The day of the second task dawns clear and cold, and Marjorie finds herself trudging down to the Black Lake alone. She's running a little late, having overslept, and had insisted that Neville go down without her. Bundled up against the cold, she picks up her pace and hurries towards the lake as she hears Ludo Bagman's magically amplified voice begin to echo from the stands.

"Margaret!"

Marjorie nearly doesn't turn around, as it takes a moment to register that the person calling actually means her, but the accent is familiar and she finds herself turning without thinking. She's surprised to see Kolya hurrying towards her, comfortably wrapped in his Durmstrang fur-lined robes. "It's Marjorie." She says without thinking, in a tone of confidence that she doesn't really feel.

Kolya pauses, visibly surprised, but recovers quickly and bends his head in a mini bow. "Apologies, Marjorie. I was, ah, hoping to talk."

Marjorie hesitates, at a bit of a loss, but nods sharply and continues to walk with Kolya falling into place beside her, matching her pace with ease. Kolya doesn't speak immediately; instead, he walks with her in silence for several moments as he searches for the correct words.

"I have wanted to apologise since Ball," he says at last, "But it is difficult to find you alone."

Marjorie glances at him, surprised; the ball was almost two months ago at this stage, and besides, she's alone quite often. "Apologise?" She questions instead.

"I had too much drink at Ball, yes?" He shoots her a self-deprecating little smile, which makes her look quickly away as colour rises in her cheeks, "And I believe I insult you. I am sorry, it was not my intention."

"Oh, well," Marjorie shrugs and retreats into her scarf, "Don't worry about it."

Kolya grins at her, clearly pleased with her acceptance of his apology. "Your friends, they are quite protective," He says as they approach the stands, "It is difficult to find you without them close by, and I do not want more spiders out of my nose."

"I didn't ask them to do that." Marjorie assures him quickly, tugging at her scarf. She can't help but think that he probably hadn't been trying very hard to get her alone if he hadn't managed to find her without the twins nearby.

"Oh, of course." Kolya says with an indulgent smile, leading the way up into the stands. She spots Angelina, Katie, and Alicia almost immediately, sitting grouped together with Lee and the twins sitting in the row just in front of them. Marjorie hesitates; she hasn't properly spoken with the twins since their minor argument in the common room over a week ago, partly because she was still a little irritated but mostly because she was still utterly mortified over the entire misunderstanding and was having quite a difficult time meeting their eyes. Kolya follows her gaze, and his expression tightens once he spots Fred and George. Angelina spots Marjorie and her whole demeanour brightens as she waves and gestures her over, though her expression slips into surprise when she notices that she isn't alone. It's clear the exact moment that the twins spot Kolya too, because both of their faces drop into identical looks of suspicion.

"I'd better..." Marjorie trails off and jerks a thumb towards Angelina's group, who are all peering very curiously their way.

Kolya spares them one single glance before looking back to Marjorie with a tight smile. "You are welcome to sit with my friends."

"Oh." Marjorie blinks, startled by the invitation. "That's... that's very kind of you, but, er- well, I think they're waiting for me."

Like a gentleman, Kolya bows and says, "Then I hope to see you later. Goodbye, Marjorie."

Marjorie gives a very embarrassing nervous laugh before nodding swiftly and hurrying over to her roommates. Alicia makes space on the bench eagerly, peeking over Marjorie's shoulder in an attempt to catch a lingering look at Kolya as he leaves to join his own friends.

"That's not the Durmstrang boy from the ball, is it?" Katie asks in what is possibly meant to be a whisper, but ends up being more of a hushed shout. Marjorie nods, shy and embarrassed by the attention, and Angelina begins craning her neck to get a better look at him, but he's already disappeared into the crowd. 

"Well, you missed the start of the Task." Lee says in a pointedly upbeat tone -- Marjorie has a feeling he's being exaggeratedly friendly in an attempt to make up for the little misunderstanding earlier in the week. "The four of them just waded in and disappeared into the water. Apparently they have to find something that's been taken from them and hidden at the bottom of the lake."

Marjorie straightens her robes and turns her attention to the lake, but there's not much to see -- the black water is very still on the surface, and there's no sign of anything happening in the depths at all.

"Not the most exciting challenge." George notes unenthusiastically, though he doesn't seem to be looking at the lake at all; his attention is fixed on a group of Durmstrang boys several rows away, where Kolya is laughing with some friends.

Fred sighs explosively and leans back so that his weight is resting against Marjorie's knees. He either doesn't notice or chooses to ignore the way she jumps, startled at the contact. "I suppose all the exciting stuff is going on pretty deep down."

