Chapter 2
You looked back at yourself in the floor-length mirror that hung on the door of your dorm's wardrobe. Your hair ran down to just under your shoulders but as you looked back at the reflection you just hated how it sat; so you pulled it up into a high ponytail, pulling out some strands to frame your face. Using your wand, you curled the small pieces of hair and everything felt much less suffocating. You were happy looking at the reflection in front of you, the Lilac tank top that had a small rhinestone heart on it sitting on your body in a way that just revealed the belly button piercing that held a small dangling charm. Underneath the causal top, you wore a thick burgundy lace bralette that wrapped around your neck like a halter top, with matching lace underwear that could only just be seen underneath the low-waisted denim skirt that sat on your hips. It was short but not too short and had embroidery crowns on the back in gold. A simple gold chain sat on your collarbone and intricately designed gold hoops hung from your ears. Annie had done light makeup on your face, the soft pink colour of your lips becoming more visible with the lip tint that she vowed would suit you perfectly. At first, you wanted to leave your glasses behind but decided to keep them on because you knew that you’d regret leaving them upon arriving. You couldn't help but be excited for the party tonight, although you were exhausted, you were a social person, and talking to so many people after so long would be pretty comforting.
"you look perfect! Ced will be drooling and if he's not then he'll be the only guy that isn't!" Annie had come up behind you in the mirror with a smile on her face that warmed your heart and placed her hands on your shoulders. She looked so effortlessly beautiful in the bootcut jeans she wore with a deep pink velvet hoodie, with the rhinestoned words "juicy couture" on the back with a jeweled crown. Her hair was done in a spiked bun and the front pieces were clipped down to her head with colourful clips that matched her energy. She leaned forward slowly over your shoulder to apply some gloss on her plump lips and then look at you smiling at her.
"I have no idea what you're talking about Rapunzel, I’m expecting a movie moment for you okay? It’s a red flag if Kingsley doesn’t faint at the sight of you" You laugh and walk to the door to put on your Mary Janes, although you wore them through the week they seemed to go with almost every outfit. There was no doubt about it that your feet would be in pain by the end of the night, especially if someone coaxed you into dancing, but you decided to risk it.
She let out a small laugh at your comment while adding the final touches to her outfit and coming to join you.
“I completely agree with you Bel, it’s over if he’s not completely speechless at the sight of me”
You put your hand to your forehead and laughed with her. “Merlin one of us has to be taken or we’ll both end up, I don’t know, crying single at 1 AM”
“Oh so you’re up crying at one in the morning, are you?" She said with a skeptical look.
“Um, yeah have you not heard me?”
She nodded sarcastically. “I think I must have confused that for those incorrigible noises you make in your sleep.”
Gasping at her comment you shot back “Right that’s enough out of you. Shoes on now”
She just laughed and continued putting on her thick wedges and you sat in silence for a second before you spoke up.
"don't let me drink tonight okay? We have lessons tomorrow so who knows what possessed those idiots to have a party tonight, but I do not plan on embarrassing myself on the first night back."
"Fine, you can be my designated driver, but it's more like my designated walking me back to the dorm when I'm wasted. It's perfect, don't worry I'll make sure you stay sober all night!" She gave you a reassuring smile as you left the room together and linked arms to walk to the Gryffindor common room, the sound of your soft voices echoing on the stone walls.
You knew she’d get drunk in the first half an hour though, and you’d end up holding her hair back in the bathroom, which is always a pleasure. Really you never minded, although disappointed to leave the party, you needed the break most often and were probably drunk yourself. Not tonight though.
"Bel?" Annie looked to you, pausing the conversation momentarily about people you were least looking forward to seeing tonight. She had a look on her face that make you think she was about to ask a serious question, and you questioned whether the way to a party was the best time to have a heart-to-heart.
"yeah?" She paused before speaking, a long one, and looked down at both your feet walking together before looking back into your eyes.
"Do you think maybe, Fred Weasley will see you tonight and think you're so sexy that he confesses his undying love?" She said the last part of the question quickly, ending with a massive smile on her face and she tried to hold in her laughter. Your face had gone from confusion to shock very quickly, cheeks reddening and you pushed her away playfully in response to the question, laughing.
