CHAPTER 7:
Hogsmeade
With Christina now taking flying lessons from Fred and George as well as her own personal private lessons on her own abilities, she was busier than ever. The lessons, including her actual Hogwarts classes, were all paying off though. Things were making more sense, coming together, and Quidditch started to actually be fun rather than the usual few hours of anxiety and cheating it used to be.
Christina returned to the Gryffindor common room one evening after training, cold and stiff but pleased with the way practice had gone, to find the room buzzing excitedly.
"What's going on?", she asked Ron and Hermione, who were sitting in two of the best chairs by the fireside and completing some star charts for Astronomy. Harry took one look at the bulletin board and his face immediately turned sour.
"First Hogsmeade weekend," said Ron, pointing at the board. "End of October. Halloween."
"Excellent," said Fred, who had followed Christina through the portrait hole. "I need to visit Zonko's. I'm nearly out of Stink Pellets." Harry threw himself into a chair beside Ron, his high spirits ebbing away. Christina had nearly forgotten that Harry wasn't allowed to leave school grounds because of Sirius Black. She was thankful she ended up having Lupin sign her permission slip.
"Harry, I'm sure you'll be able to go next time," she said. "They're bound to catch Black soon. He's been sighted once already."
"Black's not fool enough to try anything in Hogsmeade," said Ron. "Ask McGonagall if you can go this time, Harry. The next one might not be for ages —"
"Ron!" said Hermione. "Harry's supposed to stay in school —"
"He can't be the only third year left behind," said Ron. "Ask McGonagall, go on, Harry —"
"Yeah, I think I will," said Harry, making up his mind.
Hermione opened her mouth to argue, but at that moment Crookshanks leapt lightly onto her lap. A large, dead spider was dangling from his mouth.
"Does he have to eat that in front of us?" said Ron, scowling.
"Clever Crookshanks, did you catch that all by yourself?" said Hermione.
Crookshanks; slowly chewed up the spider, his yellow eyes fixed insolently on Ron.
"Just keep him over there, that's all," said Ron irritably, turning back to his star chart. "I've got Scabbers asleep in my bag."
Christina yawned. She really wanted to go to bed, but she still had her own star chart to complete. She pulled her bag toward her, took out parchment, ink, and quill, and started work.
"You can copy mine, if you like," said Ron, labeling his last star with a flourish and shoving the chart toward Christina and Harry.
Hermione, who disapproved of copying, pursed her lips but didn't say anything. Crookshanks was still staring unblinkingly at Ron, flicking the end of his bushy tail. Then, without warning, he pounced.
"OY!" Ron roared, seizing his bag as Crookshanks sank four sets of claws deep inside it and began tearing ferociously. "GET OFF, YOU STUPID ANIMAL!"
Ron tried to pull the bag away from Crookshanks, but Crookshanks clung on, spitting and slashing.
"Ron, don't hurt him!" squealed Hermione; the whole common room was watching; Ron whirled the bag around, Crookshanks still clinging to it, and Scabbers came flying out of the top —
"CATCH THAT CAT!" Ron yelled as Crookshanks freed himself from the remnants of the bag, sprang over the table, and chased after the terrified Scabbers.
George Weasley made a lunge for Crookshanks but missed; Scabbers streaked through twenty pairs of legs and shot beneath an old chest of drawers. Crookshanks skidded to a halt, crouched low on his bandy legs, and started making furious swipes beneath it with his front paw.
Ron and Hermione hurried over; Hermione grabbed Crookshanks around the middle and heaved him away; Ron threw himself onto his stomach and, with great difficulty, pulled Scabbers out by the tail.
"Look at him!" he said furiously to Hermione, dangling Scabbers in front of her. "He's skin and bone! You keep that cat away from him!"
"Crookshanks doesn't understand it's wrong!" said Hermione, her voice shaking. "All cats chase rats, Ron!"
"There's something funny about that animal!" said Ron, who was trying to persuade a frantically wiggling Scabbers back into his pocket. "It heard me say that Scabbers was in my bag!"
