"They're doing it again."
Lee had stormed into the Great Hall, found George, sat down next to his friend, and began angrily shoveling food onto his plate. George, who had been counting his and Fred's winnings from the First Task, glanced up at Lee, not quite sure what exactly he was talking about. Then he heard what Lee had been referring to. Fred and Charley had just entered the Great Hall.
The arguing had been going on since Fred first laid eyes on Chuck, that was nothing new. Fred had always been flirtatious, with every girl he met, which of course included Charley. Somehow though, Fred had managed to morph the fighting and flirting into one super annoying beast that he reserved especially for Chuck.
The two were fighting over where to sit. Fred was waving his arms frantically, pointing to George and Lee. Charley had her arms crossed and was standing in front of a seat next to Angelina. She shrugged her shoulders at him and sat down. Fred glared at her, but took the seat next to her anyways.
"They've been doing it all morning." Lee said.
George had skipped his morning classes to catch up on some of the work that needed to be done for his and Fred's business. Fred had planned on skipping too until Chuck wandered up into the boy's dormitory asking if they were ready for class.
"They've been doing it for weeks." George replied.
"Well its bloody annoying." said Lee.
George watched as Fred shoveled a massive amount of food onto Charley's plate while she was talking to Angelina.
"He wants her." George said with a smirk.
"Again?" Lee groaned.
"Oh yes." George nodded.
"How do you know?" Lee asked.
"Look at him, he's acting like a complete dunderhead just to get her attention." George said nodding his head to the scene in front of them.
Lee shook his head as Charley finally noticed her plate piled up with food that she didn't want. She smacked a laughing Fred in the back of the head, which only made him laugh more.
"But I don't get it. She's totally attainable." Lee said shaking his head.
"Thing is, she isn't entirely attainable." George replied. "Remember when Chuck went to visit Hagrid?" George asked.
"Yeah." Lee nodded.
"Well, my brother Charlie was here from Romania delivering the dragons for the first task. She came back that night crying. I guess she got hurt pretty bad. Anyways, the minute he saw her pining after our brother, he was gone. It also helps that she's not interested in him in the slightest." George explained.
Lee couldn't help but laugh at Fred's idiocy. If there was anyone on the planet who could dig himself into a grave faster than Fred, Lee would have liked nothing better than to meet him and shake his hand. He glanced over at his two friend's, who were now laughing together.
"Hey George," Lee said keeping his eye on Charley and Fred.
"Yeah?" George asked.
"I was just thinking, have you ever seen Charley laugh like that?" Lee asked nodding to the pair.
George studied them for a moment. Lee was right. There was something different in Charley's laugh, in the way she was holding herself, in the way she was looking at Fred.
"Bollocks." George said under his breath.
"She is interested in him." said Lee.
George nodded slowly then sighed.
"This isn't going to end well." Lee said.
George shook his head and stood.
"You're right. Unless we can nip it in the bud." George smirked.
Lee followed his friend over to where Fred and Charley had began bickering yet again. George stopped behind Fred and placed his hands on his brother's shoulders.
"Fred, aren't you going to be late for something?" George asked him.
Fred looked up at him, confused.
"Er, no?" Fred replied.
"Detention with McGonagall." said Charley with a grin.
"That's right!" Fred exclaimed, he turned to Charley, "Were you just going to let me sit here and miss it?" he asked.
"Yeah, I was." she nodded. "I'm off to the library," she said standing.
"I'll walk with you. McGonagall's is on the way." Fred said quickly.
"Actually Fred, her office is in the opposite direction." George said turning his twin away from Charley.
"Don't worry Fred, we'll take care of her." Lee said flinging an arm around Charley's shoulders.
"Oh goody, I can't wait to study with you two." Charley said, her voice full of sarcasm.
"We know." Lee grinned.
She began to walk out of the Great Hall with Lee, beside her.
"I don't want to go to detention." Fred whined.
"Should've thought of that before you pissed her off." George replied patting his twin on the back.
"Yeah, yeah." Fred grumbled as he walked off towards McGonagall's.
George watched Fred for a moment, making sure he was actually going to detention. When he was sure Fred wasn't going to change course, George followed after Lee and Charley. He caught up with them on the staircase.
"Hello you two." he said jogging up behind them.
"Georgie, you made it!" Lee said thumping George's back.
Charley glanced at the two warily as they finally reached the library. The two followed her around as she grabbed books, then chose a table. She was vaguely aware of them watching her pull out her notes, open a book and began reading.
"So…" George said drumming his finger impatiently on the table.
"What?" Charley sighed looking up at them.
