"Forever is a long, long time and time has a way of changing things."

-Big Mama (The Fox and the Hound)

At Justin's words, Scarlett almost dropped the earring box. "What?" she spluttered.

Justin looked at her, alarmed. "Yeah, I mean…yeah. I love you. Why do you look so shocked? I feel like I told you at the worst possible time." He gave her a nervous smile.

He has no idea, Scarlett thought. She had already figured that love would probably come eventually in their relationship, but she had planned on telling Justin about Fred before then. Now, telling him was going to be that much worse.

"I mean," Justin continued, "I thought that it was Valentine's Day and romantic, and-,"

"No, the timing—it's—today was fine. It's really sweet that you planned it all out like that, actually."

"You looked really surprised, though."

"Well, I am surprised. I wasn't expecting you to say that is all."

"I know we've only been dating for five months, but," Justin sighed, "I had to tell you. I don't expect you to say it back or anything….Like I said, it's only been five months. Essentially, it's not that long. Not in the big picture, anyway. I-,"

"Justin," Scarlett laughed, putting an end to Justin's rambling. She took a deep breath. "I do really care about you a lot, but-,"

"You aren't exactly at the love stage yet," Justin finished.

Scarlett nodded. "Yeah," she said slowly. She suddenly felt anxious to get away so that she could think.

"One day—well, do you think it's possible that one day you will?"

Scarlett nodded. "I think I could. Like I said, I really care about you. I just need some time to figure out if I'm there yet. Now that I know that's how you feel about me…." She sighed. "There's just a lot I've been thinking about lately."

"Okay, I get it," Justin nodded after a pause. "Anything you need to talk about?"

"No, I just need to get my thoughts together."

"Okay," Justin said.

"You're not going to take my earrings back, are you?" Scarlett joked, trying to lighten the mood. "Because, then, you know, things could be a little different."

To her relief, Justin laughed. "I wasn't planning on it, but since you said that…."

Scarlett rolled her eyes and tucked the earrings into her bag. "Thank you. For the earrings, for today…for everything."

Justin smiled. "You're very welcome, but today isn't over yet."

"No?" Scarlett asked. "What's the plan, then?"

"Well, I don't think we should go to the Shrieking Shack." Justin stood up and held out his hand to Scarlett, who took it and stood up, letting Justin lead her out the door. "It might be taken already," he continued as they walked out into the busy street of Hogsmeade.

Scarlett snorted. "I wonder how many couples have gone there or tried to go there today."

"I have no idea, but I'm guessing there could be a waiting list at the moment. You think Fred and Angelina are waiting their turn?" Justin smirked.

Scarlett snorted again. "Fred? Waiting? No, he'd have gotten impatient and found another secluded spot by now."

"Or not." Justin pointed a little further down the street. Fred and Angelina were walking hand in hand in Scarlett and Justin's direction. "Please don't tell me you want to stop and talk."

Scarlett shook her head. "No, we don't have to."

"I know he's your friend and all so if you really want to, you can," Justin glanced at her and smirked, "but I'd rather not share you on our date."

Scarlett smiled and shook her head. "All right, come on, in here." She ducked into the nearest shop, pulling Justin with her.

"Honeydukes, perfect," Justin smiled. They began walking up and down the crowded aisles. Justin paused to grab a box of Every Flavor Beans. "What's your favorite?" he asked curiously, giving the box a tiny shake.

"Marshmallow," said a voice from behind them. Scarlett turned to see Fred standing there. Angelina was a little further down the aisle, examining one of the shelves. Merlin, those two moved fast. "What?" Fred asked, noticing Scarlett and Justin's expressions. "Was I wrong?"

"No," Scarlett answered slowly.

"How did you know?" Justin asked.

Fred shrugged. "I remembered from when Scarlett and I were kids. What, am I not allowed to know things about people?"

Justin didn't answer.

"Fred," Scarlett warned.

Fred grinned and looked at Justin. "Scarlett would always come over and whenever we ate Every Flavor Beans, she'd eat all the marshmallow ones. She'd search through the box and pick them out one by one." He looked at Scarlett. "Remember?"

"Yeah," she answered. "I do. You used to get angry because your favorite was marshmallow as well."

"And I couldn't stop you from eating them because mum would only say that you were our guest. So I used to try and eat all the marshmallow ones at your house, but you always had them already picked out of the box."

"And hidden away in my room," Scarlett said, half smiling.

