"You know, when Moody said he wanted us to check cracks around the castle I thought it was another word for something else," Vicki exclaimed as she prodded a large crack on the wall "I didn't think it'd actually be cracks."
Staying true to his word, Professor Moody had approached Vicki after dinner and had made her go and find her boyfriend to complete a task. He informed them both that with two guest schools having access to the castle, there was a small possibility there could be a security risk in the lead up to the second task. Therefore he had asked Vicki and Fred to look into any abnormal looking cracks to see if they housed anything sinister.
The issue was that they were in Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, the strangest place on the planet. Everything within the school walls would be considered abnormal. Vicki had heard stories from many people about Moody and how he had gone loopy after his auror days. She supposed every word of it was true.
"Mmm." Fred responded half heartedly.
Fred was still upset about the earlier conversation Vicki had with Moody after class, where she protested about having to do a task with Fred, because she would rather see Cedric instead. He had yet to voice his concerns to Vicki and instead was staying silent in hurt and anger.
However Vicki knew him well and could sense something was wrong. She had yet to realise how inappropriate her comments were earlier in the evening.
"I just handed you the opportunity to make a smart quip about cracks and stuff, but you didn't take it. What's up?" Vicki asked out of concern as she suddenly stopped in her tracks to face her boyfriend.
"Now's not the time or place. We'll talk about it later." Fred shrugged in an attempt to brush off Vicki's question.
"Nope. We're doing this now. Why are you upset?" Vicki asked again as she refused to back down.
Vicki was determined to find the issue and solve it as soon as possible. In her previous relationship with Roger she was always dealing with a lack of communication which would turn into a huge argument. She had learned from her mistakes and was not going to let the same problems occur once more in this new relationship. She was going to go above and beyond to make sure this relationship worked out.
"We have to check a good majority of cracks in this castle. It's going to take a long time." Fred responded, not even looking at her as he inspected a rather large crack with his wand.
This caused Vicki to let out a large snort.
"Psh, when do you follow teacher's instructions and give up valuable spare time to do a meaningless task to help the school outside of a detention?" Vicki asked him.
"When it gives me the chance to actually spend time with my girlfriend as we rarely get quality time together," Fred snapped at her, getting angrier as he continued to unleash "However you'd rather be with Diggory right now."
Vicki felt anger rise in her upon hearing Fred's words. But just as quickly as it appeared, it washed away as she recounted the day's events in her mind. She remembered arguing with Moody about doing the task because she'd rather see Cedric. She understood how bad this must have sounded in Fred's head.
"That wasn't because of what you think it was. Look, there's some stuff I need to tell you. Do you know if there's anywhere private we can go?" Vicki asked Fred.
In any normal circumstance Fred would have remained angry after getting so heated. But he truly had a soft spot for Vicki Hartwell and thus he softened his face and nodded. Without speaking up he motioned for her to follow him.
They both made their way through the corridors, passing someone they knew here and there and giving a quick wave before continuing on their mission.
"There's a small passageway behind this wall if you knock on the third brick from the left four times. The passageway is blocked and it's not Filch proof as he knows about it. But if you want somewhere private for a chat this place is safe." Fred offered to her quietly.
"Perfect. Thank you." Vicki smiled.
Fred didn't respond as he rapped on one of the bricks four times. He made sure to not go too tough as the stones were hard and could do damage to his knuckles. In front of their eyes the wall cracked open just enough for them to both squeeze through and Vicki took in the sights for the first time.
It looked similar to the corridor outside- the same type of stone was paved throughout the passageway with the same solid beams supporting the roof above. The only main difference were that there were far fewer magical torches lighting the area, there were no paintings scattered around the wall and most importantly ahead it appeared one of the beams had collapsed as there was lots of rubble blocking the way.
"It was barely holding up when George and I discovered this one in first year. Used to lead to right outside the Defence Against the Dark Arts classroom." Fred stated as he nodded towards the blockage ahead.
"I'm guessing it wasn't maintained as it was no longer needed. Even though this school is magical, this architecture is over a thousand years old. Without any form of repairs it's not going to hold up." Vicki responded as she continued to admire a new part of the school she had never seen before.
Fred was quiet and Vicki continued to inspect her surroundings. It was only when she turned to look back at Fred when something dawned on her. This was the first time in their relationship where they had been given complete privacy with no chance of anybody walking in on them. They had enjoyed a few snog sessions in a quiet corridor in the past, but those were usually short and sweet as students and teachers would sometimes walk past them.
But now they were in a quiet, secluded and fairly dark place. Vicki was going to take advantage of this.
"Did you take me here on purpose?" Vicki asked with a huge grin on her face. She thought her intentions were made very obvious but she was about to find out they weren't.
