~ September 13, 1990 ~

Fred and George had just finished Transfiguration class before lunch. They decided to wait around the courtyard for Garnet to come in from Herbology.

As the hoard of students started coming in from the greenhouses, George watched for Garnet, but didn't see her at all.

"Hey Diggory!" Fred hollared at their friend, "Where's Prince?"

Cedric joined the twins in the courtyard. "I don't know, she asked to be excused about 10 minutes ago and didn't come back to class." he shrugged, "At least she had gotten her work done before heading out. See you at lunch." and he walked off to catch up with his class.

Fred and George looked at each other questioningly. They wandered in and headed in the direction of the girls lavatory. They saw their friend Angelina Johnson coming out.

"Angelina!" Fred called out, "Is Prince in there?"

Angelina shook her head, "Sorry, I haven't seen her."

"Alright, thanks," George looked around. "You don't suppose she already went into the Great Hall?"

Fred thought for a moment, "Maybe. Let's go see."

As the twins made their way to the Gryffindor table, they looked up and down the Slytherin table but still didn't see their friend.

"Perhaps she was feeling under the weather and went to lay down?" Fred suggested.

George nodded, "If that's the case I hope she's feeling better before Gryffindor Quidditch Tryouts this evening. She said she'd be there."

"You are exceptionally lucky you made it to my office in time." Snape said as he poured something into his cauldron. "I could imagine the hysteria if someone had come upon you in the corridors."

"I know, I'm sorry Severus," Garnet said. She was sitting on the chair in front of his desk, hair a mess, body still tense. "It came on suddenly, I didn't think I could make it to the Common Room."

"You should pay more attention to your bracelet." Snape added one more ingredient and the potion turned pink. He ladled some into a small cup and handed it to her.

Garnet drank it without hesitation then handed the cup back. "It's been almost three months," she sighed, "I really thought..."

"You can have good periods of time, but it's still there, Garnet, you know this." Snape shook his head. He watched as the tenseness faded from her face. "Take it easy the rest of the day."

"You don't have to baby me Severus," Garnet stood, picked up her bag, and reached for the office door. She paused and turned back to him, "But thank you." she said.

Snape nodded, and she left for lunch.

George barely touched his lunch as he watched for Garnet to waltz into the Great Hall. Finally, he saw her enter and look around for them. George jumped up and headed for her.

"Everything alright?" he asked, "Diggory said you left Herbology early."

Garnet smiled at the worrisome tone in his voice. "I'm fine Georgie. Don't worry about me. You and Fred have to be getting pretty nervous for Quidditch Tryouts this evening."

George grinned and she walked with him to the Gryffindor table and sat down. She had been sitting with them at lunchtime regularly. Fred nodded to her as she sat down across from him.

"Hey Fred, Garnet thinks we're nervous for Tryouts this evening." George feigned shock.

"Puh-lease!" Fred laughed, "We play Quidditch with our brothers all the time. This should be a walk in the park."

Garnet laughed as she grabbed a turkey sandwich from the platter in front of her.

"You're still coming to watch, right?" George asked.

"Of course!" Garnet swallowed the bite she had, "I wouldn't miss it." she smiled, "Woods is Captain this year, right? And Charlie is Seeker again?"

"I'm going out for Chaser!" Angelina chimed in, obviously excited about tryouts. "And so is Alicia!"

Fred raised a brow, "Spinnet is going out for Chaser?"

"You got a problem with that?" Angelina got defensive.

Fred raised his hands up "Nope." he laughed.

Lunch seemed to fly by as they all sat chatting and joking with one another.

~ November 10, 1990 ~

Fred, George, Angelina and Alicia all sat at the Gryffindor table, plates untouched from breakfast. Today was their first ever match, and it was against Slytherin. Their nerves were shot, and Oliver Woods kept trying to give them a pep talk, but it was like talking to a wall, it was not helping one bit.

"George," Garnet ruffled his hair before setting down beside him. "Come on Fred, you two, you're pros. I watched you out there practicing, you know what you're doing. Now you just need to get out there and do it." Garnet grinned at them. "I have faith in your abilities more than you do."

