Elusive // The Weasley Twins

30. Ten Sickles

for a loose reference of george's flat ^ (not EXACT but the layout is what we have in mind)

Cosette knew that she had to be drunk in order to step foot into George's party.

But as soon as she got home from Diagon Alley, the alcohol from her afternoon shots made her tired and she instantly fell asleep. When she woke up a few hours later, her buzz was gone and she had very limited time to get ready before Ben picked her up.

Cosette rushed to change into something nicer. She didn't often wear skirts but when she saw one sitting at the bottom of her drawer, she decided on it for tonight. She wanted to look good and she wanted people to pay attention to her.

It took a minute to find her brush in the living room and she quickly ran it through her hair, knowing that Ben would be there shortly. She stood in front of the small mirror hung up in the living room and touched up her appearance as much as she could, but then in the reflection, she spotted Fred's box on the kitchen table behind her.

And now really wasn't a good time for her to start thinking about that relationship, but she hadn't moved the box since she first got it and every time she walked past the table she couldn't bring herself to keep going through it.

She knew there were journals in there that belonged to Fred, but she wasn't ready to read them. Cosette didn't know if she would be able to handle reading his words and his thoughts, especially during the time they were together. She was worried that as soon as she opened one up, she would break.

So right now definitely wasn't a good time for her to look through the box. Cosette didn't need to have a mental breakdown right before a party.

She jumped when she heard a knock at the door, but Cosette knew it was Ben. She told him to pick her up and with a quick glance at the clock, Cosette saw that he was right on time.

She told herself that she wasn't going to be awkward or quiet. Cosette wanted to have fun tonight and hopefully now that they had gotten past the first date, they would both enjoy themselves a little more.

Swinging the door open, Cosette greeted him with a grin before sliding on a pair of shoes. It didn't even cross her mind to tell Ben to dress casual because dressing casual wasn't really something he did, but he did seem to tone it down a little tonight and opted to wear a plain white shirt tucked into his pants with a dark green jacket over top.

"You look nice," she said, taking a second to scan over his outfit for the night and Ben did the same thing as he stepped in.

"As do you," his lips tugged back into a charming smirk, letting the door shut behind him. "So what did you have in mind?"

"A party," Cosette told him. "In Diagon Alley."

"A party in Diagon Alley," Ben repeated with a nod, "Did you invite me because you need someone to apparate you there?"

Cosette rolled her eyes, forgetting that she told him about her little intoxication incident when they were at the game, "No. I invited you because I didn't want to show up alone and I-" She quickly stopped mid-sentence and Ben raised his eyebrows in amusement.

"And you what?"

She shrugged her shoulders, meeting his eyes again, "And I don't hate your company."

Ben's smile grew, "So you like me?"

"Did I say that?"

"You didn't not say it," Ben pointed out, lifting a finger and Cosette pushed it away from her face, but she still kept her hand connected with his.