Chapter 31: Mistletoe

A/N: me, patiently waiting for someone on Tiktok to find this fic and blow it up (also, content warning: things get a little frisky)

Last Year; the first time Madeline and Fred met

The twin grinned, leaning back in his chair, "Well, looks like the rumours are true."

Madeline raised her eyebrow in a challenge, "What rumours?"

The boy's grin seemed to stretch, but surprisingly, it wasn't cocky in the slightest, "You're not just a pretty face."

Madeline's eyes widened, her hands grabbing the textbook off the table before the boy could see her blush, spluttering, "You're welcome, by the way. Don't kill anyone with those things, will you? I'm not interested in being an accessory to a crime."

Madeline hastily spun on her heel, stalking away from the boy. He'd instantly stood up, calling out one last thing.

"The name is Fred, by the way!"

She stopped, a small smirk on her face. She turned back to the boy, textbook clutched to her chest. She was only a few feet away from him, rolling her eyes at his goofy grin.

"Madeline Bisset."

December arrived, bringing with it more snow and an avalanche of homework for the fifth-years. It seemed that with the colder weather, everyone became more and more busy, the rush of the final month of the year setting in.

Madeline spent most of her evenings cramming essay after essay in to free up her weekends, only to be gifted with even more homework on Fridays. Daphne and Theo were often by her side, also cramming in essays and practicing spells.

She began seeing less and less of Fred and her Gryffindor friends. A few times, she'd shown up to the Gryffindor tower to find that not only were Fred and George out past curfew, but so were most of the Gryffindors. The Fat Lady had said nothing of the matter, but she didn't need to. Madeline knew something was wrong.

She knew something was happening. She knew it. But she didn't know what, or how to ask Fred if she couldn't find him. When she did see him at breakfast, it was with his head pressed to the table, snoring quietly as he caught up on sleep that he was clearly lacking. And yet, despite his exhausted demeanour, she could tell something was bubbling and brewing beneath the floors of Hogwarts. Something exciting and daring, but she couldn't put her finger on it.

That was quite a common thing now. Madeline had so many unanswered questions, things she couldn't quite put her finger on. She felt like she had half of the puzzle pieces she needed to finish the game, the others lost somewhere in the Great Lake or a similarly drab and dreary place.

Madeline assumed the Gryffindors were all prepping for the glimpse of hope that somehow, someday Umbridge would let them play Quidditch again. Maybe that was it! Maybe they were all meeting in secret to practice, but Angelina had already appointed new team members…

And she couldn't keep kidding herself. She cared for Fred so deeply, he was becoming her first love. She knew that big scary word was coming, at least for her. He made her feel like she was just Madeline, like the Bisset and the Dearborn and any other name anyone wanted to call her didn't matter, because she was just Madeline. Maddie.

"Earth to Madeline."

Madeline shook herself out of her thoughts with a fork waved in her face. She laughed, pushing it away, "Sorry Greengrass; what were you saying?"

"That we need to relax. And by we, I mainly mean you," Daphne replied, sinking back into her chair, "Your mind is going a hundred miles an hour. I can tell."

Madeline sighed, rubbing her eyes, "You're right."

"Weasley issues?"

"Something like that," Madeline sighed as she felt the bench next to her dip.

"Why am I not surprised that you and that oaf are on thin ice?" Draco teased as he, surprisingly, took the seat next to Madeline.

"Watch your mouth, ferret."

"I agree with what my girlfriend said, Malfoy."

Madeline looked to her left to find none other than Fred standing next to her, glaring daggers at Draco. His hand came to rest at the top of her back, leaning down to her ear.

"I came to ask you something, but I'm afraid that your pet ferret might bite me," Fred admitted quietly.

"He won't do a thing," Madeline smiled, "He's all bark and no bite."

Fred gestured for Madeline to follow him. She barely spared Draco a glance as she stood up, telling Daphne she'd be right back, before following him to just the outside of the Great Hall.

"You wanted to see me, Weasley?"

Fred nodded, hands coming to grasp hers, "I wanted to ask you something…"

"The floor is yours."

