well, that's very advanced. Back home, we make due with electricity." Hee!

Heeeey. Comparing what their Dads did for a living. Surprisingly, not a topic Steph wanted to breach. Ugh. Even dead, Arthur Brown could ruin a perfectly good time. Instead, she scrunched up her face and said, "Muggle? Is that some sort of random British slang?"

"I think they do that when someone breaks the law, George." She nudged him in the side. "If they're ever whistling at you, it's a good idea to pay attention."

[mischief_george]

George stumbled to a stop, nearly tripping over his own feet in his shock. "Random British slang?" he repeated, jaw dropping and free hand held to his chest. "Merlin's bollocks, girl, are you a Witch or aren't you?" Glancing around, he leaned in, trying to keep his voice low. Which was hard, with the laughing. "Muggles are... Well, they're them." He waved his hand around at the street. "The non-Wizards."

Anything Muggle kind of confused George. His dad was always bringing home plugs and rubber ducks and other random things - frankly, he didn't see the point. "They, you know, can't use magic or any of that. Weird. Like, my dad told me they have to actually clean things by hand." George looked completely horrified by this. "Without magic."

Shudder.

Looking over at the bobbie with amusement, George laughed once, loudly. "Oh. Oops. That explains a lot, actually."

[busty_robin]

"I'm very new at the witch thing, thanks!" See how she wasn't laughing, there? She didn't mind being laughed at when things were actually funny. But this was...it sounded like something you'd name a cutesy animal. Steph looked around, with a scowl. "They just look like people to me."

"Weird?" she repeated. Goodbye handholding, hello arm crossing. "What the hell is so weird about cleaning things by hand? The majority of the human race gets along just fine without magic."

[mischief_george]

Wha--? What just happened? Looking completely confused, George blinked rapidly, trying to catch up. "It's... I don't know! I just never saw anyone do it!" One second they'd been fine and the next moment Stephanie looked like he just insulted her mum. "And there are rubber ducks and plugs and cars, and I just think it's all...rather funny?" he trailed off helplessly.

He had absolutely no idea what he might have done. But obviously something had gone wrong somewhere. "And people are born Witches, you know. I mean, even if your parents are Muggles, you're a Witch. It's...just the way it is! You're one of us!"

[busty_robin]

"Well it’s not! And it’s messed up that you think so." Okay, she was getting pissed. "It's a way of life. You don't laugh at people’s ways of living. It's bad enough that you guys get this freak genetic gift, but then you patronize the people who don't have it? That's severely messed up.

Oh, and that next bit did. not. help. "George, I was 'Muggle' - and that's stupid ass name - for seventeen years before dy-" not a first date topic, even if this date was rapidly coming to close "-before coming here. So if they're weird, then I'm weird. You say I'm one of you? Your world didn't do shit for me. My mom - my wonderful, non-magical mom - raised me just fine without magic. And god knows magic would've made things easier, but we made due with the resources we had, and I won't have some boy I barely even know belittle that!"

Steph took a deep breath. She was very, very angry, and that never led to good things.

"I'd like to go home now," she said, taking off her hat and handing it back to George.

[mischief_george]

George was completely over his head. No doubt about it. His jaw was dropped somewhere along the ground and his eyes were wide, completely horrified and confused and sorry, though he hadn't the first idea what to be sorry about. But whatever it was, he was, deeply.

Taking the hat back wordlessly, he looked down at it and then back up to Steph, at a loss. "A-all right," he nodded, his expression for all the world one of a kicked puppy. He didn't know what to say, had no idea where he'd gone wrong, so he simply turned and started back towards his shop. George's stomach was all in unpleasant knots and his throat was tight. He desperately tried to think of something to say, anything to make this better. But he came up with nothing

[busty_robin]

A part of her felt terrible for George, knew he was completely out of his element, and maybe it wasn’t fault, the whole foot-in-mouth thing.

But a much bigger part of her was hurt. Really hurt that this guy she’d known for less than week could make her feel this bad. And a part of her that she tried so hard not to listen to was screaming, reminding her that this is what people DID, and she KNEW it. You let them in, you let your guard down, and they hurt you.

Her dad did it - every single time he was out, promising that he was going legit, that things were going to be fine from Here On Out. Batman did it, The Birds did it. They kicked her out, and whenever they asked her back, she went, because she wanted to believe that this time it would be different. She’d be better. She’d be so fucking good that they’d want her

[mischief_george]

Stopping, he just looked at her. Then, not over thinking it, because he'd talk himself out of it or be convinced it was the wrong move or a thousand other things, George simply pulled Stephanie into a hug. One hand was splayed against her back, holding her to him, and the other pushed up into her hair slightly, making soothing circles against her scalp.

"I'm so bloody sorry," he murmured into her ear. "That's not what I meant. I never, ever would mean to make fun of you or who you are, Steph, I swear. I think you're sodding amazing."

Then he laughed a little, shortly, and pulled back to look down at her, brushing a lock of her hair away from her cheek. "I'm sorry you had to go through that. You seem absolutely brilliant, and no one like you should ever have to deal with that. And I'm sorry I'm such an idiot and didn't think. Unfortunately. That's what happens when you're raised in a house of blokes. Foot-in-mouth syndrome." He smiled hopefully at Stephanie, just a bit hesitant. "Very sad."

And now he was just babbling

[busty_robin]

She stiffened, a little, at the hug. But damn it, she was so tired of hiding everything about her life, and maybe it was okay to admit this one thing, even if he might go back and throw it in her face when she did something typical of criminal's daughter. She wrapped her arms around George’s waist, taking a deep breath, trying to center herself. Trying to refrain from doing or saying something she’d regret

[mischief_george]

His arms wrapped around Stephanie as if she was some precious, fragile thing, George flew back much more slowly then the trip out had been. He told himself it was because it was harder to fly with a girl all in his lap. Right. Or, maybe, he wanted to prolong the feeling for as long as possible. Whichever.

Far too soon for his liking they flew up to Gryffindor tower. His broom hovering outside, George carefully swung up onto the ledge of Stephanie's window, pushing open the glass and carrying her inside.

Her shoes were eased off and she was settled into bed. Hey, he was an older brother. He knew how this worked. Tucking her in, George knelt beside the bed, pushing a bit of hair back from her forehead. "Good night, Stephanie. Thank you for going out with me." He grinned at her. "And thanks for not pushing me off the roof. Right smashing of you."