The Chaser : A Fred Weasley Fan Fic

Twenty Six: Pine Fresh

After an overnight stay in the hospital wing, Fred and George were looking remarkably younger. Madam Pompfrey let them leave the following afternoon, giving them just enough time to shower and change before we were to head to the Great Hall to watch the champions be chosen.

We sat in our rows, watching the goblet's blue glow grow stronger, before it began spitting names from its flames.

"Fleur Delacour" announced Dumbledore, and a girl with a sheet of silvery blonde hair got to her feet, accepting the piece of parchment and disappearing past the professors to the Trophy room.

"Viktor Krum"

"Cedric Diggory"

My heart skipped a beat and both Ginny and Katie shot me bewildered glances. The twins, sat either side of me, fidgeting uncomfortably. I supposed they were probably quite jealous after their failed attempt to enter their names.

"Does he have to have everything?" Fred muttered under his breath. This time, it was I that placed a reassuring hand on his leg and his eyes darted to his lap and then back at me. He smirked to himself as I kept my hand there firmly.

"I suppose not everything" Fred corrected himself quietly, so only I heard.

The flames emitting from the cup turned a stark red and spat another name into Dumbledore's hands and he stared dumbfounded at the parchment.

"Harry Potter" he mumbled. We all whirled round to look at Harry, who was sat between Ron and Hermione a little further down our table. Dumbledore called again, bellowing his name this time and Hermione forced him to his feet.

The atmosphere in the Hall had become thick and we were quickly dismissed, sent away to bed as professors hurried to the Trophy Room to find out what on earth was going on.

Panic spread through the school the moment the champions had been chosen and everybody had realised this was real, the tournament would indeed be happening. as was the Yule Ball. People began frantically trying to find dates and I tried to keep myself level headed, I knew Fred would ask me.

One afternoon during a free period, Hermione and I sat on the stone benches in the Transfigurations courtyard, as I helped her with her homework. The courtyard seemed to have a certain buzz to it as boys flitted between packs of girls to ask them to the ball. We could overhear giggling agreements as well as painful rejections.

I leant across Hermione's book to show her particularly useful passage when the pages were suddenly overshadowed by somebody standing in front of us. I glanced up.

Cedric looked as cocky as ever now he was a school champion. He stood lazily with his hands in his robes waiting for us to acknowledge his presence.

"Can I help you?" I muttered, looking up at him. It was still hard to look him directly in the face without being charmed by him. The soft boy act he put on, mixed with the floppy, sandy coloured hair gave him the appearance of a golden retriever, and who would expect to be hurt by somebody like that?

"I just wanted to be sure," he began, a coy smile creeping on to his lips as he spoke, "that asking you to the ball would be out of the question"

"Absolutely" I replied quickly, flicking my eyes back down to the pages of the book. I wasn't even going to give him the time of day.

"Like I said, I just wanted to be sure" he repeated, turning to leave before adding, "I did have somebody else in mind anyway"

As his back turned I rolled my eyes furiously at Hermione, making her giggle, but her face quickly turned.