The days after went by in a blur. There was a lot of fooling around with Fred, giggling and kissing in corners and holding hands and letting everyone make fun of us. David left, which was a relief, and my mom's mood changed almost immediately- she was back to her happy, silly self again. Alice and Ron started to spend more time together, leaving Ginny to wander around in a pout, which then would lead to her hanging out with Fred, George and I. And the three of them would make me laugh until my eyes watered and my stomach hurt, and then make fun of me for it as I gasped for breath. We ate heartily, and listened to music at night, and even watched a Christmas movie or two when Mr. Weasley got the TV working.
It was snowing on New Years Eve. Light and soft, covering the ground in blankets throughout the day. Our parents fretted over letting the twins and I go to Peaches's, but George was exceptionally smooth in convincing them, and Bill and Fleur promised to stay up and wait for our return. The rest of the family were headed back to the Potter's house, and so Alice didn't seem put out at all by the idea of being separate for the ringing in of the new year.
She, Ginny and Ron sat in Charlie's room with me as I got ready.
"That's a nice dress." Ron commented as I adjusted the straps. I flashed him a grin.
"It's not a dress." I said.
"Looks like a dress." He said back. I swung a leg up and out, displaying the fabric that hung between.
"Oh, brilliant!" Ginny exclaimed. I went back to finnicking with the straps, which cut into my skin just slightly.
"I know right? Juliet gave it to me a while ago- it's not really her color, anyway." Which was true- the jumpsuit was a deep blue, decorated with yellow shimmering stars. Juliet liked to lean towards warmer colors, but always said I looked best in cooler tones. Something about my hair, and skin complexion. I'd been right to trust her, I thought, as I studied my look in the mirror.
I was letting my hair hang natural tonight, long and pushed back from my face with the enchanted clips from Fleur, which made my hair look shinier and healthier than normal. The necklace Fred gave me was on full display against my clavicle, and the jumpsuit's neckline plunged just slightly deeper than I was used to- which, in all honesty, wasn't deep at all. But it was flattering, and I spun a little, the legs of the suit flaring out around my calves.
"Which shoes are you going to wear?" Alice asked in a bored tone. She was letting Ginny do her makeup with my things, and didn't seem so excited at the premise of having to be up all night.
"I dunno." I said thoughtfully, pinching my chin and looking myself up and down. "I wish I had some heels or something- Fred's so tall.."
Ron and Alice gagged at the same time, but I was too giddy at the idea of Fred to pay them any mind. Ginny let out a happy little hum, and I flashed her a shy grin, before going back to studying my appearance.
"Mom has those yellow shoes. Maybe she could transfigure them to be shiny." Alice pointed out, and then winced when Ginny almost jabbed her eye.
"Sorry." Ginny whispered with a small giggle. Alice simply grunted, and then held her face back out for her friend to continue.
"Mom's feet are slightly smaller than mine." I thought aloud, peering down at my toes.
"Probably could transfigure them to be a little bigger." Alice said. I frowned at my feet, and wiggled them a little.
"Fleur has a pair of blue heels." Ron said thoughtfully, which made us all look at him. He realized a moment too late, and flushed under the attention. "I- I mean, like, not that I noticed or- or anything just- I mean, they're nice shoes, you know?"
"Do you think she'd let Diana borrow them?" Ginny asked as I looked back at the mirror. I slid a foot out from under the dress.
"I dunno. Maybe." Ron said.
"No, you know what-" I announced, spinning on the ball of my foot, "I know exactly what shoes I'm going to wear."
It took very little convincing on George's part, but by the time we were leaving for Peaches' house, the shoes I wanted to wear were snug on my feet.
"Ready to go?" Bill was asking us as George and I clambered down the stairs.
"Almost." Fred was saying, and I watched with a stifled grin as he rummaged through the box of shoes by the door. "I just- I can't- have you guys seen my trainers?"
"Yup." George said. Bill glanced over at us, and did a double take when he noticed where Fred's shoes actually were. He snorted a little, which caused Fred to look up at us. I blinked at him innocently.
"Sorry, I just thought they really went with my outfit."
Fred paused, and it was almost as if I could see him processing the fact that George had shrunk his red sneakers to fit my feet. He'd added a little glitter, as well, and they sparkled as I presented the shoes to Fred. As I did so, he grasped at my ankle, and I shrieked as he lifted it higher than I'd expected. I had to hop a little to keep upright as he brought the shoe close to his face, studying the thing. He hummed thoughtfully, and then peered up at me from beneath his bangs. He dropped the shoe, and stood abruptly, clasping his hands behind his back and circling me slowly.
"We don't have time for this." Bill announced, but Fred shushed him with a finger. He stood back after completing his circle, grasping at his chin, surveying my look. I stood resolutely under his gaze, back straight and hands behind my back, as if awaiting approval. Fred glanced over at George, and then back at me again, and then back at George.
"Well, if you get my shoes, what am I supposed to wear?"
And so George presented what Fred was supposed to wear.
"What the fuck is Fred wearing?" Was the first thing Juliet hissed in my ear when we apparated into Peaches' front hall. The Pertinger home was big- not a mansion, but something close enough. The inside was all white walls and marble floors and smelled vaguely of cinnamon and lavender. I had always liked coming to Peaches' house.
