The Amazing Thing About: Friendship. Chapter twenty-two.
If Eliza thought March was bad April brought a whole new world of pain. The week leading up to April first Fred and George pestered her nonstop about what she was intending to get them for their birthday. Considering she had no idea it was coming up until they told her she needed to recruit some help to figure it out. Lee and Ginny were her go-to options but all of their suggestions were gag gift ideas. It felt a little too 'on the nose' for her. While they drove her crazy she still wanted to get them something that showed that they meant a lot to her. Especially after they'd been so thoughtful as to get the journals for Christmas.
While she wracked her brain she snuck to the empty classroom during any of her study blocks and worked on the love potion in secret. If she couldn't come up with anything then a finished product would have to be good enough. The process was grueling and the risk was high. Since she was spending her study periods on the potion it meant she had to spend more time at night finishing her assignments. Eliza felt like a zombie every morning during breakfast but she wasn't alone in that making it easier to hide what she was up to.
It was the day before that she finally finished the potion and she'd put in orders for the gifts. She didn't have a lot of money to work with so she couldn't do anything extravagant but she hoped they appreciated it all the same. They weren't the type to turn their noses up so she wasn't worried about that. She was the one putting pressure on herself.
With their popularity, everyone wished the two Happy Birthday throughout the day. Their house even had a party planned for them later that night. Since it was Friday it fell in line perfectly. They held their hands out expectantly at her during breakfast and she'd just looked at them. "What?" She didn't have anything for them and wouldn't until the afternoon. They'd have to wait until the mail arrived and she wasn't going to be handing the love potion over in the middle of the great hall.
"Ah-ah." Fred wagged his finger at her.
"Not getting us with that one." George said.
"What one? I don't have anything for you right now. You'll have to wait." Had they thought she was planning to try to make them believe she hadn't gotten them gifts? On April fool's day? Did they think she was that dull?
"Till when?" They asked.
"Until you get them." She answered. They rolled their eyes at her and she refused to answer any questions they had about when they'd get their gifts or what they would be. She was actually grateful for morning classes as she didn't share any with the twins and she could focus on her work.
During lunch she still didn't give up anything until the mail arrived and two packages dropped onto the table in front of them. They looked her way but she ignored them and kept up with the conversation she was having with Cas about the differences between Grindylows and Kappas. They were getting into how each of them drowned their victims as she heard them tearing into the paper from a few seats down.
"Thanks, Iz!" The twins chorused and she spared them a glance to see them holding up their gifts for Harry and Ron to look at. The matching bats she'd ordered looked better in person. She didn't opt for anything too nice considering what they were for but the black polished wood looked wonderful with the orange leather wrapping around the handle. Eliza wished she could have found something more personal but didn't want to risk getting too sentimental.
"Feel free to use them on each other." She called back to them.
They had charms together a while later and on the way to class she let them know she had something else for them. "More gifts?" Fred asked. "Kind of." She said and dug the small vial out of her pocket. She glanced around and passed it into George's hand who snuck a peek at it before slipping it into his pocket casually.
"Finished product." Eliza said and they looked way more excited about that than the bats. "You finished it?" Fred asked.
"When?"
"Yesterday. Still have to test it but I think it's ready."
"How much did you make?"
"A dozen vials."
The twins were excited to show the product to Lee and pass it over to him for testing during class. She explained how she'd been working at it nonstop and the amount of failed product she'd gone through just to get it to them in time. "No wonder you look like that." Fred gestured towards her face and she slowly turned her head to look at him. "You're no prize either, Weasley."
Lee wheezed but quickly got it under control as Flitwick looked their way.
"I think he means you look tired." George had his eyes on his book but the corner of his mouth was twitching and his shoulders were shaking ever so slightly. He was barely holding it together.
"No. I didn't." Fred smirked. George cracked at his reply and snorted.
Professor Flitwick cleared his throat and they all shut up. After class, though, the conversation picked back up. "Seriously. You look like you haven't slept all week."
"I got a couple of hours in..I think." She'd been yawning through a majority of her classes but her teachers were getting used to it as she wasn't the only one. "I can't wait to go to bed." Eliza was already fantasizing about how good it was going to feel to curl up and pass out. She might even skip showering. It wasn't like they had classes the next day.
"You aren't coming to the party?" Lee asked to which Eliza pointed to her house badge.
"C'mon. We can sneak you in." George sounded very confident but even if they could she was sure there was no way she could stay awake for it. "No thanks. I'm not even going to have dinner. I can hear my bed calling my name." She suppressed yet another yawn. "My eyelids feel like they've got weights attached." She said. The twins and Lee tried to talk her out of it and she felt bad for telling them no but if she fell asleep and got caught in the Gryffindor common room she'd be hearing about it from her parents and they were just starting to get over the Malfoy incident.
"Have it your way." Fred shrugged. He wasn't very good at hiding his disappointment and she apologized about a hundred times before he let her off the hook. They walked together for a while before she split off with a lazy wave. "Happy birthday, guys. Have fun."
The twins weren't the only ones she was letting down that night as Victor and Kelly asked her to join them in the common room. By the time she'd arrived she was dragging her feet and ready to lay down on any flat surface for a nap. The floor looked appealing and she knew how soft the carpets in the common room were. She told them she was far too tired and took the stairs slowly. She didn't even change before crawling under the covers. Rikki wasn't in the mood for bed just yet and she couldn't even bring herself to entertain him for a while. The moment her head hit the pillow she was out like a light.
