Clueless ━━ Fred Weasley

x. Totally Clueless

       Anyway.

       He's only thinking about all of this now, because George mentioned it when they were brushing their teeth. His twin had nudged him and gone, "I bet she'd say yes, if you asked her to Hogsmeade, or something."

       Fred shook his head. "Maybe, George, I want to wait for the right moment."

       "Well hurry up, Romeo," says Lee, walking out of a cubicle. He shrugs. "I'm not being funny, but sooner or later someone else that fancies her's gonna ask her out. And then you'll've missed your chance."

       "Who else fancies­—?"

       Lee shrugs. "Dunno," he says. "Maybe Diggory still likes her... All I'm saying is you're not the only person that's looked at Briar and thought, oh she's fit."

       George nods. "I mean, when me and Lee thought that, we also thought, nah, she's like a sister, she's pretty but I don't like her like that. You just had to go the full bloody mile."

       "All right, well, I'm not gonna rush anything, and it doesn't feel like the right time yet," says Fred.

       Lee coughs. "Wimp."

       Fred tries to brush that off, and he shrugs his shoulders. "You know what? It'll be worth it when the time's right and I ask her out and because it's the right time, she says yes."

       Shortly after that they started to walk to the hall for breakfast. They go back to talking about Wheezes, and it's fine again. It's still on his mind, sure, but the other two aren't talking about it at all.

       They sit down at the Gryffindor table. He starts to talk about the prototypes for a new product. A few minutes pass, and George looks across at Fred, having spotted something, and he winks.

       "Morning, boys," says Briar, and she sits down next to Fred. Lee and George have been doing this on purpose, sitting on one side so Fred and Briar have to sit together. She takes one of the slices of toast. "Fleur's sitting with Cedric and Viktor—"

       "Viktor?" says Lee, raising his eyebrows.

       "Blimey, Briar, you leave for a year and you're on first name basis with Krum?" says George, looking impressed.

       Briar rolls her eyes. "It's not like that," she says. Thank God, Fred thinks.

       She gets another slice of toast. "But anyway — they're all friends because they're the champions. Harry's not included, but, uh... I don't know. Have you guys seen him around, recently?"

        "I think he's trying to avoid... everyone," says Fred.

       She nods. "Fair enough," she says. "But anyway, how are you guys?"

       "Never better," says Lee with a grin, toast crumbs sticking to his mouth.

       Briar smiles.

       "We have Potions later, though," says George.

       Fred nods. "And none of us have done the homework."

       "We think if it's all three of us, it'll be less painful," says Lee.

       "Oh, definitely," says Briar.

       A while passes and they suppose they're as late as they can be to their first lesson. George pushes Fred towards Briar, when they get out of the hall, and says that he'll walk her back to the carriage. Fred's about to protest, but Lee quickly adds, "Yeah, you go and be a gentleman, Fred, you need the practice anyway..." And Briar laughs, and Fred tries not to think, fuck, she's pretty.