I pouted at Juliet. "You don't think it looks nice?"
"I didn't say that. It's just very-..." She peeked around me to look at Fred again, who had wandered off with George to survey the drink options on the table in the next room. "-Bold."
"What is Fred Weasley if not bold?" I said in a wise tone. Juliet regarded me for a moment, and then narrowed her eyes.
"You put him up to this."
"I think he looks nice!"
"He does- I mean, well. Yeah. He looks very... Your type."
"What's that supposed to mean?
"Nothing bad."
"Hiya ladies!" Peaches suddenly bounded into the small entryway. She was decked all in pastel pinks, glittering from head to toe. Her curls had been pulled out and fluffed up around her round face, which was already flushed from alcohol. She pushed cups into our hands. "What the fuck is Fred Weasley wearing?"
"That's what I said!" Juliet cried.
"I think he looks nice!" I told them both.
"Girls." Wilda announced, coming up behind Juliet. In one smooth movement she snagged the cup from Juliet's hand and downed the thing before saying- "What the fuck is Fred Weasley wearing?"
"Oh my fucking god." I exclaimed. "I think it-"
"Looks nice." Juliet and Peaches said in unison. I pouted at the three of them as Wilda looked between us.
"Seems like this has already been a heated topic of discussion." She said.
"It was my idea." I said.
"What- for his outfit?" Peaches said.
"Yeah."
"That makes way more sense." Juliet said.
We all looked towards the other room- which was the kitchen- where George was revving up to chug a beer. Lee Jordan had appeared at some point, and he and Fred were egging George on.
George and I had managed to make my red heels into oxford shaped things, with little gold stars plastered across the sides. Then I'd talked Fred into exchanging the torn corduroys he'd wanted to wear with a calf length gold skirt, and a white dress shirt with a red sweater on top. George wore a matching sweater but in orange, and had stolen Fred's corduroys the moment they were off his brother's ass. They'd both let Ginny and I smudge some eyeliner onto them, with blush and some mascara, and when Fred glanced over to catch all of us watching, my heart quite literally skipped a beat.
God, he was gorgeous. And he was looking at me- me, Fred Weasley liked me, of all people. Fred Weasley was my boyfriend. I couldn't stop the shit eating grin that split my face as he grinned back, and winked, and then whooped as George held the beercan up to his mouth.
"Oi- you guys are doing it all wrong!" I called out. George paused, and the three boys looked at us.
"What're you doing?" Peaches hissed. I tugged her towards the kitchen, laughing.
"Come on, let's shotgun beers!"
"Oh, please no." Wilda moaned as she and Juliet followed.
"Shotgun?" Lee repeated with interest.
"Yeah! Do you guys have any like, keys or something." I grabbed a can of beer from under George's arm, and Fred caught my shoulders as I tried to move around him. He ducked to press a kiss to my neck, and Peaches gave me a significant look from where she had sidled up next to Lee.
People were arriving now, the popping of apparition and portkeys audible from where we stood. A few wandered in as I showed the group how to puncture the beer can, and open it while holding it up to their mouths. Fred got the hang of it pretty quickly, but George sputtered about halfway through and ended up throwing the thing at the sink in frustration. We all laughed in surprise as it sputtered and spit beer everything. Peaches had squealed and hit George and demanded he help her clean it up, which he sheepishly agreed to do, looking strangely intrigued at the way Peaches bossed him around.
Juliet and Wilda slipped off somewhere between getting Lee to hold the beer can the right way and my third shotgun. Fred suggested shots, and the five of us did some after Peaches deemed George's cleaning job satisfactory. Fred nudged me a little and pointed at the way George's eyes were following Peaches now.
Katie Bell and Angelina arrived around then, and Lee and Fred started up a conversation about Quidditch that I was having a hard time following. But it was nice being tucked into Fred's side, sidled up against his chest.
"Wait- Fred, sorry, are those your shoes?" Angelina said suddenly in the middle of Katie explaining her holiday workout routine. Angelina was pointing at my feet with a pretty painted finger- a bright pink, matching her loose shimmery top and red pants. Fred and I looked down at where she had gestured to, as if we both only just realized that they were, in fact, Fred's shoes.
"Would you look at that." Fred said in amusement. "I think they might be!"
"Oh, geez." I said back, "We might've gotten mixed up leaving the burrow, huh."
"That's embarrassing." Fred gave me a grin. I bit my lip shyly.
"Totally embarrassing."
Cedric found me around 11. He looked disheveled and slightly drunk and he grabbed at my shoulders when we ran into one another.
"Diana!" He exclaimed. "You're alright!"
I had blinked at him rapidly, feeling my brows furrow deeply. "Um- Yes? Is there a reason I shouldn't be?"
"Last time I saw you I thought you were going to die!" He said a little too loudly. He smelled strongly of whiskey, which was unusual for Cedric, and I took one of his hands off my shoulder gently, grimicing a little.
"Fuck, that's right. I'm sorry I never send you an update or anything."
"It's alright, I'm just glad to see you're fine."
