inertia || a Fred Weasley love story

six.

"Elliot, you know anything about the Weasley kids?" I said suddenly, unsure why I was even asking. The frozen grass crunched beneath our feet as the two of us walked. Honestly, the silence had made my mind wander a little too much, and I was grasping at literally anything to fill the air. It was the first thing that spilled out of my mouth. 

"I mean, I know they're poor and Malfoy hates them for it. Why do you ask?" Elliot replied slowly.

"Uh, I just, I was thinking about how many of them there are-" I started to say, which was kind of true, because I'd sort of been thinking about how many of them there were recently, and "-that, they all have one mom. That poor woman. I mean, there's what like, okay so there's the twins, and that one kid the year below us-"

"Ron." Elliot interjected helpfully. I looked at him for a second, before pointing and nodding. "Right, yeah, Ron. And then there's Ginny. That's already four," I held the fingers up, "But then there's also like, what, two more that's older?"
"Three."
I looked at him again, this time curiously. He shrugged.
"There's three more."
"So that makes seven."
I stopped walking.
"That's seven babies."
"Yeah?" Elliot made a motion to get on with it.
"Seven babies, Elliot. Can you imagine? Seven births? Holy shit their mom's vag is probably-"
"Jesus, Diana, I really don't want to think about Weasley fanny right now."
I giggled, and he huffed, and we continued walking in silence. The silence wasn't as awkward as it was with Cedric, and I found my mind floating back to thinking about the conversation we'd had earlier. It was weird, and I wondered if maybe there could be something there. Something between us. But it was also Cedric Diggory, and everyone was in love with Cedric Diggory, so why would he ever be interested in crass old me, right?

I frowned at the self depreciating spiral my brain had taken on, but was relieved when we entered the warmth of the castle. I smacked my cheeks a little as they warmed up, and Elliot hit my hands away from my face after a few moments.
"Where to now? You said you were hungry, right? I have some snacks in the common room."
I rolled my eyes.
"But the Slytherin common room? That shit is so depressing, my guy. Let's go to my room. I'm sure I have some cookies somewhere."
Elliot looked doubtful for a moment.
"Oh, come on. It's easy to sneak into."
"That's not what I'm worried about."

"Wha- that you're a Slytherin? Maaaan, it's the Hufflepuff common room. We have Slytherins in there all the time."
He looked hesitant, but I moved to push him from behind with a shoulder.
"Dude, you're actually pretty tall." I said without thinking, and Elliot giggled, turning to look down at me. I shrugged.
"I never noticed." I definitely only came up to about his collarbone. My fuzzy mind took Elliot in for a second. His cropped curly hair, his dark skin, his strong cheekbones and deep set eyes.
"Yo, you kinda look like greek statue my dude."
"Diana, are you flirting with me?" He seemed serious, and his eyes bore into mine. I dramatically made an 'x' with my arms.
"Nah, no flirting, Purely platonic compliments. Bro let's gooooo I'm literally going to die."

He started to laugh, and I tugged him along by his wrist.

The Hufflepuff common rooms were easy to sneak into, as I'd told Elliot. The paintings turned a blind eye a lot, since Hugglepuffs are friends to everyone, and they're pretty trusting when it came to letting people into their space. Besides, it was warm, and bright, and everyone was so friendly. Why wouldn't someone want to come hang out there. Elliot ducked under a plant as we walked in, and I giggled, pushing it so the hanging thing swung back and forth.
"Welcome." I said offhandedly as I gestured around. A fire was crackling in the fireplace, and some kids were playing lo fi beats on the couches, doing homework, chatting, mingling. Someone had brought a keurig last winter, and we'd slowly fashioned a sort of snacks and drinks bar in the far of the room, with a minifridge and everything.