By the time Eliza woke up the next day it was already past noon. She'd woken up a few times early in the morning with the other girls leaving but she'd pulled the blankets over her head and drifted right back to sleep. At some point Rikki had managed to climb up onto the bed. Or someone had put him there. It wasn't until he was scratching at her leg that she finally sat up. She gave him some food and thought about getting back in bed but Rikki wasn't the only one that was hungry.
She took her sweet time between showering and getting dressed. It wasn't quite time for lunch so headed for the Library to get some work done. She didn't want to stay cooped up in the tower or else she'd be too tempted to go back to bed. Eliza did feel much better after sleeping for so long though she had a feeling it was going to take more than one good night's sleep to have her at one hundred percent again.
Eliza didn't make it to the library. She spotted Kelly, Cas, and Tasha sitting in an archway of one of the courtyards and figured joining them was better. "Good morning, sleepyhead." Kelly greeted her as she made her way over. "You missed breakfast." Cas pulled out something wrapped in a napkin and handed it to her as she took a seat. It was a muffin.
"You're an angel." Eliza said putting one arm around her in a loose hug while taking a bite. Her stomach grumbled its appreciation.
"The twins were looking for you." Tasha said and Eliza groaned. "No thanks. It's a homework and relaxation day." She said around a mouthful of muffin.
Since she'd spent the week prior occupied with their birthday she'd fallen slightly behind on her assignments. Tasha and Kelly invited her to come with them to the quidditch pitch but she told them there was no way she'd be able to concentrate on her assignments if one of the teams were practicing. Cas, however, was more than happy to keep her company while she worked and often asked her questions about the subject which kept her focused. She also helped keep Rikki occupied.
Eliza was thrown for a loop when Cas decided to ask her a question that came out of left field.
"What do you think about boys?"
It was an innocent enough question but one she hadn't expected from Cas of all people. While Tasha said that their friend, Thomas, had a crush on Cas she hadn't heard the girl ever mention anything about it herself. Even observing the two together Cas never seemed interested though it was adorable to watch them interact. Thomas was a tad clumsy around her and blushed easily, especially if Cas was sitting close to him. Eliza had watched him knock over an entire bottle of ink when the girl had accidentally touched his hand once.
"Boys are.." She didn't know what to say. "They're just boys."
"I always hear Kelly, Hannah, and Ginny talking about boys. Ginny thinks Harry is cute."
Eliza had no idea where this was going. Was it mere curiosity? Eliza tried to think back on if she'd been interested in boys in her first year. Her crush on Connor started in her second year but she couldn't recall anyone before that even in passing. Then again she'd been way too shy to even risk a glance. That was something she was glad she grew out of. Eliza couldn't imagine spending her entire time at school being the shy, introverted girl she'd once been. She had her friends to thank for that.
"Is this about Thomas?" Eliza asked trying to pin down exactly what was on Cas' mind. The girl shrugged half-heartedly. "Tasha says he likes me but I don't like him. He's my friend but I don't think about him like that."
Eliza couldn't say she was surprised. "That's okay. Just be honest with him if it ever comes up." She wasn't exactly the person to turn to for advice on guys considering how her first and only relationship had turned out. Still, if Cas was asking for her help she'd give it the best she could.
"I don't think I like any boys." Cas said.
"Don't worry about that stuff. Boys and crushes and all of that can wait. You have your whole life ahead of you." She wished she could travel back in time and tell herself that sage advice and save herself a whole lot of trouble. If she'd waited maybe things would have turned out different.
"There's this girl in our class, Annabelle, that I like. She's really pretty...And smart."
Eliza swore she could hear a record scratch somewhere. The conversation she'd thought they were having took a sudden turn into unexpected territory. The only other time she'd had this talk was with Alicia in their third year and she'd sworn Eliza to secrecy immediately after. At her lack of response, Cas looked up at her. "Is that weird?" She sounded nervous and Eliza set her quill down. This wasn't the sort of talk she'd been expecting to have that day but she wasn't about to leave Cas hanging.
Still, it was hard to come up with something to say right off the bat. If Cas was saying what she thought she was saying there was a delicate nature to how she should respond. She recalled her conversation with Alicia but her friend had just come right out and told her. It was nothing like this. Did Cedric know? Why would Cas talk to her before her own brother? She reasoned maybe Cas was testing the waters with her before taking that step. Eliza combed her thoughts for the right words. Alicia had been so sure of herself and all Eliza had to do was give her support in that situation. So that's what she chose to do again.
"No. That's not weird. You like who you like and if anyone ever tells you that's weird or wrong you send them my way." While Eliza hadn't encountered anyone who was blatantly against same-sex relationships she wasn't stupid enough to think they weren't out there. But Eliza hoped Cas would never have a run-in with anyone like that. If she did she hoped the girl would have enough sense to know they were just close-minded.
Cas stared at her for a long moment before nodding and then gesturing back to Eliza's assignment. How the girl could go from such a subject back to homework was beyond Eliza but she went along with it even if it took her a few minutes to get back to focusing on Ancient runes.