Fred grinned wider and looked at Justin again. "So then, one Christmas, I bought her a box of Every Flavor Beans, opened it, picked out all the marshmallow beans, sealed it, and gave it to her. She thought it was a mistake at first, but eventually she found out it was me and she was angry. She must've tried to hit me about ten times, but I stopped her."

"Yeah, by holding your hand against my forehead and pushing me away so I couldn't reach you."

"You got that mad over every flavor beans?" Justin asked.

Scarlett shrugged. "I wasn't really that angry, but Fred and George were always doing little things to annoy me. I was angrier when they cut off my hair." She glared pointedly at Fred.

"Ah, yes, you mentioned that recently, didn't you? What did you do to me that time?" he teased.

"I bit you," she muttered.

"She bit me," Fred said, nodding at Justin, his expression saying it's true. "Left some nice teeth marks in my shoulder."

"Sorry," Scarlett said.

"No, you're not. You aren't sorry one bit," Fred teased.

"I didn't break the skin or anything."

"No, just left the teeth marks, thankfully," Fred said. "Your mother was so mad."

"Yeah, she lectured me forever," Scarlett said.

"Only after she was done yelling at you forever," Fred laughed.

Justin cleared his throat. "Scar, I'm going to go pay for these." He gestured to the every flavor beans. "I'll be right back."

"Okay," she nodded. As soon as Justin was out of earshot, she rounded on Fred. "What are you doing?"

"What?" he laughed.

"You know what. You know how Justin feels and then you all of a sudden take a stroll down memory lane right in front of him. Are you trying to fuel the fire?"

"No," Fred replied, shaking his head. "And anyway, you didn't say anything. You took a stroll down memory lane with me!"

Scarlett just glared at him. "What was I supposed to do? And anyway, that's not the point!"

"No?" Fred smirked. "Anyway, I know from what you told me in Herbology yesterday that he's been trying to be less…uptight about our friendship, so watching him hold his tongue is amusing."

"That's fueling the fire, Fred."

"Okay, but he won't get mad at you. What's he going to say? 'Go back in time and stay away from Fred Weasley'?"

"Maybe," Scarlett shot back.

Fred laughed. "What's his favorite Every Flavor Bean? Bird seed?"

"There's no such thing!"

"Oh, but there is." Fred grabbed a box and shook it. "They add new flavors all the time, you know. Bird seed is actually relatively new."

"You're joking."

"For once, I am not," Fred said, sighing dramatically and putting the box back on the shelf. "Research it yourself if you don't believe me." He paused. "How long has it been since you ate these, anyway? Must've been a while if you didn't know about the bird seed."

Scarlett shrugged. "Maybe a year or so. And besides, I really only care about the normal ones."

"You mean the marshmallow ones," Fred teased as Scarlett smiled. "You're such a coward," he continued, laughing. Scarlett narrowed her eyes and Fred laughed harder.

Suddenly, Angelina appeared at Fred's side. He put an arm around her shoulders and kissed her temple. Once again, Scarlett found herself wondering if Fred loved Angelina. And if he did, had he told her? Did she love him back? She was abruptly shaken from her thoughts by none other than Angelina herself.

"Hi, Scarlett, how are you?"

"I'm fine. What about you?"

"Great. Where's Justin?"

"He's off buying some every flavor beans. He'll be back soon." There was a moment of awkward silence. "Are you having fun on your date?" Scarlett continued politely, only asking the question to fill the silence.

"Yeah, loads," Angelina grinned, looking up at Fred. "It started out somewhat miserably, though, because-,"

"Oh, no," Fred groaned.

Angelina smirked and held out her index finger to Scarlett. It had a bandage around it. "His pygmy puff bit me this morning."

"Binky bit you?" Scarlett asked, surprised. "But he's so sweet. I saw him over Christmas."

"Yeah, well, he hates me," Angelina sighed. "I have no idea why."

"He does not hate you," Fred said.

"He tries to bite me every time I'm close to you when he's around and this time he succeeded."

"He's overprotective of me," Fred smirked.

"Yeah, just when I'm around," Angelina muttered.

Scarlett kept her mouth shut. If she said that Binky liked her, she would come off sounding evil. Before she could think of anything else to say, Justin returned, the box of Every Flavor Beans already opened. He held it out to Scarlett.

"Try to save me at least one marshmallow one," he teased, smirking.

