Chapter Nine

Fred had been running all the way out of Hogwarts, with Angelina in hand tightly, making it hard for her to let go.

"Fred where in Merlin's name are you taking me?" Angelina asked. This wasn't the first time she had asked him, as she had asked him continuous times and he had chosen to ignore her.

"Angelina you'll see now hurry! I thought you could run faster since Oliver always had you do all those running drills, plus those long legs." Fred said to her, quickly thinking about those same long legs in the springtime when they're in shorts, accidentally brushing up against him. Although it had happened many times before, he could keep it off of his mind until now.

"It's kind of hard to do so when you're cutting off my hand circulation!" Angelina's palm was getting redder and she could feel the blood in her hand.

Fred instantly halted outside in the snow with Angelina almost toppling over him. He'd finally let go of her hand and she was gripping it as she held steady.

Fred walked over to the stairs to the dungeons. As he was walking downstairs he turned around and saw Angelina standing there.

"Angie why are you standing there?"

"If you think I'm going to go down there for your little silly surprise and risk running into Professor Snape then you're absolutely mad, Fred." Angelina crossed her arms and sat on the stairs looking at him.

Fred sighed.

"Angie, do you really want me to ruin the surprise? We don't have that much long to go, please come with me!" Fred asked her. They looked at each other for a moment. The wind blew cold air against their faces. Angelina loved surprises, plus she wanted to see what this 'surprise' was.

"Oh, fine, Fred." Angelina got up from the stairs and came down with him.

"This surprise better be good…" she muttered.

Soon, the two were underground at the edge of a staircase, and next to a statue of Helga Hufflepuff. Fred searched frantically in his pocket for his wand.

"Is this it?" Angelina whispered. "An empty staircase and a statue of Helga Hufflepuff? Thanks for the trip, Fred, but I'm going back to the dormitory."

Angelina turned around to leave until she heard a tapping sound and something move. She turned around and saw that the statue of Helga Hufflepuff was moved and there was a dark tunnel where the statue used to be.

Angelina was shocked, she asked Fred, who was already in the tunnel, "Fred, where are you going, where does this lead to?"

"It goes to Hogsmeade. I told you this trip was worth while, Angie." Fred told her grinning.

Angelina hesitated for a moment, and then stepped into the tunnel with Fred. Fred tapped the Helga Hufflepuff statue again and it closed. The tunnel was pitch black and nothing was seen.

"Lumos!" Angelina recited the charm as the tip of her wand produced light. Fred did the same as he reached out for her hand. He guided her down the tunnel.

"Does anybody else know about this, besides George I'm assuming?" Angelina asked. She knew she shouldn't assume. Fred and George did everything together, besides date her best friend.

"I dunno. I found out about this from some map that I nicked in Filch's office second year." Fred told her, guiding her down the tunnel.

Around ten minutes later Fred and Angelina reached a narrow staircase that could only fit one person at a time.

"Hold on, let me see if everything's clear." Fred whispered to her. Fred opened up the trapdoor at the top, looked around and saw there were large boxes of candy around the trapdoor. Fred pushed himself up and got out of the trapdoor extending his arm to help Angelina out afterwards.

The two crouched down behind the boxes and looked around for anyone as they walked to the stairs. Angelina saw a stove, and it smelled like the sweetest chocolate she had ever smelled. She had instantly known where she was.

Trying to be the perfect gentlemen, Fred opened the door for her to Honeyduke's Sweet Shop.

There were aisles of candy everywhere. From pumpkin pasties to cauldron cakes.

"Wow…" Angelina said in awe.

"Ready?" Fred asked, bringing out his arm. Angelina linked arms with him, and smiled. "Ready."

Fred and Angelina's trip to Hogsmeade was surprisingly a fun one. Although they loved to spend time with each other, neither of them would ever think that this would be a great trip. They'd eaten loads of fudge and candy and took some more for the trip home. Fred had dragged Angelina into Zonko's Joke Shop but it wasn't too bad, except for the occasional random prank on her, plus Fred's threats to use his items on Oliver Wood.

"Don't you dare!" Angelina playfully and softly hit him, laughing.

"What was that little hit? My great aunt Tessie hits better than that!" Fred mocked her hit, laughing, when seeing Patricia Stimpson walk by with her date, Kenneth. She walked by and leered at the two, tugging Kenneth by her side.

Fred looked at Angelina, as she began to laugh.

"Somebody's jealous." She laughed.

"Why should I be?" Fred mistook Angelina's words.

"I didn't mean you, I meant her. Did you see the way she was looking over at us??"

"Oh, yeah!"