"Ugh don't scare me like that! I thought you were about to ask me the meaning of life or something, not if my worst nightmare was about to come true!" You started to laugh harder, only because your best friend was hanging on to the railings of the stone steps in a fit of giggles over your reaction to her question.
"Don't even make me think about it! I'd be sick right here!" you continued on, grabbing Annie's arm and pulling her towards the nearing painting that was the entrance to the Gryffindor common room. She stumbled with laughter while you carried on rambling about how sick to your stomach the thought of Fred Weasley confessing to you was. "It's not even that funny! stop laughing!" That only made the golden-haired girl laugh harder, which in turn made you laugh as well.
As you approached the painting, you were reminded that you needed a password to enter, and not being a Gryffindor you had no idea what it was.
"Rapunzel, do you know the password? I swear if they want people to show up to these things they should at least share out the bloody way to get in"
Annie had calmed down and stood still next to you, arms still linked together while she nodded and muttered some Latin, in return, the fat lady swung inwards and let the girls step in. She unzipped her hoodie slightly, as you walked in together, being *fashionably* late, the common room was already pretty full with teenagers, cups in hand. Annie dragged you straight to a table by the wall that had bottles of drinks on it, and she went straight for a cup of firewhiskey while you surveyed the room.
The Gryffindor common room was well, red. there were a few decorations including a large hanging of "1993" which was confusing to you because it wasn't New Year. Apart from that small gesture, there were a few small decorations, including streamers and balloons, but nothing out of the ordinary for a Weasley party. After looking around the room that had a centre of dancing students, you looked towards Annie who seemed to be doing exactly the same.
"How'd you know the password, don't tell me you're secretly a Gryffindor punzel, I don't know what I'd do." she took a sip of her drink and winced, making eye contact with you for a second before looking back out among the jostling teens, "Freddie told me on the train when he invited me, being a prefect and all"
"oh yeah, that."
You liked Annie's boyfriend, but it seemed to be getting increasingly complicated when your best friend’s boyfriend and also your worst frenemy? enemy? or whatever. were both called Fred. Freddie was sweet and funny and teased Annie in just the right way, called her trouble as a nickname when they first met, and now whenever she hears the nickname her cheeks become flushed in a way he clearly loves. Fred on the other hand, to you, was only slightly funny sometimes and his teasing pissed you off more than making you blush, not saying it didn’t do both most of the time. On top of that, his nickname wasn't cute or endearing at all in your opinion, but he just wouldn't quit it. But luckily all they had in common was the name, as Freddie's blonde hair matched Annie's golden waves, and was in complete contrast to Fred's mess of red curls.
You go to grab a cup of pumpkin juice, staying true to your no drinking ban, while vaguely listening to Annie ramble on about she thought the idea of learning herbology was pointless. Now, this was mainly because well, it's safe to say she sucked at it, like really sucked. But she still had to take the subject for her parents, which ended up putting her in a very difficult position and often ended both herself and you in the library cramming the night before the exam.
“It’s simply pointless, when am I ever going to use it after we leave school?!”
You opened your mouth to speak but she continued before you could get a word in “I’ll tell you the answer, never. The answer is never, so why do I have to go through another two years of hell."
You looked over at her “Maybe if you didn’t sit next to your boyfriend and actually did the work, we wouldn’t be having this problem” You shrugged your shoulders
“I do the work!” She huffed
“Do you though?”
“Well maybe you just don’t see because you’re busy trying to murder Weasley”
Nodding you replied “Yes, but there’s a difference, I’m getting E’s and you’re barely scraping a P”
“You think you’re bad or something, don’t worry Cedric’s not looking”
You nudged her while she took a sip of her drink, causing her to spill a bit. “Bitch! You just wait-”
She stopped talking because an arm had wrapped around her shoulders, the arm of her boyfriend. you stood up from where you were leaning on the table, reaching up to tighten your hair before picking up your drink and taking a sip while watching the interaction between the two. You watched them, feeling very awkward as he whispered things into her ear and she laughed in response while he smiled at her reaction.