She smiled and reached into the box. "No promises." She retracted her hand and sifted through her handful. "Aha, a marshmallow!" She stuck it in her mouth and dumped the rest back into the box.

Justin pretended to pout. "Are those seriously the only ones you eat?"

"No, but they're my absolute favorite," she said, grinning at him.

"You two are such a sweet couple," Angelina remarked. For some reason, it made Scarlett wanted to vomit. "Aren't they sweet, Fred?" Angelina continued.

"Yeah, adorable," Fred answered with a slight eye roll.

Justin suddenly noticed Angelina and blinked a few times. Scarlett knew he must have felt awkward. He had barely spoken to her in years, there were all these hidden feelings that he used to have and now she was standing here with Fred. Scarlett could also tell from the way Angelina was acting that she had never returned those feelings that Justin had once felt for her. She was clueless about the way he used to feel and right now she was definitely head over heels for Fred.

"Try not to think about it," Scarlett whispered to Justin.

Justin cleared his throat and nodded before looking back into his box of Every Flavor Beans.

Just then, Fred winked subtly at Scarlett before turning to Justin. "Have you ever tried the birdseed flavored bean?"

Scarlett widened her eyes in horror. Now she really felt like vomiting. Anything that would get her out of there would be great.

"They have birdseed beans?" Justin asked, raising his eyebrows as he peered into the box curiously. "Honestly, I can't keep up with these things. There's nothing like this in the Muggle world."

"Yeah, Scarlett didn't believe me either," Fred said. "It's a weird, greyish, tan color."

"Oh, like this?" Justin reached into the box and pulled out a bean.

"That's the one," Fred grinned. He glanced at Scarlett and grinned wider when he saw the look on her face.

"This isn't a trick, is it?" Justin asked. "You didn't tell me it was one thing and it's going to be something gross?"

"Isn't bird seed gross enough?" Fred asked. "Unless, of course, you like bird seed."

"No," Justin answered, "I just meant-,"

"I know what you meant and if I were trying to trick you, wouldn't I have said it was something really good at first?"

"I suppose so," Justin replied slowly. He popped the bean into his mouth and chewed it.

"Is it good?" Scarlett asked, actually feeling kind of curious.

"It is, actually," Justin shrugged. "I mean, it's not great, but it's not as bad as I thought it would be."

Fred looked at Scarlett and made a face. Scarlett felt like she could hit him, but at the same time, she had the urge to laugh.

"Want to try one, Scar?" Justin asked.

"No, I'll stick to marshmallow," she assured him with a grin.

"Your loss," Fred smirked. Scarlett knew there were trillions of bird jokes formulating in that head of his, but she also knew he wouldn't dare say them with Justin around. At least not so it would be obvious, anyway.

"Come on," she said, slipping her hand into Justin's. "Let's go."

"Hey," Fred hissed in her ear, grabbing her elbow, "there's a secret passageway in the cellar that leads back up into Hogwarts."

"Your point?"

"No one knows about it except me, George and Harry. Since George is single and Harry's in the Three Broomsticks giving Rita Skeeter an interview-,"

"That's what he was doing? I saw him there and wondered….I thought he was on a date with Cho. Why is he giving Rita Skeeter an interview?"

"He was on a date with Cho, but it doesn't look as if it ended well considering she's not with him. The interview's about what happened to him last year. Luna's dad is going to publish it in the Quibbler. Anyway, my point was that since Harry's not available either, I'm more than willing to share the secret passage with you."

"What are you even talking about?"

"It is Valentine's day, is it not?" Fred asked impatiently.

Suddenly, Scarlett understood. She rolled her eyes. "Thanks, but I'll pass."

"That's my girl," Fred teased, grinning. "I'm glad you're refraining from such promiscuous behavior."

Scarlett almost let out a laugh. "You're just glad because you want it all to yourself."

"If I did would I have offered it to you?"

"You were trying to be noble or something. Or you knew I would say no!"

Fred grinned and shook his head. "Seriously, it's probably a good idea you said no." He made his expression into a solemn one and lowered his voice even further. "The Finch might accidentally peck your eye out in the dark. You'd have to get a fake eye like Moody." He crossed one of his eyes and Scarlett fought back a laugh. She had forgotten he could do that.

Instead of laughing, though, Scarlett did her best to arrange her face into a scowl. "Don't try to make that face to get me to ignore the fact that you are a mean person."

"Oh, yeah?" Fred asked, smirking. "You didn't seem to think so back when you told me you missed being my friend."

