Junoesque ✿George Weasley✿

5.

That night, Blair sat on her bed with Jasper curled up on her lap. She was finishing her Transfiguration homework while the girls in her dormitory got themselves ready for bed. The girls she shared her room with had never made an attempt to talk to her and she had done the same. Blair assumed that like everyone else at Hogwarts, they were put off by her last name. There was a collective agreement to sleep in the dormitory like classmates and that was it. The three others talked to each other and Blair knew they were close friends, but she didn't feel left out or excluded. She liked it the way it was.

"Um... Blair?" Poppy Penigram said.

Blair looked up from her parchment once, thinking that she may have heard something that might have rhymed with her name. But she looked up again when she realised that the three girls sitting on their beds were looking at her and that Poppy had actually called her name. Poppy, Nancy Lindor and Mina Darcy nervously glanced to each other but didn't back down.

"We were just wondering..." Poppy looked to the others for some help.

"We saw you talking to George Weasley today at breakfast," Mina continued. "We weren't being nosy. Well we kinda were actually... sounds creepy, I know. But George has a really loud voice and we couldn't help but listen in."

"What Mina's trying to say-" Nancy glared lightly at her friend. "-is that we're sorry if you feel like you can't talk to us. We just assumed you... wanted to be alone. A little mean for us to think that actually..."

"It was really only Nancy that thought that," Poppy mentioned.

"Shut up."

Blair was surprised at the confrontation but surprisingly felt a weight slide off of her shoulders. The three girls looked hopeful for her reply and leaned forward as if to get closer to an answer. The girls were never mean to her or anything. And Blair was actually glad that they had decided to ask her something.

"Y-Yeah... I can talk," Blair started and the girls sighed in relief, their shoulders slacking from their tense posture. "I guess I haven't been too friendly in the past... I'm sorry about that."

"Don't be sorry," Nancy replied. "We all should have at least talked in our first year. I've been needing help in Potions for years and could have really used some of your expertise."

"How do you know that I'm good at Potions?" Blair said.

"Everyone knows. You're the best in our year," Poppy laughed before then looking worried. "Sorry, that sounded creepy again..."

Blair let out a light chuckle and Poppy grinned widely. The girls felt a lot more relaxed and had a laugh between themselves. They had spent years tiptoeing around Blair, thinking that the rumours about her were true and that she wanted to be isolated. But they realised how stupid that was and had finally attempted to patch up the tense dormitory. And it seemed to have opened up an acquaintance-relationship base and maybe even a friendship.

---

The weeks passed by and it was soon coming up to the first Hogsmeade weekend. But for Blair, it was just another weekend of finishing off assignments early. She had to admit, she was jealous of the students that went down to the Wizarding village. She caught glimpses of the products people showed their friends from Honeydukes, Zonko's and their experiences at the pub, The Three Broomsticks. But for the sake of Blair's state of mind, she told herself that there was nothing in the village to look forward to.

Sitting in the courtyard with another book from the Ravenclaw common room, Blair tried her best to ignore the excited chatting from the people going to the Entrance Hall. They would be signed off there by Mr Filch before leaving the school grounds to Hogsmeade. She dressed in a black jumper and black skinny jeans, warm enough for the autumn weather that was now starting to settle in. If you were to walk into the courtyard, you wouldn't be able to miss her among the stone corridors and bright green grass.