Chapter 20: Un-Fred Like

"Good Luck," Zoey whispered as she tiptoed a bit in order to hug both Fred and George. It was now the month of November and Zoey was finally released from the Hospital Wing. She was welcomed back by her friends in Gryffindor and Ravenclaw house but none in her own. The only contact she had from her house was from a boy, who was about a year older than her, who gave Zoey her missed assignments.

Zoey released them from the hug and grinned up at them. She felt a little bit lighter and freer. She no longer had that awkward feeling that she got whenever she hung out with the twins. It had subsided a bit. Zoey figured that from her first dreamless sleep in years she could just be herself in front of them. Who "herself" was she was still in the process of figuring it out.

"Thanks Zoe," Fred grinned in return as he ruffled his hair. The awkward tension they had from Fred's midnight visit had disappeared. It only came back when it was mentioned, lucky for them only George knew about it.

"But not like we needed it," George laughed as he nudged his brother in the ribs.

Zoey bit her lip as she stared at the more "gentle" (for lack of better word) twin. He seemed to be trying too hard to be his usual Weasley self. Zoey caught George looking off at a different direction as Fred started to chat with their friend Lee. She looked towards the direction he was gazing at and caught sight of Echo. Echo had been eating on her house table recently and seemed to be avoiding the twin's altogether, same goes with Bridgit. Zoey watched as Echo stood up and joined Bridgit in leaving the Great Hall.

Zoey looked back at George and watched his eyes follow Echo until she was no longer in sight. He had sort of a pained expression on his face.

"She's still not talking to you?" Zoey asked in a soft voice so as not to catch any unwanted attention. George made a small jump before looking at Zoey his eyes somewhat wide.

"Sorry Zoey didn't catch that," George grinned as her rubbed the back of his neck.

"Echo," Zoey said, "She still isn't talking to you is she?"

"If you haven't noticed Zoey both Echo and Bridgit haven't been talking to either of us, Fred and I," George said making unnecessary emphasizing.

"But the fact that you're avoiding right now is that Echo is ignoring you," Zoey said as she pushed her new pair of glasses up the bridge of her nose.

George stared at her dumbfounded, "Gee Zoey, I think you've been hanging around Ravenclaws to much," he said, "But-"

"Come on Forge!" Fred grinned as he thumped George on the back, "Time to kick some Slytherin arse!"

"Fred!" Zoey blushed. Fred merely grinned wider as his signature twinkle came to his eyes.

Fred then gave Zoey a one-armed hug before thrusting his fist into the air. "Let's do this!" he exclaimed before dragging George along with him following the rest of the Gryffindor team. George stumbled a bit before looking back at Zoey. "We'll talk about this later," he mouthed to her before fixing his pace and began joking with Fred.

"Bleh!" Zoey exclaimed as she stuck her tongue out in disgust, "That must have tasted awful!"

She pulled out her wand and tapped her glasses twice muttering a charm under her breath her glasses glowed a faint red before thickening in their size. She had charmed her glasses to work a bit like Omnioculars. She focused her gaze towards the bottom of the Quidditch Pitch and saw Harry thrusting the snitch into the air. He had nearly swallowed it.

"He didn't catch it, he nearly swallowed it," Zoey heard the Slytherin, Marcus Flint, complain.

Zoey shook her head as she tapped her glasses again to return them to normal. She pocketed her wand before leaving the stands. She did not want to stay in the very noisy and crowded area any longer. She was afraid she might be trampled on with the rate of force everyone was pushing against her whilst their cheering.

Zoey pushed and squeezed through the many Hogwarts students who were cheering. When she finally made her way through her jumped of the barely four inch height away from the green grass and landed with a soft thud. She fixed her Hufflepuff scarf before walking off towards the Black Lake. As she was walking she caught sight of the Gryffindor team leaving as they were still yelling out their victory. She stared intently at the twins hoping to catch one of their attentions.

George looked at her.

Zoey jerked her head a bit and turned around heading to the Black Lake. As she drew closer she heard footsteps behind her and a hand hold onto her shoulder. "Hey," George said as he softly caught his breath. He had to run a bit to catch up to her.

