Blue Eyed Girl

"Oy, George!" George and Roxanne heard Fred call. They quickly pulled apart. They didn't feel like enduring the teasing Fred would obviously dish out to them if he caught them making out in the deserted courtyard.

"There you are," Fred said coming around the corner and past the bushes to the fountain where they stood. "What are you guys doing out here?" he asked. "The party's inside."

"We were uh..." George started stammering looking over to Roxanne for help while wiping his mouth with the back of his hand to make sure there wasn't any visible evidence of their little snogging session.

"We uh..." Roxanne started to say, trying to quickly think of an excuse. "I needed some fresh air," she finished. It wasn't really an excuse at all. That was the reason they had come outside; although that hadn't been the reason they stayed outside. However, Angelina, who had accompanied Fred to the courtyard smiled knowingly. She knew exactly what they had been doing, but to George and Roxanne's relief, decided to keep her mouth shut.

"Whatever," Fred shrugged, not noticing anything out of the ordinary. "I just wanted to inform you that I successfully replaced the remaining sticky buns with our newest invention," he told George with a wink and a mischievous smile. George smiled back, "Nice, very nice."

"You didn't" Roxanne accused a little heatedly, looking from Fred to George and back again, hoping they were kidding.

"He did," Angelina replied for them regretfully. "I tried to talk him out of it, but he wouldn't listen."

"Oh come on guys," Roxanne protested, even though there was nothing she could do about it now. "It's the Founder's Day Ball!"

"There's no need to get so uptight," Fred assured her.

"Yeah," George continued for him, not wanting to get Roxanne any more upset. "They're completely harmless."

"Exactly," Fred concluded. "Some people just might be a little surprised with their hair color when they wake up tomorrow."

"Fred!" Roxanne exclaimed. It was one thing to play pranks, but making people's hair change colors on a night like this when everyone (well, okay, mostly the girls) took so much time to get ready and look nice seemed so heartless.

"What?" Fred asked, seeing the severe glare he was getting from Roxanne. "It'll change back!"

"That's not the point!" Roxanne said fervently. "Pranks are supposed to be funny, and that definitely isn't funny," she finished and walked off. She wasn't exactly sure why she was so irritated all of the sudden. It wasn't as if Fred and George had never played pranks before. To her this one just seemed so mean. Probably because something similar happened to her at her previous school, and yet again, she had been humiliated. She never wanted anyone to go through what she went through at her old school, not even her worst enemy.

"Rox, wait," George said as calmly as he could as he followed her. What was her problem? Why was she suddenly so annoyed at them? It was so out of character for her.

"Well I thought it was funny," Fred said morosely to himself, still standing in the same place. That definitely hadn't been the reaction he had been expecting.

"Oh, come on," Angelina said, grabbing his arm, and pulling him with her back to the ball so they wouldn't cause any more trouble.

George caught up with Roxanne and gently tugged on her arm to stop her. "Rox, wait up," he said. She turned and faced him. George couldn't read the look on her face. "Hey, what was that all about?" he asked lightly, rubbing his hands up and down her arms to get her warm because it was steadily getting colder.

"I don't know," she said breathlessly and exasperatedly, pulling away from him. She really had no idea why she reacted like she had, but she was still upset. "I don't know," she said quietly and more calmly. She felt like she was going to cry. "I'm sorry," she said softly almost inaudibly and then she couldn't hold back any longer and began to cry. Her crying surprised George. He knew that she had been a little ticked off, but he had no idea she was this upset over a stupid little prank. He didn't know what to do, so he put his arms around her and tried to calm her down. His actions were fairly robotic though, because he had never been in a situation like this, and he didn't know how he was supposed to act. Sure he'd had girls cry on his shoulder before, but it was usually about something frivolous like a bad haircut (however, many would disagree and say that a bad haircut is a perfectly good reason to sob, but George obviously didn't see it). Not one of them had ever had the mental breakdown that Roxanne seemed to be having.

"This isn't just about tonight is it?" he asked her. She didn't answer him. To Roxanne it seemed that all the years of holding in her feelings about the teasing she received from the girls in her previous school were now spilling out of her. As much as she wanted to, she couldn't stop the deluge of emotion as she sobbed hysterically in George's arms. She hated crying in front of other people, and she felt like a blubbering idiot, but she couldn't control herself.

George had never seen this side of Roxanne before. She was always so happy-go-lucky and carefree. Now, it was like she was a completely different person with some serious emotional issues. This was such a stark contrast from her usual personality, and he couldn't say he liked this side of her. He liked Roxanne because she didn't act like most other girls. She wasn't a drama queen or high maintenance, and wasn't the type of person that always seemed to need a shoulder to cry on. He knew he was just being insensitive, and he was trying his best to be as supportive as possible. Still, he hoped that maybe this was just a once-in-a-lifetime thing, and after she calmed down, everything would be back to normal again.

"What's going on?" he asked her in what he hoped was a soothing voice. He couldn't stand to see her cry, and still didn't know how to act.

