Although Aubrey was pleased they now had some decent blackmail on Ludo, the lack of spying left her with a lot of time to kill. Their meetings were considerably shorter now and most of the time, they would simply check in, play a bit of magical bin basketball toss before leaving. Aubrey found herself spending most of her time with George, the pair planning pranks and joke products, which was ridiculously interesting - especially now she wasn't on the receiving end.
It was a few weeks until the Yule Ball and the day started off the same as most others except when she came to find George after supper, instead she found a note on his bed saying:
Gone to deal with Ludo. Will be back later. If I'm not, I'm dead and I expect real tears - George
Getting more involved with Ludo would probably have been a good idea but she was firmly against helping purely because of the excessive blackmail. Using Deatheater dirt against him for the sake of getting her body back already felt questionable, anymore would no doubt have permanent conscience damage. Whilst not intervening with Ludo felt good morally, it didn't fix her current problem: boredom. Angelina was at the pitch for some solo Quidditch practice and Lee, much to her protests, had gone to personally commentate leaving Aubrey truly alone.
Back when she was still Aubrey, she and her friends would meet in the library around this time of night. Her life had been so busy that she'd hardly thought about it but now that she was alone, the extent of how much she missed them was sinking in. She missed Kenny's dumb nicknames, Angela's love of secrets, even Lexy's excited 'Oh my Gods!'. It would be weird to go there, but she was technically Fred's date, so for the sake of her own solitude, she decided to go there anyway.
When she got to the library, disappointment sunk in as she realised they weren't there. She was about to turn away when a slight squeal came from one of the tables tucked behind a bookcase, the exact squeal that Lexy gave when she got something wrong. Turning around slowly, she noticed her friend hunched over a table, working intently on something. By the looks of it she was alone, but maybe this was for the best; out of her three friends, Lexy was the one she'd spoken to most in Fred form.
"Lexy?"
Her friend looked up with a start, her pink lips curving into a smile, "Oh, hey Fred, what are you doing here? Wait, did we have Charms homework? Fred, did we have Charms homework?!"
"No, we didn't," She replied with a laugh, "Well if we did, I'm not planning to do it. I just came to sit actually, I miss you, girl."
Being around her friend, briefly made her lose character; she just hoped that Lexy wouldn't notice her slip of the tongue. Sadly, judging by Lexy's suddenly furrowed brow, she hadn't been so lucky.
"What did you call me?"
"Girl," She replied, deciding to go with it, "Angelina got me into it."
"Aubrey says that sometimes," Lexy replied, "It sounded really similar actually ..." For a moment she looked confused, before hitting her head with her hand, "Oh God, I forgot, you two have been hanging out together, that would explain it. Sorry, I must seem like an idiot."
"Nah, you're fine," Aubrey replied taking a seat, paying careful attention to her Fred-like movements, "Sorry, you don't mind if I sit, do you?"
Lexy shook her head, "No, go for it, I'm just trying to finish off some Care of Magical creatures work."
"Where's Aubrey?"
"Sleeping," She replied, "She's been napping more ... since she started hanging out with you actually. Please don't take this the wrong way, but are you testing something out on her again? Because she wouldn't be mad but Kenny might..."
Quickly, Aubrey shook her head, "No, I wouldn't do that, she's my friend."
"I didn't think you were but I just thought I should check, I didn't mean any offence by it..." She trailed off, her eyes subconsciously drifting over to someone. At first, Aubrey thought she'd silenced out of embarrassment but glancing around she noticed Roger Davies had taken a seat at the table on the other side of the aisle and a small smirk crossed her face.
Leaning in, she whispered, "So Roger, huh?"
In the space of few seconds, Lexy's eyes seemed to quadruple in size, "How ... how do you know that? Wait, did Aubrey tell you? Oh God, this is so humiliating..."
It suddenly occurred to Aubrey that she technically had no way of knowing about the crush and shook her head, "No, no, Aubrey didn't say anything, I just figured it out from Charms! I mean you blush and freeze up when you talk to him, I just guessed."
For a second, Lexy's face remained frozen in vague horror before she seemed to collapse onto the desk, holding her head in her hands, "Oh God, why am I like this? I'm so obvious, too obvious, I bet everybody knows. Please be honest, Fred, am I the laughing stock of the school?"
"No, you're not, trust me, hon," She replied, "Sorry, picked that up from Aubrey."
"It's so annoying," Lexy laughed.
"I don't know, I think it's just one of those subconscious things," Aubrey replied defensively, "I think it's sweet."
Lexy shrugged, "I love her but it is annoying as hell."
Aubrey wasn't sure what to say to this, instead curtly replying with, "Yep. Alright then."
Within seconds, Lexy was back on the desk again, clearly fretting about her obvious nature, "Oh God, this is the worst, if you know, he must know now!"
"He doesn't," Aubrey cut in, "Trust me, we've spoken and he really has no idea. In fact, he doesn't actually have a date yet, at least when we last spoke."
This made Lexy raise her head a little, just by a few centimetres so her eyes were visible, "I doubt that. He's so fine, he must have a date."
"Nope. He's asking someone but from what he told me, she doesn't like him back."
"I bet it's that gorgeous girl with the white blonde hair. I bet they're going to dance and then he falls in love with her and they start dating and I just end up as a CRAZY CAT LADY!" The last part came out louder than expected so that even Roger turned to look.
