Louis

"Potter, I told you to stop it with that stupid nickname." I heard Gwen yell at James.

Molly and I both let out a sigh. We knew what was going on. It was the same thing that always happened. James had asked Gwen out again and she had lost it.

I saw them enter the Great Hall. Gwen entered first. You didn't even need to look at the bright red of her eyes, one that wasn't coming it flashes, it was solid. The anger she was feeling was evident on her face. She must have already passed the maroon of irritation. How long had James been pestering her? James entered shortly after her.

"Please will you come to Hogsmeade with me this weekend?" He asked her.

"No, I've told you before I will not." She responded as she sat down beside me.

"Why not?" He questioned.

"You're excessively arrogant." She said.

"Used that one." Molly said having pulled her notebook from her back.

Molly had taken to carrying her notebook with her all the time now. Anytime James and Gwen were seen together she would pull it out. James had mentioned that he would not accept the same reason for her deny him twice so Molly's recording of Gwen's responses was helping him.

"Molly, you're not helping." Gwen said glaring at Molly across the table.

"On the contrary, I think I'm helping the right person." Molly smiled.

Gwen just glared at her. Sure, the two girls were best friends but it was clear that Molly wanted Gwen and James together. She wasn't as obvious as Fred was sometimes, when he was supporting them, but she was still obvious enough that it got Gwen mad at her every so often. It seemed that while James was the main cause of maroon, Molly was slowly becoming the main cause of red.

"Fine then." Gwen said angrily before turning back to James. "You've never used my real name."

"Used it." Molly said finding it in her notebook.

"You're overly confident." Gwen suggested.

"Last month." Molly said. "Again, don't see how that's a bad thing."

Molly always liked to give her opinion of Gwen's reasons, making note of them in her notebook. Each entry in the notebook was the reason, or excuse as Molly put it, along with the date and then Molly's thoughts on the topic. Gwen hated the notebook and had attempted to burn it on multiple occasions.

Molly was smarter than that though. She had gotten Uncle Percy to teach her the fireproofing spell and had used it on the notebook. Through the years she had learnt other spells to make it waterproof and restrict anyone from tearing the pages out. Molly's notebook was now virtually indestructible.

It was helpful to us all though. Sometimes we needed it to remember the more infrequent of the colours that Gwen's eyes turned.

"Too conceited." Gwen told James.

"Gwen you used that one yesterday." Molly told her.

"That's exactly my point." Gwen yelled jumping up. "I can't get a moment of peace. He's always on my case. I'm going to need a million reasons just to get through Hogwarts if he keeps going at the rate he's currently at. It's infuriating how he refuses to leave me alone."

"Is that a new one?" I asked Molly. "His persistence infuriates her."

Molly quickly flicked through her notebook. After a moment her face fell.

"Yep, you've never used the fact that his persistence infuriates you." Molly told Gwen.

"There you go Potter." Gwen said turning back to James who had been hoping Molly would have been able to help him. "No, I will not go out with you as your persistence on that very subject infuriates me."

James just stared at her. We all knew that eventually she was going to run out of reasons. I thought it was fun to help her, for now anyway. James sat down beside Molly and began to eat. We quickly settled into our regular conversation as friends, Fred and Parker joining us not too long after. He saw the red in Gwen's eyes and didn't dare question what was going on.

Gwen and Molly had asked me to meet them in the library. They also said to not tell the other boys at any cost. Well, if I wanted to live to finish fourth year anyway.

I walked down to the library to join them. I found them sitting down the back, almost out of sight. They appeared to be arguing about something although I couldn't tell what it was. It was strange to see them arguing as it didn't often happen. If all their previous arguments were anything to go by, this was either about James or their Girl Code.

"Hey." I said as I sat down beside Molly.

"Hey Louis." Gwen said sending me a smile.

I looked over at Molly, she was glaring at Gwen for some reason. Probably their argument.

"So we were thinking…" Gwen started.

"You mean you were thinking." Molly said to her. "I want nothing to do with this."

"What's Gwen done?" I asked Molly.

