This is a Christmas story written for chocolatecheesecakes! Merry Christmas Ellie! I hope you love this story! It's slightly AU what with characters in different years and whatnot, but I had an idea and went with it.
xXx
Everyone at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry knew about the friendships between houses and the rivals. In terms of friendship, Gryffindor and Hufflepuff got along the best. The same could be said about Ravenclaw and Slytherin. When it came to rivalry, the traditional rivalry was between Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff. That left two houses, who were rivals in every way: Gryffindor and Slytherin.
Ellie sighed as she thought about this. Gryffindor assumed that all Slytherins were bad. But her house weren't much better: they all assumed that Gryffindor were bad. She was one of the only exceptions. She wondered whether there were exceptions in Gryffindor too. Probably. But she knew that no way in hell would Fred Weasley be one of them.
Why him, she mentally sighed. Why out of all the students at Hogwarts, why did she have to fall for him? He was everything she was not: reckless, rebellious, popular, good looking and hilarious. What was she? An unusually studious Slytherin who was obsessed with muggle TV shows that her fellow housemates didn't approve of. She didn't care, though. There was a reason that she was a Slytherin: she was sneaky and cunning, great at coming up with tactics and plans, which was why she was the Slytherin Quidditch team strategist. She came up with the plays, and Marcus Flint in return let her be an honorary member of the team. For a girl who couldn't fly for the life of her, it was an honour.
But yes, there was a reason she was in Slytherin, and no one could deny that, not when Slytherin was the team that had a seven-year winning streak.
Putting her homework down, she made her way to the Great Hall for breakfast. The hall was covered in tinsel and mistletoe, the reason why Filch and his cat ended up snogging the other day. Most of the Slytherins hated the Christmas cheer, but she was different. It was such a change to the darkness that she lived in.
Glancing over at the Gryffindor table whilst she took a seat, she couldn't help but feel a pang of longing. Fred and George Weasley had pulled out some early Christmas bon-bons and were pulling them open with some other Gryffindors. Sighing, she started on her breakfast.
"Morning," her friend Annie chirped, sitting down next to her. "Fantasising about Fred Weasley again?"
"No," Ellie said, sending her friend a dark glare. Annie smirked.
"Sure," she said, stretching the syllables out. "Come on, it's almost Christmas, don't start moping over him."
Annie's lips curled disdainfully as she looked over at the laughing Gryffindors.
"They must be on permanent cheering gas or something. This afternoon, if you try to make a move with Fred Weasley, I'll... I'll ask Draco out."
Annie was two years younger than Ellie, in her fourth year. She had a long time crush on Draco Malfoy, and it was no secret that he fancied her back. It's easy for her, Ellie thought bitterly. Draco will surely say yes.
"Fine," Ellie blurted out before she could stop herself. "Fine. I'll have a conversation with Fred, if that's good enough."
Her friend smiled. "For the notoriously shy Ellie, it's a step. Deal."
"Cool," she replied. "I have Quidditch training sessions to spy on for now, so I'll do it later."
xXx
Part of the deal Ellie struck with Flint was that she spied on the Gryffindor, Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff teams so that she could write down their tactics. Because she wasn't a girl to prance around, getting in trouble, if Ellie dressed in plain clothes and brought a book down to the Quidditch pitch, the other teams ignored her presence. Ellie was never noticed by anyone, a fact that in some ways she was grateful for.
The first team that had training that Saturday was Gryffindor. As usual, she sat down and pretended to read a book. Idiots, she thought. You wonder why they never win.
Flint persuaded Ellie into thinking that she was doing no wrong. After all, Flint had assured her, everyone has the right to be on the Quidditch pitch. Deep down, Ellie knew that it was wrong to spy on teams, but then again, being a member on the Slytherin team had its perks. She wasn't picked on for being bookish, her parents were proud and so was she; she was on the team, in an unofficial sort of way.
She never was caught. She was never noticed. It worked, yet Ellie couldn't help but be angry that not a single soul noticed that she was there.
