[2] The Great Orangenie | FRED WEASLEY

Chapter Twenty One

The next few weeks were nothing short of idyllic. Aubrey hadn't realised how much she was getting stressed out by the plan so to just take a few weeks of and focus on something else so positive was nice. Over that time, she discovered much about Fred, which brother was his favourite (George, followed by Charlie), how his one sister was probably deadlier than them all and his Muggle obsessed father. It appeared Fred actually liked to talk a lot and Aubrey loved it.

Even nicer was the fact that when Aubrey was happy, Saskia's antics seemed to go down - she too was calm. In fact, she was almost pleasant to be around, even Lexy seemed to notice this, her mood increasing significantly, especially now that her two best friends politely nodded at one another in the corridor rather than ignored each other. The positivity was contagious too, it seemed as one day, Lexy came rushing down the corridor, a few days before the Hogsmeade weekend.

"AUBREY! SASKIA!" The two girls turned to her, stopping on their way to Muggle Studies, "Oh my God, I have something to tell you!"

"What's up, hon?" Aubrey asked, cocking her head to the side, "You alright?..."

"Yeah, I'm really good actually," Lexy replied with a grin, "Um ... I can't stay long, got Care of Magical Creatures next but ... um, well ... George sort of asked me out just yet and you can guess what I said?"

"Yes?"

"No?" Saskia guessed, quickly changing her answer as Aubrey spoke, "Yes ... I didn't really know what that meant..."

"Like going on a date," Aubrey whispered.

"Ah, going around with, right."

Lexy nodded vaguely, "Yeah, that ... anyway, I said yes! I have no idea when but it was cute, he was just hanging out on one of the walls with Fred and Lee but sort of leapt down."

"Did he hurt himself?"

"No, Saskia, he didn't, why do you look so gleeful?" Lexy replied, "He landed a bit wobbly but I don't know, it was very valiant so yeah, I said yes! I'm not sure what we're doing yet but probably going to get tea, that's what most people do on dates, I think. Anyway ... I have to go now, don't want to be late but yeah, just thought you might like to know that! ... bye!"

With that, she'd sped off leaving Aubrey in an even better mood than before. As it turned out Lexy didn't want to attend Harry and Hermione's meeting in the Hog's Head, slightly concerned that with everything going on, being part of a secret club would put a bit of a target on her back. She agreed to wait in the Three Broomsticks though with some Ravenclaws she hung out with in Care of Magical Creatures until they came back. Even though a secret club wasn't exactly her cup of tea, Fred made it sound so good that the idea of rebellion was starting to sound sort of fun to Aubrey as well as completely nerve wracking.

• • •

Never before had Fred been so excited for a Hogsmeade Weekend before, there was a lot resting on this one, for both him and George. That morning, he woke up surprisingly early so was surprised to see a figure looming over him. For a second, paranoia kicked in and without thinking, he kicked upwards, hitting the figure in the groin.

"Fred, don't do that!"

The voice was familiar and Fred's hands jumped to his mouth, "Kenny? Bloody hell, why are you standing above me like that?"

"I was seeing if you were awake," Kenny groaned, taking a seat on the side.

"In the most way creepy way possible," Fred pointed out, pushing himself up into sitting, "May I ask why you had to talk to me so urgently?"

"Um ... I had to do it before Ang wakes up. Remember when I said I wanted to talk to you before? Well, this is it," Kenny rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly, his shoulders twitching, "Apparently there's this Defence organisation thing happening in Hog's Head, right?" Fred nodded slowly, "Well, the thing is, I want in ... my parents are muggles and our house is ... well, not in a great area with even worse security. Last year, someone came in and nicked our stereo whilst we were out ... sorry, not the point. The point is, I want in and Ang doesn't."