Saturday, January 4
"That was incredibly dangerous to do. I'm not helping if you get caught."
"Oh, shut it. I'm not about to get caught. The whole thing's over with, I'm just sad it didn't last longer for him." She rolled her eyes in annoyance.
"They seem well, the two of them. Makes me sick to my stomach," the other girl commented.
"I still can't believe what that rat's mother did," the first girl said, her nose wrinkling in disgust.
The other girl smiled, not warmly. "Even though what you did was stupid, I enjoyed seeing how worried she was."
"Hey, girls, wanna go outside for a little dip?" A guy asked, his eyes narrowed and sparkling with a weird lustful delight.
"One second, baby. We're gossiping."
"Right on, lovely ladies. Gossip away."
The first girl rolled her eyes. "I'm gonna go take a bath. You two have fun, but don't let anyone catch ya."
The second girl smirked and looked her over. "You're a real bitch, just so you know. I love it."
The first girl gave her an equally cruel glance and quickly hugged her. "Laters."
"Laters."
~~~~~~~~
Monday, January 6
"Hey, (Y/N)," George said, walking up to her. You both walked to your next class.
"Howdy. Is Fred coming?"
He smirked and you felt embarrassed for a second. "Your lovely boyfriend had to stay behind in class. Didn't you see? McGonagall caught his airplane."
You felt even more heated. "He isn't my boyfriend, you scamp," you corrected. "And no, I didn't see. Must've been distracted."
He shrugged. "Maybe. Well, Fred will be back in a few." He went to his seat. You went to yours, and waited for Fred to come in a few minutes later, smirking.
As he passed your seat, he gave you a small wink. Angelina saw from beside you. She raised an eyebrow.
"Sly one, isn't he." You fiddled with your necklace, a new habit of yours.
She smiled. "He's awful cute, you gotta admit."
You blushed and your mouth opened slightly, but you shook your head "no."
~ ~ ~ ~
You ate a small lunch quickly and went off to the common room to study with Hector the bird-pen. You had a small quiz in Professor Snape's class in the afternoon and you wanted to be prepared.
You didn't realize Fred was behind you several minutes later, until he decided to scream in your ear.
As an instinct, you flew up from the chair and threw the Potions handbook at him. Hector snooted angrily and flew away.
"Aw, shit!"
"Fred Weasley!" You exclaimed.
He grabbed his chest dramatically and gasped. "You've punctured me! I'll never live another day!" He fell on the chair.
You started tickling him. He screeched and rolled off onto the floor. You bent down with him and laughed at his "pain."
He grabbed your wrists and flipped you onto the floor.
"Now, who has the upper hand?" He said, smirking.
Your face heated up at the realization of the position you were in.
He noticed, too, and looking down on you, he bit his lip.
"Oh what to do with you," he said.
You shook your head. "Nothing. Let me study!" You tried getting up but he pushed you back down.
You tried again, but even though you struggled, he was stronger. You finally stopped and let out a little pant at the effort.
"You have no idea how hot you look right now."
You froze, blushing. "Huh?"
He realized what he said and blushed, too. "Uh, yeah." His eyes flickered to your mouth.
Looks like I'm about to win some moolah. You licked your lips, on purpose, teasing him.
He bit his lip again. "Oh, to hell with the bet," he said, and gave you no time to prepare yourself. He leaned down and your lips met. You closed your eyes, feeling a small tingle in your fingertips.
You gripped his hair to deepen the kiss, smiling at his small groan. You pulled away, breathless and you both sat up, kissing again.
He gripped your face and bit your lip, wanting more, but you both immediately stopped as you heard the picture-door thing open and Hermione walked in.
She saw you both breathless, propped up on the ground, the book on the ground where you left it, yours and Fred's hair messy.
She rolled her eyes and went straight upstairs without a second glance.
She was not happy, but frankly, you weren't too worried at the moment. However, the "romantic" mood was broken and you peered at Fred with a levelheaded stare.
"Where's my money?"