"Guess we'll just be waiting here for the next hour, then." Alicia grumbles, leaning her head on Angelina's shoulder and closing her eyes. "How boring."

"It seems easy enough, doesn't it?" Katie points out, eyes on the placid dark water. "I mean, it's definitely not as difficult as facing a dragon, right?"

"I dunno," Lee's knee bounces restlessly, "I certainly wouldn't want to face the giant squid on a bad day."

Marjorie fidgets with her fingers and tries not to stare at the place where Fred's back rests against her knees. Her skin feels very warm at their point of contact, and she has a feeling that her face has gone rather red too. Naturally, Fred seems blissfully unaware of how he's affecting her. When he leans his head back, his hair tickles the tops of her thighs.

Marjorie takes a deep breath and stares pointedly at the water. It was going to be a long wait.

Surprising absolutely no one, a huge party was organised in the Gryffindor common room that night following Harry's success in the second Task. The twins had spearheaded the celebrations, cheering the loudest and laughing the longest, but Marjorie couldn't forget how pale their faces had gone when Harry had emerged from the lake with Ron, and how horrified they had looked when they realised that their little brother had been at the bottom of the Black Lake that whole time.

Marjorie is stood quietly in a corner with Neville, nodding along absently as he tells her about the incredible properties of Gillyweed and how brilliant Harry is for using it, but she can't keep her gaze from straying over to the twins. The two of them are enthusiastically passing out drinks (no doubt liberally spiked with Firewhiskey), and frequently toasting to Harry, who sits nearby grinning with Ron.

She's still thinking about that moment of panicked vulnerability that had shown on the twins' faces following the end of the challenge when George catches her eye from across the room and grins. He leans in and whispers something into Fred's ear, who laughs and nudges him with a nod,  before turning and making a beeline straight for her. Startled by his sudden approach, Marjorie straightens up and watches him with wide eyes.

Neville, still lost in his own enthusiasm for herbology, doesn't register George's approach until he's come to a stop right beside them, "Hello, Longbottoms!" George says cheerfully, holding out a goblet of Butterbeer to Marjorie.

"Oh, hello." Neville sounds surprised, but he doesn't show any irritation at having been interrupted. "How are you..?" He trails off, apparently realising that he doesn't know which twin he's speaking to.

"I'm good, cheers." George beams at him, cheerful and friendly, "Enjoying the party?"

Marjorie sniffs at her butterbeer suspiciously, and is relieved to find the strong scent of Firewhiskey absent. She sips at the drink, enjoying the sweet, creamy taste as Neville and George make small talk.

After a couple of moments of Marjorie keeping quiet and listening to the chatter, Neville begins to look at her out of the sides of his eyes. "I, uh, I'm actually gonna go over there and chat with Seamus for a bit." Neville points to the other side of the room, though when Marjorie looks in that direction she can't see Seamus anywhere.

"Alright, mate, see you later." George says promptly, smiling the whole while. As soon as Neville leaves (with a quick glace back full of pointedly raised eyebrows aimed at Marjorie), George nestles in closer beside her and leans down so that his mouth is next to her ear. "You've been avoiding us, Marjie."

Marjorie swallows thickly and avoids his gaze. "Have I?" She asks evasively. He's so close to her that she can smell the warm, fresh scent from his jumper. His breath is warm against the back of her ear.

"Yeah," He chuckles, "You have. Are you still angry, love?"

Marjorie takes a large gulp of butterbeer to delay having to answer, but George's gaze is heavy against the side of her face and she can't put it off for long. "No," She says at last, still avoiding eye contact. "I'm not angry, I'm just embarrassed by the whole thing, I guess."

"Why? There's nothing to be embarrassed about, you were right; we jumped to conclusions, and we shouldn't have. Neither one of us wanted to embarrass you, or hurt your feelings at all."

Marjorie sneaks a peek at him, then looks quickly back down at her drink. "I know you didn't. I'm sorry too, I think I probably overreacted."

"Nah," George leans easily against the wall, still watching her closely. "You were probably right. It wasn't our business, but we were just worried about you."

His tone is perfectly earnest, and even if Marjorie had still been angry about their little argument she thinks her annoyance would have evaporated in the face of it. As it is, she feels a little bubble of happy contentment begin to grow in her chest at the thought of having friends who cared enough to be so protective over her. "That's alright."

