(GoF) CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE: Moments Like This

As the new term began and Ellie and Fred settled into their new routine of being Ellie and Fred, the rumours of Draco, Crabbe, and the rest finally seemed to die down. They had made it past their first few weeks, and it was becoming readily apparent that their relationship was only growing stronger by the minute.

Unfortunately, that didn't sit very well with Cedric, who looked utterly miserable every time he came across them.

"He'll get over it," said Harry dismissively one January afternoon as she, Fred, and Harry made their way to the Room of Requirement to do some defensive training. "Cho said he's been making eyes at her quite a bit since you broke up."

Ellie blinked, taken aback by that comment for more reasons than one. "Cho told you this? Aren't you, like… dating now?"

She hadn't asked Harry much about his relationship with Cho since he'd taken her to the ball, but she'd assumed his stoic silence on the matter, combined with the fact that he'd seen him with Cho multiple times since the ball, meant things were going well.

"Well… yeah." Harry looked a bit confused. "She seems to like bringing up things like that, which feels a bit… odd, I suppose."

"Funny," said Fred with an amused sort of resentment. "I have to beg Ellie to tell me anything at all about the things Cedric says to her."

"Sounds like game-playing to me," said Ellie to Harry, ignoring Fred's comment. "Maybe she's trying to suss out how you feel about her? Have you not been clear about it?"

Seeming to sense that Harry wasn't sure what that meant, Fred offered helpfully, "Have you snogged her yet?"

"Well… no!" stammered Harry, looking abashed. "I haven't!"

"That'd be a good start," said Ellie, amused, as they reached the wall outside the Room of Requirement and she started the three-times pace.

"But I can't just… just… kiss someone!" spattered a shocked Harry.

"I'm gathering that you were the one to initiate the first kiss back in your second year," said Fred to Ellie, sounding half-amused, half-disgusted. "Though I'd rather you not confirm it."

"That was different!" insisted Harry. "We were…"

But he trailed off, seeming to sense that Fred really would rather not know.

They left it alone at that, though Ellie made a mental note to circle back to the subject later on when she and Harry were alone together. Instead, they got back to practicing Imperius resistance—which Ellie was becoming rather good at—before moving on to a new method: shield strengthening.

"Okay," Ellie said, squaring her shoulders and nodding to Harry. "Go ahead and hit me with a few Stunning Spells."

Harry lifted his wand obediently, but frowned when she didn't start singing. "Don't you need to sing for your shield to activate?"

"I will—I just want to practice doing it at the last minute, is all."

Harry glanced at Fred, who didn't look at all pleased with this decision, before glancing back at Ellie and nodding. "Okay, then. Stupefy!"

Just before the jet of red light hit her, Ellie parted her lips to sing a few words of her classic shield song, Everlong. Her shield activated, and the red light ricocheted off her shield.

"I don't get it," Harry said, lowering his wand. "Did you sing?"

"Yeah—of course. Let's go again."

Looking perplexed, Harry lifted his wand and tried again. Ellie waited even longer this time—so long, not more than a single breath escaped her before her shield went up. Again, the red light ricocheted away from her shield.

"I didn't hear anything," said Fred, eyes wide, as he glanced at Harry for confirmation. "Did you?"

"N… no," stammered Harry, looking equally perplexed. "Ellie, are you sure you sang?"

"Just for an instant," she said, frowning. "What are you suggesting? That it might work even if I don't sing at all?"

"No," Fred said immediately. "We are not even entertaining that ludicrous—"

"Go on," she said to Harry, ignoring Fred. "Let's give it a try."

Looking slightly less confident, Harry raised his wand again. This time, when he casted the spell upon her, she didn't sing.

Still, the spell ricocheted away from her shield.

"You're still thinking about music," said Fred firmly. "It doesn't mean your shield is on some sort of auto-activate. You can't get comfortable with this."

"Maybe," she said, but she couldn't ignore the excited pounding of her heart at the thought that her shield might be getting stronger. "Better meet again this time next week just to make sure."


"You and Fred have been spending a lot of time with Harry," Ginny observed in a guarded voice a few days later when Ellie stopped by her room on the way to her own. "Has he figured out the second task yet?"

Ellie had tried prying Harry about the second task during each of their sessions, but he had rather emphatically insisted that he still had time to work it out. "Not yet."

"And Cho?" asked Ginny, voice becoming rather tight. "They're an item now?"

Ellie blinked, surprised by her friend's tone. "Not exactly. But what's it to you? Surely George was off-base when he suggested you're still—"

"Of course he was," Ginny interrupted a bit too sharply. "I'm talking to Dean now, anyway. Speaking of which—he and I want to get involved in this shield practice of yours. Can we come to the next session?"

Ellie had no qualms with more people coming to help her strengthen her shield, though she suspected that Fred might. But it wasn't exactly the point at the moment. "Ginny, if you do still harbour some sort of feelings for Harry—"

"I don't," said Ginny firmly before turning on her heel and making her way to the loo to get ready for bed.

But Ellie wasn't entirely sure Ginny was speaking the truth.