Really, as you looked around the room, you were looking for that familiar brown hair and sweet smile that had convinced you even to show up, but either he wasn't here yet or you couldn't see him in the sea of people. You pushed your glasses up slightly on your nose before turning to where your name was being called.
"Hey Martin, it's been a while, how have you been?" Freddie nodded his head at you, his arm still around your giddy friend, the alcohol beginning to kick into her system. You stood up straight and looked at them both, responding.
"I've been good Kingsley, you? I'm disappointed I won't get the chance to kick your arse at the cup this year though" Freddie Kingsley played as keeper for the Gryffindor team, and he was good. He laughed and took a sip out of his cup, looking toward his girlfriend before responding.
"that's what you think, we should arrange a few practice games if you have any free time, not official of course."
You loved that idea, because not playing for a whole year, you imagined yourself forgetting the rules of the game if you stopped playing for that long. Before you could respond an arm wrapped around your shoulders, mirroring the couple in front of you. You heard his voice before you could look up at his face and notice the mess of fire-red hair that brushed just above his eyes and the freckles that lay over his face.
"Mary, I thought you wouldn't come! I was starting to miss your harrowing presence, there was nobody shouting at me and it had been an hour" He looked to you as your neck altered upwards slightly to make eye contact with Fred Weasley. He did it subtly, but not so subtly enough for you to not notice his eyes wander up and down your body for a second, that smirk present on his lips. He took in your outfit and figure in the short time span of his glance, and only grinned wider before opening his mouth again.
"You look hot, really I'm flattered, but you didn't have to dress up for me"
You pushed his arm off of your bare shoulders and looked at him while taking a sip of your drink, unamused at his jokes. "Don't you have somewhere to be Weasley? ruining some first year’s day or something? Don't lie to yourself to make you feel better, I'd never dress up this good for you."
He scoffed at your reply and his smile only got more playful as he locked eyes with your uninterested expression and dropped his head low to whisper in your ear without warning.
"you know, the fewer clothes there are the easier it is to take them off"
As soon as you heard the words come out of his mouth you placed down your drink and pushed his face away from yours as fast as possible and squealed in disgust, his only response being cackling laughter at your angered red face.
"you sick fuck! Merlin, I won't be surprised if you're single forever, everything that comes out of your mouth is peverted bullshit" You pushed him away further as he continued to laugh, being satisfied with his winning comment, something he only said to piss you off and see the reaction he constantly looked for. You watched him laugh as you turned back to the table and picked up your drink to walk away, forgetting about your previous conversation with the happy couple. Fred Weasley liked to turn all your attention into shouting at him for comments like that. He had followed your walking away to the corner of the room by the dance floor, his hands in his pockets, still slightly chucking at the interaction you just had.
"come on Mary, I was just joking! you can't already be mad at me you've been here 5 minutes, you know I didn't mean it."
you weren't really mad at the boy, you never were, but often you needed a second to refrain from hexing him right then and there, he got so much joy out of angering you that you got more annoyed, and then it was just an endless cycle. He leaned against the wall where you had stopped, facing you standing in front of him with your nearly empty cup in hand.
"yes clearly, no respectable man who's ever had sex would say something like that."
He held his hand to his chest, mocking hurt from your words, and looked down shaking his head from side to side. He pouted slightly while attempting to stifle a laugh.
"wow, that was unnecessary, way to hurt a man's ego"
you couldn't help but chuckle at his pretend despair and finish off the drink in your hand.
“your poor masculine feelings” you pouted and continued with the act
“I'm very fragile Mary, be careful with your words”. He said, the smile returning to his face while he took your empty cup out of your hand and placed it on the table in the corner next to you both. You didn't say anything but watched as he did it, turning your attention back to his last comment.
“don't you fly on a broom and hit balls for fun?”
“yeah, and I'm bloody good at it” He crossed his arms, an argument that often occurred between you both was who had the better position, as well as team.
You gave him a look like he was going crazy “are you though? I don't see all those groupies you keep going on about..”
