Fourth Book

Early-November, 1994
Sixth Year

"Right, so," Ara smiled widely as she and Fred stood in front of Cho, Cedric and George, "After countless hours of research-"

"Merlin," George groaned, to which Fred chuckled and Ara elbowed his ribs.

"Ara, continue?" Cedric sighed, bringing Ara's attention back to her presentation.

"Sorry," She said quickly, "-Freddie and I have been going through all the Triwizard Tournament records in an attempt to make sure Cedric doesn't die,"

"Could we not... say that?" Cho asked, Ara and Fred locked eyes before nodding.

"Yeah, sorry," Ara said, George groaned.

"Could we also hurry this up? I've really got somewhere to be," He muttered, everyone raised an eyebrow at him.

This was the exact behaviour that Fred had asked about when referring to George's strangeness lately.

Ara and Fred had been attempting to figure out what was causing it, but unfortunately they hadn't been having much luck.

Rotten detectives, we are.

"Oh yeah, where?" Fred asked, with his arms crossed. Ara copied the action, making her look like a mini-version of George's twin.

The pair stood at the end of the near empty Hufflepuff table in the Great Hall. George was sitting to the left of them while Cedric and Cho sat to the right.

It was late and dinner was over, which was perfect because there was no one around, not even the girls who'd been following Cedric around due to his place in the tournament.

Cho and Ara had finally managed to agree on something; the fangirls were annoying.

"Never mind," George muttered, nearly awkwardly.

Ara and Fred locked eyes before shaking their heads.

It was no secret that the two had been spending ungodly amounts of time together in the library, and in all honestly George, Cedric, and Cho had all assumed that their little research was actually just snogging.

It was an ongoing inside joke, that George ended up ruining by accidentally telling his brother.

Fred had, of course, nearly immediately told Ara. The blonde had immediately called for a meeting to discuss their research, and prove that it was real.

"Okay, getting to the point," Fred took over, Ara shockingly let him and smiled as he explained, "-Ara has concluded that all the Triwizard Tournament tasks follow a pattern,"

"Yes, the first task always involves some type of animal,"

"-The second is always some display of brawn,"

"-And the third always has something to do with logic,"

"Okay, that's very helpful information," George stood up hastily, "-We definitely believe that you two aren't snogging during your library sessions, and we'll refrain from joking about that again, now if you'll excuse me,"

The boy ran off, leaving his twin and Ara stunned.

"Is that why you wanted to do this? To prove we were actually researching?" Fred whispered, eyeing Cedric and Cho.

"I mean, a little," Ara admitted quietly, "-But we have got some useful information,"

"Is this actually over? Or have you found anything else?" Cho asked, interrupting the pairs whispering.

"Ar' thinks she can figure out what the first animal might be using Arithmetic Patterns,"

"Really?" Cedric asked, clearly shocked. Ara smiled nearly shyly and nodded.

Fred was making her sound much smarter than she felt she was.

"It'll be hard, but I think so, all the tasks repeat eventually, I've just got to figure out what pattern they follow, if there's one at all,"

"That'd be an amazing advantage, Ara, thank you," Cedric nodded.

Fred chuckled under his breath and glanced at Ara who seemed to be beaming.

She's cute.

While watching Cho and Cedric walk off, Ara and Fred sighed contently.

"That went well, didn't it?" The blonde mumbled.

Fred shrugged as they began to walk towards the library again.

"That was just your little way of proving your innocence, Ar', but yeah, it went well,"

Ara glared at the boy.

"Proving my innocence," She muttered under her breath. Fred raised an eyebrow, "-I'm not innocent,"

"Oh, yeah?" The redhead asked teasingly, "-I forgot, Oliver must've been quite the catch,"

Ara's eyes widened, and she snapped her head over to Fred.

"Shut up," She mumbled, turning a shade pinker.

"Awh, embarrassed now, are you?" Fred lowered his voice, "Ollie must not have done a very good job in taking your innocence if you're still so-"

"He did not take my innocence!" Ara said quickly, whispering the last bit.

Fred's eyes widened.

"Of course he did,"

"Oh, please," Ara rolled her eyes, "-You don't know everything about me Freddie, get off your high horse,"

Fred was notpaying attention to anything Ara was saying. Instead, he was trying to think back to anyone that the girl had fancied, who she would've let do the deed with her, before Oliver.

"Who was it then?"

Ara gave him an unamused look.

"That's none of your business," She stared straight ahead and ignored the shocked look Fred gave her.

"Nah uh," The boy shook his head before stepping in front of Ara and walking backwards as they spoke, "-You've got to tell me now, unless you're lying,"

The blonde narrowed her eyes.

"I'm not lying,"

"Tell me who took your innocence then, Ara," Fred said, very dramatically.

The blonde shook her head at him and tried to keep the blush forming on her cheeks to a minimum.

"No,"

"Oliver did it," Fred shrugged and fell back next to Ara, walking by her side again, "-You just don't want to admit that I'm right,"

"Fred," Ara stopped walking and grabbed the boy by his arm, "-If you don't believe me, take a look,"

She pulled the tall redhead away from the centre of the corridor.

Hogwarts had many architectural hiding spots, behind pillars and between them, corners covered by curtains and there were far morebroom closets then necessary, the list went on. Ara had dragged Fred into one of these hiding spots, a secluded corner, partially hidden by a curtain, to be precise. Although they were both too preoccupied with each other to realize, this spot was a known snogging location among students.

