#favors fanfic

[simp-for-spencer-reid]

Favors- George Weasley fic

I may delete this from this blog bc it’s my criminal minds blog. but for now, here’s my latest writing idea if anyone’s interested :)

the title of the fic and the chapter title are a work in progress and subject to change

Chapter 1: Be My Alibi

A puff of smoke swirled around the library common area. Essie was shifting her focus between her Care of Magical Creatures essay and her upcoming Potions exam. Her eyes were growing heavy as she read her Advanced Potion Making textbook. A few groups of students who were also in the library had gotten up and made their way to the hallway. Essie briefly glanced at the commotion, but brought her attention back to her work. Two snickering red-haired boys were calmly following the crowd. 

The Weasley twins. 

Their reputation preceded them: notorious for their pranks they’d been pulling since the end of their second year. Before that, they had received some of the top grades in Gryffindor house. Now, just beginning their sixth year at Hogwarts, their main focus was on their pranks.

One of them had accidentally knocked into Essie’s table, sending her ink for her quill toppling over, a stream of black trickling over her hard work. 

The laughter between them came to a halt- one kept walking, he hadn’t bumped her table and was oblivious to the ink. The other; however, paused, noticing the Hufflepuff girl gaping over her destroyed essay. 

“Oh, sorry!” He muttered a quick incantation to soak up the excess ink, but it left the words that had been written before a bit faded. Essie gave him a shy smile, before gathering her work. It would probably do her better to finish up in her common room, less commotion and a certain pair of twins wouldn’t be up to their tricks. 

“It’s okay, thanks for clearing that up,” Essie turned on her heel and hauled out of the library towards the kitchens. 

“Wait! Let me make it up to you,” he had a grip on her upper arm, keeping her in place, yet it was still gentle. His twin was long gone down the hall now, not noticing yet that his other half was not following him. 

“Oh, erm, don’t worry about it. I can fix the rest,” Essie shook her head, tucking a loose strand of her golden hair behind her ear. 

“Please, I owe you one. It’s the least I could do.” He realized his hand was still on her arm and dropped it back to his side- then shoving it in the pockets of his pants. “Just think about it.” he shrugged.

“Uh, okay.” Essie agreed, wanting this interaction to end so she could finish her studying in her room. She turned away from him, walking as fast as she could back to her dorms. 

Just as she had gotten out of the grasp of one of the Weasley twins, Gabriel Truman- a fellow Hufflepuff and Head Boy, was coming into step beside her. She was trapped between the wall and Gabriel as they walked toward the Hufflepuff common room.

“Hey,” he started cooly, “Bit late for you out here isn’t it?” Gabriel asked, but it was more of a statement. 

“Gabriel,” Essie said dryly, “I could say the same about you.” Gabriel had been trying to convince her to go on a date since the start of their fifth year. Essie, didn’t have time for dating. She was busy with her studies and trying to get the best grades possible to set herself up for a promising future as a magical creature professional. She had a lot of pressure on her shoulders now that she had made Prefect her sixth year..

The magic in Essie’s family had skipped a generation. Her mother was a squib who married a muggle man, much to the disdain of Essie’s maternal grandmother. Her grandmother was famous Wizarding author, Dria Finkle. Dria was known for her stories of her travels- voyaging across Europe and writing about her affairs with politicians and diplomats and other famous wizard-folk. 

Essie kept her grades up to make her parents proud. Her father wasn’t sure about the whole wizard thing, but Essie sweet-talked him into allowing her to board at Hogwarts and showing him that magic wasn’t as unbelievable as it sounds. 

“What do you say: you, me, and a couple of butterbeers down at the Three Brooksticks next Hogsmeade weekend?” Gabriel put an arm out to stop her in her tracks, caging her in between his body and the stone wall. 

“Tempting, but I already have plans,” she moved to escape under his arm, but he shifted his arm down, blocking her. 

“Oh, yeah? Doing what?” He tested her. 

“I’m working on the Care of Magical Creatures essay.” she raised her eyebrows and pursed her lips, and pushed her way through his arm to continue walking. 

“That’s not due until the end of the year!” Gabriel called after her. She was thankful for his temporary defeat as he had stopped following her. 

Essie shook her head,now just wanting to retreat under the covers of her bed. She made her way down a flight of stairs to the basement. The smell of comfort food and the warmth of the ovens getting stronger as she got closer to the entrance of the basement. She stopped by a stack of wooden barrels, tapping the correct one to reveal the circular door to the common room. 

