Disclaimer: I own nothing of value.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY FRED AND GEORGE!
A/N: Thanks for all your gorgeous reviews. It's great to hear from so many new reviewers. I thought you'd all like to know that Old Faces, New Tricks has just had a birthday. It's now three years old! Just so you don't get confused, I'll tell you now that we're skipping a couple of months. Nothing momentous happens to any of the characters so you haven't missed much. If I don't start jumping forward the story will end up being 500 chapters rather than 50.
Tiny Warning: As you've probably already realised, this chapter deals with character death. I tried not to make it too full on, but there's still plenty of angst, fluff and emotion flying around. If that's not your thing then give the second half of the chapter a miss.
Chapter 44
Talk.
It's a harmless enough word. Normally, Alicia was quite happy to talk to people who approached her. Normally, she would have enjoyed a lively conversation with an old friend. Normally, she wouldn't have tried to run when said friend approached her.
For months Alicia had known it was coming. Fred had been trying to corner her ever since she became George's official girlfriend, but she had been deft enough to avoid him. For example, if they happened to be left alone she would make a quick excuse and flee to the safety of her bedroom.
As the end of term approached, Alicia could see the light at the end of the tunnel. During summer she would be completely free of him. On the morning of the last Triwizard task, she discovered that the light at the end of the tunnel was an oncoming train.
Alicia was on her way to the Owlery to give her owl a letter when she was accosted. He leapt out from behind a suit of armour, causing her to scream and jump back a few feet.
"A little jumpy, Spinnet?"
"Get out of my way, Fred."
Fred grinned devilishly. "But I just want to talk to you. Surely you're not afraid to talk to me."
Frankly, Alicia was a little afraid to talk to him. "Of course I'm not afraid. I just happen to be busy at the moment."
"Who's the letter to?" Fred asked, indicating the roll of parchment in her hand.
Alicia grasped the parchment tighter. "That's none of your business."
"Oh I beg to differ. Your business is George's business, which naturally makes it my business. Who's the letter to?" he repeated.
"I don't have time for your idiocy." Alicia tossed her hair haughtily and tried to move past him, but he grabbed her wrist.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you," Alicia hissed. "If you don't let go of me I'll tell George what you're trying to do to me. I don't think he'll appreciate it."
"Go ahead and tell him," Fred said, not relinquishing his grip. "I'll simply deny that anything ever happened. Now do you think he'll believe his one and only twin brother, or some girl?"
"I'm not just some girl. He happens to love me."
Fred immediately asked, "Do you love him?"
"Let me go," she snapped, trying to pull away.
"I just want to talk to you."
He yanked her back, causing her to screech in pain. "Ow! You're hurting me, Fred!"
Fred dropped her wrist quickly, giving her a concerned look. "I didn't mean to hurt you. Are you all right? I swear it was an accident."
The pained expression dropped form Alicia's face to be replaced with a satisfied smile. "I'm perfectly fine."
Realising he'd been tricked, Fred swore and shook his own gullibility. "I can't believe I fell for that."
"You've been falling for that since we were four," Alicia said smugly.
"You really aren't as sweet as you pretend to be."
Alicia shrugged dismissively. "You aren't as tough as you pretend to be."
"Touché."
They stood there on opposite sides of the corridor, not speaking or moving. It was a Mexican standoff. Alicia sighed. "This is stupid. If you approached me properly and refrained form manhandling me I might consider talking to you."
"Fair enough. Will you talk to me?"
"What's the magic word?" she teased.
Fred narrowed his eyes. "You're pushing it, Spinnet."
"Ok. I'll talk to you, but I have the right to end the conversation at any time and I don't have to answer any questions I don't want to."
"But that's…" Fred began. He trailed off when Alicia raised her eyebrows. "Oh bugger it. We'll do it your way then."
"Good. Start talking."
"Not out here. There's a classroom down the hall."
"You expect me to willingly walk into an empty classroom with you?" Alicia asked.
Fred grabbed her arm and marched her towards the room. "Don't flatter yourself, darling, you aren't my type."
"And what exactly is your type?"
"Angelina Johnson," he answered immediately, pushing her into the classroom.
"I had a feeling you were going to say that." Alicia sat herself down on the professor's desk and waited.
Fred began to pace back and forth restlessly. "I need to know what your intentions are towards my brother."
"My intentions?" Alicia echoed. "This isn't Victorian England."
"All right. Why are you with him?"
"Well, he's a great kisser and he has a nice arse. Why else would I bother to go out with him?"
"Do you think this is a joke, Spinnet?"
Alicia smirked. "Yes, there is an element of the ridiculous to this conversation. And you can stop calling me Spinnet now."
Fred stopped right in front of her and crossed his arms. "Look, the sooner you answer my questions the sooner we can both leave. Do you need me to repeat it for you?"
"No," Alicia sighed. "I am going out with your brother because I like him."
"You said like, not love," Fred noted.
"Yes, that's exactly what I said. Your powers of perception are astounding," Alicia mocked.
"So you don't love George?"
"I didn't say that."
"You do love him?"
"I didn't say that either."
"Oh for Christ's sake!"
"I don't love George in the same way he loves me," Alicia clarified. "I love him like I love my family and Angelina and Katie."
Fred rolled his eyes and gave a degrading sort of laugh. "I love you, but I'm not in love with you. That's just a stupid cliché."
"I don't particularly care if you believe me or not, but it's the absolute truth."
"Ok," Fred agreed with a nod. "Let's pretend that I believe you for a moment. You must be getting something you want out of this relationship. I mean, there has to be something in it for you, otherwise you wouldn't be wasting your time."
"George makes me happy. What more would I need?"
"He can't shower you with expensive gifts, you know."
"I'm well aware of that fact," Alicia said. The bracelet in her pocket suddenly felt heavy. She had a sneaking suspicion that Fred did not know about George's extravagant present. "Anyway, I don't want to be showered with gifts."
"Good."
"Look, I have to get to the Owlery then meet George." Alicia slid off the desk, still clutching her letter in her hand. "I'm going to give you the simple facts and you can make of them what you will. Firstly, I really do care a lot about George. I may not be in love with him, but I'll do anything to keep him happy."
"I guess that'll have to do for now," Fred said. "Continue."
"Also, I'm not going to hurt your brother, Fred. We both want him to be happy, so it follows that we should be on the same side."
"Who said we were on opposite sides in the first place? I'm just looking out for George. This doesn't really have anything to do with our friendship."
"Or lack thereof," Alicia interjected.
Fred cocked his head innocently. "We aren't friends?"
"Don't bother to pretend you haven't noticed. We haven't been good friends since George and I became best friends. You're obviously threatened by me."
"Not likely. Even you couldn't threaten the bond that George and I have shared our entire lives," Fred said confidently. "But I guess I don't like how much influence you have over him. One day you're going to get him into trouble."
Alicia laughed doubtfully. "We get a Weasley twin into trouble? I'm the Prefect here!"
"Just don't lead him astray," Fred replied sternly.
"I won't do anything of the sort," Alicia vowed quickly, even though she didn't quite know what he expected her to do. Fred seemed genuinely worried about it, so reassuring him was the least she could do.
"Are you going to tell George about this conversation?" Fred asked, looking just a little concerned.
"He won't hear about it from me."
"Good. I guess we're done here."
"You sure you don't want to interrogate me some more? Maybe you could conjure a lamp and shine it in my face," Alicia suggested.
"It's definitely over now."