But today, something was different. Oliver Wood, Angelina Johnson, George Weasley, Alicia Spinnet, Katie Bell and Harry Potter, as usual, didn't realise that she was there. One member did, and this was the very member that Ellie was supposed to have a conversation with later on.
Fred Weasley kept sending her furtive looks every now and then, a confused yet mistrustful look in his eyes. Ellie too was confused. She had been doing this for four years, and no one noticed her. What had changed?
It was harder for Ellie to keep note of how the team were performing, because she had to be careful that Fred didn't catch her looking. After a while, Ellie heard Oliver Wood speak.
"Okay team, that's a wrap! You all did very well today."
There was a group response and Ellie saw all but bar one of them return to the change rooms. Three guesses whom.
"Excuse me?" a voice said. Ellie was pretending to be buried into her book, before jumping up, feigning being startled.
"Yes?" she asked in a kind voice. Fred's eyes hardened.
"Don't yes me, Slytherin. I know that you're spying on our team."
Took you long enough, Ellie mentally retorted. But Flint had taught her what to do in situations like this.
"I'm sorry, but I don't know what you're talking about. I've been reading my book here, enjoying the weather."
Although Ellie had rehearsed what she would say in her head many times, her words seemed to stumble when talking to Fred. This was due to the long time crush she had had on him.
Ellie noticed the small things, which was why she was so good at strategising. Although Ellie inspected each and every Hogwarts student, it was Fred who had caught her eye. She noticed every little detail about him. His laugh, the green tinge to his blue eyes, the way he looked out for the younger kids... there was no surprise that she liked him.
Her thoughts were broken by Fred's snort. "A likely story. You shouldn't be here, Slytherin. Run off to your fuck buddy, Flint," he sneered. Ellie was taken aback by the hostile way he had spat out Flint's name. She was used to accusations such as these; however, it never failed to anger her every time.
"Weasley," she said in a warm tone, but her green eyes were icy. "Please don't go throwing around accusations like that. I am not spying on you or your team, so please don't flatter yourself. Do you really think that I, a high and mighty Slytherin, would have time for that?"
Another rehearsed speech. She didn't believe a word of it, however. And, it seemed, neither did Fred.
"Fine. But I've got my eye on you."
With that, Fred gave her one last dirty look and walked off. Of course, she was no stranger to Gryffindors and their dirty looks, but when Fred gave her that particular look, it hurt like hell. She tried to ignore this, knowing that she had to go and talk to Flint.
xXx
Before she reached him, however, Ellie ran into Annie, who was smirking again.
"Did you talk to him?"
"Yes," Ellie replied, glad that she could do so with an honest answer. Annie groaned.
"Great. Now I have to go and ask Draco out."
Ellie smiled. Annie would go fine. "It's okay, you'll be fine. Go get him, girl!"
With a weak smile, Annie walked off, leaving Ellie to her trek to find Flint. He wasn't going to be pleased.
Ellie couldn't help but feel depressed. Just as she suspected, Fred already assumed that she was bad, because she was a Slytherin.
Then again, maybe I am bad. Spying isn't the sort of thing I should do.
This was one of the first times that Ellie had had these doubts.
She eventually found Flint in a corridor.
"Marcus!" she yelled, making her way towards him. He turned around at the call, giving her a curt nod.
"Ellie. To what do I owe the pleasure?"
Flint always talked like that – as though he were better than everyone else. She ignored this and hastened to tell him, knowing that he would not be pleased in the slightest.
In a matter of minutes, Ellie had explained how Gryffindor were going, hesitantly adding in the parts about Fred's behaviour. Flint's expression darkened when she had finished.
"You should have been more careful! Spying on teams is against the rules, you know, and if he tells someone-"
"Of course that has crossed my mind," Ellie retorted, becoming angry. "It isn't my fault that I caught his eye."
Flint looked as though he could hit her, but decided against it. "If this happens again, or if Slytherin get in trouble, say goodbye to your job."
With that, Flint stalked off. Ellie sighed. So far, today hadn't been the best. Fred seemed to hate her and so does Flint. Ellie wouldn't care about the latter, if it weren't for the Quidditch team and what it meant to her.
