Buckle up, folks! Stupid George is incoming.
Bookcozy: I am so sorry to hear that about your dad and sister. I can only imagine how hard that must be. Photos are such a bittersweet thing to look at when you've lost someone, I agree.
vanshika . sharma2103: I've never actually been very fond of Cedric, but I do think that he had such a sad ending as a character. I'm a Hufflepuff according to every quiz I've taken online, so I just love him a little bit because of that. Hufflepuff deserved a hero.
readerfaye: Thank you for the review! Don't worry, George won't be too smug. Let's see if anyone will guess why.
RoonieTunes: I just imagine Fred to be a flirt with everyone anyway (both of the twins, really) and it just giggles me to make George so jealous about it. Such denial he has.
AstarothZyran: Welcome and thank you so much for all the reviews! I do mention some of Tori's past in the previous installment (really only how she came to stay with the Weasleys but not a ton of detail), but the majority of her past is mentioned within this one. George is a handful at the moment, but I just love him so much anyway. Also, I do agree that Nessa is much better at comforting than Harry. Every time I've read the series and Harry has to comfort anyone, I'm like ? Hermione is a true saint for putting up with him and Ron LOL.
Chapter Eleven
Nessa did not, in fact, follow Tori's advice to talk to Diggory.
On the contrary, every time she'd seen him in the library she'd hidden behind the stacks until he'd passed. On one occasion, he'd appeared in front of her out of the blue, looking down at one of the books he'd pulled from the Potions section, and she'd dived into the nearest aisle in an attempt to avoid him. She'd smacked her head on one of the shelves and ended up with a bruise on her forehead. She thought she'd heard him laughing as she'd sworn and ran away.
The Sorting Hat clearly had gone insane because she was a coward.
Fred and Tori had thought the whole thing very amusing. She'd have been avoiding them just as often to avoid the teasing except she was running out of places to hide at this point unless she wanted to take up residence with Moaning Myrtle again.
She groaned looking at herself in the mirror that morning. The bruise was nearly gone, but it was a disgusting yellow-brown color and it was very near the center of her forehead. Covering it up was getting very annoying and she hated herself a little more every time she had to get up earlier to do so. Fortunately for her, she and Fred didn't run on Mondays, so she'd gotten to sleep in a little longer than she normally would have.
Sighing heavily, she snuck out of the dorm when she was done, leaving Tori to sleep before classes began. It was only six and breakfast wouldn't be ready for another half an hour. She could take a walk around the grounds or the empty castle to clear her head before she had to deal with another day of bickering with George and listening to Fred and Tori ask her if she'd run into any more bookshelves lately. Or maybe she should just go to the kitchens and grab something from the house elves and ignore her problems for a little while longer.
She had Arithmancy before lunch and she preferred being in the best mood possible before she went to that class so she didn't end up with a headache from the effort of staring at numbers all hour.
Decided, she turned the corner on the first floor to head to the kitchens when she heard the sounds of someone arguing in one of the unused classrooms. She stopped in the middle of the corridor and considered turning around and going for a walk around the grounds instead, but the voices sounded familiar. Against her better judgment, she went the nosier route and crept forward to the classroom door to see if she could hear what was happening within it.
As the voices became clearer, she tensed in surprise when she recognized who it was.
"Maybe if you weren't being such a stupid prat, she wouldn't be snapping at you all the time! You're not the one who got hurt, George, so quit acting like you are!"
"She called me a coward!"
"Because you're acting like one! You can't even tell Alicia how you feel about her insulting Nessa all the time. You can't tell Nessa you're sorry for being so bloody stupid. Or that you're miserable about arguing with her all the time. I can't even tell if you're happy at all anymore, George! You're driving me bloody insane!"
"Yeah, well, she doesn't seem all that concerned about how I feel about the whole thing anyway, so what difference does it make if I'm miserable?"
