STUPID CUPID
Hey there, it's time for chapter three! Yeah, baby! What will happen to Fred and Angelina? Read, find out!
CHAPTER THREE: ANYTHING FOR LOVE
Madam Pomfrey had insisted the boys stay in the hospital wing until dinner. Fred glanced at the clock on the wall. Just forty-five more minutes.
George was in the bed next to him, but Fred couldn't bring himself to look over there. Angelina was sitting there, on the edge of his brother's bed, talking softly. He couldn't help but think she should be sitting by his feet, comforting him.
Maybe she would be, if I'd acted faster, he thought. He suppressed a shudder. Why was this so hard? It wasn't as if she was a foreign object. She was just a girl. She was just Angelina. Fred sighed, because he knew he was lying to himself. She wasn't just Angelina. She wasn't just a girl. She was the girl. He knew it. She was always there, always ready to laugh, talk, or just listen. He thought she felt the same way.
He wanted to hit something, pound on his pillow. He knew it was a typical guy response; hitting something, but he didn't care. He didn't dare tear his pillow to pieces right at the moment, what with George and Angelina cooing at each other. God, he wished she'd coo at his at least once. Ugh, what is happening to me? he wondered. Damn cupid from here to Hades and back. He didn't deserve this kind of torture. It felt like his hard was in pieces; tortured, bruised, tangled.
Angelina giggled. Fred gave in and allowed himself a quick glance to the right.
George was smiling at her, merriment in his eyes. She looked down at him, laughing all the while. George turned and met his eye, but Fred looked quickly away before he could see the apology George meant to send him.
"Does it still hurt, George?" Angelina asked. "Do you think you can come to dinner?"
"It smarts a little, but it'll be fine."
Angelina nodded, and cast a glance over at Fred. He was determinately not looking this way, but staring out the window instead. Her heart went out to him. How could she continue to do this to him? Did he care? Or was his pride hurt because he thought George got to her first?
"Rub my shoulders, it'll drive Fred batty," George whispered.
"If I didn't know better, I'd say you were enjoying this," she whispered back.
George shrugged, and winced in pain. "Yeah, well, I might as well get a massage out of all this."
"All right then, lean forward." She didn't bother to whisper this. It might get Fred's attention.
"Oh, that's the ticket," George moaned. Angelina suppressed a smile. He really did like playing this joke on his poor brother.
Fred did look over then, he couldn't help himself. She was rubbing his shoulders! She'd rubbed his shoulders before, after final exams a couple times, but he'd taken it for granted. What he wouldn't give to push George off the bed and take his place. Take his place, he thought again. Now that had possibilities.
The next morning, one of the Weasley twins was missing from his bed. This was very odd, as it was Saturday. Ron was looking for one of his brothers to help him with an assignment. This was equally odd; Ron doing homework early on the weekend. But it had been a week of odd happenings.
Ron found George still asleep, but Fred's bed was empty and unmade. He had to be around there somewhere, so Ron walked into the hall hoping to spot him. As he walked past the linen closet, someone reached out and pulled him in.
"Fred—what the heck?"
"Shut up."
"What are you doing?" Ron whispered.
"I need your help," Fred muttered. "Lumos."
The closet lit in the wand light, and Ron saw Fred's face. Uh oh. He looked like he had a plan. This was defiantly not good.
"With…what?" Ron asked cautiously.
"Right then. You know what George has been up to?" Fred asked. He sounded half-crazed.
"Uh…no."
"Yes, you do." At Ron's blank look, Fred explained. "He's dating Angelina." He said this in the same way he might talk about something nasty on the bottom of his shoe.
"Ah. And this affects me…how?"
Fred grabbed his shoulders and shook him. "Do I have to spell it out for you? I need your help to get revenge."
"What exactly are you planning to do?"
"Switch places with George."
Ron sent him a look. "How are you planning to do that? Everyone who knows you can tell you apart."
"No they can't. They just know me because my hair is longer than George's, and he always wears that stupid ring on his thumb. And if I took off my hemp necklace, no one would know the difference."
"So you want me to cut your hair?"
"Do I look that stupid to you? I'd never let you do that. I want Hermione to do it. And I want you to distract George and keep him out of the Tower while I'm him." Fred paused and surveyed his brother. This just had to work. "So…will you do it?"
Ron was too much a Weasley not to ask, "What's in it for me?"
Fred had known this was coming. He'd taught his kid brother well. "I'll set you and Hermione up."
Ron's face paled. "W-what?"
"You heard me. I'll send her a note by owl to have her meet her 'secret admirer' in some classroom at midnight, set up candles and chocolate covered strawberries, the whole deal. All you have to do is show up. And get kissed, of course." The corners of Fred's lips twitched when Ron just stood there, mouth agape.
"Now, do we have a deal?"
"How did you know that I—I like her?" Ron croaked.
"Please, everyone in Gryffindor knows, and half of the school besides that. Lee has a pool going. Understand, I'll be losing a few sickles by doing this as my money was on Christmas, but I'm willing to toss away a little money to help put two young lovebirds together."
"That's a crock, Fred. You're just jealous of George."
Fred waited a beat. "So you'll do it?"
"Yeah, I'll do it."
"Good. Let's go find Hermione."
"You want me to do what?" Hermione asked incredulously. Ron and Fred had carted her off during lunch to the empty Transfiguration room. Cut Fred's hair? Why would they want her to do that? In secret?