She walked along the corridor once more, before she ran into a solid figure. She knew those eyes anywhere...
"Look who it is, the Slytherin Spy. I heard that entire conversation," Fred sneered, not even bothering to help Ellie up. She scrambled to her feet, panicked. If they got in trouble...
"Look, Fred," she began, watching his expression soften slightly by the way she addressed him. She decided that being honest would work better. "Yes, you caught me. I know that it's against the rules, but I spy on the other teams."
"Why?"
Ellie faltered on her answer. "The pride and recognition, I guess..." she hazarded, once again being honest.
"Then that's stupid," Fred said smoothly. "You aren't thinking about anyone other than yourself."
Ellie's expression sharpened. "I'm not doing this to be selfish; I'm doing this for the team."
"The team which you are part of."
"Ugh!" she exclaimed, failing to keep her temper in check. "Who are you going to tell, Fred? Wood? McGonagall? Dumbledore? Are you going to ruin my life because of Quidditch? That's just low."
Fred bit his lip, contemplating. "I won't tell anyone, because it's almost Christmas. But after that, I should."
Ellie snorted at how professional he was sounding. "Says to guy whose broken more school rules than anyone."
"This is different!"
"Oh yeah?" she hissed, stepping closer to him, anger clouding her common sense. "You constantly disregard the rules that have been put in place for a reason. You violate them for yourself and your own enjoyment. So that you feel accomplished. You are just as bad as me."
"As bad as you?" Fred asked incredulously. "Slytherin haven't deserved to win all these years!"
"We so do deserve to win," she argued. "Did anyone from your team spy? Did anyone from your team take a dangerous risk? No. We did, we put in the hard yards and that is why we've won, and you've lost."
Fred looked disgusted at her words, blue eyes narrowed to slits. "I can't believe that I ever thought you were a decent Slytherin."
Whatever Ellie expected him to say, it wasn't that. Taken aback, she spoke.
"What do you mean by that?" she asked.
Fred turned an unusual shade of pink. "Nothing," he amended hastily. Ellie decided not to press the subject, thinking that walking away would be a better idea. But she discovered that she couldn't move.
"Is this one of your pranks?" she asked, panicked. Fred shook his head.
"I can't move as well!"
Ellie felt her stomach sink. This sort of thing had happened before, and only around Christmas time...
Slowly, she looked above, and sure enough, there was a bunch of mistletoe.
Ellie wouldn't have minded, if weren't for the fact that Fred hated her guts.
"Crap," she groaned. "Mistletoe."
Fred's expression gleamed with triumph for less than a second, before he arranged his features into a grimace.
"Great," he said sarcastically.
"May as well get this over with," Ellie said, feigning brightness. Fred nodded.
As Fred leaned closer to her, Ellie's heart was pumping in her chest at quick speeds. Butterflies were erupting in her stomach, and her eyes fluttered close of their own accord. This was it; what she had been dreaming of for years. She just wished the circumstances were better...
When Fred's lips touched hers, it was as though fireworks had gone off inside her, cliché as it sounds. Her lips were burning, her skin was aching for his touch and her arms automatically snaked around his neck. Fred stumbled backwards slightly, before returning the favour with fervour. His right arm wrapped around her waist, pulling her body closer to his, whilst his left hand rested on her cheek.
Slytherins and Gryffindors didn't mix. But for the moment, that didn't matter. Although neither of them were aware of exactly why they were snogging each other's rivals, it didn't matter.
Yes, red and green don't mix. But there was one time of year when they did mix. Christmas.
And as Ellie and Fred shared their first of many magical kisses during the season of Christmas, all rivalry was forgotten. All that mattered was that they did mix, and that during that kiss, red and green could drop their prejudices and just enjoy being with each other.
Merry Christmas.
xXx
Well, there you have it, Ellie! It was nowhere near as funny as the story you wrote for me was, but nonetheless, I hope you enjoyed! You've been a great fanfiction friend and I wish you a Merry Christmas!
... by the way, everyone should check out Ellie's (chocolatecheesecakes) story Unconditionally, because it's amazing.
MERRY CHRISTMAS!