Friday 26th November 1993
Liv lay awake for many nights after that day in the library, buried in her own thoughts. She felt confused by her own emotions, so decided to take stock.
Weeks ago, when Fred had approached her in Hogsmeade, Liv had felt glad that he had chosen to seek her out – she had assumed he was enjoying making her acquaintance as much as she was his, and, George being occupied, used asking her for homework help as an excuse to hang out. She felt glad about this. Really glad.
Then, when he brought the topic up again as they parted ways at the castle, Liv realised that no, he did just actually want homework help, and was charming her to try and get it. Whatever, she had shrugged, can't fault him for hustling. Him approaching her in the library with said homework reinstated her belief.
That was until it became clear that Fred didn't need help with his homework at all – hope reignited within Liv that perhaps he just wanted to spend time with her and was looking for an excuse. But the weird interaction they had regarding Laurie had cast doubts upon her again. Was she an old flame of his? A current one, even?
Liv desperately wanted to talk this out with Holly but knew she couldn't without mentioning that for starters she had asked Fred about Laurie's sexuality, which Holly would be fuming at, and secondly that Laurie did, at the very least, like boys – perhaps girls too, but without any concrete information either way, Liv felt that to bring it up with Holly would just be to unfairly toy with her.
Liv pulled the drapes back from her bed to look out the window at the night sky. It was a clear night, the moon shining bright, but Liv couldn't decipher whether it was past midnight yet or not. She had gone to bed as a fifteen-year-old but would be waking up as a sixteen-year-old – perhaps she already was. She remembered the old song her Gran used to sing around the house, Sweet Sixteen and Never Been Kissed. She heard her mother's voice, and so what if a girl chose to not give herself away to a man like that at that age? Liv smiled to herself. Her mother would at least be happy at Liv's lack of romance in her young life.
Whatever her age at present, Liv would wake in the morning most definitely sixteen. She would also be playing in her first Quidditch game of the season against Hufflepuff.
Sunday 28th November
Mam -
Thanks for the birthday card and money. I knew you'd figure out the conversion rate eventually. We've got a trip to the local village coming up this weekend so I'll be sure to rot my teeth on something good. I had a good birthday thanks – we played against Hufflepuff and absolutely flattened them. I scored loads. Wish you could've seen. Holly got me some books on magical marine life. Oh, and she says hi.
Sounds like you're enjoying the East coast – it looks pretty, even in the rain. Do you know where we're going to be staying over Christmas this year? Holly told me to tell you that her mum and dad said we can do Christmas at theirs again if you want. I'll leave it to you to sort it out with them. I've put their address on the back of here in case you don't want to use owl post again.
Love you loads and miss you already. See you in a few weeks.
Olive xx
P.S. Holly keeps quoting Gloria Steinem at me. I think you better have a new book for her ready for Christmas.
Saturday 18th December
"You two look more like twins that we do."
Holly had been experimenting. Her "friendship" with Laurie had started to fizzle out, and in a desperate bid to regain her attention, she had decided a makeover was the best way to do it. Using tips from one of Liv's muggle fashion magazines, she had crimped her hair by leaving it in tight plaits overnight.
The result was a striking resemblance to Liv post-Quidditch match. Liv's hair was long, and her mass of curly hair managed to stay smooth, and the ringlets tight, for most of the time, excepting times when it was exposed to intense wind from a Quidditch game. Holly's hair in its straight form fell just below her shoulders, but in its crimped form had shrunk to a frizzy bob that gave her the look of a dandelion.
"Har-har," Holly replied sarcastically to George Weasley, his brother standing by his side. The girls had managed to find a booth in the Three Broomsticks and was enjoying a warm butterbeer as snow fell rapidly outside.
"Can we join you? There're no other seats," Fred said, gesturing round to the busy pub. They both held a butterbeer each in their hands.
Liv and Holly looked at each other. Liv could tell Holly didn't want to move over and allow them to sit. They hadn't had a Hogsmeade trip together yet and were soon to be breaking up for Christmas. However, Holly also knew that it was she who broke their tradition of having the first trip of the year to themselves, knew that they were going to be seeing each other over Christmas anyway, and knew that her best friend would very much like to move over for the twins. For one of them, at least. This was all communicated between the girls in a split second, before Liv slid across the seat and offered the space with a smile to Fred. Holly followed suit, somewhat reluctantly, and George sat beside her.
"Hey, I never wished you happy birthday," Fred said to Liv.
"Fred likes older women you know," George said with a smirk. Fred laughed, and though Liv blushed she still grinned.
"Please," said Fred, "that's a bit of a useless adjective. It's not like I'm picky."
"Then what was wrong with Laurie Martin?" George shot back. Holly's head snapped towards him, and then Fred, staring intently and waiting for him to respond.
Fred caught Holly's eye for a split second before looking back to his brother. He was still smiling, but Liv noticed it seemed a little more forced now and didn't reach his eyes.
"You know the answer to that already, Georgie," he said softly.
"What happened?" Holly's voice was sharp and strong. Fred sighed.
"Oh, it was pretty funny – I mean, not for him-"
"George," Fred's smile had gone now, and his tone was warning. Holly's whole body was turned to face George now, her expression demanding more information. She could be intense, even scary, when she was like this, something George clearly saw.
"Oh, well," George's tone was less joking now. "It's nothing really. She just had a bit of a crush on our Fred here and... Well, the girl likes to write letters, there's nothing wrong with that. Only..."