“I'm sorry, the nerd is telling me that I don't have fans?” He laughed because he knew it was your pet peeve to be called a nerd just because you wore glasses, having one subject that you were good at was enough.
“wow”. you said, shaking your head “that's a low blow” you looked away from him, stifling a laugh.
Fred pushed himself off the wall and walked towards you, he ducked his head into your shoulder, and wrapped his arms around your waist, altering you forwards slightly so you couldn't push him away, and instead, it forced you you move your arms upwards to wrap them around his neck.
He spoke into your neck before you could protest “You're not a nerd Mary, I think your glasses are cute” you felt him smile, you knew there'd be more to this because Fred Weasley never just gave you a hug, but you couldn't help but feel the heat rise in your cheeks.
“You're such a beg Weasley”
“Maybe you're my weakness” he jokes “You're hugging me back as well”
“that's because I pity you, you seem touch starved”
“If I agree will you touch me more?” you could feel his grin widen, proud of his comment.
Instead of responding, you reached one arm up that was currently rested on his shoulders, and smacked him on the back of his head, hard.
He let out a pained groan but just like you, instead of responding he bit down on the exposed skin on your neck
You cried out in response “dickhead! get the hell off me!”
He unraveled his arms from around your waist and stepped backwards with a grin wide with mischief while you rubbed your neck, feeling the small dents of his teeth. You groaned and looked around the room to check if anybody saw Fred Weasley just bite your neck.
“What If someone saw?” you huffed “Merlin I can't stand you!”
“you love me really” he shot back
“I really hate you. I think you left a mark”
He flashed a smile “wicked”
You sent daggers in his direction, still feeling the mark on your neck.
“Shut up Weasley”
You turned around, planning to ignore him and continue looking for Cedric, but he spoke up again.
“I'll get rid of it for you if you want Mary”
“Go on then” You didn't turn to face him.
“Well aren't you going to ask nicely? say please?" He was going to get as much fun out of this as he could.
You turned to face him, arms crossed. The music around you continued to play loudly, a few students walking in between the two of you arguing. Behind you people were dancing around, streamers flying.
Reluctantly, you spoke, “would you take your horrible teeth mark off my neck?”
“I'm sorry, what was that?” He acted like he couldn't hear you over the music and put his hand to his ear. “I think you missed something there”
You gritted through your teeth, you didn't want to say please to Weasley, he'd eat it up and never let it go. You know he'd exaggerate the story into you begging on your knees or something, and the idea of people thinking that scared you slightly.
“..please”
“The whole thing.”
“ugh- I said it already, I could just do the stupid spell myself.” You reached into your pocket before realising that you left your wand in the dorm, based on the fact all the pockets in this outfit sucked. Fred however, had deep pockets in the burgundy hoodie that he was wearing, a darker shade than his fire-red hair. He pulled out his want and twirled it between his fingers while watching you realise that you didn't have your wand.
“Spot of trouble?” a playful smile graced his face.
“I don't have my wand-” you let out a groan and moved closer to him to ensure he could hear you over the music, looking through your glasses at his smug expression.
“Something you want to say?”
“Could you please, remove the mark on my neck, please”
He silently took out his wand, that same proud expression on his face. He pointed the wand to your neck and muttered the charm under his breath.
“Evanesce”
His wand moved back into his pocket along with both his hands.
Your hand was on your neck instantly, and you felt nothing, the mark gone. You let out a sigh, relieved that Cedric wouldn't see it and get the wrong idea. The thought of Cedric made you want to look for him, but you were still occupied with the twin in front of you. You looked him up and down, still rubbing your neck slightly.
“No thank you?”
“No. Why are you wearing a hoodie to a party?”
He looked down at himself, scoffing in confusion. “My apologies ma'am, Do you have a problem with it?”
“Well I mean, it's a party you could put in some effort” You shrugged your shoulders casually.
“you're at MY party and you have a problem with what I'M wearing?” He said, straightening his posture.
“Hey it's just an observation” you put your hands up in surrender. “No need to get pissed”
“I'm not pissed!” he turned his head to the side.