There was a beat of stunned silence and Nessa wished she could see the look on Fred's face in that moment. She'd never seen him struck silent before. Especially where George was concerned. The two of them seemed to know what the other was thinking or saying or doing even before they did it.
"Do you hear yourself right now? She shouldn't have to apologize to you for anything. Listen to what I am saying to you. You are the one that hurt her. You are the one who avoided her like the plague —"
"I wasn't avoiding her!"
"Don't lie to me, George, because you're already pissing me off. You made me make excuses for you for weeks. Merlin knows why I bothered! You know you messed up. Why are you still going out of your way to make her miserable? Apologize, you fucking dunce!"
"I'm tired of listening to this, Fred."
"Well, I don't give a bloody damn, do I? I'm tired of wanting to smash your head into a wall. I'm tired of listening to the two of you argue about who gets the last bloody apple at breakfast. You don't even like apples, George! You're just trying to be a git to get a reaction out of her. And, you know what else I'm tired of? Meeting in this goddamn classroom at five A.M. because you can't tell Alicia that you have your own life outside of her!"
"Yeah, well, I'm tired of watching you flirt with Nessa just to piss me off!"
Fred let out a hollow, mocking sort of laugh.
"Get over yourself, Georgie. You don't like it when Diggory flirts with her, you don't like it when I do. Are we going to talk about that black eye that Towler had the night after he was telling our dormmates that he'd shag Nessa over Tori because she's the quiet one? Or are we still pretending like that wasn't you?"
"Shut up, Fred."
"Why? Too afraid to talk about how you feel about her? Afraid Alicia has something to be worried about? Maybe I'll do Nessa a favor and distract her from pining after you and snog her myself. I wonder how long she'll care about you and Alicia after that."
"I'm serious, Fred, shut the hell up."
Nessa tensed at his tone. She'd never actually heard George that angry before. Fred didn't seem to care much because he was laughing darkly.
She really should not be listening to this. She was clearly not supposed to be hearing any of this and neither of them would likely appreciate her being there. She took a step back just as Fred spoke again.
"Are you going to hit me, Georgie?"
Nessa shot forward and into the classroom before George could respond. To hell with how they'd feel about her eavesdropping on the conversation.
They were standing in the middle of the classroom, faces set in hard lines and jaws clenched so tightly that she could see the same vein pulsing on both of their faces. They were nose to nose, eyes flashing dangerously at each other and their fists clenched at their sides.
She was between them in a single heartbeat and trying to push George backward with her hands on his chest. He didn't budge.
"What is the matter with you two?" she said, angrily. Neither of them said anything or moved away from each other. She yelled in frustration and smacked George on the chest. "George, knock it off! The two of you are being stupid!" She gave him a push again and he took a stumbling step backward this time, although he didn't appear to have cooled off any and was still glaring harshly at his twin. "What the hell is your problem? Were you just going to fight with each other like children?"
"I don't know," said Fred harshly from behind her. He hadn't moved away from her when George had backed away and she could still feel the heat of him against her back. "Were we, George?"
George made a disgusted noise and whipped around to leave the classroom.
"George!" Nessa scolded immediately. "You can't just walk away after that!"
He whirled back around to glare at her.
"Why not?" he said angrily. "It's what you do best anyway. I'm merely taking notes."
She took a step back in surprise at the harshness in his voice and gasped at the pang of hurt that flared in her chest. She came heel to toe with Fred, who rested a hand on her waist to keep her from tripping over him. George's eyes tracked the movement immediately and his eyes flared again.
"Watch it, George," Fred warned from behind her.
With a scoff, George disappeared, slamming the door behind him. Nessa stared at the door for a moment, balling her hands into fists to keep them from shaking. She truly hated confrontation — even if she had to watch it happen between someone else. She took a shaky breath as Fred took a step back and turned to face him. He was already walking over to the chalkboard they'd been using for development, but he paused when he got there without saying anything.
She jumped when he swung out to punch the wall next to him and winced at the cracking sound that reverberated through the room.
