Chapter two: Pieces of the Puzzle

I had waken up in the middle of the night, to find that Fred was out of his bed. The door was opened and I could see that the fire out in the common was still blazing, so I got out of bed to shut the door when I heard Fred's voice. "Is this about George?" What did I have to do with this?

"No, this has never been about George. That's your paranoia."

"My paranoia? I've seen you two together."

"Yeah, it called a hug, Fred."

"Well, it's more than I've gotten in the last few days."

She shot him a death glare. "Funny. Didn't think you would be the one pissed about that?"

"What, am I not suppose to be pissed, when you won't let me in? When you won't tell me what's going on? You say you're not seeing anyone else, yet you're pushing me away," he argued.

"How else am I'm suppose to react, Fred? When you act as if you've done nothing wrong?" she asked and then looked down at her pocket watch.

Fred pushed the hand, holding the watch, down. "Do you have somewhere else to be?"

"As of matter of fact, I do, but even if I didn't, anywhere but here with you would be a nice change," she said angrily as she pulled away from his touch.

"Is this really how you want to play it?" he asked, concern written all over his face, but it only stayed a moment. "Fine. If you want to go, then go. Break curfew, get caught, see if I care. Because I don't care where you're going or who you're seeing. As far as I'm concerned. . ." he realized she wasn't listening, but looking at her pocket watch again. "Angel." He said to get her attention. "Angel!" he said louder.

"What?" she snapped up.

Fred looked at her for a long time. "Fuck it," he finally said as he threw his hands up and shook his head. "You're just not worth it anymore." Angelina's mouth dropped at his words as he turned around and walked away from her.

"Fred," she went after him, panic in her voice. "Fred, wait." He turned around. "I love-"

"Stop," he put his index finger on her lips. "I have asked you, a thousand times, to say it and you said you weren't ready. So don't say it now, because it won't change this situation," he paused. "We have to face it, we can't give each other, what the other one needs. We have to stop, because if not, we will just continue to destroy each other and I can't do that anymore."

"Fred," I barely heard her say.

"Let me say this," he told her. "You know, as well as I do, this relationship is not healthy. Any other girl in your position would not have stuck around this long. I'm letting you go Angel, because I don't think you would have done it on your own." He backed away from her and turned to go up the stairs.

Angelina seemed to be trembling as she watched Fred's retreating form, but then once again she looked down at her pocket watch. She looked at the common room door and then back at Fred. She made her way towards the door and was gone in an instant.

Fred was still on the stairs when he heard the door close, he turned around to see that Angelina was gone. He crumbled ungraceful as he took a seat on the stairs before put his face in his hands. Beside the crackling of the fire, silence filled the air. I climbed back into bed, realizing that tomorrow would be a very long day.

Once again I woke up to find Fred gone, or maybe he didn't come back to bed. I soon realized that breakfast would be over soon and rushed to get dress and down to the Great Hall.

I saw Angelina and gently put my hand on her shoulder. "Fred." She turned around.

"George," I felt her shoulders drop. Why do I always expect her to be able to tell us apart, when are own mother can't?

"Oh," She turned back to her breakfast. "Have you seen him?"

"No," I sat down next to her and fixed a plate.

"He broke up with me," she said more to herself than she did to me. "I guess I should have seen it coming. But it's better this way, they're less likely to hurt him now."

"What?" I asked in surprise.

"Huh?" she was pulled out her daze.

"Who's less likely to hurt Fred?" She looked at me with an, 'Oh, shit' expression on her face. "Angel?"

"I got to go," she picked up her backpack and rushed out of the Great Hall.

I immediately rose from my seat and went after her. "Angel, wait," when she heard me behind her, she broke out into a run. She ran out of Hogwarts and headed down near the lake. When she stopped, I wasn't too far behind. "Angel," I said breathlessly, trying to catch my breath. "What's going on?" I asked as she was sitting on a bench and I sat down next to her.

"I don't want to lie to you."

"Then don't," I started to put my arm around her.

"Stop," she moved down the bench. "You're not helping. You and Fred or so much alike, and I don't want to use you like some kind of substitute."

