Written For - The Last Ship Sailing Competition on the HPFC forum and Defense Against the Dark Arts Assignment 2 in the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry (Challenges & Assignments)
Prompts Used - [Hogwarts] (Pairing) Fred/Hermione / (word) fist / (emotion) worried - [HPFC] (spell) nox / (Location) Library / (emotion) worried / (word) splash / (word) childish / (dialogue) "I thought we weren't going to mention that again" - [HPFC Bonus Prompts] (spell) Stupefy / (Dialogue) "I just want to know one thing"
Notes - You'd better love the plot twist at the end, I'm very proud of it. Enjoy!
Word Count - 609
The worst thing about dating someone that's virtually the exact opposite of you is that you don't know what's gonna happen next. And when you don't know, it usually ends up with fighting. That always happens when people with different opinions get together, though. You're bound to disagree and, most of the time, that leads to fighting. At least, that's what Hermione was trying to tell herself.
But as much as she wanted to believe it wouldn't ever happen again, that it was all fine, that once she went back everything could go to normal; she knew it never could. That it never would. That there was a reason that she was in the corner of the library curled in a ball. Fred cheated. He was a cheater. She expected it from Katie, yes. But she had always thought he wouldn't. She had always hoped.
He was standing in front of her now, his eyes wide and full of apologies he hadn't yet said. That he probably wouldn't ever say. He tried to touch her arm. A consolation for what he had done. She slapped it away.
"Hermione… I didn't mean to," he said. He didn't speak louder than a whisper, but his voice still pounded against her head. She could almost feel the angry tears splash against her fist. She turned to him with a jerk. The worst part was the look on his face. He was worried for her. Or nervous for when she freaked out on him. Either way, it made her want to stupefy him.
"I just want to know one thing," she said. She scanned each inch of his face before speaking again. "Why with her?" Her voice broke on the word 'her'. His saddened expression made it worse. It made her feel childish. She wondered if she could cast a nox on the entire library so she wouldn't have to look at him. That wouldn't work, she supposed. And she would probably be banned from the library. She put that thought aside.
"She basically begged me, she said it was a one time thing. I thought you wouldn't find out. I thought…" he trailed off. She knew what he was going to say.
"You thought you would be better at cheating," she said. His head dipped. She wanted to punch his perfect face.
"I'll make it up to you," he said. She raised an eyebrow. He continued. "I'll do my homework for the next week - no, month - and I won't complain about any classes for the rest of the year." He watched her unimpressed face.
"And that's it?" She asked. He shook his head.
"I won't get more than ten detentions for the rest of the year," he said. She scoffed.
"You won't be able to last all three months," she said. He kissed her cheek, and as much as she knew she shouldn't, she let him.
"But I'll try to. And that's what matters, isn't it?" His voice was more of a hum than a sentence.
"Well, I suppose. Now, let's just forget about it, right?" She said. He smiled and nodded, taking her hand to pull her up, beginning to walk back to the common room. Fred began to laugh.
"I can't believe I just had to go all the way to the library from the Gryffindor Tower to console you because Katie and I cheated on a board game," he said, his voice melting into snickers. Hermione glared at him.
"I thought we weren't going to mention that again. And Monopoly is always important," she said, her head held high. He just laughed harder.
"You're such a nerd."