Scarlett glared at him again. Then she rolled her eyes and walked away, leaving Fred laughing behind her.

"Why are you up here all by yourself?" Erica asked.

"Hm?" Scarlett replied, looking up. She had been sitting on her bed in her dorm, staring out the window.

"You came up here not too long after dinner, which you hardly touched, and you've been up here ever since. What's going on?"

"I didn't feel well. I told you and Justin that."

"Yeah, well, maybe Justin believes you, but I don't." Erica sat down on her bed and crossed her legs under her. "What's going on?" she asked again. "Did you and Justin get into another argument today?"

Scarlett sighed. "No, it was exactly the opposite, actually. He told me he loved me."

Erica's eyes widened. "He what?"

"You heard me. He loves me."

"Well, isn't that a good thing? Shouldn't you be down there with him instead of up here by yourself?"

"I suppose, but I needed to think. I don't love him back yet. I told him that and I think he was a little disappointed. I always thought we'd fall in love at the same time and it'd be no problem, but now I have this Fred thing on my mind and I can't help but wonder if that's the reason I don't love Justin. Because I know I can't be with him forever."

"Well," Erica said slowly, "forever's a long time, anyway. People say they're in love all the time and don't end up lasting. People do fall in and out of love, unfortunately."

"Yeah, but if I let myself love Justin it'll be so hard to end things with him."

"Which is why you should tell him about Fred."

"I know! But I can't tell him now. How horrible would it be if I told him the news right after he told me how he feels? And don't say I should have told him ages ago, because I know I should have and I didn't. I'm an idiot and I'm ruining everything."

Erica was quiet. "You'll figure this out," she said. "I don't know what to tell you, though. You need to tell Justin the truth, but you're right, you can't tell him now."

"And what happens if I do fall in love with him? Do I tell him that I love him or do I break up with him? And then what if somehow someone finds a way around this vow and I've already broken up with him and-,"

"Scarlett, stop. There is no way around the vow. You know that."

"I know, but I keep hoping that maybe someone will find a way to save me from worrying about all of this. Then I can stay with Justin, Fred can stay with Angelina, and everyone's happy."

"You're marrying Fred and that's it. You can't do anything about it, Scar."

Scarlett sighed. "I know." She traced circles into her quilt. "I will figure everything out, though, like you said." She took a breath and nodded, trying to convince herself.

"You will," Erica said, smiling. "I wish I could be better at giving advice, but I really don't know what to do either. I'm just as confused and as lost as you are."

"I appreciate you trying, though."

Erica grinned. "That's what I'm here for, Scar. I'd be breaking many friendship rules if I didn't try."

Scarlett broke into a smile. "Yes, you most certainly would be." Her words were met with Erica's pillow hitting her in the face. She giggled. "Oh, and Erica?"

"Yes?"

"Don't mention anything in front of Fred and George just yet. Fred will never let me live it down and I'm not in the mood right now to hear joke upon joke about how I'm a bird lady or that my feathered friend is in love with me."

"Got it," Erica nodded, saluting her.

Scarlett laughed and tossed Erica's pillow back at her before falling back onto her own bed. "I know you don't like being the single friend, but you're actually quite lucky."

Erica snorted. "I'm beginning to see that after watching you freak out every few days over a new advancement in your ever so complicated life."

"Trade places with me?"

Erica laughed. "No, I'll find my husband on my own, thanks. I'm going to stay away from vows until my actual wedding day."

"Good plan. I'd do the same thing if I were smart like you."

"I know," Erica sniffed, flipping her curls over her shoulder.

Scarlett sighed and shook her head before curling up under her covers and pulling them over her head.

"Fancy meeting you here."

Scarlett looked up in shock. She hadn't expected anyone to find her. It was the day after Valentine's Day and the day after Justin had told her he loved her. Those three words had been bouncing around her head ever since Justin had spoken them, especially when Scarlett was alone. Yet, all she wanted was to be alone so she could sort out her thoughts.

That was what had led her to walk down to the willow tree by the lake after her last class. It was the same willow tree where she had sat with Fred the night they had gotten a detention. She had cleared away the dusting of snow by the tree's base with her wand and sat down before pulling her knees to chest and burying her head in her arms with the hopes of going missing for a little while. She had hoped nobody would find her, but she had clearly been wrong.

Her first instinct to tell whoever had spoken to go away, but when she saw who it was, she relaxed. "Hi, Fred."

