(CoS) CHAPTER SIX: The Code of Friendship

Ellie tried to settle back into her comfort zone once Oliver left, but she found it difficult. Harry and Ron were abuzz with complaints about their detentions with Filch and Lockhart, Fred and George were shooting Ellie glares for entertaining Oliver's flirtations yet again, and Dean and Seamus were acting… well… strange.

"They're acting strange because Dean has a crush on you," Parvati explained that night as the girls got ready for bed. "Isn't it obvious?"

Ellie blinked, truly taken aback by that assessment, and glanced at Hermione. "Is that true?"

Hermione looked amused. "You're asking the wrong person."

"It's true," Lavender assured her. "The question is, how do you feel about him? Or do you only have eyes for a certain way-too-old-for-you Quidditch captain?"

The truth was, Ellie didn't know. Other than Oliver's fixation with her, she had never dealt with crushes or boy drama before. She'd had no idea that Dean had a crush on her, if it was even true. She thought he was cute, she supposed, but…

Against her better judgment, her thoughts crept to the one place she knew they shouldn't: Fred.

That was how she was supposed to feel when she liked someone, wasn't it? Fred didn't make her nervous—she felt more comfortable around him than anyone else in the world—and yet, he made her feel… excited. The way he had looked at her that night beneath the trapdoor—the way he still looked at her, from time to time, out on Molly's little garden bench…

But what was she supposed to do about it—ask him? "Hey, Fred, any chance our undeniable connection is a sign that we're supposed to, I don't know, date?"

He'd probably laugh in her face.

"Ellie," said Hermione, snapping her out of her trance. "They're just joking around. You okay?"

"Y… yeah," Ellie stammered, forcing a smile. "Just tired."

The glow of Ellie's locket woke her up a few hours later—not that she had really been able to fall into a proper sleep.

Common room? the words across the black substance read when she opened it. She saw Fred's eager face in the mirror, smiled, and nodded.

She slipped into her robes before heading down the stairs, figuring the sun would be coming up soon, anyway. When she reached him, he joked, "Oh, El, you didn't have to dress up for me."

He was still in his pyjamas, of course. "Apparently you didn't have to dress up for me, either," she said, snatching the sub he offered her with a grin.

She took a seat next to him on the couch as she nibbled at her sub, propping her legs up on his lap. He didn't seem bothered by it, but after the confusing onslaught of emotions she'd felt before going to bed, it felt… different than it usually did.

"Sickle for your thoughts," he said, glancing at her.

She glanced up at him, suddenly feeling strangely nervous. So much for feeling more comfortable around him than anyone else you know, she mused grimly.

"Do you ever…" What was she thinking? She couldn't ask him if he thought of her in that way. Even the suggestion that there might be something romantic between them would throw their entire friendship into whack. "Do you ever think about… dating anyone?" she asked instead.

He stiffened at that, looking both surprised and a bit uncomfortable. "Like who?"

"I don't know—anyone. Someone in your year. Angelina, maybe, or Katie." Even saying the names out loud made her feel sick. What would she do if Fred dated one of her Quidditch mates? How would she be able to stand not being his number one?

He held her gaze for several seconds, seeming to want to search for the real question she was asking. But he must have deduced that he wouldn't be able to, because all he said was, "No—not really."

She shouldn't press it, but she did. "Why not? Because you aren't interested?"

"Because…" He frowned. "Because they're off limits, I s'pose. We're too close already—it'd be like breaking the code of friendship."

There it was—the code of friendship. Too close already. If he thought he was too close to Katie and Angelina to date them, then there wasn't a chance in hell of him wanting to date Ellie. And yet, just to be sure, she asked hesitantly, "Like with me and you?"

If it was possible, he stiffened even further at that. Deep in his eyes, she thought she saw a flicker of disappointment. But all he said was, "Yeah. Like with me and you."

And with that, she felt her own disappointment. And it was much more than a flicker.

Despite the strangeness of her conversation with Fred, they managed to get back to normal by breakfast. Ellie sat between the twins and across from Harry, Ron, and Hermione, giving her front-row access to the humiliating Howler that Molly sent Ron as punishment for having stolen the flying car.

Her first class was History of Magic with Professor Binns. Ellie had half-considered asking him about Sirius Black, but, upon the insistence of the twins, decided to do her own, private research in the library the following weekend before resorting to such tactics. So she sat in silence instead, until she was interrupted by Dean passing her a note.

What are you up to this weekend?

She stared down at the note for a moment, trying not to read too much into it. It wasn't as if he was asking her out; he was just making written conversation, right? Besides, with Fred friend-zoning her and Oliver being way too old and experienced for her, would dating Dean really be the worst thing in the world?

Not much. Making fun of Harry and Ron for their detentions.

Ha—I'd already forgotten about the car thing. Who'd they get for detention?

Ron got Filch. Harry got Lockhart.

Oi. I'm not sure which is worse. So, want to do some shield practice on Saturday?

That was a tame invitation, right? They'd already done shield practice the year before without incident; maybe Lavender and Parvati had been wrong about his little crush.

Sure, sounds fun. When and where?

I found a spare room. It's actually really cool. Take you there at 1? We can grab lunch before hand.

Okay—it was starting to sound more date-like.

"Miss Prince," said Professor Binns, who had apparently gotten the memo from McGonagall about Ellie wanting to go by her mother's last name. "Mr. Thomas. Please stop disrupting my classroom; some of the students here would actually like to learn something."

Judging from the half-asleep state of most of the students around her, Ellie doubted that very much. Still, she and Dean both apologized to Professor Binns and went back to taking real notes.

"That is totally asking you out!" Hermione exclaimed at lunch that day.

It had just been Hermione and Ellie when Ellie shared the news, but Fred and George appeared behind them, apparently having heard.

"Who asked Ellie out now?" asked George easily as he took a seat next to her.

"Dean Thomas," Hermione told him. "Said he wants to do 'shield practice' with her, but apparently he's been crushing on her since the end of last year."

Ellie rolled her eyes. "Can we go back to the Hermione from last night who denied having any knowledge of gossip? You sound like Lavender."

Hermione blushed at that as Fred turned to face Ellie with a look of surprise and—if she was reading him correctly—irritation. "You say yes?"

Where did he get off, looking at her like that after what he'd said to her the night before? She felt strangely infuriated.

"Yeah," she said, straightening in her seat. "Figured it couldn't hurt. It's not as if we're close enough to break the code of friendship, right?"

For a split second, she saw the same infuriation in his eyes that she had just felt. He didn't like that she was throwing his words back at him. He didn't like that she was considering dating Dean Thomas, either.

But as quick as it was there, it was gone. He smiled evenly at her and said, "Right."

I know the "code of friendship" thing was pretty depressing, but poor Fred was kind of put in a hard place with those questions, wasn't he? Then again, Ellie was put in a hard place with his answer... I, for one, support her for throwing it back in his face! Drop those reviews to let me know what you think - along with what you think of this new Dean drama. See you soon for the next!