Déjà Vu

Chapter 18

~ Fred ~

He's sitting in the back of the library, just trying to get his potions paper done, but he can't shake the feeling of eyes on him. He can feel them crawling all over, can feel his ears burning from people talking about him. He's caught a few people when he's looked up, but it's all been innocent enough. He's close to just heading back to his room with how uncomfortable this is all making him.

All he'd wanted was a productive space to work on his paper; if Evelyn were to show up, as she often does on Tuesdays, he wouldn't complain. But, no. She hasn't shown up, people are staring at him for some reason, and now he's just in a bad mood.

He's busy feeling overly sorry for himself when a fourth-year that he's never seen before walks up to him. She's blushing a bit already and he can see a group of girls her age behind her, all of them covering their giggling with their hands and watching avidly as their friend bravely does whatever she's about to do. He raises an amused eyebrow and leans back in his chair when she approaches him, looking even more embarrassed than she had a few seconds ago now that she has his full attention on her.

"Hi, Fred," she says with a timid wave.

He smiles confusedly. "Uh, hi?"

She fiddles her fingers together and crosses one of her feet over the other where she's standing, her body language oozing nervousness. "Um, my friends and I were wondering," there's more giggling from behind her. "Is it true?"

He frowns, completely stumped. "Is what true?"

Now it's her turn to frown. "That you have a girlfriend."

His frown deepens, his mouth partly popping open in confusion. "Um, what? Girlfriend?"

The girl nods, looking less and less confident after seeing his reaction. "Uh, yeah. From another school?"

He can't help but laugh, confusion still painting his face. "No, I'm afraid that that's not true. Where did you hear that from?" He's sure that it's just Ginny or George playing some stupid prank on him. He's going to kill whoever it was.

She scratches the back of her neck. "Um, well, I heard from Lindsey who heard from Sarah who heard from Peter who heard from... Jessica I think. And Jessica heard it from Angelina who says that that girl Evelyn told her. She was proper bummed, you know."

He can feel his entire face scrunch up in confusion, completely taken aback by what he's hearing.

Evelyn?

"Evelyn?" He repeats aloud. "But that doesn't-" he shakes his head at himself, sighing and reaching up to rub at his temples. "No, that's not true."

The girl is already taking a step back. "Oh. Well, sorry for bothering you." And then she's gone.

He sits there for a moment, just staring at the dark brown wood of the table in front of him. There's no way that Evelyn would have actually said that, right? That makes absolutely no sense. He's made it plenty obvious that he would do practically anything to be with her, and yet she's continuously turned him down. Which, it's fine. Really. He's dealing with it. But, this? What is he supposed to do with this? She's telling a girl that's interested in him that he has a girlfriend?

Now he's getting angry. She had no right. No one has a right to make up a lie about him, especially when rumors spread like fiendfyre at Hogwarts, but out of everyone, Evelyn especially has no right. She knows that he doesn't have a girlfriend because she makes that choice for him every day, and yet she wants to ruin his chances of finding someone who actually wants him. He doesn't particularly like Angelina, but that's not the point. It's the principle of it.