I hope you guys like this one. This one shows the story is finally coming along and Fred's feelings might not be so one sided afterall, even if they both don't know it yet.
Response to the reviews -
Raven Woods 2003: I'm dreading the end of the school year too! :( I swear I'm probably going to cry when it comes to that time as I write it haha.
Guest: as always thank you so much! I really enjoyed your review and how you were able to pick up on the similarities between the deep and meaningful conversations in both stories, and how much pure and genuine the one between Fred and Vicki was. I think you might like this chapter ;)
"Hey…Hermione?" Vicki asked nervously from the next table over the one the younger girl was sitting at.
Hermione looked up suspiciously. She and the older popular prefect were on fairly good terms. After spending a small amount of time together at the World Cup and due to the fact both frequented the library on a regular basis, sometimes they would sit at the same table and study. However this was the first time they had spoken since Harry was declared as the surprise fourth champion of the Triwizard Tournament.
Since then it seemed the entire school had turned against the Gryffindors out of rage and jealousy that once again, they received the limelight and the glory. With Vicki Hartwell being a ringleader of the popular group and one of Cedric Diggory's closest friends, Hermione was expecting to be hit with a blast of cold feelings from Vicki. She was correct in that Vicki was about to bring up Harry, but it certainly wouldn't be in a manner that Hermione could have predicted.
"Yes?" Hermione snapped at Vicki.
Vicki was caught off guard by Hermione's sudden annoyance but she still pressed on, knowing more was to come.
"How's Harry after well, you know. How is he holding up?" Vicki asked, cocking her head as the question left her mouth.
Hermione looked aghast and had trouble forming a sentence – out of both intimidation of the older girl, out of shock of the girl's brash question and out of irritation for what she was asking.
"He's doing well," Hermione sharply responded before adding on "for someone who is being treated quite unfairly by everybody else for being forced into something he didn't want to do in the first place!"
"I know, I know," Vicki defended raising her hands as this was the reaction she did expect "Hence why I'm asking. Dumbledore is a genius, there's no way he would have been able to get over that line, or even negotiate someone else to do it for him."
"Y-you believe he didn't organise this?" Hermione stuttered out in disbelief, after all Vicki was truly the first student aside from herself to come to the conclusion Harry hadn't entered the tournament of his own accord. She was shocked, but overjoyed. If Vicki could believe Harry certainly others could too.
"Of course he didn't. I don't condone bullying, you know. Despite what you probably think of me, I've been the target of some really cruel bullying in the past and I think it's horrible. Unfortunately no one is really listening to me, but the seeds of doubt are being sown." Vicki responded, sending a wink to Hermione to lighten up her sombre statement.
Hermione wanted to bring up the topic of bullying that Vicki mentioned but being clever herself Hermione knew it was inappropriate as Vicki had tried to move away with a light-hearted ending to her statement. Instead she just sent a small smile towards Vicki.
"I'm sure it might cheer up Harry to know someone is on his side. Thank you." Hermione beamed towards Vicki.
Vicki contemplated mentioning that although she believed Harry and wouldn't participate in the bullying that was coming his way – she was still cheering for Cedric as Hogwarts champion. She decided it wasn't the best comment to make and instead just stayed silent and mirrored Hermione's smile.
"I knew I'd find you here, bookworm. I need to talk to you." A familiar redhead said as he took a seat next to Vicki.
Hermione looked between the two. She wasn't able to tell the two twins apart but she knew that Fred and Vicki had become very good friends and knew their chattering would be a distraction, figuring that Fred had come to spend time with Vicki. Besides, she knew Harry would like to hear that someone influential believed him, finally one thing was going his way this week. She packed up her books and excused herself promptly, leaving the two alone.
"So George, what could you possibly need to talk to me about?" Vicki asked, sounding amused at George's sudden presence.
"How do you know I'm George?" The twin grinned mischievously.
"I dunno. I've always been able to tell the difference between you two. I know you're identical and share almost every single gene, but I just can. I think one of you has a bigger forehead." Vicki giggled
"Well which one of us has the bigger forehead?" George quickly asked, in a half-annoyed half-amused fashion.
"I'll let you decide." Vicki shrugged, trying to remain casual but was having trouble stifling her laughter and let out a loud and unattractive snort.
George considered pressing on but knew Vicki was trying to get a rise out of him so he decided to let it go. He also had more pressing matters to discuss with her, hence why he was spending a perfectly good Saturday evening in the library rather than doing something more fun.