George smiles at her, a much softer expression than he'd been giving Neville. "Glad we're okay, then," He says quietly, with a gentle nudge to her arm. Marjorie returns his smile with a much shyer one, and then ducks her head down into her goblet. George takes a deep gulp of his drink, before ducking his head down to speak in her ear again. "So, what'd Durmstrang boy want today?"

Marjorie looks up, starting to frown a little. "Is that seriously why you came over? To ask me that?"

"No." George says, but too quickly to be altogether believable. "I was just wondering, that's all."

"He wanted to apologise." She sniffs, sipping at her drink. "It was nice of him."

George makes a face that suggests he doesn't agree, but he doesn't argue with her. "You forgive people very quickly, don't you?"

Marjorie breathes a short laugh. "I suppose. People don't apologise to me very often, so when they do... well. I don't see the point in holding grudges."

"Hm." George hums thoughtfully, watching her carefully, "Well, I suppose that just makes me and Fred very lucky, huh?"

Marjorie snorts a little laugh, and hurriedly covers her mouth. "I suppose so. I guess that makes Kolya lucky too, huh."

George's face sours at that, which makes Marjorie laugh a little. "I just think you should be careful around him, that's all."

"Careful?" Marjorie repeats, quietly amused.

"Yeah, I mean, guys like that only really want one thing, you know?"

Marjorie laughs again, though this time it's lacking humour. "'Guys like that'? You don't even know him. Besides, I sincerely doubt he's looking for anything from me."

George apparently chooses to ignore the first part, and says, "And how would you know that?"

Cradling her goblet to her chest, Marjorie looks up at him out of the corner of her eye. "I'm being serious."

"So am I!" George protests, looking a little bewildered. He's still very close to her, but it's a party and everyone is standing very close to each other so Marjorie doesn't read too much into it. It's very loud, and he's probably struggling to hear her over all the noise.

"Well, why would he be?" Marjorie asks, trying to sound reasonable but probably falling short. This is a very embarrassing source of insecurity for her, and she has a feeling that her tone is more fragile than she'd like. "No one ever does."

George falls quiet, but he's thinking hard judging by the way he's chewing on his bottom lip. "Don't you think you're being a bit hard on yourself?"

Marjorie finally looks up at him, disbelieving. "You didn't even know I existed until this year. You never even looked my way." She points out. She doesn't want to fight or argue -- in fact, she wants to avoid that whole-heartedly, but it's a sensitive subject and it's difficult not to get defensive.

George winces, but nods all the same, "You're right, I'm sorry," He says quietly, his voice low and rumbly against her ear, "But I'm looking now."

Marjorie just stares back at him. She's not sure she understands what George is saying, and it feels a little as though she's lost control of the conversation. It feels as though his eyes are burning into her skin, as though he's able to read her thoughts from the surface of her skin. "I can see that." She says eventually, her voice trembling a little.

A slow smile begins to tug at the corners of George's lips, and he leans his full weight carelessly against the wall. "Does it make you nervous?"

"No." Marjorie says quickly, but her anxious giggle gives her away. George chuckles too, quiet and amused.

"Oh yeah? You sure? You look a little nervous to me."

Marjorie takes another sip of her butterbeer in an attempt to hide her face, but George is watching her so closely that it doesn't do much good at all. "Yeah, well. I'm not used to being stared at."

George looks like he's biting back a smile, and he pulls his head back and shoots a quick look around the room. It's nearing 1am and all of the younger students had retired to bed long ago. Everyone left is well on their way to being tipsy if not fully drunk, and no one seems to notice Marjorie and George hidden away in the corner.

"Hey, Marjorie. I have a question." George leans back down again so that he's speaking directly into her ear, and Marjorie shivers at the proximity.

"Y-yes?" She clears her throat and tries to keep her voice strong and clear.

"Have you ever been kissed?"

Marjorie knows her mouth has dropped open and her eyes have blown wide, and she's sure that she takes a sharp, shocked intake of breath. The question is a personal one, but worse than that she knows that he knows the answer to it by the way that he's looking at her. His brown eyes look darker than usual, and keep darting down to look at her lips.

"No." She says in a nervous whisper.

"Do you want to be?"

Marjorie wonders, absently, if he's trying to play some sort of joke on her. It wouldn't be the slightest bit funny, and the worst part is that she's feeling hope begin to build and pool in her chest. Wordlessly, she nods her head.

