Chapter 12:
The thing about love is I never saw it coming
It kinda crept up and took me by surprise
And now there's a voice inside my heart that's got me wondering.
-Marie Digby
Nora took a few deep breaths before taking a seat next to her friend.
"Now tell me what happened?" She asked seeing a look of discomfort and anxiety in her friend's eyes.
Nora inhaled and exhaled slowly as her friend soothingly rubbed her shoulder.
"It isn't Angelina is it?" Nora said. It was very clear to Aveline that it was a statement and not a question.
"Well it took you long enough." Aveline answered with a smile.
"But why? How?" Nora said looking slightly panicked.
"Well that's a question you should ask Fred."
"Are you bloody mental? I'm not saying a word of this to Fred! It'll ruin everything!" She said as she got up and started pacing in circles once more.
"What if it doesn't?" Aveline said shaking her head at her friend's panic.
"What do you mean?" Nora asked.
"Have you even considered the possibility that maybe things would turn out alright if you and Fred went out together? He wouldn't hurt you Nora. He really does love you."
"But what if I hurt him? I'm rubbish at relationships! I make stupid decisions whenever things go wrong and things usually have a tendency to go wrong! I can't lose him." Nora sighed as she sat down.
"Take your time and think about it then." Aveline said with a soothing smile. "But for what it's worth, I think you should try and make it work. You owe it to yourselves to at least give it a try."
"We'll see." Nora sighed
"Do you like him?" Aveline asked.
"Of course, he's my best friend." Nora said looking curiously at Aveline.
"I meant do you like him more than a friend? Is that why you're freaking out?"
"I don't know. Maybe?" She said as Aveline burst out laughing. "This is not funny Ava!" Nora said trying not to laugh herself.
"I'm sorry." She said between fits of laughter. "You two are hopeless" She teased.
"Thanks a lot." Nora said with a chuckle. "Tell me something."
"What do you want to know?" Aveline asked with a confused look.
"Anything! I need to think about something else."
"Oh. Well before Fred left something happened in the library." Aveline said as she blushed a light shade of pink.
"Go on." Nora said finally concentrating on a different issue.
"George told me he liked me." She whispered as her blush turned a dark shade of red.
"He did?" Nora shouted. "What are you thinking?"
"Well. I'm leaving Roger tomorrow morning if that's what you were referring to." Aveline answered with a grin.
"I'm glad." She smiled. "I think you two would make a nice couple."
"He didn't actually ask me out. He just said he liked me." Aveline said seeming rather uneasy.
"Well then ask him to Hogsmeade. Trust me he won't say no." Nora said kindly.
"I think I will. What about you and Fred?" Aveline questioned.
"He's with Angelina. And I'm confused about what I want so nothing will change. He doesn't need to know anything." Nora sighed.
"Just don't make him wait too long." Aveline said with a sad smile.
During the next few weeks, the fifth years were busy with their OWL practice examinations. If they did not have a test, they were studying for the next one. Aveline and George were now officially dating and seemed to be truly happy whenever they were around each other. As for Nora, she was grateful she had her examinations to focus on rather than trying to figure out her feelings about the whole Fred situation. Things between them stayed normal except for the occasional moments when their friends would tease them and Fred was no longer the only one blushing.
Finally came December 19th, the day they would all head home for the holidays. The entire Gryffindor table was chatting about their holiday plans during the last breakfast of the year.
"Are we getting our results before or after the holidays?" Aveline asked for the tenth time.
"We should get them today." Nora said casually as she took a bite of toast.
"You seem relaxed." Fred said eyeing her curiously.
"So?" She asked looking back at him.
"You're always nervous before results." George said.
"Maybe so but I think I did alright this time." She answered shrugging her shoulders.
"Who are you and what have you done to my best friend?" Fred teased.
"Oh shut it Freddykins!" She laughed hitting him playfully on the shoulder as McGonagall made her way towards the group of fifth years.
"Oh shit." Aveline said hiding her face in George's shoulder.
"Your results." Professor McGonagall said with a smile. "Happy holidays." She added as she left.
Everyone was busy looking at their results and sighing in relief. Nora smiled proudly as Fred took the paper from her hands.
"Not bad Freckles!" He teased. "Sorry about the E, it must be heartbreaking to not have all O's." He added ruffling her hair.
"What about you Nat?" Nora asked as she batted Fred's hand away.
"I failed three." Nataleigh answered with a frown.
"You'll do better next time. I'm sure of it." Nora said with a smile.
"Yeah, whatever." She sighed as she got up and left.
"I'll go talk to her." Oliver said as he followed her.
"The holidays with your family are going to be interesting." Erik said with a smirk.
"Oh trust me it will be." Nora said as she sighed. "Has everyone packed?" She added looking suspiciously at the twins.
"Of course!" Fred said with a grin.