George nodded, "She's right, Freddie," he said.

"Of course she is." Fred nodded.

The twins each grabbed a muffin, and then saw Oliver stand with Charlie to head to the Quidditch Pitch.

Taking a deep breath, they stood. "Walk down with us?" George asked Garnet.

Garnet smiled at her nervous friends. "Of course." she stood and hooked arms with both of them. "My House may be playing against yours, but I'll be rooting for you two." she said.

They walked quietly down to the Gryffindor Locker room. Garnet could feel the tension radiating off her friends. She felt bad, but there was nothing she could really do for them.

They stood outside the door as the rest of the team filed in to get ready.

Angelina and Alicia stopped with the trio for a moment.

"So this is it, our first Quidditch Game...I think I'm going to be sick." Angelina rushed into the lockerroom followed by Alicia.

"Well that's lovely," Fred groaned.

"Hey," Garnet tried once more to give them a confidence boost, "You two are going to be just fine. All you gotta do is go out there and keep the Bludgers from hitting the others! You said yourselves you've been doing that at home for a while. No difference, and you're brother will be out there too."

Fred and George nodded, shaking off some of the jitters. It still wasn't enough.

Garnet sighed, "Okay, if you guys just calm down and give it your all, I'll go do a prank with you, ONCE, you choose when." She offered.

George and Fred's eyes lit up, they looked at each other and smirked. "Promise?" they asked in unison.

"Promise," Garnet grinned, "Now you guys get in there." She pulled Fred in quick for a hug, and he hugged her back. She turned to George and hugged him too. His arms wrapped around her back, and she smiled.

She didn't think they hugged very long but then "Alright you two, we've got a game to get to." Fred cleared his throat.

George let go really quick, and blush crept up his neck.

"Go try to kick our butts, guys." Garnet teased and headed up the nearest steps to the stands.

Once she was out of earshot, Fred elbowed George, "What was that all about?"

George got red faced again, "Nothing."

"Uh-huh..." Fred smirked. George shoved Fred on the shoulder and they joined their team mates inside.

Three hours later, the Gryffindor team had lost. By ninety points. Oliver and Charlie kept telling Fred, George, Angelina and Alicia how great they did out there. Charlie told his brothers they did better than any Beater's he'd ever seen.

This made the Twins smile triumphantly as they walked into the school.

"Well for two guys whose team just lost, you look extremely happy right now." Garnet teased them.

"We did our job, and we did it brilliantly, and..." George started.

"...we couldn't have asked for a better first game." Fred finished.

Garnet was thrilled, they found their confidence and they had a blast. That's all she could have asked for.

"We're going to go take showers before they serve lunch." Fred moved his head in the direction of their common room.

"You should probably go celebrate with the Slytherin team anyways. We can see you downstairs soon though." George said.

Garnet smiled, "Sounds good, see you guys in a bit." she turned and walked towards the Great Hall.

The entire Slytherin Quidditch Team was hooting and hollaring at the table over their victory. Garnet smiled and shook her head before sitting at the end of the table, alone.

"Hey Prince, why aren't you over here celebrating with us?" Adrian Pucey sat beside her.

Garnet shrugged, "I was just waiting for my friends to come back before sitting with them." she smiled, "You were great out there Pucey."

Adrian grinned really wide, "Thanks! It's so much fun. You should really think about trying out next year." he said.

"Oh I don't think so," Garnet's eyes got really big, "I had a heck of a time during flying class with Madam Hooch! I almost fell off the one time, remember?" she laughed.

"That's cause your fat ass should have stayed on the ground," Marcus Flint laughed evilly down the tables at Adrian and her. "Pucey, get back down here."

Garnet looked down at the table, her cheeks turning red from embarrassment.

"I should go, I'll catch you in the common room," Adrian said quickly as he got up.

Garnet gave a simple nod, but wouldn't look at him. She sat in silence, as a tear tracked down her cheek.