"What are you doing outside in the cold?" he asked.

"I could ask you the same question," Scarlett replied.

"Fair enough." There was a pause. "Can I join you?"

Scarlett nodded. "Sure, why not?"

Fred cleared away some of the snow beside Scarlett before sitting down next to her. "Something tells me you're out here because you didn't want to be found."

"What makes you think that?" Scarlett asked, looking at him.

"You're sitting outside in the middle of February while most sane people are inside by their common room fires waiting to go down to dinner."

"In other words, I'm crazy," Scarlett said with a wry smile.

"Yeah, but what else is new?" Fred joked.

Scarlett leaned over and gave him a shove. "You're not inside, so does that make you crazy too?" she asked after a moment, meeting his eyes and smirking.

"Yeah, I suppose it does," Fred replied quietly.

Scarlett held his gaze for a few seconds longer before quickly looking away. "Why are you out here?"

"Why are you?"

"I'm thinking. And you were right. I didn't want to be found."

"And yet you let me sit with you."

Scarlett nodded. "Don't flatter yourself, Mr. Bighead."

"So much for making a guy feel special," Fred teased. "How does the Finch ever survive?"

Scarlett didn't respond. Instead, she began examining a hole in her glove.

"Something wrong?" Fred asked.

Scarlett shrugged one shoulder. "No, not really. I'm just trying to sort some things out."

"Want to talk about it?" Fred asked.

Scarlett didn't answer right away. Finally, she turned to look at Fred. "Can we just talk about anything but what's on my mind? I need a distraction."

Fred looked slightly surprised. "Sure," he said quietly. "It's what you did for me when my dad was attacked, so I'm happy to do it for you."

Scarlett gave him a tiny smile and rested her chin on her knees again. "So, how was Madame Puddifoot's with Angelina?"

"Can I be honest?" Fred asked.

Scarlett nodded. "Of course."

"It was terrible," Fred said bluntly.

Scarlett giggled. "Really? It was that bad?"

"That bad," Fred laughed. "There were too many decorations and too much pink. There were hearts everywhere….And do you want to know the sad bit?"

"What?" Scarlett asked.

"I'm not even quite sure they even decorated for Valentine's Day. I think those were the everyday decorations."

Scarlett laughed. "That is sad. The least they can do is get into the spirit."

"Exactly!" Fred said, laughing. "Anyway, I kept my mouth shut to make Angelina happy, but it was hard. So hard."

"I'm sorry. Was the food good at least?" Scarlett asked hopefully.

Fred scrunched up his nose, closed his eyes and shook his head.

"No?" Scarlett asked, grinning.

"I'm pretty sure the tea was dirty dishwater. I'm even going to go as far as saying mine might have actually been dirty bathwater."

Scarlett stuck out her tongue as she pretended to gag. "That's gross."

"Never again," Fred said.

"What did Angelina think?" Scarlett asked. "If she enjoyed herself, then you really do need to get yourself out, vow or no vow."

"I don't think she enjoyed it much either, to be honest," Fred said. "She said it was an interesting experience and I agreed, but I think she only said that because she didn't want me to tease her about what a bad decision it was to go there."

"Good theory," Scarlett said with a smile.

"Personally," Fred said, smirking widely, "I think I should be given some kind of award for drinking dirty bathwater for my girlfriend's happiness."

Scarlett gave him a look. "Oh, please, you should be doing that all the time. What kind of gentleman are you?" she teased.

"The best kind," Fred retaliated. "Honestly, Scar, I hope you're good at making tea because there's no way I'm drinking bathwater tea ever again."

"That's too bad because that's all you'll be getting from me," Scarlett smirked, standing up and brushing herself off. With a cheeky grin and a wave, she darted out from under the tree.

"Hey, wait a minute!" Fred yelled from behind her.

Scarlett began running back towards the castle as fast as she could, but she wasn't fast enough. Fred caught up to her halfway there and grabbed her from behind, slipping an arm around her waist and spinning her around. Scarlett couldn't help but shriek with laughter.

"Take that back," Fred said, his own voice filled with laughter as he stopped spinning and held Scarlett against him with one hand, twirling his wand with the other.

"No," she retaliated.

"Well then you leave me no choice," Fred teased, lightly touching his wand to her neck.

"You wouldn't hex me," Scarlett said.

"Oh yeah?" Fred asked. "You sure?"

"Positive," she replied with a grin. "Admit it, Freddie, you like me too much to hex me."