"Lexy - "
Aubrey quickly realised she was talking to thin air as Lexy had unsubtly dove under the table, scrambling faster than the speed of light. Before looking under the table, Aubrey made sure to stifle any hint of laughter as the panic-stricken Lexy would not appreciate that.
Tentatively Aubrey bent down, peering underneath; Lexy was crouched like a kangeroo, her eyes wide and gleaming, "Was that really obvious?"
"Just a little bit..." Aubrey replied, giving her friend a kindly smile, "Maybe you should get out from underneath the table though, he's not looking anymore."
"Wait, he was looking?"
"You did dive under the table, you can't expect him not to," Aubrey replied. With a sigh, Lexy conceded, slowly manoeuvring her way out from underneath and returning to her seat.
"Sorry, that was really weird," Lexy replied, readjusting her skirt, "I'm not usually like this, Fred, I swear. Was he really looking?"
"Yes, he really was," It suddenly occurred to Aubrey that this was her best opportunity yet to get Lexy and Roger together. Her table dive had caught Roger's attention and Lexy was very susceptible to convincing when she was embarrassed.
After a pause, Aubrey continued, "You should ask him to the dance."
"What?! Are you mental?" Lexy shook her head, stealing another glance at her crush.
"No, I really think you should. Roger's noticed you now because of your spectacular table dive, it's the perfect opportunity," She replied, making sure to add, "And I'm a boy, just like Roger, so I should know."
"That is true, you are a boy," Lexy agreed, her voice surprisingly quiet, "How was he looking, Fred? Like creeped out or kind of intrigued?"
"Intrigued, definitely," Aubrey assured her, "Like you were a celestial being of sorts."
Slowly, Lexy glanced over to Roger before returning her gaze to Aubrey, "That's such a lie but I mean, I could ... NO! Why am I letting you talk me into this? I'm not asking him, you're mental, I'm mental, the whole world is bonkers, I am not, not, NOT asking him!"
"Well, why not?"
"What if he says no?"
Aubrey shrugged, "You get closure? You're the one always encouraging me to ask out George, so why not?"
"George is your brother."
"Sorry, Aubrey's influence?" She replied awkwardly, quickly changing the subject, "Sorry she says it a lot. Anyway back to the main topic, if you're scared of rejection, how about I do it?"
"No, because then I look like a coward," Lexy replied, looking down, "I guess, we could go there together."
It took Aubrey a few seconds to realise Lexy had actually agreed to it. Wasting no time, Aubrey jumped up, snapping her fingers, "Good plan! Let's do it!"
"I need time to think..."
"If you think, you'll talk yourself out of it. Girl, trust me, just do it," She replied, sounding way sassier than expected. Lexy rose with such slowness, it put sloths to shame; still, the speed didn't matter, Lexy was up and that was the main thing.
As they walked, Lexy dragged her feet so much that Aubrey was almost tempted to pick her up and carry her over her shoulder. Eventually, after what felt like an hour, they made it and Aubrey gave a slight cough to alert Roger of her presence.
"Oh, hello," Roger said, completely poker-faced as he tilted his head towards them, "Is this about Charms?"
"Yes and no," Aubrey replied, "Okay, no, sorry, just wanted to add a bit of mystery. This is about, Lexy actually, she has a question for you," Even though her name had been said, Lexy remained frozen and Aubrey gave her a slight nudge, "Lexy, go on."
She was starting to see why Angela and Lexy cared so much about romance, the tension was exhilarating.
"Oh, what is it?" Roger asked, cocking his head to the side.
"Um..." Lexy's ability to speak had suddenly vanished, coinciding with her pale cheeks turning cherry red.
"Lexy, go on," Aubrey hissed through gritted teeth.
"Um ... Roger ... would ... would you," Lexy began before suddenly squeaking and looking down at her feet. Slowly she took a deep breath, raising her head and garbling out, "Roger would you like to go to the dance with me?"
For a second, there was silence and Aubrey gave her friend a squeeze on the shoulder. Roger looked a little surprised before replying, "That's really sweet of you but I kind of have a date. Do you two know Fleur Delacour?"
His tone was soft but it was laced with a slight smugness that Aubrey detested.
"The champion with the silver-blonde hair," Lexy said, her face falling, "Oh, she is really pretty, I... I see why you'd want to go with her. Well... well, this was fun," her voice seemed to be choking up and Aubrey felt like her heart was breaking, even though she hadn't put herself on the line.
"I would have said yes but she said yes and - "
"It's okay," Lexy cut in, her fingers trembling slightly, "Well ... well, if you need a backup date, I can do it...," There was a sudden shift in her demeanour, as she unexpectedly stood a little taller, "Actually ... actually, I don't want to be a backup date and I won't be because ... Fred Weasley, will you go with me instead?"
At this point, Aubrey wasn't really surprised, things rarely went her way anyway. She had agreed to go with Fred but Lexy was her best friend, she couldn't let her be embarrassed. With as much enthusiasm as she could muster, she nodded, "Yep, sounds great. I've got my dress robes all ready."
"Great," Lexy replied, "Well ... looks like we'll both have a good time at the dance."
Roger looked more than a little confused about what had happened but nodded, "Thank you?"
Lexy nodded and the two of them left, Aubrey slightly baffled about the fact she was now going to the dance with her best friend. As they walked off, Lexy collided with her slightly, "Sorry about that, I just didn't want to be alone again, moping over him. It will just be as friends obviously and if you don't want to go with me, it's fine - "
"No, I will. You deserve a nice time at the dance," She replied firmly, pushing the repercussions from her mind; that was future Aubrey's problem anyway.