"Uh, yeah. To talk. Remember?" Fred responded in an annoyed fashion. He was completely oblivious to Vicki's seduction and was still hurt about what happened earlier.
"To talk? You're boring. The Fred Weasley I know would be doing a lot more than talking if he had his girlfriend," Vicki teased as she rolled her tongue for the last part of the sentence "alone."
Fred grinned sheepishly at his girlfriend. He was still quite mad about everything but as a teenage boy with hormones pumping throughout him, he was definitely willing to put it all aside now for some 'alone time' with Vicki.
"Fine. Have it your way then." Fred said with a wicked grin as he took a few steps towards Vicki.
She looked at him cautiously as she was unsure of his intentions. She wasn't sure if he was joking around or if he was going to make a move on her. However she found out very quickly that Fred meant serious business when he roughly backed her up against the wall.
He felt a little nervous as he had never been so brash with Vicki before. She was always the one to make the first move in every one of their snogging situations. He wasn't sure whether she would be comfortable with him taking charge. But as he had no resistance from her, he moved his faces inches from hers.
"Hi." He grinned at her.
He studied her face intently and was absolutely pleased at what he saw. She was looking deep into his eyes and he could see a lustful look etched into her face. The only time her eyes left his were to take quick look towards his lips. He had her exactly where he wanted her.
"H-hello." She stuttered softly.
Vicki was no stranger to intimate situations. After all, she had plenty of these encounters in her previous relationship with Roger. But this was the first time she was experiencing this with Fred and it was forcing nerves to build inside of her. She had really strong feelings for Fred and they had been building up to this moment for a long time. It had caught her a little off guard but she was excited despite the nerves.
Fred basked in his glory a little longer by hovering his lips over Vicki's for a few more moments. But then he couldn't take it anymore. He had to have her.
He ungracefully smashed his lips onto hers and let his mouth run wild. Their kiss was a lot more sloppy than usual but both Fred and Vicki didn't care. Fred was using their intimate kiss as an outlet for his prior frustrations and anger. Vicki was using the kiss to relieve her stress.
Vicki deepened the kiss by passionately locking her lips with him. At first she had wrapped her arms around his shoulders to hold onto him tightly to kiss him with fervour. As their snog continued she removed her arms to slowly take hold of his hands. They held hands only for a few moments as Vicki took his hands and placed them on her sides underneath her school shirt.
Fred broke the kiss to let out a gasp at the sudden skin to skin contact. Vicki went to continue kissing him and even began to move Fred's hands further up her torso but Fred quickly removed his hands from under her shirt and took a step back.
"Sorry, did I do something wrong?" Vicki asked looking very visibly hurt.
"No. We just need to talk before we let, err, passions get in the way." Fred awkwardly stated, rubbing the back of his neck to distract himself from the uncomfortable conversation.
Vicki only gave him a swift nod as she slid her back down the wall it was pressed against to take a seat on the floor. She patted the spot next to her to indicate that she wanted Fred to sit next to her. He scrunched up his nose at the dust on the floor but then realised he didn't care about his school uniform getting dirty and popped himself down next to her.
"So…" Vicki nervously said.
Fred licked his lips as he felt the gravity of the situation hit him. It was tense. He was still full of his teenage hormones pumping through him and he wanted nothing more but to pick up where they left off moments before. But he was still incredibly hurt about Vicki's words this afternoon. It was difficult for him.
He decided to jump right in.
"I don't know how to take the fact you tried to get out of spending time with me, to spend it with Diggory instead. It was quite the slap in the face." Fred moodily pointed out.
Vicki only sent Fred a small smile. At the time she hadn't realised how poor her choice of words were to Moody, but after Fred made his dig about it earlier tonight she knew this conversation was coming.
"You know I'm not romantically involved with Cedric, right? I see him as a brother and there's no way I'd ever be able to see him in another light." Vicki asked Fred quickly.
"Dammit Vicki, I know this. I'm not insecure about the fact that you and Cedric could possibly be in love. I'm hurt because even if you don't want him to be your boyfriend it still stings you could still like him more than me – in a different way." Fred sighed.
He expected his words to make his girlfriend angry as he anticipated her to rage at him. If not angry, he thought she may get upset that he was mad. He certainly wasn't expecting her happy reaction with a large smile on her face.
"What?" He asked her in confusion.
"Oh you have no idea how happy that statement has made me," Vicki happily sighed "It's going to make it so much easier to tell you what I needed to tell you."
From there Vicki talked.
And talked.
And talked.
