"It doesn't matter who you are or what you look like, so long as somebody loves you."
-The Witches (Roald Dahl)
"Merlin, Scar, I know he's a catch, but you might want to blink now and then."
Scarlett jumped and looked up to see George standing a few feet away. She was at a table in the library, doing her homework and had gotten lost in thought when she had seen Fred, George and Angelina come in and sit a few tables over. Apparently, time had passed without her even realizing because now George was standing in front of her.
"Hi, George," she said, rubbing her eyes.
"Can I take a seat?" he asked. "You can stare at me all you want." He winked dramatically.
Scarlett rolled her eyes and swung her foot under the table, pushing out the chair opposite her. "Go ahead."
"Thanks." George sat down and pulled out his books. "I just couldn't take being around the lovebirds any longer." He paused. "Sorry, are birds a weird subject for you?"
Scarlett smiled and rolled her eyes. "Only when Fred's making fun of Justin."
George smiled and sighed. "It's no fun being the single twin."
"Oh yeah?"
"Yeah."
"Why not?"
George shrugged. "I have to share him. He's my best friend and I don't like it."
"You'll have to share him with me eventually."
"Yeah, well, that we can't really control," George smirked. "And it's your own fault."
Scarlett tossed her quill at him.
"Easy now, you could've taken my eye out!"
Scarlett held back a giggle as Madame Pince loudly shushed them. "She's louder than us," Scarlett remarked. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed Fred and Angelina glance at her and George curiously, but she didn't look up.
"Ironic, isn't it?" George smirked, watching Madame Pince turn back to shelving books. "She loves the quiet, but whenever she makes a sound, it's like Seamus trying to turn his water into rum all over again."
Scalett giggled. "I'm pretty sure that explosion made the windows of the great hall rattle."
"Exactly," George laughed. "Anyway, as for Fred, you know he's never really had a serious girlfriend before. Sharing him like this is weird for me."
"Georgie, Georgie," Scarlett teased, shaking her head. "I know your mum taught you how to share."
George smiled. "Doesn't mean I like it."
"Fair enough. You know, you should go talk to Erica. She doesn't like being the single one either." Scarlett paused. "She deals with it better than you, though," she added.
"Yeah?" George asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Yeah," Scarlett replied.
George was silent for a moment and Scarlett looked back down at her books, reaching over and taking her quill back from George, who was twirling it between his fingers.
"So," George piped up after a little while, "what were you so lost in thought about earlier?"
Scarlett bit her lip and looked over at Fred and Angelina, who were now whispering with their foreheads nearly touching. It didn't look like much work was getting done. Unless schoolwork was suddenly funny because now Angelina was laughing.
"Scar, what is it?" George asked gently.
"Does he love her?" she asked.
George turned in his seat to follow Scarlett's gaze. "I don't know. He hasn't mentioned anything to me."
"Would he?"
"I'd think so, yeah, but he hasn't said a thing, so I can't say for sure. He's never been in love before so I can't say from past experiences."
"Ah, but if he's one to not say anything, how would you know he's never been in love before?" Scarlett asked automatically.
George raised an eyebrow as he turned back to Scarlett. "Why do you care? Did you fall in love with him? Ginny and Erica will have a field day."
"No," Scarlett answered, pausing. "It's just that, well, Justin told me he loved me last weekend."
"He did?" George raised his eyebrows again and let out a low whistle. "Wow, looks like things are getting serious."
Scarlett nodded. "Apparently. Don't tell Fred, though. I made Erica promise the same thing. I can't handle the teasing right now. Eventually, I'll let him know, but not now."
George nodded. "So, how did Justin tell you?"
"We were in the Three Broomsticks. He gave me a pair of earrings to go with my bracelet and then he told me how he felt."
"What did you say?"
"I told him I'm not there yet, which is true…."
"But…?" George prodded.
"But I feel like I could be and that I should be, if I hadn't already had it in my mind that ultimately, I can't be with him. I mean, if he can fall in love with me in five and a half months, shouldn't I be able to fall in love with him?"
"Not necessarily," George said. "Even if there was no vow, you might've fallen in love with him later than he fell in love with you. People fall in love at different speeds. I mean, this might not be the best example, but when Fred and I were almost two and Ron came along, we hated him. Well, maybe we didn't hate him, but we didn't want to be kicked out of the position of youngest children just yet. We didn't want everyone's attention on someone else, especially the little troll that was baby Ron."
