"Faith makes things turn out right."

–Penny (The Rescuers)

For the next few months, Scarlett did her best to stay out of Umbridge's way. She made sure to follow all of the rules and even the silly decrees. She didn't need Umbridge finding another reason to give her a detention.

"Scar, stop walking on the other side of the hallway," Justin said, half laughing. It was a few days before the Christmas holidays. Justin was going on a ski trip with his family and most likely wouldn't be in contact much over break. Scarlett was going home as well, like she did practically every year. She had only stayed at school once and that was to go to the Yule Ball. However, while she did get to go home, there wasn't a ski trip or any other trip in her future. Scarlett wasn't necessarily complaining, though. She was going to spend her two week holiday at home, building snowmen drinking hot chocolate, and frequently hanging out with Erica.

The last D.A. meeting before the holidays had been the night before and they had spent the time reviewing what they had already learned, which had actually been quite a lot. The D.A. was one of the few things about Hogwarts that Scarlett was going to miss over the holiday this year.

Now, Scarlett ignored Justin as she watched Umbridge pass by them and round the corner before returning to Justin's side. "Boys and girls can't be within eight inches of each other," she stated.

Justin snorted. "That's a stupid rule. Nobody obeys it."

"I know that and I don't plan on obeying it either. Not really."

"Only when Umbridge is around?" Justin asked, smirking.

"Yeah," Scarlett nodded. "I don't want her to find another reason to put me in detention, no matter how silly."

Justin shrugged. "I guess that makes sense."

Scarlett grinned at him. "It's been working so far, hasn't it?"

"Yes, which I suppose is a good thing. I don't want your hand to get any worse."

"I don't either. Trust me," Scarlett answered. They made it to the door leading to the dungeons and stopped just outside. Scarlett sighed. She had Potions next and she wasn't looking forward to it. It wasn't that she was terrible at it. In fact, she was actually average, but she felt that she could do so much better if Snape hadn't been so picky about grades.

Over Justin's shoulder, Scarlett saw Fred and Angelina walking hand in hand down the hallway. Ever since the detention, Fred hadn't asked Scarlett to spend time together. They had talked in Herbology, but apparently Fred was adamant about not getting Scarlett in trouble anymore. At least until her hand healed, or Umbridge backed off or was out of the picture. It was actually a sweet gesture. Scarlett didn't mind all that much, but she did enjoy the time she and Fred spent together. It felt like it did back when they were close.

On his way by, Fred spotted Scarlett. He glanced at Justin before looking back at Scarlett and smirking. Scarlett fought the urge to stick out her tongue.

"So, I'll see you after class?" Justin asked.

"Yeah, after class," Scarlett responded, smiling up at him. She kissed him goodbye before turning and heading into Potions.

"Explain to me again why you're leaving early?" Erica asked sleepily. "And why is it in the middle of the night?"

Scarlett sighed as she hurried to pack the rest of her things. "I told you, Mr. Weasley's been attacked. And besides, I'm only leaving a matter of hours before I'd get on the train back home anyway."

"Yeah, but it's still early," Erica muttered, pulling her pillow over her head.

Scarlett didn't answer. She needed to pack. Only about ten minutes ago, Professor Sprout had woken her up and given her the news that Mr. Weasley had been attacked by a snake while on guard duty and that Scarlett's mother would be there soon to explain the situation in a little more detail. Then, Scarlett would be going to Grimmauld Place to wait with the other Weasleys. Now that Scarlett's mother was in the Order officially, she needed to be around to sort out these sorts of things, which meant both her and Scarlett being at Grimmauld Place over the holidays. So much for Scarlett's relaxing Christmas. Now she'd be locked inside Grimmauld Place once again. Not that she minded all that much, of course. She was more concerned about Mr. Weasley than her own holiday at the moment.

"Can't you pack a little quieter?" Erica grumbled.

"Sorry," Scarlett answered. "I know how much you hate to be woken up."

"I still don't understand completely. You said Mr. Weasley's been attacked, but by what?"

"A snake. He's in St. Mungo's now. Mrs. Weasley and my mother have been notified and my mother has to be at Grimmauld Place to sort all this out, which means that I have to spend my holiday there as well. It's not ideal, but it's not a great time to complain right now. Besides, I know what Fred and his siblings are feeling. They're probably terrified and it would make sense for me to be there for them, right?"

"I guess so," Erica muttered.

"I mean," Scarlett said quietly, "I did lose my dad. I know what it's like."

"Mr. Weasley isn't dead," Erica said.