Long fingers wind into her hair, tugging the ribbon free as he leans down to her. For a moment, they just share the same air, watching each other for a reaction. Marjorie is waiting for him to start laughing, to pull away and tell her that he was just kidding, but instead he leans in and presses his mouth to hers. Despite it all, Marjorie hadn't actually been expecting him to go through with it, and now she finds herself realising that she has absolutely no idea what to do as he's kissing her. His lips are very soft, and his hand in her hair is gentle. Marjorie desperately wishes she knew what to do, because at the moment she knows that she's too tense and failing completely at reciprocating.

When George pulls away with a little chuckle, Marjorie feels a flash of panic rocket through her; was it a joke after all? Was she so bad at kissing that he actually found it funny? Did he only kiss her because he felt sorry for her?

"Relax, Marjie." He whispers, before leaning in and kissing her again. He's firmer this time, a little more insistent, and doesn't allow Marjorie time to start overthinking. This time, Marjorie tries her best to follow along with his movements, mirroring every tilt and press.

Marjorie's mind goes blissfully blank as her stomach somersaults, and she presses closer to him subconsciously. She barely has the presence of mind to feel embarrassed or self-conscious by how much she's enjoying feeling his warmth against her -- it doesn't even matter that she doesn't know what she's doing, because George's fingers wrap around the back of her neck and gently hold her in place as he kisses her, coaxing her lips to follow his. His other hand settles low on her hip, and he uses his grip to guide her body even closer to his. His mouth is hot and slick and wet and it's nearly enough to make Marjorie lose her breath; she's nearly boneless in his arms, and barely even realises it.

"What is going on here?"

The two of them break apart, startled, as the stern voice of Professor McGonagall cuts through the noise of the party. Marjorie is breathing shakily, and George looks distinctly rumpled with a red and swollen mouth. She wonders if she looks similarly disheveled.

"I am also delighted that Potter did so well in the challenge, but if you lot don't get to bed immediately there will be consequences." McGonagall raises her voice as she tugs her tartan dressing-gown tightly closed, her tone steely. Students scatter, racing for the stairs to the dormitories as though You-Know-Who himself was on their heels.

George groans frustratedly and rakes a hand through his hair as McGonagall breaks up the party, her face set in stern disapproval. "Shit." He breathes, watching as Fred practically dives to hide the bottle of Firewhiskey he'd been holding. "Guess the party's over."

Marjorie is still breathing heavily, and she brings her fingers up to brush over her lips. They're still tingling. She can't fully believe that that's just happened.

"Time for bed, huh?" George straightens up and begins to gently push Marjorie towards the dormitory stairs in an attempt to outrun McGonagall, who has begun to chase students around the room in an attempt to force them to clean up the common room. Once they reach the stairs, he turns to Marjorie with a little grin. "Alright?"

"I- um, yes." Marjorie darts a look up the stairs, and then looks back to George with a shy smile. "Yes, all good."

George smile grows wider. "Good." He leans in and presses a sweet kiss to her forehead, "I'll see you tomorrow, yeah?"

"Right, yes. Tomorrow." Marjorie nods, flustered by his easy affection. She has absolutely no idea where she stands with him right now. She scurries up the stairs, glancing back only once to see him watching her go. He winks at her, then laughs as she turns red and sprints the rest of the way to her dorm.

When she gets into the dormitory, she sees that the girls haven't started to get ready for bed yet; Angelina is laying across her bed giggling tipsily, and Alicia and Katie are bickering about something silly. None of them look at her oddly, even though she feels like it must be so obvious that she had been kissing George in the corner of the party.

"Did you have a good night, Marjorie?" Angelina asks sleepily, squinting at her with a friendly smile.

"Yes! It was very fun!" Marjorie says hastily, embarrassed. She can't believe that no one saw them in that corner, but she still feels as though anyone that looks at her would be able to read what had happened right off of her face. She changes into her nightgown quickly, keeping her head low so that the girls can't see her expression.

By the time she climbs into bed, McGonagall's muffled shouts are still audible from downstairs. Marjorie lays on her back and stares at the ceiling; the curtains to her four-poster bed are drawn, leaving her in semi-darkness as the other girls get ready for bed, still chatting and laughing. When she eventually falls asleep, she swears that she can still feel the warm pressure of George's lips on hers.

hello lovelies! so first of all i want to apologise for the long delay in getting this chapter out. i was kinda unmotivated to finish it, but some of you left such lovely comments that it got me into writing it again! so thank you for all of your lovely messages, i'm so happy that you're enjoying the story!

and we're finally moving forward a little with the romance! you guys have overwhelmingly voted for both twins, and your voices have been heard xx