Emma could have cut all the tension at breakfast with a knife, and a sharp one at that. All eyes were on Harry Potter, who was trying his best to eat in peace, poor thing. Of course, none of the eyes stayed on him too long, as they were all afraid of being caught staring. Angelina went off to track down Alicia Spinnet and tell her about the trials for Keeper, as Angelina was the new Gryffindor Quidditch captain and Oliver Wood's spot needed to be filled.
"Will you be going to the trials, Emma?" said George, handing the marmalade to Lee.
"I suppose if I'm not busy, though I can't imagine why I'd go," said Emma. "After all, you guys are all already on the team, and I don't know anyone who'd be going for Keeper."
Professor McGonagall was making her way down Gryffindor table with the class schedules and Emma looked over at the Ravenclaw table, spotting Professor Flitwick doing the same.
"I'll be right back, guys," she said. "I need to get my schedule."
By the time she got back, Fred and George were frowning, and not sitting exactly where they had been before.
"What's up?" she said, grabbing the pumpkin juice and pouring herself another glass.
"Granger's trying to get on us for trying to use firsties for our testing," grumbled Fred.
"It's not as though we aren't testing everything on ourselves first," pointed out George.
"It's perfectly safe," they chorused.
"But she doesn't seem to think so," added George.
"And now she's trying to drag ickle Ronniekins on our case as well, bloody prefect," growled Fred.
"Oh, yes, I heard that Ron got a badge. Tell him congratulations from me, will you?" said Emma loftily, which earned a pair of identical snorts.
"When pigs fly," spat Fred.
"As if he needs encouragement," said George.
"Mum already thinks he's brilliant," said Fred.
"A little replacement for their lost Percy," said George dryly.
Emma shrugged. She knew they wouldn't like that Ron was a prefect, but this seemed a little bit harsh. After all, it was clear to anyone with eyes and half a brain that Ron was not shaping up to be anything like Percy, and the very thought of Ron disciplining anyone who actually deserved it, much less his own brothers, was laughable beyond that which Luna Lovegood spouted. Yet the way they regarded his badge, it was as though he had somehow committed some act of ultimate treachery and betrayal, and the only way to even the score was to make his life hell with torment, which, admittedly, they did anyway.
She didn't have any classes with the twins that day, so she simply drifted from class to class, ignoring the smirks of Roger Davies and pretending as though she wasn't daydreaming of Fred the whole day. They had lunch as a group, and Angelina talked about people she thought might try for Keeper while Emma read a book. Every once in a while, however, her eyes drifted upward and examined Fred for as long as she dared, taking in his finely sculpted face, his perfect features, his gorgeous blue eyes against that adorable gingered hair, and that smirk that said he was up to something, as he always was. Her heartbeat would quicken every time she looked him over, and when she couldn't take it anymore, or when she sensed he might look her way, she immediately dropped her eyes back down to her book. It wouldn't do for him to catch her looking at him.
But he did anyway. At dinner that night, she sat at the Gryffindor table, and she stared just a moment too long. He was sitting directly across from her, which made watching him an even finer art, and one which she hadn't quite mastered. He caught her looking up at him and his smirk deepened. She saw his twinkling eyes wink at her before she looked back down at her book in embarrassment.
Of course he winked at her. It was what he did. Fred was a winker. It didn't mean anything, other than he was perhaps pleased that she had done something that so obviously boosted his ego.
The following day at breakfast, the twins were in poor spirits, and Emma asked, quite foolishly, what was wrong. She got the whole gruesome story.
"… and then Granger pulled out the stops on us," groaned George. "Either we got more creative about testing on first years, or she writes our mum."
A collective shiver passed through the group. The thought of Mrs. Weasley's reaction to the information that her sons were testing their products on helpless, gullible children was a terrifying one. Suddenly, and idea sparked Emma.
"I'll do it," said Emma, rather softly.
"Do what?" said George casually, buttering his toast.
"I'll test your products," she said, strength building in her voice. "I'll do it for free. Granger can't get mad about that!"
"No," said Fred so sharply that they all looked around at him. "There's no way I'm letting Emma test our products."
"You let me test them," reasoned George with a smirk, "and we know they're not dangerous by the time we bring in other testers."
"No!" Fred cried, slamming his fork down on the table. "Something could go wrong! We could make a mistake! No!"
"You sound like Granger," muttered Lee, earning him a potent glare from the angry twin.
"If you don't want me involved in your joke shop," said Emma softly, "you could just say so. You don't have to make a scene."
Fred's mouth flopped open and closed a few times and she sighed, setting down her fork and gathering up her bag, seeing Angelina smack Fred on the back of the head as she got up and glided out of the Great Hall. She heard footsteps following her up the marble staircase and turned at the top to find George a few steps behind her.
"I apologize for my twin's stupidity," he muttered. "Maybe we can work out some sort of arrangement."
Emma shook her head sadly.
