Fred was in a sour mood all the way back up to the castle and even throughout dinner. He said very little during the meal which went noticed by the many other Gryffindor's seated at the table, as it was usually the two twins who provided the most entertainment at meal times. Only George, Lee and now Ron knew why Fred was in a sour mood but they did not dare speak up about it.
As soon as Fred finished his dinner he jumped up and muttered to everyone he would meet them all in the common room. He left the Great Hall alone and began his ascent up to Gryffindor tower. On his way up however he crossed paths with the girl he wanted to see most – or right now did he want to see her the least?
"Fred! I'm so glad I've run into you – you're the person I was hoping to see." Vicki gushed as the two stopped on the staircase to face each other.
"Hey!" Fred beamed at Vicki's words but then his face fell when he realised she was on her way down to dinner "did you only just get back to the castle?"
"Ah, yeah, I did. I was kind of hoping, well, if you're free tonight if we could hang out?" Vicki nervously asked Fred.
Fred was in complete disbelief. There were many people in this school who would be happy to spend time with Victoria Hartwell but she had chosen him. He had instantly perked up however he still had one pressing question he had to ask – and surprisingly it had nothing to do with the fact she had left with Montague last time he had seen her.
"Have you already asked Cedric and he turned you done, has he?" Fred weakly smiled, jumping to that conclusion.
Vicki pouted as she was deep in thought. She was able to connect the dots – earlier in the day he had lightly attacked her verbally when she mentioned Cedric was her best friend, and now he seemed sceptical that she wanted his company above all others. It made her smile, she was flattered that Fred seemed to get jealous of the friendship she held with Cedric.
"Nope, didn't even ask Cedric to see me tonight. I was really hoping for us two to hang, one on one. But if you're sick of me…" Vicki trailed off with a light smile as she was preparing herself for possible rejection.
"Well yeah, of course – I'd love to. I just still want to know why you'd prefer to spend time with me instead of your so-called best friend." Fred teased.
This made Vicki smile – this was the exact sort of distraction she was needing.
"I'll tell you all about it soon. I just need to quickly eat dinner and grab something from my dorm. Do you want to meet me in this exact spot in about an hour?" Vicki asked Fred sounding hopeful.
"See-ya then!" Fred cheerfully responded as he bounded up the stairs.
Vicki continued down the stairs through the Entrance Hall and then made her way into the Great Hall. She went to take a seat at the Ravenclaw table but was faced with an awkward situation when one of the girls in her year slid down so Vicki could be seated next to Roger – her now fake boyfriend.
"Hello my darling boyfriend." Vicki said overdramatically as she grabbed a plate and began to load up on meats and vegetables.
Roger only shot her a weak smile as he continued to eat quietly. He held no resentment or ill feelings towards Vicki however he still wanted to keep his distance from her for now until the break up was less raw. Vicki felt the same way (they had discussed this openly earlier in the day) but she was attempting to make lame jokes to make it less awkward but also to put some distance between her and Roger.
"Cheer up. After tonight there's only two days until the first task and then we're all clear to break the news to the school. You'll be a hundred per cent single in no time." Vicki stated with a small smile on her face.
Roger only once again sent her a small smile back and remained silent. She was making him feel more and more uncomfortable and not wanting to snap at her like he had been over the past few weeks he thought it was best to say nothing at all. One day he'd knew he would be able to enjoy her company as a friend, but only hours after their breakup today was not that day.
Luckily for Roger the perfect distraction was about to unfold.
"Oi, you two. Sorry to put a damper on your Hogsmeade weekend but you're both needed for prefect duties tonight." Paul Greene – the Ravenclaw Head Boy said to the two as he took a seat opposite Roger and Vicki.
Roger and Vicki shot each other nervous glances, not being keen on having to spend time together one-on-one at the moment.
"This wasn't planned, and I had organised something for tonight with someone." Vicki shot towards Paul, causing Roger to send Vicki a sidewards glance in surprise.