"Harry," Ellie said a few days later as she and Harry walked from Charms to lunch. "What do you think of Ginny and Dean becoming an item?"

"Ginny and Dean?" Harry repeated, looking up at her in surprise. "Since when?"

"Well… it's still developing, I s'pose," admitted Ellie, frowning. "I don't much care for it, though. Then again, it'll be hard not to sound like some sort of jealous ex if I voice it out loud."

Harry laughed, though Ellie couldn't help notice that it sounded a bit off. "I don't think anyone would mistake you for having residual feelings for Dean."

She managed a laugh of her own at that, but before she could say more, they were approached by none other than Cedric Diggory.

"Harry," he greeted. "Ellie. Got a moment?"

Ellie glanced at Harry, grateful not to have to be alone with Cedric. Harry nodded, and together they followed Cedric off toward a quiet corner of the hall.

"Have you figured it out yet?" Cedric asked Harry once they reached it. "The golden egg?"

Harry shook his head. "Not a clue. You?"

He nodded. "Water—that's the trick. You have to open it up underwater, and then you'll hear the clue."

Ellie's eyes bulged with excitement just as Harry's did. This was huge for him. Without this help, he would have walked blindly into the second task without any knowledge of what lay ahead. Now…

She felt Cedric's gaze on her and knew, with a heavy heart, that he hadn't just done it for Harry. He wanted her to see him helping her friends. He wanted to prove… well… his worthiness didn't exactly sound right, but that was what it amounted to, wasn't it?

"Brilliant," Harry was saying. "Thanks a million, mate."

"Least I could have done, after you helped me with the dragons." But his hazy, blue-grey eyes weren't on Harry; they were on Ellie. "Any chance you've started seeing things… differently?"

Ellie felt her ears turn pink as she forced an awkward smile and said, "Sorry, but no. Same as I said before."

Cedric gave a reluctant nod, shot a polite smile at Harry, and then took his leave of them.

"I won't ask," said Harry as soon as Cedric was out of earshot. "Poor Fred."

Ellie grimaced at that, but before she could respond, he added, "There's something weird going on with Barty Crouch, by the way. I'd almost forgotten about it until Cedric brought up the tournament again."

Ellie blinked, turning curiously to face him. "Something weird?"

"Yeah—Bagman told me Crouch has stopped coming into work entirely. Having Percy 'represent' him, apparently, and report back. Says he's sick, or something."

Ellie wasn't particularly familiar with Bagman, Crouch, or Fudge, despite their having developed quite an interest in her after the goings-on at the Tournament. But it did sound quite suspicious. "D'you reckon it has anything to do with all the other things Dad and Dumbledore have been investigating?"

Before he could answer her, Fred and George approached them. Fred looked concerned, as he so often did those days; her slight lateness to lunch had undoubtedly had him fearing the worst.

Harry filled them in on both Cedric and the Barty Crouch situation as they headed toward the cafeteria together. To Ellie's surprise, Fred seemed even moodier about Crouch than about Cedric.

"It's not Crouch," George explained when she asked him about it. "It's Bagman."

Fred nudged him pointedly, which, of course, only fueled Ellie's curiosity. "What about him?"

"It's… nothing." Fred frowned. "Just a little issue involving the money we won off him back at the Tournament."

Ellie glanced at George, who didn't look quite as forgiving as Fred. "What Fred means to say is, he robbed us of all we were worth and a whole lot more from there, only Fred's been too concerned about your well-being and all that to tell you about it."

Fred groaned as Harry and Ellie both gasped. "Robbed you?" demanded Ellie.

"It was hardly robbing," said Fred. "He gave us the money he owed us, only, it sort of… disappeared… afterwards. It was Leprechaun money, you see. Quite a dirty con."

"Quite an illegal con," corrected Harry pointedly. "Have you talked to him since the money disappeared? Tried to get it back?"

"We've tried a few different tactics," said George. "Not the least of which include blackmail. It's not hard to dig up dirt on the bloke, once you start looking."

"But… the Wheezes," said Ellie, glancing up at Fred with wide, concerned eyes. How could he not have told her about this sooner? Sure, it had been a crazy year for her, but he mattered, too—especially to her. "Supplies—things like that. How will you be able to afford—"

"This," interrupted Fred, putting an arm around her shoulders and kissing her on the top of the head, "is exactly why I didn't tell you. Any moment now you're going to get all teary-eyed and start demanding we take your money, and I will refuse."

"I don't refuse, for the record," said George with a bit of a grin. "But sadly we're both meant to be in agreement about these sorts of things."

Ellie sighed, wrapping her own arm around the back of Fred's waist and leaning her head against his shoulder as the moving staircase made its way to their final destination of the Great Hall. It felt good, holding each other like that, right there in the open for all to see. It felt… right.

She wanted to give Fred money. She wanted to give him whatever she could to ensure his happiness.

But if he wouldn't let her give him money, she'd just have to settle for moments like this.


Cuteness abounds, folks! I told you I'd make it worth it in the end... But there's still a long road ahead! Stay tuned and keep reviewing and following!