Grand Opening
Today was the day of the grand opening, and Leigh admitted that she was nervous. After Thursday's time with Fred, and Friday's embarrassing conversation with Nova and Hermione, Leigh was sure she had no clue what to do if she had to step foot into the same room as the Weasley. Hermione was right, nothing had happened, but still Leigh felt that nagging feeling in the back of her mind, making her second guess her every word, and thought, in relation to him.
Although Leigh had already been down to Hogsmeade two times the last few weeks, she admitted it would be nice to go there with her friends. Even the 7th years, who had spent countless days at Hogsmeade throughout the years, seemed to be excited to visit with the village together with other classmates.
It was the last few days of September, and students saw the excursion as a reason to bring out their nice summer clothes one last time before autumn hit. The sun was out despite the moderately chilly weather, and Leigh watched as students stood outside the castle, waiting for the group to leave towards the village, shaking slightly in their flowing dresses and thin cardigans.
While she appreciated their summery look, she herself had shrugged on a sweater and a pair of jeans, and considered herself done with it.
Nova stood shuddering by her side, and Leigh looked at her apologetically. "Are you sure you don't want me to run up and get a jumper?"
"I'll be warmer once we start walking," Nova told herself.
Leigh spotted a familiar face and delivered a small wave to Neville, who approached them with Louise by his side. He looked nervous, Leigh thought to herself with a grin.
"Hi guys," he said awkwardly as she reached them.
"Hi! Nice to see you again Louise," Leigh said with a smile.
Nova immediately started complimenting the girl's outfit, and Leigh took this as an opportunity to pull Neville to the side.
"Are you together yet?" She asked bluntly in a whisper, and Neville's cheeks flushed bright pink.
"Not yet," he replied in hushed tones. "But this is a date. I asked her on it. On the date that is. This," he rambled nervously and Leigh's eyes widened.
"It's a date?" Neville nodded profusely. "Why are you standing here with us then if you two are on a date?"
Neville shrugged, looking at her intently. "I don't know! I saw you wave and I panicked! I don't know how to do these things!" He exclaimed, and Leigh chuckled lightly at his reaction.
"Me neither, in all honesty," she replied.
"Okay, I'm thinking–" Neville started, whispering, "once we start walking me and Louise hang back and walk after everyone else."
Leigh nodded at his words. "Sounds like a promising plan."
Neville nodded again, looking towards Louise. She was truly glowing. Leigh nudged Neville by her side. "She's gorgeous."
Neville sighed in response, eyes still on his date while a shy smile appeared on his face. "I know, right?"
Soon enough the group started moving. Hermione, Ron and Harry had arrived, bickering, which wasn't an uncommon sight.
"I'm just saying, you could've asked me!" Ron whined, complaining as he looked towards his partner, receiving a groan from Hermione in response.
"Ron, we're already a couple. Of course we're going to Hogsmeade together!"
"Well, I would've felt better if you asked!" He mumbled, and Hermione rolled her eyes.
"Fine. Ronald, would you like to go on a date with me in Hogsmeade this lovely day?"
Ron grumbled slightly, kicking a pebble on the path in front of him. "Well, not when you say it like that..." he trailed off, causing Hermione to throw her head back.
"You're impossible!"
"Don't invalidate my feelings!"
Harry quickly broke apart from the two and jogged up to Leigh, who was walking a few steps in front of the trio. Leigh chuckled slightly at his awkward expression.
"I'm really not enjoying being the third wheel," he admitted sheepishly, looking at her through his glasses.
"In fairness you've been a third wheel since that whole trio was formed," she replied, thinking of the obvious signs Ron and Hermione were into each other across the years.
"I suppose you're right," he laughed.
"How's Ginny?"
"Good! Got an owl from her yesterday. Things are going well. I'm thinking of visiting her for her next match. I know I'm technically not allowed to just leave during the school year but..." he trailed off, and Leigh shrugged beside him.
"You should definitely do it."
He let out a chuckle. "Not you encouraging me to break school rules."