“Sure, don't be a whiny baby”
It made you smile that he had no response to that, except a glare in your direction. Embarrassing Fred Weasley was one of the things that made you proudest, hurting his ego.
You turned your head and looked back out at the party, ignoring the redhead behind you, and began looking for Cedric. You still hadn't seen him and could see Annie and Freddie dancing together in the centre of the room, Angelina, Lee, and George deep in conversation on the couch in the other end of the room.
Angelina was wearing the most adorable red dress that fitted her perfectly, small golden studs reflecting the lights in the room. She and George seemed to be in some sort of debate, Lee trying his best to be Switzerland and even the sides, but he was not succeeding. You looked but couldn’t see the boy you were looking for before a voice brought you back out of your search.
"looking for your secret boyfriend or something? maybe he saw you but looked at the dashing redhead you were with and decided to run away because, clearly, he has no chance." It was like he had forgotten about the conversation you just had and was back to teasing you endlessly.
you looked at Fred who had picked your cup up off the table where he placed it, it was surprisingly unharmed. He held it firmly and planned to fill it up for you.
"I'm not too sure, he probably won't be wearing a hoodie though” Fred only rolled his eyes.
“I'm gonna go sit with Ange okay?" You were still preoccupied with looking for Cedric so you only left your eyes on Fred for a second. You took your cup out of his hands and walked around the edge of the room to the couch, Fred followed after a small protest that he was going to fill up your drink but you hardly heard him behind you over the music. You pushed past a couple making out on a wall, leaving them a judgemental look that they were too busy focusing on each other to see. you finally made it to the sofa and sat down next to Angelina, practically throwing yourself onto the plush seat. Ange was still in a heated argument with George.
"You're being idiotic, obliviously there's an age ban for a reason, and you should be taking that as a sign NOT to enter!" She had her arms up and moved them with her speech to express her anger, her body leaned more towards the boy who was shouting back at her in disagreement.
"no, we should be able to enter! the age limit is completely unreasonable, Me and Fred are very capable wizards, you just can't see that Ange!"
Lee had given up at this point, he was getting nowhere in his attempts to create peace, and just stood up silently creating a space in between the two, which maybe invited them to get more aggressive. He said nothing but gave a nod to both you and Fred before walking away. Angelina rolled her eyes and crossed her arms over her chest before reiterating her previous words in a different formula to try and convince him out of trying to beat the goblet, not even noticing Lee's absence.
Fred suddenly spoke up, getting involved in the debate.
"Ange, we know what we're doing. If we didn't think we could win we wouldn't be entering would we? It’s shocking you’d doubt us like this" He said.
she suddenly stopped talking and looked down at her drink swirling it in her hand, her competitive attitude becoming one of discomfort. She stood up and smoothed out her dress, still looking at the floor and wavering slightly in her stance.
"whatever, get yourselves killed if you want then, I'm getting another drink"
you began to push yourself off the seat to follow her and ask if she was okay, to tell her to just ignore Fred.
“I’ll come with you-”
“No it's fine Bel, you stay I'll be right back” She sent a soft smile in your direction with a look in her eyes saying she was okay. You sunk back into your seat as she walked away and Fred slid off the arm of the sofa onto the seat now there was another free space, and George shuffled closer to you. They were both staring directly at you while you looked between them in confusion.
“what’s going on? what do you want from me?” You knew they were only quiet like this when they needed something from you, and your best guess was that it had something to do with your particular expertise in a certain subject, like always. George started speaking first, sounding shocked at the idea that you would think they wanted something.
“Us? want something? are you crazy?”
“yeah Mary, what could we possibly want from you?”
You raised your eyebrow at the innocent-looking twins while the loud music continued to fill the room with people in front of you dancing.
“spit it out already”
You went to take a sip from your cup before realising that it was empty and sighing in disappointment, internally planning to fill it up after whatever it is the red-headed duo wanted.
“Well we were thinking, you agree with us right? that the age ban for this tournament is total bullshit? and we should be able to enter, it’s not like we’re fourth years or something” George started them off again, Fred not following far behind to continue his point, if there was one.
