"Always let your conscience be your guide."
–Jiminy Cricket (Pinocchio)
"So," Fred began in a quiet tone as Scarlett jumped out of the carriage and landed next to him. They had just reached the school and Scarlett had been thankful for it until Fred started talking.
"Yes?" she asked, making her way towards the castle's front door.
"Has Justin asked you yet?" he whispered, glancing over his shoulder at Justin, who was busy talking to Erica. "Has he 'popped the question'?"
"That's for engagements," Scarlett sniffed.
"Not always," Fred said, smirking
Scarlett bit her lip. She wanted to flinch. Obviously, engagement was kind of a weird word for them right now. "Anyway," she continued, "no, he hasn't asked me out if that's what you mean. Have you asked Angelina?"
"No," Fred answered. "I'm asking her tonight in the common room."
They started heading for the front doors. "That's when I was going to tell Justin about the marriage thing."
"You're going to tell him? I thought we agreed not to!"
"We didn't agree on anything, and besides, Justin can keep a secret. He doesn't even talk to Angelina."
"It's not just Angelina who I'm worried about finding out. It's the whole school, really."
"Like I said, Justin can keep a secret. I told Erica, too."
"Scarlett," Fred groaned.
"What? Fred, people are going to find out eventually and Erica's my best friend. She'd kill me if she found out any later or from anyone else besides me."
"I'm not ready for everyone to know yet. Are you?"
"No, but I didn't tell everyone. I told Erica and I plan on telling Justin. They deserve to know and so does Angelina. Telling them is the right thing to do."
"Look, I personally don't care if she's mad at me later for not telling her. I'll be married to you, not her."
"You don't want to stay friends with her?"
"I don't know if that'll happen," Fred sighed. "It's going to be weird no matter what we do. Anyway, my point is, I think it's us we need to worry about. If everyone finds out...well, it'll be hard. I mean, Angelina and Justin matter of course, but…well, in the end I won't be able to marry Angelina even if I wanted to."
"Do you?" Scarlett asked softly.
"I don't know. I'm seventeen years old!"
"Look, Fred, I'm sorry-," Scarlett began.
Fred shook his head. "It's as much my fault as it is yours. We did this together."
Scarlett looked up at him sadly and nodded. They had reached the entrance hall and Fred gave her the tiniest of smiles before catching up to George and Angelina and heading into the great hall with them.
"I didn't know you were friends with Fred Weasley," Justin said to Scarlett as they headed for the Hufflepuff table with Erica on their heels.
"I used to be," Scarlett said, throwing a glance towards the Gryffindor table where Fred was sitting between Angelina and George, laughing. Angelina gave him a small shove and Fred smiled wider. "Well," Scarlett continued, tearing her eyes away, "I guess we're sort of friends now, but I used to be really close with him."
"Oh," Justin said quietly, looking down at the table.
"He's asking Angelina out tonight and he wanted advice. That's what we were talking about outside." Scarlett stared at Justin, hoping he would buy the half lie. She hoped it would diffuse the sudden tension that had formed around them.
"Oh, so he has no interest in you?" Justin asked, brightening a bit.
"No," she answered quickly. "Not at all. Trust me, he really likes Angelina. It's obvious, isn't it?"
Justin gazed across the room at the Gryffindor table. "Yes, I suppose it is. Well, listen, Scarlett-,"
"I have to tell you something," she said at the same time.
"Oh, well, go ahead. You can go first," Justin said.
Scarlett paused. She kept weighing all the pros and cons of telling Justin the truth now. She didn't want to scare him away, or make him angry at Fred, but she didn't want to wait and let this get worse. Finally, she sighed. "No, you go first."
"Chicken," Erica muttered, poking Scarlett in the side. She flinched, but didn't turn to even send her friend a look.
"Well," Justin began nervously and all of a sudden, Scarlett knew what he was going to say. He was going to ask her out and then she really wouldn't be able to tell him the truth. That wouldn't be fair. Some part of her brain ordered her to stop him, but she didn't. She had wanted him to ask her out for ages.
"What is it?" she asked quietly.
He picked up her hand and intertwined their fingers. "I've been thinking about how to do this all summer and I just want to get it out as soon as possible. I really like you, and I wanted, well—I was wondering, if, well, you'd go out with me?"
Scarlett smiled. "I really like you too," she managed to get out.
"So, that's a yes?" Justin asked.
She paused and glanced at Erica, who simply shrugged.
"Yes," Scarlett finally said, "it is."
"Really? That's what I was hoping you'd say."
Scarlett gave him a smile. Just then, Professor McGonagall began bringing in the first years, so there wasn't time to talk.
Scarlett's head was practically spinning. She was ecstatic that Justin had finally asked her out. She kept repeating to herself that she had a boyfriend. On the other hand, she felt nervous. The fact that she had to tell him about her and Fred nagged at the back of her brain and every time she thought about it, she felt a jolt of anxiety. If she didn't tell Justin tonight, then when would be a good time to tell him?