"Son of a bitch!" he said immediately, shaking his hand as if it would help ward off the pain.
She rushed forward immediately and grabbed his hand.
"Well, that was stupid." she said matter-of-factly, turning his hand over to look at the knuckles. They were cracked and a little bloody and were already starting to bruise. "You're lucky you didn't break your hand, Fred."
"I'm fine," he said, words still harsh, although Nessa knew it wasn't intended for her. He tried to pull his hand out of her grasp and she pushed down on one of the knuckles so that he gasped in pain. "Bloody hell, woman!"
"You aren't fine," she said with an eye roll. "Now sit down and shut up."
He huffed, but sat in the chair she was pointing at and let her look at his hand again.
"Conjure me a bowl of water," she demanded as she knelt in front of him and bent the fingers to make sure he truly hadn't broken any of them.
Fred smirked.
"Why?" he said cockily. "Don't tell me you can't do that yourself?"
She glared at him. He knew very well she couldn't because she was atrocious at Transfiguration. Fred was fairly decent, but he was less patient than George was when trying to explain the art behind the spellwork to her, so she avoided asking for his help altogether.
He chuckled, waving his wand and muttering an incantation under his breath. A porcelain bowl filled with water and a washcloth appeared on the desk next to him.
"And bandages," she muttered, taking the cloth and wringing it out. She saw him roll his eyes out of the corner of her eye, but he obeyed.
She didn't say anything to him as she wiped the cloth over the back of his hand as gently as possible to clear away the blood around his knuckles. Well…maybe not as gently as possible. She was still irritated with him and George for being so barbaric with each other, so she wasn't as gentle as she probably should have been.
He had been the one to ask if George was going to hit him, but, personally, based on the way they were both looking at each other when she'd barged in, she was fairly certain he would have hit George himself as well.
Both of them. Stupid.
"I can just vanish the blood, you know," he said eventually, wincing as she pushed down on one of the bruises already taking shape.
"I'm aware," she said, but she continued with the washcloth anyway.
He grumbled at her, but said nothing as she grabbed some of the bandages he'd conjured and began wrapping them around the knuckles. She loosened them when he winced again, and tore off the extra with her teeth before sealing them and standing up. Fred avoided looking at her stern expression by twisting his hand around to look at the wrappings.
"Thanks, munchkin," he said with a heavy sigh, running his good hand through his hair.
She ignored him.
"Are you going to tell me what the hell just happened or do I get to just stand here staring at you?"
He flashed her a cocky grin.
"I thought you liked staring at me, darling."
"Fredrick."
He sighed again.
"No need to pull out the 'Fredrick', darling," he said morosely. "We just got a little carried away. It's fine."
"Fine?" she said incredulously. "Nothing about that sounded fine at all! You were going to hit each other!"
Fred rolled his eyes and waved a hand dismissively.
"Relax, we've done that before —"
Men. They were so confusing.
If Tori had ever swung at her or even seriously threatened to do so, she wasn't sure she'd ever be able to talk to her again.
"What difference does that make?" she said, despite her own thoughts on the subject.
"Not very often, mind you, but sometimes one of us could use a good punch. He hits me once. I hit him once. Then we both feel guilty for hitting each other and the anger passes. Just — just don't tell Tori, alright? She hates when we fight."
Nessa considered asking him how he would possibly explain the bandage on his hand if Tori asked, but he was looking at her with the sort of desperation that she didn't really want to press about.
"I can see why," was all she said instead. "I've never seen the two of you like that with each other before."
Fred looked for a moment like he was going to make another joke, but he must have noticed how anxious she was about the whole thing because he only sighed instead and relaxed back into his seat.
"Don't worry about it, Ness," he said seriously. "We'll be fine. Besides, I would have deserved it if he'd hit me."
She eyed him wearily for a moment, recalling the thing he'd said that he'd known would piss George off.
