Two weeks after the episode in the common room, Fred found Clementine one lunch time and grabbed her hand. Both she and Skylar looked bewildered; Skylar also looked a bit jealous.

"Guys, come quick! Rosalie and George are having a huge bust up!" The three of them ran at top speed to the school grounds, where there was a crowd gathering. Rosalie was absolutely screaming at George, who looked livid.

"George, listen to me, please!" Rosalie screamed. George held up a hand as if to block her from view.

"I don't want to hear it, Rosalie. Did you actually think that I wouldn't find out what was really going on?"

"What is going on?" Clementine asked Fred curiously.

"Gabbie and Ginny had a huge argument, and Gabbie admitted that she'd only made friends with her to turn Ginny against you and make it seem like you were a bad person," Fred explained.

"Why would Gabbie do that?" Skylar asked, staring at Clementine, who was completely shocked at this news.

"Because Gabbie is Rosalie's younger sister," Fred said, smiling grimly.

"I'm not a bad person, George," Rosalie sobbed. She looked so pathetic and unattractive when she cried that Clementine was disgusted in her.

"You turned me against my own girlfriend!" George shouted, and Clementine had never seen him so angry. "She was right! I am weak, and pathetic, for letting you and your weak Veela powers take over my mind! No other guy round here falls for your stupid so-called powers!"

This obviously really upset Rosalie, because the next breath she took was sharp. "That bitch was just jealous of me," she said eventually. "All girls are jealous of Veelas-"

"I'm not," Skylar said loudly, waltzing out so everyone could see her in all her glory, long legs and all. "Some of us don't need to be Veelas to attract people." At that moment, Clementine fully appreciated Skylar and her vanity – she did have a good point though. "Anyway, my best friend is a bloody Metamorphmagus. She could look however she wants, yet she keeps her natural looks because she's a genuine natural beauty, unlike you, cake-face."

Fred laughed loudly. Rosalie flushed red.

"But George, you heard all that stuff she said about me-"

"No, I didn't," George corrected her. "You told me that's what she said. I was so taken with you that I just accepted it blindly. You know what, forget it," he added, as she opened her mouth. "I don't need to hear anymore, I get it. You stole me from my girlfriend, you turned my little sister against her and you sent a pathetic wannabe after her to stalk her."

"Who's that?" Fred whispered, and Clementine caught sight of her in the crowd. Judith: sulky, rude Judith.

"We're done, Rosalie, what else can I say? Good luck finding someone else now that your own sister has exposed you for what you really are: a snake."

Fred cheered obnoxiously loudly; pushing his way through, he threw his arms round his twin. George gripped him back in a man-hug.

"I knew you'd see sense eventually, my little bro," Fred said, looking at George as if he'd never seen him before. "I'm proud of you."

Meanwhile, a hysterical Rosalie was searching the crowd – for Clementine. Her eyes scanned everyone until they rested upon her. Clementine stared at her.

"You!" Rosalie screeched. She plunged her hand in her pocket, but Skylar was quicker, performing the Cheering Charm they had recently learned in Charms. It left Rosalie in a state of hysterics, but a much happier one that she had been just a few minutes ago.

"I'm so glad I didn't skip that lesson to snog some gross Slytherins in the dungeons," Skylar said, looking pleased with herself. Clementine snorted with laughter.

"Oh, and you," Skylar said suddenly, wheeling around to face Judith, who was obviously trying to go back to the castle unnoticed. "Don't you go stalking anyone else, okay? Smile a bit, talk to people and you'll be loads more popular than that blonde cow is."

Judith glared at her, then stalked off. Clementine watched her go, pitying her slightly. She was a funny girl, but also a deeply insecure and unhappy person too.

"She'll learn eventually," Clementine said to Skylar, linking arms with her. "Do you want to go and get some garlic bread?"

"I thought you'd never ask," Skylar grinned, and the two girls set off. Suddenly, a hand was on Clementine's shoulder. She turned to see who it was; it was George.

"Hold on Skye," Clementine said gently, carefully untangling herself. She faced George, arms folded, no smile on her face. "What do you want?"

"Your forgiveness," George said honestly, with Fred nodding like a moron and giving a thumbs up in the background. "I was a fool, and I treated you like crap, and I'm really sorry."

"Yeah, you should be," Clementine informed him unsmilingly, taking Skylar's arm again. "And you're right, you are a bloody fool." The two girls set off for the castle, leaving George looking crestfallen and Fred sighing. Once they were gone, Fred turned to George.

"I think you've blown it this time mate."