Alicia smiled to herself as she headed for the door. It hadn't been that bad after all. One day they might even become proper friends again. Alicia was about to tell Fred that his concern for George was sweet when he suddenly sprang at her.
If Alicia were to write a book one day there was only one topic she would ever consider. She was going to call her imaginary book How I survived growing up with the Weasley twins. In the very first chapter she would outline the top ten rules for survival. The rules might look something like this:
Never let you guard down and begin to think they're innocent. Don't tell them your greatest fear if you don't want it to be exploited. Under no circumstances should you accept food from either of them. Never turn your back on them for more than a few seconds. If they ask you to 'help' them with a 'school project' be aware that they really want you to be a guinea pig in a dangerous experiment. If the two of them have been unusually quiet, leave the area immediately and don't look back. If you're unfortunate enough to get on their bad side, leave the country as soon as possible and change your name. When one of them tells you your hair looks nice, that usually means they've done something horrible to it without you knowing. There is no such thing as 'divide and conquer' when it comes to Fred and George Weasley. CONSTANT VIGILANCE!As Alicia was leaving the classroom she broke rules one, four and ten. Fred, ever the opportunist, snatched Alicia's letter right from her hand as he came up behind her silently. He roared in triumph as she shrieked in outrage.
"It's none of your business, Fred! Give it back!"
"Why are you being so defensive if it's nothing?" Fred asked, untying the ribbon jubilantly.
"Because it's my private letter! I can't believe I let you take it like that."
"You're not the only one with a few tricks up your sleeve. You aren't going to try to wrestle it from me? Ah, you're definitely losing your touch." Fred unrolled the parchment and smiled at Alicia. "Let's see what we have here."
Alicia folded her arms and watched blandly as Fred read the letter to himself. His eyes narrowed and he turned it over to find the back completely blank. "It's a letter to your mother," he said flatly.
"I know what it is because, funnily enough, I wrote it," Alicia snapped, snatching the parchment back. "You should have listened when I told you it had nothing to do with George."
"I thought you were lying," Fred explained hesitantly.
"Well, I'm not a liar. You, however, are a bloody idiot and I suggest you just mind your own business next time."
"I didn't mean…it wasn't – you know. Oh crap."
"That was a pitiful attempt at an apology, even by your standards."
Alicia left before Fred had a chance to stutter through another attempted apology. She headed straight towards the Owlery as quickly as she could. It took her almost a minute to find her owl, Joey. In the end he spotted her first and swooped down to land on her shoulder.
"I want you to take this letter home to my mum." Alicia gently attached the parchment to Joey's outstretched leg. She looked around then quickly withdrew another roll of parchment from beneath her robes. "This one has to go to Mr John Huntly's office. You might like to do this delivery first since it's on the way to Oxford."
Alicia tied the second letter to Joey's other leg so he wouldn't be unbalanced. The owl rubbed his head against her cheek affectionately then took flight. Alicia watched him till he was only a tiny speck.
Ok, so maybe she hadn't been entirely truthful with Fred a moment ago, but as she headed for the North Tower, Alicia remained adamant that she still hadn't told an outright lie. Technically, the letter in her hand hadn't had anything to do with George. The letter inside her robes, however, well…she would cross that bridge when she got to it.
Outside the Divination classroom, Alicia met up with Lee. Fred was nowhere to be seen so Alicia assumed he was off sulking somewhere.
"Are you ready for the Muggle Studies exam?" Alicia asked Lee as they waited for George, Angelina and Katie.
"I think so," he replied uncertainly. "Which great leader are you going to focus on?"
"Napoleon Bonaparte. Who did you chose?"
"That Winston Churchill fellow. Fred reckons he's going to use Hugh Hefner."
"Well, Fred would use the Playboy founder, wouldn't he? Bloody idiot."
The first few students began to climb down the ladder. Alicia noticed that all of them were looking pleased, which was pretty unusual after an exam. Katie was the first to drop into view, followed by Angelina then George.
"How was it?" Lee asked as they came down the spiral staircase.
"Piece of cake," Angelina answered brightly.
"Yeah, wish the Potions exam had been so easy," Katie added.
George greeted Alicia with a kiss, which she returned just as fervently. "When does your exam start?" he asked, taking her hand as they followed the others back to Gryffindor Tower.
"In half an hour."
"What do you want to do for half an hour then?"
Alicia gave him a weary sidelong glance. "I'm going to study, of course. You can do whatever you want."
"Good, I'll sit with you whilst you study," George said, grinning broadly at her.
"No you won't. You'll just end up distracting me."
"With my roguish good looks?"
"And your incessant talking. I won't be able to get anything done."
George groaned as they ducked through the portrait hole. "It's only Muggle Studies. You know all that stuff back to front anyway."
"It's not as easy as it seems," she scolded lightly. "There's an awful lot to remember."
"And I bet you've already memorised it all."
Alicia had memorised it all but that wasn't the point. "I only want to do some last minute revision. I promise I'll see you after the exam."
"That's too long to wait," George complained. "Come on, it's almost summer and then we won't be able to see each other everyday. You'll end up missing me and regretting that you didn't spend more time with me when you had the chance."
"I won't miss you at all," Alicia said airily as she walked up the stairs. "Frankly, I find you annoying."
George followed her up. "Really?"
"Yes. You're high maintenance, Weasley."
"Is that so?"
"You also don't take no for an answer."
"So you're going to let me in?" he asked as they paused at the door to her room.
"That wouldn't be very ladylike of me, would it? You could take advantage of me."
"Yeah right. The last time we were alone in your room you were the one who jumped on me and all but threw me on the bed."
"Threw you on my bed? When the hell have I ever done that?" Alicia demanded, mystified because she was certain she had never done anything like that.
George got a panicked look on his face. "Oh, it was a – a dream I once had. Yeah. A really nice dream. I got mixed up for a second. Silly me."
Alicia knew better than that. There was definitely more to it, but at the same time she was positive that she had never done anything in her bedroom with George except talk and kiss once or twice. They certainly hadn't been on her bed together.
"You can come in if you promise not to talk whilst I'm working."
"I promise on my honour as the chief prankster at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry."
"Whatever you say." Alicia opened the door and let him in. "Not a word, remember."
Keeping his lips pressed together tightly, George gave her the thumbs up. He settled himself comfortably on her bed and smiled innocently. Alicia grabbed her Muggle Studies textbook and joined him.
Alicia began to read through the section on the Muggle cinema. She knew plenty about Muggle films, of course, but it never hurt to go over it again. She was just reading about silent films when she became aware that George was staring at her intently.
"Stop looking at me. That's even more annoying than talking."
"Do you ever think about stuff, Leesh?"
Alicia sighed and looked up from her book. "I think all the time, maybe you should try it more often."
"Not thinking in general. I'm talking about the future. Do you ever think about the future?" George asked.
"As a matter of fact, I'm thinking about the NEWTs already. I'm going to start studying during summer. You should prepare so you won't-"
"I'm not talking about stupid exams. I'm talking about marriage and stuff."
Alicia almost choked. "I'm seventeen, why would I want to think about marriage? I hope you don't think about marriage," she said, feeling very uncomfortable.
"I think about lots of things. Including marriage and babies."
"Babies?" Alicia repeated, aghast at the new topic of conversation.
"Babies can be nice," George replied evenly. "You don't like babies?"
"I don't – I guess they're all right. I don't know."
"You don't like talking about this," he deduced.
"I want to know why we're talking about this. What's brought it on? People don't normally want to get married and have kids when they're seventeen," she pointed out desperately.
