Author's Note: This is my first ever FanFiction. I've had this story in my head for quite some time. Well, really, I have several stories in my head. I've never written any of them down, until now. Please let me know what you think. Criticism makes me a better writer. :) THANK YOU!
Chapter 1: Stupid, Useless Emotions
Kaylee Osmund wasn't an average 16 year old. She was a witch, about to embark on her 6th year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. She was a highly intelligent girl with a thirst for learning. Her best friends Fred and George Weasley often said she must have a sponge in her head rather than a brain, for she seemed to just absorb and retain information. Kaylee's love for knowledge and learning became evident at an early age, and her mother was not surprised when she found out her daughter had been placed in Ravenclaw.
Though Kaylee took her studies very seriously, she had a bit of a wild streak that was fueled even further when she met the twins in her first year. She had been sitting alone in an empty compartment aboard the Hogwarts Express when she met the boys. Nervous and a little scared to be away from home for her first year, the 11 year old sat looking out the window. She had been watching the families saying their farewells to each other on Platform 9 ¾. Her own mother had already left the station to get to her job at the Ministry of Magic.
"Chin up Kaylee. You'll love it there. You'll see. Hogwarts is the most amazing place, and you'll do wonderfully. Just be the spectacular, beautiful, smart little girl I know you are," her mother had said to her. Kaylee had just nodded and hugged her mother tearfully before she departed.
About a minute before the train was set to depart, two boys struggling with heavy trunks arrived at her compartment door. They were identical in everyway, from the flaming red hair, down to the last freckle.
"Mind if we sit here?" asked the twin on the left. "Everywhere else is full."
Kaylee shook her head and with a wave of her hand indicated they could come in. She watched as the two boys hoisted their trunks onto the luggage rack above them and took the seat opposite of her.
"I'm Fred Weasley and this is George," said the twin on the right.
"I'm Kaylee Osmund," she said nervously.
"Is this your first year too?" asked George.
Kaylee nodded.
"Know what house you'll be in?" asked Fred.
"No, but I hope I'm in Ravenclaw. What about you two?"
"Gryffindor. We have three older brothers in Gryffindor already" said George.
"Must be nice having your family with you for your first year" Kaylee said, slightly jealous.
"Are you kidding? I can't wait to escape them at Hogwarts!" Fred exclaimed.
"Bill is Head Boy, and Charlie is Quidditch Captain. Percy will probably be a prefect too, the way he carries on," said George disgustedly.
Stunned, Kaylee had replied, "Aren't those good things?"
"Well Quidditch Captain is at least something to be proud of, but any title one achieves through good behavior -," George spat out the last two words as if they were inappropriate curse words.
"- Is just shameful," finished Fred.
Kaylee laughed. She had always had a good sense of humor.
Just then a boy, only a couple years older than themselves entered the compartment. Kaylee assumed he was Fred and George's older brother, judging by the shade of his hair and his freckled complexion.
"Oy! What are you doing in here, Percy?" asked Fred, grumpily.
"I'm just making sure you two are behaving. I promised mother I'd look after you after all," said the older boy, with the air of high superiority.
"We don't need you looking after us," replied George, shortly.
"Mother seems to disagree. She asked me to keep an eye on you two and report back to her directly if and when you get into trouble," Percy said as though he had the authority of the headmaster.
His eyes landed on Kaylee and he seemed to just realize she was there.
"Oh hello. Percy Weasley." He held out his hand and she shook it.
"Lovely to see you old chap!" mocked Fred.
"Yes quite spiffing," mocked George, shaking Kaylee's hand as well.
Kaylee laughed again. How she had wished she had siblings she could tease like the twins did.
"Yes well, if these two dunderheads bother you, let me know at once. I'll be sitting just three compartments ahead," replied Percy dryly before he left the compartment.
"Thought he'd never leave, the idiot," George rolled his eyes.
"Is he always so….." Kaylee let the words trail off.
"You have no idea," said Fred.
