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"Just so you know, I don't like you." George muttered as he did up the buttons of his shirt, his eyes flickering in Harry's direction.
Harry, could only grin at that. He was sitting propped up against the headboard to watch the boy who looked so much like his ex, attempt to make it appear as if they had just had sex in the older boy's dormitory.
"I'm not paying you to like me." He pointed out. "I'm paying you to laugh at my jokes and cling to me like a magnet so my ex doesn't think that I miss him."
George rolled his eyes and flung his shoe in Harry's direction. "You're not even paying me." He pointed out as he dropped down onto the bed with a thud.
Harry couldn't really argue with that one. He knew that the only reason that the older boy had even agreed to this in the first place was because he was trying one last desperate attempt at getting Fred's attention. He had offered to pay George, but apparently the principle of the matter had put him off.
George was silent for a while as Harry closed his eyes and stretched. He knew that his plan was more than a little ridiculous but it was the only way that he knew to get Fred's attention now that he was with Angelina. He knew that he couldn't really even consider Fred to be an ex in the grand scheme of things. They had only shared a few stolen kisses at Grimmauld Place during the summer before Fred had told him that they couldn't and shouldn't be together.
His heart ached regardless. It wasn't ready to listen to logic or reason, so desperate times called for desperate measures and he'd called in 'the big guns' (which was actually a nickname that George had given himself). George had been feeling left out since Fred had got himself a girlfriend and had practically sidelined both his brother and their business. George had not been amused.
"I don't know how long we should keep this up for." George said quietly after a few moments in which Harry had found himself getting distracted by the scars that ran across George's knuckles. They weren't identical to his own, but they sure as hell resembled them. He swallowed thickly before he remembered that George had actually spoken and that he should probably answer.
"What do you mean?" Harry asked slowly as he adjusted his position on the bed so that he could see George better. He didn't understand what he had done wrong, or at least what he had done to make George reconsider their arrangement. They were meant to be in this for the long run - or at least until Fred broke up with Angelina. Not that Harry was bitter about that or anything.
"I mean…" George let out a heavy sigh before he turned to face Harry properly, his gaze meeting the younger boy's properly. "Fuck. You're just a kid! This…" He trailed off before starting again, and undoing his shirt in the process, obviously deciding that having the buttons done up 'wrong' was not the look that he wanted to go for after all. "You should leave."
Harry frowned slightly as he stared at George for what was probably longer than was actually socially acceptable, but while he hadn't expected this to go on forever, he hadn't expected it to end so abruptly either. "I - what?" He blinked rapidly as he managed to find some words from somewhere. "I'm only.. I'm only two years younger than you." He pointed out.
George let out an uncharacteristically cold laugh before he dropped his eyes to his hands which he had folded on his lap. "Just leave, Harry. Please." He sounded desperate in a way that made Harry think that there was more to what George was saying that Harry didn't understand.
Harry couldn't help but move closer and lay his hand on George's arm. He expected the redhead to pull away but as it was, George just sat there.
"What's going on?" Harry asked slowly, moving closer still. Everyone knew that he wasn't the most observant person but he was trying his best to work through this after Hermione had brought it to his attention that he was oftentimes insensitive.
George let out a heavy sigh before he moved again so that he was facing Harry again now. "You're really going to make me say it, huh?" He blinked in a way that Harry realised meant that he was meant to know something. "We need to stop this before some feelings get hurt. And I don't mean Fred's before you remind me that is the whole point."
Harry frowned as he tried to figure that one out. "Whose feelings are you talking about then…?" He knew it was a stupid question, but he was honestly clueless.
"Mine." George's voice was no louder than a whisper but the two of them were sitting so close that there was no way that Harry could have misheard him, though in that moment he wanted to convince himself that he had. He watched, not daring to blink, as George took a slow breath. "Harry. I think I'm catching feelings for you and it's... it's dangerous. It's dangerous for me, for you, for Fred - who we both know still likes you, he's just denying it to himself."
Harry continued to stare at George. He didn't think that he could breathe, let alone speak. This was not at all what he had in mind when they had made this arrangement months ago.
"So you should leave." George repeated though he did press a gentle kiss to Harry's cheek before he got up from the bed himself.
As Harry left the room, as per George's request, he realised it wasn't the first time that he had kissed Harry, but the tenderness of the kiss itself told him that this would be the very last time.