George smirked, seeing that he had hit a nerve. "I don't remember saying that I wanted a family right now. I said I was thinking about it. It that a crime or something?"
"We're just too young to be worrying about that sort of stuff. Sorry, but I'm not going to get married or have a baby for a long time."
"Why are you apologising to me? I don't remember saying that I wanted to marry you or father your children," George said, giving her an amused look.
Alicia turned bright red. "I just – I assumed…"
"Is that your cute way of saying that you want to have my baby, Alicia?"
"That's not what I meant and you know it."
George grinned wolfishly as she squirmed. "Look, sweetheart, I'll put you on the list, but I can't make any promises. There are already five other girls ahead of you and, to be fair, they told me they wanted to have my baby before you did. I might get around to you one day."
"Shut up. You're putting words in my mouth."
"I'll also add you to my marriage list. You'll be number eleven on that one." George patted Alicia's knee as she opened and closed her mouth wordlessly. "If you had only told me earlier that you wanted to marry me then you would have been higher up the list. I'm a wanted man, Leesh."
"I never said I wanted to marry you!" Alicia insisted, getting more and more irritated by the second. "You started the whole ridiculous conversation."
George shrugged casually. "Fine. If you don't imagine yourself marrying me then who is the lucky guy?"
"No one!"
"So that means you don't want to be with me forever?"
Alicia narrowed her eyes shrewdly. "That's a nasty way to try and trap me."
"It's a simple question."
Alicia's forgotten textbook slid off her lap and hit the floor as she lunged at George and poked him in the chest accusingly. "All these questions are an attempt to get me to talk myself into trouble."
"Are you angry with me?" George asked.
"Yes."
"Excellent," was the unexpected response.
"What?" Alicia managed to ask, just before she was pounced on.
George seized her shoulders and pushed her back on the bed. He covered her body with his own so she couldn't move then held her hands above her head.
"Oh, get off me for Christ's sake," she groaned, wriggling around futilely.
"Got you now, smart girl," George said triumphantly.
"I'm supposed to be studying!"
"You're hot when you're angry. Your face turns pink and your nostrils flare slightly. You narrow your eyes and grind your teeth. Making you angry is fun."
"So it's a game now? You can't just push my buttons like that. It's undignified and…" Alicia trailed off when George buried his face in her neck.
"And?" George asked, his voice low and muffled.
"And it's – it's cruel, that's what it is. Stop doing that!" she gasped as he kissed her collarbone.
Surprisingly, George did stop. "That better?"
Alicia blinked at him. It certainly wasn't better. "Why the hell did you stop?"
"Because you told me to stop. I'm respecting your wishes."
"You picked a crappy time to start being noble. I didn't really expect you to stop. Just kiss me, George."
"Kiss you where?" he asked smoothly. "Your elbow? Maybe your ankle?"
"I hate you. Seriously. More than I've ever hated anyone in my life."
George hid a smile and rolled off her. "I feel like studying. Don't you? I might go and start preparing for NEWTs right now."
Alicia sat abruptly, her face twisted into a frustrated sneer. "I'm warning you, George."
"I can see that I'm distracting you from your important study so I better go."
"If you leave I'll never speak to you again," she threatened frantically.
George retrieved her Muggle Studies book from the floor and dropped it on her lap. "Good luck with the exam. I'll see you at dinner."
"George!" Alicia exclaimed as he headed for the door.
"Love you," he said jovially, then threw the door open and left.
Alicia flopped backwards and stared up at the canopy of her bed. How was she supposed to concentrate on Muggles now that George had wound her up like a clockwork toy? She knew it was his way of rebuking her for neglecting him during the final exams. The problem was that it was getting easier for him to manipulate her.
These days all he had to do was look at her and she would melt. It was supposed to be the other way around. Alicia was supposed to do the leading and George the following. If she didn't get her act together soon her carefully laid plan will have been a waste of time.
Fred was wrong. George was the one who was leading her astray.
Rule number eleven: If you value your sanity, don't date a Weasley twin.
xxxxx
After dinner that night, the entire school headed for the Quidditch stadium. The exact nature of the final Triwizard task became apparent when the students saw the newly grown hedge maze.
"Harry's really going to have his work cut out for him," Fred commented as he took his seat in the stands between Angelina and Katie.
"Do you think he'll be all right?" Katie asked anxiously.
"He'll be fine," Lee assured her quickly. "He's the Boy Who Lived and all that."
On the other side of Angelina, George was trying to coax Alicia into conversation. She'd been short with him all through dinner and now flatly refused to acknowledge him at all.
"Who do you think will win?"
Without looking at him she said, "Not talking to you."
"Because of what I did earlier? I was only messing around. Good-natured teasing is all it was."
"It didn't feel good-natured to me," Alicia said dryly.
"I'm sorry. If I had known you were going to react so badly I wouldn't have done it. But don't you think we should talk about-"
"Shh. It's starting," Alicia hissed, cutting his sentence short.
George wasn't about to let her off the hook. He waited patiently till Bagman blew his whistle to signal the beginning of the task. Harry and Cedric entered the maze and George immediately turned to Alicia.
"Ok, why did you react so badly to what I did?"
Alicia bit her lip nervously. How was she supposed to tell him that she was worried because he was making her lose control? She couldn't very well tell him that she was slowly but surely losing control of her mind and body.
In the end she decided she was going to avoid the topic all together. "I think Harry is going to win. Or maybe Cedric; he does have a little more experience."
George sighed wistfully as he watched Krum enter the maze. "It was a lot easier when I secretly fancied you and didn't have to speak to you."
"Well, no one said it was going to be easy."
"It's been six months and it still hasn't clicked properly. Something must be wrong with us."
Alicia silently agreed. She didn't say anything because it obviously meant a lot to George. Their relationship had reached a plateau and neither knew what to do. Alicia suspected that George blamed himself.
"Everything will click soon," she promised. She had no idea how this click would come about, but it had to come soon. Their relationship was going to die if they didn't get their act together.
To make matters worse, Lee and Katie's relationship was flourishing. They were constantly together and still managed to be comfortable and at ease with each other. Even Fred and Angelina were fighting less and snogging more. Logically, George and Alicia should have had the advantage because they knew each other better.
"Perhaps that's the problem," Alicia said, verbalising her sudden thought.
"What?"
"Perhaps we know each other too well. You know exactly what to do to make me angry and I know how to make you jealous. That can't be good."
"So we'd be better off if we were complete strangers?" George asked dubiously.
Alicia shrugged. "I don't know. I've never dated a stranger."
"Was it like this with Oliver?"
"I guess so," she answered hesitantly. "It just didn't really seem to matter that things weren't perfect."
"You think I'm overreacting," George said bluntly. "You think I'm being weird and insecure again."
"You really need to stop putting words into my mouth."
George ran a hand tiredly through his hair. "Fine. I'll drop it for now, but we're going to talk about this later."
Alicia was already dreading the conversation. They would just end up going in circles and getting frustrated. She was beginning to think that having a functional relationship was simply too much work.
xxxxx
The final Triwizard task dragged on. It was frustrating because no one knew what was actually going on inside the maze. Bagman passed the time by telling the crowd the sort of obstacles the champions were going to face.
"Now I'm really glad I wasn't chosen as school champion," Angelina said, upon hearing about the Boggart, Skrewt, sphinx and giant spider.
"I hate to say it, but I think Cedric will have the advantage. Potter's good, but he isn't that good," Lee said.
"Don't underestimate Harry,"Fred warned. He smiled wryly because he and George knew all about Harry and Ron's past adventures. Harry had come up against a lot of unsavoury things in his time.