"No, but it's a serious bite. They don't know what's going to happen." Scarlett closed her trunk and double checked the room to make sure she had everything.

"Umbridge won't like it," Erica said. "She won't care how many hours there are until you were supposed to leave. You'd better hope she doesn't try to give you another detention."

"I have Dumbledore's approval to leave," Scarlett reasoned. "But if Umbridge gives me another detention, then I'll go to it."

"Why?" asked Erica. "You do have a reason for leaving, and like you said, it really isn't that much earlier than you were supposed to leave and Dumbledore gave you permission. I'm sure you could have him or your mother vouch for you. Or maybe even both. Dumbledore's headmaster after all. He has more power over Umbridge in the end."

"I'm not going to drag my mother into this and how silly would I look complaining to Dumbledore about a detention?"

"Not silly at all because you don't deserve a detention!"

Scarlett let out a sigh and grabbed the handle of her trunk. "Hopefully I won't get one so I won't even have to worry about it. Anyway, I should be going now. My mum's probably already here."

"Okay, well, have a good time, I guess," Erica said, smirking and pressing her face into her pillow, probably hoping to get back to sleep.

"Thanks, I guess," Scarlett smirked back. "Oh, can you make sure Justin gets this?" She reached into her pocket and pulled out a folded up note before tossing it on Erica's bed. "It's just explaining that I left and why so he's aware that I won't be on the train home tomorrow."

"What's your explanation?" Erica asked.

"The truth," Scarlett answered.

"I thought you were avoiding talking or mentioning Fred to Justin," Erica said.

"I am, but this time I really can't avoid it. Besides, the note explains everything. Justin will have no reason to think that I just snuck off with Fred in the middle of the night. And anyway, as much as it shouldn't, news about Mr. Weasley's attack will get out, so if Justin wants any more proof, he'll have it."

Erica nodded. "I'll give him the note at breakfast tomorrow."

"Thanks, I'll see you after the holidays, then."

"See you," Erica said with a wave.

Scarlett waved back before turning and lugging her trunk through the door.

For the second time in about four months, Scarlett found herself dragging her trunk out of the Grimmauld Place fire. She took in a shaky breath and squeezed her eyes shut for a moment. Traveling by Floo still made her somewhat sick.

"Scarlett, you're here." Sirius stood up from the table and approached her. "Where's your mother?"

"She explained everything to me back in Professor Sprout's office and then she went straight to St. Mungo's to meet Mrs. Weasley while I came here."

"Did she tell you anything about dad?" Ginny piped up from her spot at the table.

"No, I don't think she knows much either. I expect I was given the same amount of information as all of you." Scarlett scanned the table. Ginny, Ron, George and Harry were there, but Fred was missing. "Where's Fred?"

Everyone shrugged, but it was George who actually answered. "He went upstairs only about five minutes ago."

"He's probably in his room," Sirius said. "It's been hard on everyone. Fred probably just needed some time alone to think."

"I think I know where he is," Scarlett said, suddenly struck with an idea. "I'm going to go talk to him."

"He probably doesn't want company, Scarlett. I don't know if that's the best idea," Sirius warned.

"Maybe not, but it's worth a try," Scarlett called over her shoulder as she headed up the stairs, leaving her trunk where it was. She could bring it to her room later, but right now, she didn't have time.

She raced up staircase after staircase until she reached the top floor, where she had to take one last flight of stairs. When she reached the top and pushed the door to the roof open, she saw that she had been right in guessing that Fred had come up here. He was standing with his back to her and his hands on the railing.

"Fred?" Scarlett whispered tentatively.

He jumped slightly and turned around. "Scarlett. What are you doing here?"

"My mum's in the Order now, remember? She has to be around to help figure out what happened tonight. Besides, she wants to be there for your mum. She went to St. Mungo's right after she explained everything to me."

Fred nodded. "You know, I appreciate you coming up here, but I'm not sure if I want to talk." He turned away from Scarlett again and looking down at his hands.

"I can respect that if it's really what you want, but, well, I have some things to say first," Scarlett replied, moving to Fred's side and hopping up to sit on the railing. She rested her palms on the cool stone and lightly swung her heels against the railing. "Fred, I'm so sorry about what happened."

"Don't be," he replied quickly. He sounded as if he were holding back tears.

"But I am," she whispered. Fred looked at her and Scarlett could actually see the tears forming in his eyes now. "He'll be okay, Fred," she assured him.

"You don't know that, Scar," he said. "Mum sent us a letter before you got here. She said dad was 'still alive'. That sounds like he's hovering between life and death. You don't know if he'll be okay. You just don't, so how can you say that?" His voice was unsteady and it was practically breaking Scarlett's heart.

