CHAPTER XV:
romeo and juliet

( December 1994 )

THE TWO TEENS WHO HAD JUST BEEN FIGHTING IN THE SNOW HAD JUST FINISHED JUMPING UP AND DOWN FOR A SOLID TEN MINUTES FOR THE WEIRD SISTERS. Ginger dragged George to the nearest table to take off her heels she had been running and jumping around in now understanding why she never wore them in the first place.

      "Hey, George?" Ginger asked having a thought cross her mind. He hummed raising his eyebrows attentively while his chest heaved up and down. "Did you understand my Romeo and Juliet reference earlier?"

      His eyebrows furrowed at the foreign names. He shook his head no so she continued, "when I asked you to the ball, you said 'i swear to the moon', so I started calling you Romeo because he said that to Juliet," she explained. He seemed to partially understand her words but only to an extent.

      "I've never read Romeo and Juliet, Moon."

      "Not even seen the movie?"

      "I barely know what a movie is."

      Her jaw dropped at his words and she suddenly scooted her chair closer to his. "Really?" her eyes widened. He stared into her wide golden eyes almost becoming captivated by them as he shook his head.

      "I really only know they were in love." He shrugged as she bit the inside of her cheek while listening. "Care to be my Juliet?" he joked while playfully smirking down at her.

      She felt her face heat up for a moment before remembering what happened to the two lovers, "as nice as that sounds, I'd rather not be Juliet. She stabbed herself over a man she had only known for three days." George's face contorted at the information he had been receiving.

      "Well that's quite depressing," he mumbled.

      "It truly is, the story was a bit odd and they weren't all that logical about certain things." He listened to her ramble about the story just as he did in the library a few days prior, completely submerging himself in every word she said.

     "We should go walk around," she suggested out of nowhere. He complied to go with her just as he had for the past few days and they began to walk out of the ballroom once more.

"So, George," she began. He always enjoyed when she said his name no matter the circumstance. "Tell me about yourself. Family? Likes? Dislikes? Interests? I only know so much about you while you know more about me." She strolled with her hands fidgeting behind her.

"Alright," he began. "I've got five brothers, one sister–"

"Oh, your poor mother," Ginger interrupted with a grimace. George quickly and jokingly shushed her as he continued.

"Likes would be quidditch, joking with Fred, working with my mum..." he trailed off thinking. "Dislikes would be the colour yellow, I don't care if my hair is a few shades too close to yellow, it's dreadful."

She laughed, "alright, remind me to never get you anything yellow."

      "Nothing against the Puffs though," he clarified with a chuckle.

      Ginger put out a hand to George's bicep to get him to look at her. They slowed to a stop in an empty corridor, no one else in sight for a while. The music from the event had been long silenced, only the sounds of their voices echoed down the hall. "I truly hate exercise," she huffed as her slightly sped up breath began to slow. George looked down at her leaning his shoulder against the closest wall, crossing his arms over his chest with a look filled with amusement.

"This was your idea though?" His eyebrows furrowed momentarily. She leaned against the same wall he did copying his actions.

"Your legs are longer than mine, you walk fast and it's a bit of work keeping up with you." He hummed raising his eyebrows as his head nodded.

A beat of silence passed between them, the music only being faintly heard now, then the twin began speaking, "Moon?" Her chin raised to meet his eyes as she had been spaced out. "How is it that you can tell me and Fred apart? You haven't even known us for a year and you can do it perfectly."

      "You two are far more different than you think." George's eyes furrowed as if asking her to continue and explain. "You carry yourselves differently, and you have slight differences in your faces that give away who's who. That's why I look closely at the two of you to make sure I don't mistake one twin for the other, I'd feel bad if I did." She simplified it for him just as she did for Fred back in October.

He admired Ginger for her words. He had had crushes on other people, yes, but Ginger was different from them. She made more of an effort to tell the twins apart than their own mother. Ginger also presented herself as only herself. She didn't try to mask any of her quirks or anything, she knew if someone truly wanted to stay in her life they would have to accept her right off the bat, no strings attached.

Unknowingly, George had been staring at his date, more specifically her lips as she continued on with whatever topic she had been rambling on about. Subconsciously he began to lean closer to her while she hadn't taken any notice of his actions whatsoever. But just as she finished her sentence she turned her head and sighed releasing George from his trance.

"We should head back, it's getting late and I'm sure Alexander and Cedric miss me so." She joked about her friends while pushing off of the wall. George's face began heating up quickly realizing what he had nearly done.

"Y-yeah, I agree." His voice cracked with his words as he followed behind her back down the corridor, mentally cursing himself for almost ruining any chance he had at Ginger being his very own Juliet. Minus the stabbing part of course.

NOTE. lmao my motivation's slowly leaving me 🚶🏽‍♀️