"You aren't going to snog me, are you?" she said. She was fairly certain he was only trying to get a rise out of George when he'd said it, but it seemed better to cover all of her bases.
He gave her a flirtatious grin and an exaggerated wink.
"Only in your dreams, gorgeous."
Nessa snorted.
"In my nightmares, more like." she said dryly.
He cocked an eyebrow at her and leaned forward so that their faces were only inches apart. She tensed and had the very strong urge to shoot backward, but there was a look of challenge in his eyes that she didn't appreciate, so she stayed put. He must have sensed her unease anyway because he grinned wider and booped her nose before leaning back into his seat again.
"Whatever you have to tell yourself to sleep at night, Vanessa."
She smacked him on the knee.
"You are the biggest prat I've ever met," she said huffily. "Maybe I should have let George punch you."
He merely leaned his head back with a grin, closing his eyes.
She watched him for a moment. All jokes aside, he still looked tenser than she'd ever seen him. His shoulders were tight and he was rubbing a finger over the bandage on his hand over and over again in an absentminded sort of way. The grin left his face fairly quickly and his forehead scrunched as if he were in pain. It could have been from his hand, but she wasn't entirely sure it hurt bad enough for him to brood over.
"I'm sorry, Fred," she said quietly.
He opened his eyes and lifted his head to look at her in confusion. He tensed when he saw the sadness on her face.
"For what?"
"I don't — I don't want to be the reason you and George —"
"Stop," he interrupted firmly. "It has nothing to do with you."
"You were clearly talking about me, Fred," she said with an eye roll. "I listened for probably far longer than I should have, so you can't convince me otherwise."
Fred rolled his eyes and slid down to sit next to her.
"That's not what I meant. I meant that you didn't do anything wrong. You shouldn't be apologizing."
She tried to believe him. She really, truly did. But she could still feel the guilty tears in her eyes and she bit her trembling lip, trying to think of something that would keep her from crying in front of him. But all she could think about was how miserable she was. She did so well during the day when she had classes and Tori and Fred and Harry to help distract her, but every night, she wanted to cry herself to sleep. And every morning, she didn't want to even bother getting up at all.
She hated everything about where she stood with George. She'd called him a coward, but she'd been the one to walk away from him when he'd tried talking to her in the first place. She was still the one arguing with him at every turn just to avoid feeling anything for him that wasn't anger. She was the one who let Fred flirt with her because she knew it would irritate him, even if she didn't fully understand why it irritated him.
No matter what she'd called him, she was no better.
She was perfectly capable of having the hard conversation, but she avoided doing it anyway. Had been thinking for weeks that she wished she could have said or done something that would have made their entire relationship less awkward. But the moment he had tried to talk to her and explain how he'd felt and why he'd done it — however stupid or irrational it may have been on his part — she'd been the one to walk away.
And she did it only because she was too afraid that the pain she felt now would be much worse if they actually talked and he chose to walk away. She did it because anger was easier to feel than sadness, because anger was easier to express than remorse or sorrow or grief. Because the biggest thing she was afraid of was having George look at her and admit aloud that he didn't have feelings for her now and never would. At this point, she wasn't even entirely sure if she avoided the hard conversation because she couldn't forgive him — because she was certain she could if they actually talked it out — but really more because she was trying to save herself any more pain than she already felt.
She was a coward too, and she knew it.
"I should tell you that crying women make me very uncomfortable," said Fred suddenly from next to her.
"Then you probably won't like what's coming," she joked, despite the tears on her cheeks.
Fred sighed heavily and wrapped an arm around her shoulders, pulling her into his chest. He smelled like gunpowder and the similarity to George made her start sobbing. She'd never cried in front of Fred. A part of her felt awkward because of that knowledge, but it didn't even begin to stem the flow of tears.
She tried to focus on the faint smell of chocolate because George definitely did not smell like chocolate and maybe that would keep her from focusing too much on how much she missed his brother. Instead, it just made her wonder why the smell of gunpowder and chocolate didn't make her want to gag. It was such an odd combination. And how in the world he could smell like chocolate. Maybe that was why Tori was always sharing the armchair in the common room with him.