"George," Scarlett laughed. "And that's different. It's normal for older siblings to feel weird when a new baby comes along."
George shrugged. "Anyway, we got used to it."
"And you grew to love him," Scarlett said, "because he's your brother."
"No," George said seriously. "We still aren't too fond of him." He finally broke into a smile. "My point is that sometimes you don't love people right away even if they love you and even if you have it somewhere in your mind that you should love them. And that's okay. I'm sure Justin's in no rush for you to say it back. At least, I don't think he is."
"I just feel…conflicted. I feel like I can't let myself love Justin because it'll break my heart as much as his when I have to leave him for Fred. I'm already having a hard time telling him. This is why I shouldn't have waited." She groaned and buried her head in her hands.
"Hey," George said, reaching over and pulling Scarlett's hands away from her face. "You'll tell Justin when you're ready. Fred will tell Angelina when he's ready. For now, just don't worry."
"I have to worry."
"You have enough to worry about without adding this to it," George said.
"You're right," Scarlett agreed, resting her elbow on the table and her cheek on her hand. "I've been beginning to study for the NEWTs. Is that what you're doing?" She gestured to the books on the table in front of George.
"Not really. I only brought my books to make it look like I was. Madame Pince won't let me and Fred in here if we're doing anything prank or joke related because of what happened fifth year."
"What happened fifth year?"
"We broke one of the legs off the tables trying to invent our first product. She's kind of hated us ever since."
"Really?" Scarlett asked, wrinkling her nose. "I mean it was only a table leg. Easily fixable."
George laughed. "Exactly. Anyway, Fred and I…well, we were going to work on inventions on the sly while Angelina did her homework. She promised not to be a distraction, but…." George shrugged and trailed off, grinning at Scarlett.
"You should have seen that one coming, George," Scarlett laughed.
"You're right, I should have."
"Well, you're welcome to study with me."
"All right." George let out a sigh as he rested his cheek on his hand and absentmindedly flipped through his Charms book. "I can't believe this is what it's come to. I'm studying because my twin is too busy to invent things with me."
"It'll be okay, George," Scarlett laughed, patting his hand. "It'll all be okay."
"Yeah, right back at you," George smiled. Scarlett looked up and half-smiled back, hoping that he was right.
February soon turned into March and Scarlett was still managing to keep out of Umbridge's way, but just barely. She still got the feeling that Umbridge was waiting for her to mess up so that she could lock her in another classroom.
She wasn't the only one trying to behave, though. Harry, Scarlett had heard, was trying to stay out of the toad's way as well to avoid getting detention. Besides having to write with the awful quill, detention would result in him missing Quidditch practices, and in turn, that would result in an angry Angelina.
"She's channeling Wood, I swear," Fred muttered in Herbology one day in mid-March. "It's bloody annoying. I'm dating Angelina to actually date Angelina, not Angelina with a side of Wood."
"Why, what's going on?" Scarlett asked.
"Harry's going to miss another week's worth of practices. He got more detentions with Umbridge after she found out about his Quibbler interview."
"Ah," Scarlett nodded. Almost the entire Great Hall had heard the exchange between Umbridge and Harry at breakfast the other day.
"So Angelina made us all get up extra early this morning to practice as punishment," George continued, "and we think she's going to continue doing that all week so that even Harry will be able to make it."
"At least she's not doing evening practices on top of it," Erica shrugged.
George shushed her. "Don't jinx it!"
Erica rolled her eyes and went back to what she was doing.
Scarlett caught George's eye and smiled. "Don't take it personally," she said. "Erica's always crabby."
"I am not!" Erica answered defiantly. "I am very nice especially to you and especially this year. I've held my tongue every time I've had to share you with Justin." She smirked to show she was teasing.
"See?" Scarlett said to George. "I told you."
"Told him what?" Erica asked.
"I told him that you handle having to share much better than he does."
"Of course I do," Erica sniffed, grinning.
"And Scarlett calls me bigheaded," Fred snorted. He looked at George. "Aw, does George not like having to share me with Angie?" he teased as George rolled his eyes.
"Scarlett and I studied together, Fred. I studied. I studied! Me!"