"Can we go somewhere a bit more…neutral? The library makes me nervous." George asked suddenly.
"You have a phobia of books? Seriously?" Vicki asked in disbelief, to which George shook his head.
"No, that's not it. See how poor the lighting is from the torches on the wall? It reminds me that as dim as the lighting is in here sometimes, it's still brighter than my future." George joked loudly.
Vicki let out a loud laugh that echoed off the stone walls. The two watched Madam Pince the strict librarian look over disapprovingly and begin to march over to where they were seated. Without warning Vicki quickly packed her books and scooped them up in her arms and followed George, making a beeline for the door.
"This is a library, not a zoo! You might not take your education seriously, but many others in this library do!" Madam Pince screamed at both Vicki and George.
Vicki went to bow her head and apologise. She wasn't a big fan of Madam Pince (although you'd be hard pressed to find someone who was) but as a prefect and a model student she feared being on the bad side of a staff member. George on the other hand also had never been a fan of Madam Pince but did not care what the strict woman thought of him. Therefore he was the one to speak up before Vicki could get an apology in.
"If you care so much about peace and quiet why are you the one running after us to yell?" George teased as he and Vicki slipped through the doors and made a break for it, leaving Madam Pince to stutter in disbelief and anger.
George cringed as he expected Vicki to be cross with him. He didn't mind Vicki, he thought she went alright, but there were two main reasons why he didn't want to be on her bad side. He needed her to help retrieve the money he and Fred were attempting to get back from Bagman. Most importantly he knew it would cause issues with Fred if Vicki were to think unfavourably of George.
It was very rare for Fred and George to have an altercation that wasn't in jest, but George knew that Victoria Hartwell was a subject matter that could cause Fred to fight with him. Fred wasn't too vocal about his feelings towards Vicki, choosing to not discuss much with his twin. But from what George had picked up it was more than just a simple crush. George had a feeling there was a possibility Fred was in love with her but didn't want to admit it, but then again George realised he himself had no idea what love looked like and thus hadn't attempted to even ask Fred about it.
Instead Vicki laughed even harder as the two ran down the corridor in attempt to get away from the library as quickly as possible.
"Maybe I became friends with the wrong twin. You're funny," Vicki laughed towards George, but then finally something dawned on her "Hang on, where is Fred anyway? I take it you've found me to ask about Bagman, why isn't Fred with you?"
"Your boring-ness has rubbed off onto him. He's in the common room with Ange working on their charms homework together, he wants to get it done tonight so we can work on new products for our joke shop line tomorrow." George responded.
Vicki had to stop herself from narrowing her eyes out of jealousy. She felt a little hurt that Fred had never offered to do homework with her before but apparently was perfectly happy doing homework with other people. She had even run into him earlier in the day and had a quick chat, and she mentioned she would be working on outstanding homework in the library that night and yet Fred hadn't brought up that he too would be working on his coursework and had not offered to work together with her.
Vicki then dismissed these thoughts as she realised she was being unreasonable. Perhaps Fred didn't like working in the library and Vicki didn't blame him – she had never set foot in the Gryffindor common room but guessed it was nicer than having Madam Pince breathing down their necks. She also remembered a conversation she had once had as well that involved the topic of Fred and Angelina.
"Ange – as in Angelina Johnson? He used to have a bit of a thing for her didn't he? Good on him." Vicki grinned towards George as they found a bench seat outside of a classroom and took a seat. The corridors were empty as it was nearly curfew, but George still found himself looking around furiously in case their conversation was overheard.
"Tell you that did he?" George weakly grinned, growing very uncomfortable with where the conversation was heading but didn't know how to steer away from it.
"Nope," Vicki responded, popping the 'p' "Roger did. Last year when we first got together the topic of Quiddich romances came up. He told me after a Ravenclaw-Gryffindor Quiddich game back in fourth year before they cancelled the games, he was coming out of the change rooms and heard Fred and Lee arguing about Angelina. Fred apparently wanted to ask her out and asked for Lee's permission as the entire school knows Lee has a crush on her, and it clearly didn't end well."
George shot a grimace at the memory. Even though it had only been two years, it felt like a lifetime ago that Angelina was the one Fred liked. They weren't feelings that lasted very long and they were no way near as intense or passionate as what Fred now felt for Vicki, but once upon a time Fred did hold feelings for Angelina. It was a topic that was making George feel uncomfortable. Even though Vicki had a boyfriend and nothing could happen between Fred and Vicki right now, he still felt it wasn't appropriate to discuss Fred with another girl.
