[1] Lemons into Lemonade ✓ | FRED WEASLEY

Chapter Twenty Eight

That night, Aubrey managed to leave with barely any trouble, arriving at their spot earlier than Fred. When he appeared, he immediately let out a snort of laughter, "Why are you wearing that hood? You look like a Deatheater."

"Hey, this is a very trendy hood, I bet a lot of cool people would wear this," She replied, raising an eyebrow at him, "Besides, I have to wear it, your orange hair is like a lightbulb and if we're spying on Ludo, I'm not going to risk getting caught because of it. If we get caught for being idiots, I can deal with it but if it's because of hair I will never forgive myself."

Fred shrugged, running his hands through the curls, "That sounds good but I'm just going to say it, girlfriend, you look ridiculous - "

It was Aubrey's turn to snort with laughter, "Girlfriend? Where did you pick that up from? Please tell me Kenny's not in another diva phase, I thought I told you not to let him watch sassy films..."

With a grin, Fred gave another shrug of his shoulders, "I'm just trying out new words, I've said hon so much that it's starting to not sound real."

"Yeah but girlfriend is way too sassy," Aubrey hissed, "Hon is blunt, a force of habit from my Mum."

"Well, I felt like it was time for Aubrey to move on," Fred replied, "It's called character development, girlfriend - "

"No! I'm not a character, I'm a ... me," She replied, her mouth in a half smile as she tried to figure out whether he was messing with her, "And I say hon or girl but never- " She did an imitation of a sassy click, "- girlfriend."

Fred grinned, snapping his fingers perfectly, "You know, I rather like that click, think I might start using it - "

"No!" She held a warning finger out to him, "Anyway, stop teasing me, why are you like this? You'll make me lose my train of thought, and we need to have our wits about us if we're going to be spies."

With a confident swagger, Fred took a few steps forward, "You might have to but you're forgetting, me and George did this all the time. George may be good at numbers and thinking ahead but I was the quick-witted one - "

"I think you're both quick-witted," She replied dryly, "And frankly, I hate it. Anyway, as far as I can tell, Ludo sleeps in the same block as the Ravenclaw teachers, I say we stake out there for a bit and hopefully something will come up."

"Or we could sneak in, find some dirt on him - "

"No! Besides, we're not looking for blackmail, I was thinking we just get to know him a bit, you know? Figure out where he'll be during the ball and stuff," Aubrey snapped, "Besides, we need to be systematic, the Ball is the time for reckless behaviour," Fred opened his mouth to protest but she was one step ahead, "No, okay? Last time we were reckless, good things happened but we also broke our ribs, I 'friendzoned' myself and accidentally made George think I like you instead. We have our lead and I don't want to risk it this time, okay?"

• • •

The next week seemed to pass by remarkably fast and although Fred did enjoy hanging out with Aubrey, she insisted on being silent during their spying missions which made them a little less fun. Annoyingly, they found out very little, other than that George was still sending blackmailing letters and that Ludo had thrown every single one away. Despite this, Aubrey insisted on staking out near his room, hoping for answers and Fred found himself getting more and more anxious as the Yule Ball loomed closer.

Although he didn't really want to disagree with Aubrey too much, being reckless was probably the only way they were going to achieve anything and Fred found himself yet again planning stuff behind her back. At first, his plan was to sneak off in the day sometimes but the darkness of night cloaked them well, so that wasn't an option. Luckily, the answer came to them one night, sneaking past them on his way to the owlery.