"Angelina, look at me," she turned towards me. "Yes, me and my brother are alike in many ways, but we are two completely different people."

"Really how?" she looked unconvinced as she asked. "Because you guys, look, speak, and walk the same way. Plus you both have same distorted sense of humor."

"There is one major difference between us," I began as Imoved in closer and just stared into her brown eyes.

"Well?" she asked a touch below a whisper.

"I would have never left you," I whispered in her ear before I kissed her cheek. I then pulled away from her feeling I had just crossed over some line. I knew Fred still loved her, and anything other than a kiss on the cheek or forehead, would be considered a betrayal in his eyes.

I could also sense she felt uneasy. "Class will be starting soon." She started getting up, and I don't know what I was thinking, I grabbed her hand and pulled her back down to me. My nose gently touched hers and we stared deeply into each other's eyes. I closed my eyes and leaned in to kiss her lips but, "Stop," she put her hand on my chest. "This is what I'm talking about. For a moment, I felt like I was with Fred. George," she shook her head, "you're not Fred. And no matter how much you guys are alike, you can't be Fred." She finally stood up. "Now we should really be heading to class."

But I couldn't rise from my seat as I watched her walk away. I couldn' t go back there, I couldn't face my brother, not after what I had almost done. If Angelina hadn't stop me, I would have kissed her and in turned betrayed my brother. "Shit!" This was not good. I had been surpressing my feelings for her for so long, that I was starting to lose it. So I concluded that I would have to keep my distance from her from know on, because betraying my brother, was not an option.

It was late in the day when Fred approached me and sat down on the bench. "You weren't in class today, or at lunch," I saw Fred take a seat beside me.

"So, you weren't at breakfast."

"I had a lot on my mind. Angel and I broke up," he confessed.

"I know, she told me."

"Figures," he said in a tone I had never heard him use with me before.

"What is your problem?" I turned to him.

"My problem? My problem is you, my shadow."

"You're upset, I'm going to let that slide," I hated being called his shadow. Fred was born first, was the first to walk, the first to speak. Even when people called us, it was always 'Fred and George.' He even got his Hogwarts letter a day before I did. It was the longest day of my life, I feared what the next seven years would be like, alone.

"Well, isn't that great, my shadow forgives me."

"Don't call me that," I didn't want to get angry.

"Why shouldn't I? You can't do anything on your own. You can't even find your own girl, you got to go and steal mine."

"You are way out of line, Fred."

"Am I?" he stood up. "Do you think I'm blind, George!" He yelled. "I've seen the way you look at her, the way you take a step back from her when I enter the room. And don't think I didn't see you guys outside the common room door-" he paused as I saw pain enter his eyes, pain I truly never wanted to see. "Or thatI don't know what took place here this morning." He slowly shook his head, tears brimming in his eyes. "George, I asked you. I asked you if the rumors were true and if you were seeing Angel behind my back. And you lied to me. Why?"

I stood up and was now face to face with my brother. "You guys aren't together anymore, so why should it even matter?" I was horrified with myself as I heard the words leave my mouth, but I couldn't stop them. I was angry he thought I would betray him like that, even if I hadthought about it. "Besides, like you said yourself, you couldn't give her what she needed. So don't be angry at me, for being able to do, what you obviously couldn't," and that's about the time his fist made contact with my face and I hit the ground. Yeah, knew it was going to be a long day.

"How dare you? You're my brother, you're my blood!" he yelled. "I'm suppose to be able to count on you. Not see you as the cause of my problems."

I sat up as I cupped my jaw with my hand, knowing it would be sore for a few days, as I looked up at him from the ground. "I'm not. Fred, the rumors aren't true. Angelina and I haven't done anything."

"But this morning, I saw you guys together. You almost kissed her."

"But I didn't. Believe me, I have never kissed Angelina. You love her. I could never hurt you like that." No matter how much I wanted to. "But maybe, you're the one who's blind. Because whatever Angel is doing, she's doing for you," I explained as I remembered Angelina's cryptic words from that morning.

Fred sighed heavily as his facial features soften. "George," he sat down next to me. "Tell me what's going on, please."

I sat up shaking my head. "Honestly, I'm still putting it together myself."

To be continued. . .