chaos ~ fred weasley

18. home

*Fred's POV*

The Jordan twins are in for a shock, I think as we sit on the Hogwarts Express. Everyone's changed out of their school uniform now, and we're almost at King's Cross. Watching Vee interact with other people is definitely something I've always found quite interesting- she's very distracting when she's talking to me, so although it's a little creepy I do occasionally take the time observing her. Two curly tendrils have escaped from her large topknot and they bounce as she laughs at something Allie says.

Julian has his arm around the red-headed girl, and as I watch he presses his lips to her temple almost subconsciously. Beside Vee is Angie and George, who are also sitting similar to Julian and Allie- but with less PDA, which I am thankful for. Lee is sitting beside me, and he munches quite happily on some Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans, seemingly oblivious to the couples surrounding us.

"Vee?" I ask hesitantly when her conversation with Allie lapses momentarily. She grins at me, and my heart flutters. "Do you wanna go get some stuff from the Trolley Witch with me?"

It's a lame excuse to talk to her alone and she knows it, as does everyone else. They all exchange looks as she stands up, grabbing her purse and leading me out of the compartment. We pass several Harry and Draco Malfoy glaring at each other, and Cho Chang and Cedric Diggory standing very close to each other and talking, but the train is so busy we find it hard to get somewhere with no people. "I know where we can go," she says, and then she grabs my hand and leads me through several carriages until finally we get to the very last one, which is filled with first year students yelling and screaming. When they see us, they all quieten down a little. Despite our efforts to try and remain unaware, George and I have been told several times that we are somewhat looked up to by the younger students- for our bravery or immense stupidity, we'll never know, but we find the first years fairly irritating. They're all so... small. And loud.

Whispers rippled through the room as Vee takes me all the way back and pulls out her wand. "Alohomora," she murmurs, and then the small bolt on the back door clicks. "Stand back," she says cheerfully as she plants her feet wide and pulls on the door hard. After a loud creak, the door submits and blows open. Before I can get a good look at what's on the other side, she pulls me through and shuts it with a loud creak. "They clearly don't care much if students can get out here- they teach us how to open locks in first year, and there are no other wards on the door, so..." she trails off, shrugging.

I look out at the scenery. We're watching the towns turn into a city, and it's fascinating. We're very close to Kings Cross now, and the rolling hills of the countryside fade into the horizon until they're small dots. Surprisingly enough, it's not that loud out here- I can hear Vee's delighted laugh as she leans over the railing of the small balcony we are standing on and puts her arms out, letting the wind billow through her sleeves.

Her laugh makes something weird happen in my stomach, and I have to swallow hard and look away to try and quench it. She looks back at me, and her smile is unrestrained. It fades into a slightly shyer one as she comes to stand in front of me. "What did you want to talk to me about?" she asks, tilting her head up to look at me. I'm easily half a foot taller than her, but it actually doesn't bother me that much because I find her height endearing.

"Well," I say. Keep it cool. Relaxed. "I, uh, wasn't thinking about doing much talking..." I trail off, letting the unfinished sentence speak for itself. I smirk to hide my nerves, moving imperceptibly closer to her.

I can feel the body heat radiating off of her now, and even in the wind I can smell her sweet scent of chocolate and strawberries. Her eyes widen as I speak, and her hands flutter upwards and then drift towards each other. Her thumb strokes the back of her other hand as she says quietly, "no, thanks."