The two were silent for a few moments until Angelina finally asked what was on her mind since he said it:

"Why shouldn't you be jealous? I mean, you've fancied that girl since third year trying to find a way to ask her out and then here you are taking some dumpy friend out." Angelina laughed when she said dumpy, however she knew that's what Fred thought she was.

"Angie, you aren't dumpy, if Oliver Wood likes you then you aren't."

"What do you think of me Fred?" Angelina looked at him and asked, ignoring his answer about Oliver.

He wasn't exactly sure of what to say to her without saying the wrong, offensive thing. But he didn't want to seem like he liked her or anything.

"Er—well you're nice, funny, pretty and one hell of a quidditch player!" He grinned at her.

"Am I prettier than Patricia?" Angelina suddenly asked. Fred stopped in his tracks. He knew his obvious answer, but he didn't know how to tell Angelina. It had taken Fred a while to think of an answer.

"It's alright." Angelina said in a low voice. "You don't have to answer, I was just kidding anyway."

"Oh!" Fred forced a chuckle as they were on their way into the next shop. Although Angelina had now not known that Fred thought of her as much prettier than Patricia, neither of them had mentioned how 'fit' Patricia Stimpson was or how adorable Oliver Wood's face was when waking them up to play quidditch at seven in the morning.

After they came out of the store, the two were standing outside, as it began to snow, which was unusual in November, Fred looked at her. She held out her hands and opened her mouth like a little child. As she began to spin around her long brown hair followed spinning around as well, falling out of her bun. He laughed at her and thought it was childish and beautiful.

"Fred, what are you staring at?" Angelina asked him, laughing.

"Nothing." He smiled back at her. Angelina took Fred's hand for a moment and led him to a direction.

"Come on, let's get some tea Weasley." Angelina said. Her hand felt so warm and soft in his.

As soon as they got there Fred read the sign and recited "Madam Puddifoot's Tea Shop?! Why? It's all frilly and small and the only people that go there are couples that snog each other all the time!"

"Please Fred? It has really good tea! Besides, I went to Zonko's and spent all that time in there for you. Please?" Angelina begged.

"Alright. But after this I want to go back to Zonko's and then we'll have to leave." Fred sighed. He opened the door for Angelina and then quickly stepped in afterwards.

"I know it's not that great looking of a place, but it's got great tea..." Angelina tried to assure Fred with a smile as she walked to a small table.

The two sit down as Madam Puddifoot came up to them. "May I take your orders, dears?"

"Two peppermint teas." Angelina said to her. She quickly went away and left Fred and Angelina to talk.

As they were talking, they noticed that golden cherubs kept circling other tables until the couples had kissed. This made the conversation shorter and a bit more awkward. They were going to every single table that included a boy and a girl and soon enough, a golden cherub was floating by Angelina's head.

"Angie, one of those little buggers is at your head." Fred told her reaching out his hand. She put it down on the table.

"I know Fred. What do I do?" Angelina was a bit worried.

"It doesn't go away until you kiss, loves!" Madam Puddifoot says as she hands the two their teas.

"That is unless you'd like me to kiss your friend over here." Madam Puddifoot gave a toothless smile to Fred. He shuddered in disgust.

"No! No! No! I think I'll just stick with Angie over here." Fred held his hands up and pushed himself away from Madam Puddifoot.

"Okay, well, you two enjoy your tea!" Madam Puddifoot chirped as she left the two alone.

Fred and Angelina looked at each other in silence, and then Angelina began to giggle sipping on her tea.

"Well…this is just a bit awkward….tell me who are my choices again? My best girl mate or some crotchety old lady with missing teeth." Fred joked, Angelina smiled a bit.

The cherub started showering the two with pink heart confetti.

"It's getting in my tea!" Angelina moved her cup away from the confetti. Fred was beginning to get nervous. He might have to kiss his beautiful best mate.

"Err—Angie…." Fred began to stutter. "Why don't we just do it?"

Angelina looked alert.

"Really?" She asked.

"A kiss won't kill us." Fred smiled. Angelina smiled back. They gazed at each other for a long time. The cherub tossed more confetti.

"Well, I think we should do it before we start to drown in the confetti." Angelina joked.

Fred nodded nervously. They smiled at each other for another moment. The two both went in at the same time at slow speeds, Angelina closed her eyes, and then Fred closed his eyes. Neither of them knew how long they both had to lean in before they felt it. Then suddenly, it happened.

Fred and Angelina's lips gently came together as Fred's insides almost melted. It was soft and tender and lasted for a few moments. Angelina's lips felt soft and nice, while Fred's felt nice and his breath smelled good. He wasn't too bad of a kisser. She thought that Patricia Stimpson had put some magic work on him…

After a few seconds, the two came apart and looked away for a moment.

"Um, I see that the cherub is gone." Angelina told him. Fred was blushing almost beet red.