"The way I see it," she said, trying to stay calm, "is that 'still alive' means just that: he's still alive. Obviously, snake bites can be deadly, but he's not dead. He's putting up a good fight and he has a good chance at survival. They found him enough time. And there's a lot they can do to fix snake bites. I mean, I'm not a Healer, but I want to be. Ever since my dad died…." She shrugged and trailed off.

"Is this how you felt?" Fred asked, composing himself and swiping at his eyes with the back of his hand. "You know, after the accident."

"Worse," she answered, looking down at her feet. "There was no waiting for me. There was no maybe. No hope. He was just gone and nobody could do anything to stop it. But you, Fred…you have a maybe. Your dad has a shot and you have hope." She looked at him. "You're lucky." They stared at each other for a moment before she took a deep breath. "Anyway, I do want you to know that if it does go the other way, well, I'm here. If you want to talk, I mean. I just—I know what it's like. And I don't want you to be like me. You know, feeling like you can't talk about it."

"Thanks, Scar," Fred whispered. "Really, I appreciate it." He hopped up on the railing next to her and there was a brief pause before he spoke again, his voice a whisper. "Tell me a story."

"Which one?"

"Peter Pan."

Scarlett smiled. "I should have known. I'm sure you know this story by heart at this point."

"No," Fred smiled faintly and shook his head. "And even if I did, it's loads better when you tell it."

"I'm flattered."

"You should be."

Scarlett smiled again and blushed slightly. "Okay, well," she leaned back on her hands and looked up at the sky before reciting the first line of the story. "All children, except one, grow up—"

"Do you think there could be room for more than one?" Fred interrupted.

"What?" Scarlett looked over at him, confused.

Fred sighed. "Sometimes staying a kid forever seems like such a good idea. They're so…innocent and their biggest issues are deciding whether to play Exploding Snap or Wizard's chess or if they want Chocolate Frogs or Pumpkin Pasties after dinner."

Scarlett smiled. "True, but I expect after a while you'd get sick of it. Personally, I think I'd be too curious about what I was missing."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, I'd wonder what kinds of things in my future I'd be missing out on if I didn't grow up."

Fred was silent for a few seconds. "Yeah, but sometimes I think I'd be willing to sacrifice."

Scarlett laughed. "You say that now, but you might end up changing your mind one day."

"Want to bet on it?"

Scarlett rolled her eyes and snorted.

"No, I'm serious," Fred continued. "Five Sickles." He held out his hand for Scarlett to shake.

After a moment, Scarlett took it. "You're on," she smirked.

Fred smiled. "Excellent."

"So," Scarlett said slowly, "if you'd want to stay a kid forever, does that mean you'd want to sacrifice Angelina? If you were forever a little boy, you'd never have dated her."

"Depends on what age I was stuck on. If I was eleven or twelve, I would have been friends with Angelina, but I would be too young to understand romance or relationships so if I don't understand it then being friends with her would have always been fine with me. Technically, I wouldn't have to sacrifice her at all."

"Yeah," Scarlett said, "but you would have sacrificed dating her and isn't that kind of a step up from friendship?"

"Yeah, but if I never knew of it, then how can I understand what I'm missing?"

"Fred, we're talking about living here, not in Neverland. You wouldn't grow up on an island surrounded by other children just like you who were none the wiser. You'd be stuck as an eleven year old in the real world."

"Yeah, and?" Fred asked, smiling.

"And you're telling me that you'd never look at your parents or anybody else and wonder about what being in love felt like? And not even just that, but…you want to open a joke shop, right? You mean to tell me that you'd never wonder about whether or not you'd be able to do it if only you could grow up?"

Fred tilted his head in thought. "Imagine this," he finally said, holding his hands out in front of him. "Fred and George Weasley, the first eleven year old shop owners."

Scarlett laughed. "You have a lot of faith in yourself, don't you?"

"Or I'm just bigheaded," Fred teased, bumping his knee against hers. "Isn't that right?"

Scarlett laughed. "It was a serious question, you know," she said, glancing at him.

"Maybe you're right, Scar." Fred sighed and shrugged. "I don't know. All I know is that sometimes I miss the way things used to be." He looked at her and added in a whisper, "Even between us."

Scarlett stared at him. "Yeah?" she whispered back.

Fred nodded. "Yeah."

"So let me ask you this," she smirked.

"Oh, Merlin, here we go," Fred groaned.