"Or maybe not." George added with a matching grin.
"Why am I not surprised?" Nora teased trying to suppress a smile.
"Because they always do this?" Aveline proposed.
"And because they're childish." Nora added.
"Fine!" Fred said shaking his head.
"We'll go pack." George continued as he got up and kissed Aveline on the cheek.
"Finally!" Nora and Aveline teased as the twins left.
A few hours later everyone was walking towards the train station ready to head home for the holidays. They all dropped off their luggage and found an empty compartment.
"The holidays are going to be quite a handful." Nora sighed.
"I'm sure Mum is going to be thrilled to hear about Angelina." George said with a grin.
"You have a girlfriend too!" Fred said defensively.
"Yes but she hasn't been planning my future wedding for the past seven years."He teased as he put his arm around Aveline's waist.
"Whatever." Fred mumbled as he blushed a light shade of pink.
"Don't worry, Molly will get over it...Eventually..." Nataleigh said with a grin as Nora rolled her eyes and tried to hide the light blush that had crept up her cheeks.
"Or maybe not." George added.
"Well what are you guys looking forward too?" Aveline said as she glared at George.
"France of course! Oh shit sorry Nora." Nataleigh said looking guilty.
"It's fine. I'll stay with Porny and Mum's side of the family. Christmas with our father was painful enough." She teased with a smile.
"You're not entirely wrong." Nataleigh laughed.
As the train finally arrived at King's Cross, Angelina came to speak with Fred. Everyone else got their luggage and went to meet their families. As Nora said goodbye to her brothers and sisters who were leaving for France before joining her and their mother's side of the family the following week, she saw her father who was talking with Lucius Malfoy. He glanced at her quickly but did not acknowledge her presence in any way. She stared at her family leaving as Erik placed a gentle hand on her shoulder.
"He's an ass." Erik said.
"That he is." She sighed. "And so is your family."
"That they are. The joys of being disowned." He said with a grin. "At least I have you guys. Come on, your mum is waiting for us." He added as they made their way back towards her mother.
"Are you two ready to go? We have to get things ready for supper we're having a welcome home get-together." Brooke said with a warm smile.
"Already?" Erik asked Nora.
"She's the queen of event planning." She whispered with a grin.
"What was that?" Brooke asked.
"Nothing Mum!" Nora grinned. "Let's go home."
"Nora can I talk to you for a second?" Asked a voice from behind her.
Nora turned around to see Angelina. "Oh sure. Mum, Erik I'll just be a minute. Go ahead, I'll catch up." She said with a smile as they went to speak with the Diggorys.
"Do you need something?" Nora asked politely.
"Kind of. I just wanted to say that Fred is dating me. And I know you're spending a lot of time with him over the holidays but don't get any ideas." She said.
"What?" Nora asked not believing what she had heard.
"Look I know you're friends and you're attractive but he chose me. Not you. So back off and stay away from my boyfriend." Angelina said dryly before walking away leaving Nora absolutely flabbergasted.
After a long drive home and endless amounts of chatting from Nora's mother, they finally arrived at the manor. Brooke quickly made her way into the house as Nora and Erik got their luggage.
"I didn't remember it being that bad during the summer." Erik said refering to the amount of talking her mother had done.
"I know." Nora said still shocked and mad about her encounter with Angelina. "Wait until you see Addie." She added as a young girl ran outside.
"Noooraaa!" Adeline yelled as she jumped in her sister's arms.
"Hey Addie!" She said with a smile as she put her down and took her hand. "Come inside you're going to freeze!"
"Am not! Hi Erik!" She said as she waved to him.
"Hi Ladybug. What have you been up to?" He said ruffling her hair.
"Loads! I go to school every day and do my homework and play with my friends and play with Ella and help Mum and go visit Julianne and Molly and Aunt Braelyn and Aunt Blair and Aunt Brielle and my cousins and I really like to eat cotton candy." She said without taking a breath.
"Wow! That's a lot of things." Erik said with a laugh.
"I know! I do loads of things!" She said as she ran in the house.
"Regretting this?" Nora asked him as they took off their coats.
"Not in the slightest." He answered with a smile.
"Nora! Erik!" John said as he entered the hall with Ella in his arms.
"Hey Dad!"Nora said as she hugged him. "You're so big!" Nora told her sister who grinned and hid her face in her father's chest.
"You two should get settled in. Your Mum says dinner will be in about two hours."
"Out of curiosity, who's coming?" Nora asked scared that they would end up with forty people in the house.
"Weasleys, Diggorys and Tonks. Don't worry, I didn't let her go overboard." He smiled as the teenagers made their way up the stairs.
"That's going to be interesting." Erik said with a smirk.
"Oh shut it." Nora rolled her eyes as they arrived on the third floor and dropped their luggage off in the adjoining rooms.