"Oh, what rubbish," said Hermione impatiently. "Crookshanks could smell him, Ron, how else d'you think —"
"That cat's got it in for Scabbers!" said Ron, ignoring the people around him, who were starting to giggle. "And Scabbers was here first, and he's ill!"
Ron marched through the common room and out of sight up the stairs to the boys' dormitories. Ron was still in a bad mood with Hermione next day. He barely talked to her all through Herbology, even though he, Christina, Harry, and Hermione were working together on the same Puffapod.
"How's Scabbers?" Hermione asked timidly as they stripped fat pink pods from the plants and emptied the shining beans into a wooden pail.
"He's hiding at the bottom of my bed, shaking," said Ron angrily, missing the pail and scattering beans over the greenhouse floor.
"Careful, Weasley, careful!" cried Professor Sprout as the beans burst into bloom before their very eyes.
They had Transfiguration next. Harry had told Christina to wait for him after class so that he could talk to Professor McGonagall about their Hogsmeade trip. While they were waiting in line outside the class, going over talking strategies, they were distracted, however, by a disturbance at the front of the line.
Lavender Brown seemed to be crying. Parvati had her arm around her and was explaining something to Seamus Finnigan and Dean Thomas, who were looking very serious.
"What's the matter, Lavender?" said Hermione anxiously as she, Christina, Harry, and Ron went to join the group.
"She got a letter from home this morning," Parvati whispered. "It's her rabbit, Binky. He's been killed by a fox."
"Oh," said Hermione, "I'm sorry, Lavender."
"I should have known!" said Lavender tragically. "You know what day it is?"
"Er —"
"The sixteenth of October! 'That thing you're dreading, it will happen on the sixteenth of October!' Remember? She was right, she was right!"
The whole class was gathered around Lavender now. Seamus shook his head seriously. Hermione hesitated; then she said, "You — you were dreading Binky being killed by a fox?"
"Well, not necessarily by a fox," said Lavender, looking up at Hermione with streaming eyes, "but I was obviously dreading him dying, wasn't I?"
"Oh," said Hermione. She paused again. Then —
"Was Binky an old rabbit?"
"N — no!" sobbed Lavender. "H — he was only a baby!" Parvati tightened her arm around Lavender's shoulders.
"But then, why would you dread him dying?" said Hermione.
Parvati glared at her.
"Well, look at it logically," said Hermione, turning to the rest of the group. "I mean, Binky didn't even die today, did he? Lavender just got the news today —" Lavender wailed loudly. "– and she can't have been dreading it, because it's come as a real shock —"
"Don't mind Hermione, Lavender," said Ron loudly, "she doesn't think other people's pets matter very much."
"Oh stop it, you're only making this worse." Christina elbowed Ron.
Professor McGonagall opened the classroom door at that moment, which was perhaps lucky; Hermione and Ron were looking daggers at each other, and when they got into class, they seated themselves on either side of Christina and Harry and didn't talk to each other for the whole class.
At last, the bell rang at the end of the lesson, and it was Professor McGonagall who brought up the subject of Hogsmeade first.
"One moment, please!" she called as the class made to leave. "As you're all in my House, you should hand Hogsmeade permission forms to me before Halloween. No form, no visiting the village, so don't forget!"
Neville put up his hand.
"Please, Professor, I — I think I've lost —"
"Your grandmother sent yours to me directly, Longbottom," said Professor McGonagall. "She seemed to think it was safer. Well, that's all, you may leave."
"Ask her now," Ron hissed at Harry.
"Oh, but —" Hermione began.
"Go for it, Harry," said Ron stubbornly.
They waited for the rest of the class to disappear, then headed nervously for Professor McGonagall's desk.
"Yes, Potter?" Harry took a deep breath.
"Professor, my aunt and uncle — er — forgot to sign my form," he said.