"This is just what we need, isn't it?" Scarlett flung herself down onto the couch in the Hufflepuff common room after dinner. Her voice was filled with sarcasm. "The Ministry's interfering."
"I didn't like the sound of that new teacher's speech," Erica said wrinkling her nose.
"Did you see what she was wearing?" Scarlett asked.
"Too much pink," Justin agreed, sitting next to Scarlett and taking her hand.
"Way too much pink," she agreed with a smile. She leaned further into the squishy black couch and stared into the fire. Right now, Fred was probably asking Angelina out. She wondered how it was going.
"What are you thinking?" Justin asked quietly.
"Oh, here we go," Erica muttered, standing up and heading for the dormitories.
"What are you talking about?" Scarlett giggled.
"You two are about to get all…yuck." Erica wrinkled her nose. "I'm not sticking around for that."
"Okay, well goodnight then. I'll see you tomorrow." Scarlett gave her friend a half smile and a wave.
"So, what were you thinking about?" Justin asked as Erica disappeared.
"I was thinking about Fred and Angelina," she answered honestly. "Fred's asking her out tonight, remember? I'm wondering how it went."
"I'm sure it went fine," Justin said, "but honestly, all I care about right now is how well it worked out for us."
"I know," Scarlett answered, leaning into him. He put his arm around her and traced circles into her shoulder.
"I've wanted to ask you out for the longest time," Justin whispered with a tiny chuckle.
"I've wanted you to ask me out for a while, too," Scarlett giggled. "I'm glad you did."
"So am I," Justin answered quietly.
Scarlett turned her head to look at him and smiled. Justin tilted her chin up towards him and he kissed her.
Scarlett turned in her seat so that she was facing him better. She rested her hand on his cheek and smiled wider as he kissed her again. Her thoughts about Fred and Angelina were suddenly being driven from her mind.
"So you didn't tell him," Erica said flatly. They were walking to their first class together the next morning and Scarlett was updating Erica on the night before. Minus all of the kissing details, of course. She could just skim over those.
"No," she answered, "I didn't tell him. You think I should have." It was more of a statement than a question.
"It might have been easier before he asked you out," Erica shrugged.
"Yeah, but I wanted him to ask me out. I mean, I want him to know about Fred too, but I didn't want him to get scared off or think it wasn't worth asking me out. Come on, Erica, you know how much I like him."
Erica smiled. "Yeah, and it's obvious he really likes you, but I think he really needs to know what's going on. I mean, what if you told him the day before you married Fred?"
"I wouldn't wait that long!" Scarlett said, laughing. "But that's what I'm worried about too. I told Fred we should have said something right away, but he really didn't want to. Then I told him Justin could keep a secret, but then Justin went and asked me out and-,"
"-you were too busy kissing him to worry about the fact that you have to get married to someone else in just under three years."
"Shut it," Scarlett laughed.
They reached their first class and took seats next to each other.
"I guess it's a good thing Justin doesn't have classes with us," Erica joked, "or else you'd be sitting with him instead of me."
"Oh please," Scarlett said with a roll of her eyes.
"And the same thing goes for Fred. I'm sure you would have wanted to sit with your future husband," Erica laughed. "We do have Herbology with him and George. I suppose the four of us will be working together."
"Keep your voice down," Scarlett whispered.
"I thought you wanted to tell people," Erica smirked.
"Not everyone. Just the important people."
"And I'm one of them? I'm so honored." Erica fluttered her eyelashes dramatically.
Scarlett rolled her eyes and shook her head. Just then, Professor Flitwick walked into the room then and got the class working in pairs on spells that were sure to come up in their NEWTs.
"A review for our NEWTs on the first day back at school," Erica muttered, waving her wand over her quill and making it soar around Scarlett's head. "I don't believe it."
"We need it," Scarlett said, snatching the quill out of the air and placing it back on the desk. "I mean, from the way the teachers talk about them and prepare us for them….Although I can't work out if they're serious or just trying to scare us."
"You know," Erica said, charming the quill into the air again and brushing it across Scarlett's face. "I can't believe you did it."
"Did what?" Scarlett asked. In her mind, they were still talking about the NEWTs.
"You scored one of the most popular, good looking boys in our year for your future husband and another great guy as your boyfriend."
Scarlett sighed. They were back on this subject again. "I didn't mean to make the Unbreakable Vow with Fred. Well, I guess I did, but I was nine!"
"And couldn't think for yourself?" Erica smirked teasingly. "You, Scarlett, need to save some boys for the rest of us."
"There are plenty left for you."
Erica shrugged.
"You know," Scarlett said with a smirk, "you could have made an Unbreakable Vow with some lucky boy, too. You just weren't as smart as I was."
"Unbreakable Vows are no laughing matter," Erica said, but Scarlett saw the corners of her mouth turn up. "And besides, why would I want to be involved in a huge relationship mess like the one you're in?"
"Admit it, you wish you had thought of doing what I did," Scarlett continued, waving her hand dismissively.
"Yes, you caught me," Erica sighed dramatically. "Why was I such an incredibly dumb child?" Her words sent the girls into a fit of giggles that was almost impossible to stifle.