Awkward Silence Turtle

One day before the first challenge.

Victoire was feeling the pressure. She had brushed up on her charms and spells with help from various professors with poor Tonka being the usual test subject. The anxiety that came along with not knowing what the first challenge would be, paired with attempting to ace every class was taking over her life and had distancing her from her friends. Laughing with the people she loved was morphing into a distant memory, but thankfully, her friends would not let that happen. While in her final class, a note flew onto her desk telling her to meet outside Hagrid's hut- their usual spot- just before dinner. As soon as she was dismissed, she sped to her room to change, woke up Tonka and they both skipped to the meeting place. Under the radiant sun on a rainbow blanket, her friends sat in an incomplete circle with an empty space between Fred and Brea waiting to be occupied.

"There she is!" Lucas announced.

Everyone cheered and clapped as Victoire approached. Seeing all her friends welcome her with so much excitement made the sunshine brighter and created a warm feeling that she was certain wasn't just the sun's rays kissing her skin. As she sat down, Brea hugged her, and Fred handed her an apple.

"I've heard you've become too busy to eat breakfast," Fred smiled,

"Honestly, I've become so busy that I don't even remember what breakfast is," Victoire laughed.

The gang played cards while sharing the latest gossip, telling jokes and sharing hilarious stories about their year so far. Smiling, laughing and simply being with her closest friends made any stress become temporarily evaporated by the sun and even Tonka seemed happier as she played with Brea's cat. While Lucas shuffled the cards, an obviously dyed blonde-haired girl from Durmstrang walked over to Lucas in a sultry way that no one could ignore. Both her top and trousers were tight enough so to give the illusion of curves and as she squatted next to Lucas, Victoire became slightly worried that she'd hear the rip of fabric or the ping of a flying button. The usual cheeky smile appeared of Lucas's face as the girl kissed him on the cheek and whispered something in his ear. Though everyone watched, prepared to make fun of him later, Fred made himself busy with his shoelaces and then with Tonka, his head never turning in the direction of Lucas.

"Is this how you guys say hello?" Aaron's voice was in between serious and joking,

"Only if you're this cute," the girl purred before kissing Lucas's cheek again and sensually sliding her hand from his shoulder to his chest,

"And none of us are as cute as serpent boy?"

The girl scanned the group of friends with her head resting on Lucas's shoulder, "Not really, but he's absolutely adorable."

This got Fred's attention. He had never been the one to attract girls, well not the saucy girls anyway, which put being the chosen one in the circle shocking to both him and the rest of the gang. He glanced at the girl, but then subtly looked back down.

"Since when was Fred adorable?" Aaron argued,

"Since for a while, blind man! Look at him, if his puppy like eyes, sweet light toffee skin and the cute freckles on his nose don't make you weak, I don't know what does," Lucas insisted.

It was true. Fred was adorable, but no one had defended his looks like Lucas did. With every word, Fred's ears became red with the effect spreading to his cheeks as he smiled with a mixture of embarrassment and flattering. It seemed like the words to say were coming to him, but they weren't the right ones and with an eventual nudge from Victoire, Fred uttered a thank you.

"Sounds like you have a thing for Fred," Victoire teased,

"I have things for girls wearing men's shirts, small waists and French accents," Lucas winked, "but I do not have a thing for Fred. Definitely not Fred."

The serious adamants of his words were unnecessary; not knowing Lucas was a lady's man was like not knowing a bird has wings, but he seemed agitated by the harmless joke as he refused to look at Fred while dealing cards for the next game. Awkward might as well have cartwheeled in with blaring sirens, a neon sign and a full parade, as Victoire watched Fred's blush fade just as quickly as the smile on his face. His gaze remained at the ground and he began to fiddle more and more with anything possible. Something was wrong.

"Oh gosh, Fred, we need to go find Albus, come on!" Victoire acted with haste as she threw her cards to the middle of the circle, stuffed a crisp in her mouth and scooped up Tonka.

Her sudden burst of urgency took everyone by surprise, but Fred moved slowly, lifting up his bag as if it held the world inside and sighing as he gradually stood.