"There's nothing to apologize for," she said simply, "but I won't get involved without Fred's blessing and I'll have to get it from him, since I wouldn't put it past you to lie to me for the sake of the shop."
George just shrugged sheepishly.
"For the good of the shop…"
"I'm not saying I blame you," said Emma with a laugh. "Anyway, I've got Arithmancy. I'll see you at lunch, George."
George nodded thoughtfully as she took off up the corridor.
On her way to lunch, mind still lost in Ancient Runes, Samantha was pulled into an empty classroom by a strong arm before she realized what was happening, and the door was closed and locked behind her. She found herself looking up into Fred's face, and she wasn't sure why, but a completely unwelcome blush crept into her cheeks.
"I'm sorry," he said softly. "I overreacted at breakfast and I shouldn't have. It's just… I don't want to put you in danger."
"You put George in danger," she pointed out, as George had done earlier.
"But George is different," he sighed.
"How?" she said, taking a seat on the nearest desk, looking up at him defiantly.
"Because," he snapped.
"Freddie," she sighed, "we've got one year left and then there's a war out there. You treating me like a piece of china isn't going to make me safer when I step out of the walls and into the real world. We'll all be targets."
His blue eyes looked at her sadly, shaking his head slightly.
"Emma, please just don't…"
"Don't what?"
He sighed, pacing the room in front of her.
"I don't know, okay?" he said, aggravated. "It's like, I look at you and I see that eleven-year-old girl who tricked me into eating a Cockroach Cluster and then I blink and you're seventeen, and you're this precious flower and if something were to happen to you…" He stopped in his tracks as his sentence trailed off into the air, staring at the wall before turning to her with the same sad eyes. "Emma, please just let me keep you as safe as I can?"
She wanted to say no. Her pride as an independent woman, as instilled in her by her mother, wanted her to tell him to shove it, that she was helping George whether he liked it or not, but that look in those sweet blue eyes melted her heart as it always did and she nodded numbly, wishing he would come just a little bit closer, even if not close enough to reach out and touch.
"W-we should probably go to lunch, Freddie," she said softly, "before they send out a search party."
"Who would send out a search party?" he said with a little laugh, before they exchanged a dark look and said together, "Tien."
Tien Vo was Emma's favorite Ravenclaw. They hardly were together outside of classes and the Ravenclaw Tower, as Tien could only handle human contact for so long, and Emma valued her Gryffindor time greatly, but Tien always wanted to know where Emma was and what she was doing. Tien was slightly paranoid, but it was all a part of her charm.
"Reckon we ought to eat with her today?" said Fred absently, wringing his hands together in anxious anticipation. He was a bit afraid of Tien, and Emma didn't blame him. She had a tendency to be a bit nasty, and hadn't spared Fred at all when she found out Emma had a crush on him.
"Well, I ought to check in," she said thoughtfully. "Tien's not in Ancient Runes and I rather think she will want to see me."
"Right then," he said, leading the way down to the Great Hall. "To the Ravenclaw table we go!"
As soon as they go to the Great Hall, Fred gave George a sign that they were sitting at Ravenclaw, and George winced. If Tien was nasty to Fred, she was positively revolting to George, but he got up from the Gryffindor table and followed them over to Ravenclaw, sitting next to Fred, across from Emma, who had just sat down next to a trim, pretty Vietnamese girl who glared at the twins, but then turned to Emma with an eager grin.
"How was Runes?" she said excitedly. "Did you translate anything disgusting?"
"If texts on ancient social practices of warlocks in Finland are disgusting," said Emma, "then I suppose."
"Positively revolting, darling," said Tien with a knowing nod.
"The most revolting, dear!" said Emma, and the girls giggled together.
"How have your classes been going, Tien?" said Fred politely, putting on the best face Emma had ever seen from him. Tien glowered at him anyway.
"Fine. How's life with three classes?"
"Spectacular," said the twins with a shared grin.
"More spectacular than line dancing with the giant squid?" countered Tien antagonistically.
"N-no," said Fred, looking slightly put out. "I can't imagine so. Have you gone line dancing with the giant squid?"
"No," said Tien loftily, selecting a sandwich. "But I will someday. It's on my list of things to do before I graduate."
George opened his mouth, probably to ask what else was on the list, but Emma shook her head at him discretely and his mouth snapped shut again.
"Ooo, perfect," said Tien excitedly, rubbing her hands together as she eyed the entrance to the Great Hall. "My favorite target."
Fred and George turned quickly to see who was more hated than them, and Emma just smirked, picking her own sandwich out. She already knew who the unlucky victim was. Cho Chang.
"Just look at that tramp," muttered Tien. "She thinks she's queen of the world because she got asked to the Yule Ball by two of the champions, never mind that the one she went with picked her as his second choice, or that he's dead. And he was alright, too." That sentence caused the twins to share an incredulous look. She never said such things of people. "And then there's the fact that Davies asked her out. As if that means a thing, he asks out everything on legs. Even asked me out once."