"Nothing," Roxanne whimpered gently, pulling away from him, wiping her eyes, and trying to pull herself together. This was all so embarrassing! She couldn't believe she let herself blubber like that. "It's nothing. I'm really sorry," she apologized. She wasn't sure she was ready to tell George (or anybody for that matter) about her past. It wasn't like it was a big deal or some big dark secret. Kids had teased her when she was younger because she was overweight. So what? Who didn't get teased? But she had taken control of the situation. She was no longer overweight; in fact, she was actually slightly underweight. She'd had a problem with her eating habits. She knew she shouldn't skip meals, but she did it anyway. Eventually, skipping meals became an obsession. After noticing her symptoms, such as her fairly nonexistent eating habits, her constant fatigue, and her dizzy spells, her parents had figured out what was wrong, and got her the help she needed. Now, she was slowly recovering. Her parents had been worried about sending her away to Hogwarts during her recovery, but she assured them that she would be fine, and she was. It was still hard for her to eat, especially in front of her peers, but she knew she had to, so she did. She wanted her parents to be able to trust her with her own health again and stop treating her like a child who couldn't take care of herself. However, she really didn't think now was the time to be telling George all this.

"You can't seriously tell me you just had an emotional breakdown over absolutely nothing," he said, yet again trying to lighten the mood. "Why don't you just tell me what's bothering you?"

Roxanne appreciated George's concern and his attempt to make her feel better. She just thought this was something she should keep to herself for the time being. "It's nothing, really," Roxanne assured him. "Don't worry about it," she finished with a reassuring smile.

"Fine," George said. "But just know that if you ever need to talk about it I'm here for you," he finished. He had no idea where that last sentence came from. It sounded like a line some guy would use just to get a girl to make out with him. While he wouldn't mind making out with Roxanne again, he'd really meant what he said, and it really surprised him.

"Thanks," Roxanne said earnestly with a sincere smile. That was the nicest thing anyone had ever said to her, and she really appreciated it.

"You're welcome," he answered with the same sincerity. "What do you say we get away from this sob-fest and get back to the ball?" He asked lightheartedly, offering her his arm, which she gladly took. "That would be great," she answered, relieved to be feeling better and ready to have a good time again.

When they got back inside, Roxanne excused herself to use the bathroom. She was sure her face was puffy and blotchy from crying. She was still pretty embarrassed she had lost it like she had, but there was nothing she could do about it now. Anyway, George hadn't seemed too weirded out. She finally reached the bathroom and pushed open the door. She walked over to one of the sinks and gazed into the mirror suspended above the sink, and she wasn't pleased with what she saw. As she had predicted, her face was pink and blotchy and her eyes were the same shade of pink and slightly puffy. She also had forgotten about all of the makeup Katie had put on her. She had dark grayish rings under her eyes with pale gray streaks down her fair skinned face from her mascara and eyeliner. Her red tinted lip gloss was smeared, but that hadn't been caused by her crying. She smiled to herself as she remembered George's kiss. She snapped out of her daydream and realized that the other girls in the bathroom were looking over at her curiously, obviously wondering why she looked like a mess. She just laughed to herself and proceeded to wash off her face with cool water. As she was doing so, Katie walked into the bathroom.

"There you are!" Katie said as she recognized Roxanne's petite frame hunched over the sink. "I haven't seen you all night," she continued walking over to Roxanne who greeted her while continuing to wash her face. "Washing away my beautiful makeover already?" Katie asked questioningly just as Roxanne finished washing her face, turned off the water, and looked over at Katie to answer her. "Whoa, what happened to you?" Katie asked startled, seeing Roxanne's face before she'd had a chance to respond. "Are you okay?" she asked as she tossed Roxanne a hand towel to dry her face.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Roxanne answered. "Minor breakdown," she laughed, making light of the situation as she dried off her face.

"What happened?" Katie asked again, knitting her brow questioningly.

"It's a long story," Roxanne answered as she folded the towel and hung it neatly on the towel rack. "It's not really that important."

"Umm...a minor breakdown sounds kind of important to me," Katie replied not accepting how Roxanne was just brushing off the situation. "Is that where you were all this time?"

"Well, kind of," Roxanne answered. "I was out in the courtyard with George," she said as she bit her lip, trying to suppress the huge smile that appeared on her face every time she thought about George and the courtyard.

"I see that smile," Katie playfully accused her as they walked out of the bathroom and down the hall, back to the ball. She decided to stop interrogating Roxanne about her "breakdown" because she obviously didn't want to talk about it. Anyway, it was pretty obvious to Katie that something happened between her two friends. "What happened?"

"Well, I'm not one to kiss and tell-" Roxanne began, embarrassed, her face blushing more than she wanted it to.

"He kissed you?!" Katie asked excitedly. Roxanne just nodded in return, not trying to hide her smile anymore.

"Finally!" Katie exclaimed happily as she bounced down the hall next to Roxanne.

"Will you calm down?" Roxanne asked, pulling on Katie's arm and trying to act serious, even though she knew it was impossible, because she couldn't stop giggling. She felt like she was ten again and had just revealed her crush to her friend. She was so giddy it was ridiculous. Katie seemed to be happier and more excited than Roxanne was, and Roxanne had no idea why.

"Nope, sorry, can't," Katie answered cheerfully. "Finally!" she said again.

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"Oh, don't pretend like you don't know! He's had a crush on you since the first time he saw you." Roxanne just blushed even more, but didn't answer. "You are all he ever talks about. Well, you and his Weasley Wizarding Wheezey things," Katie continued, controlling her energy somewhat. "It's gotten quite annoying actually. But he's totally smitten with you. I'm just glad he followed my advice and finally did something about it," Katie finished just as they arrived back at the Great Hall. They stopped at the door, and Roxanne saw George talking animatedly with his brother and Lee Jordan. He must have felt her looking at him, because he looked over to the door, smiled his totally adorable smile, and waved slightly before returning to his conversation. Roxanne couldn't help but stare. She could feel her heart slowly melting, and then it was clear to her that she really liked this boy.