Professor McGonagall looked over her square spectacles at him but didn't say anything. "So — er — d'you think it would be all right mean, will It be okay if I — if I go to Hogsmeade?" Professor McGonagall looked down and began shuffling papers on her desk.
"I'm afraid not, Potter," she said. "You heard what I said. No form, no visiting the village. That's the rule."
"But — Professor, my aunt and uncle — you know, they're Muggles, they don't really understand about — about Hogwarts forms and stuff," Harry said, while Christina egged him on with vigorous nods. "If you said I could go —"
"But I don't say so," said Professor McGonagall, standing up and piling her papers neatly into a drawer. "The form clearly states that the parent or guardian must give permission." She turned to look at him, with an odd expression on her face. Was it pity? "I'm sorry, Potter, but that's my final word. You had better hurry, or you'll be late for your next lesson."
There was nothing to be done. Ron called Professor McGonagall a lot of names that greatly annoyed Hermione; Hermione assumed an 'all-for-the-best' expression that made Ron even angrier, and Harry had to endure everyone in the class talking loudly and happily about what they were going to do first, once they got into Hogsmeade.
"There's always the feast," said Ron, in an effort to cheer them up. "You know, the Halloween feast, in the evening."
"Yeah," said Harry gloomily, "great."
Christina, however, was more interested in the potential of sneaking Harry in. The potential of putting her private lessons to good use.
The Halloween feast was always good, but Christina spent the entirety attempting to plan out a way to dematerialize Harry long enough to join the train to Hogsmeade. She practiced on smaller objects, but it wasn't easy holding the particles apart for a long amount of time – they simply wanted to be together, just as Madam Pomfrey had said. And she was worried most of all about his head, what if his brain didn't go back together just like it should? How would Madam Pomfrey fix that?
Harry had offered a few potential ways to cheat the system, all were shortly nixed by other Gryffindors. Dean Thomas, who was good with a quill, had offered to forge his uncle's signature on the form, but as Harry had already told Professor McGonagall he hadn't had it signed, that was no good. Ron halfheartedly suggested the Invisibility Cloak, a cloak Harry had been gifted his first year that made him entirely invisible underneath, but Hermione stamped on that one, reminding Ron what Dumbledore had told them about the Dementors being able to see through them. Percy had what were possibly the least helpful words of comfort.
"They make a fuss about Hogsmeade, but I assure you, Harry, it's not all it's cracked up to be," he said seriously. "All right, the sweetshop's rather good, and Zonko's Joke Shop's frankly dangerous, and yes, the Shrieking Shack's always worth a visit, but really, Harry, apart from that, you're not missing anything."
On Halloween morning, Christina awoke with the rest and went down to breakfast, doing her best to act normally, wanting to talk to Harry about a potential plan to get to Hogsmeade. She was just waiting for Hermione to leave first.
"We'll bring you lots of sweets back from Honeydukes," said Hermione, looking desperately sorry for them.
"Yeah, loads," said Ron. He and Hermione had finally forgotten their squabble about Crookshanks in the face of Harry's difficulties.
"Don't worry about me," said Harry, in what he hoped was at, offhand voice, "I'll see you at the feast. Have a good time."
Harry accompanied them to the entrance hall, where Filch, the caretaker, was standing inside the front doors, checking off names against a long list, peering suspiciously into every face, and making sure that no one was sneaking out who shouldn't be going. Just as they joined the line, Christina started walking back towards Harry.
"I'll be right back, okay?" Christina promised Ron and Hermione. They both exchanged a confused look as Christina joined Harry.
"Staying here, Potter?" shouted Malfoy, who was standing in line with Crabbe and Goyle. "Scared of passing the Dementors?"
"What happened to your hand, Malfoy?" Christina said in a mock-serious voice. She dematerialized his hand before he even had a chance to look at it, and the second he looked down at the empty spot below his winter jack cuff, he shrieked in surprise. She sniggered and released the molecules, his hand quickly returning to place.
Christina and Harry walk off together and just when they're out of earshot – "How did you do that?!" He asked, smiling.
"So, I might have a plan."