"Munchkin, please don't cry," he said uncomfortably. "I promise you everything is going to be just fine."
"I don't want the two of you to be so angry with each other," she sniffled. "The two of you — I mean, you're you."
"I don't know what that means."
Nessa huffed.
"The both of you are just so…in your own world. In a different way than you and Tori —"
"Wait, what about Tori —"
"You do everything together. You're best friends and twins and brothers and it's…it makes the world complete. I mean, every time I hang out with Harry I want to rip my own hair out eventually. But the two of you are inseparable. Even your plans after Hogwarts are together. I've barely even seen the two of you apart from each other. I always thought the two of you…I mean, that whatever weird twin bond thing you have was — was impenetrable. I don't want to be the one that ruins that."
He shifted a little and tilted her face up to look at him. She'd never actually seen Fred so serious before. His voice was firm when he spoke.
"It is impenetrable, Vanessa," he said. "Just because it is doesn't mean he isn't a git sometimes. We spend a lot of time together, darling, and we argue just like everyone else —"
"I have never argued with Harry like that."
"Yes, well, George and I have always had to outdo everyone else," he joked. He sighed again when she didn't laugh and wiped a few of her tears away. "I promise you George and I will be just as annoying in ten years as we are right now. You didn't do anything wrong. I was bound to get fed up with him with or without you being part of the mix. Somebody has to pull his head out of his arse."
"I thought you said he was the one that had to do that."
"I didn't say he couldn't use help," he said with an eye roll. "Look, the only person who should be sorry about anything right now is him. Him and Alicia are clearly not good for each other. She has concerns that likely aren't going to go away and all they do is argue. Well, when they aren't —"
"Fred," Nessa warned without looking at him.
He laughed.
"Right, sorry," he said. "George is a lot better at the comforting thing than I am, you know."
That wasn't entirely true. He wasn't very good with the words part, but he was solid. Unwavering. She appreciated that even if he did put his foot in his mouth more often than his brother.
They were silent for a long moment and she let her head fall to rest on his shoulder.
"Why is he still with her if he's so unhappy?" she said suddenly. The question she'd been longing to ask for weeks. To him. To Tori. To George.
Fred shook his head and sighed again.
"I don't know, darling," he said quietly. "I think part of it is that if he breaks up with her, then we were all right about the two of them and he doesn't want to admit it. But I think the larger issue is that he thinks he can fix everything. He's always been the more rational one, the calmer one. The one that cleans up all of our messes when we get too out of hand. I don't think he knows how to do anything else. Alicia needs someone to fix her insecurity issues and George thinks he can if he just sticks around for the long haul. Even if that means she has to watch him every second of every day."
"I'm getting depressed again."
Fred chuckled and squeezed her shoulders.
"All I'm saying is this has nothing to do with you and him. He let it get complicated and he has to be the one to fix it. He'll pull himself together eventually."
"How soon is 'eventually'? Because I'm getting tired of this."
"Hopefully before Tori hexes Alicia because she's driving me insane too," said Fred with an eye roll. "She's always been a whiner, but I'm seriously thinking about gagging her and throwing her off the Astronomy Tower."
Nessa snorted.
"That's sweet, Fred. Put that on her Christmas card."
He grinned at her and tapped her on the nose again.
"What a wondrous idea, Nessa," he said. "I was going to get her another box of chocolates, but that seems more personal, doesn't it?"
Nessa rolled her eyes. She could clearly see why George was always the one cleaning up their messes. She likely didn't even want to know what messes he had to clean up after Fred irritated Tori.
"Are you done crying now? Because I'm famished."
She huffed and pushed him away from her. Git.