She gave him a smile. "I mean we are technically adults. And you hardly need encouragement to do that."
He tilted his head to the side at her words. "That's true." He then looked at her in the corner of his eye. "How much time have you spent with the twins by now? They've made you into a rule-breaker and everything." She chuckled at his words.
The journey to Hogsmeade wasn't long, and people naturally headed in different directions once they reached the destination. Nova quickly grabbed hold of Leigh's arm, dragging her towards The Three Broomsticks. "A warm butterbeer. Please."
Leigh rolled her eyes, but followed her friend towards the pub, which was sporting some outside seating for the occassion. Nova, however, was cold and the two of them spent the first part of the visit huddled in a corner inside.
Their next stop was Honeydukes, and the two of them were happy to shovel their pockets full of candy (which they had paid for, of course). Leigh knew she wanted to get some new quills, and potentially look at some books, but she also knew that she hadto go past the twins' shop. She couldn't just not say hi.
Nova was thoroughly disinterested in quills and books, and instead decided to slip into Madam Puddifoot's, just 'for the gossip'. The two of them decided to meet up later.
And so Leigh was left slowly trudging her way down the street towards Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes, gnawing at her lip nervously. She could see it was already packed to the brim, and a substantial line was even forming. For a second she considered turning around. I mean she had an excuse: it was too packed. Right?
She shoved the thought aside and placed herself in the queue. She didn't have to stand there long though, as George peeked out through the entrance. He was clad in a colourful three piece: dresshirt, vest, blazer, tie and trousers in a combination of red, yellow and white. He looked a bit silly, but in a good way. Undoubtedly matching the theme of the shop.
"Honorary guests don't queue!" He announced, welcoming her into the shop with a wave, causing the long line of people in front of her to turn around to follow George's gaze. Her face flushed and she looked at the ground as she passed everyone. No doubt everyone would have heard about this towards the end of the day. The gossip-prone 6th years looked towards her as she made her way into the shop.
"Welcome!" George spoke once she reached him. "If Fred did his job then you've already been around here, but if not – follow the signs!"
She laughed slightly. "Fred showed me around," she admitted quietly. George looked relieved.
"Good," he replied. "Well, do look around. If you have any questions, just come get me," he spoke with a smile. "Fred is...somewhere in there."
Leigh nodded, turning around to go deeper into the shop. For a second she questioned why she was even in here, but she told herself she needed to show her presence.
She started wandering, walking between two shelves of Skiving Snackboxes and Weasleys' Wildfire Wizbangs. Costumers seemed engrossed in the products - big groups of friends were flocking around the various items, laughing or placing them in their arms to purchase later. Leigh smiled slightly at the twins' success.
Her mind automatically went back to the evening two days prior, remembering how she had been guided through the shelves with each item explained to her.
Still not having sighted Fred, Leigh proceeded to take a loop throughout the shop before approaching the exit. She had shown her face, and the two of them seemed as busy as ever, so she figured there was no point in hanging around anyway.
She shrugged the sleeves of her sweater further down her arms as she prepared for the cold wind that was soon to hit her outside, and pushed her way towards the door. However, before she was able to make it to the destination she caught a glimpse of George, standing a bit further into the store beside the till. He waved, signalling for her to come over, before motioning to the person by his side with a large smile. Fred, in a matching outfit, stood by his side, in conversation with a costumer.
She smiled back, and nervously made her way closer. Fred didn't seem like he had seen her yet.
"Hey!" George spoke once she was close enough. "Found him."
"Hi, guys..," Leigh trailed off, and Fred immediately looked up at the sound of her voice. She met his gaze before George's voice cut through the chatter inside the shop.
"So, what's the verdict? Do you like it?" He asked cheerily, looking around the packed shop. Fred also anticipated the answer, and it seemed like the customer from before was the least of his worries.
"It's nice," she spoke honestly.
"Nice?" George mimicked her. "Of all the words you could've spoken to describe this piece of art you say nice." He turned to Fred and immediately gave him a slap to the back of the head.