It was mostly a one sided conversation as Vicki had a lot of things she needed to explain to Fred. She told him about what Cedric had told her the other week – the clue that something (well, someone) loved would be taken from each champion for the upcoming task in two days. She told Fred about how Cedric had two possible choices – his sister figure (herself) or his love interest (Cho). This was the main focus of the conversation as this was the most important message that Vicki wanted to convey.
Every now and again Fred would interject with his own thoughts. He didn't say much as he wanted Vicki to finish as he didn't know what to think of what she was telling him.
"…so in summary, it's certainly not that I prefer to spend my time with Cedric. I've ditched him plenty of times to spend time with you instead. Part of it was because I wanted to dig him for more information – to see if he knew yet if it would be me or Cho chosen. But also part of it was because I did want to see Cedric before the task, yes. Tonight is the last night as I doubt I'll see him tomorrow night," Vicki summarised but then felt nervous about the end of her statement and quickly added on "The same you would do if it were George. Hell I'm surprised you didn't try to get out of this task to see Harry before the task."
"I'm sure he's with Hermione or Ron in the library, they've been in there for the past couple of nights. I guess now I know why, to prepare on how to get Harry to breathe underwater. But I'll see him in the common room sometime between now and Wednesday morning." Fred shrugged but then his face fell as realisation dawned on him. Vicki did not have that same luxury. She was in a different house to her preferred champion and thus had less chances to see him.
Vicki noticed this and sent him a small smile as she placed a hand on his shoulder. She gave him a quick squeeze before affectionately giving him a quick kiss on the lips.
Fred smile towards her before sending her a small frown.
"I'm really glad you told me. Granted I do wish you told me a bit sooner, and I hope it wasn't because we were forced to talk and it just happened to come out. But you could have easily hidden it either way. Thank you." Fred stated to his girlfriend in gratitude.
Vicki mimicked his frown as she crossed her arms. She wasn't sure whether to be playful or concerned.
"Are you going sentimental on me? That's not the Fred Weasley way. Are you feeling alright? Do I need to take you to the hospital wing?" Vicki smirked, deciding to joke around.
Fred took a few moments to ponder what she was saying. Was he okay? He was. He meant exactly what he said. He was really glad he and Vicki had a relationship strong enough to hold together when drama was thrown at them. She was brave enough to speak her problems with them, rather than let things play out and hope for the best.
Little did Fred know that the same thoughts were going through Vicki's head. She would never admit to him but she would sometimes use her previous relationship with Roger as a benchmark for her own. Every single time she did this Fred would exceed expectations and show he was the best boyfriend she could ever hope for.
Whenever she and Roger would have a tiff they were both toxic to each other. Roger would refuse to listen and would shut himself down, whilst this caused Vicki to become nervous and not openly communicate with him. This caused an unhealthy relationship, the effects of which only really came to light at the end of their relationship causing it to crash and burn rapidly. Vicki knew that the feelings she had for Roger back then were very real and she did love him at the time. But only now she did know what a successful relationship should look like.
She held no resentment towards Roger and realised she too was a contributor to why the relationship failed. They still spoke from time to time albeit a little forced and awkwardly, they were still in the same friendship circle. Roger wasn't a bad person, he just wasn't the right person for her.
It was still early days with Fred but she felt the relationship was growing a lot more organically. They had yet to be intimate, or even say 'I love you' to one another but now she was wiser about relationships she could tell she was in a healthy one.
And it wasn't right now until she realised she was in love with him. At first she thought it hit her like a tonne of bricks, but then she realised that wasn't the case. Their relationship had been a very slow burn. She knew she began to harbour feelings even before she broke up with Roger and they began to get stronger as time went on and as their relationship flourished. She couldn't pinpoint the moment she fell in love with him but knew she had been feeling that way for a while.
Vicki went to tell Fred but was cut off by him making a remark in response to her last tease.
"Well, I am feeling a little giddy. I think I do need to be seen by a healer. Luckily there is a girl right in front of me that aspires to be a healer. Feel like giving it a shot?" Fred smirked as he took a step towards Vicki and held his face very close to her own.
She wanted the perfect moment to tell him she loved him. This was close, but this was not it. She could wait.
"Okay. Describe your symptoms to me so I can diagnose what healing you require to make this go away." Vicki teased back as she bought their faces even closer together so their lips were almost touching.
"Who cares about the symptoms? I know what I want. I want you." Fred gruffly replied and before Vicki could tease him some more he wrapped his arms around her shoulders tightly and crashed his lips onto hers.
So this chapter took a bit longer to come out than promised in the last one, sorry. But I absolutely PROMISE the next chapter will be out in the next 12 or so hours. It's got a mini theme that some Australians might appreciate and thus it has to be released tomorrow.