After about thirty minutes of unpacking, Nora finally went to her closet and picked a teal sweater dress. It was nice but not too over the top and she remembered Cedric telling her the dress brought out her eyes. She smiled to herself and quickly got changed. She then sat in front of the vanity and started to brush her blond locks. For the first time in a long time, she finally had a moment to herself, a moment to think and process what she had been avoiding. She thought about her brothers and sisters who would be at their father's house in France by now, probably heading over to their aunt Apolline's house. She sighed as she kept brushing her hair slowly making sure to leave no knots. She then thought of Fred. He and Angelina actually seemed to be doing well. She would hang out with them more and more and Fred seemed to enjoy taking time away from his usual group of friends to spend with his girlfriend. Nora kept going over that time by the lake. She thought about everything they had said and about what would happen if they actually did try and make things work. And then there was Angelina. Was she right? Had he chosen her?
"Penny for your thoughts." Erik said interrupting her from her daze.
"Oh. Hey Erik." She said startled as she turned around to see him leaning casually against the door frame.
"So are you ready for what will probably be a very interesting dinner?" He asked with a grin.
"Don't get your hopes up too much." Nora answered shaking her head hopelessly as she put down the brush.
"What did Johnson want back there?" He asked.
"She told me to back off from Fred basically." Nora sighed.
"Oh..She's kind of a bitch. So who are you choosing?"
"What do you mean?" She questioned with a bewildered look on her face.
"Diggory or Weasley? It's going to be quite interesting. Now that you and Diggory are supposedly only friends and Fred is with Johnson." Erik stated.
"I'm not choosing anyone." She sighed as she made her way towards the door. "Do I really need to make a choice?" She asked as she stopped in front of him.
"You refer to me as Manwhore, Whorebag and Porny and you're asking me for relationship advice?" He asked grinning and arching his eyebrow.
"Nat started Porny... And don't rub it in." She chuckled lightly.
"Well if you want to be with either one probably. But I think today we can simply enjoy the glaring and the harsh comments from Fred and Golden Boy." Erik said shrugging his shoulders.
"You're not helping much." Nora said failing to conceal her amusement.
"At least I'm making you smile. And I never said I'd actually help. For what it's worth I'm rooting for Fred since Diggory beat us at Quidditch...Just so you know." He teased.
"Thanks Erik." She said as she rolled her eyes and suppressed a smile.
"You're very welcome Satan. Now let's get downstairs." He said as he flung his arm around her shoulders.
An hour later, the manor was full of chatting people. Amos, Julianne and Cedric had arrived rather early as they always did. Even missing the two eldest siblings and Ronald who had stayed at Hogwarts over the holidays, the Weasleys had managed to be a little late. Finally, the Tonks family had arrived an hour late because they had been waiting on Nymphadora to make an appearance. Professor Lupin had also arrived and seemed to be quite at ease with his former classmates.
Needing a moment to escape from all the chatting, Nora went to sit in the sunroom and looked out at the frozen lake. She stared outside for what seemed like hours before being interrupted from her reverie.
"You still hide out here?" Cedric teased.
"Yep." Nora answered with a smile as he sat down next to her as they had done countless times in the past. "I know why I'm hiding out but why are you?"
"My father is bragging about how I won the Quidditch match to everyone. I've tried to explain to him what happened but he just won't hear it. I really hate it." He sighed. "What about you?"
"Molly's been trying to quiz me about Angelina. Tonks is overly energetic and I left her with Lupin. And my mother wants to know about my non-existing love life." Nora said with a smile.
"So you haven't been dating since..." Cedric asked but could not seem to finish his sentence.
"Since you dumped me? No." Nora answered with a chuckle. "Sorry that was kind of harsh."
"It's fine you kind of dumped me too afterwards so it's fair." He said lightheartedly.
"What about you? Have you been dating?" She asked not knowing what answer she wanted to hear.
"No. Your shoes are pretty hard to fill." Cedric said sincerely.
"Thanks." Nora said blushing slightly.
"You're blushing." Cedric teased nudging her.
"Not that much." Nora laughed trying to make light of the situation.
"Don't worry it's kind of adorable." He laughed
"I'm glad you find me entertaining." She said trying to regain her composure.
At that moment, Fred cleared his throat from behind them.
"Sorry to interrupt your lovefest but your mum says dinner's ready." Fred said coldly as he glared at Cedric and turned around.
"This is going to be a long evening." Nora whispered to herself as she got up and headed towards the dinner table.
"Where were you two?" Brooke asked. "Are you getting back together?" She added excitedly looking over at Julianne as Nora and Cedric sat down.
"No Mum. We're not back together." Nora said rolling her eyes as Cedric chuckled.
"Alright then I was just wondering." She answered innocently. "Does that mean you mind sitting next to each other because I understand if you need to sit elsewhere."