Next to George, Alicia yawned for the fifth time in as many minutes. She rubbed her eyes and glanced at George. "How much longer do you think it will be?"
"Dunno. Are you tired?"
She nodded slightly and smiled sheepishly. "I've stayed up late to study for the past couple of nights."
George slid his arm around her and she gratefully put her head on his shoulder. "My silly little bookworm."
"Sorry I got angry today," she apologised quietly.
"I'm sorry I left you like that. You wouldn't believe how much I wanted to stay and kiss you till you couldn't see straight."
"I guess you'll have to give me a demonstration tomorrow." Alicia sighed contentedly and snuggled closer to him. "Will you wake me when something exciting happens?"
"Sure." George kissed the top of her head affectionately then turned his attention back to the dark hedge maze.
George had been trying to pin down their relationship for a while now. Most of the time it seemed that Alicia still treated him only as her best friend. Even in their current position there was nothing to suggest they were more then close friends. People simply had to take one look at Lee and Katie and they immediately knew that they were a couple.
The majority of students still thought George and Alicia were just friends. The problem was that they didn't act like much of a couple in public. If George were to be totally honest with himself, he knew he didn't like going out with Alicia as much as he thought he would.
Alicia shifted slightly and George looked down to see that she had put her hand on his leg. It was too high up to be a purely friendly gesture. She'd done it naturally and seemed comfortable with it. It was yet another contradiction George could add to his growing list.
"She must be having a really good dream," Angelina giggled, looking at Alicia's hand as well. "You might want to make sure she doesn't go any higher."
"Don't forget that we're talking about Alicia here. She's probably having a hot dream about the Transfiguration exam."
"I'm still awake and can hear every word you're saying," Alicia mumbled sleepily.
George expected her to get angry again, or at the very least to blush and move her hand. She did neither. Angelina raised her eyebrows at him. Even she knew that it was unusual for Alicia to be so forward.
"Someone is in trouble," Katie interrupted suddenly. "It's Harry. I know it's Harry. This is horrible."
Alicia jerked her head off George's shoulder as he stared at the red sparks that were hovering above the maze. "There's no way to tell who it is," George reasoned. "It could be anyone, Katie."
"Hopefully Cedric," Fred muttered bitterly.
Professor McGonagall was closest to the sparks so she headed into the maze. She hadn't been in there very long when more red sparks appeared. Hagrid entered the maze as well.
Alicia jumped to her feet, as did many other spectators. "The sparks are coming from where McGonagall just went in. Do you think something happened to her?"
"Sit down and stop worrying. We'll find out in a minute." George pulled her back down.
"This is useless. I can't see what's happening at all," Katie complained.
"Omnioculars!" Angelina exclaimed, putting her hand in her pocket.
George noticed that Angelina wasn't the only person pulling out Omnioculars from the World Cup. Angelina stood up and began to fiddle with her own pair. After a moment she gasped and grabbed Fred's shoulder.
"Hagrid has just come out of the maze carrying Fleur. She's unconscious!"
Alicia jumped back to her feet. "I should go help. I'm a prefect. I could really help."
"And what the hell would you do? You'd just be in the way. Sit down." George pulled her back down once again and held onto her.
Angelina passed around the Omnioculars so everyone would watch the replay of Fleur being rescued. George happened to be holding the Omnioculars when the crowd became very agitated again. He focused on the entrance of the maze and saw McGonagall re-appear with Krum floating along in front of her. He was unconscious, too.
Though it probably wasn't good sportsmanship, the Hogwarts students erupted in celebration. The withdrawal of Fleur and Krum meant that Hogwarts was assured victory. It no longer mattered if it was Harry or Cedric who won.
"We won! They've left the maze so they can't win!" Katie screamed, jumping up and down with everyone else.
"Think you can stay awake long enough for a party?" George asked his girlfriend over the cheering.
"I might manage an hour before I pass out. Will you stay with me in case I fall asleep?"
"Sure, kiddo," George replied. He kissed her on the cheek then turned to high five his brother.
"Now all we have to do is wait for Potter or Diggory to grab the Cup," Bagman said excitedly. "As soon as one of them touches it, the platform it is on will rise into the air and we'll be able to see our winner. It won't be long, folks."
"This is great. It's about time something good happened to Harry. Even Cedric deserves to win. Oh, I don't know who to go for anymore," Alicia agonised.
"I just hope neither of them gets hurt," Angelina said diplomatically.
"Haven't seen anymore red sparks, have we? They're both fine."
Despite his optimistic comment, George twisted his hands in his lap compulsively. It was taking an awfully long time for the Hogwarts champions to get to the centre of the maze. Something might have gone wrong.
Alicia took one of his hands to stop him fidgeting and said, "Can I ask you a question?"
"Of course."
"It's about what we were discussing early. You know, marriage and stuff?"
"Go on."
Alicia looked down at her lap. "Is it me – I mean, am I the one?"
"The one what?" George asked, though he was pretty sure he knew what she was talking about.
"Am I the one you imagine yourself marrying?" she asked hesitantly.
"No," George answered promptly and without remorse.
The look on Alicia's face was pure shock and embarrassment. "Oh. Ok."
"You yourself said that we're too young for that sort of thing. I might occasionally consider marriage in passing, but I don't think about it in regards to anyone in particular. Are you disappointed?"
"Of course not. You think too highly of yourself," Alicia said, lifting her nose in the air.
"But we could still practice making babies, couldn't we?" George asked, grabbing her around the waist.
"Haven't I told you? I don't do sex before marriage." Alicia grinned and pushed him away. "Are you disappointed?"
George shrugged nonchalantly. "You think too highly of yourself. I can get it from any girl."
"Congratulations. Off you go then. Don't let me stop you."
George grabbed Alicia and kissed her as their classmates celebrated around them. The couple was so caught up in the kiss that they didn't notice when the cheering began to wane.
Angelina pulled George's hair to get his attention. "If you're quite done snogging, you might like to see who the winner is."
Alicia squeaked and wrenched her lips away from George's. George groaned and buried his face in her soft curls. He hadn't been done snogging. He really had no idea how he was going to survive without her for three whole months. Pitching a tent on her front lawn was sounding more and more appealing.
"Look, George! Someone's grabbed the Cup," she whispered urgently, as an expectant hush fell over the crowd. "Stop smelling my hair and look at what's happening."
Reluctantly George turned back to the hedge maze. It was too dark to really see what was going on. But there was certainly a bit of commotion in the centre of the maze. The mysterious movement ceased and there was a loud fanfare that made everyone jump.
"I am pleased to present the winner of the Triwizard Tournament!" Bagman shouted as everyone began to cheer again. "Lumos!"
The dais that was floating above the maze was suddenly bathed in light. Gradually the cheering began to be replaced with confused murmurs. The dais was empty. No champion. No Triwizard Cup.
"That can't be right," Alicia said, craning her neck to see how the teachers were reacting. "It's definitely not right. Look at the teachers."
Katie snatched Angelina's Omnioculars from her and stood up on her seat. She put her hand on Lee shoulder to steady herself as she focused on the chaotic scene taking place outside the maze. "They're all going into the maze, even Dumbledore. Everyone looks worried. I'm getting a bad feeling…"
"No need to worry, folks," Bagman spoke up, the levity in his voice somewhat forced. "We just seem to have temporarily misplaced one of our champions. It won't be a moment."
"People don't just disappear like that," Alicia muttered, frowning and biting her lip.