"Yep – I wanted to really impress a girl." Roger spoke up, in an attempt to upstage Vicki.
Paul didn't blink at the two, assuming the plans Vicki had for tonight were with Roger, and assuming Vicki was the one he wanted to impress. Therefore he continued on.
"Sorry guys, we need everyone to work as individuals tonight. Apparently the school is organising something to do with the tournament tonight so prefects need to stand guard at various points around the school to ensure no other students sneak a peek." Paul exclaimed.
"Ah, a false sense of security. If anyone desperately wanted to cheat I'm sure they could easily get past a prefect and hey, who said the prefects can be trusted." Vicki cheekily grinned, making Paul frown.
"Kelly and I would like to think we can trust our prefects with this task, thank you very much. Roger, I've stationed you into the outside courtyard – you'll have a few other prefects stationed close by as it's near the main entrance of the school. Victoria, you've been put at the top of the Astronomy Tower. As it's very secluded you'll be there by yourself." Paul explained to Roger and Vicki.
Vicki and Roger shot each other a look as they were both unsure of what to say. They were supposed to be disappointed they had been stationed away from each other on a Saturday tonight however in reality both could not have been any happier. An alternative plan for tonight was also forming in Vicki's mind – the night was no longer a write off and she would not need to cancel on Fred.
"Alright," Vicki said after taking a big gulp of her food and pushing her plate away "No point arguing. It is what it is. I'm going to go back to my dorm and get ready. Would it be fine if I get up to the Astronomy Tower in about an hour?"
"That will be fine. Now if you'll excuse me, I need to break the news to Diggory that his services are not required tonight as it is deemed a conflict of interest with him being a champion."
stated giving the table a light whack in what he believed was triumph over Roger and Vicki and strode off confidently.
Vicki just muttered a quick goodbye to Roger and also got up quickly to go back to Ravenclaw Tower, not bothering to pay attention to Roger's response. She had been feeling fine all of the day but that awkward and forced conversation had made a switch go off in her head and suddenly reality seemed to hit her.
The boy who used to make her crazy was now the one she wanted to avoid the most. It seemed like not too long ago she was head over heels in love with him and felt what they had was special. But now the interaction was awkward, and only occurring because they were keeping up appearances. It hurt Vicki deeply that something so special had burned out.
Deep down she knew things would mellow out between her and Roger once they had time to heal and move on. But right now she needed a distraction, and spending time with Fred Weasley tonight would make her feel better.
"I hope you don't mind spending time with me tonight here at the top of the Astronomy Tower. We can reschedule if you'd rather go back to the Gryffindor common room tonight." Vicki sheepishly stated to Fred after they had reached the top of the Astronomy Tower.
"No way. Nowhere else I'd rather be." Fred honestly replied with a smile on his face.
He hadn't cared at all when he met with her and she explained to him that very last minute she had been given a prefect's task. She had wanted to spend the night with him and only him, that's all that mattered to him.
"We'll be left alone up here all night at least – as I'm the one meant to be keeping watch. However I've bought up something a bit naughty." Vicki grinned, indicating to Fred she had kept something hidden under her robes.
Fred decided to say nothing and cock up an eyebrow. He wanted to know what Vicki was up to and anything he could say would just be delaying her big reveal.
"You're a troublemaker Weasley. But are you game enough to get drunk on this tower with me?" Vicki mischievously grinned as she pulled the bottle of Firewhisky and shook it around for dramatic effect.
"How did you get your hands on that?" Fred asked in amazement, clearly impressed.
"Hogsmeade, pretty simple actually." Vicki shrugged as she began to unscrew the lid.
"Underage drinking with a prefect in an out-of-bounds area, whilst she's meant to be doing her prefect duties of not allowing students around lest they cast their eyes onto something they're not meant to. Oh, I'm very game Miss Hartwell. I think the real question is – are you?" Fred smirked towards Vicki.
Vicki did not directly respond to Fred but instead unscrewed the lid, keeping her grin on her face as she looked into his eyes and took a large swig of the alcohol. She winced at the burning in the back of her throat and handed the bottle to Fred who followed her lead and also scalded his own throat from the alcohol.