"Hey," Zoey smiled, "Congrats on the game….where's Fred?

"Told him I had to go back to get something," George replied, "What? Do you think I would actually let him over hear this conversation? He'll never let me live it down. George Weasley being sensitive I have a reputation to live up to!"

Zoey raised an eyebrow before laughing softly. She couldn't move her mouth too much she felt her face go a little numb from the cold weather. She removed her hair from her ponytail in hopes that it could warm her up a bit more. She was very sensitive to the cold since she didn't have much body fats to keep her warm.

"So wanna take off where we left off?" Zoey asked as she crossed her legs before sitting down so she was in a pretzel position. She looked up at George.

"Do we have to?" George whined before taking a seat himself. Zoey smirked in triumphant.

"Okay," Zoey said, "Now let it all out."

"I'm not going to cry!"

"I didn't say you would…. You aren't are you?" Zoey tensed.

"I'm not," George sighed and looked towards the lake, "Echo is ignoring me right now…she's a little pissed off from the little accident."

Zoey nodded her head, "But I told her I was fine and that I forgave you and Fred already"

"Really you forgave us?" George asked.

"Duh. I wouldn't be talking to you right now if I didn't now would I?" Zoey asked, "I thought you already knew?"

"Obviously I did not,"

"Really? But I would have thought Fred-"

"Wait, wait. You told Fred you forgave us? When was this?"

"A little after I woke up so… on the night of the fourth day after the accident?"

"Night? He… he took the Marauder's Map and visited you didn't he?" George asked with a smirk on his lips and wiggled his eyebrows.

Zoey blushed. "I-err- no- wait! We're getting off topic here!" She stuttered and tried to muster up her best glare.

"Sorry Zoey but you can't match up to Echo's," George sniggered, "Hers can put any Slytherin to shame."

"Now we're back on track!" Zoey said with a snap of her fingers, "So how long has this been going on? You know the ignoring part"

George licked his lips as he focused his gaze back onto the lake. It was so silent around them for everyone had retreated back into the castle. Zoey watched patiently as George's eyes seemed to fog up in thought.

"I guess…it began right after you were taken up to the Hospital Wing. We were given a hard lecture on skipping detention, loitering and the dangers of being up at the Astronomy Tower fighting. McGonagall was flaming in anger when she saw what we did to the tower and the fact that we almost killed her just added fuel to it," George said as he continued to look at the lake, "McGonagall had given us all detention and it just increased Echo's anger towards me and Fred because she was already a little behind requirements and the detentions would be interfering…that's what she yelled at me at least. What she's really mad at is that you almost fell to your doom because of us"

Zoey bit her lip, "But you guys didn't mean too and it was my fault at interfering at the wrong time"

"You wouldn't have to interfere if we didn't have that blasted idea to get back at Trelawney. Face it, it all starts from there," George barked.

"Well… you guys wouldn't have had the thought of getting back at her if I didn't make that Fortune Teller and landed Echo, Bridgit and I in detention and if we weren't in detention then we wouldn't have tried to stop you and Fred then the fight wouldn't have happened, I wouldn't have interfered and nearly got myself killed and Echo wouldn't be mad at you," Zoey said in one breath. She took a deep gulp of air. Her cheeks and nose now tinted pink from the heat she produced from speaking fast.

"Don't try to put them blame on yourself, Zoey," George groaned as he ducked his head into his arms which he balanced on his knees.

"That's not what I was trying to do. I was just trying to point out that the whole thing didn't necessarily start off from when you and Fred got the idea of pranking Professor Trelawney," Zoey said, "And anyway don't stress to much about Echo. She'd come around"

"And what makes you say that?"

"Well, you're one of her oldest friends, she couldn't stay mad at you forever…that and she's coming this way," Zoey said as she pointed towards the direction a figure decked in blue was coming from. George whipped up his head and caught sight of the violet-haired girl with books in her arms. Leave it to Echo to bring books to a Quidditch match.

Zoey noticed his cheeks had a pink tint to them.

Echo came to a halt just a few feet away from them.

"Zwei, there you a-" Echo had stopped short when she side-glanced at George and back to Zoey and coughed before straightening herself up, "I'm sorry, am I interrupting something?"

