Disclaimer: I own nothing and am making no money off of this.

warning: use of the F word once? Idk if that needs to be warned, this is pretty tame...

A/N: This is just a short little one shot explaining why Angelina ends up with George when she went to at least this one dance with Fred. I liked it better than "she fancied Fred, but then he died and George just sort of looked like him" (one of my friends actually suggested this to me :) anyways, I normally ship Draco and Hermione, but I read this great Fred and Hermione fan fiction, and I see them being at least a unrequited couple more and more :) if people like this I will probably do more stories in these same harry potter universe. I write short stories all the time, but this is the first time ive put one where strangers can see it. I am aware this is a tiny ship in the ocean of fan-coupling out there, so it probably will not get much traffic, but please review! Thanks guys.

~~~Another Road~~~

Angelina felt numb.

It was strange... she had expected tonight to be so passionate and full of heat.

And it had been, for a while, she had thought. It did hurt, she wasn't too proud to admit. This moment that she had been waiting for all this time, this moment that was supposed to change everything, meant nothing to him.
They had been dancing, swaying with the music, and he pulled her against him and he grinned wickedly, and her heart skipped, and she kissed him, softly. It was perfect, but he suddenly slipped away. She was looking for him, still grinning like a girl in love, but felt the life drain from her when she saw him. She just sort of sat down, right where she was standing, and felt nothing. And then waves of sadness washed through her.
She was supposed to be strong. She put up fronts like she could take anything, like nothing could even touch her, but he could. His charming fun demeanor and his mischievous smile and his bright eyes melted her somewhere along the way. He asked her to the Yule ball. He noticed her.
"Hey... Are you alright?" she looked up slowly, feeling strangely detached. George was looking down at her with concern.
"No..." Angelina's eyes went back to Fred as he tried to comfort Hermione, tried to cheer her up, giving her his whole attention as if it were the most natural thing in the world to him. for once he wasn't thinking of himself. "...I'm not."
George sighed, and sat down next to her, staring at the scene in front of them.
He eyed the sad girl next to him, and offered her his drink. She shook her head softly without looking over. Seeing her vulnerable, seeing her anything but powerful seemed strange and a little unreal.

"He's a pratt." he said a bit awkwardly, glancing at her again.
"Yah. Yah, he is." she said distantly.
They sat there in silence for a moment.
"You know I actually thought he liked me. I thought... I thought after all this time he saw me, you know? Like he finally woke up and... Turns out he just wanted to feel me up in the girl's laboratory."
George choked on his drink. "What?"
"He watched her all night." she continued, "From the moment she walked in wearing that dress. I told myself it was just because she wasn't with your brother Ron, and he was just worried about him. God, he asked me out right in front of her. I guess he wanted to make her jealous." Angelina said, her voice catching slightly and her eyes filling with tears.

"he thought it would give Ron the idea, actually."

Her head snapped around, "you knew?"

George cringed as Angela glared, "No! Angela I swear, I would have told you! I just... he's been talking about her and I was starting to suspect..."

"Does he want to f*ck her?" she asked sharply, still cooling down from what she felt for a moment was the second betrayal of the evening.

George shook his head slowly, watching her expression, trying not to make things worse. He reflected her sorrow when her face fell.

"He really loves her, doesn't he?" he gave a sad half smile in response with out looking at her. he hated this. He hated that right then, at that moment, he hated Fred for hurting her.

"I feel like an idiot."
Then George looked at her with profound concern. "Don't ever say that."
She looked over at him and they just looked at each other for a moment that lasted forever and was over in an instant.
Angelina had known the twins since her first year. To her they didn't seem the same at all. Although they shared a sense of humor, a love of mischief, and a talent for getting detention that was unrivaled, they were completely unique and un-interchangeable. She was one of the only people who never got the two mixed up. Fred was wild and fun and George was poetic and thoughtful. Most people couldn't tell.
"Where's Katie?" she asked softly.
"Off dancing with Cedric." George said a bit morosely, staring into his cup.
"bitch." she said.
He tilted his head from side to side.
The nature of their relationship made silence sit comfortably between them. He glanced at her again, and sipped his drink.
"Thank you for listening to me." She turned towards him suddenly. "Do you wanna go make out?"
George choked on his drink again and looked at her, startled by her abruptness.

"Oh my god woman," he said, managing to swallow. "Seriously?"

"yah." she nodded.
He stared down at his shoes a moment before glancing across the room to where Fred was managing to make Hermione smile through her tears. He looked back at Angelina.
"No."
"What?" she asked, sounding surprised and a little hurt.
"Angelina," he began a little nervously, "I don't want to be your rebound guy. I like you. Allot. When I kiss you, I don't want you to be kissing me because you're upset, or thinking about someone else. When I kiss you, I think time will kind of... Stop. And it'll just be you and me. I think it'll be perfect." he looked at her, and she stared back, confused. "I know." he laughed. "It sounds stupid, I know. I just... you cant possible know what it would mean to me."

He smiled, the light in his eyes, but still there was something sad about it.
His words settled around Angela, and she did something neither of them expected. She rested her head on his shoulder. She leaned against him, and they were kids again, innocent and hopeful, just beginning to find their way.
They sat there together for the rest of the night, and she knew. She knew he loved her. She knew someday she'd love him to.