Three updates 4 days…whew! I guess this has been just building up for a while! Guess I'll go with it though. And don't forget to let me know how I'm doing!
And just for the record – I really am a F/A shipper, but it's not really coming out that well right now!
Disclaimer: Borrowing characters from Madame Rowling!
"I do NOT have a temper!" Angelina fumed, her eyes scanning the common room table for something to throw. Spotting the now-cowering Hermione amongst a large stack of books, she grabbed one and heaved it at Fred with all the velocity and accuracy one would expect from Gryffindor's star chaser and captain.
"Whoa! Watch it Angie, you nearly hit me!"
"I won't miss twice!" A second book flew towards the redheaded twin. He shot a pleading glance in the direction of Lee, George, Alicia, and Katie. Lee decided to step in seeing as the other two chasers were just as upset at the twins and Harry for getting kicked off the team that day.
"Angie, you've got to calm down. You're scaring the first-years…hell, you're scaring the prefects!"
He physically had to grab the rabid 7th year and sit her onto one of the large red chairs by the fire. Kneeling beside her, he tried his best to calm her down from the brink of madness, though he understood completely.
With both beaters and Harry gone, she would have a nearly entirely new team to work with. Lee could practically see the poor girl's hopes of the Quidditch Cup floating away.
"Would you please," Angelina growled through gritted teeth, "tell your friend Frederick that if he so much as even looks at me, I will hex him into oblivion." As proof of her resolve, she clenched her wand tightly in her hand before stomping up the stairs into her dormitory.
"Awww…Angelina, that's not fair!" Fred hung his head pathetically and mumbled to George as Lee shrugged and went to sit back with the dejected brothers once more.
"Give her time, mates," Alicia cooed.
"Yeah, she's just a bit out of sorts right now. She'll get over it soon." Katie added hopefully. The moment George locked eyes with the transparent blonde he knew she was just trying to be kind. The girls offered a few more words of comfort then left the common room for their dorms as well.
"Wait," Fred looked up, his face a paragon of fierce determination. "This ends now. I'm not going to let her do this to me again…Angelina!"
His voice bellowed through the common room and up the stairs to the girls' dormitory. He marched to the base of the stairs, his eyes staring daggers as the door to the 7th years' room opened slightly, and two sets of startled eyes peered out. "F-Fred?"
He glared at the staircase, loathing the founders for having installed boy-proof charms onto it. Leering at the girls, but not really acknowledging their astonishment, he growled again.
"Get. Her. Now."
The door snapped shut momentarily before Angelina strode purposefully out, her expression defiant and hostile. "Some of us have practice in the morning. Seems like I'll have to make some last-minute replacements since some of us couldn't keep a cool head on the pitch…"
Fred listened to her, fuming as she slowly descended the staircase and faced him nearly eye-to-eye. Why did she have to be so bloody tall?
"Enough, Angie! I'm sick of this! I'll have you remember that I never laid a hand on the little git! You were one of the people holding me back! And frankly I'm sick and tired of the way you're treating me…the way you've been treating me! It's not fair!"
"What are you, Fred, a five year old? I'm sorry that I'm not sitting around here playing the 'Lets-Pity-Fred' game like everyone else, but I've got bigger problems to deal with than your dainty feelings!"
He blinked, cut deeply by her words. "That's a fine way to talk, Angie! I didn't know I meant so little to you. I didn't know I was wasting my time…"
"What in the name of Merlin are you getting at? When have you been wasting your time on me?"
There was the tiniest little cough from the book-covered table. Hermione peered up from one of her many volumes of text, reminding Angelina that there were still many students sitting around the common room, enthralled with unfolding drama.
"Don't mean to pry, but I just thought you ought to know that when you were…umm…in the hospital wing, Fred was there the whole time sitting beside you."
"It's true," Ron chimed in, eager to help his brother. "Snape gave him a week's detention for missing class. He tried to take points, but McGonagall gave 'em back when she found out he wasn't trying to cause trouble for once."
Never one to take being ganged-up on well, Angelina scowled and rolled her eyes. "Well, you'll have plenty of time to serve them now, won't you!"
Fred threw up his hands and turned away. "That's it! I give up!"
"What do you want from me, Weasley?"
Fred slowly turned around, and the entire common room seemed electric with anticipation. He took her gently by the shoulders, his eyes frantically searching her guarded expression. Having apparently made his mind up about something, he leaned in and softly pressed his lips to hers.
His hands slipped from her arms to the small of her back, and her own hands came to rest on his chest. The sense of relief was quickly broken when Fred was suddenly pushed back…and slapped. Hard.
"How dare you! I don't need your pity, Fred!"
Fred rubbed his cheek, red from not only the slap but also a mingled sense of embarrassment and frustration. "Are you completely nutty? Who said anything about pity?"
Angelina held up her wrist, the scar hardly visible in the low light cast by the fireplace. "You never had to say anything. Ever since this, you've been treating me like some fragile piece of glass. But I'm not! I'm not damaged goods! I'm not suicidal or crazy or anything like that! So once again, I don't want your pity. And I don't need to be rescued!"
Fred jumped on the chance to pry her for information he'd wanted since the moment he found out about her 'accident'. "Well, maybe I wouldn't be this way if you'd just tell me what's going on with you! You don't talk to us anymore. I can't read minds, Angie, and I don't think anyone else can either. So if you'd just open up a little bit, we could do something. We could help…"
"No! See, that's it! What on earth makes you think I need or want your help! It's not your job to watch out for me. There isn't some old Gryffindor Code of Honor proclaiming it your duty to protect me! If I want to keep this to myself, I will!"