After a short whole, no one had responded, "I guess I am then," Echo muttered before turning on her heel and walking back.

Zoey watched as George shot up, "You aren't," he responded before blushing hard.

"I guess you should have said something when I asked," Echo said over her shoulder before walking again.

George sighed before looking back at Zoey. Zoey made a hand motion and mouthed, "Go after her." George straightened up before grabbing hold of Echo's hand before she was out of reach.

Echo made a swift turn and harshly asked, " What?"

George didn't falter, "I'm sorry," he said as he looked her straight in the eye.

Echo looked down and swatted George's hand off her wrist before continuing walking.

"What do you want me to say Echo?" George exclaimed not caring that his hand stung a little, "Zoey forgave me, why can't you?"

"Because I'm not Zoey"

Zoey decided that this was going nowhere and it was her time to intervene. She stood up, walked towards George and stood beside him. "Come on Echo. He said he was sorry. What's the real problem here?"

Echo's face went into an agonizing one. She had dropped her books to rub her temples, "Honestly, I don't know anymore. I don't know how I feel and I can't think"

"Then tell us what's on your mind then. Just spit it out," Zoey said as she took a step forward.

"I don't know"

"Then what's keeping you from forgiving George? Why are you avoiding him? In truth, I can't see his fault in all this," Zoey made a hand motion to indicate 'all this'.

"I don't know"

"Then what do you know, Echo?" George asked

"A lot," Echo rubbed her temples once more before bending to get her books.

George sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. Echo was being stubborn. He looked back at Zoey. "This isn't going anywhere," he whispered to her.

"I can see that," Zoey said in an equally quiet tone.

"Let me take care of this," George said jerking his head a bit indicating Echo.

Zoey bit her lip, "Are you sure?"

"I'll be fine"

Zoey nodded her head before looking back at Echo, "Well I better get going! See you!" she said quickly before dashing back up towards the castle.

Zoey stopped after a few minutes to catch her breath. She was never much of a runner. She brought her hand up to wipe her forehead and noted that though her face was a little warm from the running she was still a lot colder than normal people. She hugged herself.

She quietly strolled down the hall as she wrapped her arms tighter around herself. She was wearing a Hufflepuff scarf, an oversized long-sleeved yellow shirt that reached a little bit passed her thighs, skinny jeans and knee high boots. To most she would have looked pretty warmed up in the November breeze but she still felt cold.

Zoey slipped through a couple of seven years in a corner and jumped over a lost toad. She skipped lightly before almost running into someone from around the corner.

She took a couple steps backwards before getting a good look at the person.

"Fred!" Zoey gasped. Fred however stayed put. He didn't laugh or grin or tease her or do anything that he would have normally done when he ran into her. He just stayed put and starred at her. Zoey tensed.

"Fred?" she asked tentatively as she stepped closer to him. Fred didn't say anything. Zoey wondered if he had been hit by a curse or was stupefied. Fred closed his eyes and sighed.

Fred's hand moved to brush Zoey's bangs away before bringing it down to graze her cheeks. Zoey felt her blush come back two-fold as Fred's hands once again found its way to the back of her neck. Slowly he pushed her forward and he ducked his head low. His face was so close to hers she could feel his warm breath. His lips centimeters away.

Then he stopped.

"Sorry,"

Hey! :D Here's chapter 20~

Taka had a thought that went something like this: "Have you ever thought of have a George and Zoey moment that Fred somehow witnesses making their relationship a little bit confussing?"

Well... the review went somewhat like that XD

Anyway, here you go! A little George and Zoey moment that ECHO witnesses but did Fred witness it too? Maybe, maybe ;)

Anyway, I'm thinking about making the next chapter the last chapter on their third year so I can start typing on their fourth year :D

Hopefully, this would go as planned.

Still have tests and there's still an art project that I have to do... dammit.

oh well! hopefully I will survive.

This chapter is dedicated to Taka for giving me the wonderful idea for this chapter! :D

Also, thanks for the reviews, favorites, questions and alerts! They are all much appriciated!

Please don't forget to review and ask questions!

I only own what I own!