George recognised her look immediately. "No," he said forcefully. "Stay where you are."
"I'll be back in a minute!" she called, already dashing down the stairs.
"Alicia Maree Spinnet!" George yelled, hurrying after her. "I told you to leave it alone!"
"I just want to make sure they don't need my help."
"Then I'm coming with you. Slow down!"
Alicia didn't slow down and the two of them went careening down the stairs. Other students had begun to clamber around the edges of the Quidditch pitch. George followed Alicia through to where Professor McGonagall and Madam Pomfrey were hovering around Fleur and Krum.
"I'm here to help, Professor," Alicia said triumphantly, struggling to catch her breath.
"You can go and help the other prefects keep the students off the pitch," Professor McGonagall answered distractedly as she glanced over at the maze. "No wait. I need you to stay here with Krum and Delacour and make sure they don't come to any harm. Madam Pomfrey and I have to go into the maze."
"What do I need to do to them?" Alicia asked, apprehensively glancing down at the unconscious foreigners.
"Nothing at all," Madam Pomfrey answered firmly. "They should wake up soon. When they do wake up you must keep them calm and ensure they do not leave this spot."
"Ok." Alicia glanced back at George and he could tell that she was regretting her sudden impulse to help out.
"Come along, Poppy," McGonagall said grimly as she took her wand out of her pocket. Madam Pomfrey grabbed her medical bag and the women hurried towards the maze.
"Great idea, Alicia, now we're stuck babysitting these two," George said.
Alicia knelt between the patients and looked up at George. "Go back to your seat, then. I can handle it by myself."
"I'm not leaving you alone with these two. When they wake up I doubt they'll be very happy to find out that they've lost the Tournament." George crouched in front of her and surveyed the champions on either side of him. "Do you think we'd have time to draw something on their faces before they woke up?"
Alicia gave him a shove and he fell on his backside. "This is a serious situation, you prat. McGonagall wouldn't have taken Madam Pomfrey into the maze if it weren't absolutely necessary."
"Come on, Leesh, you know what teachers are like," George said. "They overreact about everything. The spell on the Cup probably malfunctioned and Harry or Cedric simply took it off the dais before it moved."
"Maybe," Alicia conceded grudgingly. "But it's just as possible that Harry was eaten by a Blast-Ended Skrewt just as he touched the Cup. Or the spider could have attacked Cedric just as he grabbed it. He could be hanging upside down in a web as we speak."
George rolled his eyes. "You have an overactive imagination. Next you'll be saying that they were abducted by hostile aliens or homicidal leprechauns."
"Or marauding munchkins," she added with a smile.
"Disillusioned House Elves."
"Angry Hobbits." Alicia giggled guiltily.
Krum began to stir and George and Alicia scrambled to his side. The star Seeker opened his eyes slowly and blinked up at the strangers. He began to jabber in a foreign language and tried to sit up.
"Do you speak Bulgarian?" Alicia asked George.
"Does it look like I speak Bulgarian?"
Alicia put a restraining hand on Krum's shoulder. "It's all right. Lie back down and rest. You're at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry."
"I know where I am," Krum snapped. "Let me go. They must be warned. The Tournament must be stopped."
"It's a bit late for that. Someone has already grabbed the Cup," George informed him.
"Lie back and relax," Alicia said, tightening her grip on his shoulder.
"You don't understand! There is great danger! Let go of me, you stupid little girl," Krum growled, pushing Alicia away roughly.
"That wasn't a very smart thing to do, mate," George said. He placed his forearm across Krum's throat and forced him back onto the stretched. "Where's this danger you're talking about?"
"Be careful, George, don't hurt him," Alicia said anxiously.
Krum then said something that caused both George and Alicia to gasp. "Potter Stunned me. I must find him."
"Harry Stunned you?" George asked, scarcely believing it.
Krum nodded stiffly and Alicia whipped out her wand and pointed it straight between his eyes. "Don't move a muscle," she said tightly.
"What are you doing?" George hissed.
"Harry would only Stun him if he had a very good reason to do so," Alicia explained, not taking her eyes off Krum for a second.
"Good point." George increased the pressure of his forearm. "What did you try to do to Harry? Something you learnt at school, no doubt. A little Death Eaters 101? Introduction to Being an Evil Bastard?"
"Nothing," Krum wheezed as the air was squeezed from his windpipe. "Diggory…I was…Cruciatus, but…"
Without hesitating, George pulled out his own wand. "You performed the Cruciatus curse on Cedric?" he demanded.
"Under Imperius," Krum choked out.
"Oh, this is bad," Alicia groaned. "What should we do, George?"
"For starters we don't let Krum out our sights. I knew it was a bad idea to let Durmstrang students into the school. Might as well invite You-Know-Who around for a tea party."
Alicia's wand was beginning to shake and sweat was trickling down the side of her face. "But what if he's telling the truth? What if someone put him under the Imperius curse?"
George relieved some of the pressure on Krum's throat. "All right, who put you under the curse?"
"A man."
"Thanks, that narrows it down to half the population of the world."
"Come on, you can do better than that. Was he young or old?" Alicia asked. "Short? Tall? Fat? Skinny?"
"I do not know," Krum answered, getting frustrated again. "I only heard his voice in my head."
"Did you also do something to Fleur?"
"I never saw the French girl when we were in the maze. I need to speak to someone!"
"Viktor!" someone yelled.
George turned around to see Karkaroff approaching with Professor Snape. Both looked absolutely livid.
"What do you think you're doing?" Snape demanded without preamble.
George and Alicia both began to explain loudly at the same time. It was a confused, muddle of words, but Snape and Karkaroff managed to get the general drift. Snape seized both Gryffindors by the arm and pulled them up.
"You will both return to your seats and mention this to no one," Snape instructed, his voice as cold and sharp as the blade of a knife.
George was going to argue. Snape was probably in on the whole thing and had no right to send them away. George hadn't even opened his mouth when Alicia nodded politely to the Potions master and said, "Yes, sir, we'll leave immediately."
Snape had obviously been expecting more of a fight because he eyed them suspiciously. "I don't know exactly what Mr Krum told you, but I don't want you spreading rumours and creating a school-wide panic. I realise it's asking a lot for Gryffindors not to meddle, but I assure you, expulsion will not be out of the question. Get out of my sight."
George clenched his fists as his girlfriend smiled acquiescingly. She beat him to it again by taking his arm and digging her nails in. George suddenly found himself being led away insistently. Alicia took him back to the milling crowd of students where she stopped and turned to him.
"I hate it when you pre-empt me like that. I was merely going to tell Snape that he had no right to over-rule McGonagall's initial instruction," George said, telling a small white lie. He had planned to tell Snape a whole lot more.
"You were going to get us expelled," Alicia said. "I got us out of the firing line."
"Firing line? Snape is all talk."
Alicia looked around cautiously and lowered her voice. "I'm not talking about Snape. Something bad is going on and I don't think we should be in the centre of it when it hits the fan."
"You think Krum was telling the truth?"
"Why would he lie about something as major as this?"
"Er, because he's from Durmstrang. Creating chaos is probably his favourite hobby."
"It doesn't matter who's causing the trouble. The point is that something's wrong. We should go and warn the others."
"But Snape told us not to tell anyone," George said.
"Since when do you listen to Snape?"
"Excellent point. Let's go."
George took her hand and they began to walk through the crowd. It wasn't very long before they ran into some familiar people. Bill spotted them first and waved them over. George was immediately engulfed in a hug from his mother.
