FRED'S POV:

I saw very little of KC for her first year at Hogwarts, only catching little glimpses of her in the corridors outside classes, a few times in the common room, and a little at meals in the Great Hall. We never spoke, hardly made eye contact, but still, my heart reacted to her. Over the summer, I thought about her and waited anxiously for school to start. George thought of my anticipation for being cast back into a learning environment as complete psychosis.

We boarded the Hogwarts express and George and I chose a large, empty cabin to sit in.

As it turned out, today was my lucky day.

Shortly after sitting down and shoving out luggage up onto the overhead racks, I saw a blur of black hair race past. I knew it was her. No one had hair quite so black. I frowned as I saw she wasn't going to stop, but then smiled. I had finally seen her again (even if it was just a small glance at her small, running body).

I leaned my head against the cold window pane and looked out into the sea of worried parents' faces.

"Excuse me." came a small, unfamiliar voice.

I looked up to where the voice came from. It took a moment for my shocked brain to process the fact that it was her. KC.

She looked at me and said, "Do you mind if me and my friend sit here? Everywhere else is full."

I cleared my throat and blinked a few times. "No, of course not. Go ahead."

She smiled warmly and motioned to her friend. It was the short one with light brown hair.

KC sat beside me and her friend sat across from her beside George. She seemed kind of shy near him. I smiled knowingly, tilting my head down to hide the smirk.

"You're KC, right?" I said, turning to her and trying to make conversation.

She nodded and held out her hand. "Call me Kace."

I smiled and said, "I'm-"

She interrupted with a chuckle. "Oh I know who you are."

I smiled wider at that. "You do?"

"Well, sure. But I don't know which you you are. You could be Fred or you could be George." She looked at me speculatively. Then she turned her attention to George. "Hmm…" she said quietly, resting her chin in her hand. "Fred?" she said finally, turning to me.

I nodded, smiling and trying desperately to ignore the way my heart flopped around when she said my name.

The rest of the ride, she sat reading some book. I tried to make my inspection of her inconspicuous. I noted every detail, from the black highlights that ringed her eyes and sometimes spiked out into the blue, down to the way she chewed her bottom lip when she concentrated.

When the train stopped, I helped her with her trunk, my pulse jumping when our hands touched. Hers were icy and very pale.

"You're hands are so cold." I said, not really meaning to talk.

"Yeah, they always are." she said, looking down at one hand and using the other to push a stray lock of hair out of her eyes and behind her ear.

I frowned and pulled my gloves off, pulling them down over her hands. They were blue and knitted by my mother.

She smiled up at me. "Thanks."

I grinned in answering.

"So are you one of Ron's friends?" George asked her as we all walked toward the castle.

"I guess you could say that. I've only talked to him a few times, but Penny knows him better than I do." Kace answered, gesturing to her friend.

George looked down at her and smiled, making her blush and look around. "Yeah, I had him in a lot of my classes last year. I had to help him on quite a few projects." She rolled her eyes and George animatedly launched into a story about the time he and I had tricked Ron into thinking we were actually helping him on something when actually, we were giving him the complete opposite answer.

The two of them soon fell far behind us.

Kace rolled her eyes, smiling. "She's so transparent."

I was confused. "What?"

She looked alarmed, as if she hadn't meant to actually say that out loud. "Well, its completely obviously that she fancies him. She isn't trying very hard to hide it."

I nodded, noting the way George was looking at her. It was obvious in his case as well. 'They will be together before the first month here at Hogwarts.' I thought, almost laughing to myself.

A large group of second year girls were waiting at the door of the school, waving to Kace and Penny.

"Oh, I guess, I'll see you around?" Kace asked, turning to me and putting her hand on my arm. She sounded hopeful, like she enjoyed my company.

I nodded, smiling breathlessly.

She turned to run to them, but then stopped and turned back to me. She held out the gloves. "Here."

I held up a hand and waved her offer away. "My mum makes things like that all the time and she loves doing it, I'm sure it wont be hard to get another pair. Besides, I think you need them more than I do."

She considered for a moment, then smiled and nodded. "Bye, Fred!"

Off she went, to the gaggle of giggling girls.

I turned around and saw Penny looking up just in time to see all the other girls waving for her to join them. "Oh, I guess I should probably go. So I'll see you later."

They both started to hold up their arms like they were going to hug, then, before it was too obvious what they were about to do, dropped their arms and shook hands professionally. Penny dashed away and George was left staring after her, oblivious to anything else.

"Oh, Georgie. You've made a rookie mistake."

He looked up at this. "And what mistake might that be, Fred?" George asked as we started walking again.

"You're falling for someone two years younger than you. That is sure to cause some problems."

George blushed but said, "Oh, but, dear brother, you're far worse."

I looked at him, stricken.

"Don't think I didn't notice you eyeing her when she was being sorted at the beginning of last year. And anytime her name is so much as uttered, you fall all over yourself trying to get every detail of whatever is being said. Yes, I think you're much worse off than I am, Fred."

I looked down, trying to hide my blush and mumbled, "Shut up."

KACE'S POV:

I clutched the gloves to my chest and tried to steady my breathing.

The sky outside my window was growing darker and darker as the night wore on.

I smiled to myself, wondering when I would get to see that Fred Weasley again and fell into a sleep so deep, I had no dreams. I only saw Fred, smiling at me sweetly.