Skeletons & Pumpkins
Leigh rushed out of the joke shop and into the late September air, cursing under her breath. The pink colour of her cheeks had yet to calm down, and she replayed the last few minutes in her head; the way she had stumbled over her words and made both George and Fred question what was up with her.
Meanwhile, much to her own embarrassment, she couldn't help but blush as she remembered the feeling of Fred's hand upon her back. The way his hand moved her a bit forward, the way he looked into her eyes with his enthusiastic, gleaming ones, drawing her in. He had quickly moved back, removing his hand, and she found herself wishing he hadn't.
She felt her face heat up again at the thoughts. I need to get a grip, she mumbled, not liking the way she had been so clearly drawn in by the small touch of someone. She couldn't let herself be affected by someone like that, not now. It felt...wrong. And surely Fred Weasley of all people wouldn't feel the same. She shook her head. No more. Pull yourself together. She had other things to focus on.
She quickly moved on to other thoughts, and decided to concentrate on her next task: finding Nova.
The rest of the day was spent not so much as glancing towards the twins' shop. Her and Nova, soon joined by Ron and the rest of the gang, spent the rest of the day walking around Hogsmeade, drinking butterbeer, and enjoying the live band which had been arranged, playing on a small stage outside of the Three Broomsticks.
Music thumped, and the sound of guitar echoed down the village streets as students hanged around in the outside seating area, listening and nodding along to the music.
Hermione plopped down on a chair beside Leigh, out of breath after dancing and singing along for the last 20 minutes or so. "They should've done this more often. It's nice!"
"Yeah they should've," Leigh agreed, smiling into the sun and taking a sip from her butterbeer. She felt bad for the younger students who didn't have the opportunity to be here.
Hermione looked from the crowd, back to her friend. "So how was Fred and George?" She asked, and Leigh gave her a questionable look. "Saw you from Scrivenshaft's Quill Shop," Hermione admitted. "You didn't stay in there for too long."
Leigh shrugged at the question. "They're fine, I guess. Grand opening seems to go well. Place was packed."
"Sounds like them," she chuckled. "You didn't talk about anything else?"
Leigh met her gaze. "What else would we talk about?"
Hermione turned to her with a small, knowing smile. "You know what I'm getting at. You said yourself that you felt awkward about the last time you were there, maybe it would feel better if you spoke with him again. Cleared it up."
"It's in the past, we have nothing to talk about," Leigh replied dismissively.
Hermione chuckled. "You're a bit funny sometimes, Leigh, you know that? You make it sound so serious. If I didn't know what happened I would've thought you two snogged or something based on your reaction."
Immediately, Leigh's cheeks heated up again, and she was again pulled towards her past thoughts. Remembering the feeling of his touch and him towering above her. "I– No, I wouldn't do that," she stuttered. Shut up, brain.
Hermione laughed. "I know you wouldn't. But you act like you did something. Or thought something, at least."
Leigh looked away. "I didn't." Hermione thankfully wasn't looking at her.
She let out a breath, holding her own glass of butterbeer in her hands. "Look, they're good guys, Leigh. I should know, I've known them for years. George is lovely, Fred can be an asshole at times, a real flirt too, but at the end of the day they're great guys. You don't need to worry about how they react to some tears."
Leigh nodded at the information, pushing her lips together. She probably knew this, deep down. And even though she didn't know the twins as well as Hermione, she probably would've said the same thing if someone else asked. But the second Leigh was the one showing emotions it was suddenly the most embarrassing thing in the world. She couldn't help it.
She gave Hermione a small smile, expressing her appreciation, and the girl smiled back. Leigh trusted Hermione - she was sure they were great guys if she said so, but Leigh was just adamant to...stay away. From both of them. She didn't need the distraction. She needed to stay focused, and that's what she was planning to do.
-
The Grand Opening weekend Hogsmeade trip had been a great way to properly start the term, and so far it seemed like everyone had had a good time. Needless to say, it wasn't just Hermione that wished something similar had been arranged before.
Time went on and when Leigh said she had other things to focus on, she meant it. She hadn't met the twins in weeks, instead spending her time intently structuring her studying at Hogwarts. A month rolled by and she still hadn't seen them around. Why would she? She had no business going to Hogsmeade alone, and they had no business venturing up to the castle. The next Hogsmeade excursion was scheduled for late October, and even then she wasn't really planning on meeting them.
She had done her bit for the project. The shop was now up and running, and she had given her risk assessment to Headmistress McGonnagall. As long as none of their products posed a grave safety hazard on school grounds, McGonnagall didn't mind the presence of their products too much.
For the most part, Leigh didn't mind either. It wasn't up to her if students wanted to take puking pastilles, or set off some fireworks in the courtyard. As long as it didn't impact her studying. And for the most part it didn't.
She spent most of the time in the library, occassionally switching to the common room or an empty classroom if she wanted to be alone. Every now and then she spent time studying with Hermione, most commonly for Advanced Arithmancy, and Neville, for Herbology, although he was increasingly starting to be occupied with Louise. They were adorable together. Two Herbology nerds giggling about plants and giving each other cute, rare flowers once they were encountered.
Leigh was getting into a routine and ticking off her first tests of the year. This is what she needed; structure and focus. Like she had told herself at the start of the school-year: her studies were the most important thing this year, and so far things were going well. Granted, it was still difficult, and she still dealt with her grief, but she did her best to shove it out of her mind, locking her feelings somewhere deep down inside, as she continued with her studies.
Since the Grand Opening of the twins' shop, their products had indeed been wreaking havoc on the school grounds. As much as she disliked the disturbance, she found herself smiling occassionally as she discovered one of their products.
That wasn't always the case though.
As halloween was approaching, students had taken to doing pranks fitting the season. 4th years were walking around with Headless Hats; products which made the wearer's heads disappear the second they put on the hat. Not only were some of these students hovering around the corridors trying to scare students, but also whisking around on brooms outside, scaring people on the way to the greenhouses or another destination on the grounds. The dark and rainy October weather didn't help, and many young 1st and 2nd years were seen running crying after being spooked outside towards the end of the day. While the circumstances were unfortunate, Leigh had to admit it wasn't really a fault of the products, but rather the students' use of the product. Filch had determinedly started to search for these new jokesters, but with no success so far.
Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes had also announced a few new products suitable for the halloween theme, and some students had somehow gotten their hands on them despite no further Hogsmeade excursions having taken place yet. It was to be predicted, really. The old tunnels the twins used to take to sneak into Hogsmeade were still there, and Leigh was sure a few of the older 7th years occassionally made their way down to the village. A few of the more...morally questionable students might get the idea to buy some items and then sell them at a higher price to younger students in the castle.
Regardless, halloween items had made their way into the school, and Leigh just tried to stay away from them as much as possible. They weren't particularly scary, but they were an unwelcome disturbance, that much was for sure.
A mere few days ago Leigh found herself unable to make it into the great hall due to a halloween version of the twins' Portable Swamp being present outside the entrance. Rather than the normal grimy water and mud, the swamp was covered in mist, with a mixture of moving skeletons and alive pumpkins with big, stretched out grins making their way through the water, charging murderously towards anyone who came too close.
Again, the younger students were scared off their heads, and Leigh found herself consoling some 1st year Gryffindors in the common room more often than she had planned.
The second Hogmeade trip was to take place in just a few days, and Leigh kept her fingers crossed that she could avoid as much of the pranks as possible until then. However, this didn't end up being the case.