The two grinned at her with mischievous looks upon their faces.
"You and Fred." George said raising an eyebrow suggestively.
Charley looked at the two slightly baffled. She had been spending an awful lot of time with Fred, but for some reason she hadn't really considered it to be anything less than normal.
"I'm not following." said Charley after a moment.
"Well we've just noticed that the two of you have gotten rather close in the past couple of weeks." Lee explained, while George nodded.
"Yeah, well he was really sweet after the whole Charlie thing." Charley shrugged.
George and Lee burst into a fit of laughter. Charley watched as the two as they tried and failed to compose themselves.
"Stop laughing." Charley said.
Lee and George clung to each other, both breathless. Charley crossed her arms and glared at them angrily.
"Okay, okay, we're sorry." Lee sighed collecting himself.
"But do you really think Fred is completely without agenda?" George asked.
"Sorry?" Charley asked.
"The boy fancies you." said Lee bluntly.
Charley felt her face redden, a small smile broke across her lips.
"You think?" she asked in a rather girly voice. She wanted to gag as soon as the sound had left her mouth.
"No, bad." George snapped.
"You can't fancy him back you foolish girl." Lee said shaking his head.
"Listen, Fred fancies lots of girls, but as soon as they fancy him he loses interest. Do you understand?" George asked.
"Who said anything about fancying him?" Charley asked shrilly.
"You're face." replied George.
"Listen Chuck, the minute you show interest, he's going to drop you." said Lee.
Charley considered the two of them for a moment. She couldn't fathom why they would make any of this up, the only conclusion she could come up with, was that they were being entirely sincere.
"Alright, I believe you." she said finally, "But don't you think by staying away from him it'll make him fancy me more?" she asked.
Lee glanced at George, clearly shaken by her question. He had not thought of that. George however knew the answer.
"At first maybe, but eventually he will get bored. Trust me." George replied.
"Okay, I trust you." Chuck nodded.
George and Lee's relief was almost tangible. They grinned at each other triumphantly, for they had done it. They had saved Chuck from a world of hurt.
Fred couldn't believe he was standing in a room full of his fellow Gryffindors being taught dancing lessons by the biggest tightarse he knew. He had about a trillion other things he could be doing and they all would've been infinitely better.
"This is ridiculous." he said out of the corner of his mouth to George.
"Complete bollocks." George agreed.
"Look on the brightside, Chuck looks absolutely miserable over there with all those girls." Lee snickered nodding his head towards the other side of the room.
Fred and George joined in his laughter, but Fred's mind was elsewhere. Charley was sitting next to Angelina and Alicia, and did indeed look miserable. She loathed dancing, claiming she was awful at it. Fred suspected however, that with a body like that she would be anything but bad at it.
"Stop looking at her like that, you look like a creep." George whispered into his ear.
Fred jumped and looked at his twin, slightly embarrassed at being caught.
"I wasn't looking at anyone." Fred whispered back furiously.
"Right." George nodded with a wink.
"Fred, George, I would greatly appreciate it if you two would kindly pay attention!" Professor McGonagall snapped.
"Sorry Professor," George grinned.
Professor McGonagall continued her lesson, which was for the most part extremely dull. That was until she asked Ron if he would join her on the dance floor. Nearly everyone in the room had a hard time keeping a straight face as they stumbled about, McGonagall trying to teach Ron, Ron, too embarrassed to even pay attention.
After a few short moments, McGonagall called everyone to their feet and asked them all to grab a partner. Fred made a beeline for Charley, but was cut off by George.
"Dance with me brother." George said grabbing his twin.
Fred glanced at Chuck who was still seated in her chair. She was examining her nails, clearly not phased by McGonagall's request.
"C'mon Fred, it'll drive McGonagall mad." George said with a wink.
"How could I possibly pass that up." Fred beamed.
The good professor was indeed angry, but oddly enough, she wasn't angry with the twins.
"Miss Rook, is there a reason you aren't dancing?" she asked.
"I don't have a partner." Charley shrugged.
"Take a Weasley, there are after all so many of them." replied McGonagall.
"No luck professor, they're all taken." Charley smirked nodding her head to the twins.
McGonagall rolled her eyes, but made no move to break the two up. Instead she released Ron.
"By all means then, take this one." she said nudging Ron towards Charley.
"But Professor, you two make such a good couple." Charley said with a cheeky grin.
McGonagall glared at her sternly. Charley jumped to her feet, grabbed Ron by the wrist, and led back to the dance floor where pairs of Gryffindors danced awkwardly to the music.
