|Red ➼ Fred Weasley|

➼chapter 29; swans and lions

That was the problem, though. The girl didn't know her feelings for him.

Could she really have developed a crush on her best friend, from first year? Was that why Serena's heart always seemed to palpitate whenever Fred was around? Was she really going to ruin a friendship that lasted that long? Sure, she acted weird around him some times, but at others, she was just fine. Perhaps-

"Serena Esmae Mallard," an irritated voice said.

"W-what?"

Magnolia's blue eyes were trained on the startled girl. "Did you not hear us at all?"

"Erm... no? Why, what'd you say?" Serena asked as she took a sip of her drink.

Ramona and Magnolia glanced at each other, clearly upset for their friend. Ramona knew the Ravenclaw wanted to march right up to Fred ask him to explain, but she hurriedly shook her head.

Magnolia sighed in defeat, turning to Serena instead. "Rena... you know you can always-"

"Actually, I've got double Charms next, and it's a little far away, so I'll just get going now," said Serena, gulping down the rest of her drink. She picked up one of the Divination books Ramona was carrying, which happened to be one of the two Serena got for her birthday. The Hufflepuff looked up at her curiously, to which she just shrugged. "We won't be doing anything in class, so I figured I'd try to find out what happened back at the first task."

With that, the girl swiftly turned around and walked out of the Great Hall, curly-hair bouncing in her wake. "Come on, Ramona, don't you see how hurt she is?" Magnolia said. "We can't just do nothing about this."

Ramona shook her head, frowning as she packed up her books. "I don't like it either, but this is something Fred and Serena have to talk out themselves. They just need time." She stood, smiling at her friend. "I've got Divination next, so I'll see you and Serena at dinner."

A second later, Ramona was gone as well. Magnolia was left to her thoughts, tapping her foot impatiently on the floor. She knew she shouldn't get involved. She knew she should listen to Ramona and leave it alone.

But Magnolia Mulberry did not like seeing her friends hurt. And Serena was broken.

So the brilliant Ravenclaw decided to take matters into her own hands.

With a final nod of resolution, Magnolia stood up as well. Striding over to the Gryffindor table with purpose, she settled right behind Fred and Angelina. She cleared her throat, the three sixth years glancing up at the Ravenclaw, but Magnolia was only looking at George. "We need to talk."

~~~

After two torturous hours of painfully ignoring the fun games of Wizard Chess, brushing off George, Lee, and Alicia every time they asked her to join them, and flipping through Ramona's book and finding absolutely no information about visions-gone-wrong, Serena was more than happy to leave the suffocating Charms classroom. She couldn't bear to be in there any longer, because all she could hear were Fred and Angelina's obnoxious laughter, making her feel even worse about herself.

Once the bell rang, signalling the last class of the day, Serena quickly stood, wanting to head to dinner as soon as possible. However, George Weasley had other plans. He walked up to her with the brightest of grins, glancing down curiously at the book in her hands before taking it.

"Er, excuse me, I was reading that-"

George read the title out loud with a sceptical eyebrow raised. "I thought you dropped Divination in fourth year?"

Serena grabbed the book back. "It's Mona's, not mine."

"You're willingly reading her Divination book? But you hated that class."