Old Books and Firecrackers: Chapter III

A Harry Potter Fanfic

“I’m telling you, I think you should ask Angelina,” Fred said as George continued writing their letter to Bagman, ignoring him completely.

“Are you asking anyone to the Yule Ball?” Lee asked.

Fred shook his head, ignoring the way his thoughts turned to Hermione. “Are you?”

Lee grinned. “I might ask Alicia.”

“I bet she’ll say yes,” Fred said. He glanced back at George. “And I bet Angelina would say yes if George asked her.”

“Read this and see how it sounds,” George said, thrusting the parchment into Lee’s hands.

Lee scanned it and rolled it up before handing it back to George. “Sounds fine. I agree with Fred, though. I think you should ask her.”

“Why do you keep bothering me about this?” George asked. “She’s probably already got a date.”

There were two reasons Fred wanted George to ask Angelina to the ball. First, he knew George liked her and suspected Angelina returned his feelings. Second, he wanted this as proof when he told George someday that he had known the two of them would get married.

“I have an idea,” Fred said. “What if I ask her for you? That way if she says no, I can assure her I was simply asking as friends, but if she says yes, you can take her.”

Lee frowned. “Wouldn’t she notice?”

“I doubt it,” George muttered.

Fred grinned. “So? What do you say?”

“I say we better find an owl to send this.” George got up. Fred rolled his eyes at Lee and followed George out of the dormitory.

“I’m just saying–” Fred continued.

“Hi, Angelina,” George interrupted loudly, glaring at his brother. Fred grinned.

“Hi,” Angelina said. “Alicia, Katie, and I were going to play some quidditch. We figured we better stay in shape for next year. Want to join us?”

“Sure. We’d love to,” Fred said, slinging an arm over George’s shoulders. “Oh, Angelina? I heard you were asked to the Yule Ball. Who asked you?”

Angelina frowned. “Who told you that? No one’s asked me yet.”

Fred shrugged. “Strange. Maybe I misheard. We’ll go grab our brooms and meet you out there.”

Angelina left the common room and Fred and George went back upstairs.

“Turns out Angelina doesn’t have a date yet,” Fred told Lee as they found their brooms.

Lee grinned. “Really? Well someone will probably ask her soon. If you’re going to take her, you better ask quickly.” George pretended not to hear as he dug through his trunk.

It wasn’t until the next day, after much pestering, that George agreed to let Fred ask for him. As soon as George agreed, Fred ran down to the common room with a large grin and George close on his heels, probably afraid he’d embarrass him. Angelina was there, but deep in conversation with Alicia. Fred sat near Harry, Ron, and Hermione to wait. George sat down as well, casting a glance at Angelina before asking Ron if they could borrow Pigwidgeon.

“So . . . you lot got dates for the ball yet?” Fred asked. Just because he wasn’t going to ask Hermione didn’t mean he wasn’t curious who she was going with. She didn’t look up from her notes. When he heard Ron still didn’t have a date, he was surprised. He had figured they would go together.

“Who’re you going with then?” Ron asked.

“Angelina,” Fred said quickly. Hermione didn’t react.

“You’ve already asked her?” Ron asked.

“Good point. Oi! Angelina!” She turned around. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw George study Ron and Harry’s game of exploding snap.

“What?”

“You want to go to the ball with me?” he asked.

He saw her eyes slide from him to George, who looked up when she didn’t answer immediately. The slightest smile crossed her face. “Alright then.”

Fred grinned at Ron, who was gaping at him. “There you go. Piece of cake.” His eyes flicked to Hermione, who rolled her eyes. His grin slipped away. “We’d better use a school owl, then, George.”

When they got back upstairs, Fred nudged George. “I told you she’d say yes.”

“Yeah, to you,” George said, but Fred knew his brother was excited. His own thoughts crossed back to Hermione. No one had asked her yet. At least, he didn’t think so. And Ron wasn’t asking her. He pushed the thought away. Even if he did ask, she’d probably say no. Besides, she thought he was going with Angelina.

The night of the Yule Ball arrived. George escorted Angelina downstairs and Fred went down alone.

The champions were supposed to dance first. Fred smiled at Harry, who didn’t seem to notice. He didn’t really pay much attention to the other champions until Krum’s partner caught his eye. Surely that wasn’t–

He moved closer to the center of the room and his jaw dropped. It was Hermione! She was wearing light blue robes and had done something with her hair that made it lay down flat and made it more shiny. She was beaming as she danced with Krum.

He felt a wave of jealousy, but pushed it aside, reminding himself that he could have asked her and hadn’t.

He spent most of the night watching the dancing, thought he did dance with Angelina once. She was his friend too, after all. He was certain she knew exactly what he and George had done. He hadn’t told George, but he assumed she would figure it out. She was too smart to be fooled for long. Luckily she didn’t seem to mind. As soon as he had finished dancing with her and George had reappeared, the two of them smiled at each other in a way that made Fred determined not to interrupt again.

It didn’t take long for him to get bored. He danced with Katie once, but with all his friends paired up, the dance wasn’t much fun. He noticed George and Angelina had disappeared. He decided to mention snogging later and see how his twin responded. He noticed Hermione had disappeared as well and suddenly found the idea less amusing.

He wrapped some desserts in napkins and shoved them in his pockets to take back up to Gryffindor Tower. As he left the Great Hall, he noticed a figure in pale blue robes hiding outside the doors.

“Hermione?”

Her eyes widened when she noticed him and she hastily brushed her cheeks and turned away.

He leaned against the wall beside her. “Hey, what’s wrong?”

She shook her head. “Nothing.”

He didn’t press. He pulled out a cream puff. “Want one?” She looked horrified for a moment at the pocket he had pulled it from, then shook her head and accepted it. He pulled out another one for himself and ignored her look.

“Fred?”

“Yeah?”

She studied the cream puff in her hands. “The point of this tournament is to make friends and bring people together, don’t you think?”

He sighed. “You want my honest opinion?”

“Yes.”

“Then no. I think it was probably created because the school headmasters wanted to prove they were better than the others.” She turned her head away again. “But I think making friends is a much better use for it. Besides, you seemed like you were having fun.” She looked back at him and he saw a hint of a smile return to her face.

“You should probably go back in,” she said. “I think George has been trying to steal your date.” Fred couldn’t help but smile. Of course she had noticed.

“I figure I’d best leave them to it,” he said. She laughed and peeked back into the room. Ron happpened to walk by at that moment and she jumped back, smile gone.

“All I wanted was one night,” she muttered. “One night to look pretty and have fun. Why did he have to go and ruin it?”

Fred wasn’t sure if he was supposed to have heard, but decided to answer anyway. “Because my brother can be a bit of an idiot sometimes. Don’t worry about whatever he said. At least, not yet. Go have fun. You should enjoy yourself tonight.”

She looked up at him and gave a small smile. “Thanks.”

He smiled back and watched her go. Then he sighed and started up to Gryffindor Tower. “And I always think you’re pretty,” he muttered.

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