"Do you want to spend Christmas at the Burrow?" Fred eventually asked, "Harry is coming as well. It could only be a few days, if you wanted. I don't mind, but mum mentioned it so I thought-"

"Fred, you're rambling," Madeline smiled, squeezing his hands, "But yes, I'd love to. I don't know how long for, and I'm going to have to write home and make sure its okay… But, yes. I want to."

Fred beamed, throwing his arms around Madeline's waist and picking her up, spinning her around. Madeline giggled hiding her head in his shoulder as he put her down, his own head burying in her neck as he planted a chaste kiss to her shoulder.

"You're excited," Madeline giggled through a whisper, smiling as they both lifted their heads.

"Very excited," Fred smiled, "It's not every day your girlfriend agrees to spend Christmas together."

It's not every day that you realise you're falling in love with your boyfriend, either.

"Hem hem."

Madeline and Fred pulled away from each other and turned around, coming face-to-face with none other than Umbridge herself. She stared at the couple severely, arms crossed.

"Does Hogwarts allow students this amount of… Public affection, would you say?" she asked in her typical slightly-off manner.

"We were just hugging, Professor," Madeline answered, forcing herself to smile, "But we'll be sure to keep that to ourselves from now on."

"Very well," Umbridge nodded, "You should hurry along, now."

Madeline nodded, taking Fred's hand and planting a big, wet kiss to his cheek. She ignored Umbridge's gaze as she pulled Fred back into the Great Hall.

Umbridge would not ruin a perfectly good moment for her, thank you very much.

Last Year; December

"Bisset; wait up!"

Madeline had been halfway down the first set of stairs when she heard her name. She turned around, half expecting to see Harry or Hermione.

She was greeted, instead, by Fred Weasley.

"If you're about to try and get me to apologise, the answer is-"

"Do you want to go to the Yule Ball with me?"

Madeline's eyes widened, her mouth falling open. What the hell?

"Seriously?" Madeline asked after a few moments, "Even after I ripped the entire Gryffindor Tower a new one?"

Fred shrugged, putting his hands in his pockets as he grinned cheekily, "To be quite honest, it was kind of hot."

Madeline's eyes widened even more. On one hand, she should curse him out for his awful timing. On the other hand, it was absolutely perfect.

"Alright, yeah," Madeline eventually agreed after she'd shaken herself out of her initial shock, nodding, "I'll go with you."

"Wicked," Fred grinned even wider, Madeline pointedly ignoring the Fat Lady's shocked expression on the wall behind Fred. "I'll, uh, see you at dinner, yeah?"

"Sure," Madeline nodded, ignoring the unfamiliar fluttering in her chest, "See you later."

Fred nodded, but seemed to hesitate. He squeezed Madeline's shoulder, almost too amicably, before jogging back through the Gryffindor entrance.

So, Madeline had a date to the ball after all.

This was not what Madeline had in mind for her evening, but she wasn't exactly complaining.

It had started with her and Fred in the Gryffindor common room to do some essays, followed by the two of them spotting a single piece of mistletoe above the fireplace, followed by where they were now.

Madeline definitely thought making out was a better way of spending time than studying.

Fred's hand ran through her hair and across her cheek, cupping her face as he kept kissing her. Madeline's own hands wrapped around his shoulders, nails running through the hair at the nape of his neck as she pulled herself closer, so close in fact that she ended up on his lap, smiling as they took a second to breathe, before Madeline pressed back in.

She didn't know how long they'd been kissing for, but it felt good, even if it was on the Gryffindor couch, of all places. She ignored the idea that anyone could walk in at any moment, and instead moved to Fred's neck, placing a couple of kisses there as he let out a breathy noise.

"Merlin, you're…" Fred sighed as Madeline lifted her head back to his, "C'mere."

One of Fred's hands stayed at her waist, his thumb rubbing gentle circles on her hip, while his other hand cupped around her head, pulling her closer as the two locked lips again.

One of Madeline's hands pressed against his chest, encouraging him to lie down on the couch. He went willingly, smiling into the kiss as Madeline giggled into his lips.

