The air was unseasonably cool and balmy for an August evening. Luella lay awake staring at the ceiling of Ginny Weasley's bedroom. The clock beside her sleeping friend read a quarter past 4 in the morning. The Burrow was completely still except for the occasional groan from the ghoul in the attic. In less than an hour the entire house would be up and the lot of them would be making their way to the 422nd Quidditch World Cup. Arthur Weasley managed to get tickets from helping a fellow co-worker at the ministry and was gracious enough to let his children's friends tag along. Though Luella was used to spending part of her summers with the Weasley family, this would be the first big outing she would be a part of and she could hardly contain her excitement, hence the inability to sleep.
Knowing that it was pointless to try and sleep any longer, she sighed and gently moved out from under the quilt, careful not to disturb Ginny. With the intention of beating the rest of the house to the bathroom, she gathered her clothing and toiletries and quietly slipped out into the dark hallway. As she was turning the corner to head into the loo, she bumped into someone tall and...slightly damp? Luella dropped what she was carrying and let out a small shriek.
"Lou?"
"Fred?"
Her eyes adjusted to the figure in front of her. Her best friend, Fred Weasley was staring down at her and from what she could tell; he was wrapped only in a towel around his waist. She was thankful for the minimal light in the hallway because she could feel the heat rushing to her cheeks.
The boy chuckled slightly, "Yeah, it's just me. What are you doing up?"
"I was too excited to sleep, thought I'd get a move on the day." Luella whispered.
"Well, bathroom is all yours, I think I left you some hot water." Fred replied cheekily, moving around her, heading back to his room. "See you at breakfast."
Once she was locked behind the bathroom door, Luella took a moment to splash cool water on her face, attempting to calm the redness of her cheeks. Looking at herself in the mirror, she pointed at her reflection and said, "We're not doing this this year."
Last year, she developed a not so small crush on Fred. Up until that point, she'd never seen him as anything more than brother figure. But one day, it was like a switch flipped in her brain and he was all she could think about.
When the Weasleys returned from Egypt last summer, Luella met up with them in Diagon Alley to pick up school supplies and finish out their breaks together. When she greeted the twins, she immediately noticed some changes. They both were taller, slender and seemingly more fit, but there was something extra special about Fred. It might have been the way his hair just fell perfectly into place or maybe it was the twinkle in his eye when he smiled at her, or the mischievous grin that played across his lips as he and George planned out their pranks. At school, he was noticed left and right. He could walk into a room and effortlessly light the place up. He was more mature, charismatic, and funny and everyone was just drawn to him. It made for some pretty painful moments as she witnessed him sneak around the corridors with different girls. They all seemed to have developed the same crush she had but weren't shy about it like she was. Besides, she and the twins had such a strong bond, why take a chance on ruining it over this new found infatuation?
That was why this year, she was determined to break that crush on her best friend and move on to someone new.
After getting herself ready for the day, she finally heard commotion throughout the house and figured it was safe to head down stairs to the kitchen for breakfast. Once everyone was dressed and fed, the group was out the door and on their way.
The trek to the portkey was almost a mile and a half from the Weasley home. Reaching a row of trees where a short, stout man was standing in wait, Arthur exclaimed "Amos!"
"Arthur! Was beginning to wonder where you were."
Looking back at Ron and Harry, Arthur replied," Some of us had a sleepy start."
"These all yours?" Amos asked peering around at the group.
"Just the redheads, we also have Luella Hatt, friend of my twin boys and Hermione Granger and Harry Potter, friends of Ron's. Everyone this is Amos Diggory."
Just as Amos began to make a fuss over Harry, a boy dropped out of the tree behind him. Luella instantly recognized him.
"Cedric! Hello!" the girl said as she ran to hug him, Hermione and Ginny giving each other a smirk.
"What a nice surprise, I didn't know you'd be coming along." Cedric said smiling at her.
Cedric and Luella had become friendly last year when they partnered up in potions. He was always kind, helpful and incredibly intelligent. It was also a notable that he was quite good looking.
"Mr. Weasley made it happen." Luella replied, "I'm beyond thrilled to be here! Seeing you is a plus as well!"
She suddenly felt a hand wrap around her arm and as she turned to look over her shoulder she saw it was Fred. "Alright Lou, wrap up the flirting, we've got to grab the portkey."
The twins had never really cared much for Cedric, mostly because of last year's quidditch game where Hufflepuff won while Harry almost fell to his death because of the dementors. Cedric had asked for a proper re-match but what was done was done and it seemed to solidify Fred and Georges distaste for him.
Luella gave an apologetic look to Cedric and begrudgingly walked to the portkey with Fred and stood between him and George.
"Will you two get over your one sided quarrel with him already? He's super nice, if you would take the time to get to know him." She said.
George rolled his eyes and replied, "We get it, you love pretty boy Diggory." His twin faked a scene of gagging beside her.
"Alright kids, grab onto the boot!" Mr. Weasley instructed."1! 2!"
Reaching forward and scoffing at her best friends Luella replied, "You both are incorrigible."
"3!"
The group lifted from the ground and began spinning in the air, feeling as if they were being pulled by their navel. Just as quickly as they had grabbed on, they were being told to let go, most of them hitting the ground with a hard thud while Mr. Weasley and the Diggory men gently floated down.
Luella laid on the ground for a moment, trying to reduce the nausea she felt from their method of travel when she felt a shadow over her. Opening her eyes, she saw Fred was standing above her with his hand outstretched.
"You know we love taking the mick out of you. It's too easy. Pretty boy is still a git though." He said while grinning down at her.
She took his hand and pulled herself up. She was just about to make a snarky reply when Fred's hand came gently toward her face and ever so slightly into her hair. She froze, unsure of what was happening.
His touch was light as he gazed at her. "You've got something... some grass in your hair."
His hand lingered near her face for a beat or two causing her cheeks to flush and her heart to speed up. She could've sworn she even saw a blush creep up Fred's face as well.
They were abruptly snapped out of the moment when a joyful Arthur Weasley exclaimed; "Welcome to the Quidditch World Cup!"
Fred dropped his hand and quickly turned and walked away from her. Luella sighed to herself, "Breaking this crush is not going to be easy.