"I came up with a way to hopefully get Potter off my back." Gwen said a broad smile growing on her face and her eyes flashing black.

"Oh no, this can't be good." I said turning to look at Molly after seeing the colour of her eyes.

"Exactly my point." Molly said with a sigh.

"Gwen, before you start explaining your plan, I've been meaning to ask why you call James by his last name but call me, Fred and Parker by our first names?" I asked her before she could explain her plan.

I'd always wondered why. And she had never actually explained it to me.

"As long as Potter calls me Doll on a regular basis I refuse to use his first name." She responded. "Also both you and Fred, and Molly for that matter, have the same last name so it would be stupid for me to call you by your last name."

I looked at her. She had a good point.

"So, anyway, what's this brilliant plan of yours Gwendolen?" I asked her.

Gwen just glared at me her eyes briefly flashing red. She really didn't like people using her full name. I'm not sure why though.

"I go to Hogsmeade with you, Louis." She said.

I just stared at her. No. That was a terrible idea. James would kill me. That was the worst possible idea she could have come up with. Was she trying to get me killed?

"It goes against Girl Code, Gwen." Molly told her.

"Can't go disrespecting Girl Code." I expressed hoping that just maybe their mysterious Girl Code would save me from the certain death that would come from going out with Gwen.

"You made Potter an exception." Gwen told Molly. "Why can't Louis be an exception for like a month? It's just to get Potter to back off a little. I need space from him."

"Fine." Molly said. "But just this once."

Gwen got up from her seat, her eyes flashing yellow as she ran over to Molly enveloping her in a hug.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you." She said.

"I never said I'd agree to this." I told Gwen.

She watched me, standing up straight. Her eyes turned a solid red. She was not happy. I'd learnt quickly, a flashing colour meant the emotion had become prominent, a solid colour meant it was strong.

"Louis William Weasley." She started.

Oh no. Gwen yelling at me was not a good thing. Especially a red-eyed Gwen.

"He is your cousin." She said. "You did not try hard enough to permanently deter him from asking me out. You say you tried but in reality you gave in so either way by this point he would have had your permission."

Damn it. I knew Parker and I shouldn't have told Gwen about our agreement with James.

"You know have I feel about this whole situation with him." She continued. "You knew how I felt about how he treated me. Yet you still made that deal with him unintentionally giving him your support in his pursuits."

I just stared at Gwen. She had clearly thought this all out. She knew what I would and would not react to. She had me there.

"Fine." I gave in. "What's the plan?"

Gwen smiled at me the red fading from her eyes a a brief flash of yellow appearing as she sat back down in her seat across the table. I could not think of any possible outcome where this went well for me. No possible outcome.

This plan was ridiculous. At the end of our meeting in which Gwen revealed her plan to me she threw me a book. She told me I needed to read it and memorise the sections she had highlighted. It was to show James that I knew more about her than he did.

Her plan was for me to ask her at breakfast, if James was sitting with us of course, so that he couldn't make too much of a scene. Although knowing James he probably would regardless.

I was sure that I seemed rather jittery as Parker and I walked into the Great Hall and took my seat beside Gwen who's eyes were a solid black. It was times like these that I was glad I didn't suffer from the same predicament as Gwen. There was no way I would have been able to hide my nerves from the other if I did. I was worried that they might see her eyes and realise something was up.

As I sat down I looked over at Molly who was trying not to laugh at the situation. She knew exactly what was to come and neither of us knew what to expect from James. We all had assumptions but none of us could be certain.

Not long after I'd sat down Fred and James entered the Great Hall and walked over to the table to sit with Parker, across from Gwen, Molly and I. James seemed abnormally happy. It was a pity that I was about to ruin that. Well, both me and Gwen.

"Did you read that book I gave you, Louis?" Gwen asked me while we ate in silence.

I knew she was referring to the book she had thrown at the end of our meeting. It hadn't really been a book, it was a play. A play which suspiciously had a character named Gwendolen.

I hadn't been reading it for long when I realised why she had wanted me to read it and further on, why she had wanted me to learn that passage.