George decided to go with his strength, which was to stir the pot. He would derail the conversation by pushing the boundaries about Roger.
"How's Mr Davies going anyway? I don't see you two together as often as I used to. Last year it seemed you were attached at the hip, or should I say lips? This year, I see you more with Diggory and my dear twin brother. Trouble in paradise?" George smiled to Vicki, sitting slouched with his hands entwined but looking up at Vicki cheekily.
Vicki moved her mouth to the side deep in thought and furrowed her eyebrows. She thought about getting angry at George for asking such a sensitive topic. If it were Fred she wouldn't think anything of it – as one of her closest friends he had the right to ask personal questions. But even though George was identical to Fred, he wasn't Fred and therefore didn't share the same special friendship with Vicki as his brother. But from the few times she had hung out with both brothers she knew this was just George's personality and he didn't mean any harm and wasn't attempting to gossip. Therefore Vicki didn't care.
"I'd call it evolving to the next stage of the relationship. Last year it was the honeymoon phase. This year we're comfortable enough in our relationship to do a few things separately. We both lead such busy lives – we're both prefects, Roger usually has Quiddich and we both work so hard to get good marks. Unfortunately you gotta grow up sometime, we're already maturing in our relationship." Vicki explained to George.
George wanted to make a tongue-in-cheek comment about sounding like a boring old married couple but instead something else slipped out. Fred didn't talk much about his feelings for Vicki but one common complaint lately was that Fred didn't feel Roger was 'deserving' of Vicki. He kept whinging Roger was following the good looking blonde-haired Beauxbatons student around like a lost puppy and Fred had witnessed him brush off Vicki on a number of occasions. With those comments swimming in his mind, George accidentally let out an inappropriate one of his own.
"Where does that Beauxbatons girl fit into the equation? Apparently Roger has been spending a lot of time with her. Does a third party in the relationship count as evolving?" George laughed.
"What are you trying to say? Fleur is pretty cool, we all hang out at meal times. Even Stephanie joins us, it took her a while to warm up to Fleur because yes, Fleur is beautiful and Steph was jealous. But it's not just Roger, we all do." Vicki stated, sounding more defensive than she intended to.
"Yeah, but not in the same way as Roger. There's talk going around he's into her. Surely you've noticed, right?" George asked, Vicki's defensive manner getting lost on him.
Vicki's eyes narrowed towards George. She was fine with George asking light personal questions as she knew he meant no malice, but this was getting too heavy for her. She still wasn't angry at George, but she wanted to now terminate the conversation.
He had also bought up things that Vicki hadn't noticed until now. Vicki and Fleur got along really well but now that Vicki thought about it, she realised Roger always scrambled to get the seat next to her at meal times, and always seemed to talk about Fleur non-stop, even finding excuses to bring her up.
Vicki had to withhold a gasp. George was right – it was mostly one-sided but Roger obviously had inappropriate feelings for Fleur, and it seemed like the entire school knew – everyone but her. George wasn't the person she wanted to have this conversation with. Even if it was his twin brother she were speaking to right now she wouldn't want to speak to him either. This was a conversation she felt would be best suited for Cedric.
"Yeah, well…" Vicki shrugged, and George now took the hint that Vicki wasn't impressed with where this conversation was headed. He was happy he had successfully moved the topic away from Fred's love life with relative ease, but now he was fearful he had upset her.
"I won't waste any more of your Saturday night," George quickly stated and attempted to bring some more humour to cheer her up "I instead propose to waste your Sunday afternoon. What do you say we get together with Fred tomorrow and discuss the next instalment in our little Bagman plan?"
Vicki smiled a little, feeling a bit bad for being annoyed towards George. She decided the best thing to do was go to bed and get some rest, and tomorrow she would speak with Cedric about this new dilemma that had presented itself.
"Sounds good. In that case I'm going to go rest up. I'll catch up with you lads tomorrow." Vicki said to George, jumping off the seat they were seated on as she began to head off in one direction to Ravenclaw tower.
"Looking forward to it. Night Vicki." George smirked as he felt relieved Vicki wasn't being cold towards him.
"Goodnight George. Can you tell Fred I said to say goodnight as well?" Vicki asked sweetly.
"Sure thing, chicken wing." George winked as he headed the opposite way, departing from Vicki.
He trotted back to Gryffindor Tower, wanting to get there quickly in order to speak with his twin about the conversation he had just had with Fred's obsession. George gave the Fat Lady the password to get into the common room and stepped inside.
