Disclaimer: I own nothing but my character, plotline and a few other characters strewn out about the story. If I owned Harry Potter then I'd have married James Phelps by now and shagged him until I couldn't walk for days or was pregnant. However, I don't own Harry Potter – so I can walk just fine and I'm not expecting any cute red-headed children running soon. Harry Potter belongs to J.K. ROWLING -- the rather amazing author. However, I did use a number of pieces of dialogue in this chapter and I probably will steal a phrase or two during the story.

REVIEW? :]

AUTHOR'S NOTE: I was formerly known as xxIHeartWeasleys but I decided to change it to MischiefManagedx. I'm SOOOO sorry for not updating recently guys, but I've had no muse whatsoever over the past few days – months – weeks. PLEASE don't abandon my story and I know some of you will have to go back a few chapters to remember what happened. But I love you guys so so so so soo much and don't hate me! Review, message me, anything you'd like! I wanna know what you guys think so far and any suggestions you'd like to give are greatly appreciated.

Chapter Five

"Everybody Wants To Be Wanted"

Fred avoided me for the next few days – which I imagine was hard since we have all of our classes together – and it wasn't until George cornered me one night after dinner that I realized anybody had noticed.

"Alright, what's going on?" he asked after pulling me into an empty classroom.

I looked at him funny and replied, "I was about to ask the same question. I understand you can't keep your hands off me, George, but you can't just be pulling me into random classrooms. Control yourself!"

Obviously I realized what he had meant and so had he, so he just rolled my his eyes at me.

"I meant with you and Fred, Ry".

"Oh".

"Yeah".

I faltered. "There's nothing going on", I insisted unconvincingly.

George scoffed. "Fred's my brother, you're my best friend; obviously I know when something's going on. You two haven't spoken since Calvin – oh".

I looked down at my feet awkwardly and shrugged, "Er – yeah". I always knew he was smart.

He moved closer to me and put his hand on my forearm in a way that was supposed to be a comforting gesture. I'd never admit it, but it made me feel better to know he wasn't taking sides.

"What happened?" he asked, attempting to look me in the eyes but I looked everywhere but.

I shrugged again, something I had been doing a lot according to Katie. "When I started to take him to the Hospital Wing, I asked him what was up because he wasn't acting quite right. He denied it and then we kind of got into a little fight I guess", I recalled quietly.

George's eyes widened slightly. Fred and I never fought, so I suppose I could see why he was so alarmed.

"You got into a fight?" he questioned.

I bit my lip, attempting to find the right words. "Not really a fight – there was no yelling – just a few snide remarks were exchanged", I replied slowly, trying to process if I was saying everything correctly.

He nodded slightly and sighed, "Then what happened?"

I glanced towards the ceiling, looking back on exactly what I'd been trying to avoid in my mind for the past couple for days.

"He started saying how he thought there was something off about Calvin, then the topic of the ball came up and how he'd have to deal with it seeing as Calvin might be my date", I continued, "And he said how he didn't have a date yet and then – and then…"

I trailed off. Had Fred been trying to ask me to the ball that night? I shook the thought out of my head quickly. No, of course not; he was my best friend.

Friends can turn into more, a voice in the back of my mind countered.

I contorted my face in confusion, not realizing that George was looking at me, still waiting for the rest of the story.

"And then?" he urged.

I took a deep breath, "And then he began to ask me a question before … before Calvin showed up".

George's mouth made a slight 'Oh' and I knew that he could put together what happened next. "He left?"

I nodded solemnly, "He hasn't even looked in my direction in days".

"Oh contraire, Ry. You're clearly as oblivious as you've always been. My dear twin looks your way quite a bit".

I raised my eyebrows and shook my head quickly.

He laughed and patted my hair, hopping up on a desk. "Oblivious".

I huffed. "I am not oblivious!"

This resulted in more chuckles coming from him, making me get even more peeved.

"George!"

"Ryleigh, has it ever occurred to you why Fred acts the way that he does?"

My face contorted in confusion again before responding, "Because you red-heads are very hot-headed?"

He sighed, "Regardless of our hair colour, Fred's always been a bit more protective of you than I have."

I glared before stomping my foot. "Merlin, George! Out with it!"

"He fancies you", he said with a shrug.

I opened my mouth to reply, but then closed it in concentration. I repeated this about three times before replying, "And you know this how?"

George laughed – laughed – and said, "Everybody in the wizarding world knows that, Ry".

"Has he told you?" I asked.

"Well, not exactly".

"Then don't make false accusations and voice them to me!"

The boy in front of me smirked and shook his head. "I'm his twin, I know things", he told me.

I was about to reply, but he quickly cut me off.

"And don't even tell me that you don't feel a bit of something for him either. I know you do", he said. "Just go kiss and make up. I'm sure he'll end up asking you that question".

And just like that, he was gone with a wink.

