𝗗𝗜𝗘 𝗔 𝗟𝗜𝗧𝗧𝗟𝗘 ☼ 𝗚𝗲𝗼𝗿𝗴𝗲 𝗪𝗲𝗮𝘀𝗹𝗲𝘆

↘︎ chapter forty-three

"Marley?" questioned Lina, calling out her best friend's name. Marley just looked at the Weasley twins deadly.

"But my excuse is better than yours, George." she blurted out. "Because no one had to know she was alive. The Ministry would only panic, but I trusted you and told you. And to be honest, this wasn't your business at all, but I still shared it with you, right? And you? Do you have an excuse for the letter in the owlery and that no one should know because it's very dangerous and if it opens it will reveal dark secrets that Voldemort is actually Harry's father and professor McGonagall is his sister."

"You can't fight that." stated Lee Jordan, breaking the silence that has reigned between them for the past minutes.

"Don't be silly, Marley!" Fred waved slackly with his hand. "Someone will believe this, just as they believe in the articles that Rita Skeeter writes in Daily Prophet. Why don't you just admit that it's not just us who are hiding secrets?"

"For the God's sake, Fred, fuck you!" Marley pressed her lips in thin line and sustained the opportunity to take her wand and hex him right now at the Gryffindor table. "Of course I keep secrets! Everyone does."

"Then why did you 'accidentally' forget to share about Brielle with Lina and Lee?" asled calmly George.

"Okay, stop it right now!" shouted Angelina, her dark face red with anger. "I can't listen you fighting like little children anymore. You're so pathetic. It's not important the things in the past, but that you should learn how to forgive each other."

"No, thank you." shook his head George and drank from his pumpkin juice. Marley simply lifted her chin, trying to maintain her dignity, but all this hassle made her feel even more awful. And after these words George said, Marley was almost crying outright to him. Why was she talking to her like that? Why was he doing it?

"George!" exclaimed disapprovingly Lina and glared him cautinoary. "She's your girlfriend and best friend. Guys, you know each other for so long! Is it necessary to fight at all?"

"I don't think George thinks I'm his girlfriend anymore."

"You'll always be." he replied, refuting Marley's thoughts, and a surprise appeared on her pale face. So he still thought they were together even though they were now openly fighting over everything? "I wouldn't break up with you. Right now we're just fighting and taking different sides. But tell me why would I want to break up with you?"

"I wish we didn't even have a fight, but it's obviously not possible." Маrley let out a way too deep sigh, escaping her lips.

"See, Marley! Stop fighting!" shouted Lina again, waving with hands lively. "George loves you and deep down into his selfish soul, he just wishes you two to be fine. Even Fred, but he wouldn't admit it."

"That's right." Fred smirked, but Marley didn't look at George, neither did he. The girl just checked her clock, noticing she didn't have much time until her Potions OWL.

"I have an OWL in thirty minutes." the girl said, standing up from the bench of the Gryffindor table. "Talk to you later. Bye."

And Marley left the Great Hall, but didn't hear her friends (even the twins) wishing her good luck.

                                        ***

"And because of Harry you're in a serious fight with Fred and George, right?" Noen Black tried to summarise the story his childhood best friend Marley had just told him. It was dinner time and the two were going down the magic stairs, straight to the Great Hall. Thank God it was Friday and another two OWLs passed for Marley - Study for Ancient Runes and History of Magic.

"I'm not blaming him. He didn't do anything wrong." said Marley calmly and twisted around her fingertips a strand of her hair. "It's just the fact that--- Fred, George and I had never had such a big fight since... never. And I feel bad because I said things I didn't mean at all."

"Like?" Noen questioningly raised his eyebrows.

"Like the idea of their joke shop. To be honest, I truly adore it and I think it's the best idea they've ever had." the girl replied, her eyes sparkling and her voice bubbling with sweet dreams and glitter promises. "But they said some things that hurt me and I just used their idea to hurt them, because I knew it would. I hope they didn't mean it too."

"Of course they didn't." assured her Noen with a faint smile. "Look, M, I'm sure they didn't want to say all that stuff about you. They were just probably angry about something and had to spill out theit anger on someone. And the first person they saw was you. They hardly wanted to hurt you, I promise."

"Don't promise impossible things, Noen." said Marley, looking at the lively portraits of Hogwarts and the school poltergeist Peeves, doing his usual mischiefs and hearing his giggle as an echo in the corridors. "I once said that to George, in the day of the Second Task. I don't want anyone to promise me things that aren't most likely to happen."

"I understand. And I still think maybe you should talk with them. Fights are fixed with talking." suggested Noen and this offer sounded so tempting. But this wasn't a debate or a sitting in the Ministry court. The three had a serious quarrel and, with constant squabbling and arguing, it wasn't possible at this stage to talk normally.

"Maybe one day, who knows." she shrugged and they were already in the entrance hall, approaching the Great Hall. And suddenly Marley saw Fred and George walking alone toward it. For a moment she met their eyes and a lot of memories came in her mind. She first met Fred's eyes. He was her best friend, always helping and encouraging her to do fun things, keeping her back and never forgetting how he used cheer and support her when she practiced to join the Quidditch team. And George ... It was as if she could see that shine again in his eyes, the special smile he always kept for her only, that nickname he had invented in her first year, and she didn't allow anyone else to call her so, their jokes, their kisses...

It hurt and the girl realised the pain was even worse than before. The three of them did such a big mistake fighting and Marley wished she could take the time back and be more respectful to them.

And even with this thoughts in her head, chasing her for almost three weeks, she and the red-haired twins didn't do anything than just looking at each other appraisingly, like rivals. They didn't even waved with hands or twist their lips in the lightest smile to show they had noticed the other peron. But the trio simply rolled eyes off each other... like real strangers.