The Caregiver

five: the interrogation

"So you and the Ravenclaw prick?" Fred asked, drumming his fingers on the island counter.

Autumn had expected Fred to retract his olive branch of friendship and snap it in half immediately following the next day she returned to work, but much to her surprise he hadn't.

He had kept the olive branch in her reach throughout the whole weekend for when she returned to work on Monday- however, this olive branch seemed conditional on her surroundings.

The olive branch was only ever extended when she was alone, otherwise (as she saw on Friday night in the pub) it was as if it never existed.

That wasn't to say he hadn't eased up on her though in public. There was much less bickering than she expected when she sat at the Gryffindor table that evening. He had gone from being at her for the silliest of things to simply ignoring her, save the snide remark or two.

It was a small change, but one she welcomed in the name of progress; progress to a friendship. Hopefully.

"You mean Radley?" She asked with her eyebrows furrowed in concentration as she extracted the essence of white and cetan dittany. "Isn't he your friend?"

Fred shrugged his shoulders, "More George and Lee's, but I suppose you could call him a friend if you use the term extremely loosely."

She continued to focus on her potion.

Fred watched her carefully as he waited for her response. He had begun to notice that whenever she concentrated her eyebrows furrowed and her lips slightly parted. If she were reading something then she would mumble the words under her breath and nod along as if being taught by a professor.

He found it adorable and it made him sick.

However, the sickness quickly transformed into anxious flutters of excitement whenever she smiled triumphantly after completing a step correctly.

"So?" He tried again.

She quickly glanced up, "So what?"

"You and Laurence?"

"What's with the interrogation?" She asked with a laugh.

He didn't find it as amusing.

"What about us?" She shrugged off his sour attitude.

"Oh come on, Rogers, I know you're not that daft," He said growing slightly irritated.

Why wouldn't she talk to him about it? He knew they weren't exactly friends, but still he had been the one to suffer all night- watching Radley shameless flirt with Autumn, touching her without cause, making her blush and stutter over every word.

It angered him and he wasn't exactly sure why. He thought he at least deserved an explanation as reparations.

"Fred, I'm focusing on something at the moment so I don't have the mental capacity to decipher your riddles. If you have something you'd like to ask me then just ask," She said as she rolled her eyes and flipped the page of her potions recipe book.

He cleared his throat, caught off guard yet again by her bluntness.

"What was that whole thing at the pub on Friday? It was bloody sickening to witness, and don't even get me started on the whole tutor story that twat spout. What a load of bullshit, as if we would actually believe that you needed him," He said, talking with his hands and huffing as he finished his mini-rant.

Autumn closed the book and began stirring the concoction in the cauldron.

"Actually," She began rather shyly, "the whole tutor story was true."