Fred laughed quietly before letting her go and stepping away from her. "Okay, you win," he said with a smile.

Scarlett smiled and glanced down before looking up at Fred again. His cheeks were pink from running and from the cold and she was sure hers were the same. "Fred?"

"Mm?"

"Thanks," she said. "For talking to me."

"Anytime," he whispered, holding her gaze.

"We'd better get back inside," Scarlett said suddenly, tearing her eyes away and glancing towards the castle. "Dinner's probably starting soon."

"Yeah, you're right," Fred answered, clearing his throat.

They walked back to the castle in silence. "So, I'll, er, see you tomorrow? In Herbology?" Fred asked when they reached the entrance hall.

"Of course," Scarlett nodded. She smiled. "Make sure you don't drink any bathwater at dinner."

Fred laughed and rolled his eyes. "It may actually take me weeks to stop gagging."

"Poor you," Scarlett teased.

"Yeah, poor me," Fred responded.

"Oh, go hold your pity party somewhere else," Scarlett said, rolling her eyes.

"Gladly. You weren't invited anyway."

"Good."

"Yeah, good," Fred teased, stepping closer and looking down at her.

"I'm not afraid of you, Fred," Scarlett smirked.

"Want to rethink that?" Fred asked. "I can still hex you."

"I thought we already established that you wouldn't."

"Maybe I lied."

"You told me before lying to someone you cared about was always difficult."

"Maybe I'm just good at making it look easy," Fred answered, raising an eyebrow.

Scarlett opened her mouth to respond, but before she could, the dreaded sound of Umbridge clearing her throat came from behind her.

Fred looked up as Scarlett half looked over her shoulder, choosing to stare at the ground rather than towards Umbridge.

"I do believe you two are breaking one of my rules. You aren't supposed to be within eight inches of each other."

"Sorry," Scarlett muttered, taking a step back and blushing.

"No, don't be sorry," Fred said angrily, glaring at Umbridge. "You didn't do anything wrong. It's a dumb rule and we shouldn't have to obey it."

"Fred," Scarlett warned, shaking her head slightly. He ignored her and continued to glare at Umbridge.

"Well then, we'll see how stupid you think it is, Mr. Weasley, after your detention with me tomorrow night. Eight o'clock. My office."

"That's not fair," Scarlett said, finally looking up as her mouth dropped open.

"Would you like to join him?" Umbridge asked, raising an eyebrow.

Scarlett had half a mind to say that yes, she would join Fred in detention, but Umbridge's intimidating glare almost frightened her. Instead of answering, she looked away and chewed on her tongue.

"That's what I thought," Umbridge said. "Now I suggest you two head in to dinner at once."

Scarlett looked up at Fred, who was practically smoking at the ears. "Come on," she whispered, tugging on his sleeve and pulling him towards the great hall. "I had half a mind to tell her I'd go to detention with you," she whispered as they walked.

"I'm glad you didn't," Fred responded. "She's tortured you enough. You should be doing everything you can to stay away from her."

"I am, but she can't treat people like she has been. And I'd say she's tortured you enough, too. She's tortured everyone way too much."

Fred smiled. "I appreciate your concern, but I'll be fine. Promise. And don't try to apologize as if my getting a detention was your fault. It wasn't."

Scarlett sighed and turned towards the Hufflepuff table where she saw Justin waiting for her. "Okay, fine, I won't apologize," she said.

"Good," Fred smiled. "Now go sit down. Bird brain's waiting."

Scarlett let out a tiny laugh and shook her head. "You're mean."

"He's trying to keep an eye on you while making it seem like he doesn't care that you're talking to me," Fred whispered.

Scarlett nodded. "But he really does care."

Fred smiled. "As long as you know."

"Bye, Fred. And thanks again. For everything."

"Don't mention it," Fred said. "Now go before the Finch explodes. You don't want feathers in your pumpkin juice."

"Still better than bathwater."

"You're never going to let me live that down, are you?"

"Nope."

"It wasn't real bathwater. You do know that, right?"

"No, I don't, and from what I gathered, neither do you." With that, Scarlett smirked and walked away to join Justin and Erica at the Hufflepuff table, leaving Fred laughing behind her.

A/N: I think this may be the longest chapter I've written yet and hopefully that isn't an issue. It wasn't supposed to be this long but I added the ending last minute and it made this chapter longer than what I usually write. I hope everyone enjoys it! :)