And the insecurities begin... or not?
Charlotte’s POV
Later at the dinner, Lizzie asks me to meet up in the kitchen. Is it now our spot? I think to myself, but then she storms inside. “What the fuck was that today?” she yells desperately. “I really crawl on that Weasley?! And hell, why would he touch me like that?!” She loses it. “Tell me about it,” I add. “What happened? I just remember you doing the homework with George, which you were supposed to do with me,” she pouts. So, I tell her my story, just slightly freaking out. She listens and after I finish, she tells me, “He’s flirting with you.” “I thought so- wait, what?” I ask in disbelief. “He’s just joking around, there’s no way that’s true,” I disagree with her quickly. “I mean, how could he? There’s nothing special about me, I’m just… well, me.” “I’ve been around them few years, trust me when I say he did not do anything like that to some girl. Honestly, I kinda believed that he was gay,” she exclaims while gesturing. “But he’s so perfect, funny, handsome, and smart even! And there are always people surrounding him, even girls much more prettier than me, smarter than-“ “But you are also those things!” She interrupts me. “You’re cute little butterbeer. You have your big ass heart, you stand up for what you believe, you don’t act like someone you’re not. Loyal to a fault. Like, how could he not like you!” She scolds me and continues, “So don’t say things like you’re not enough. You are enough and he would be a real dumbass if he doesn’t see that!” I just stop. I’m looking at her like she grew a pair of antlers. Then my eyes started to water. I’ve never had someone to express how they feel about me, let alone say that I’m enough. As she notices my state, she stands up from the counter she had been sitting on and hugs me tightly. I hug her back as tightly as I can. “I honestly think, he likes you just as much as I do. He got to see how awesome you are and could not help but fall. So don’t say things like that’s not true. If he did just joke around with you, someone’s gonna see his balls hanging on the fucking ceiling in Sevy’s class,” she threatens, and I laugh at that. That’s Lizzie for you. I get my emotions back in line and finally ask the reason she wanted to meet up in the first place. “You’re not just trying to change the subject, aren’t you, my little Snake?” One of her eyebrows goes up and her smile is on her face. “Maybe I am. What are you gonna do about it?” She challenges just as playfully. “Don’t play with a fire, my dear,” I say but eventually after our banter, she answers my question.
“Where do I start?” she sighs. “I hate Frederick Gideon Weasley,” she growls. “Could you elaborate? Maybe from the moment when someone was coming?” I suggest. “Yeah, you’ve seen him toying with me, right? I couldn’t do anything and just looked at things I did when I did not want to do them. I had the urge to keep being around him. He had a nice and soft sweater and a nicely smelling robe, not gonna lie about that, but… Why was he touching me like that? Why did he not stop me from doing those things and encouraging me to do them?” She rumbles and I had to interrupt her to remind her what interested me the most. What Fred did while the person was going there.
“When you and George disappeared behind those bookshelves, and I was in the state I was in, I didn’t want to move, so the best thing he came up with was to cover me with his robes. I was whole just sitting in his lap. We looked like we were making out, I swear! He was already holding me by my hip and waist. As a cat I was just rubbing against his neck, so he even put a hoodie on his head, so that mine was also covert, but gosh! This is the less horrifying part, don’t interrupt me,” she says quickly as I open my mouth to say that it’s not that bad. “After the person just went around us not saying a word to us, he goes and presses his forehead against mine and his hands drop lower on my ass. I was just looking at him and, in a moment, he opened his eyes too and stared at me, dropping his gaze on my lips. And what the fuck did my cat-self did? I fucking started purring! What in the name of Hades was I doing?!” She angrily almost screams. “Shhh, calm down, we don’t want Filch coming in here, do we now?” I start to ease her in a whisper. “Breath with me,” I say, and I start the box breathing technique. She does as I request. After a while, she nods, “I’m sorry, I’m good now.” “Okay, continues, please. What did happen after you started purring?” As I ask, I bite my lip. Maybe Georgie was right- Hold up. Did I just call him-. “Fred kissed me,” she confesses interrupting my inner monolog. I bulge my eyes. “Really?” I ask breathlessly, sounding more hopeful than incredulously. “Un-fucking-fortunately,” she says sounding more angry than disgusted, which was what I was expecting from her. Does she too? I couldn’t help but smirk a little, but as a good friend, I tried. “So, let me get this straight. You cuddled with him, kissed him. What exactly is the problem? Because from my point of view, you’re not disgusted by the idea of him kissing you even though you… hate each other?” I asked just to confirm my suspicion. She pauses. “Well, I… He’s handsome, I cannot lie about that,” she murmurs. “But he’s also acting so flamboyant, he’s being mean to me, teasing me and annoying me wherever we meet. But … he didn’t have any permission to do that! Like…” she sighs then adds quietly. “He stole my first kiss.” I gasped at that admission. I didn’t know that, and her flirty and friendly demeanour suggested otherwise. Now I did get why she was angry. As she was in her most vulnerable state, she was robbed of making her own choice. Even is she wanted it in her cat-self, she was angry of not being able to decide whether she would act on that impulse or not. “I’m sorry,” I whisper. “You didn’t do anything, so don’t be. I just really wanted to vent. Thank you for listening to me,” at that, we hug and hold onto each other for comfort of what happened to both of us. After that, we smile and spend some quality time together in the kitchen. Talking and talking. Tomorrow's classes will be a real pain in the ass, but this was worth it.