He laughed as she pulled herself to a stand and wiped her eyes. He vanished the bowl and bandages as he stood up next to her and offered his arm to her in an overly gallant gesture. She rolled her eyes but accepted anyway. She tried to ignore the anxiety she felt as he led them back in the direction of the Great Hall.
She didn't want to deal with George if she didn't have to at the moment. Maybe in a few hours. Fred squeezed her hand as if he could sense what she was thinking, but he didn't say anything.
"Freddie?" she said, pulling him to a stop. He raised his eyebrows in question. "I love you."
"Course, you do, munchkin," he grinned. She stamped her foot in frustration and he laughed before pulling her into a hug. "I love you too. But don't tell George because he'll just get grumpy again."
"You already lied and told him you were going to snog me, so what difference does loving me make?"
"It doesn't have to be a lie, dearest," he grinned, as he pulled her into the Great Hall. "You say the word and I'm all yours."
He was so annoying.
"I take it back. I don't love you anymore."
-o0o-
George had not been at breakfast, thankfully. The relief she'd felt at not seeing him there had been almost embarrassing.
Tori had noticed Fred's bandaged hand almost immediately, but Fred told her it was an accident and left it at that. Nessa had listened to the two of them argue about whether he should tell her more than that for the entire rest of breakfast. He hadn't and when she'd asked him as they were leaving why he didn't just come up with some excuse, his only response had been, "I don't like lying to her." She'd left it at that and Tori had eventually let the issue go with a final glare in his direction.
George did appear at lunch, however, but he said very little to either her or Fred. Tori kept looking between Fred's bandaged hand, George, and Fred and Nessa was fairly certain that she had figured out something was going on between the two of them, but she'd refrained from saying anything. Something Nessa was thankful for because it was already awkward enough. Fred kept making jokes that were clearly directed at George and he hadn't stopped until she'd kicked him from under the table. He'd only smirked at her and continued eating his stew, but at least he'd stopped being an ass.
By the time she was done with classes and they were headed to dinner, the two brothers appeared to have resolved their issues and were talking to each other as if nothing had happened at all. It made her head spin from the sudden change in behavior, but she supposed it could be much worse. She still hadn't said anything to George, however. He seemed apologetic for having snapped at her earlier, but she still couldn't look at him and her chest hurt every time she thought about the words again.
They'd at least refrained from bickering with each other through dinner and she relaxed a little at the thought that maybe they could end the day without irritating each other.
Karma must have heard the thought, because no sooner had she thought it than it all went downhill.
"Potter!"
They'd just made it to the entrance hall and were making their way up the staircase to get back to the common room when she heard her name. She turned around just as Cedric Diggory was running up to meet her.
"For fuck's sake," Fred muttered with an eye roll. Tori grinned and hit him upside the head.
Diggory stopped a few steps below her and gave her a dazzling grin. She resisted the urge to blush and fidget.
"Hi, Cedric," she said softly, trying to pretend like she wasn't wishing to be literally anywhere else.
"Cedric?" said George derisively. "Since when are you on a first-name basis?"
Cedric looked over at him with raised eyebrows and then looked at Nessa thoughtfully. He looked between them for a moment more before shaking his head and turning his attention to rest solely on her.
"I wanted to ask you a favor," he said. "I'm to understand that you're good with Potions —"
"She's a natural," corrected Tori with a grin. Nessa resisted the urge to stomp on her foot.
"Right, well, I'm horrible. Snape's been a bit intense, y'know, with it being O.W.L. year and all. I could use a tutor."
"I — I — sorry, what?"
Very eloquent response, Vanessa.
"A tutor," he repeated as if he had all the time in the world and she wasn't acting as though she had no comprehension of the English language. "I need the O.W.L. if I want to be an Unspeakable. Or so Professor Sprout has told me. Apparently I need every O.W.L. because no one actually knows what they do in there."
That easily derailed her because she had no idea what he was talking about now.
"What's an Unspeakable?"
"Your guess is as good as mine," he said with a grin. "They work in the Department of Mysteries at the Ministry, but they aren't allowed to speak about what they do."