"Oh, George, are you all right, dear? What's going on? Have you seen Harry? Where's Fred?"
"One thing at a time, mum," George said, trying to wriggle out of his mother's crushing embrace.
"How is Viktor?" Hermione asked anxiously.
Ron made a disgusted noise. "What about Harry? Have you forgotten that he was your friend before Vicky came along?"
"Shut up, Ron," she snapped in reply.
Alicia put on her business face and cleared her throat. "Krum is fine, Hermione. So is George, Mrs Weasley. He was helping me do something for Professor McGonagall. Unfortunately, I'm not sure what's going on with Harry because no one has come back out of the maze yet."
"And Fred is up in the stands with the others," George added, smiling reassuringly at his frazzled mother. "I'm sure everyone's going to be fine, but it would probably be better if you stay back here."
"Stay here? I want to be there for Harry when he comes out of the maze. Poor boy. He's much too young to be in the Tournament in the first place."
"I know, mum, just do me a favour and stay out of the thick of it. You'll be better off if you stay here."
"Why? Is something wrong, George?" Bill asked, eyeing his brother astutely.
George shared a quick glance with Alicia then said, "Uh, we're not really sure what's going on. It would just be better to be safe than sorry."
"We won't move," Mrs Weasley promised. She gave George a kiss on the cheek. "Go find your brother and tell him I love him."
George wiped his cheek and nodded. "I'll see you at Platform Nine and Three Quarters next week, mum. Bye, Bill."
Alicia had already started to walk away so George had to jog to catch up with her. They hurried up the stairs as every other student was heading down. Back at their seats, Fred, Angelina, Lee and Katie were getting ready to leave the stands as well.
"Sit back down," Alicia said. "We're not going down there."
"But everyone else is leaving," Lee pointed out. "Why can't we join them?"
"We'll go down in a minute, we just need to tell you something first," George said.
"What is it?"
"Wait a second," Alicia said, looking around them to make sure no one was in earshot. Thankfully, everyone around them had already left.
Alicia ended up telling the story with helpful additions from George. Unsurprisingly, Fred had the same reaction as George and insisted that Krum had to be lying. Katie, on the other hand, began to panic and Lee was barely able to keep her from fleeing back to the castle.
"The Unforgivable Curses," Angelina said quietly.
"All of them except one," Katie reminded them shakily. "All we need is that last one to make a full set. All we need is Avada Kedavra."
"That's serious magic, Katie."
"Alicia's right, a student definitely couldn't do it. The killing curse is big time stuff," George said, wondering how he had suddenly become a voice of reason.
"You-Know-Who can do it."
Everyone stared at Fred, their minds turning over the possibility. Alicia shivered and wrapped her arms around herself. George put his arm around her waist and decided it was time to put an end to the speculation. "Let's go down and see what's really happening. There's still the chance that Krum is lying."
It took a few minutes to convince Katie, but soon the Gryffindors were on their way to the Quidditch pitch. About half the school had congregated around the edge of the pitch so it was impossible to see that was going on near the maze. They'd only been there for a few minutes when a ripple of excitement spread through the crowd.
"Oh, this is useless," Angelina declared, after trying to see by jumping up and down. "Lift me on to your shoulders, Fred."
With a little help from Lee, Angelina was soon balanced on Fred's shoulders. She took out her Omnioculars again and focused on the entrance to the maze. "Everyone's coming back out of the maze!"
"Can you see Harry or Cedric?" Alicia asked.
"Neither of them," Angelina answered after a moment of searching. "They haven't come out of the maze and all the teachers looked worried."
"I knew it," Katie moaned pitifully. "Something bad has happened to them."
Solemnly, George and Lee helped Angelina down from Fred's shoulders. Students in front of them were beginning to get bored and wander off so the group was able to move closer. Slowly, a few minutes turned into ten, then fifteen.
George was holding Alicia as she swayed sleepily on her feet. He was contemplating taking her back to the castle when it finally happened. The familiar but unexpected sound of a Portkey materialising echoed through the stadium.
"It's over there!" Angelina pointed towards the right side of the hedge maze.
Most of the other students were lying or sitting in the soft grass, but the Gryffindor sixth years had remained standing so they had a head start in the race towards the mysterious Portkey arrival. Angelina and Fred were out in front, running towards the dark, prone figures.
Dumbledore had already beaten them to it and was crouching beside them.
"It's Harry! I can definitely see Harry!" Fred announced happily.
The identities of the unknown arrivals were confirmed as they got closer. George pulled Alicia along behind him, telling her that Harry and Cedric were both out of the maze. The six of them stopped a few feet from Harry and Cedric, mindful that Dumbledore would need to check them over.
"See, you did all that worrying for nothing," Lee said to Katie.
"What's wrong with Cedric?" Angelina asked softly.
He was lying beside Harry and no one had paid him much attention yet. All at once questions were flying. Angelina repeated her own question hesitantly, as if she didn't really want to know the answer.
"He's unconscious," George answered, though his stomach twisted and convulsed.
In the end they heard it directly from the Minister of Magic. Cedric was dead. Not unconscious. Not sleeping. Dead.
"Oh," Katie gasped, unable to think of anything else to say.
Angelina did something she was destined to only do twice in her life. She fainted.
"Catch her," George said quickly, making a grab for Angelina.
Fred was just able to stop her hitting the ground. He lay underneath her, unable to move or think clearly. Tears were already streaming down Alicia's face as she stared helplessly at Cedric's body.
Apparently George was the only one thinking straight. He knew that Angelina and Fred were going to get stepped on soon. "Grab her arms, Lee."
Lee stopped staring at Cedric and looked questioningly at George. "What?"
"You need to help me get Angelina out of here. Grab her arms," he repeated.
Lee grabbed Angelina under the armpits and George took her legs. They gently lifted her off Fred and began to back out of the crowd with her. Fred put his arms around Alicia and Katie and drew them away from the horrifying scene.
Panic had quickly taken hold and people were screaming, crying and running around. There wasn't a safe place to set Angelina down.
"Back to the castle," Fred said, cradling Angelina in his arms by himself.
The boys took it in turns to carry Angelina whilst Alicia and Katie held each other and stumbled through the darkness. The doors of the castle had been opened to welcome back the victorious champion. No one was expecting there to be a dead champion.
Lee put Angelina down in the middle of the Entrance Hall. Fred began to lightly tap her face and call her name to no avail.
"The hospital wing," Alicia said as she wiped her face with her sleeve.
"It's empty," George reminded her. He put a comforting arm around her shoulders and added, "Besides, I think everyone's going to be a little preoccupied tonight. Splashing a little cold water on her face might do the trick."
Fred took out his wand and did a simple conjuring spell. Unfortunately his mind wasn't on the job and he only managed to conjure an empty glass. He took a deep breath and tried again. This time he remembered the water but forgot the glass. Water splashed all over the floor.
"I'll do it." George calmly conjured a glass of cold water, which he handed to Fred.
"Sorry about this, angel." Fred tipped some of the water on her face and watched apprehensively as she spluttered and gasped for air.
Fred and Katie helped her sit up and let her drink the rest of the water. Fred wiped her wet face with his robes and brushed her damp hair back from her face. "Are you all right, Angelina?"
"What happened?" she asked, looking around in confusion.
Alicia let out an involuntary sob and buried her face in George's shoulder. Recognition dawned on Angelina and she tried to stand up.
"Is it true?" she asked. No one said anything so she raised her voice. "Is it true?"