"So Ronald, are you planning on going to this silly ball?" Charley asked as they stood unmoving in each others arms on the floor.
"McGonagall told Harry he's required to go, so I suppose I have to as well, right?" Ron asked.
"Yeah, he is your best mate," Charley nodded.
"Are you going?" asked Ron.
"Not if I can help it." Charley replied with a smile.
"This is a dance lesson you two, now start dancing!" Professor McGonagall snapped firmly at the two.
Ron gave a start. He tried to lead Charley to the music but only managed to step hard on her foot. He turned bright red as she cursed at him.
"Sorry." he mumbled.
"Way to go little brother," George said as he and Fred drifted over to the two.
"You know Chuck does need her feet." said Fred.
Half an hour later, Professor McGonagall finally clapped her hands together to call the Gryffindor's attention. She gave them a little speech about the Yule Ball, then sent them on their way. It was a mad rush getting out of the room, but eventually everyone made it.
Fred had dodged George and Lee, neither had noticed him trail off behind them, as they were both too preoccupied with discussing Mad-Eye Moody's latest lesson. He scanned the mob of people flowing out of the classroom, searching for Chuck. She was walking with Angelina, talking so fast it made Fred's brain hurt.
"Hello ladies." he said swooping in behind them.
"Hey Fred." Charley and Angelina said together.
"May I ask a question?" Fred asked.
Angelina and Charley exchanged a weary look.
"Go ahead." Angelina replied wearily.
"How is it that you two can always tell George and I apart?" he asked.
"George doesn't use the term ladies." Charley replied with a grin.
"Shenanigans! He says it all the time." Fred protested.
"Alright, alright, you're just more, well, ostentatious." said Angelina.
Fred cocked his head at them and Charley laughed.
"Big words confuse him." she said patting his shoulder. "It means, you're showy, extravagant, loud." Charley explained.
"I know what it means." Fred said with a pout.
"Alright Fred, we believe you." Angelina laughed. "Hey, I'll catch up with you guys later, I've got a question for Professor Flitwick."
"Bye Angelina." Fred sneered bitterly.
"I'll see you later." Charley said with a laugh.
Charley and Fred continued walking as Angelina made her way in the opposite direction. Charley glanced up at Fred with a small smile. His arms were crossed across his chest and he had a surly look on his face.
"I knew what ostentatious meant." Fred repeated.
"I believe you." Charley laughed.
"Yeah, yeah." said Fred.
He quickened his pace and turned to face her, walking backwards.
"So where are we headed Chuck?" he asked.
"Well I was going back to the common room. I didn't realize it had become a field trip." Charley replied with a grin.
"Two people is hardly a field trip, you need at the very least four people to make it a field trip." Fred replied smartly.
"Oh, I forgot you were the authority on field trips." Charley laughed.
"Darling, I'm the authority on anything you're confused about." Fred winked.
"Fred Weasley, you are so…" Charley paused looking for the right word.
"Amazing?" Fred offered.
"No, bigheaded." said Charley.
"Which only makes me more appealing." said Fred.
"Appalling is more like it. You're going to back right into little Dennis Creevey if you aren't careful." Charley said, her eyes scanning the area behind Fred.
Fred jumped to the side just in time. Dennis looked at the two and let out a timid laugh. First years always seemed to find the Weasley twins hilarious, no matter what they did. Charley just shook her head.
"We're going up stairs now, think you can manage that?" Charley asked.
"I can manage anything love." Fred said.
He tested the stair behind him with his foot, seeing how high it was, then he began ascending the stairs. Charley would have been impressed, except that he was moving at a stagnant pace.
"Fred, I have to be somewhere." Charley said impatiently.
"Oh sure, the common room." he scoffed, focusing on the stair behind him.
"Walk like a normal person please." she said moving to push past him.
He thrust his arms out and held onto both railings, blocking her from moving. She glared up at him and began tapping her foot.
"So this Yule Ball, you going?" Fred asked grinning.
"I don't dance." Charley replied.
"You should go, I mean everyone else will be going. Unless you'd rather spend the evening with the youngins." he said quickly.
"Fine I'll go." Charley sighed heavily.
"Good. You'll be going, I'll be going. That's good." Fred said smiling.
Charley narrowed her eyes at him. She wasn't sure what he was playing at. Was he asking her to go with him? Was he planning something? She was about to ask when he cut her off.
"Good chat Chuck, I'll see you later." he said.
Then he bent down, kissed her on the cheek and brushed past her walking back down the stairs. Charley stared after him open mouthed for a long time, even after he had disappeared into the crowd of students.