Fred handed the bottle back to her as he doubled over with his hands on his knees at the strong taste. Vicki had a lot more experience with alcohol as she had spent the previous two summers getting drunk regularly with her muggle friends at gatherings and house parties, but this was almost a new experience for Fred.
He and George had once had a shot of this exact drink given to him by an uncle at a wedding and had not taken it well – unfortunately this quickly alerted his mother that the twins had been given alcohol and Molly had shouted herself hoarse at the uncle and her two sons. Therefore with only one experience with alcohol in his life he had not acquired immunity to the rough feeling down his throat.
Vicki only shot him a small smile of encouragement as she guessed he wasn't seasoned in alcohol drinking and took a seat on the ground with her back pressed against the wall of the school. She had put warming charms on her and Fred's robes before they got to the top of the tower, but sitting down away from the wind made the charm a lot stronger.
Fred followed suite and sat next to her.
"So why'd you want to spend time with me?" Fred asked her, not bothering to hide his curiousity. He had this question burning in his mind since Vicki had stopped him on the stairs earlier.
"Well as I said earlier at the Three Broomsticks it's not really a big deal that Roger and I broke up. Everyone has all these crazy theories and I kind of just want a night where I don't have to see Roger, or be alone and mull over these thoughts." Vicki responded.
"What theories do people have?" Fred asked inquisitively.
"Well Steph thinks I should go out with Montague purely to spite Roger. Cedric on the other hand thinks I have a problem being alone and that's why I stayed with Roger for so long. I like Cedric and all, but he couldn't have gotten it more wrong." Vicki began to explain.
Fred had so many questions – he wanted to know why Fawcett wanted Vicki to be with Montague. He wanted to know why Diggory thought Vicki was scared of being alone and he wanted to know why Diggory was apparently wrong. But he stayed silent in order for Vicki to continue.
"The truth is I loved Roger, I used to love him so much. I just didn't want to let that go and was living in denial that we could get back to that place again one day. Today both of us finally let go and I think it's a cause for a celebration that I can move on with my life. It has nothing to do with being alone." Vicki explained.
"And you wanted to celebrate with me?" Fred asked Vicki very quickly.
"Well, yeah. You're the only person who hasn't given any unsolicited opinions or advice on my relationship with Roger. Whenever we hang out it was always just you and I being stupid. I like that." Vicki smiled.
Fred could not contain his smile and beamed towards Vicki. He hadn't realised that she enjoyed his company that way. He always avoided bringing up Roger because it made him sick to his stomach to think about the two together. He had no idea that by banishing that topic he was making her happy. He was now glad for his irrational jealousy.
He still had one burning question that hadn't escaped his mind since Hogsmeade.
"How did things go with Montague when we left you? Did you tell him that you and Davies broke up?" Fred asked curiously.
Vicki let out a rather loud and unflattering snort before she bit her lip, both at the sheer awkwardness she felt from the noise she just made but also because she was remembering what had happened on the walk back up to Hogwarts.
"No, thank Merlin for that. His grandmother and my grandmother apparently had some pathetic schoolgirl rivalry in the forties so I exchanged some heated words with his grandmother and left. On the way back to school he apologised for his grandmother's behaviour but then poured his heart out to me." Vicki responded.
"How?" Fred shot back, hanging onto Vicki's every word.
"He went on about all of this nonsense about how he's always had a thing for me, and basically said he's waiting for Roger and I to break up and how he got involved with Quiddich and lost all of his weight so I'd notice him. It was really uncomfortable actually. He's a good looking guy, but I really don't see him like that." Vicki explained.
The news of a 'good looking' rival should have upset Fred. But instead he was once again ecstatic of what Vicki was revealing. He had known Montague had been interested in Vicki for a long time as he had seen the lovesick boy do similar things to what he had done himself chasing after Vicki. But instead he felt very settled. Montague had confessed his feelings and Vicki was uncomfortable about it. He was also still beaming about the fact she wanted his own company above all others.