"This isn't exactly studying, Weasley," Madeline teased, fingers stroking through his hair.

"You're right, it's much better," Fred grinned, pushing himself up slightly to catch Madeline's lips back in his.

Madeline kissed him back rather happily. His hand kept it's loose grip on her waist, thumb still drawing lazy circles while Madeline's hand threaded through his hair, giving a gentle tug.

The groan he let out when she did that should've been criminal, Madeline thought.

"Is this still okay?" Fred asked, to which Madeline nodded enthusiastically.

"Better than okay-"

"Bloody hell! Get a room!"

Madeline huffed at the catcalls from Lee Jordan and George, hiding her face in his neck as he pulled the both of them upright on the couch, a blush growing from his neck to his face.

"Shut up," Fred huffed, rubbing his face awkwardly.

"Awww, look at our Freddie! All grown up!" Lee teased, sliding into the space next to Fred and ruffling his hair, "It's, what, the second time we've caught you two this year?"

"I think this is my cue to go," Madeline sighed, squeezing Fred's hand for a moment before standing up, dusting off her skirt, "George, Lee; a pleasure as always."

Madeline pretended to ignore Fred's gaze fixed on her bum as she walked out.

Daphne didn't know how she ended up like this, but she wasn't complaining.

It had started with Luna Lovegood accidentally spilling a drink on her parchment, putting her back on her essays by at least an hour. If it had been anyone else, Daphne probably would've torn them to shreds. But when she saw Luna's apologetic (yet always dreamy) eyes, she didn't have it in her heard to be mad. Instead, Luna helped her with her essays all afternoon, even if she was in the year below her, and had little to add to Daphne's research.

But she smelt like lavender and butterscotch, and her smile made Daphne almost spill her ink.

Was it wrong to look at her like that?

Their studying had bled into the late hours of the evening, the pair almost missing dinner as they chatted the whole way from the library to the Great Hall, Daphne pointedly ignoring any odd glance she received. She caught little Evie Sterling's eye, who sent her a small smile before rushing off with her other Slytherin friends.

"A Wrackspurt," Luna explained, "They're invisible. They float in through your ears and make your brain go fuzzy."

"Fuzzy?"

"Like you're underwater or confused," Luna continued, "You should really read the Quibbler, you know. If you're interested in things like that."

"I prefer it when you explain them," Daphne admitted.

"Why is that?"

Daphne stuttered, "I, well… It's nice hearing people talk about things they're interested in, you know?"

"What are you interested in?"

The smell of lavender and butterscotch.

"Art," Daphne blurted out, "Not making it. I like looking at the paintings at the staircases a lot. And the Muggle art history books in the library are a sure-fire way to distract me from homework."

"Art," Luna mused, turning to look at Daphne, "Yeah, I see that."

Merlin her eyes are pretty.

"Greengrass!" none other than Pansy Parkinson grinned as she swiped her arm through Daphne's, slowly dragging her away from Luna, "I've been looking for you, you know."

Daphne threw Luna an apologetic glance over her shoulder before turning back to Pansy, frowning, "To what do I owe this displeasure, Parkinson?"

"You should be thanking me for dragging you away from her," Pansy tutted, "But anyway; I need to see your potions essay."

"Do your own."

"I have," Pansy rolled her eyes as the two entered the Great Hall, "I just need to check I got my formulas right."

"Then ask someone else," Daphne frowned, "If you wanted to copy someones work, ask Draco. Snape would give him top marks even if he wasn't a genius at potions."

"Don't let him hear you call him a genius," Pansy shook her head, "He'd never come off that high."

"I thought he was your boyfriend?"

"Doesn't matter what we are, I know a narcissist when I see one," Pansy teased, the two seating themselves at their table, "Oh, and speaking of narcissist; Bisset!"

"Wow Parkinson, I'm so glad I live in your thoughts."

"Ignore her, she rolled out the wrong side of the bed," Daphne shook her head, "M, do you mind if I take a look at your potions essay? I just want to make sure the formulas are right."

Daphne pointedly ignored Pansy's grin.