"Yeah, I'm fine. Didn't mean to scare you. I just- I mean, I was just drunk."
"Right. I realize."
"Sorry."
"It's fine!"
"How've you been?"
He gave a half assed shrug. He'd taken his hands away now, and shoved them into the pockets of his jeans, which were light washed in a way that looked natural, as if he'd been working in them a lot. "I've been fine."
"Just fine?"
"Just fine."
"You're drunk."
"I might be- just a little."
"Is everything alright?"
He gave me a crooked grin. "Of course! Why wouldn't it be?"
"You rarely get drunk."
"That's not true."
I thought about the past couple of weeks. "Alright, you got me. You do get drunk. But really- how are you?"
He shrugged again, and then his grin turned a little sheepish, and his shoulders creeped up towards his ears. It was a gesture that looked remarkably like Fred, and I blinked at the realization. "I really am fine. I guess I was just- I was nervous, I suppose."
"Nervous?"
"About seeing you."
"Me?"
"Well, you and Fred."
"Oh." I said, feeling awkward all of a sudden. My face burned a little, and I clicked my tongue. "Right." And then I took a long draught of whatever drink George had made for me.
"You guys are- well, you're together now, right?"
"Yeah. Kinda. Or- no, yeah. We are. He's my boyfriend, I guess."
"You guess?"
"I mean- no like, yes. He's my boyfriend." The words felt so weird leaving my mouth. "Fred's my boyfriend." I said a little louder, trying the statement out. It felt sort of nice, and the thought made me smile. Then I realized Cedric was watching me, and my face burned even hotter. I shrank slightly, and took another sip.
"Good- that's good. You guys seem happy together."
I traced the lip of my cup. "Yeah I mean- well, you know. It's only been a week or whatever. But- but yeah, we're pretty happy." I was smiling, I realized, down into my cup. The liquid inside swirled with gold flecks.
"That's good. As long as you're happy."
I glanced up at him, and his face was contorted for just a split second. But then it was his usual, careless smile. He leaned back on his heels, and peered down at me. "You're glowing, Sterling."
"Am I back to Sterling then?"
"You've always been Sterling."
"I guess." I contemplated this. "Are things going to be weird between us now?"
"Oh!" Cedric looked horrified. "No, Jesus, I hope not." He paused. "Should they be weird between us?"
"I mean, I don't want them to be."
"Me neither."
"Does it feel weird now?"
We both paused, tilting our heads, as if testing the atmosphere out.
"No." Cedric finally said, sounding resolute. That made me grin.
"Great. Good to hear. Love that for us."
Cedric beamed. "Yeah. Love that for us."
Wilda kissed Juliet twenty seconds midnight. It was sudden and seemed a little angry and Peaches and I exchanged a look after catching the butt end of it.
"Should we talk about that?" I whispered to her as the countdown happened around us. Peaches shook her head.
"Let's wait until tomorrow- I'm having too good of a time to deal with it."
"Alright." I said, and then caught sight of Fred and George bounding towards us. Fred caught me up in his arms, and grinned as he whirled me in a circle.
"Will you be my New Years kiss?" He yelled into my face as I laughed and patted his cheeks.
"Yes, of course I will!" I yelled back at him. The countdown around was getting louder. Fred was smiling, his brown eyes gleaming under the dim lights of Peaches' livingroom. The mascara and eyeliner were smudged and streaked beyond repair, but it suited his crooked smile and the way his cheeks flushed with alcohol. "You're so beautiful." I told him, and his grin grew impossibly wider.
"You're the prettiest thing I've ever seen in my entire life!" He said back, putting me down but holding me close.
"What about Fleur?" I teased.
TEN!
"She's alright." Fred said back, pressing our noses together.
NINE!
"And Angelina?"
EIGHT!
"Gorgeous, obviously, but wouldn't hold a candle to you."
SEVEN!
"And is that all I am to you? Good looks?"
SIX!
"Of course. Although it helps, you know, having such a nice and cute personality."
FIVE!
"You think I'm nice?"
FOUR!
"I think you're wonderful."
THREE!
"You're alright."
TWO!
"Cheeky."
ONE!
The cheers were deafening around us, but all I could focus on was the taste of Fred, the smell of him, the way his hands grappled at my waist and my back and pulled me in close and tight against him. Kissing him was like running through a field at midnight- wonderful and freeing and scary all at once. I had to push on to my tiptoes to really press into him, and he hummed a little into my mouth when I pulled at the hair on the nape of his neck. My mind raced a mile a minute- about Wilda and Juliet, and my mom and David, and what would happen when break ended and school began again, and my insecurities about Angelina and if Fred would want me at his games even though I wasn't even really sure how Quidditch worked and if things with Cedric really would be weird and if-
But none of that mattered now, did it? Nothing really mattered, not in this moment. Because I was kissing the Fred Weasley. Because he liked me, liked me enough to be my boyfriend, and that's all that mattered right now.
When I pulled away, I noticed that George had kissed Peaches. I pointed it out to Fred, and he laughed loudly, still cluting me to him, my arms still around his neck, and then he'd pecked me all over my face and kissed me again and everything- everything everything felt good and right in the world.
The End.