All The Small Things (Harry Potter) *Fred/OC*

20. Turning Point

From the start, Tee hadn't been very sure about the whole dating idea. And after the first few weeks, she knew she'd been right.

She'd hoped that she'd be able to work the situation to her advantage, but it just hadn't worked out that way at all. It hadn't made things better - if anything, it had just made them worse. Things between her and Fred felt more awkward and more embarrassing than ever. Everything felt like some kind of trial, though she wasn't sure what for. It just felt too forced. Tee had never wanted things to end up that way. Whenever she'd imagined an actual relationship with Fred, she'd expected it to be fun and spontaneous. But this just wasn't.

But then it wasn't a real relationship, was it? As far as she could see, Fred still wasn't treating the idea seriously. He just seemed to be following the conventions of a relationship like they were taking steps from a book. Like it was expected - not because he wanted to. It certainly wasn't the spontaneity that Tee had always secretly hoped for.

And now it seemed that nobody else was taking it seriously either. After the initial apology for the whole set-up, Rose hadn't tried to discuss it with her friend again - which Tee was thankful for - she'd simply left it to play out. Not to mention George suddenly seemed to think it was one big joke. Tee wasn't sure if he'd caught onto the initial idea of her and Fred simply humouring them, but he kept forcing them into embarrassing situations.

The day after they'd started 'dating' - Tee still imagined the word to have air quotes; it wasn't surprising when she seemed to be the only one who didn't want to regard it as a joke - George had started dropping in very obvious hints. He'd pointed out that he and Rose had had their first kiss the same day that he'd asked her out. He'd then reminded them of how much alone time they liked to have, like any couple would. Then there was the time he'd been sat with Rose on his lap and had suggested that it was never too soon for a couple to start being 'physically' close to one another. And the time he'd 'accidentally' bumped into Tee so that she'd literally fell into Fred's arms.

George clearly didn't believe that they were really trying the dating idea. He seemed determined to catch them out. Fred responded to every attempt with his usual good humour and passed them off with laughs and typical, flirtatious jokes. Tee simply found them to be all the more embarrassing.

Not to mention with the stress of the ever-looming exams and their final Quidditch match closing in, she wasn't sure how much longer she could take it. Everything seemed so false that she couldn't see the idea lasting. But she was also terrified that they wouldn't be able to go back to their old, easy bantering friendship if it didn't.

Tee had now gotten to the stage where she'd started spending more time in her dorm again, just to get away from everything. She knew it was bad and she really didn't want to go back to where she'd first started, but more often than not, she needed the escape to try and clear her head. And at least now she had the excuse of wanting somewhere quiet to study. This time, nobody seemed any the wiser.

When she headed back down to the common room that evening, it was a lot quieter. Rose was lounging across an entire sofa by herself, watching the twins trying to build a house out of their pack of Exploding Snap cards. Needless to say, it wasn't going very well. The sleeves of George's robes were already scorched, clearly from previous attempts. They were also likely the reason that had drove the other Gryffindors out.

Tee crawled onto the sofa with Rose so that she was practically lying on top of her. "Cuddles please."

Rose laughed and hugged her friend. "Of course, my kitty! Did studying get the better of you?"

This time, Tee didn't have to lie, since she actually had been making the most of the quiet time to try and get some of her revision done. Though it turned out that the quietness of her environment wasn't the problem - it was just the studying itself. She groaned in response. "I'm gonna fail my History of Magic exam miserably."