"It was rather strange." I told her, giving my honest opinion of the play. "Although I expected them to get caught. Their plan was never going to work."

I hoped that maybe by dropping subtle hints that I didn't actually want to go through with the plan she might eventually see my side and agree to drop this whole thing.

"They believed they had to try though." She told me. "They were doing it for love, after all. Or physical attraction at least."

"What are you two talking about?" Fred asked from across the table.

"I gave Louis a book to read." Gwen told Fred.

"It wasn't a book, Gwen." I explained. "It was a play. The Importance of Being Earnest."

"These two men both pretend their name is Ernest to win the hearts of these girls they are in love with." Gwen explained. "I was named after one of the characters in the play. I have to say, I am glad it was Gwendolen though. I much prefer being named after her than after Cecily. That character clearly had no redeeming qualities."

As Gwen was explaining I saw a flash of pink take over the black for a moment. Pink? I don't think any of us had seen that before.

I leaned around the back of Gwen and nudged Molly. I mouthed 'pink' to her and Molly looked at me confused. She opened her notebook and flipped to the back. After a moment she looked up at me and shook her head.

"That's the beauty of the character." I told Gwen having heard the end of her explanation. "She provides a break from all the other characters."

"I suppose you could say that." Gwen said as she gave me a look.

I could tell she was no longer enjoying this conversation. It was clear she wanted me to proceed with the plan. I tried my hardest not to let out a sigh as I went over the words in my head one last time.

"I hope, Gwen, I shall not offend you if I state quite frankly and openly that you seem to me to be in every way the visible personification of absolute perfection." I told Gwen.

A small clatter came from across the table. I knew it was James dropping his cutlery. I stole a glance over at him. His eyes looked as though he was trying to make me burst into flames with his gaze. He was furious and I hadn't even asked her out yet.

"I think your frankness great credit, Louis." Gwen responded.

"Ever since I first looked upon your wonderful and incomparable beauty, I have dared to love you wildly, passionately, devotedly, hopelessly." I continued.

These lines really were sappy. James' anger appeared to be growing as Fred now had his hand on James' shoulder and he looked to be applying considerable force.

"I don't think you should tell me you love me wildly, passionately, devotedly, hopelessly." Gwen told me with a smile her eyes flashing yellow for a second as she noticed what was happening with James and Fred across the table. She was enjoying this. "Hopelessly doesn't seem to make much sense, does it?"

"No, it doesn't." I heard James say through gritted teeth.

"I do believe that Potter is rather annoyed." Gwen said with a smirk the solid black of her eyes no longer being able to be overtaken by any other flashes.

Gwen talking about James like he wasn't there nearly put him over the edge. This whole situation was making him even angrier than we had believed possible. Neither of us had realised the extent of James' obsession but it was now clear that it wasn't just an obsession. He actually genuinely fancied her. Although, I don't think Gwen could see that.

"Oh, I don't care about James." I continued knowing that I was reaching the end and would soon be able to retreat to somewhere that James wouldn't be able to find me while he cooled off. "I don't care for anybody in the whole world but you. I love you, Gwen. You will accompany me to Hogsmeade this weekend, won't you?

"You silly boy." Gwen responded shoving my shoulder slightly. "Of course."

That was the final straw. James nearly pounced on me over the table. Fred had his arms around James holding him back. Parker, who had been closely watching Fred and James, saw Fred struggling with James and got in between James and Gwen.

"We'll just take him away." Parker said as him and Fred started to drag James out of the Great Hall.

"I'm going with them." Molly said getting up and following them out.

Once they were out of the Great Hall Gwen turned to me a broad smile on her face, yellow flashing in her eyes again.

"That was amazing." She said throwing her arms around my neck.

"I feel bad for James." I told her as I pushed her off me.

"Well he can learn how angry he makes me." She snapped a flash of red appearing.

She got up from her seat and headed out.

I let out a sigh. It was going to be a difficult day trying to avoid James. Even then, I still had to go to the dorm that night. I knew that before I went to sleep that night I was going to have to talk to my cousin. And talking to James was not something I was looking forward to.