I stood there for a moment before I stomped my foot again and screamed, "George Weasley! You come back here this instant!"

I hurried out of the classroom to see George throw his head of red hair back in a roar of laughter and start running. I whipped my wand out and send a jelly legs jinx at his back but he ducked, avoiding it.

"Stupid boys with their stupid long legs!" I muttered as I was running after him.

He was well out of my sight by the time I had run up the first staircase. The portraits on the walls had laughed at me and gave me suggestions on where he was headed as I dashed past them.

I finally had reached the Gryffindor common room and quickly muttered the password to the Fat Lady, the door swinging open. I had climbed through the portrait hole just in time to hear Fred call from across the common room.

"Oi! Angelina!"

I watched the dark haired girl look up warily at him. "Yeah?"

"Do you, want to come to the ball, with me?"

My heart sunk and I saw George give me a sympathetic look from next to his twin.

My friend smiled and replied, "To the ball? Oh, yeah, alright". She then looked back to her friends and began talking as if she hadn't just been asked to the ball by whom I thought may have possibly wanted to go with me.

I approached the twins and Ron, right as Fred was telling his little brother, "There you go! Piece of cake".

George cleared his throat and looked up at me in fake interest as I reached their table.

"My, my, my! Ryleigh Lovette, what a pleasant surprise!"

I rolled my eyes and smiled sadly at his twin. "Fred, could we talk?" I asked awkwardly, fiddling with my sleeves.

"Er – yeah, sure", he replied and got up from his table. We walked up to his dormitory in complete silence, me playing with my sleeves the entire time. As soon as he closed the door behind us with his foot he engulfed me in a hug.

I was surprised, to say the least, but hugged him back as he kept his hold on me.

"I'm sorry", he murmured in my ear, still not letting me go.

I shook my head and squeezed him tight, petting his hair lovingly. "No, I'm sorry I didn't get where you were coming from", I replied.

He sighed and gave my hips a small squeeze, resulting in me making a sound that crossed between a squeak and an 'EEP'.

Fred laughed into my hair and I felt a wave of comfort wash over me.

"So the ball is next week", he started nervously.

I nodded slowly, all comfort that I had just been feeling gone. "You're going with Angelina?"

He grinned sheepishly and shrugged. "You saw that?" he asked.

I raised an eyebrow but forced a laugh. "The entire common room saw that, Fred", I replied.

He laughed with me and patted my arm, "Well, I needed a date and I figured Angelina was a good pick".

I rolled my eyes and smiled at my best friend, staring into his clear blue eyes. "I missed you", I whispered.

He tucked a stray piece of hair behind my ear and smiled back at me.

"I missed you too, Ry. It's been hell these past few days without you", he said.

I couldn't help but feel my heart flop inside of my chest as he pulled me into another hug. I don't know how long we stood like that, but I heard George whoop from the doorway before we pulled apart to look at him.

He grinned widely at Fred, but sent a secret smile my way. I felt my face flush and I knew what he was thinking. He was wrong, wasn't he? Fred and I were just friends, right? Right.

I opened my arms, pushing the thoughts out of my head. "Get in on this love, George!" I told him.

He ran dramatically into me and Fred's outstretched arms, sharing a group hug as we always did. The Three Amigos, back in action!

"Sorry to interrupt this love fest", Lee called from the door, grinning madly. "But Ry, your brother's in the common room looking for you".

"Thanks, Lee!" I said, running out of the door and down to the common room, spotting my little brother on the couch with some friends.

"There she is!" called one of his little first year friends as I approached. I raised an eyebrow, but smiled nonetheless.

"Hey, Xav", I greeted, sitting down on one of the armchairs. "What'cha need?"

He smiled at me and gripped my forearms, shaking me excitedly. "I got a letter from Dad! We're going home for Christmas!" he exclaimed.

I blinked and then chuckled. "We always go home for Christmas", I explained to him. "Well, maybe not you since it's your first year – but yeah, I've always gone home".

He shook his head and laughed. "No, you don't understand. Grandmother and Grandfather are staying with us!"

My eyes lit up at the sound of their names and I didn't even notice the twins sitting on either side of me.

"What's with her?" George asked one of my brother's little firstie friends.

"Grandmother and Grandfather are staying with them for Christmas", the boy replied with a shrug and the twins instantly knew what this meant.

"That means you're coming to Christmas dinner at the Weasley's!" Fred burst out.

My Grandmother used to baby-sit Molly when she was a child, and was closer to the twins' parents' age than my father was. He was a young wizard, just turned thirty a few years back. Our families were extremely close.

I grinned and nodded, looking up at him as I snapped out of my trance. I loved Christmas with the Weasley family; everything was so bright, so warm and so happy.

"Oh, guys!" I exclaimed, "This is going to be the best Christmas ever!" And with that, I pulled the three boys into my arms and drowned in a mess of red and brown hair.

Once we pulled away, George looked deep in thought and I looked at him curiously.

