𝚜𝚝𝚘𝚕𝚎𝚗 𝚍𝚊𝚗𝚌𝚎. fred weasley

𝚡𝚒𝚡. 𝚐𝚕𝚘𝚛𝚢 𝚘𝚏 𝚝𝚘𝚍𝚊𝚢

Cedric makes a strangled sound in the back of his throat. "You guys aren't helping."

"Sorry, sorry," Cress chuckles and picks up another book. Fred continues to scribble on his parchment. Cress isn't too sure what he is scribbling on there (but she's going to assume it's some kind of assignment), but he's been writing ever since he came in here and plopped down across from her at the library table. He wouldn't even let her ask any questions, just sat there and started writing with his quill until Cress got fed up with him dipping it in ink, therefore spilling it because he's secretly a klutz, and gave him a nice, easy-to-use pen. (There have been no more accidents since.)

"Okay," Cress voices as she skims a book about dragon breeding. "Dragons? What do we know about them?"

"Well you know nothing about them because you are not in Care of Magical Creatures because, 'it was a stupid elective, Ced, I'm not going to waste my time on it. Besides, you already took it,'" Cedric mocks with a glare. He runs a hand through his hair. Cress winces. "Yeah, I took it but you think I remember the information from a class I took last year?!"

"Yes?" Cress says. "Ced, you remember everything about lessons."

Cedric sighs. "Yeah, but Care of Magical Creatures was different."

"How?" Cress raises an eyebrow.

Her brother mumbles something about distracting best friends and Cress really does not want to know. Except, she kind of does. And she would ask if they weren't on a tight schedule. She saves it away for later.

When she finally finds the book she has been looking for she brings it out victoriously, just as Axel and Mallory come back to the table. Mallory takes her seat at the end of the table and Axel glares at Cedric.

"You're in my seat, chap," he says, arms full of books.

Cedric groans. Cress feels for him but she knows that once Axel finds his spot, he will not let anyone else take it. So, either Cedric is going to have to go to the only spot — which is directly beside Fred — or Axel is going to shed some blood. And Cress does not want to see that so she decides to take one for the team.

Before either of them can argue about who goes where, she is packing up her stuff and dropping down right next to Fred. She ignores the heat in her cheeks because this is a favor for all of them. Cress is stopping the spread of violence within Hogwarts one chair swap at a time. She is not doing this to be closer to Fred. Nor does the fact that he is warm sway her in any means. Nope. No swaying here. Just a girl trying to help out her best friend and brother.

(And the grin Fred sends her way does not send her straight into the heavens. No. She is unaffected. Her heart is tame.)

Axel sends her a knowing look, along with Cedric, and Mallory because apparently Cress is easy to read and her wanting to be close to a friend is absurd. There obviously must be some ulterior motive. Which there kind of is, but that is totally beside the point.

"Axel," Cedric says, "you're taking Care of Magical Creatures, right?"

Axel nods. "Mal and I are, yeah."

Cedric heaves a sigh of what must be sweet relief. "Sweet Helga, do you know anything about dragons?"

"Er — a little," Axel says uncertainly. "Maybe. I'm not too sure. I don't think we really cover those this year. I'm pretty sure that's N.E.W.T. stuff."

Cress winces again when Cedric looks three seconds away from crying. He looks to Mallory for some sort of help, but the girl just gives him a sad smile and shakes her head. Cedric all but wails. She flips through the book and finds exactly what she is looking for. "Hey, wait. Stop the tears, bro."