Christina then goes into a lengthy explanation of her idea of a plan, dematerialize Harry and have him travel in secret with the three of them. Harry's grin vanished as quickly as Malfoy's hand.
"You want to make me invisible?"
"Well, you won't be invisible, look—" Christina makes her hand vanish right before Harry's eyes and he still doesn't seem convinced.
"But, have you done a whole person?" He asks. Christina had worried this question might come up, "No, but like –"
"I don't know—" He hesitates, Christina sighs, "Don't you wanna go?"
"Not over my life!"
"I'm not gonna kill you!"
Harry puts his head down, sighing, "Christina, I really appreciate it, but I think I'm just going to stay and get some work done." She looks at him sadly and she too sighs. She just wanted to help.
Harry could tell she was taking it personally, he pats a hand on her shoulder awkwardly, "Really, I appreciate it. I just …" He trails off.
"Don't trust that I won't kill you." She says miserably, brushing his hand from her shoulder.
"I trust you, I don't trust … whatever it is you're doing." To this Christina got angry. It sounded very reminiscent of Hermione's harsh words about her natural powers.
"Got it." She begins to back away, eyes slightly blurring from saline.
"Christina—"
"No, no, I got it. I'm dangerous." Her last word gets caught in her throat and she turns away, sniffing back tears.
"That isn't what I—!"
"See ya, Harry." She mutters, waving him off. She joins Ron and Hermione in line, deciding immediately to lie about what just happened. She tells them she felt sorry for Harry, and that him being left out made her emotional. It didn't make sense. Christina didn't care, and neither Ron nor Hermione pushed the subject further.
Despite the rough beginning to their journey to Hogsmeade, Christina had to admit she did have a nice time with Ron and Hermione. Ron was talking animatedly on the walk over about all the candy he was going to get from Honeydukes and Hermione was overly excited about the way their post-office worked. Apparently both Ron and Hermione had been stifling their excitement about Hogsmeade to alleviate some of Harry's alienation.
"We have to agree to say that it wasn't that great, alright?" says Hermione.
"Oh yeah, I hate never-ending sweets and haunted houses." Christina winked.
"Shrieking shack. But yes." Hermione corrected with a smile. Ron suddenly points a finger at Christina, eyes narrowing, "Oy, I could've swore I saw you and my brothers on the Quidditch pitch the other day—"
"I think this is the station…" Christina peers through the trees to indeed see that they are approaching Hogsmeade, just where the Hogwarts Express had left them the first time. Per all of Ron's raving, it was no surprise their first stop was Honeydukes.
Despite the fact that Honeydukes was so crowded with Hogwarts students, Christina still managed to edge by them and behold the multi-colored cartoonish world she had just stepped into.
There were shelves upon shelves of the most succulent-looking sweets imaginable. Creamy chunks of nougat, shimmering pink squares of coconut ice, fat, honey-colored toffees; hundreds of different kinds of chocolate in neat rows; there was a large barrel of Every Flavor Beans, and another of Fizzing Whizbees, the levitating sherbet balls that Ron had mentioned; along yet another wall were 'Special Effects' — sweets: Droobles Best Blowing Gum (which filled a room with bluebell-colored bubbles that refused to pop for days), the strange, splintery Toothflossing Stringmints, tiny black Pepper Imps ('breathe fire for your friends!'), Ice Mice ('hear your teeth chatter and squeak!'), peppermint creams shaped like toads ('hop realistically in the stomach!'), fragile sugar-spun quills, and exploding bonbons.
Christina squeezed herself through a crowd of sixth years and saw a sign hanging in the farthest corner of the shop (UNUSUAL TASTES). Underneath it, squirting what looked like squeeze bottles of blood at one another, were Fred and George, giggled and now covered in some sort of red substance. Christina skips over to them,
"Hey, strangers." Christina elbows George and they both turn to greet her with a hug.
"You made it!" Fred exclaims.
"This is our vacation home." George sniffs in the aroma of the room with a satisfied smile.