“Yeah, I mean you’re in the same year as people who can participate, you should be able to. But you can’t, so where is this going?” you responded to George before looking at Fred, who had moved his arm to the back of the sofa, and locked eyes with you.
“well, we thought” he started, his eyes moving down in a nervous way, which you knew was very clearly an act to make you feel some kind of sympathy for them both.
“You could brew us an aging potion? since you’re really good at potions and that Mary, and you agree we should be able to enter?” There was a pause after he finished, and you smiled at the request, knowing you had the power to reject their offer and without your skill in potions they would never brew an aging potion that would get them even close to putting their names in the cup. your smile grew wider as you sat up slightly, turning your whole body to Fred.
“Hah, you think id help you after that shit you pulled in the great hall tonight? you better have a damn good offer, what do I get?
“dickhead, I bloody well told you not to piss her off before we asked or she’d never say yes!” George protested
“But it was just too easy! come on how could I pass up that opportunity?”
They started bickering back and forth about Fred's stunt at the welcome feast earlier that evening, and you stood to face them both, pulling down your skirt slightly. Their attention turned to you as you stood up, still smiling.
“maybe ill do it-”
“yes! I told you! I have a face that she just can’t say no to”
“first of all, I said maybe. and second, I was going to say ill do it if, you promise to tutor Annie all year”
The grins on their faces turned to frowns upon hearing your ultimatum, both of them knowing how tedious and horrible the girl was at the subject, that it would a nightmare to help her even pass, which she only just scraped in her O.W.L.S last year. You weren’t going to just do it for them though, you wanted to embarrass them in front of people, as if they didn’t already do that enough themselves. You needed to ask them for something they would agree to do easily, and fully put their trust in your ability to let them put their name in the goblet. Of course, they wouldn’t really get that far.
Without hesitation, Fred spoke up “Done! easy! I knew we could trust you, Mary!”
Fred got up off his seat and pulled you into a hug that lifted your feet up off the ground and spun you around. You pushed him to let you down which he refused to until after a few spins. His hands felt your waist and squeezed tightly, letting go only after your feet had touched the ground. You had been laughing due to the fact he was holding you in a way that was easily ticklish, and while he squeezed your waist you squealed out “stops!” which he blatantly ignored. Once you were safely on the ground you hit the side of his arm a few times while he laughed and moved back to fall onto the sofa.
“Idiot! don’t ever do that again” He took a seat next to you and repositioned his arm around the back of the couch, not on your shoulders but still around where you were seated.
“you were laughing though”
“Don’t be a prick Weasley, ill take it back just as quickly as I said it”
He put his hands up in surrender and he and George shared a grinning look and high-fived with you in the middle.
George then thanked you warmly before getting up “I think I'll go find Angie, she’s been a while” he looked around the room worriedly. You sent him an “alright’ and watched as he pushed himself through the dancing students.
As quick as George left the party, Fred changed the conversation, turning all his attention to you, his whole body facing yours. You turned yours in the direction of his, engaging in whatever he might ask.
“So who were you really looking for earlier? when we were over there” he nodded his head toward the corner you were previously standing at together and you followed his gaze, remembering searching for Diggory. You did a quick survey of the room and noticed him standing by the entrance to the common room talking with Freddie, Annie not around with them. He must have arrived while you were being hired for your potions skills. He and Freddie were close friends, similar in many ways, and got along well in the classes they had together.
You hadn’t responded to Fred while your eyes were focused on Cedric. His hair was styled to be messy but also like it was supposed to be like that, the dark blue button down shirt he was wearing had the sleeves rolled up to his elbows revealing his forearms that led to his hand holding the familiar red cup. Fred's eyes followed your own after you didn't reply to his question, landing on Cedric. After losing to Hufflepuff last year, the twins had made their distaste for Diggory known, they believed he was a stuck up pretty boy who thought he was better than them.
“Oh so i was right about the Diggory thing? Well Mary, if you ask me-”
“I didn’t”
Fred had a playful smile on your face as he prepared to tease you about your apparent crush on the Hufflepuff seeker, but you shut him down before he could even begin. You pushed yourself off the seat and took your empty cup, and turned to face the boy in front of you that still had a small expression on his face.