"It's true," Fred answered hesitantly. "You fainted and we brought you in here to recover. As soon as you feel up to it we'll go back to Gryffindor Tower."
Angelina became frantic and tried to scramble to her feet as Fred tried to hold her back. "I want to go see him," she said desperately. "Let me go, Fred!"
Fred tried to hug Angelina rather haphazardly. "There's nothing you can do for him now."
Angelina refused to accept this and kept struggling and fighting Fred. He didn't quite know what to do because he had never seen her so hysterical. She began to cry when she realized that Fred wasn't going to let her go to Cedric.
"Uh, maybe you guys had better go back to the common room and let me handle this. I'll bring her up as soon as she's calmed down a bit," Fred said, as Angelina collapsed on the floor in a heap and cried loudly.
"He's right, Angelina wouldn't want up to see her like this."
No one really wanted to leave, but Katie's logic won out. Each of them knew that Angelina was going to be embarrassed when she finally calmed down and remembered how she'd acted.
Fred watched his friends leave then put a comforting hand on his girlfriend's back. "We should go somewhere else before everyone comes back to the castle."
Angelina looked up at the front doors of the castle as if expecting people to come rushing through. She grimaced in alarm and got to her feet as quickly as she could. The nearest empty room was the Great Hall so Angelina headed for it.
Fred rolled his eyes at his stubborn girlfriend's retreating form. "Oi! I said 'we', Angelina! That means we both go together!"
Angelina ignored him and threw open the door to the Great Hall. Fred followed her in then shut the door behind himself. Angelina went straight for the Hufflepuff table and took a seat in the middle.
"I saw him sitting here a lot, sometimes Cho would join him. Oh, poor Cho."
Fred sat beside her, not sure if he should say anything or not. Angelina put her head on the worn tabletop and he put his arm around her shoulders uncertainly. "Everything will be all right," he said rather unconvincingly. Even he didn't believe himself.
"I want to be alone, Fred."
Fred withdrew quickly and folded his hands in his lap. "Ok, I'll just sit here quietly. I won't speak to you or touch you. Do you think that would be all right?"
Angelina didn't say yes, but at the same time she didn't order him out so Fred figured it would be all right. Her shoulders began to shake as she wept and Fred had to literally sit on his hands so he wouldn't be tempted to comfort her. He appreciated that she needed to get it out before she could be herself again.
After five straight minutes of crying she finally began to settle down. She slowly lifted her head and met his concerned eyes. "Why, Fred?"
"I don't know, angel." Fred quickly searched his pockets for a tissue or handkerchief. Finding nothing, he wiped the lingering tears from her face with his hands as best he could.
"It's not fair," Angelina continued. "It shouldn't have been him. Cedric was so…good."
"He was the best," Feed agreed fervently.
"I should have been nicer to him. I could have been good friends with him after I told him I didn't want to be his girlfriend. God, I remember that day. He was upset but he respected my decision. I should have been gentler about it."
"Hey, you have no reason to feel guilty. No matter what happened, Cedric recovered. He had Cho so he wasn't really alone at the end."
Tears began to roll down Angelina's cheeks and Fred was worried he had said something wrong. "The worst part is that I could easily have been in Cho's place," she sobbed.
"You could have been Cedric's girlfriend?"
"No. You could have died. You could have been the one lying in the middle of the Quidditch pitch. You could have been the one not breathing or moving as everyone crowded around."
Angelina broke down into violent sobs and a lump formed in Fred's throat. She was worried about him at a time like this? He hadn't expected her to be so afraid of losing him. The fact that she actually loved him hit Fred full force and he grabbed her.
"Come here, Angelina." She crawled into his lap to get as close to him as she could. He wrapped his arms tightly around her. "Don't cry about me. I'm right here."
"Don't ever go anywhere," Angelina whispered.
xxxxx
Several floors above Fred and Angelina, George was trying to get Alicia to calm down. She had stopped crying but was now running around the common room in a panic.
"Someone's going to need to talk to the first years. The poor things are probably terrified. Should I tell them that Cedric didn't suffer? What if he did? Oh, that would be awful."
"If you don't sit down and catch your breath I'll put you in a full body-bind," George threatened.
"I don't have time to breathe," Alicia said, waving him away dismissively. "If Percy were here he'd know exactly what to do. I guess I should ask myself what Percy would do if he were in my situation."
"Perce would probably run up to his bed and hide under the covers. Look, I really think you need to relax for a bit. When everyone gets back you can start being frantic, but there's no point wasting energy when no one's here."
Alicia finally stopped pacing and turned to George. "You're right. You're always right."
"Let's go and sit with Lee and Katie," he suggested gently.
Alicia nodded and allowed herself to be led to a sofa in front of the fireplace. Lee was sitting on the sofa silently and Katie was on the floor in front of him. George took a seat between Lee and Alicia.
"How could something like this happen?" Lee asked, addressing no one in particular.
"Why Cedric and not Harry?" Katie asked.
"I wonder how Cho is," Alicia said regretfully.
Everyone mumbled sympathetically, but remained silently glad that they weren't in her position. No one spoke again and all sorts of questions ran through the heads of the Gryffindors as they stared into the empty fireplace. In the stillness they heard the approach of their housemates before they saw them.
The portrait hole opened and students in various states of shock streamed inside. Many were still crying and even more were asking questions. McGonagall came in after them and she was as pale as George had ever seen her.
"I need to speak to all the Gryffindor prefects outside," the deputy headmistress said tersely.
Alicia jumped to her feet and was the first to slip out of the portrait hole. Not one person went up to their room and the common room hummed with hushed crying and conversation. George found Ginny after a quick search and was pleased to find that she had remained calm and was comforting younger students.
When Alicia returned she was in full-blown prefect mode. She began snapping orders to younger prefects and organizing everyone into years. As everyone moved to join the other Gryffindors in their year, Alicia approached George and pulled him up from his comfortable seat.
"You, my Georgie, have a very special job to do."
"Me?"
"Yes. The Head Boy and Girl have taken all the seventh year prefects to an emergency meeting so I'm now the oldest Gryffindor prefect. McGonagall wants me to check everyone's names against the official list to make sure we haven't lost anyone."
"And what does that have to do with me?" George asked.
"Whilst I'm checking names, I need you to brew a cauldron of sleeping potion. McGonagall specifically asked for you to do it." Alicia pulled a bulging pouch from her pocket and handed it to him. "McGonagall said everything you need is in here. The potion is only for people who really need it and it shouldn't be very strong. Only enough to keep them out for five or so hours."
George nodded crisply and went to his room. He was fine with leaving Alicia alone because she had thrown herself completely into her task. The events of the past hour wouldn't even enter her mind. George also pushed the memory from his mind and began to work.
He couldn't afford to think about Cedric or anything else when he was measuring and adding ingredients. If he made a mistake students could end up sleeping for five days rather than five hours.
Ten minutes later, George was stirring a perfectly brewed sleeping potion. It was exactly the right colour and consistency and even Snape wouldn't have been able to find anything wrong with it. It almost seemed a shame to drink it. Just as George was picking up the cauldron, his bedroom door opened and Fred and Angelina entered.
Angelina appeared to be back to normal, though if you looked close enough it was possible to see the telltale signs that she had been crying. She kept her chin in the air and strode across the room, barely acknowledging George.
"She's going to stay in here tonight," Fred said lowly as Angelina did a quick inspection of his bed.
"Ok, I'll stay in the common room then."
"Good idea. What's that stuff?" Fred asked, peering into the cauldron.
"Sleeping potion that McGonagall wanted me to brew," George answered, feeling rather proud of himself.
