All The Small Things (Harry Potter) *Fred/OC*

17. Slowly Back To Normal

Over the next few days, Tee had been as good as gold. She'd pushed away any embarrassing thoughts, which had been surprisingly easy to do. If only she'd done that sooner, instead of getting flustered over every little thing. It all felt pretty much back to normal now. Rose was happier too since her friend had been including herself more.

Tee still hadn't told her though. She didn't want to confide in anyone at Hogwarts – she'd always had a feeling that when people knew she liked a guy, they'd be scrutinising her every move around him.

What she needed was someone she could tell everything to who didn't share her life at Hogwarts. Which was why she'd spent the last hour in the dormitory writing a long letter to Ariadne – her other best friend back home – detailing everything. She may not get a reply straightaway, but it had felt good to put everything down on paper. Even though she'd been dealing with it fine for the last few days, it was still nice to be able to tell someone about it.

When she went down to the common room, Rose looked round straightaway. "We wondered where you were!"

"You're not living in your dorm again, are you?" asked George.

"Nope." Tee shook her head and held up the tied roll of parchment. "I'm just going down to the Owlery. I'll be back in a bit."

"Who are you writing to?" asked Rose.

"Have you got a secret boyfriend?" teased Fred.

Tee ignored Fred and answered Rose instead. "Just Ariadne."

"Aww, I miss Ariadne," Rose lamented. "We used to have some great conversations about Xena."

"That's one thing I don't miss," Tee chuckled.

"What's Xena?" interrupted George.

"A 'lesbian' television programme," answered Tee. She hid the letter behind her back – Fred had been eyeing it interestedly. "Which is why Ariadne likes it so much."

George gave Rose an amused look. "Why do you like it then?"

"Because it's good!" insisted Rose.

Tee choked back a laugh. "It really isn't. The only good thing I can say about it is that Ares guy was... Hey!" She felt her heart skip. Fred had just snatched the letter from behind her.

"I wanna know what you and your lesbian friend talk about," said Fred, fumbling with the string holding the roll together.

"Give it back, Fred!" Tee demanded, attempting to grab it.

It was a futile attempt. She ended up practically running round him in circles, whilst he twirled around holding it high in the air, way out of her reach. Fred found this very amusing. And to Tee's annoyance, so did Rose and George. Rose obviously didn't realise it was important, because Tee had no doubt that her friend would have been on her side otherwise.

"I just want a little peek," grinned Fred, stepping away and closer to the sofa. "I was only teasing you, but now I'm really interested to know."

Tee followed and quickly climbed onto the sofa, hoping it would give her the extra height she needed. She suddenly felt her stomach drop. He'd managed to pull the string off. She'd put everything in that letter. She still wasn't entirely sure if he was bluffing or not, but no way could she risk letting him see any of it.

Just as Fred started to unroll the parchment, she leapt wildly onto his back. Hanging onto his neck with one arm, she plunged her other hand into her pocket. She whipped out her wand and aimed it over his shoulder at the letter, shouting "Evanesco!"