Well, today was the day. End of term, almost Christmas, the day of a Hogsmeade trip. There were dozens of thoughts fluttering in the mind of Beth Black as she stood outside the castle, admiring the blanket of snow and the constant fall of it all, the wintery, Christmas spirit. The thought of Christmas always made Beth's spirits dive for an upturn, the only downside being she never got any presents from home, only from Adrian last year, which she actually greatly appreciated.
Beth rolled up her sleeve and checked her watch. He was six minutes late. Not much longer and she'd turn around and go straight back to her cozy dormitory and just read a book. And, of course, take off all the warm clothes she had dressed in just for today. She never really wore her coat for long at Hogwarts considering she never actually went on Hogsmeade trips. She preferred to stay in the warmth of the castle by a fire with a book in hand, or to start reading on next term's topics so that she was ahead. Or even just knit. Anything indoors rather than be in a crowd of swarming, loud-mouthed, Christmas-spirited Hogwarts students who wouldn't even bother acknowledging that she was there had Sirius Black not escaped Azkaban.
"It smells like Christmas!"
Beth looked over her shoulder. There was Fred, dressed in his own coat, Gryffindor scarf, a thin, raggedy pair of pants, and a spotty, grey and white beanie with a hole in it. He was panting, but he had a grin on his face and looked as happy as ever, so it was hard for Beth to blurt out what she actually wanted to.
"Sleep in?"
"Er, course not. No, I actually had to take care of something with George," he explained, joining her at the hip. She stared up at him as he continued to speak, staring mostly at the frosty air that came out of his mouth. "Well, to be precise, George and I gave away something quite valuable. I miss it already. But it was definitely worth the delivery."
Everything was not quite what Beth expected when they arrived at Hogsmeade.
It was worse.
The street was swarming with people, and more and more were pouring out of stores and pubs and into the street, adding more to the chaos of them all. There was so much chatter. She wanted to go back.
"You don't look happy," Fred commented. He was already looking at her when she glanced up at him. "C'mon it's Hogsmeade, there's gotta be something here that you enjoy. I enjoy taking my time in Zonko's and Honeyduke's then to settle down with a hot taste of Butterbeer before going back up to the castle. How about you? What's your usual routine? Wait - can I guess?"
"Er - actually -"
"You spend all of your time in the Apothecary. Then you browse for quills. And right before you go for a spot of tea, you glare at every innocent pair of eyes -- you know, with that scary Black look you used to give me -- oh did I say used to? Because there it is again."
"Weasley, I don't come to Hogsmeade, ever," Beth snapped, quite insulted by what Fred had just assumed, even though he was clearly joking. It was all he ever seemed to do. Sometimes, although she would never admit it to him, she actually liked it and found him funny. But sometimes she would rather just punch him in the mouth. "You'll have to sort us out for today."
It was far too quiet when in the presence of Fred Weasley. Beth looked up at him to see what he was doing, but he wasn't doing anything other than having pulled the most ridiculous, over-exaggerated shocked face she had ever seen. This was one of those times she wanted to punch him in the mouth.
"Oh, my," he gasped, offering his arm to her. She didn't take it. "This is completely, and utterly unacceptable, Miss Black. Now if you kindly take my arm. We've got a date to get through."
Beth glared at him. "I'll take your arm if you take back this being a date."
"Oh. Is it not?" he frowned.
Beth stared up at him, but he didn't look away; he held her eye, and still had his arm out for her to take. She scanned his face, but clearly not for the reasons he thought judging by the quick flash of a smirk he'd tried to hide.
"You have a booger," Beth commented, deciding not to smile due to her amusement. She would never hear the end of it from Fred if she were to.
This was partially the reason Beth was so confused about Fred Weasley's sudden interest in her if not for the sole purpose of trying to dig up information on Sirius Black which she did not have - she knew just as much as everyone else. But she was a complete bore. She was mean. And there was every other girl at Hogwarts who would genuinely smile and laugh with Fred Weasley, so why would he go for a girl like her? A girl would rather threaten than admit.
Oh god, she thought to herself. He's one of those guys. The 'you're not like the other girls' kind of guy.
Fred raised his eyebrows and covered half his face. "What? Do I really? Or is this some sick, twisted attempt of trying to make -"
"No, Weasley," Beth rolled her eyes. "Your nose is just incredibly red."
Fred lowered his hand and smiled down at her. His smile made her chest feel warm, which she chose to hate. Why couldn't it make her cringe and want to throw up?
"So is yours, love," he said softly, holding out his arm even more for her to take. "We'd better get inside then."
There was no denying that Zonko's Joke Shop was Fred Weasley's baby. Beth had never seen the boy beam so much at stuff that Beth would simply just turn her nose up at and never think of again, but the Weasley boy was seriously interested in the silliest stuff.
Beth didn't bother hiding the fact that she didn't care about the things Fred held up for her to look at with a big grin on his face, but she couldn't ignore the fact that there was a fire igniting inside her chest and butterflies swarming through her stomach when she saw how happy he looked, and at his excitement, at his big smile, and even at the pure, innocence in his eyes despite the fact that everything else about the Prankster was not so innocent.
And then there was the rattle of her bones shattering at the sight of Fred's pouted lip and the twinge of sadness in his eyes and in his voice when something was just out of his price range. Fred didn't admit that he couldn't afford it, at least not with words. A simple hmm as he examined things for a price, and the sigh as he put them back where he got them. She wanted nothing more than to reach out and take what he couldn't buy, and buy it for him, but she felt that he would feel insulted by the gesture, and she didn't want to hear the word date again.
But, it was almost Christmas.
"I need to pee," said Beth, as Fred stared at a pile of brand-new dungbombs with his hand under his chin.
He barely looked at her as he said, "there's a bathroom in the back . . ."
At least she knew he wasn't paying much attention to her as he browsed. It was the perfect moment.