"I thought Zonko's was more your scene?" She pokes fun.
"That's our office." Fred clarifies.
"This is home." George pats the wall as though he erected it himself.
"We'd live here if we could." Fred kids. Christina laughs, "You and your brother." The trio look over at Ron who is in the middle of double fisting chunks of fudge.
"He's delicate, that one." George snickers.
"Also, what is that?" Christina touches Fred's cheek gingerly with one finger, dabbing the weirdly viscous red droplet from his face and smelling it herself. The red drop is quickly replaced by flushed cheeks. Christina smiles privately to herself.
"Blood." George cuts in.
"What?!"
"Kidding!" George laughs, Christina lets out a sigh of relief.
"Blood flavoring." George licks a bit from his fingers and then shivers.
"Not as bad." Fred says. Christina looks between the two of them as though they had added extra heads in the last few seconds.
"You're insane." She shakes her head.
"Oy, where's Harry?" George asks, noticing him missing among the sea of heads in Honeydukes.
"Couldn't come. Parents never signed his permission slip."
"You mean his aunt and uncle."
"Sure."
"Hm." Fred and George exchange a suspicious look before noticing Christina was still watching them.
"Well, we better be off." George pats Christina on her head like a child and trudge off into the crowd. She waves them goodbye as she rejoins Ron and Hermione by the soda fountain. The term itself would be nothing to turn a Muggle's head, but if they had seen this six-foot fountain that was bursting streams of brown, orange and clear bubbling liquid, they may just faint from the sight.
After Honeydukes, Christina, Ron and Hermione checked out Dervish and Banges, a wizarding equipment shop where Ron ogled at Spectrespecs and Omnioculars before Hermione begged them to check out the post-office. Inside, Hermione's giddy affect only increased as they all marveled at about two hundred owls, all sitting on shelves, organized by color. The sign read that depending on the color of the owl, determined how fast your mail would arrive. Even Christina had to admit, Harry was missing out.
Their next stop was Zonko's joke shop where they were surprised to not see Fred nor George.
"Figured they would've been here." Ron says. He picks up a quill from a nearby vase and begins eating it. Christina reads the sign, "Sugar Quills"
"They were at Honeydukes, last I saw them." Christina says, helping herself to a sugar quill.
"Oh, we saw." Ron says, swallowing his quill.
"And what's that tone?" Christina scoffs. Hermione gently tugs on Ron's jacket sleeve, urging him forward through the shop.
"Come on now, we saw your secret lessons." Ron side-eyes her. Even Hermione giggled.
"A giggle from Hermione - now I know hell hath frozen over." Christina teases. Hermione lets out an offended gasp, "Oh, stop. I think it's sweet."
"You think what is sweet?" Christina laughs, "That they need to spend extra time helping me fly?"
"Is that really what's happening though?" Hermione winks at Christina and she very much felt like she was on some kind of prank show.
"What?! What do you think is happening on that pitch? Some midair three-way?"
To this, Hermione nearly choked on her own breath, "Of course not!" She breathed out. Ron smacks a hand on her back to help her regain composure. Christina pushes forward to the wide array of stink pellets, all with varying levels of pungency.
"A word of advice from their brother—" Ron starts.
"Oh, this should be good." Christina mutters. She regards a sign in front of mugs advertising 'note-biting teacups'.
"If you're looking for something serious—"
"Oh, my god—"
Ron places a sage hand on her shoulder, gives her a consoling look, "Probably best to move on."
"Oh, you think so?" Christina says sarcastically, Ron doesn't recognize her insincerity and continues, "They're just not the serious-type."
Ron puts his hand down, and Christina shrugs, frowning, "Well, Ron, you've swayed me." She says, oozing with sarcasm. "I'll stop pursuing both of your twin brothers while receiving flying lessons."
"Probably for the best." He sympathizes.
"Yeah, probably."
