Chapter 4

Special day

Angelina woke up alone the next morning. It seemed like Fred had taken her not so subtle hint and slept on the sofa with George. She swung her legs over the edge of the bed and glanced over at her alarm clock. 8:30. She didn't begin work for another hour and a half but she hadn't slept well and trying to go back to sleep was useless. Angelina did everything she could to tell herself that her lack of sleep had nothing to do with Fred's arm not being flung over her stomach like it usually was. Nothing at all.

Angelina got up and got dressed. She went out of the room to get some breakfast in the kitchen. On her way she peeked into the living room and sure enough, George was laying in the middle of the bed-settee while Fred had been pushed out to the side and looked like he would fall off the edge any moment. As if that wasn't enough, George had hogged both the covers too which left Fred looking very cold. Angelina had to resist the very strong urge to wrap a blanket around him.

When she walked into the kitchen she was a bit surprised at seeing Ginny already there.

"Good morning!" Ginny greeted with a small smile.

Angelina grumbled something in response. She wasn't really in the mood to make small talk with her boyfriend's sister. Ginny sensed Angelina's bad mood and decided to get straight to the point without unnecessary chit chat.

"I'm really sorry about last night."

"Why, it's not you fault that your ex decides to show up drunk on your brothers' doorstep," Angelina replied, still in a sour mood.

"I meant your fight with Fred. I didn't mean to cause any trouble between you two, I really didn't."

"It's not your fault," Angelina said but avoided looking at Ginny. A part of her, a rather large part of her, agreed that it was Ginny's fault, but she couldn't say that straight out, could she.

"Either way I'm sorry," Ginny still blamed herself despite Angelina's half-hearted protest. "I promise I'll make it up to you somehow. Just ask me to do anything and I'll do it!" Ginny said.

"Thank you for your offer but it's fine. Really. I'm sorry if I seem angry at you, I'm not. Fred and I just need to cool off a bit and then we'll be alright. We do this all the time, it's no big deal. The only difference is that now he has to share the couch with George. I just wish we would have had the fight on another day that's all," Angelina said, this time facing Ginny. This was all true. She and Fred needed to yell at each other and cool off separately every once in a while. Today was however not the best day.

"Why, what's happening today?" Ginny asked. Panic was starting to grow inside her. If she had messed up a special day for her brother and his girlfriend then she wouldn't be able to forgive herself. Especially not when Angelina had been so helpful these last couple of days, she had even almost convinced Fred to let Ginny move out and then Ginny had ruined it.

"Never mind. I have to get going. I start work soon and I don't want to be late," Angelina didn't want to make Ginny feel worse than she already seemed to do.

The minute Angelina had walked out of the door, Ginny flew up and ran into living room to wake Fred up. She had to fix this and she had to do it soon.

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"Good morning Angelina," Cheryl greeted her when she arrived at St. Mungos.

"Not really," Angelina replied.

"Why? What happened? Was it Fred's sister? I knew she would be trouble, I knew it from the start. I told you that you shouldn't have let her stay, but that boyfriend of yours just had to let her because she had nowhere else to go even though she has a dozen other family members to bother." Cheryl seemed to have been waiting a long time to get this off her chest. Angelina knew she hadn't liked Ginny staying in Angelina's flat but she had just waved off Cheryl's protests.

"Calm down Cheryl! She hasn't really done anything..."

"Hasn't really? That means that she has done something and you better tell me. You know I won't leave until you do."

Cheryl planted herself in front of Angelina with her arms crossed over her chest and a determined look on her face. If she hadn't been a foot shorter than Angelina, the gesture would have been pretty intimidating. Now it was on the border to comical.

"Me and Fred had a fight yesterday," Angelina explained while trying to keep a straight face and apparently succeeding since Cheryl didn't comment.

"About his sister?"

"Yes. He wants to keep her locked inside the flat since he doesn't think she can take care of herself. I tried to talk some sense into him and it led to some yelling."

"That's awful! You should really tell him off. Yelling at your girlfriend is unforgivable for a boyfriend."

Cheryl had many rules for how women should be treated by men. Yelling, lying, ignoring and even arguing was some of the things that were considered unforgivable.

"That is not what's bothering me. What's bothering me is that this is a very special day for us and I hate that we're not even talking to each other when we should be out celebrating."

"It's the 8th of July. What's so special about that?"

"It's a tradition we have. A kind of anniversary."

"What is it that you celebrate?"

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"We celebrate the day I took Angelina on our very first date, if you don't count the Yule Ball and Hogsmeade weekends," Fred explained to Ginny who had, after her not so gentle awakening (being woken up by your sister practically slapping your face was not something Fred preferred), curiously asked him what was so special about today. "The date is exactly between our birthdays and almost half a year after Christmas so we have sort of developed it into an excuse to give each other presents. And go out to dinner of course. After we moved in together we kind of stopped going out to fancy places, but this day made it into a tradition to go out at least once a year. On our very first date, I bought her a bracelet which you can attach tiny little charms on. Every year I get her a new charm on this day and every charm represent something special that has happened since last year.

"That is so sweet!" Ginny said.

"Yeah, I had all evening planned for us but now I'm not sure she even wants to talk to me," Fred said with sadness in his voice. Ginny could really tell what a special day this was for them.

"Of course she will! She's probably just waiting for a sign that you haven't forgotten!"

"You think?" Fred asked, suddenly eager to get out of bed.

"Yes, now go!"

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"He has probably forgotten anyway. It was just a stupid tradition that we knew wouldn't last, so why fool ourselves," Angelina tried to shrug it off but her voice gave away how much she had wanted it to last. "I have to get back to work now."

Angelina took the folder and walked away to see her first patient.

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It was a short day for Angelina today. She only worked until lunch and then she was free. Since she hadn't heard anything from Fred, not that she had expected it, she had promised to have lunch with Cheryl. When she walked back to the waiting room to put back her patient's journal, she caught sight of Cheryl smiling broadly at her.

"What?" Angelina asked suspiciously.

"You have to come to the staff room, there is a delivery there for you," she said, still smiling.

When they arrived at the staff room there was a bunch of curious nurses looking at what had arrived. Angelina made her way through the crowd of gossiping girls to get to the table in the middle of the room. There was a bouquet of deep red roses wrapped in brown paper.

"Angelina, there you are!" one of the nurses exclaimed. "These arrived for you just a few minutes ago."

"Why are there thirteen?" someone else asked. "Shouldn't there only be twelve? Thirteen is an unlucky number."

Angelina saw the card attached and opened it, making sure to keep it out of view from the people trying to peek over her shoulders.

Thirteen roses for the love of my life.

One for every year I have been lucky enough to know you.

Be ready for a fancy dinner at six o'clock tonight and don't forget your charms.

Another one will be added as always.

Love Fred

Angelina smiled as she read the note. He hadn't forgotten after all. He wasn't the most poetic person you could imagine but he sure did know how to be sweet. Angelina picked up the flowers and walked out of the room, ignoring all the questions being fired at her.

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When she arrived home, the flat was empty. She had had a short lunch with Cheryl and then headed straight home. It was only two o'clock; she didn't need to be ready for another four hours. She decided to take a long bath; it had been a while since she had allowed herself such a luxury.

After an hour long bath, she started drying and fixing her hair. After she had applied a touch of make-up she changed into a dress she had bought a couple of weeks ago. She had picked it out especially for tonight. Last but not least, she put on the charm bracelet Fred had given her so many years ago. When she was ready she glanced at the clock on the wall in the living room. Three minutes to six.

She heard the door open. Perfect timing.