((Sorry I'm a sucky writer guys, and sorry for the wait. Stuff going on lately, personal crap that you probably don't care to hear about. I'll let you get onto the chapter. Next chapter will contain Quidditch and maybe a realization!))
Halloween had always been Josie's favorite holiday. Her mother was appalled by the corporate Halloween that had been adopted from America that some people celebrated, but her Father loved the Halloween the wizarding world celebrated. The day of Halloween Hogwarts was filled with excitement, the students glad it was a Sunday so they could just enjoy it.
Lee Jordan welcomed Josie that morning by throwing a chocolate spider at her, which scuttled down her leg and under an armchair. Most of the time before lunch was spent with Fred, George, and Lee, the four of them sitting in a corner of the common room talking about pranks the twins were pulling later on in the day. Fred had wanted to put exploding teabags in the teacher's lounge, but Josie and George agreed that the outcome of that could be mixed, and some teachers didn't need to be covered in hot water today. Josie had the idea to plant a sack of spiders under the rim of the toilet in the girl's bathroom, but the four of them couldn't figure out where to get a sack of spiders at this hour. Josie decided against helping them out by the time they went to lunch, she needed to send that letter to her mother along with the letter she needed to write for the family's tomb when her mother went for Toussaint.
While writing the letter at the table at lunch, George leaned over her shoulder to see her writing in French, working on her second piece of parchment since she got there. "What's that?" he said after swallowing, slipping the paper out from under her hand when she put her quill down. "It's a letter to my deceased family, for my parents to put in our family tomb on Tuesday. " "For what?" Fred said before taking another mouthful of bread. "For Toussaint of course." "Two-sa..what?" Josie had momentarily forgotten where she was and forgot they did not know French customs, but looking at the confused and amused faces of Fred and George Weasley snapped her out of it. "It's a muggle holiday, that's celebrated from October 31st to November 2nd, it's a remembrance of our loved ones that have died." She said quickly, smiling awkwardly and waiting for their reaction. "Dad would have a fit over that." Fred said to George, causing her to raise a brow. "Our dad loves muggle stuff, it's kind of his job." He added after catching her confusion. "Why does your family celebrate a muggle holiday?" George asked. "Cause one or both of her parents are muggle, you git." Fred added, rolling his eyes at his brother.
Josie nodded, picking apart her toast. "I'm half-blooded, my mother is non magic." The twins nodded, shrugging their shoulders and going back to what they were doing. "Can your mum read English?" George asked, looking at the letter for the tomb. "Oui, she's learned because of Dad and I. Dad's first language is English." She picked up the other letter to her mother, the one not containing things about them, and showed him. "See? I usually write in English, for special stuff I write in French." She watched him flick his eyes over the paper, and she suddenly got anxious about her handwriting of all things. It was bubbly and curly, something she got from her mother. "You talk about us?" He asked suddenly, looking at her. Josie's heartbeat picked up quickly, thinking she had given him the wrong letter, before realizing she had told her mother about her friends studying with her and their excitement about Halloween. "Of course I do, you're my best friends." She wished she could catch the words the fell from her mouth, but they were caught by the twins before she could even lift her hand. Fred was at his feet in an instant.
"I am honored madam that you would award such a title to such simple men as we!" George had joined him before she could blink, taking her hand and getting down on one knee. "We shall be forever grateful for such a title, it tis simply too much for low life's such as us!" Josie was turning red, people staring. "If you two don't sit down it'll be raspberry jam down both your shirts." She said quickly, covering her face with her hands. The bench bounced as they both sat next to her, leaning on the table.
"But seriously…" "Oh that's possible?" Josie cut Fred off, earning a chuckle from the both of them. "Yes, and we're glad you count us as your best friends." He finished. "You're one of ours too." George added. A smile twitched on her lips. "Thanks boys…" she looked up from her hands suddenly, getting an idea. "Here, write something." Handing George her quill and setting the letter to her mother in front of him, she watched him write a short message, signing it and then handing the quill to Fred. Fred leaned over her to scrawl, literally, a message and sign it with a flourish before setting the quill down. Josie looked it over before rolling all three letters together. "It'll be a miracle if my mother can read your handwriting Fred."
On her way to the owlery Josie decided to actually try and read what they had written. She only had to try because Fred Weasley's handwriting was in a word, atrocious. Waiting for Georgette to make her way down from the high ceiling, she looked at what they had said.
"Bonjour! I'm your daughter's friend, and I did not copy that greeting from her handwriting at the top of the page! My brother and I will make sure to get her into loads of trouble, but we won't get her expelled. Promise. I'd say more but George already has it covered. –Fred Weasley"
She smiled at his scrawl, rolling her eyes a bit at his obvious attempt to be above his brother. Her mother was sure to get a kick out of that, Fred was probably the one she'd like more. He had the ego her father did. Next she glanced down at George's writing, finding it a bit longer than his brothers.