Christina hadn't taken the actual time to contemplate a relationship with either of the twins, she just knew they were all close … she was closer to Fred though, only slightly. Was she receiving lessons for any other reason than to help her in Quidditch? And they were always nice to her about her powers … Christina quickly drops the mental query, knowing that Ron was definitely out of his mind.
Christina, Ron and Hermione continued on through the shop, browsing through Dungbombs, Hiccough Sweets, Frog Spawn Soap and Fart Sellotape. Once they had their fill of foul-smelling treats and tricks, they moved on to grab a bite to eat and a warm drink from the Three Broomsticks.
They entered the tiny inn. It was extremely crowded, noisy, warm, and smoky. A curvy sort of woman with a pretty face was serving a bunch of rowdy warlocks up at the bar. Christina looked down to a back table and saw a large shirtless man, no—
"That's an ogre!" Hermione whispered excitedly to Christina and Ron. Christina regarding the large beast and chuckled, it looked nothing like she thought it would.
Christina, Ron and Hermione made their way to the back of the room, where there was a small, vacant table between the window and some rotting pumpkins, which stood next to the fireplace. Ron then spotted a woman in a peasant skirt and vest, blonde hair messily in a bun walking around carrying tankards of golden foaming liquid.
"That's Madam Rosmerta," said Ron. "I'll get the drinks, shall I?" he added, going slightly red. Christina gave him an odd-look as he combed through his hair and skipped off to Madam Rosmerta.
Hermione picked up on her questioning look, "He's in love with her."
"What?! But she's—"
"Exactly like his mother? Yes." Hermione pretend-gags.
"That is … not what I was going to say … But now that you mention it—" Christina tilts her neck, taking in the woman. It must've been her chest because she was quite … well-endowed.
Hermione clears her throat, "I hope you don't think we were prying earlier."
"Oh, what? With the twins? No. I mean … I guess I didn't really give it much thought." Christina shrugs.
"Ron can be such a –" Hermione looks over at the nearby ogre and changes her words, "—buffoon at times. He's not very subtle, is he?"
Christina peers over to Ron whose face is beet red as he requests drinks from the homely woman. She watches him laugh and then snort. Somehow his face went a shade darker.
"Not quite."
Ron came back five minutes later, carrying three foaming tankards of hot butterbeer. Christina drank deeply. It was the most delicious thing she'd ever tasted and seemed to heat every bit of her from the inside.
Just as they were deep in a conversation about whether or not Professor Trelawney could've predicted her life as being their least favorite teacher – Fred and George walked in, loudly announcing their arrival with the bags and bags of Zonko's products clanking beside them.
"Oh, my lovers are here." Christina nods behind Hermione and Ron who peer back and laugh. They wave the twins over who come skipping along, bags jangled along the way.
The twins swing and plop their bags down on the wooden table. It lands with a loud thump. "Ron, we've got a present for you."
Ron rises from his seat, looking over the sea of Zonko's products, "Really? What'd you get me!"
"The opportunity to talk to your boyhood crush to get us some butterbeer." Fred winks at him.
"That's not a gift!" Ron pouts.
"So, you don't want a reason to talk to Madam Rosmerta?" George asks. Christina and Hermione bit their tongues while attempting to hide their smirks. Fred and George stare down Ron who undoubtedly wanted another chance to speak with Madam Rosmerta. Ron seemed at war with his pride and his libido.
Ron pushes the table back, letting himself out, "Shove off…"
The four of them try to contain their laughter while he sulks off.
There's an awkward pause. Christina would've normally said something, but she instead focuses on remembering what Ron and Hermione had said about the twins. Hermione speaks first, "Enjoying Hogsmeade?"
The twins launch into a rapid-fire tennis-match-like presentation of everything they had wanted to get from Zonko's, everything Zonko's failed to provide them, and then with even more fervor, somehow, a presentation on making their own joke shop.
"Think about it, who knows these products better than we do?"
"No one!"
"We know the prices, we could undercut Zonko's by just a sickle and make a fortune!"
Christina chuckles, "You're going to run Zonko's out of business."
