I feel so accomplished. Three chapters up in less than a week, with a fourth one halfway one. I'm so excited. I'm glad that people are enjoying this fic. I've noticed that the story has received a lot of hits (but very few reviews winkwink). I'm grateful to all the reviewers and people who have put my story under their favorites or story alerts.
I'm not totally enamored with this chapter; but in the words of Farmer Hogget "that'll do pig, that'll do". Just as a side note, Fred and Charlotte usually don't argue like this. It's very rare. Their friendship is rather peaceful, compared to that of say, Ron and Hermione's in the HP books.
This one's for Fred
Dinner went by without any other surprises. Lee and Angelina had left shortly after everyone had finished their delicious pudding. Lee had to wake up early for his morning radio show, and Angelina's happy condition left her feeling a bit exhausted. Most of the guest had retired to the living room to enjoy a nice cup of tea, while Katie, Charlotte and Fred hurriedly washed up.
Fred brought in the last of the dishes and placed them next to the sink. He leaned against the counter and watched Lottie.
Noticing this Katie quickly excused herself from the room.
Lottie knew exactly what was coming. Fred was going to try and convince her to join him and the others, even though she had explained the situation to George.
Made up situation, that is, she thought cynically. When she heard that Chloe, Fred's girlfriend, wouldn't be joining them, Lottie had almost decided to join the group after all. However, her friends would all be paired off with their significant others. And Fred, being the handsome bloke he was, would be hounded by women all night. It happened nearly every time, they went out dancing. She and Fred would dance together for a few songs, and then some chit would come and steal him for a dance, and then another. Leaving Charlotte either alone at the bar nursing a glass of wine, or being chatted up by scummy men.
Charlotte shuddered as she remembered their last group outing.
The more she thought about it, the more she realized she'd have a miserable time. She decided to stick to her earlier excuse. Made up, or not, Lottie had said she wasn't going and she would stand by her words.
Fred nudged Charlotte before speaking
"Are you really not coming out with us tonight?"
Lottie focused on the last pile of dishes she was washing, "I can't Fred"
"Why not? We haven't gone out like this in a long time"
Lottie shook her head, "I'm sorry, but I have work to do. I already spoke to George about it"
"Yeah. He told me, but you know I won't give up till you come with" Fred finished stubbornly
Inhaling deeply, Lottie finished the last of the dishes and turned all of her attention to Fred. "Fred," she said calmly, "you know how long I've been working on translating these runes. I'm almost done with them, I can't just abandon them now"
Fred threw his hands up in frustration, "I'm not telling you to abandon them. Just take the night off to hang out with your mates for fuck's sake"
His voice had risen at the last part, which caused Charlotte to raise hers as well
"I'm here aren't I?"
"That's not the point! I'm glad you're here. Just take a bleeding night off from your research. Damn it, you're worse than Hermione," Fred said as he turned away from Lottie
"You leave Hermione out of this! She's got nothing to do with this"
They both heard various voiced agreements from outside the kitchen, but chose to ignore them.
"Fine," Fred said heatedly as he began to pace the room, "but that doesn't take away from the fact that you are a workaholic… Giuseppa!"
For a few seconds Lottie could only open and close her mouth in shock, before she let out a growl "That was low Fred, you know how much a despise my middle name,"
Fred simply smirked and shrugged, "You had it coming"
"What about you," Lottie asked as she roughly poked his chest, causing Fred to wince, "I've popped by your flat at all hours of the day, only to find you working in the shop's lab on some new product"
Fred blushed a furious red at the truth of Charlotte's words, "yeah. Well… that's not the point. Stop trying to turn this around on me. I've never skived off on you because of work"
Now it was time for Lottie to turn red, but she decided to channel her embarrassment into frustration, "That's because I'm considerate of your work schedule," she said as she slammed her hands on the counter and felt tears of shame and frustration prickle her eyelids.
"I'm not going, and that's final. You lot will have wonderful time, and I'm sure you won't even notice that I'm missing"
Fred stayed silent as he watched Lottie pull herself together. She quickly made sure she looked unruffled and nodded to Fred
"Now let's stop behaving as petulant children and put this incident behind us"
Fred shook his head, and walked out of the kitchen first, holding the door open for Charlotte. The duo walked into the sitting room, where everyone looked any where but at them. It was more than obvious that they had heard the entire argument. Fred walked across the room and looked out the window, ignoring the glance George sent his way.
"Umm… tea anyone," Katie said lamely, clearly feeling unsure of what to do
"Thank you Katie, but I should be leaving. Next time the drinks will be on me. Have a right good time you lot," Lottie said as she hugged and kissed everyone goodbye.
When she reached Fred he was wearing a very ugly look on his face. Lottie rolled her eyes when he made no move to hug her. Reaching up on her tip toes she gave him a peck on the cheek, before making her way to the entrance hall, where she quickly shrugged on her coat. Right now, all she wanted to do was get home before the guilt began to settle in.
Bracing herself for the cold, Charlotte ran out into the chill winter air. She had disconnected her floo in order to have her chimney swept, so she needed to find a secluded spot to disapparate.
If she hadn't been in such a rush, she would have noticed Fred looking at her from the window.
(The next morning)
The next morning found Lottie sitting in front of the telly. There were dark circles under her red, blotchy eyes. The evenings had left her feeling horribly guilty. She had spent most of the night crying and thinking about her behavior. It had been completely wrong of her to lash out at Fred, and to lie to her friends. She deserved to be severely punished.
This was why she had been subjecting herself to a Big Brother marathon all morning.
Suddenly, an overly energetic fuzz ball flew in through her open window, tangling itself in the wind chimes.
"Oh Pig," Charlotte sighed as she went to rescue the overactive owl. This only seemed to excite the owl further, which made it extremely difficult to retrieve her letter. She was finally able to get the parchment, and realized it was from Hermione.
Lottie
You have probably been subjecting yourself to torturous hours of reality television. I also don't doubt that you are on your second pot of tea.
Lottie shrugged and looked at her third pot of tea.
I suggest you stop faffing about, and join me for lunch at the Red Lion Pub. We have to talk about yesterday.
Hermione
P.S. Put down that Hob Nob.
Laughing at how well Hermione new her (or how predictable she was, Lottie couldn't really decided which), Lottie put down the milk chocolate biscuit. This should turn out to be an interesting lunch.