"What do you mean?" Fred nearly whispered.

The corner was very small, he and Ara were nearly pressed against each other due to the lack of space.

The blonde of the two leaned back against the wall behind her and looked up at Fred expectantly.

"You're a Legilimens now, aren't you? Put that to use,"

Fred's lips parted ever so slightly as he watched Ara shut her eyes, clearly recalling a memory.

He didn't know if he could do this.

"Ara, you know I'm a bit unpredictable when it comes to-"

"You're a very talented wizard Fred, just try, because this is the only way I'll tell you," Ara whispered upon opening her eyes, Fred sighed and nodded.

"Legilimens," The boy whispered, taking a deep drive into the memory Ara was allowing him to see.

He saw her.

She looked younger than she did now, and she was sitting in a very grand room, probably somewhere in Malfoy Manor. Judging by the snow outside, Fred could tell it was definitely winter, out of no where, a boy strode in.

Hannah Abbott's older brother.

"You've got to be joking! Jonas Abbot!" Fred gasped, and then gagged while quickly pulling himself out of her mind.

Ara had a nearly smug look on her face. Fred found himself thankful that he'd left when he did, because he definitely didn't want to see where the rest of that memory led to.

"Told you," She hummed and then turned to leave, Fred quickly grabbed her by the arm.

"Well, now you've got to explain," Fred whispered.

Ara looked away and chuckled. She leaned back against the wall again.

"Remember about half way through the holiday break in Forth Year? When I had to go home because my father requested my presence," Fred nodded and Ara continued, "-He was entertaining the Abbott's for some business arrangement, he wanted to make sure Jonas had a friend while he and his parents stayed over,"

"Why didn't he call on your brother?"

"Because Draco was like twelve, and Jonas was in Seventh Year, anyway he wasno means ugly and I wanted to get it over with, so I did," Ara shrugged, Fred looked shocked to say the least.

"And here I took you as the romantic type," Fred shook his head, Ara giggled.

"Yeah? Expected me to have done it on a bed of roses with a boy I was utterly in love with?" Ara teased, Fred looked away from her and shook his head.

"Yeah," He admitted and Ara chuckled. Fred found himself smiling down at her.

"Wow Freddie, I thought you knew me?"

"I do know you," Fred assured, Ara nodded with a sarcastic look on her face, "-Apparently not as well as I thought, though,"

"I don't think I was in love with any of the boys I've done it with, not Jonas, not Oliver, not Marcus-"

"Marcus? Marcus Flint?" Fred gasped, Ara quickly slapped a hand over her mouth.

"No! Listen-"

Fred started laughing hysterically, and Ara couldn't help but join him.

"Ara, you are way out of his league-"

Ara smiled and gave him a nearly embarrassed look before taking a deep breath.

"Listen, it was at the end of fourth year-"

"Abbott and Flint in the same year? My, my, you are quite the player,"

Ara rolled her eyes.

"I'm not, you hypocritical git,"

You use girls to pass the time.

It was no secret that Fred loved girls. And girls loved Fred. That combination resulted in the boy having his fair shareof experiences. Much more than two per year.

"Continue, I'd like to hear the story of how Marcus Flint got in bed with you,"

Perhaps I can take a few pointers.

"It's not interesting. We'd both had a bit too much to drink while locked in the common rooms due to the Basilisk and one thing lead to another. He felt very bad about it the next day, considering our intoxication and my age,"

Fred nodded.

"You wanted it, right? With both people?" He asked quietly, Ara's face softened.

"Yeah Freddie, of course," She assured him, he smiled softly and nodded.

"Good," Fred mumbled, he leaned against the wall behind him similarly to how Ara was doing.

"Your turn, you've never told me about your first," Ara mused, Fred smirked at her.

"I wouldn't want you to get jealous," He teased, Ara rolled her eyes at the boy and shook her head.

"Jealous? I'd feel bad for the poor girl,"

Fred raised an eyebrow and then pushed himself off of the wall. He leaned down to Ara's ear and the girl felt herself tense up.

"Trust me, there's absolutely no reason to feel bad," Fred whispered, sounding nearly seductive.

"You're rather full of yourself," Ara mumbled and tried not to seem intimidated by how clearly confident Fred was when it came to this topic.

"I'm just being realistic," The redhead shrugged, pulling away from Ara.

The blonde looked him up and down.

"Or are you trying to make up for something you lack by lying to yourself, and me?"

The pair stared at each other silently for a moment, before they both burst into laughter.

"I'm-" Ara couldn't finish her sentence without laughing.

"Sorry?" Fred managed to finish it for her through his snickering.

Ara did not say anything but nodded. Without thinking, she pressed her forehead onto the boys chest and continued giggling.

Unbeknownst to the two friends, Draco Malfoy stood across the hall from them, thrown off to say the least.

hope you enjoyed this chapter and i hope its not sub-par because i did sort of rush through the editing of it! anyway, this is a short (and lil boring) filler-like update, nothing important really happens other then some cute build up (at least, i think its cute), sorry about that!

with that, have a great day folks! i plan on updating once more later this week solely because i am sort of over GOF and FINALLY finished that last chapter, which means OOTP is officially in the process of being written!

okay, bye for real this time, i'll see you all later! make sure to leave reviews if you'd like!