They spent the rest of the trip discussing Quidditch, their families, and Hogwarts. Kaylee had been happy to find she could actually relax around the twins. They were her absolute counterparts. While she was bookish and responsible, the twins were laid back and reckless. Kaylee found it quite refreshing. After being alone for 11 years, she had finally found friends in the Weasleys.
The twins found Kaylee to be easy to get along with as well. At first they had thought she might be like Percy, who was strict and pompous. However, they soon found the dark-haired, blue-eyed girl to be mischievous like them. She actually made them roar with laughter, after telling them a story about how she had accidentally burned all the hair off her Uncle's head one Christmas.
When she was sorted into Ravenclaw, and the twins into Gryffindor, Kaylee assumed that would be the end of their short-lived friendship. Students tended to stick with their own houses, rather than intermingle. Thankfully, Fred and George seemed to follow their own rules. The next day they caught up with Kaylee in a corridor and began talking to her as if they had been best friends for years. The three were almost inseparable ever since.
They balanced each other out. Kaylee was often the savior of the twins, academically. She helped them to pass their classes, and forced them to study with her in the library or on the grounds. Without her, they certainly wouldn't have passed their O. in their fifth year. Alternately, the twins became her saviors as well. They kept her light hearted throughout the years with their humorous antics and pranks. Kaylee was often involved in the pranks as well, and ended up in detention alongside them more than once. Without the twins, Kaylee felt as if she would have become even more of a lonely recluse than she tended to be. Fred and George brought her out of her studious, book filled world and into one filled with laughter and adventure.
As the trio got older, Kaylee began to notice the differences between Fred and George. By their third year she could tell twins apart by sight, a feat that no one else had seemed to master. Mrs. Weasley, who had adored Kaylee at once upon meeting her, had often begged Kaylee to tell her how she could identify the twins so easily.
"I don't know how I do it. I can just tell," Kaylee had shrugged.
Kaylee did know how she could tell the two apart, but she knew she could never admit it to anyone. In their third year, she began to feel a squirming sensation in her stomach every time she was around George. At first, she didn't understand why her stomach felt as if she had swallowed some Devil's Snare every time he was around, and she had even gone to Madam Pomfrey on several occasions for a remedy for her stomach aches. After two weeks of these stomach problems, she began to find herself staring into George's beautiful green eyes, or noticing how his face lit up whenever he smiled. One day it just struck her. The reason her stomach twisted violently whenever she saw or thought about George was because she was in love with him.
At first, Kaylee was horrified with herself. She was NOT supposed to fall in love with her best friend. She had trouble making friends in the first place, so she was not about to lose her two best friends over something silly like feelings. Kaylee decided to keep her emotions a secret, and became extremely talented with putting up an emotional barrier. She could almost force herself to forget her emotions towards George, and convince herself she didn't love him.
"It's just a stupid crush. It will fade away in time," she would tell herself. Then George would do something stupid like hug her or smile at her and all the useless emotions would come running back into her like a speeding train.
When the twins started to notice the opposite sex, and George had a brief fling with Alicia Spinnet in their 5th year, Kaylee thought she would die from her agony. Seeing George romantically involved with another girl was the most painful experience she had ever had to live through. Everyday she felt as if her heart were being torn out and shredded right before her eyes. Thankfully, Alicia quickly proved that she couldn't handle George and his antics and the coupling broke apart, though they remained friends much to Kaylee's dismay.
The summer after their 5th year, Kaylee got an owl from Fred and George telling her Mr. Weasley had scored premium tickets for the Quidditch World Cup. They invited her to come along as well, and stay for the rest of the summer afterwards. Kaylee was hesitant at first, knowing she would be in close confinement with George. The Burrow wasn't that large and with the entire Weasley family and their added guests sleeping under one roof, well, it was going to be a tight fit. However, the prospect of seeing the World Cup in the top box with her two best friends was just too tempting to pass up over something stupid like her unrequited love for George. Therefore, Kaylee found herself arriving at the burrow the day before the Quidditch World Cup.