Copper lanterns provided a dim light, the main light source coming from the fireplace now that it was nightfall. Many plants hung from the ceilings or sat on shelves. Essie’s favorite plant was some sort of ivy whose tendrils swayed in its own dance and it whispered if you listened closely. It hung from a basket made of twine over one of the desks, and Essie talked to it sometimes while she did homework. 

A few students were gathered in the common room, and Essie politely informed them of curfew and that they needed to get to their dormitories. With some groans and sighs, they cleared out. 

Essie walked through the door that led to the dorm for the Prefects. She shared the room with the two other Hufflepuff Prefect girls, Cleo and Gwen. They were already in bed, as Essie could tell from Gwen’s snoring. Through the light of the lanterns, Essie placed her study materials on her designated nightstand and quickly changed into some sleep shorts and a tank top. Once she was nestled under her covers, Essie quickly fell asleep. 

This year at Hogwarts, the castle was hosting the Triwizard Tournament, as Professor Dumbledore had announced at the first feast. Hogwarts students were accompanied by two other schools: Durmstrang and Beauxbaton. Only students who were 17 could participate. In this dangerous tournament. 

They were given a night for students to put their name in the goblet of fire. Essie would never partake in something so dangerous, not to mention the attention that came with being chosen. She knew that her friend Cedric had put his name in: tempted by the thousand galleon prize and eternal glory. 

The night after Professor Dumbledore’s announcement, Essie was walking  the corridors of the castle, thinking of her schoolwork and making a mental to-do list as she took the long way to the Hufflepuff common room past the stairway to the dungeons.

She could hear footsteps coming from ahead of her. Fred and George Weasley were running down the hall. One of them beelined down a smaller branch off the hallway, while the other’s face brightened as he saw Essie. Slowing down, he stepped into place beside her.

“Never caught your name the other night in the library,” he looked over his shoulder, breathing heavily from running down the hall. “I’m George,” he smiled. They rounded a corner. 

“Estelle, but you can just call me Essie.” she also looked in the direction where George was glancing. She saw Filch, angrily hobbling after them, yelling about his cat. When Filch caught up to them, he continued his shouting.

“Weasley! I know it was you. You and your brother did that to Mrs. Norris, I just know it!” 

“Ah, but you see, Filch, I have been with Essie all evening. It couldn’t have been me that dyed Mrs. Norris pink,” George feigned politeness, going as far to throw an arm over Essie’s shoulders. Filch looked to Essie, and when he saw her Prefect badge upon her school robes, George and Essie could see the battle in his head of whether to trust this story. George lightly elbowed Essie to prompt her to speak.

“Yes, Mr. Filch. George and I were just on our way back from discussing tutoring sessions for Potions class-” George elbowed her again to get her to stop talking.

“You might consider asking my brother Fred about his whereabouts. I believe he went that way,” George pointed back in the direction of where Filch had chased them down. 

Ultimately, Filch grumbled about the twins and their mischief and he hobbled off in search of George’s twin. 

“You ought to learn to keep your lies short and sweet.” George told Essie, “Easier to keep straight.” She lightly shrugged his arm off as they continued walking in the direction Essie was headed.

“There’s nothing to keep straight if you just told the truth. Pretty soon they have the snowball effect.” Essie rolled her eyes at the ginger boy. Gabriel Truman was walking towards them, looking to strike up another conversation with Essie. She halted in her tracks, and grabbed George’s arm to wrap over her shoulders again. 

“What are you-?” George was cut off by Gabriel as he approached.

“Essie, did you give anymore thought to my Hogsmeade preposition?” Gabriel hadn’t noticed George’s arm around her.

“Actually, Gabriel, I can’t.” Essie shrugged, holding onto George’s hand to keep his arm over her. “George has just asked me to be exclusive, so I can’t.” George’s eyebrows shot up when he heard the words come out of Essie’s mouth. The twins were just as famous for their flirtatious mannerisms as they were for their pranks. Gabriel looked between George and Essie suspiciously. 

“That’s right, Gabe,” George held Essie closer, sliding his arm from her shoulders to her waist. Essie blushed profusely at the contact. “Essie and I are what you would call a ‘thing’ now.” George’s chest puffed out, proud of his words. 

“Well, I didn’t realize you two had been seeing each other.” Gabe said, still wary of the two of them. “Enjoy your night,” he said as he walked off, “Don’t stay out past curfew.” Essie and George watched him walk away, waiting until he was out of eyesight. 

“What was that you said? Something about telling the truth?” George mocked a thinking face. Essie scoffed, stepping out of his arm.

“Shut up,” she rolled her eyes, “Didn’t you owe me one from ruining my essay?” Essie countered. “Consider us even.” Essie began walking again towards her common room.

“Essie Essie Essie,” George tutted as he watched her walk away. “You don’t know what you started.”