Nessa eyed him in confusion.
"How do you know if you want to work there then?"
"Secrets are always exciting, Potter," he said with a shrug. "Anyway, Snape will only accept N.E.W.T. students who receive an Outstanding on their O.W.L."
Nessa hesitated. She likely could tutor him. It wasn't as if she really had anything to lose from the experience, but she still hadn't considered how she felt about spending more time with him and this seemed a very dangerous route to take when she knew he was interested in her. She still had about six more weeks of overthinking and agonizing thought before she came to a conclusion on how she felt about this.
"What grade do you have now?" she hedged. Maybe it was close enough and he just needed a nudge in the right direction.
"An Acceptable that's edging into Poor," he said sheepishly.
Right, so nuts to that.
"I don't know," she said slowly. "I mean, I'm a year younger. I don't even know if I could help with this. Isn't there anyone in your year who could help?"
"Probably, but not anyone who's as good as you are," he said. "I know I'm asking for a lot —" he wasn't actually, but she was certain he was saying it only because he could sense her reluctance. " — considering I need a lot of help in the subject apparently. And I saw you reading that Advanced Potions book when we were talking the other day in the library, so I figure you know more than anyone in my year anyway."
"You were talking in the library?" said George sharply. "When?"
Nessa rolled her eyes.
"Mind your business, George," she snapped with a sideways look at him. He huffed and crossed his arms and she turned back to Cedric, who looked very much like he was trying not to laugh at her show of anger. She supposed she had been dull in comparison every time they'd spoken before now. "Look, Cedric, I really don't know about —"
"Before you say no, how about we make a deal?"
"Okaaaay," she said hesitantly.
"You help me with Potions and I'll help you with Transfiguration. Hastings told me you could use the help, and I'm doing pretty well in that class."
Fred, George, and Nessa all shot their heads in Tori's direction. Tori, for her part, looked very smug and did not appear at all apologetic for whatever hand she had in Cedric coming up to her best friend. She was leaning against the banister with the sort of grin Nessa would have associated with a cat who had just caught a mouse.
"What?" she said innocently with a shrug of her shoulders. "We ran into each other after Quidditch practice. It came up in casual conversation."
Nessa was going to kill her.
"How could that have possibly come up in casual conversation, Victoria?" she said dangerously.
Tori leaned forward with a smug brow raised.
"I told you I would stick my nose in your business if you didn't do anything, didn't I?"
"This is not —"
She jumped when a hand wrapped gently around her wrist and interrupted her from chewing out her best friend for her complete lack of respect for boundaries.
George's nostrils flared when she didn't immediately pull her hand from Cedric's grasp, but Fred put a strong hand on his shoulder in warning before he could say anything stupid.
"Look, Vanessa —"
"Don't call me that," she said immediately. He raised his eyebrows in surprise at her vehemence, but George was looking between the two of them, his scowl turning into a smug grin at the words. "Sorry, I — I prefer Nessa, is all."
"Okay, Nessa," Cedric grinned, tone placating. "I just need some help, I swear. We can work everything around your schedule and you can stop if I end up being too dense to help. I'd really owe you one."
She really didn't have an excuse not to, did she? And since she and George were on such shaky terms, she could probably use the help in Transfiguration. Well more than probably, really. The only person worse in the class than her was Neville Longbottom.
She hated herself.
"Alright, sure," she said. His answering grin was so relieved it dragged one from her as well. "Can you do Wednesday night?"
"We have Quidditch practice, but I can meet you in the library after if that's fine? Eight?"
"Sure, that works."
"Great!" he grinned. "I'll see you then." He nodded at Tori and then the twins. "Hastings. Weasleys."
Nessa watched him walk away and disappear around the corner and wondered if she hadn't just made the biggest mistake of her life. She really already had enough problems without making more of them. But maybe Tori was right. She really couldn't keep pining for George and —
"Mmm," Tori said from behind her. "I could just spread him on a cracker."