"Well you know what? That's fine with me. I am so damn tired of caring about you, Angelina! I refuse to let you take me for granted anymore. I won't always be here. So you can do whatever you want, because I'm done with you."
He turned on his heel and walked away from her. Angelina didn't know quite how to react. Of course deep down she wanted to tell him everything: the cutting, her parents, Montague, Lord Voldemort, everything. But as usual, her pride won out.
Her heart ached as she let him walk away, her body language indifferent to his departure. It was only when she felt the eyes of all the students lingering in the common room that she succumbed to her need to flee. She had to get out of the room; she needed somewhere to think.
She sprinted out of the portrait hole, deaf to the complaints of the Fat Lady as her painting slammed into the opposite wall. Her feet retraced familiar steps towards the dungeons, and she was glad to be free of any pointed objects. Turning a corner, she passed a long-abandoned room. The door was ajar, and she could hear voices coming from within.
"Come on, Montie. I'm sure I can think of something that will make you feel better…"
Angelina hesitated before kneeling down and peering into the classroom, where two familiar Slytherins were entangled in the pale light cast by a single wand. Angelina grinned as that great cow Millicent Bulstrode tried to push herself onto Montague.
She stood and pushed the door open, laughing openly as Millicent's dull eyes opened wide with shock. Montague merely turned his head and nodded his approval of her intrusion.
Ignoring the Slytherin girl entirely, David sat up and straightened out his uniform. "Down here again, Johnson? I bet I know why. But fair warning: I'm not wasting another tie on you."
Angelina felt herself begin to flush, but calmed at Millicent's puzzled expression. "Did I interrupt anything important?"
"Well of course you did, you stupid bi-"
"No, not at all. Millicent was just leaving."
Insulted, the girl left in a huff, mumbling dangerously under her breath. Montague rolled his eyes, clearing his throat and looking a bit put out. Angelina decided against her better judgment and risked sitting next to him, her eyes downcast. "I had a fight with Fred, just now."
"What makes you think I give a damn? You won this morning, and you interrupted a private ahemmeeting of mine. And you think I want to talk? Look, you really must be confused. But I'm not your friend. I don't give a kneazle's butt about you. Don't confused charity with kindness."
"I'm sick and tired of being talked down to. By you and everyone else around here! Why do you think I'm some sort of charity case?"
"Maybe, and I'm just guessing here, it's because I caught you trying to kill yourself down here a few weeks ago. Just a thought."
"I wasn't tying to…I didn't mean to cut that deep. I'm normally good at not going too deep. I just got a little distracted and…"
"And almost got yourself killed in the process. You've got some issues to work out, and marring that pretty skin of yours isn't going to solve it."
Angelina smiled softly at the compliment. She looked up at him, but before getting a chance to speak, he began again. "Yes, you're pretty, Johnson. Everyone knows it, and whoever denies it is lying. No, that doesn't mean I'm interested in you one bit. You're not my style. I helped you because surprisingly enough, I respect you. You don't deserve that kind of end. No, that still doesn't mean I'm interested in you.
He looked her in the eyes, his expression akin to getting his teeth pulled. "You hurt yourself because you don't know how to deal with your parents now that Voldemort's back. Malfoy filled me in. You're better than that. What a waste of talent to be ruined just because you hate your mum and dad. Be your typical self and just say 'To hell with you!' and live your own life. It doesn't matter what they think anyway. And if you look at me like that any longer, Merlin help me I will have to kiss you."
Angelina's jaw dropped as she registered the whole of what he'd said. Had she just been given advice from a Slytherin? She shivered, realizing suddenly that she was sitting in a secluded room with David Montague, wearing nothing but thin scarlet-and-gold pajamas.
Her thoughts were as far from Fred as they could ever get as she weighed her options. Montague didn't pity or try and coddle her. He respected her. He wanted her. And right then, Angelina needed to be wanted. She raised her hand to caress his face but his own hand shot up and held her firmly by the wrist.
"Sorry, I thought you were going to-"
His apology was cut short as Angelina leaned in and kissed him. The surge of adrenaline when he'd grabbed her wrist had been enough to turn impulse into action. She was pleasantly alarmed by the fervor with which he returned her kisses; his tongue pleading for more and more of her as his hands snaked around her waist and pulled her closer to him. He growled in a hungry, predatory way, and Angelina threw her arms around his neck and slid gracefully onto his lap.
Suddenly, though, David seemed to freeze up. He stood quickly, dropping Angelina quite unceremoniously onto the ground. Glaring at her as if she'd committed some horrible crime, he shook his head and mumbled too low to be comprehended.
"No, you're not going to do this to me, Johnson…"
"Do what? I thought this was what you wanted!"
"Doesn't matter what I want. Now get out of here before I tell Snape you're out past curfew!"
Angelina stood and glared right back at him. "Well, that would mean you were out of your dorms too, wouldn't it? And you'd be in just as much trouble as…"
She was cut off by his haughty snort. But he was right. What made her think Snape would actually punish a member of his own house when it meant he'd get to dock points from Gryffindor?
Her eye twitched menacingly, and she thought she saw a flicker of some other emotion besides disdain in Montague's eyes. Angrily hoping he was feeling a fraction of her frustration, she tossed her braided hair over her shoulder and left the room.
Heavy with conflicting emotions, Angelina swung a balled hand into the very solid stone wall, causing an uncharacteristically loud noise to issue from beneath the rock. Unknown to her, however, David had just upturned the large oak desk at the same time, resulting in the thud.
In the castle that night, three very different souls fought to make sense of themselves and the night's events.