"Hello there! This is George, one of Josie's friends. She's letting us write on her letter. Despite what your daughter may say, she is doing fine here and has met friends that will not let harm come to her…well, at least not from anyone but us, and we aren't too hard on her. She's bloody brilliant and a good friend, you should be proud of her. –George Weasley"
Josie smiled at his words, her heart thudding in her chest. Realizing she took the fact that they were more than just devious for granted, she swore they were getting presents next Hogsmead visit. The twins had a lot more to them then she originally thought. They were actually extremely smart, brilliant beaters, loving older brothers, kind hearted, and so many other things that she couldn't think to list. Josie didn't think most people realized what they were capable of, she felt terrible herself for not seeing it earlier. Fred and George Weasley were two of the most amazing people she had ever met.
Halloween had never been a more enchanting time for her, the castle was buzzing with excitement. Before dinner the twins had completed 13 pranks and not gotten caught once, even though three of them were on Percy and four were on Filch. Percy was looking very sour, his hair curling widely as it faded from bright purple back to its ginger color when she sat down between Fred and George, her hair bouncing as she nudged the twins with a grin. "I can see one of your efforts went well." She said as she fixed the orange and black bow that she had place in her hair. She could feel Percy eyeing it disapprovingly. "Oh yeah, went splendidly." Fred chuckled, waving at his brother.
The rest of the night went smoothly, Josie quickly becoming excited from all the food and sweets, her and the twins ending up in their dorm listening to music with Lee. Their beds were covered in candy, along with some of their outer clothing. Josie was down to her button up, skirt and tights, the boys just in their pants and shirts. Fred and Lee were loudly singing along to a song on the radio, while George and Josie sat on Fred's bed trying Berti Botts Every Flavored Beans. As she choked on a cinnamon flavored bean as Lee's voice cracked on a high note, she could not have been happier. She was completely at ease until Fred Weasley grabbed her hand and dragged her to her feet, her heart thudding widely as he spun her around to the music, her hands in his.
Fred bounced onto the bed next to her as the song ended, grabbing a chocolate frog and popping it into his mouth as he leaned against the bed poster. "How did your Halloween go Josie?" Lee asked, sprawling across his bed with his hands behind his head. "It went well, I put spider legs in all the beds in one of the girl's dormitories and slipped a howler into a Slytherin girl's bag disguised as a love letter. " She said softly, not too proud of her weak attempts at pranks but deciding to tell them anyway. George smiled, chewing on an éclair flavored bean as he clapped a hand on her shoulder. "Not bad." "Not bad at all." Fred added, tossing the wrapper to his frog on the ground with the rest of the wrappers.
Josie snorted when she looked at him. "Thanks. You've got chocolate on your face." She said as she gestured to his chin. He tried to wipe it with his sleeve, but missed several times despite her instruction. "Merlin, come here." She sat on her knees, batting his hand away gently and wiping the smear off with her thumb. Time seemed to slow down for Josie as she looked at him, his eyebrow raised at her as he grinned. Glancing at Lee as she retracted her hand, she was met with a grin and a wink, and she realized how red she was turning. "I should go to bed." She muttered, scrambling to get her stuff and heading for the door. She turned back as she closed it behind her, catching the twins look at each other then back at her, smiles forming as the door closed.
The next morning on the way to breakfast she tried to avoid them as much as possible, going down early and grabbing her food before the twins could show up and eating her toast as she went to the bathroom to wash up before class. Josie didn't like washing when other people may be there, she preferred to be alone. But it was hard when the bathrooms were shared with the rest of the girls in her house, so she picked times when she knew people wouldn't really be in there. Like the middle of the day or when people were at meals. Josie didn't mind that it meant she had to walk up and down stairs more than needed.
As Josie was drying her face she heard the door close behind her, and she looked out of instinct. A seventh year girl with bloodshot eyes and braided hair slammed her hand against the door, letting out a loud yell of frustration. Josie supposed something upsetting had happened to the girl, and decided to be as quiet as possible so she could sneak out and leave her be. But she was too late; the girl looked up and spotted her, sighing rather loudly and rudely. "Oh great, of course the weird ones are in here at this time of day." She said, her voice a bit nasally. "I'm sorry, I was just leaving. " Josie replied, ducking her head and picking up her things. She was slipping her sweater back on when she heard the girl laugh, making her flinch. "You're the girl those Weasley twins are always around. God, why can a fat girl get boys to like her but not me?" The girl said, pushing past her and slamming a stall shut as she disappeared into it.
Josie's stomach churned as she walked out of the tower, heading down to her first class, glad that she sat behind the twins so they wouldn't have to see her upset. She hoped the Quidditch game that weekend would cheer her up.