Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.

This was written for HeadCanon Boot Camp Challenge, with prompt #39-Nervous.

This was also written for The Obstacle Course Competition. I used the following prompts: Character: Fred II, Scene: Hogwarts, Era: Next-Gen, Object: Potions book, Phrase: "You're in Ravenclaw?", Emotion: Amazement, and Object: Glasses.

The Irony in Misunderstandings

Only the first day of classes, and already Roxanne dreaded Potions class. With her potions book balanced between her knees, the young Weasley girl pushed her glasses up her nose and squinted at the text. Her patience was wearing thin. She was used to catching onto things quickly—she'd always been a smart girl—and she just didn't understand exactly how all of this worked. She wasn't precise about anything. Roxie had rushed through life so far, stopping occasionally to enjoy the view and grab a snack. Otherwise, she was content to run through life with little care of the chaos she left behind.

She was sitting against an outer wall of Hogwarts castle, the slowly setting sun illuminating her books. The fresh air was nice, especially since her nerves were still so frazzled. She hadn't talked to any of her family yet—she was avoiding them all, actually. Roxie was incredibly nervous about facing any of them, despite the fact that all of them would probably be fine with her, and the fact that she wasn't sorted into Gryffindor. After all, Teddy was a Hufflepuff, and everyone had already moved on from the fact that, last year, Al had been deemed a Slytherin and Rose had been sorted as a Ravenclaw. Besides some minor teasing, all of her cousins treated the two very much the same.

Yet, she still cringed as she remembered the looks of shock on their faces—the outright amazement at the mere idea that Roxie Weasley wasn't the brave, daring girl she pretended to be. The facts were, Roxie was damn proud to be a Ravenclaw. She was smart, she always had been smart, and she loved to learn and read and do things the proper way. She wasn't overly brave or crass or any of the things Gryffindors usually were.

Sighing heavily, she firmly turned her attention back to her studies, which she needed done for tomorrow. She knew that with a little focus, she could accomplish anything… And then Roxie a heard a shout of her name, from a very familiar voice, and her entire body froze. Of course the first person to find her would be the one she was most reluctant to view the reaction of.

Her older brother, Fred, was making his way toward her, a broad grin on his face. Her heart was hammering nervously, and Roxie hoped he wouldn't be mean about this. Nothing he could say would make her regret being a Ravenclaw, but his approval meant more to her than she cared to admit. She wanted to have a good relationship with her brother, especially since he was a Fifth year—they only had three more years together before he would be moving out away from Roxie entirely.

"What do you want?" Roxie asked, cautiously, once he had plopped down beside her, effectively knocking her books and papers askew. She shot him an exasperated look and hurried to reorganize them as he chuckled. "You're such a prat, Freddie," she huffed.

"Sorry, I just…" he shook his head, quirking one side of his lip, "It was a surprise, Roxie. And then you up and disappear!" he said, a hint of accusation in his voice. She shrugged, twirling a piece of her hair lightly. "I mean… you're in Ravenclaw? Who would've thought!" he exclaimed.

"I did," she replied stiffly. Fred paused at the note of defensiveness in her voice, and took a moment to survey her a little more closely.

"Roxie," he said, "you know that it's not a big deal, right? It was just unexpected, is all," he shrugged, smiling softly. "You're so… temperamental," he said after taking a moment to find the right word. Roxanne rolled her eyes.

"Just because I have a short fuse doesn't mean I'm brave, Fred!"

"I know, I know!" he quickly placated, raising his hands in front of his face. "I just… Like I said, Roxie, it was a surprise. You're a trickster, just like me and dad," he grinned broadly.

"Just because I'm a Ravenclaw doesn't make me any less likely to pull pranks or make people laugh," she argued, jerkily pushing up her falling glasses once again. Fred chuckled and reached out to muss up her hair, much to Roxanne's chagrin. "I want to work at the shop, you know!" She glanced down at her hands and, in a smaller, wistful voice, confessed, "I'd even want to run it, you know—if you weren't already going to, I mean. I would be good at running a business, I think."

Fred's eyes had widened at his little sister's confession. They sat there in silence for a few minutes, Roxie too afraid to look up and garner her brother's reaction, and Fred trying to process what he'd just been told. Finally, he said," Roxie… I—you should have told me earlier." He reached and squeezed her shoulder comfortingly and then tilted her chin up so she could see the smile on his face.

"You running the business would be awesome, Rox," he finally chuckled. Her eyes widened in shock. It had always been assumed (by everyone) that Fred would automatically take over Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes after graduation.

"Really?" she asked eagerly. Fred grinned even wider and slid a little closer to her, glancing around as if he was about to divulge a terrible secret.

"I don't really want to work at WWW, Roxie," he finally murmured guiltily. Her eyes widened and she reached out to pat his arm consolingly, hoping to convey that she didn't care where he wanted to work. "I talked with Lee Jordan about it, and… I really want to be a radio DJ. He said I had the voice for it, and…" he shrugged. "I dunno, it just seems like the right thing for me. So," he turned to her, eyes determined. "How about we crack a deal—I'll work there, like everyone expects, for a few years, and then once you graduate, you get to do whatever you want with it, and I'll go do what I really want. Sound good?"

Roxie outright laughed, because yes—that sounded perfect.

"It's a deal," she grinned, reaching out her hand to shake it. Fred was a Weasley, after all, and Weasleys never broke promises.