“of course, i can’t wait to hear you make fun of my crush on Diggory, but while you think of some more witty one-liners, I'm going to get another drink.”
You don't wait for whatever response he has and walk towards where Cedric was still standing, leaning slightly against the wall, away from where you would be going to get a drink. Pushing your glasses up your nose again slightly, you were calm, going to speak to your friends. Fred stayed silent on the sofa, his eyes on you walking away.
You looked back at Fred for a second, to make sure he wasn't about to do something that would completely humiliate you but he nodded in direction to behind you, and you turned to see Cedric walking right towards you. You straightened up and looked down at yourself to make sure you looked okay. Even just seeing him made your heart race, though you knew you weren't the only one, at least you didn't just watch him from afar. Most of the time.
“Bel, I've been looking for you everywhere” he looked over toward Fred who was wearing that same smile, still looking over at you, watching your interaction with Cedric. "What's Weasley smiling about?" you wanted to make some silly excuse but you were embarrassed that he was watching, you couldn't make fun of yourself or he'd really never let it go.
"he's just being a creep, ignore him" you smiled gently to play off your embarrassment, and the smile he sent back sent your heart in overdrive. He was silent in response as he took in your appearance in front of him, he didn't just look you up and down, his eyes wavered on each part of your body for a second before he looked back up at your face. There was a moment where you were simply just looking at each other and standing still, his arm slightly reaching to brush your forearm.
That was before his eyes faltered and he looked down on your empty cup, which felt like it hadn't had any liquid in it for an eternity.
"so- uh, wanna go get a drink? Your cup is empty and I need something stronger than this"
"Yes please, how gentlemanly of you" you let out a soft laugh and he turned you both towards the table, his arm making away around your shoulders. In a friendly sense of course, but it still made the butterflies go crazy in your stomach as he started to talk about the new school year. your eyes were intently focused on the boy in front of you who'd arm rested on your bare shoulders moved slightly to follow his conversation, and what you didn't see what Fred Weasley’s eyes still on you both intently as you walked away, and right when you were out of sight, his head falling back onto the sofa while letting out a long sigh.
"fuck."
That morning you woke up from your alarm, to find Annie's bed unslept in, and it looked like most of the girls in your dorm had already gone down for breakfast. You all got a long quite well, but they didn't spend time in the room and seemed to only be there to sleep and get dressed. You reluctantly got out of bed, as you recalled the previous night.
Remembering everything was no challenge as you stuck to your word and didn't have a drop of alcohol, no credit to Annie, wherever she ran off to. You had spent most of the night with Cedric, just standing around and talking, however you did spend a large portion of the evening jumping around the dance floor with Angelina, screaming song lyrics from the top of your lungs. After showering, you started getting dressed into your robes, tie loose around your neck with the top button undone and your shirt not tucked into your skirt, you left your hair down and put on some light makeup.
Last night the twins had meant it when they said they had something 'special' planned, and just as anyone could guess, later on into the night they set off fireworks, and big ones. You had been talking with Angelina at the time, ranting about a film you watched over the summer that she just needed to see, when the redheads set them off.
You watched as they started off small at first, while people in the room cheered for more. You looked upwards as the show finished with a firework in the shape of a lion, that bounded around the room as if it was alive, smug smiles on the twins' faces as the crowd continued to cheer while the illusion ran around them. You liked the show, and clapped along with the others, until the roaring lion had fizzled out, and everyone went back to their own. You thought about the evening as you walked down to breakfast alone, one side of your hair tucked behind your ear and the other falling over your face and glasses.
You walked into the Great hall to see the twins sitting with their younger brother Ron and his best friends Harry Potter and Hermione Granger, but ignored their loud presence as you walked to go and sit at the Hufflepuff table. The platformed shoes you wore made noise on the cold stone floor as you walked, which turned a few heads momentarily but they looked back to their food once seeing where the sound was coming from. You sat down at the long wooden table, neither Annie nor Cedric was there yet, but to be fair it was quite early and after holding your best friend's hair back last night you would guess that she'd sleep in.