"So why were you in the library that day in the first place?" Scarlett asked.
"Inventing," Fred said.
"Trying to," George muttered.
"Yeah, I know, that's what you said, but," Scarlett turned to Fred, "it didn't look like you were inventing or doing homework. You were too busy talking to Angelina."
"So you were watching me?" Fred asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Yes, because I have absolutely nothing better to do with my life than stare at you." Scarlett rolled her eyes. "I guess I'm wondering why you'd ever choose the library to invent things in the first place. Even though you got nothing done, which is ironic because that is the purpose of the library after all."
"Well, when we were younger we did it because it was a good place to work on our pranks. Some people like a quiet place to do homework, we liked a quiet place to plan pranks. Then, when we were doing things that caused a lot of noise, we'd usually go somewhere else, but sometimes we wouldn't-,"
"Which led to the incident in fifth year that I told you about," George finished.
"And yesterday Angelina insisted we go there," Fred shrugged. "She wanted to spend time with me, but she had to study, so the library was really our only option because Angelina was insisting she wouldn't be able to get anything done in the common room. That reminds me, though….Why wasn't the Finch studying with you?"
"We aren't attached at the hip you know," Scarlet answered. "He was playing Exploding Snap in the common room with Ernie."
"I see," Fred answered.
"Why do you care?" Scarlett asked
"Just curious," Fred answered. "I'd have thought he wouldn't let you out of his sight with scary things like Umbridge and, you know, me lurking around."
"Oh, please." Scarlett rolled her eyes. "For the most part I've managed to stay out of Umbridge's way since after the holidays and you aren't all that scary. You also know that Justin's trying to be understanding about me and you being friends."
"Don't you think it's a little odd that you haven't gotten into any trouble with Umbridge in a while?" Fred asked slowly.
Scarlett and Erica looked at each other in confusion. "No," Scarlett shrugged. "I've been too relieved. Why would it be odd?"
"Well, she goes from singling you out and treating you really unfairly to not doing anything at all. I mean, what about that day back in February, when she gave me a detention?"
"What about it?" Scarlett asked.
"I honestly didn't think you'd make it out without getting one too. It was all too easy for her to give you one but she didn't. I didn't really say anything because I wasn't sure and I didn't want to worry you, but she's probably planning something else to ruin your life. Something big."
"That's ridiculous," Scarlett said, letting out a laugh. "Why would you think that?"
"Because it's odd," Fred said. "She went from being downright evil to almost completely laying low."
"And why does that mean she's planning something big?" Scarlett asked. "Maybe she just gave up."
Fred shook his head. "I don't think so. There have been plenty of times when George and I have been planning a big prank on someone and before we do, we lay off on all of the little pranks so that the big prank is more of a surprise."
"We're not talking about pranks, though, Fred," Scarlett sighed.
"It's the same context."
"No, it isn't."
"Yes, it is. Trust me."
Scarlett didn't answer him. Instead, she just chewed on her lip in thought.
"I thought you did trust me," Fred said. "You told me you did."
"I do trust you, but I don't know if I can bring myself to believe that Umbridge is planning something big and completely evil, especially towards me. I haven't done a single thing to her."
"Why?"
"Why haven't I done something to her?"
"No, why can't you believe she's planning something?"
"I don't know," Scarlett sighed. "I mean, is she really that devious?"
"Yes," both twins answered at once. "Haven't you noticed or are you blind?"
"She is an adult, you know," Scarlett said.
"A crazy adult. Just because she is a grown up doesn't mean she has to act like one," Fred said.
"Yes, you'd know all about that, wouldn't you?" Scarlett smirked.
"True, but we aren't technically adults," Fred said, grinning at George.
"You're of age, aren't you? And you act like children," Scarlett smirked.
"Yes, it is true that we're of age," Fred said, "but technically, we're still teenagers. They don't call it seventeen for nothing."
"No, I suppose not," Scarlett answered.
"Anyway, my point is," Fred said, "that you should just watch out, okay?"
"Okay," Scarlett agreed slowly, wondering if Fred and George really could be on to something.
A/N: I know this chapter isn't as eventful as some of the others and it's almost more of a filler but I'd say it's still pretty important.
Thanks for reading and thank you for all of the awesome feedback!