Promised [F.W.]

Chapter 19

Battles of Embarrassment

◇◇◇

"Hey Harry," Aster greeted as she walked past him and sat next to Fred and George at breakfast, "hows the year been for you?"

"Alright," he shortly said before being interrupted by Ron. Aster turned to the twins who were discussing something along the lines of 'let's blow him up' and 'let's flood the dungeon', Aster ignores them and pulls out a bar of chocolate out of her bag and fixes her falling glasses.

"Hey Aster," Fred called from the other side of his twin, she turned to him with a piece of chocolate hanging from her lips, "Hogsmeade date?" She nodded with a smile as she consumes the chocolate.

Aster soon remembered that she had to meet Lucy in the library to help with a charm she had been working on. Walking away with no words to the others, she heads out to the library in search of Lucy.

"Hey Lucy," she nudged the sleeping girl who had her head buried in her arms, "Lucy wake up," she nudged her harder, this time successful in waking her up.

"Oh, sorry," she grinned sheepishly, "I didn't get much sleep last night, I was studying."

"It's okay, but you should be getting some sleep," Aster told her, concern etched on her face. "Let's practise okay?" Lucy nodded and they went on and practise.

However, every time Lucy tried the charm, she either turned the quill into a half bird with no face or sent it flying onto the floor. "Lucy," Aster calmly said. "Why don't we stop practising today? You seem tired, why not take this day to rest? I'll bring you something from Hogsmeade, yeah?" Lucy nodded as she gathered her things, Aster watched her friend warily as she left the library and into the corridors. Aster followed after and soon lost her in the crowd of girls who pushed her aside as they walked by.

◇◇◇

"You alright?" Fred asked as he took her hand once he found her waiting outside, "you seemed out of it and didn't say bye this morning at breakfast."

"Sorry, I forgot that I was supposed to help Lucy with Charms and she seemed very tired this morning," Aster gave a worried smile, "but I told her to use the day to sleep." She looked away then back at Fred with a wide smile, "can we go to Honeydukes?" She asked excitedly.

Fred looked at her with admiration in his smile as he nodded and started walking with her as she hoped with glee. The walk consisted of her talking about candy and giving Fred an idea of a prank that she had that they could use. She tugged on his hand as they got closer to the small town and even harder as they neared the small candy shop.

Fred watched as she carefully walked into the store, making sure not to bump into anyone or anything. As they walked through, Aster grabbed about a dozen chocolate bars, a few lollipops for Lucy and other candies for her friends, as well as a few for Fred. As she paid for them she saw Fred looking fondly at a candy on a rack, she smiled and quickly took it and placed it in her pile of candies.

After exiting the shop, Aster already had a bar of chocolate in her hand and Fred had his candy. They entered Zonko's and immediately, Fred darted towards an isle and started piling things in his hands and arms, Aster followed him aimlessly and looked around the joke shop then spotted something with a smile. She picked up the box of balls of powder and continued to follow Fred everywhere.

As they ended their stay at the shop, both of them paid and started walking to the Three Broom Sticks for a drink. "What," Fred laughed causing Aster to turn red like his hair and immediately regretting telling him this. "You'd want red-haired children, I thought you'd get tired of them from living with us," Fred gave another laugh as Aster came up for a reason to defend herself.