Entry for the „Unusual Ships Challenge" - Fay Dunbar/Fred Weasley

Ah, I just like this pairing :)

I hope you all enjoy it, please leave me some feedback :)

A weak evening sun broke through the high windows of the Hogwarts library and dipped the old books in their shelves into a golden light. A little bit of dust danced around in the rays, surrounding the few students seated at the working tables between the shelves. Everybody was on their own, having at least two books, rolls of fresh parchment, bottles of ink and quills in front of them.

They all were O.W.L. or N.E.W.T. students who tried desperately to manage the immense pile of homework they were already getting in all their subjects and those left in the library on this Sunday evening were probably those who felt like they were loosing the battle already.

Therefore, a strange tension filled the air, it was completely silent except for the scratching of quills on parchment and the rustling of pages being turned carefully and if someone coughed a little to loud or made another disturbing sound, angry gazes would immediately be send at the person and the silence was restored again.

Everybody was working intensely on their essays... everybody except for Fred Weasley.

Fred was not in the library for the purpose of working at all – the book in front of him that he pretended to read was only lying open on the table as an excuse to be in the library.

In fact, his eyes rarely met the pages.

Most of the time, they were fixed on a Gryffindor girl sitting at a table by the window, alone, further away from the others.

Her head was bent low over the parchment she was writing on, her eyes fiercly fixed on the words the ink formed by her hand. She was chewing a bit on her lower lip while her long brown hair fell over her shoulders, shimmering like liquid bronze in the sunlight.

Fred could not recall the countless times he had secretly watched her in the common room when he had sat there with his brother George and their friend Lee. When he thought about it, it had been two years since he had first seen her. She was in his younger brother Rons year, and upon asking Hermione casually, he had been able to find out her name: Fay Dunbar.

Fay... how this name fitted her, when he thought about right now, seeing her sitting there in the sunlight, looking like a little bit like a fairy, an entity that did not seem to be from this world in all its beauty and had him enchanted with her own special magic.

When he dreamt of her, she brought him to wonderful, mysterious places, smiling at him, holding his hand gently with hers as she pulled him with her, her green eyes never leaving his, ensuring him that he could trust her.

And right now, it was as if he was in one of his dreams, she looked just like in his head, a glow surrounding her... Fred actually had to surpress a small sigh and grinned to himself as he thought about how odd he had to look right now, a slightly dreamy smile on his face. George would surely think he was going crazy if he sat with him right now.

But he did not, and that was not a coincidence at all - Fred had left George and Lee in the Gryffindor common room after lunch because he had something on his mind. Earlier, he had overheard Fay talking to her friend Leanne, telling her that she would go and study in the library because she was behind with her potions essay and needed a quiet atmosphere – and immediately, a idea had popped up in Freds head.

If Fay was in the library, alone and he was there without his brother... maybe he could finally, finally gather the courage to talk to her for the first time.

Fred was not somebody known for the lack of smart answers or catch up phrases, but always when he thought about standing up and approaching her, his mind was wiped blank, from one second to the other.

All he wanted was to get to know her, but he could not come up with a conversation starter that put her off or made him look like he did not meant it serious, like he was only trying to make fun of her – for what he was well known, of course.

He had not had any problems to ask Angelina to go to the Yule Ball with him last year – but only because he had seen her more like a friend than a love interest, even though he had let George think the opposite. Never before had he had a secret from his twin brother, but he knew George because he was like him, of course: If he told him how serious his crush on Fay was, George would laugh, because it all sounded really odd.

But it was all true to Fred.

He was in love with that girl he had never talked to.

Fred twitched in surprised shock as he broke through the surface of his thoughts and realised that Fays head had risen slightly and her eyes had left the parchment with her potions essay.

In the very same moment, their gazes met and it was as if Fred lost control over his facial expressions – he was sure that he was looking a bit ridiculous with the slightly crooked, dumbfounded smile on his face and he rose a shaking hand to scratch his neck in embarrassement.

He was sure she would find him odd because he had been staring at her, of course she would laugh about him...

But to his surprise, the corners of her mouth twitched oddly and her calm eyes grew a bit wider before, slowly but steadily, a blush crept its way on her cheeks and she hurried to turn away, her hair concealing her face, but the way her quill lingered centimetres from the parchment without moving from this second on and how her head moved to the side from time to time showed Fred that this had distracted her and somehow, he found what he could say to her: Hi.

Not very creative, but he was pretty sure that she was just as nervous as he was. He took a deep breath and slapped his book closed, but just as he rose from his chair a familiar voice behind him exclaimed:"Oi, Fred, there you are! I have been searching for you the whole afternoon!"

Fred turned and saw his twin brother George approaching him, his arms opened in question.

„You, here – please don't tell me you decided to revise for an exam after all!"

He grinned widely and added in a whisper:"We wanted to continue the plan for our Snackboxes, did you forget about that? Come on."

He grabbed Freds elbow and pulled him out of the library without noticing how his brother turned his head while walking, looking back at the girl seated in the sunlight and how she met his gaze for a short moment before he vanished through the doors leading to the hallway.