"Or buy out Zonko's." Fred grins. Christina shakes her head, smirking, "Don't you sound American."
Hermione excuses herself from the conversation to go to the restroom while Ron returns with the tankards of butterbeer.
"Here you go, gits." He plops the drinks down at the table.
"You're welcome, Ron." George kids as the twins both help themselves to their butterbeer. It's again quiet, Christina feeling slightly bitter towards Ron for making her question her relationship with Fred and George. Unfortunately for her, she was never good at hiding her emotions.
"You alright, Christina? You seem weirdly quiet." Fred asks.
"Ill from being about Ron all day?" George nods, already agreeing with her. She laughs, "Speak of the devil, I have to tell you; Ron was really looking out for me today."
The twins' interest is piqued, "Go on." George leans in.
She had to say it, it was going to drive her crazy otherwise, "Apparently there's been a secret love affair between the three of us." Both Fred and Ron spit out their butterbeer, George openly laughs.
"That is NOT what I said!" Ron exclaims.
Christina grins from ear to ear, "Yeah, he said he knew we were all doing it on the Quidditch field and thought it was best I cut things off."
Before Ron can protest, Fred slams a fist down on the table, "Ronald, you told on us?"
"Our secret passionate affair must come to an end, then." George sighs.
Fred places a consoling hand on his twin brother's shoulder, "Guess we're back to just … continuing practicing."
"-And nothing else."
Christina laughs, "Unlike before."
Ron is furious, "I was just looking out for her! She doesn't know you two! All I said was that you weren't the 'serious-type'." He says with air-quotes.
Fred scoffs, "Really. I think she knows us plenty well. Better than you, anyway."
"I'm your brother! Plus, even Hermione knows you better than she does. Hermione—" Hermione is just returning to the bathroom. She sits down looking affronted.
"Hermione, you've known them for years, tell me I'm not mad for warning Christina."
Hermione sighs, "Oh, Ron—"
Fred leans in, "Oy, Hermione. Test for you –"
"I really shouldn't –"
"What's my name?" Fred asks. Christina knew the answer instantaneously, and not just because there was still a red stain on his face from earlier. Hermione however didn't have a clue which twin he was and looks to Ron nervously. He mouths, 'Fred'.
George catches him first, "She didn't know!"
"You're identical twins!" Hermione shouts back.
"You really didn't know?" Christina asks. Hermione shakes her head. It seemed so obvious; they weren't that hard to tell apart… Fred's face was slightly thinner. George's eyebrows bushier. How did Hermione miss that?
The group drops the subject in favor of finishing their butterbeer and returning to picking on Ron's crush with Madam Rosmerta. The group spends the rest of the day together going to nearly every shop and attraction before finally making the trek back to the castle. Each of the five of them carrying at least five bags worth of goods.
Ron, Hermione and George lead the front of the pack while Christina and Fred crack jokes behind, only just before they reach the castle does Fred grab Christina's arm, gently pulling her back further from the group.
"Can I help you?"
"I can be serious, you know." Fred says quietly. Christina continued looking forward, assuming he was joking, "Oh yeah?" She teases.
"Yeah, I'm a serious guy." He says proudly.
She laughs, "Didn't you have me prank your sister by making people think she farted?"
"And that was seriously cool." Christina laughs again, Fred clears his throat, "But I do seriously like you."
Christina peers up at him and he in fact was serious. His normal smirk gone from his face.
Fred stares right back at Christina, trying to figure out her response but she even gives it. "And I will seriously pursue that if that's something you'd be, er, interested in." He finishes awkwardly.
Christina felt a pang of excitement mixed with the fear that this could all be one big joke. She places it off, "You comin' onto me?" She winks.
Fred smiles, "If that's okay."
Her stomach nearly did a flip. She sets her eyes back onto the castle ahead, "I think it's okay." She says, quietly smiling to herself.
"Well, good. Cause I'm comin' for ya." He pushes her on the shoulder, a little too hard, perhaps from the nerves, and she shakes her head, "Oh, boy."