"Oh." Fred stated with a smile on his face as he took the bottle out of Vicki's grasp and took a swig of the alcohol.
"Yeah." Vicki responded, finding his smile contagious as she accepted the bottle back and copied his actions.
Fred decided to shift the topic away from Montague and Vicki's love life in general and onto the first task of the Triwizard tournament that was just two days away.
From there the two talked.
And talked.
And talked.
The two would occasionally pass the bottle of Firewhisky between them as they discussed many topics. At first it was very light – they would joke about school related topics, and their fellow peers. But then as the alcohol started to take effect they went deeper.
Vicki told Fred about how badly bullied she was during primary school. It was well known that most witches or wizards who grew up in a muggle society (either not knowing they were magic like muggle borns – or just those who just grew up in the muggle world like Vicki) were usually picked on by the muggles around them. This is usually due to the fact that the magic folk growing up were 'weird' and 'different' and their muggle peers could pick up on the subtle clues that adults normally missed.
Fred felt a lot of empathy towards Vicki as she divulged in all of the times she was ridiculed and excluded but there was one anecdote that made him laugh – the story of Sally Saunders.
Sally Saunders parents apparently had bad blood with the Maureen Smith (formerly Hartwell – Vicki's mother). Apparently they had stolen from Maureen and in an attempt to cover this up and to discredit the Hartwell/Smith clan the Saunders family bad mouthed Vicki to the entire school community, telling everyone how she deserved to be 'locked into Bedlam with the key thrown away' for having serious mental issues. Following her parents actions Sally Saunders began to find ways to torture Vicki – by picking fights, saying hurtful things or making up stories to get Vicki into trouble.
After enduring Sally's bullying for so long, Vicki's magic abilities began to develop. Suddenly Sally found her bag began to split open a lot, the wind around her would pick up and blow her dress up and she began to trip over her own feet a lot. It started to get so bad that Maureen feared the ministry may punish Vicki and waive the immunity children usually had over their powers so she began to keep Vicki home for days at a time. The Saunders family pointed their fingers towards Vicki for what was happening to Sally but with no proof, they looked rather silly and eventually had no choice but to pull their kids out of Vicki's school and re-enrol into a new one.
"As far as I'm aware they still badmouth me to people, unfortunately a few parents have banned their children from talking to me after hearing the made up stories from the Saunders family. But that's okay, I uncovered evidence that the dad has been to jail for numerous crimes and thus I spread that around." Vicki shrugged as she finished this story to Fred who was wiping tears of laughter from his face by the end.
Fred then let Vicki in on a secret he and George had never told anyone before, not even Lee.
He explained the reason why he and his twin had turned to a life of jokes and pranking – it was the only way they could get their parents attention when they were very young. They were the middle children. After Ron and Ginny were born Fred said he felt their parents fawned over their youngest two children for being the baby boy and baby girl of the family. This was around the same time Bill was starting Hogwarts, with Charlie not being very far behind him.
Therefore a monster was born, and that was the devious nature of the two twins. Ron was their usual target being the sibling closest to them in age – although Fred admitted that in later years they shifted their attention onto Percy as he was a much more entertaining mark. He also admitted he and George no longer felt that way anymore, in fact they'd rather not have their parents close attention these days as they would be able to get away with much more if they could go under their radar.
"It's nearly one, we really should head down. I'm sorry to keep you out so late. I'm allowed to be out this late as prefect, so if we run into any teachers I'll say I needed you or something." Vicki said to Fred after checking her pocket watch.
"Nah, I'll be right. I know every secret passageway this castle has. I also know for a fact there's one at the bottom of this tower that will take me right outside the Fat Lady's portrait. I'll be safely back in my dorm in no time." Fred winked to her as he got up. He offered his hand to Vicki and helped her up from the ground.
It was only as they both stumbled down the stairs that they both realised how drunk they were. They only had the opportunity to drink half the bottle as drinking the potent alcohol straight began to become too much for the two.
