Song for the chapter: Nothing's Gonna Hurt You Baby— Cigarettes After Sex

The next few days, Bianca spent more time in Gryffindor tower than she had in her own dormitory. The twins insisted on filling all of their free time with scheming. Although, they were perfectly capable of doing it on their own, they appreciated the help and it sped up the process.

Bianca woke up on New Year's Eve in George's bed with Juni beside her. It had become a thing for the girls to share George's bed while the twins shared Fred's. The bed was barely big enough for both of their lanky frames, but they insisted on being "gracious hosts."

"So what's the plan for today?" Bianca yawns tiredly as she plucks piece of sausage from her plate.

"You guys can have the day off, it's New Year's Eve after all," Fred says in his authoritative voice but he shoots them a small wink after.

"Oh thank the heavens, whatever would I do without this day off," Juniper says dramatically throwing her hands up towards the sky.

"Careful Juni before they demote you," Lee says wobbling his voice like a ghost and wiggling his fingers in her face.

"Even bigger of a blessing," Juni shrugs then swats Lee's hands away from her. "Hands to yourself Jordan before I hex you."

"Careful Juni, don't wanna end up in detention with Bianca," George smirks.

"Why're you always on my case Weasley?" Bianca questions. She's half-joking but she has noticed George bringing up the fight a little too often for her liking. Bianca smirks as she gets an idea to turn the tables back on George. "You gotta crush on me or something?"

Fred chokes on his pancakes but there's a smile trying to surface through the coughs. George smacks him on the back. George's face was tinged pink but he was smiling nonetheless.

"Oh Bianca you kill me," Fred gasps when he finally stops choking. "You brilliant girl."

"What the fuck just happened?" Juni asks looking between the three of them.

"I honestly couldn't tell you," Bianca says shaking her head before turning back to her breakfast.

Fred shoots George a knowing look before eating his breakfast as well. No one else seems to pick up on what they're saying. It was a common thing between the twins though so no one paid it a second thought, no one but Bianca. She couldn't help but steal glances at the twins, especially George, when no one was looking. Bianca was searching for signs of what they had been talking about.

Bianca continued silently observing the twins throughout the day, but with no luck. They had decided to finally move Bianca's record played back to her and Juni's room. The group of five spent the rest of the day in there. They played some wizard's chess and lounged around listening to music. Everyone wanted to conserve their music because they knew they'd be up late tonight.

"I think we should get the party started a little early," Juniper suggests reaching under her bed and pulling out a bottle of Firewhiskey. Everyone cheered and she opened it and took a quick drink. Fred and Lee were sitting on her bed as well and took a drink after her.

"Here you go lovers," Fred teases passing the bottle to George who was lounging on Bianca's bed with her.

"Oi cut it out," George says before taking a long pull from the bottle. Bianca tries to pick up on any emotion on his face but it just contorts from the stinging of the alcohol. Bianca watches as the crinkles by his eye intensify as squeezes them shut. His freckled nose scrunches and his baby pink lips pucker.

He turns to Bianca and smiles when he sees her watching him. "What do I have something on my face?" he whispers in a joking way.

"Something ugly," she responds without thinking. That is not how the joke goes!

"You sure you didn't start drinking without us?" George laughs. That sight was so familiar to Bianca, whatever had fallen over her passed now.

"Oh bug off," she says shoving his shoulder lightly and taking a drink from the bottle. "I could outdrink you on your best day."

"Sure you could love," George shakes his head, letting Bianca know he doesn't actually agree with her. Bianca's mind is caught up on the nickname. He'd never called her that before, had he?

"Hey pass the bottle back," Lee calls over to them. Fred and Juniper were arguing as per usual, and no one seemed to be paying attention to George and Bianca. Good.

***

By the time the five of them left to the Gryffindor common room, Bianca was fairly drunk. She felt slightly dizzy as she walked through the halls. A huge grin was on her face though as she held her hands out to balance and tried walking on a straight line created by the stone floor.

"Who's gonna babysit her tonight?" Lee asks from behind her.

Bianca turns around slowly with the grin still on her face. She's met with four pairs of questioning eyes. "George will, he always takes care of me, even when I'm not drunk," she says. She didn't know why she said it but it was too late to turn back.

Fred, Lee, and Juniper smile at George. They seemed relieved to not be on babysitting duty. George is also smiling. That stupid smile that made Bianca's stomach flutter. Her heart sped up slightly and she went over to George. She linked their arms together and began skipping down the hall, dragging him along with her.

"He's in for a night," she heard Fred say.

When they got to the common room, it was full of students. There were people from all houses, even Slytherin. There were also students from Durmstrang and Beauxbatons. Bianca scanned the room to see if Cassie was there, but didn't see her through the sea of students. She and George were towards the center of the room, standing on the outskirts of a big group of dancing students.

"Do you think she's here?" Bianca asks turning to look up at George. They still had their arms interlocked and Bianca didn't plan on dropping it anytime soon.

"Who?" George asks quirking a brow.

"Cassie, my twin," Bianca says in the "duh" tone that Lee had mastered.

"Nah, I paid a third year to make sure she didn't come," George says simply. Bianca's heart seemed to speed up for the dozenth time tonight. George Weasley did that for her.

"Oh Gerogie boy," she sighed filled with pure bliss and adoration for the boy beside her. "You're my hero."

"I'm sure you wouldn't be saying that if you were sober," he smiles but it isn't like his usual smiles. This one doesn't reach his eyes. It's small and almost sad. Bianca didn't like this. This perfect boy should not be feeling an ounce of pain. Especially when he made her feel so happy. George Weasley was like Bianca's prince in shining armor. Is that how the saying went?

"Why would you think that George?" she asks sadly.