"It was one a day for 4 weeks straight for fuck's sake," Fred's voice was muffled as his whole face was in his hands. "I wrote back a few times, hoping she'd stop – then I was politely asking her to stop, then... less politely. But then, we went on a family holiday to Egypt, see-"
George, after holding back his laughter while Fred spoke, finally broke down and let out a snort.
"She didn't stop!" George said through his laughter. "She kept sending Fred letters while we were abroad, and she sent so many that Domestic Affairs – both Muggle and Magical – thought Fred was up to something dodgy. Egyptian authorities-" he was struggled to speak now through his laughter, "-they ended up detaining him and questioning him, and the Ministry had to step in to let us go home and wipe the Egyptian's memories!"
George was slapping the table in laughter and wiping tears from his eyes. Fred sat rather rigidly. Holly stared into space, mouth agape, taking in the information. Liv, however, couldn't help herself – she began laughing, lightly at first, until both her and George were cackling like maniacs, the kind of laughter that seems like its flowing from a dam unable to stop.
Fred downed his drink, then George's. "Another round?" he asked no one in particular, standing up and heading to the bar.
By the time he came back, George and Liv's laughter had mostly subsided, and Holly was sat with her head in her hands staring wide at the table.
"Fucking hell," she kept murmuring. "Fucking hell,"
Fred placed four butterbeers on the table and handed them out. Holly grabbed one without thanks and took a big gulp.
"Cheers, Freddie," Liv said, taking one.
"That's mental," Holly continued. "Like, proper mental. I mean, I thought I was intense when it came to dating. But, I mean – shit, I was gonna send her a Christmas card and letter over the holidays! What if I had and then I got detained in France on our skiing holiday?"
Liv was watching Fred. He was leaning back in the seat with his arms crossed across his chest, a grin starting to slowly spread across his face. He caught Liv watching and held her gaze a moment before shrugging.
"I can see the funny side now," he said to her. "But it was a bit scary at the time, not gonna lie. What can I say?" he said nonchalantly, pretending to stretch and flexing his arm muscles. "I'm basically this generation's Lockheart."
"Yeah, about as clever too," said George.
The four decided to walk back to the castle together, the snow having mostly subsided now. Holly had decided – and Liv could guess why – to loop her arm through George's and walk at a quicker pace ahead of Fred of Liv. Liv could hear her chattering incessantly to him, asking very interested questions about Quidditch. Holly hated Quidditch.
"Sorry that came up like that," Fred said quietly to Liv. Their footsteps made soft crunching noises through the snow. Fred's nose was red with cold. "I know Holly had a thing for her. Suppose she should've been told, I just didn't think it was my place to do it, you know?"
Liv said nothing. She wasn't really sure what to make of the whole situation. In a way, she was glad Holly had been told the information, and glad she didn't have to be the one to deliver it. But she was also sad for Holly; she knew she'd not want to continue pursuing Laurie, and she'd be disappointed at the lost romance. Additionally, she still felt that pang of jealousy at someone else having an interest in Fred – which she knew was silly, because lots of girls in her school already have, and probably will continue to have. But, at the same time, she felt kind of glad that it had gone so horribly for Laurie as to put Fred off for good.
And so, Liv said nothing. They walked on in each other's silence for a while. Holly and George were well out of earshot now.
"Are you going skiing?"
Liv was pulled out of her thoughts. "Huh?"
"Holly mentioned she was going to France to ski over the Christmas holidays."
"Oh! Yeah, no – no, I'm not. Me and Mam will be going to Holly's family for Christmas dinner, but Boxing Day they're going abroad."
Fred nodded. "It's nice you spend Christmas together."
"Yeah," Liv said with a smile. "Well-" she hesitated for a moment. She didn't feel ashamed of her mother or their living situation, not most of the time anyway, but there was a slight teenage insecurity in her that her peers would think less of her for it. "Well, Mam is a bit nomadic see – she lives in a caravan and travels round doing photography. There's not much room in there to cook a full Christmas dinner," she said with a light laugh.
"Oh, cool!" Fred said, seeming genuinely impressed, to Liv's surprise. "I bet you've been loads of places then." Liv felt relieved at his reaction. She hoped he wasn't just being polite. "My family's so big," he continued, "we've never really been able to travel anywhere. Too expensive. That trip to Egypt was a bit of luck, and it was brilliant. I want to see loads more of the world. Devon's nice, like, but it's so familiar now."
"I love Devon," Liv smiled. "Mam likes to shoot there so I've been there a fair bit. Maybe we should trade places for a summer. I've always wondered what it'd be like having a sibling."
"Not a sibling, dear Livvie, try having six of them."
Liv laughed. "I bet you love them really."
Fred smiled and shrugged. "I dunno... I did make a few attempts on my little brother's life when we were kids. When he was seven, I gave him an acid pop and it burnt a hole in his tongue. Mum walloped me with a broomstick when she found out."
Liv laughed and they continued to walk in silence for a while. The castle began to loom into view through the wintery white mist, and yet again Liv's heart sank, this being a sign that her time with Fred was coming to a close.
Fred seemed to sense this too. As they approached the castle – Holly and George having already disappeared into it – Fred spoke again.
"I hope we have another class together next term. If we do, I bagsy sitting next to you. You're loads better to copy from than George or Lee."
Liv laughed and felt her tummy do a somersault. "Yeah, alright – but you'll have to fight Holly."