"What are you thinking?"

"I'm thinking I want to go to the kitchens", he replied. His twin looked just as eager, nodding his head.

I considered this for a second, then did the opposite of Fred and shook my head. "Not in the mood", I told them but smiled. "You guys go on ahead, I'll go talk to the girls".

Fred's lips morphed into a smirk, "Ah, you ladies are going to gush over how lucky Angelina is to be accompanied by me to the ball?"

I didn't show him at all how my heart sunk at the reminder that he wouldn't be possibly asking me to the Yule Ball this winter. I faked a smile, but I knew he could tell it wasn't real as I laughed half-heartedly.

"Yeah, Fred. You're such a catch", I told him before turning on my heel and walking up the stairs to the girls dormitory.

If only he knew.

As I was walking back from Transfiguration the next day, I felt a hand grasp my wrist from behind and pull me into an empty hallway. I had been alone, seeing as the twins had rushed off to attempt a prank on Moody again which I wanted no part of.

I thought it may have been one of my favourite red heads that pulled me into the hallway, so I rolled my eyes and turned around to say, "Guys, I swear I'm not doing this aga—".

I trailed off as I met a pair of deep hazel eyes. Calvin.

"Hi", I breathed.

He smiled and said, "'Ello, Ryleigh.".

I had been avoiding him since the Fred incident, and we both knew it. Hence the sad eyes that were currently looking into my bright brown ones.

"'Ow 'ave you been?" he asked quietly.

I tried to smile, but I felt out of breath like I always did around the silly French boy.

Croissant, Fred's voice instantly boomed in my mind, but I shook it away quickly to respond.

"I've been alright, and yourself?"

"Not so well, I'm afraid", he told me, getting closer to me.

I took a step back, feeling instantly uncomfortable and unsure of what to do as I shifted my sleeves.

"Oh yeah? Why's that?" I inquired.

Calvin shrugged, taking another step towards me, resulting in me taking another one back.

"You see, zhere's zees girl I 'ave met recently", he started and took another step.

"A g-girl?" I stuttered.

He smirked and nodded. "Oui, mon cherie. And it seems to be zat she's been purposely avoiding me".

"R-Really?" I stuttered again. Dammit, why was I so nervous? I'm never nervous around boys. I barely talk to anybody but boys!

"Zat hurts me, do you know zat?" Another step.

I nodded slowly. "I-I imagine it would. That tends to … hurt". Oh, how crafty. Way to go, Ry. You're a real word wiz.

"Oui. Especially since I cannot seem to get zees girl off of my mind", he told me seriously.

"I'm sure she's not that special", I muttered quietly. He caught it.

"Oh, no. She's quite somezeeng, zees girl", he told me. Two steps.

I backed up again and my back hit the cold stone wall behind me.

No where else to run, Ryleigh, I told myself.

He seemed to realize this as the smirk on his lips widened and he placed a hand on either side of my head on the wall. I felt cornered – like a mouse. But strangely, I didn't care.

"Do you know zees girl, cherie?"

I shook my head as his face leaned closer to mine.

"'Er name eez Ryleigh Lovette", he said, his voice almost a whisper.

"Oh". Yeah, that was all that I could get out. Oh. How smooth am I?

"Ryleigh", he now whispered against my lips, Our faces so close I could kiss him at that moment.

"Calvin?" I replied unsurely.

"Will you go to the Yule Ball with me?"

I stood there for a second, a thousand emotions flying in and out of my head all within that bit of time before I took a deep breath and smiled.

"Of course I will", I told him.

I grin bloomed over his face, replacing the smirk that was present up until a minute or so ago.

"I think you know what I'm going to do next", he said quietly before crashing his lips into mine.

At first, I really didn't know what to do. I mean, I've kissed a handful of boys before, but never did any other them half a French accent or talk so smoothly.

But nevertheless, I kissed him back and before I knew it, it was over. It was a brief kiss as if a taste of what we were both going to experience in the near future.

He smiled at me again once he pulled away and smoothed over my hair, placing a soft kiss on my forehead.

"Avoir, cherie", he whispered.

And just like that, he was gone. I couldn't wait for the dance. I was going to get all gussied up in the beautiful dress robes me and Grandmother went shopping for over summer break, have Katie help me with my hair and Alicia help me with my makeup.

I was going to be the belle of the ball. That's what Grandmother had said when she saw me twirling around in the changing room of the store.

I hope Fred thought I looked like a belle. I mean, even though I was going with Calvin, I couldn't just ignore the feeling in the pit of my stomach when I found out that he was going with Angelina.

I thought maybe he might possibly have wanted me. Oh well. Maybe he'd want me after watching me dance around all night in Calvin's arms.

I liked Calvin; I became speechless around him and couldn't find the breath to form words. But I felt something different with Fred. I guess it's true what Daddy said once upon a time.

Everybody just wants to be wanted.