He gaped at you. "That wasn't a mutual decision?"
You gave him an exasperated look. "'Oh to hell with the bet.' You practically jumped on me. Money. Now." You held out your hand.
He smirked. "You little gold digger." He fished some coins out of his pocket and held out the galleon and three sickles.
"I enjoyed it though." You reached up, kissed his cheek, and snatched the money, earning an embarrassed but pleased Fred.
~ ~ ~ ~
You felt fluttery the rest of the day, even though you were a bit worried about Hermione. She seemed to be avoiding you all day.
You knew you two would have to talk at the end of the day.
And so, the night was drawing near and you waved goodnight to Fred, wondering what you two were since you basically just made out earlier. You also wanted Hector to come sleep with you, but Fred said he couldn't since he was a guy and Fred would get jealous. Typical.
When you went upstairs, Hermione had a sour look on her face.
"Hey, 'Mione, what's up?" Your eyebrows furrowed.
Hermione looked up from a book. Her eyes narrowed and she glared at you. "Hi." She went back to her book.
Your mouth parted in surprise. You say on the edge of your bed. "What's wrong?"
She ignored you.
"Hermione, I asked you a question."
She gave you a nasty look and turned to her side, away from you.
You got up and marched over to that side. "What is wrong with you?"
She closed her book and sat up. "What is wrong with me? What's wrong with you!" She exclaimed (not entirelyloud), fuming.
"I was waiting out there for two hours after that completely immature note of yours! You told me we would talk, so where were you? Down here snogging your arse off with Fred!"
She was definitely mad, but you couldn't help but wonder, There was a note??
"Hermione, what in the hell are you talking about?"
During our commotion, a few heads looked up from their resting places. You didn't even know there were people in here.
"I thought you were really mad at me! I thought I did something wrong!" Hermione kept on going, her voice rising with every word.
"Hermione, calm down, I-"
"Calm down? You made me feel like I needed to apologize for something you did! I will certainly not calm down!"
You closed your eyes. When did you leave Hermione a note? Did you even leave her a note? You can't remember anything of that sort at all. Hermione's gone bonkers.
"Hermione," you spoke in a clear, calm voice, "I swear I didn't leave you a note-"
"It was a howler." She looked away, brows furrowed.
"A howler?" Your jaw dropped. "Hermione, I'd never ever send you that."
She shook her head.
"What did it say?"
"It was your voice! How couldn't you know?" Her voice rose again, but you still tried keeping her calm with your own steady tone.
"You know as well as me someone must have staged it." You weren't sure what to say. Whoever did this must've been trying to pull an awful mean prank on you and Hermione.
And who's known for all their pranks?
You shook the thought away.
Hermione sat back down on her bed, lying on her side. She probably doesn't want to talk, but you've got to know the answer.
You crouched beside the bed and she opened her eyes to peer at you.
"Hermione, what did the howler say?" You asked, quietly, trying to read her expression.
"I don't want to repeat it. It was awful, (Y/N), real awful and I don't want to repeat it-" That last syllable cracked and Hermione started to tear up.
"Shhh, I understand. But if I know the basic gist of it, maybe we can find out who did this."
She closed her eyes and you thought for a second she would just stop talking and go to sleep.
But she opened them again and said, "'Who do you think you are, flirting with my boyfriend like that? You're nothing but an ugly little..." She paused. "Mudblood. Fred's with me. I hate you, I hate you, I hate you." She sniffed, trying her best not to burst into tears, you could tell.
You held her hand. "Hermione I didn't do that. You didn't do anything to- Boyfriend? I don't have a boyfriend! Whoever did this must have thought Fred and I were dating."
She nodded. She looked exhausted.
"Hermione, how about we get some sleep? We'll figure this out tomorrow."
She nodded again, and closed her eyes. You went over to your own bed, not bothering to tell any other girls goodnight.
And the last thought you have is whether or not this little incident could be connected to Fred's being poisoned...
~ ~ ~ ~
Published 2-17-20
Conspiracies, conspiracies.