"I know," George said, angrily kicking the ground and hating the sound of Rosalie giggling hysterically in the background.

~~~(O.O)~~~

Up in the Great Hall, upon grabbing some garlic bread, Skylar suddenly sighed loudly and dramatically. It was louder and more dramatic than usual, in fact.

"What's wrong?" Clementine asked, startled.

"It's Fred!" Skylar cried. "I've been such a fool this year. It was him I liked all along, ever since I accused him of morbid thinking earlier on this year. I dunno, I was just trying to make him jealous, I guess. He'll never like me now though, not now that everyone's calling me a skank." She tore her bread to pieces in her hands.

"Do you want me to talk to him?" Clementine offered, and Skylar looked up with wild, happy eyes.

"Yes please! Thank you, thank you, thank you!" She seized her and hugged her, scattering garlic bread down Clementine's back.

It turned out that Fred wanted to talk to Clementine too. They waited until after dinner, then sloped off together to wander the corridors.

"George is pretty heartbroken," Fred told her bluntly. Clementine stiffened.

"I can imagine," she said coldly. "I was pretty heartbroken too when I found him entwined with Rosalie-"

"Look," Fred said, almost pleadingly, and he actually stopped. "I'm not sticking up for his actions, he's been a pretty shitty person since Christmas, I'll be the first to admit that. But Rosalie really did have him under a spell, and he's really vulnerable you know, deep down-"

Clementine snorted. "Oh, give me a break."

"No, it's true!" Fred said angrily, enraged that she was trying to walk off. "Wait!" He grabbed her arm and stopped her. "You know, don't you, that George has been insecure ever since you two started going out? He always thought he was punching above his weight with you, always reckoning that some better looking bloke would come along and sweep you off your feet."

"That's crazy talk," said Clementine uncomfortably. Yet she could also see the truth in this. George was far from perfect, and if he was anything like Ron, then he was also a deeply insecure person. But despite these flaws, she really did love him.

Fred could see the change in her expression. "They didn't kiss or anything, you know Clemmy," he said carefully. "Whenever she tried it on with him, he'd duck his face away. They only ever held hands."

As much as she didn't want to admit, this changed everything. Clementine was still angry, of course, but the knowledge that they didn't kiss made everything better.

"How do I know he won't fall for it again?" she said finally.

"Because she was turning on the old charm during the argument – some of the second years were quite badly affected by it but George stared at her like she was Dragon dung. I'm convinced he won't fall for her ever again – not when he wants you back so badly."

Clementine stared at him. Then she said abruptly, "What do you think of Skylar?"

"What about her?" Fred asked, folding his arms at the mention of her name.

"Do you think she's pretty?" Clementine prompted unsubtly, and Fred laughed humourlessly.

"Isn't she going out with two seventh years?"

"Right," Clementine said, abandoning all pretence. "She likes you, and I know you liked her. Can't you two just have a grown-up, mature conversation about this?" She expected Fred to put up a fight, but he surprised her.

"I'll do that if you talk to George," Fred bargained. Clementine glared at him.

"Deal."

~~~(O.O)~~~

"So..." George said awkwardly.

The two of them were sat in the Courtyard, the same place that they split up, that Clementine fought Draco and the same place that she, Hermione and Fred had sat glumly together one cold day.

"So what?" Clementine asked rudely.

"Clemmy, I'm sorry. A moment of weakness turned into months of shitty behaviour. There's no excuse, I know, but I really do mean it when I say I'm so, so sorry."

Clementine looked at him, with his red-rimmed eyes and red hair to match. She sighed deeply. For a while, when they weren't together, she imagined never going back to him. That was the logical part of her brain speaking. But deep down, Clementine had constantly dreamed of this ever since their break-up. She liked him too much.

When I'm alone I feel so much better...

This was true; she had felt so much better without George in her life. And he had done absolutely nothing to prove she could trust him again.

'Correlation does not equal cause,' Clementine thought. Then she wondered where on earth she had learned that saying from. But it didn't matter; she had made up her mind for now.

"I want to believe you George, but I don't know if I do right now." Ignoring the sharp intake of breath from him and the slight guilt she felt from saying this, Clementine stood up.

"I need some time to think on it; I don't know what to say right now. Maybe I'll find you tomorrow to tell you, or some time. Don't rush me."

Clementine walked away, with unexplained tears filling her eyes. She wasn't sure how she felt, but she promised herself that she would have her mind made up by the next day.

~~~(O.O)~~~

All night, Clementine tossed and turned. It was the hardest decision she'd ever had to make. The next day, when she woke up after only a few hours sleep, she was no closer to her solution.

At lunch, she waved away her friends, needing time to think. Skylar understood as Clementine had confided in her the previous day, but the others looked a bit concerned.

"I'm fine," Clementine said without really thinking about it. "I need time to think," she explained honestly, before walking aimlessly in the opposite direction.

As she walked, a tall raven-haired girl and an even taller redheaded boy cut in front of her. Neither of them saw her, and she paused to glare at them when Clementine saw it was George and Cheyenne.

"C'mon, George, that little girl doesn't want to give you a second chance, so why not me?" Cheyenne whined.

"I don't want anyone else and I'm waiting on Clementine's answer," George replied, shaking her off his arm. "Plus, I value loyalty and this is anything but loyal, even if I hate the very thought of Rosalie."

As Cheyenne sloped away, her face red with the public rejection, Clementine suddenly realised what her answer was. She tore down the hall after him, yelling apologies at those she ran into without really seeing them. Once she got to the Courtyard, it was easy to spot George with his flaming red hair. Running up to him, she tapped him on the back and darted in front of him.

"I forgive you," Clementine found herself saying. She also found herself meaning it – what was the point in further arguments? "But we're going to take this slowly. No rushing anything – I want this to mean something."

His eyes red and watery again, they hugged, but didn't kiss – not yet. There was plenty of talking and healing to do before intimacy could take place again.