"This was amazing guys, see you in a moment," Victoire sang,

"Of course, Vivi, see you later" Lucas smiled with the rest repeating his words.

Grabbing Fred's arm, Victoire speed walked up the hill, dragging Fred behind her and not even looking back to see if he was okay. Never before had there been such a weighted awkward aura surrounding their group of friends, but it wasn't her who needed to escape it. Once closer to the castle, she made sure there was no one within ear shot, as she perched herself in one of the arches and looked sympathetically at her limp cousin. His head remained down and the moment he stopped walking, his bag fell to the floor along with any happiness that was in him.

"Fred?" she made sure for her words to be as gentle as possible.

With his head hanging down, Fred sat next to her and rested his head on her shoulder with a heavy brittle sigh.

"I can't say I know how you feel- I'm lucky I guess- but please don't let what he said get to you," Victoire let Tonka go to the floor, but even she stayed by Fred with worry glowing in her eyes.

Fred took Victoire's hand, "But what he said, it-"

"I know, but he didn't mean it in a horrible way. You know Lucas-"

"Yeah, and he'd rather not know me,"

"That's not true,"

"It bloody feels like it. That night we played truth or dare, he refused to kiss me, but he was fine kissing Aaron. He doesn't even hang out with just me anymore. Maybe I bring down his status, maybe he doesn't want to hang out with the Weasley Wuss."

Victoire waved her wand, summoning Fred's tissues from his bag as she sat him up and forced him to face her. He wasn't just her cousin; he was her best friend and she could feel every tear that fell down his cheeks as if she was mirroring him. He had always been sensitive, but she guessed that's what happened when you were named after your father's deceased identical twin. She would laugh at him when he cried at sad movies, but she couldn't even crack a smile as she wiped away his tears.

"Listen to me, Fred Weasley. Us Weasleys can be described as a lot of things, but a Weasley Wuss is and will never be a thing. You are one of the most beautiful people I know and you're worth much more than you think," she gently kissed his forehead, "I do not allow anything less that brilliant in my regular presence, you know this."

A grin appeared on Fred's face and it fought the tears to stay there.

"Why do I have to be so different?" he sighed.

That was the charm of Fred. Though he had the freckles, he didn't look like a Weasley much. Instead of the usual goal of an aura or taking over the family business, he wanted to make wands and he hadn't even attempted to play quidditch. But his toffee skin made him stand out from everyone else, he would blow the family's minds with facts about wands and he was the undefeated champion at wizards' chess. If he wasn't different, he wouldn't be Fred.

"Because I wouldn't have you any other way and Grandmama wouldn't get your name right first time," Victoire watched his tears slow down.

The two giggled and walked around the castle, talking about everything and nothing, but taking Fred's mind off of his insecurities and taking Victoire's mind off of the challenge. It wasn't until Tonka started to pester her for food that they realized they had spent an hour walking around the castle, and it was now time for dinner. There was a pleasant breeze dancing through the hallway as they reached the doors to the hall. It was easy as pie to pick out her friends in the sea of people stuffing their faces and she waved as she took a step forward but took a step back when she noticed that Fred wasn't as eager about going inside. She followed his gaze to Lucas who had the same fake blonde Durmstrang girl on his lap while he fed her grapes and laughed with his mates.

"I've learnt to accept that sometimes, your version of winning is different to the wins life has planned for you," Victoire pointed in the direction of the Hufflepuff table.

A group of Fred's friends beckoned him over with infectious excitement as if they hadn't seen him in years. Fred's shoulders relaxed, his spine straightened as his mouth decided that smiling looked so much better than frowning, as he matched his friends' excitement and skipped over to them. Victoire couldn't help but laugh as she watched Fred perfectly recite his dorky handshake with his friends.

"He's like a cool dork, isn't he?" Fred the ghost appeared by her side as other ghosts happily entered the hall to surprise the students,

"Oh, hell yeah," she insisted as she merrily followed the ghosts into the hall and turned back to face her uncle, "why do you think he's named after you?"