"Well, aren't you the star potions student. Do you think I could have some of it for Angelina? I have a feeling she's going to need it."
"Do you actually sleep like this?" Angelina asked incredulously as she pulled a dirty sock out from under Fred's pillow.
"Hey, I never said this was a five-star hotel."
George handed his brother half a goblet of potion and winked at him. "Good luck, mate."
George carefully carried his precious cargo downstairs and watched as Alicia sifted through the crowd to find the most traumatised students. She had organised it like a triage room in a hospital. Crying students were in one corner. Silent students were in the opposite corner. Angry students roamed in between.
Alicia started by sending the more desperate students to George then working her way down. Soon, George was scraping the bottom of the cauldron and the common room was half empty. Most of his housemates returned to their rooms, but still others stayed behind and comforted each other.
Alicia raced around like a mother hen protecting her chicks. She hugged, handed out tissues, quieted fears and made all the reassurances she could.
"You were like super prefect today," George commented to Alicia when the seventh years had returned to take over.
Alicia smiled up at him, her eyes red and bleary. "You were pretty super yourself. You were calmer than any of us and you brewed a much-needed potion. I'm really proud of you."
"Thanks." George put his arm around Alicia and steered her towards the girls' staircase. "You've done your job and now it's time to go to bed."
"Sleepy time," Alicia agreed happily. "Will you come with me?"
"I'll walk you to your room to make sure you don't fall asleep on the stairs."
"No. I want you to sleep with me tonight."
George stumbled on the stairs. "I think you might want to re-phrase that, Alicia."
"Why? I was serious. I want to sleep with you tonight." Alicia groaned when she realized what she'd said. "You're a hopeless boy, George Weasley. When I said sleep I meant sleep."
"No. Yeah. That's what I thought you meant. Just checking."
"Angelina won't be with me and I doubt Katie will leave Lee either. I don't really want to be alone." Alicia opened the door to her room and stood in the doorway expectantly.
"I guess I can sleep in Angelina's bed."
"What would be the point of that? There's plenty of room for two in my bed."
George felt blood rush to his face. "Oh, maybe that wouldn't be a good idea. I, uh, wouldn't want to make your teddy bear jealous."
"I haven't slept with a teddy bear in years," Alicia said. Her eyes began to water and she blinked rapidly. "Please do this for me, George."
"Don't start crying again," George said quickly. "I just want to know why. Is it because Angelina and Katie are with their boyfriends? Or is it just because I'm your best friend?"
"It doesn't have anything to do with anyone else. I want to be with my boyfriend tonight. Being my best friend won't be enough. George, I need my boyfriend. There's a big difference."
For a second George couldn't believe it. She'd finally let him in. he'd been waiting for so long for her to see him purely as her boyfriend and it had finally happened. It felt as if a huge weight had been lifted from his chest. A solitary tear trickled down Alicia's cheek and George remembered that she was still waiting for an answer.
"Oh, sorry, love," he said, hugging her tightly. "I forgot that you couldn't actually read my mind. I'll stay with you for as long as you need me."
Alicia tightened her arms around his neck. "Thank you," she said, her voice barely above a whisper.
"Did you hear that?"
"Hear what?" she asked, clearly too tired to muster much curiosity.
"I heard a click."
"A click?"
"Yeah, like a lock sliding into place."
"But the door's open and – oh. You're talking about that click."
George smiled into her hair. "Did you hear it as well?"
"No. I felt it. It was nice."
George gently unwound her hands from his neck. "We should get out of the doorway before someone comes by and wonders what we're doing."
Alicia drew in a shaky breath then let it out loudly. With some of her composure regained she walked into her room and began to take off her shoes and socks. George shut the door and kicked off his own shoes. Alicia took off her Hogwarts robes and sat on the edge of her bed in her blouse and skirt.
George watched her for a second then took off his own robes and dropped them in a messy heap by the door. He noticed that she had started to cry quietly so he sat beside her and asked her what was wrong
"What isn't wrong? Cedric's dead and we both know it wasn't an accident. If Krum was telling the truth then Cedric won't be the last."
"Don't think about it now," George advised.
"I can't help it. I also…I'm glad you didn't work out how to put your name into the Goblet. If you…" Alicia was unable to finish the sentence as her crying increased.
"Stop crying," George said firmly. "You need to sleep, not cry."
Alicia bit her lip and obviously tried to stop, but it didn't work very well. George took her face in his hands and began to kiss her salty cheeks softly. She closed her eyes and stopped crying as he kissed every inch of her face.
"You taste like you've been swimming in the ocean," Alicia smiled weakly and George kissed her once on the lips. "Go to sleep. You can cry in the morning if you want to. I'll still be here."
It took a few minutes but Alicia eventually fell into a deep sleep with her head on George's shoulder and her arm across his stomach.
Down in the common room…
People were beginning to fall asleep around them, but Lee and Katie were still wide-awake. The sofas were covered in sleeping first and second years so the couple had been relegated to an armchair. They didn't mind. Katie was sitting on Lee's lap playing with the buttons of his shirt.
"Did you see Cedric's parents?" she asked quietly.
"No."
"I saw them when you were carrying Angelina away from the crowd. They seemed relieved that Cedric was back. They didn't know what had happened."
"Dumbledore will take care of them." Lee twisted a strand of Katie's hair around his finger and stared blindly at the sleeping first year girl across from them. "It makes you think about life, doesn't it?"
"It's certainly seems a lot shorter then it did a few hours ago. It's also a lot more precious than I ever thought."
A sudden, startling thought popped into Lee's head. What if something happened to himself or Katie? However unlikely it was, it frightened him immensely.
"Good night, Lee," Katie said, putting her head against his chest.
"Good night," Lee mumbled distractedly.
There would be no sleep for him that night. Strange ideas had found their way into his head and wouldn't leave. One was particularly persistent. It was foolhardy, petulant and probably a little stupid, but it wouldn't go away.
Lee wasn't to know it but his sudden decision wasn't only going to affect himself and Katie, it was going to make George and Alicia reconsider their relationship and eventually it would send Angelina down a dark path that would all but consume her.
Upstairs…
Angelina was sound asleep on Fred's bed, unaware that Lee's mind had latched onto an idea that would lead to horrible events later. Fred was also blissfully ignorant as he watched Angelina sleep. It had only taken a minute for the potion to take effect and he didn't even have time to take her robes off before she passed out.
Fred pulled back the covers on George's bed and took off his shoes and robes. He'd have preferred to sleep in his bed with Angelina, but she had taken up all the space by herself. Inexplicably, she'd fallen asleep with her arms and legs spread out like a starfish.
Lying on his brother's bed, Fred rolled onto his side so he could watch Angelina sleep. Tonight he'd seen her cry and faint for the first time. He knew he'd see her cry again, but he didn't know that he was destined to see her faint again. When it happened for the second time he would remember back to how she was that very night.
Sprawled on his bed, beautiful, healthy and peaceful.
A/N: Rather heavy on the foreshadowing, wasn't I? Oh well. I've gotta keep you all hooked somehow. Go ahead and speculate about what Lee's planning to do that will change everyone's lives in some way. Speculation is fun. For the last two or three chapters I've been planting seeds for the sequel. Keep an eye out for them. Some could grow into future story lines; others could just grow into red herrings. Hopefully you won't be able to guess which is which. This particular chapter is full of seeds. I'm going to hide some in the rest of the story as well. Which reminds me…
The Countdown Continues…
…Five Chapters To Go…