As it was a Saturday night the Gryffindor common room was very busy. It was very close to curfew so essentially nearly every Gryffindor student were seated within that room. George scanned the room and saw Angelina and Fred sitting near the fire. They had some textbooks open but were both talking and laughing heartily. George considered not interrupting them for a moment but he knew he had news for Fred that could not wait.
"Hello Ange, hope you're having a nice evening," George greeted Angelina politely before turning to Fred "Sorry to interrupt, but I have some things I really need to talk to you about."
"You can go, I don't mind. I'm a bit sick of homework actually, it might be nice to get back to the girls." Angelina responded.
Fred however, wasn't happy with his brother's attempt at dragging him away.
"You can get Alicia and Katie to come sit with us, we have prime seats next to the fire. I'm sure whatever George has to say can wait." Fred piped up.
Angelina looked uncomfortable as she looked between the two. She didn't mind if Fred departed to speak with George, but he had a point, they had very good seats right next to the fire which was rare for a Saturday night, and it seemed a shame to give them up.
"Fine. I'm going to bed. I made plans to spend time with Vicki tomorrow, so I need to rest up. She said to say good night to you, by the way." George said attempting to say it in a nonchalant manner, hiding a huge grin as he saw anger and disbelief wash over his twin's face.
George smirked as he strode up to his dormitory, and as expected the sixth year boy's dorm was empty, as no one wanted to go to bed at nine o' clock on a Saturday night. Less than two minutes later Fred had appeared, clearly no longer fussed about giving up the squishy armchairs near the fire.
"What on earth happened tonight? When did you become so close with Vicki?" Fred asked suspiciously, storming in and standing in front of George.
"Take a seat. I have many-a-tale to tell you about my adventure tonight." George grinned, sitting on his bed and indicating for Fred to sit on his own bed next to George's.
Fred grumbled, clearly unhappy with George and that George was not getting to the point. He however knew this would be the only way to get his twin to talk, and he obliged and sat down on the bed.
From there George told Fred everything. He mentioned that he felt Vicki acted a little strange if just for a second when he informed her that Fred was working with Angelina. He also told Fred about how he pushed Vicki's buttons a little and how shocked she seemed when he pointed out how Roger had been behaving. He also mentioned she specifically wanted him to say goodnight to Fred.
"What are you trying to say by telling me all of this? From the moment you found out that I fancied Vicki you kept trying to encourage me to move on. In fact, you're the one who suggested I catch up with Ange tonight." Fred barked at George.
"Look, sorry. I don't know Vicki well but from what I had seen I thought she was madly in love with Roger. That may have been the case in the past, but clearly there are cracks in their relationship and it doesn't look like they may last much longer. I wouldn't say you're clearly in with her, but she obviously thinks very highly of you." George responded.
"I still don't get what you're trying to say." Fred stated, cheekily smiling as he was trying to dig for as much information from George as possible, very happy about what he was hearing.
"As cool as I think Vicki is, I still think you should move on as you don't know how long it may take for her to break up with Roger and then for her to be ready to go out with someone else," George spoke up, but then continued on before Fred could angrily interrupt "That being said, I don't think you're wasting your time. If you think she's worth waiting for, I think one day she'll be yours."
"She is – she's worth it." Fred smiled widely.
George shot his brother an odd look. Fred never spoke about his feelings or anything else sentimental with anybody, but here he was choking up about a girl. George had not shared many special moments with Fred on this calibre, as the opportunity would not come around again George decided to take it further.
He jumped off his bed and dug through his trunk at the end of his bed. He pulled out something wrapped in brown paper and handed it to Fred.
Fred shot George a quizzical look but ripped open the paper to see a book inside. Twelve Fail-Safe Ways to Charm Witches.
"I was going to give it to you for our birthday and make a loud comment about how you clearly need it as you're the ugly twin, but I think you'll find it more useful now." George grinned towards Fred.
Fred was speechless. He really appreciated this gesture from George and didn't know how to express his gratitude. He said nothing but quickly grabbed his brother into a man-hug, letting go moments later.
George smiled too. Even though Fred hadn't said anything he didn't had to. George knew his brother was over the moon for what he had just done. George decided now was the time to bring the moment to the close and bring in some humour.
"As the good-looking twin, giving you this book was the least I could do," George joked, earning a large shove from Fred in protest before continuing on "Let's give this book to Ron one day in front of the whole family."