"We're fine Mrs. Montgomery. We're friends." Cedric said sensing Nora was already embarrassed by her mother's comment. Fred rolled his eyes and glared at Cedric as his brother nudged him suppressing a grin while exchanging comments with Erik.
"Alright then, let's eat." John said trying to diffuse the tension.
Casual conversation started about everyone's work and activities. Cedric was fully invested in a conversation about transfiguration with Tonk and Lupin when Nora gently nudged Fred who had stayed quiet for quite some time.
"What's got your wand in a knot?" She asked.
"Nothing." He sighed. "I'm fine."
"Sure. But you're not talking to me. You love talking to me. Something's wrong." She teased.
"Full of yourself much?" He teased trying to suppress a grin.
"Nope. I'm just that awesome." Nora answered with a smile. "See, now you're talking to me. You can't stay mad at me. Ever."
"I'm not mad at you." He smiled.
"Is this about Quidditch? Like Erik? Because it wasn't Ced's fault. Even Wood admits it." She asked.
"It doesn't help." He simply stated.
"So is it about Angelina?" She asked.
"Oh are you two talking about Fred's girlfriend?" Molly questioned from the other side of the table.
"Not really Mum." Fred said blushing a light shade of pink
"But we should." George said with a mischievous smirk as Ginny laughed quietly."What are you hiding Freddy?"
"So how is she? Is she pretty?" Mrs. Weasley asked ignoring George's comment.
"Yes Mum." Fred said as his face turned beet red.
"Have you known each other a long time?" She asked.
"They're all in the same house Molly!" Brooke said entering the conversation.
"Oh right. Is she a nice girl?" Molly asked as George and Erik tried to contain their laughter.
"Yes Mum." Fred repeated hoping his mother would end this humiliation.
"Of course you'll say that I'm asking Nora!" She said.
"Now this is getting good." George said to Erik.
"Oh..." Nora said taken aback. "Yeah I guess she's a nice girl."
"Are you two friends?" Molly questioned.
"I don't know her that well. Wow the potatoes are really good." Nora answered trying to change the subject.
"Why not? You're great friends with Aveline and she's dating George." Brooke asked ignoring her daughter's unsubtle attempt to shift the subject. "Does she not like you? Or do you not like her?"
"Mum! I can't be friends with the whole school!" Nora said starting to blush.
"We're not talking about the whole school we're talking about your bestfriend's girlfriend!" She said. "You two are still bestfriends?"
"Of course they are!" Molly said horrified. "Are you?"
"Yes Mum." Fred said sighing.
"So she doesn't mind you being friends with Nora?" Molly asked as George coughed up his pumpkin juice and even Nora had to suppress a snort. "Bless you George." She said turning her attention back to Fred and Nora.
"I don't think so." Fred said looking intently at his plate.
"I wouldn't be so sure of that." Erik said.
"What was that Erik?" Brooke asked as Nora sent a death glare in his direction.
"Oh nothing." He said grinning as Nora sighed deeply.
"How have things been around here?" Nora asked politely hoping their mothers would finally stop harassing them.
"Things have been good." Brooke started before continuing a long conversation with Molly and Julianne about house decorations.
"Sorry about that." Nora told Fred making sure their mothers weren't listening.
"It wasn't your fault." He sighed. "They've always been gossips."
"True." Nora sighed.
"Angelina wanted to come over for a day during the holidays." Fred suddenly told her. "It's a horrid idea isn't it?"
"Oh." Nora said feeling a hint of jealousy at the mention of Angelina. "I don't know." She finally decided to answer before turning her attention to Cedric, Tonks and Lupin. She decided to ignore Fred as well as possible for the rest of dinner. Nora chose not to tell him about Angelina's warning. She did not know why but she did not want anything to come between her friendship with Fred. After all, if anything was to ever happen, Nora didn't want to start a fight with him.
A/N: I AM SOOOOOO SORRY! I cannot say it enough! I feel horrible! I said I'd update the same week and it's been a month! I promise this will not happen again. I got terribly busy as I got back to work which was quite quite hard with over a month off. Anyways I AM SOOO SORRY!
As for the story I hope you're still enjoying it. They're will be alot happening in the next chapters not only with Nora and Fred. Also, I have finally discovered Story Stats and WOW thank you to everyone who's read the story, it really means the world. And if you have a minute I'd really appreciate it if you reviewed! I'll try and update in a week. If not ten days tops! I swear I won't ever take a month to update again!
And sorry about typos I finished this as fast as possible to give you guys an update! I love you all! Xoxo.
To WeasleyLuvver: Thank you so much. I hope you enjoyed the rest!
To KellyLupin: I'm glad you're enjoying the story! And thanks but I don't work in an Er anymore and I'm a nurse not a doctor. And you don't have to be the smartest to be a doctor you just need to be really pationate about what you do. :) Thanks for your reviews!