"Err—I see that too, Angie. Tea?" Fred offered, finally looking at her.

"I'm not so thirsty anymore." Angelina said quietly.

"Neither am I." Fred agreed.

Fred paid for the teas on the table as the two left the cozy restaurant. As soon as they left out of the door, the two were awkwardly silent and cold.

"So…" Angelina said silently.

"So…" Fred trailed off.

They looked at each other.

"It was just a kiss!" Angelina laughed, trying to reassure herself that they were only just friends.

"Yeah! Although I'm not going to lie Angie it was pretty good!" Fred laughed along with her.

"You're not much of a bad kisser yourself!" Angelina nudged Fred. He pushed her back, as Angelina grabbed his arm.

Fred put his hand on her shoulder.

The two looked at each other almost longingly and began to lean in again….

"Angelina?" they heard a familiar voice say. The two went away from their position and stood apart.

It was Oliver.

"Oliver, hi!" Angelina giggled. Fred glared at him.

"What are you doing here? I heard that you got detention." Oliver looked at her and Fred.

"Well, I can't really explain it. Just I don't have much time here." Angelina told him, glancing over at Fred. He looked hasty to go.

"Would you possibly like to head over to the Three Broomsticks with me and get some butterbeer?" Oliver asked.

"Err—hold on, I have to talk to Fred for a moment." Angelina pulled Fred away to a corner.

"Go ahead." Fred said, freakishly casual.

"Should I really? You're not mad or anything?" Angelina asked him.

"No, of course not! Just meet me at Hogsmeade in thirty minutes and then we'll go. Meanwhile I'll go look for Patricia Stimpson or something." Fred told her. Angelina looked a bit downtrodden too. But she got to spend time with Oliver, so it was only fair.

"Oh." Angelina said in a deep voice, looking down at the ground. "Okay. Well I'll see you in a little while."

"Have fun Angie." Fred forced a smile as well as Angelina. She gave him a peck on the cheek as she went off with Oliver Wood. Oliver had put his arm around her shoulder as they walked on in the snow.

She was smiling, she seemed happy. So why shouldn't Fred? I mean they had just kissed, so maybe…there was hope for something more. Maybe she was going to dinner to tell Oliver how she truly felt about him and would come running into Fred's arms.

But unfortunately for Fred, it seemed like just a fantasy.

Angelina looked outside of the window, into the cold November day. It had stopped snowing and there were still traces of it on the ground for the younger kids to play in.

"I'm really glad you came with me Angie." Oliver smiled at her; she politely smiled back at him.

"So am I, thanks for inviting me."

"Anytime." There was a moment of silence. Oliver took Angelina's hands and held them across the table.

"Angelina, I'm just gonna cut to the chase. Because that's the guy I am. I really, really like you. And I would like to take this relationship to the next level…"

Angelina heard every word Oliver had said to her however she couldn't stop thinking about what had just happened with Fred. If it was real, and if he was actually kissing her, and if she had just glanced outside of the window to see Patricia and Fred kissing.

She looked again and it was actually happening. Her heart sank. After what had just happened, he went back to Patricia...

"…Angelina?" Oliver asked.

"Huh?"

"I said 'Will you be my girlfriend?'"

Angelina glanced over at the window, seeing Patricia and Fred talking.

"Yes. I'd love to." Angelina told him.

After walking in the snow for what seemed like eternity, but was only ten minutes, Fred ran into a familiar face. He bumped into Patricia, alone,

"Hi Fred." She simply said.

"Hi Patricia. Where's Kenneth?"

"Oh, somewhere. He went to go get some more candy; I thought I'd take a walk."

"Oh" Fred simply said.

Patricia then whirled around and kissed Fred on the lips. Shocked, Fred didn't know how to react.

"What was that for?!"

"To show you what you're missing!" Patricia laughed and then walked away, Fred just rolled his eyes and stood outside of the Three Broomsticks as Angelina and Oliver came out, laughing and holding hands.

"I'll see you back at the common room Angie." Oliver smiled at her, and then leaned down to kiss her. Fred's heart sank as Angelina gazed back at him.

"Weasley." Oliver smirked at him, knowing he'd come out on top.

After Fred and Angelina's outing at Hogsmeade it was made official that there was a new couple at Hogwarts: Angelina Johnson and Oliver Wood. He'd asked Angelina out at the Three Broomsticks and Fred tried to take it as best as he could. After all, it was just a kiss and he didn't even think Angelina liked him that way. As far as he was concerned she was fancying Oliver for a long time and he could tell whenever they were in the common room together.

He was clever, great at quidditch and good looking. If this was what Angelina wanted he knew he had to cope with it and move on.

He'd finally admitted to himself that he'd liked old Angie, and he didn't know what to do about it.