"Cut my hair to look like George's." Fred explained.
"Why?"
Fred sent Ron a glance, because he'd know just which button to push. "Listen Hermione, if you don't think you can do it, then we'll ask Harry or something…" Ron trailed off, and he saw her brown eyes flash annoyance.
"Well, of course I can do it. I'm simply asking why." Hermione crossed her arms across her chest and raised her eyebrows at the boys.
"I can't tell you," Fred said.
"Just tell her, Fred. She won't tell. Will you, Hermione?"
Hermione mimed zipping her mouth shut. "My lips are sealed."
"Fine. I'm going to switch places with George to get back at him for going out with Angelina." Fred pulled a face, and Hermione thought it wiser to let it alone.
"Oh. Shall we get started then?" She pulled her wand out of her pocket and muttered a spell. Bright red hairs piled on the floor, and Hermione furrowed her brows and pressed her lips together in concentration. Ron couldn't help but think how cute she looked.
When she'd finished, she muttered another spell and the stray hair on the floor flew neatly into the rubbish. "Done. You're the spitting image of your brother."
Ron had to admit Fred looked a whole lot more like George now that he was missing that stubby ponytail. He'd been trying to copy Bill, and he'd always said long hair was a turn on for the ladies. Maybe I should try a ponytail, Ron mused.
"Well?" Fred asked, pulling Ron out of his daydream.
"Well, she did a great job. Now cut that hemp necklace off and nick his ring, and you've got it made."
***
Ron and Hermione were standing in the corner getting ready for operation "Distract George." Of course, Hermione had no idea about the secret rendezvous Fred and Ron were planning, but she'd agreed to help when Ron had told her how much Fred liked Angelina. "Anything for love," she'd said.
"What are you doing?" Harry asked, wandering over.
Ron shook his head at Hermione, making sure she wouldn't tell him.
"Nothing," they said in unison.
Harry looked confused. "Right. I'll leave you two to stand here in the corner then, shall I?"
Ron nodded, and Harry walked away, shaking his head.
George and Angelina sat on the couch, books spread out in front of them. Fred had stolen his ring earlier, so everything was set to go. He just needed to get George out of Gryffindor for an hour or so. Whether Fred was planning on breaking up with Angelina as George or just make out with her was a mystery to Ron, but he wasn't sure he wanted to know.
"We should have him come with us to the library," Hermione said.
When in doubt, go to the library, Ron thought. "Okay. And to keep him there?"
Hermione smiled and rubbed her hands together. "I have this handy little spell that will keep him glued to his chair. Literally."
"I think we're becoming a bad influence on you, sugar…" Ron nearly gagged at his slip, and tried to remedy it. "Quill. Sugar Quill. Do you have one?"
Did Ron just call her sugar? Heat crept into her cheeks, but she decided to play along. "No, but I have on of the twins' Canary Creams in case of an emergency."
Ron nodded, but his throat was too dry to laugh. "Let's do this."
Hermione and Ron strode over to the couch, and plopped down on either side of George. "George, I have some questions for you," Hermione said.
George looked up. "Yeah?"
"Um, er…I need to show you the book with the spells…in the library! Will you come and help Ron and me? It's very important. A very complicated…potion. Yes, that's it. Snape will take hoards of points away if we don't get this just right."
George shrugged. "I guess so. Be back in a few minutes, Angelina," he said, and he followed them out of the common room and through the portrait hole.
"What's the potion?" George asked.
Ron walked while he spoke. At this moment, Fred should be sitting down with Angelina explaining that it hadn't taken very long to answer their question.
"It's…er…the Draught of Living Death," Ron said quickly. That was complicated, wasn't it? He sure hoped it was believable.
"I don't remember doing that fifth year," George said. Something fishy was going on here.
"They've just added it to the curriculum, you see. They thought we should know it," Hermione said.
"Uh huh." What were these two up to? "What exactly is the question?"
"Well, I guess it's…" Ron licked his lips.
"Um, we wanted to know…" Hermione trailed off.
"You don't really have a question, do you?" George asked. "This is all made up, isn't it?"
"What do you mean?" Hermione asked, trying to sound innocent.
"I mean, you two are up to something. What is it?"
"We're not up to anything." Ron panicked.
"I've played enough jokes to know when I'm being set up." He thought for a minute. "This has something to do with Fred and Angelina, doesn't it?"
Hermione blew out a breath. "You're a quick one, aren't you?"
"Out with it, Ron." George drew his wand and pointed it at his brother.
Ron knew his brother too well to think he was bluffing. "Fred cut his hair like yours so he could switch places with you to be with Angelina."
To Ron and Hermione's great surprise, George grinned. "He did? Really?"
"Yeah," Ron said uncertainly. "He was jealous of you dating her, so he wanted to get back at you. Why are you smiling?"
"Because Angelina is a genius," he said.
"What is going on, George?" Hermione asked.
George surveyed the two, then decided to tell them everything. When he was finished explaining, Ron gaped at him.
"So you weren't really going with Angelina?"
"Nope. But the best part is, the joke is still on Fred. He doesn't know I know."
"What are you going to do?" Hermione asked him.
"You'll have to wait and see."
And you'll have to wait and see too! R&R! PS—I love guys with ponytails. Not too long, though. Just sexy stubby ones.