Scarlett giggled. "Shut up. So you'd rather go back to the days when our relationship was nothing more than two kids digging up worms and playing pranks and not develop anything more? You'd rather go back to that than see where this vow thing goes?"

"Okay, okay, first of all," Fred said, "what do you mean our relationship was nothing more than digging up worms and pulling pranks? I think we had a pretty good relationship back then. You were my closest friend after George and for us to make this vow in the first place our friendship had to have been more, right?" he grinned at her.

"Okay, fair point," Scarlett shrugged. "But what I meant was that you'd rather go back to our childhood relationship than the one we have now or will have in the future?"

"I didn't say I'd want to go back and get stuck there."

"If you never grew up, you would be stuck there. That's what you just said you wanted."

"Yeah, but I know it's impossible. Really, what I'm saying is that I miss it. I miss how things used to be. I miss you."

"But I'm right here," Scarlett smirked. "Or do you not like this older version of me? You'd rather have the nine year old me?"

Fred groaned. "No, I like the way you are now. A lot, actually. But all I meant was that we had a lot of good times back then. We were kids and now we're grown up and things are different and everything's changing and there's a war coming….I miss not stressing. And as far as our relationship in the future and this whole vow…are you saying you think we have a shot at falling in love?"

"I'm not saying anything," Scarlett said, raising her hands in defense.

"Then why were you asking me?"

"I wasn't asking you about that. I was asking you if you'd rather go back. I was asking if you were curious at all about how this could turn out. Basically, well, do you think a relationship could work or do you just see me as your childhood friend?"

"Why are you asking? The Finch not good enough anymore?" He bumped her knee again.

"I'm curious," Scarlett said, swatting him. "See? Like I said, this is why I couldn't be stuck as a kid forever. I ask too many questions and think too much."

"I'll say," Fred snorted. "You were always like that as a kid, too. It could be bloody annoying sometimes."

"Can you answer the question?" Scarlett rolled her eyes.

Fred fell silent and stared down at his feet. Scarlett was beginning to think he wasn't going to answer, but finally he looked at her again. "Why did you phrase the question as if it was either or?"

"What do you mean?"

"You asked me if I thought a relationship could work out or if I saw you as just a childhood friend. Can't a relationship come from being childhood friends? Isn't that what we wanted to establish by making the vow? Of course, I can't say for sure because I can't actually remember, thanks to Bill, but…." He trailed off and shrugged. "Maybe it's not either or. I mean, technically Angelina's a childhood friend too."

"Yeah, but there's a difference. If you saw me as the sister type-,"

"But that's not what you said. A childhood friend is different than seeing someone as a sister. And clearly, if we vowed to marry each other then I didn't see you as a sister and you didn't see me as a brother."

"So you think this could work."

Fred nodded. "It could, but I don't know for sure."

"That's why you have to grow up and find out," Scarlett teased.

Fred smiled. "Don't fire another question off at me about this, but I think I just got so used to us being apart to actually do anything about rekindling our friendship and now being around you again…well, it's made me realize how much I missed you. Not just our old friendship, but you."

Scarlett smiled back. "Same," she whispered. "It's made me regret not trying to fix it sooner."

"Me too." The two of them were quiet for a moment before Fred spoke again. "I like debating with you about the pros and cons of being a kid forever," he smirked. "It made me forget about life for a little while."

"See, if you were stuck as an eleven year old, we could never have had this debate," Scarlett said, smirking.

Fred groaned. "Alright, alright."

"Are you admitting defeat?"

"No," Fred answered. "Bet's still on."

"Okay," Scarlett answered. "Just let me know when you do give up."

"I won't. Ever. Now, see, all I wanted was a story and it turned into a huge discussion."

"You started it by asking me a ridiculous question," Scarlett scoffed jokingly.

"It wasn't ridiculous!" Fred protested. "Now, get back to the story," he demanded with a half-smile. He lazily leaned back on his hands and looked at Scarlett expectantly.

Scarlett smiled and slid off of the railing and onto the ground. When Fred fallowed suit, she started telling the story of Peter Pan once again. By the time she finished, it had started to snow.

"Scar?" Fred asked quietly. His head was resting on the stone railing and his eyes were closed.

"Mm?" she responded, resting her head on the stone as well and staring at the swirling white flakes of snow above her.

"Do you ever tell the Finch any stories?"

"No," she answered, "just you."

"Good, I like it best that way," Fred whispered.

"Me, too," Scarlett whispered back.

A/N: I hope everyone enjoys this chapter. It's one of my favorites so far...I just love the talks Fred and Scarlett have :)

Thanks for reading!