Hermione's Twin ⇒ Fred Weasley

Ch. 27: Bitter Brunettes

3rd PoV:

    They (Hermione, Jenna, and Lana) found Elle sitting in front of the fireplace roasting marshmallows with a large gallon of mint brownie ice cream in her lap. There was a silver spoon jutting out of the top, ready for the net bite. Hermione looked her twin over cautiously and found that she looked fine. Sure, she had a green tint around the corners of her mouth, but that was from the ice cream. She wasn't sobbing or anything.

     "Elle? You okay?" Hermione sat down next to Elle, pulling her knees up to her chin. Jenna and Lana exhaled in harmony as they plopped down into the couch behind the Granger twins. Hermione couldn't help but notice how in sync they both were-and they weren't even related.

Elle gave her a side glance, but nodded-shrugging off her hoodie. "Yeah I'm fine. I was just tired, and wanted to sleep- sorry for troubling you all." Lana's ears pricked at the monotone sound of Elle's voice, and she couldn't help but feel that she sounded....dead, emotionally dead.

"Can I have some of your Icecream?" Jenna licked her lips, her gaze locked on the tub between her friend's legs-mint brownie was her absolute favorite, aside from chocolate, and vanilla, and strawberry- now that she thought about it...she couldn't chose a favorite-but she knew she wanted some.

      Grunting, Lana smacked her ditzy friend upside her head, but Elle just shrugged. "Yeah sure, I don't really care," She gave Jenna the tub of ice cream and then the bag of marshmallows, getting to her feet.

         "Where are you going?" Hermione looked up at her, worried that their presence put Elizabeth back into a bad mood.

Elle looked down at her, her stare was blank- but Elle forced a light smile onto her lips and shook her head. "Don't worry - I'm just tired, I think I'll go to bed before Fucking Fred gets back to the common room."

Elle's Pov:

      I could see Hermione's hurt look flash behind her eyes, so I forced a smile. "Don't worry. I'm just tired, I think I'll go to bed before Fucking Fred gets back to the common room."

     I didn't have much to say other than that. In fact, my brain didn't really have much to think about either.  So, emotionally tired and slightly peeved about the events of the day, I trudged around the couch. But, as soon as I did, the Portrait Door swung open with a boisterous creak, allowing a rowdy group of boys to stumble into the Gryffindor Common Room. Laughing and joking around with each other, the Gryffindor Common Room jumped to life.

      "Ron, you git. You completely blew it! You can't just ask a girl like that to a Ball!" Fred chuckled, arms tucked cooly behind his neck. His back was to me, so I tried to sneak out of the middle of the room without being seen.

"Oh? And what about you- asking Angelina?" Ron sneered, glaring at his brother- ears red. "We all know that you only did t- Oh, Elle" Ron's eyes saw me and he quickly shut him mouth on the subject. "Are you feeling better?" He frowned, and I smiled lightly- it was nice that he cared a little about how I was feeling.

     "Yeah," I whispered, looking at my feet. My loose bangs shielded my eyes as I tried to gather my confidence to speak. "I just had a stomach bug," I lied, "but it's gone now."

     I lifted my eyes onto Ron, trying not to acknowledge Fred in any way as I crossed my arms over my puffed-up chest, feeling a rush of conviction. "How was dinner?"

       Ron grinned and rubbed his stomach. "Ah, it was really good -- like always. We missed you though. But, at least you won't be sick over break, right?"

     "Uh, right Ron." I could tell he wanted to ask me something, but I really was not in the mood.

Ron's ears tinted pink as he looked at his shoes. "Look, Elle- do you have a date to the Yule Ball? Because if not, do you want to go as friends?" My gaze flickered over to Hermione by the fire, I watched her stiffen a little, then my eyes faltered over to a half angry, half smug looking Fred- he probably thought I was going to admit I was going with Oliver.