Fred stood in the common room glaring at Chuck. Chuck stood glaring back. George sat on a sofa looking up at the couple, wishing their stupid fight would just end. It was almost Christmas break; they had been fighting since the beginning of December.
The whole mess had started when Fred and Alicia Spinnet were forced to kiss under a bit of mistletoe, then it snowballed from there. Shortly after the mistletoe incident, just as Chuck was beginning to get over the kiss, Ginny had let slip that Alicia and Fred had actually dated in their fifth year. Ever since then the two had been off and on.
"You know jealousy looks really ugly on you," Fred spat angrily.
"I'm not jealous; I'm just annoyed that my boyfriend would rather spend time with his ex-girlfriend than his current one!" Charley replied.
"We walked to class together Charley! We ran into each other in the Great Hall and walked to class together!" Fred hollered.
"Fred, you are always with her. At Quidditch practice, walking to class, she was your bloody partner in our last D.A. meeting!" Charley screamed throwing her hands up in frustration.
"First of all, I'm not even on the Quidditch team anymore, so that's a load of dung. And second you weren't talking to me that D.A. meeting." Fred said crossing his arms.
"So you pick your ex-girlfriend?" Charley asked incredulously.
"Yeah, I did, because at least she doesn't freak out on me for walking with another girl to class!" Fred yelled.
They stood frozen for a moment, breathing heavily. George thought both of them were being ridiculous. Charley, for one, was being completely idiotic; any one with eyes could see that Fred wanted to be with her and only her. George couldn't possibly understand what she was acting crazy for. Then again, Fred had been acting extremely insensitive since the whole Alicia thing had started. In fact George was sure Fred had started out almost enjoying Charley's jealousy, giving her reasons to be jealous just to get a rise. George was sure Fred regretted that course of action now.
"You know what Fred, if Alicia is so much better, maybe you should just date her," Charley seethed.
Before Fred could say anything else Charley had turned on her heel and bolted upstairs to the girls' dormitory. Fred sighed heavily and flopped down on the sofa next to George.
"Are relationships always this difficult?" he asked George.
George glanced at his brother. He was pretty sure every relationship had its problems, after all their parents had had a decent amount of fights in their time. However, George was certain he had never seen a couple handle their problems as poorly as Fred and Chuck.
"I dunno Fred, I mean, I know you love her, but have you ever thought that maybe you two are better as just friends?" George asked slowly, not wanting to upset his brother.
"Not until recently," Fred sighed.
"Well, you may want to rethink that option Fred."
"Gee George, you're smothering me with all your comforting words, please stop," Fred said sarcastically.
"I'm sorry," George replied with a laugh, "It's just, you two have been going at it for weeks, I'm sick of watching you rip each other to bits."
"I know, but I love her," Fred said glancing at his brother.
"Well, if that's true, then you need to talk to her," George replied bluntly.
"Yeah, I know," Fred said. "You know, sometimes I wonder, if she'd be happier if she and Charlie had ended up together," he said with a half laugh.
"Don't be ridiculous Fred," George laughed with a shake of his head. "They spent all of one week together."
"You're right," Fred nodded. "I was joking," he said with a grin, but George knew he hadn't been.
Fred pushed himself out of the sofa. George watched his twin trudge up to their dormitory. More than anything he wanted Fred and Charley to be happy, but sometimes he wasn't so sure they were right for each other.
The next morning Fred rolled out of bed, after a night of hardly any sleep. He dressed quickly and headed down to the common room. Charley was sitting at a table in the corner scribbling across a piece of parchment. She looked as though she'd hardly slept as well.
Fred took a deep breath, and then made his way over to her. She looked up from her writing as he took the seat next to her.
"What are you writing?" Fred asked, trying to keep his voice light.
"A letter," Charley replied.
"To Lupin?" he asked, hating the way his voice sounded.
"No, actually, I'm writing Charlie," she said looking up tentatively. When Fred raised his eyebrows in surprise, Charley continued quickly. "He's been writing me for a while, I decided it was finally time return them and be friends again," Charley explained.
"You have impeccable timing, my dear," Fred drawled sarcastically.
Coming into the conversation Fred had wanted nothing more than to work out their relationship, but something in the way Charley had said his brother's name made him rethink George's question about their friendship.
"What is that supposed to mean?" Charley asked not missing Fred's comment.
"Nothing, all I meant is that you chose quite a time to rekindle you friendship with him," Fred sighed.
Charley raised an eyebrow. She did not look pleased.
"Fred, are you jealous?" she asked incredulously.
"No Chuck, I'm not jealous, I just feel like you could have chosen better timing," Fred replied. "I mean it's just interesting that you choose to ignite your friendship with my brother who you once had extremely strong feelings for the night after we have you huge fight over my ex-girlfriend." Fred could hear the anger in his voice.
The truth was, Fred was jealous, extremely jealous. He knew he was being irrational, they had spent such a short amount of time together, yet the thought of Chuck and Charlie sending letters to each other made his blood boil.
"Alright, clearly you're upset, so here's what I'm going to do," Charley said snapping her book shut. "I'm going to leave and let you cool off."
She stood and began walking towards the portrait hole, then stopped abruptly, turned and walked back to him at the table. She didn't look angry anymore. Her anger was replaced by sadness.
"Before I go, I just want you to understand that my timing has nothing to do with our fight, really it doesn't," she said softly. She fiddled with her hands for a moment, then looked back to him and said, "Fred, I love you, but this isn't working."
"I know," Fred nodded.
Charley sat down again, tears threatening to fall from her eyes. She looked up at him and met his gaze.
"So, what do we do?" she asked.
He reached out for her hand and took it gently in his. Fred wanted to tell her everything was going to be alright, he wanted to say they'd move past this, but the truth was, he wasn't sure.
"We just need a break," Fred said, hoping beyond all hope that a break was truly all they needed.
Charley said nothing. She nodded, whether in agreement or in reluctant acceptance, Fred didn't know. Fred watched with a heavy heart as she stood and left the common room, left him alone.