You filled your plate with waffles covered in berries and honey, suddenly becoming starving. You filled the cup in front of you with pumpkin juice, and engaged in conversation with the people around you while you ate.
By the time you finished your waffles, the sixth years you were talking to left for the library, and while reaching for a cinnamon roll covered in sweet icing, a group of first years sat across from you and started talking about their worries for their first school year. You ended up helping to ease their nervousness as an older student, and they ate slowly while listening to you. You were almost finished your pastry while still chatting to the younger students, getting along with them quite well.
"Oh also, if you think you might like it, you should try out for quidditch, I'm a chaser for Hufflepuff and I'm not sure if we're holding tryouts-" A small crumpled piece of paper hit you on the back of the head and fell on the floor next behind you.
You paused and turned around to pick it up "sorry guys, one sec” while picking it up your eyes caught two redheads staring right at you with playful smiles on their faces and you suddenly recognised what this would be. Scoffing and uncrumpling the paper, your eyes scanned over the words scribbled on it.
'you get it on with Diggory last night then? -F'
"for fucks sake" you turned around and crumpled the piece back into a ball and held it up in your hand, about to throw it back towards the smirking boy that was looking directly at you. He was proud to have been able to piss you off so many times in the last, 24 hours? He had never met someone who got vexed so easily, and he was loving it.
"I swear Fred Weasley if you don't learn how to stay out of my mother fucki-"
Once again you were cut off, but it wasn't by the teasing boy who simply winked and turned back to his previous conversation. Annie was standing in front of you, the snatched piece of paper in her hand, she did not look like her head had been in the toilet bowl for half the night. Her hair was in her regular waves, with one clip on each side pulling it out of her face. Her tie lay on her shirt in a similar manner to yours, her top button also undone.
"hey Rapunzel, where've you been all night?"
She sat down next to you on the bench, the paper in her hand now flattened as her eyes scanned over it, her free arm moving to place different rolls of bread and pastry onto her plate. The first years had scurried off upon her arrival, without a word. You looked to where they were previously sat, disappointed that you couldn’t get the chance to pitch quidditch to them.
"Should I be asking you the same thing? How is Diggory?"
"ugh, you think the twins will ever let it go now that they know?" You leaned your face in your palm while watching her eat, sighing, and your hand moved up the run your fingers through your brown hair. She knew from that response only that nothing had happened with Cedric, but it was just Fred teasing you about the newly discovered crush.
"And by twins you mean Fred? yeah no I don't count on it"
Your eyes rolled as you pushed your head back and let out a small cry of frustration to which she laughed at with her mouth full of toast. You knew he would never forget, and that it would be difficult to have a conversation with your crush without being teased from afar.
You looked back to the Gryffindor table where his back was facing towards you and he seemed to be cackling at something said by Lee. His hair was styled by the previous night's rest, however, the small inkling of the idea that his bedhead was in fact, quite attractive and almost cute, crossed your mind, but as quickly as you thought it, you forced your mind to ignore it. You couldn't think he was at all cute when he found it fun to torture you and make school life hell.
You muttered out a "whatever" and looked back down at your own now empty plate.
Annie looked at you from the side and raising her eyebrow, looked from you to Fred who was still having fun with his friends. You didn't notice her look between you as you were now focused on cracking your knuckles and staring intently at your hands silently. A small smile began to grow on her face.
"hmm" You looked at her in confusion, she was smiling as she continued to eat.
"what?" You asked
"nothing" She shrugged her shoulders in response.
"seriously what?"
"it's nothing I swear"
You dropped the subject, still confused about what your best friend was smiling to herself about, and took a sip of your pumpkin juice.
"alright.." you gave her a look to show that you had no idea what she was going on about or attempting to hint at. "hurry up then, we've got charms.”
You waited for Annie to finish her breakfast and you left together for your first lesson of the year, charms. You liked Flitwick and charms wasn't challenging, but you had a feeling that these next few weeks wern't exactly going to be easy. That didn't stop you from linking arms with your best friend and chatting on your way to the lesson, listening to the detailed recount of her own evening.