"What happened?" chorused the twins eagerly.
"She stabbed him in the thigh with her butter knife," said Emma dryly, but it was the absolute truth. There had been blood everywhere.
"Ah, that's what that was about," said Fred.
"Beautiful," said George, shaking his head in awe.
"Yes, it rather was," said Tien, grinning. "Anyway, where was I?"
"Being asked out by Davies is nothing," said Emma, who had memorized the whole spiel while putting on her makeup that morning.
"Right, so she has this thing for Harry Potter, because he's been getting all this attention and is the only person with a half-way decent reason for her boyfriend being dead. And the poor boy can't even keep his eyes in his head when she's around, and it's not even like she's pretty. She's just cute, I guess, because her hair is always just right and has no real personality – the hair I mean, she's got one, but it's horribly dull – and her clothes are always just so, but that's not really saying much, as we've all got uniforms, haven't we? So anyway, that girl's going to play the victim card, for sure, and get in with Harry Potter within the term, but I'll bet it doesn't last long. She won't put up with him."
"How so?" said Fred conversationally, though Emma could tell he was thrilled that she was picking apart someone other than himself.
"Ah, well, you see, Harry has real issues in his life. I mean, there's a psycho bent on world domination and eternal life trying to kill him, isn't there? That's a serious problem. Cho's biggest problem is what shade of lip gloss to put on in the morning. She and her idiot friends have no way to really understand what he's going through, and the second something minor comes in the way of whatever it is she wants at the moment, they're going to split faster than Marietta Edgecomb's ends."
"She curls her hair every morning and gets dreadful split ends," said Emma as an explanation.
"Anyway, I feel bad for the boy, 'cause he thinks he really does like her."
Fred and George nodded solemnly.
"You know," said Tien thoughtfully, "I like you two better now. I might upgrade you."
"To what?" said George.
"Well, you're a nasty now," said Tien, "but your twin is almost on human status. Right, Emma? That's the right one?"
Emma's eyes widened as she nodded, looking down at her plate and praying she wasn't blushing, but George looked at her with a raised eyebrow and Fred frowned.
"Why's his status lower than mine?"
"Because he's lower on Emma's totem pole, duh!" said Tien, as if everyone in the world used her logic. They didn't. Emma was the only one who even remotely understood it, and even she was unsure precisely how it worked. However bringing Emma into the picture certainly piqued the twins' curiosity.
"Oh really?" said George with a smirk, and Emma's blush deepened as she realized he knew what was going on. "How much higher?"
"Fred, how's the Ravenclaw team looking this year? Think we can beat Slytherin?" said Emma swiftly, desperate to change the direction of the conversation.
Fred blinked at her.
"Probably," he said, giving her a very curious look.
"Ch-charms next," she stuttered out. "We should probably go. Don't want to be late for Flitwick."
"Right," said George with a wide smirk on his face.
Emma grabbed her bag and sped out of the Great Hall toward the Charms corridor, and George was next to her halfway up the marble staircase.
"Oh, this is going to be fun," he said in a low voice, so that Fred didn't hear them. "How long has this been brewing?"
"Don't know what you're talking about," she spat, a little less smooth than she would have hoped.
"Oh, I think you do, Emma dearest, and I'm on your side, so don't push me away."
And with a wink and a nod ever so slightly in his twins direction, George picked up his pace and caught up with Tien, who walked incredibly fast for a petite Asian girl, and asked her for an abbreviated version of her thoughts on Roger Davies, which she was only too happy to oblige. Meanwhile, Fred caught up to Emma.
"Hey," he said softly. "What was that all about?"
"Oh George is trying to covertly get me to test the Snackboxes," she said, which was true, but not entirely honest, and her cheeks flushed.
"You know," he said even more softly, "you look really good when you blush." He kissed her cheek softly and walked off toward Charms, leaving Emma standing in the corridor, staring after him for a moment, touching her cheek where his lips had just been and wondering if she hadn't just imagined that.
There was no mention of anything unusual all through Charms, where Emma and Tien sat practicing Disillusionment and Fred and George sat doing the same.
"So you never told him you liked him?" said Tien, finally.
"Of course not!" hissed Emma, blushing.
"Well, no wonder you two aren't dating, then. Or shagging, at the very least. The sexual tension between the two of you is so intense I was expecting it to explode during lunch and find you two suddenly devouring each other on the table in the middle of the Great Hall!"
"Ew," groaned Emma. While the idea of being devoured by and devouring Fred wasn't altogether unappealing, the rest of the scenario was far from appetizing and she shook her head vigorously, attempting to clear it of such horrible thoughts.
"Well, you best be getting on it soon, or your man candy shall be gobbled up by others," Tien said pointedly, nodding toward Alicia Spinnet, who was watching Fred rather obviously from the other side of the room. Emma flinched. Why did she have to fall for the absolute best catch in all of Hogwarts?