But they both had to hold onto the rail for dear life and it took them a lot longer than usual to reach the bottom of the tower. Luckily they managed to negotiate the stairs and didn't drunkenly topple down.
"My passageway is just behind that painting of a cupboard over there. If you open the cupboard doors on the painting you can actually climb through." Fred explained.
Vicki went to respond however she was cut off by a noise of someone muttering to themselves. Someone was clearly approaching. Vicki and Fred shot each other a look but in the distance they were able to see who it was. It wasn't a someone – it was a ghost.
"It's the Fat Friar. He's friendly, but will dob in students breaking the rules their own safety," Vicki mentioned, but then continued on after a moment "But he's always been a real sucker for romance."
"Should we go back up the tower?" Fred suggested.
"No, we'll be too loud and we'll attract his attention. He's coming this way, there's only one thing I have up my sleeve. You gotta trust me, and I'm so sorry this will make you feel uncomfortable." Vicki explained.
"Okay, whatever. Just hurry, he's almost here." Fred said to Vicki, lowering his voice so the Fat Friar wouldn't hear them.
Absolutely nothing could prepare Fred for what was about to happen. With no warning he felt Vicki grab him suddenly. She backed herself to a wall, and with her back pressed against the wall she held Fred against herself. She lifted a knee so one of her legs came out of her robe and placed one of Fred's hands quite far up her thigh. His other arm she grabbed and put around her waist.
She placed one of her hands on the side of his face, and the other hand she ran through his red hair. After setting the scene she went in for the kill and locked her lips to his.
Fred was extremely taken off guard by Vicki's advance but his instincts took over and he passionately kissed her back. Her free hand running through his hair felt amazing to him and he tightened his grip on her waist and thigh.
Vicki tried her best to put on a show for the Fat Friar who was passing. As he had a soft spot for students in love she was faking the kiss to encourage the Fat Friar to move on. She tried to make it slow and sensual as she moved her mouth gently with Fred's. She contemplated using her tongue but decided against it – it would not be something visible to the passing Friar and after all this was all for show.
"Tsk, tsk. It's a bit late for students to be out. But are those Gryffindor and Ravenclaw robes I see? It must be hard for you two to find a spare moment belonging to two different houses. Is that a prefect badge I can see? Well you're excused then. I'll leave you two lovers alone." The Fat Friar mused as he came close to both Vicki and Fred before floating away quickly.
As soon as his mutterings were out of earshot Vicki broke away – to Fred's dismay. He was nearly confident enough to lie to Vicki and latch onto her lips again and say the Fat Friar had come back, but he was on too much of a high to manipulate the situation.
"Sorry about that. I hope this doesn't change things between us, or make things awkward." Vicki sheepishly grinned.
"No way. You saved our arses. Thanks for that." Fred smirked, doing his best to contain the large smile he wanted to wear.
"I better head off back to my dorm. Here, take this. I won't have the chance to drink the rest. You have about two more days before it explodes. It'll still be alright to drink the night of the first task. If you bring this out in the party I have no doubt you'll hold in Potter's honour, everyone will think you're a legend." Vicki stated as she presented the bottle of Firewhisky to Fred.
His brain still wasn't functioning properly so he didn't protest but instead thanked Vicki as he took it off her.
"Goodnight Vicki." Fred beamed towards Vicki as he began to walk towards the painting.
"Goodnight Fred," Vicki replied as she engulfed him into a tight hug "Thank you for being you, and for getting my mind off the stupid breakup."
...yep. That's all I have to say. They've finally kissed - hallelujah!
In response to the reviews:
Raven Woods 2003 - this chapter did not meet your expectations but I can promise crazy drama is a brewing (and I'm also a drama loving nerd - high five)
ForeverTeamEdward13 - Thanks for your support :) as a Fred lover I hope you enioyed this one!
Cae-Leigh Anne - welcome! Thanks for choosing to read my story - I appreciate it :)