"Ouch, what was that for?" He asked, his own hand coming up to rub the spot.
"You were supposed to sell it to her!" He exclaimed. "Here I was rushing to Diagon Alley, leaving the reputation of the shop in your hands, and yet you can't convince Ms Conway here that it's better than nice?" Leigh chuckled quietly at the view. George playfully rolled his eyes, instead looking back at Leigh with a grin. "He's absolutely hopeless."
"Well, aren't you charming today," Fred grumbled, glancing at his brother before looking towards Leigh and taking in the view of her smile.
"I would be if you had done your y task," George shot back. It was clear he was playing around.
"Alright, alright," Leigh chuckled. "Forget nice, it's great. Amazing even," she looked between the brothers, seeing George looking at least a tad more pleased.
She continued. "And Fred was...great– I mean– uh, at showing me around and everything. Yeah, I definitely saw...things. Products. Yeah."
She gulped, subtly clearing her throat.
George looked at her curiously as she stopped rambling. Apparently her stumbling across her words didn't go unnoticed. "If you say so," George hummed, glancing at his brother by his side.
"I should probably–" Leigh started after a moment of awkward silence, but was quickly caught off guard when a swishing sound rapidly approached her. Fred's arm automatically reached out to place itself on her back, quickly moving her closer as something shot through the air right where her head had been just a second ago. Her eyes widened, and she whipped her head around to see an item flying chaotically towards the other end of the room. She was not the only one who followed the flying item with her gaze; other costumers did the same, some even throwing themselves out of the way as it came shooting through the air.
Her head turned and she looked up at Fred, who still looked over her, following the object. His eyes were gleaming, excited, and a small smile traced his lips softly. She gulped again.
"Sorry about that, have to be careful in here sometimes," he spoke before turning back towards Leigh, looking down at her. Their gazes met, and he swiftly let his hand fall from her back, taking a small, respectful step backwards.
"Thanks," she uttered quietly before starting to say what she tried to earlier, before a product came shooting towards her head. "I should probably go, Nova's probably...waiting," she spoke, although she knew Nova was probably doing fine without her presence.
Fred's eyebrows furrowed, but he remained quiet, watching her as she nervously reached up to scratch her jaw. She quietly said her goodbyes, which were returned by the twins, before shuffling through the crowd and out the door.
Fred couldn't help but follow her with his gaze, and his attention was only captured once Leigh was out of sight, and George spoke up beside him.
"Now, what in the world was that all about," George asked, eyeing his brother expectedly.
Fred's hand went up to comb through his hair, and he shrugged slightly. "I...don't know. It was fine when she left here on Thursday," he said truthfully. She had seemed happy enough the last couple hours of her visit. He thought about their last meeting, going over it hour by hour. "I mean she did cry for a bit but–"
George's eyes widened and he blinked several times as he watched his brother, immediately interrupting him. "She what?"
Fred reached up to rub the side of his face. "She cried a tad," he admitted. "When she was here. Thursday."
"What did you do?" George was quick to ask, and Fred shot him a glare in response to the accusation.
"Rude of you to assume I did anything. I didn't make her cry, she just...cried. I tried to comfort her."
"And failed, I assume," George huffed, delivering a big, welcoming smile to a few people walking into the shop.
Fred considered it, then shook his head slightly. "I think it went quite well actually. She seemed better."
George furrowed his brows. "What's the issue then?" he asked, receiving a shrug in response.
Fred caught his gaze. "I truly don't know. She left Thursday evening and everything was fine, she was smiling and– anyway, now it's all awkward and she practically ran out the door."
George thought for a moment. "Maybe her friend's just waiting then, who knows."
Fred grumbled under his breath beside him. He raked his mind trying to figure out if anything he said two days ago had possibly made her uncomfortable, but couldn't think of anything. He vividly remembered her smile towards the end of the night. He had been glad he was able to cheer her up.
It wasn't the most plausible explanation, but her friend waiting for her might be the best answer he could get.