16 | Falling Slowly

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After the incident with the golden trio, I spent most of the time down by the lake playing the Ukulele all by myself. I tried to bury the voice I had heard deep down in the back of my head, hoping it would rot and never come up again.
Most of the times Roger sat with me and listened. We didn't talk much and that was probably why I enjoyed his company so much. It felt like our relationship was getting more serious with every chord and every note and every kiss after. I honestly liked him a lot.

One day at the lake - Roger wasn't with me this time because he had Quidditch training - I was visited by Fred and George.
"You're spending way too much time down here singing than with us, Julie", George said as he let himself fall on the ground next to me. "Don't you miss your friends?"
"Of course I miss you, Georgie", I said and put my Ukulele aside. "I wasn't feeling so good after what happened to Mrs Norris. I needed to get my head free."
"Well, we can help you with that", George laughed. "Would you mind if we accompany you today? And by the way, my dear brother would like to apologise for his rude behavior towards you, am I right, Freddy?"
"That's true", Fred said and sat down on my other side. "I just don't like this Roger guy, for Quidditch competition reasons only of course, but I shouldn't have let it out on you. I even brought you something as a peace offering."
He handed me a big bag of cinnamon buns.
"Kanelbullar!", I cried happily. "How could I say no to these? I totally accept your apology."
I smiled happily at Fred. Even though his behavior towards me was confusingly most of the time, he was still my friend. Not my best friend, this position was provided for George, but my friend. And friendship is more important than romance.
"Next time you're being a jerk to me, Fred, I expect you to reveal the secret of the hidden entrance to the kitchen as an apology."
We all laughed and it felt so good to spend time with the twins again. No other could cheer me up like those two.

"Tell me, you two", I lowered my voice. "Now that we're alone and nobody else is listening - I am dying to know what you two were experimenting on during summer! There were all kinds of weird noises coming out of your room. Are you up to something?"
They looked meaningfully at each other.
"Well, Julie...", George began.
"We don't know...", Fred continued.
"If we can trust you", George ended.
I looked at them perplex.
"You're joking, right?", I said.
"Yes we are", laughed Fred. "You're a part of it anyway, even if you don't know yet."
"A part of what exactly?", I asked. Now I was even more curious.
"Remember that night last year when you were working on that essay for Snape? You brought up an idea in my mind. Puking pastilles, remember?", said Fred.
"I remember."
"Anyway, George and I have decided to extend this idea. George came up with Fever Fudge and doesn't Nosebleed Nougat sound awesome to you, too?" Fred was completely in his element.
"I get it", I said. "Like a whole Skiving Snackbox. You understand that I insist to be cofounder now that I know about it?"
"We were hoping you'd say that!", said George excitedly. "We need your brilliant mind. And of course it will be your job to read all the herbology books and search for ideas. We're going to work on the spells in the meantime."
And once again those two managed to help me out of that hole I found myself in after what happened the other day.

The next couple of days passed by quickly. I sat at the shore with Fred and George almost every afternoon, talking about ideas for skiving sweets and watching the leaves turn all golden and red. Autumn was my favourite season of all, the colours were amazing, the breezes pleasantly refreshing and the sunset of the autumn sun was breathtaking.
It's been a wonderful day with the twins and we were just on our way back to the Gryffindor tower when I saw Roger waiting for me outside the main entrance of the castle.
"Hey, love. Mind if I steal you away from those two for a moment?", he said and kissed me on the cheeks.
"Sure", I looked ad Fred and George. "Go ahead, I'll see you later guys, okay?"
They didn't look thrilled, especially not Fred (or was I imagining that?), but they agreed to wait for me inside the castle.

Roger took my hand and pulled me aside.
"I wanted to apologise to you, Julie", he said and his dark brown eyes gave me goosebumbs.
"For what?", I asked. I couldn't remember him doing anything wrong.
"For not spending enough time with you. The upcoming match against Slytherin is very important to me, but I want you to know that I'd rather spend time with you than practicing on the Quidditch field everyday. I hope you can understand."
"There's nothing to apologise for, Roger", I smiled at him. "I love spending time with you, too, but of course I can understand why you're so busy at the moment. I'm spending a lot of time with my friends lately, so that's perfectly fine."
Roger looked sceptically over to the castle.
"You mean Fred and George Weasley? I don't really trust them, they're up to no good most of the time. And I don't like the way one of them, can't tell which one, is looking at you."
"There's nothing to worry about", I said and gave him a long, passionate kiss. "Fred is currently seing Angelina Johnson and I'm pretty sure George's got an eye on Katie Bell lately."
"If you say so, love". He still didn't sound convinced.
"I promise you, you're the only boyfriend I want", I said and finally, he smiled.
"Boyfriend... that sounds lovely", Roger said.
He walked me back to the castle where Fred and George were still waiting.
"I'm free tomorrow evening, care for a butterbeer in Hogsmeade? I'd love to introduce the rest of my friends to my girlfriend", Roger said and kissed me goodbye.
"I'd love to. Let's meet up after dinner?"

The twins and I walked silently up to the Gryffindor tower.
"So...", Fred's voice broke the silence. "You and Davies are thing now, eh? Officially?"
"Yes, I suppose we are."
"Great", said Fred. But he didn't sound like he meant it.

Maybe I wouldn't have wasted that whole night thinking about why Fred sounded the way he sounded, If I had known what was coming next. If I had known, that I had other things to worry about.

Falling slowly
Eyes that know me
And I can't go back
And moods that take me
And erase me
And I'm painted black
- Glen Hansard

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