Nessa burst into laughter and whirled around to look at her best friend. Fred was eyeing her in disgust and pinching his nose as if it was the only thing keeping him sane. He took a deep, slow inhale.
"I never want to hear you say something like that about him again, Victoria."
Tori smirked at him.
"Can I say it about Wood?"
He pointed a finger at her dangerously.
"You're really pushing it."
She laughed and flung herself at him. He stumbled backward, wrapping an arm around her waist and catching himself on the wall with his other hand.
"Relax, Freddie," she said, grinning as he huffed at her in annoyance for nearly knocking him over. "I'd only ever say that about you."
Fred pursed his lips to keep from laughing and narrowed his eyes at her.
"You literally just said it about someone else, Tori."
"It was a momentary lapse in judgment."
"I don't believe you," he said seriously. She pouted at him and he rolled his eyes up to the ceiling. "That isn't going to work, but you can grovel to me later and we'll see."
"The two of you are so weird," Nessa said before Tori could retort.
Fred pointed at her dangerously in response.
"I'm not talking to you until you tell Diggory to sod off."
"Tori was the one who started the whole thing!" she exclaimed indignantly.
"Don't try to blame her for your mistakes, Nessa."
Tori laughed happily as Nessa gaped at him.
"I think I miss it when the two of you were irritating each other instead of me."
They grinned at her as if they had not a care in the world, still wrapped up in each other. Nessa looked between the two of them shrewdly. Yeah, something was definitely happening there.
She opened her mouth to ask the two of them what the hell was going on, but then she suddenly remembered that George was still there. She whipped around to look at him, but he was still staring at her with that stupid, smug smirk on his face as though he hadn't been paying attention to any of them at all. She bristled immediately.
"What are you looking at me like that for?" she snapped.
The smirk turned into a grin that made her want to smack him. He walked up to her until they were inches apart and she tensed.
"Nothing," he said slowly. "Vanessa."
There was something beneath the inflection that he put behind her name, but she couldn't quite figure out what point he was trying to make. She opened her mouth to tell him to just spit it out, but before she could say anything, he was pushing past her and racing up the stairs without them.
What the hell?
Tori and Fred shared a knowing grin when she gaped after him.
"Stop looking at each other like that," Nessa snapped. "What the hell is he so smug about?"
"Sorry, but we've been expressly ordered —"
"By you, I might add," added Fred helpfully.
"- not to make any comments about your relationship."
"Are you joking?" she said angrily. "The two of you haven't been listening to me all year and now all of a sudden you care what I want?"
Fred grinned at her conspiratorially and then, before Tori could stop him, grabbed her around the legs and threw her over his shoulder. She screamed when he started running with her up the stairs.
"Let us know when you figure it out, munchkin. I'm a bit busy right now making Tori miserable until she admits her undying love for me and my handsome face —"
"Fred," Tori growled, struggling against him. "I am not a sack of potatoes! Put me down right now."
"No can do, sunshine," he replied, winking at Nessa, who was looking at him as if he'd gone mad. "Try not to throw up on me by the time we make it up to the common room or I'll make you grovel for far longer. While we're going, you can tell me everything you love about me."
"You are a foul, loathsome —"
Fred rolled his eyes and let go of her momentarily. Tori screamed when she slid down slightly and was forced to grab onto his sides before she fell on her head.
"That was terrible," Fred said seriously, situating her on his shoulder again so that she wasn't nearly falling off. "Try again. And I'd be very careful about what you say next because I'm more than happy to drop you on that pretty little head of yours."
And before Nessa could even begin to fathom what the two of them were even doing, he started running up the stairs again, laughing maniacally as Tori started swearing at him.
She gaped after them for a long while before she followed.
She really needed to get new friends because the ones she had were clearly broken.
-o0o-
Brownie points to anyone who can figure out what George is so smug about.
Up next: More Cedric/Nessa and Murton gets her revenge