"We can talk about this another day, when you've had a few less drinks yeah?" George says sliding his hand down to interlock their fingers. Bianca's fingers tingled, it felt electric.

"Okay, lets dance? You love when we dance," Bianca blurts out. She didn't really care, she wanted to do anything to make George happy again.

So Bianca led him into the group of dancing students. She danced with George to song after song. They were all upbeat, they still had fun together. They jumped around, flailing to the music. It felt like they were in a bubble no one could penetrate. It was the two of them and didn't matter what anyone else thought. It was perfect. Bianca didn't drop George's hand for ten songs, until she finally got tired.

"Can we take a break?" she asks hesitantly not wanting to ruin George's good mood again.

"Finally," George sighs sounding tired. "I didn't think you'd ever get tired of dancing."

Bianca just laughs and allows herself to be led out of the group of students by George. They go over to the table that had juice, alcohol, and snacks. There, they find the rest of their friends.

"Fancy seeing you here," Bianca grins slinging an arm around Juniper. "I missed you bestie."

"I missed you too," Juni smiles back, hugging her quickly then shrugging Bianca off. "You smell like a liquor store though."

Bianca pouts. "You haven't seen me all night and that's all you have to say?"

"Bianca I've been with you for the past few weeks. I haven't been away from you long enough to miss you," Juniper laughs.

"Fair enough," Bianca shrugs, feeling happy again. She felt better than happy, this night was perfect! Bianca went to gran a drink but a hand reached out and took it first. Bianca's eyes followed the hand up to the face to see that it was Lee.

"Uh uh Bianca," he tuts. "George told me to cut you off."

Bianca looks around for George but doesn't see him anywhere. She furrows her brows together, knowing Lee is lying. "He's not even here, that's impossible!"

"He went up to our room to take a break," Fred says coming to Lee's side to help him.

"I'll go ask him for myself then!" Bianca says indignantly crossing her arms over her chest.

"Probably not the best idea," Lee says sounding serious.

"He's having a little bit of er, a tough time," Fred says rubbing the back of his neck nervously.

Bianca got the same feeling from earlier. She couldn't let George be sad, he didn't deserve it. "All the more reason for me to go check on him," she says before marching away.

She can feel Fred following her up the stairs but she doesn't mind. She knocks when she gets to the door and George calls for her to come in. He's lying on his bed, staring up at the ceiling.

"Georgie is it okay if Bianca comes in? She insisted on seeing you," Fred says sounding the most serious Bianca has ever heard him. He was protective of his twin, that was adorable.

"Oh come on then you drunky," George says after a minute of silence. He moves over a little so Bianca has a space on the bed. Fred gives her a warning look, saying "be on your best behavior." He goes back downstairs and shuts the door leaving George and Bianca alone.

She crosses the small space to go sit on George's bed. "He said you're having a bit of a rough time," Bianca says looking down at George. He was staring up at the ceiling still, refusing to meet her eye.

"Yeah just a bit tired," he lies. Bianca can tell he's lying because he blinks twice once he finishes his sentence. Spending all these years with him, she'd picked up on his body language fairly well.

"George you know you can talk to me right? It feels like I'm always the one talking and you're always listening. It's okay if you need to talk to," she says not sure if it sounded intelligent because the alcohol was still messing with her brain.

He finally looks up at her. His eyes are swimming with hurt. He hasn't been crying, but his eyes are slightly glossy. George's eyes still had traces of his wrinkles from when he laughed, but his face was far from happy. He licked his lips seeming to ponder something. Finally he decided to break the silence.

"Have you ever wanted something that seemed just out of reach?" he asks still staring into her eyes.

"Yeah," she answers simply. "It seems like that's been my whole life actually."

George looks back up at the ceiling. "It sucks. Especially when it's everywhere, constantly reminding you what you can't have."

"It might be closer than you think George," she whispers. "You'll never know unless you try."

A smile twitches on his lips. It's a sad smile, a longing one almost. "For being so smart, you can be incredibly daft," George chuckles lightly.

He looks back up at Bianca once again. His eyes are swimming with unspoken words. He doesn't need to say them though, all that matters is right now. Because right now they were just two damaged people, sitting in the dim light, longing for the other without knowing.

"Can we dance again?" he asks.

Bianca nods, not trusting her voice. George grabs his wand from his bedside table. He flicks it at the radio that was sitting on their bookshelf. A muggle song fills the room. George gets up and offers his hand to Bianca.

She clings to him as he leads her. He smells like cinnamon and gunpowder. His body is strong but soft against her own. It feels familiar and comfortable in his hold. Bianca had never known a true home, but right now in George Weasley's arms felt pretty damn close. She smiles into his chest as she listens to his heart beat. It was fast and strong against his ribcage like soldiers marching.

Nothing's gonna hurt you baby

As long as your with me you'll be just fine

Nothing's gonna hurt you baby

Nothing's gonna take you from my side

They swayed together to the entire song, and everything felt right in the world for once. When the song finished, Bianca didn't want to let go. George pulled away slightly so he could look down at her. She looked up into his beautiful eyes and they held each other's gaze.

"It's midnight, happy new year Bianca," he whispers gently.

Bianca smiles and does something completely out of character. She raises herself on her tip toes and kisses George Weasley lightly on his lips. The kiss didn't last longer than a second but it made Bianca's stomach turn into a butterfly garden. George's lips were soft and full, they left Bianca wanting more. If the rational part of her brain wasn't screaming at her to stop, she would've snogged him right then and there.

At that moment Bianca Lestrange realized, somewhere along the way, she'd fallen for George Weasley.

A/N: Okay guys I finished writing this book today, I just need to find songs and make the little pics at the beginning of the chapter. So the rest of the chapters will becoming out sometimes within the next few days! :)