May the Best Man Win |×| Fred Weasley | 1 |×|

×| TWENTY - ONE |×

"HE KISSED YOU?" Margaux exclaimed, in shock, "But you only just got together did you not?"

"On Halloween, yes." Evelyn said. True, their relationship was going slightly quicker that she had imagined and she hadn't really been considering taking any big steps for at least another month or two - But Ethan had obviously had other plans and although she wasn't likely going to admit it, Evelyn was surprisingly feeling quite proud of herself for doing something so spontaneous and unplanned.

"And you are okay with this?" Margaux raised an eyebrow, "Do you not think it is a bit inappropriate for you two to be moving so quickly? Do you even know anything about him?"

"Of course I do!" Evelyn insisted. Holly jumped off of her lap to eat the food Johanna had just set out for her.

"Oh really? What's his favourite food then? His favourite colour? His middle name?"

"Ethan's favourite food is chicken, his favourite colour is red and whether or not I know his middle name makes no difference." Evelyn argued. She could sense that Margaux was judging the situation as they spoke and as much as she didn't like it there was nothing she could really do. Margaux's opinions were near impossible to change once they had been formed.

"Fine. But I don't think this Ethan is very good for you Evie." She muttered. Evelyn gave her a look as if to say 'will you please stop talking about this now, you're being ridiculous.' "But that's really none of my business." She added quickly.

"That's right, it's not. He's my boyfriend, not yours." Evelyn said. Margaux nodded.

"Oui, c'est très vraie. Il est ton petit copain." She commented, Evelyn's brow furrowed in confusion, "oh, pardon, pardon! Sorry! It means, yes, that's very true. He is your boyfriend."

"Thank you," Evelyn said, "or merci? Is it?"

"it is." Margaux grinned, "You are very welcome. Now, I want to know what is it you are doing with this other boy. Frédéric, I think you said he was called, oui?" Evelyn reached up to put her hair in a wand-bun.

"Sure, I suppose that's how the french would say it." She replied, "and I already told you. Fred wants to prove to me that he is the better wizard."

"And you want to prove that it's you who is the better witch. I know. I just don't understand how all this came about."

"Professor Lupin held a sort of knock out tournament and in the final moments, I beat him. I thought I already told you that though."

"You did. That's not the part I'm... How do you say?" She made a circular gesture with her index finger.

"Confused?" Evelyn suggested. Margaux nodded.

"Oui, confused! That's not the part I'm confused about."

"Then... What is? I've already told you everything." Evelyn asked, confused.

"I don't understand why you even agreed to it. You say he asked you over and over for days and you had said no every time. Then out of the blue, he offers you... Err...he offers you... Non material things that maybe you will never actually receive and you decide to say yes?" Evelyn nodded, "Forgive me, But that does not exactly seem like something you would do."

"You're right Margaux." Evelyn stated, because of course, her cousin was, "you're right, and to be honest I don't think I really had thought it through entirely when I agreed, but I wanted to know his real motive. He seemed far too enthusiastic for it to simply be to prove himself."

Margaux and Max alike - two of the people whom knew her best - had had their suspicions at the start, because it was not something Evelyn would typically do. That was most likely why it took her so long to come to a final decision but now that she was in the middle of this slightly surreal, modern version of the tri-wizard tournament she was quite sure that she had made the right choice. Surprisingly, in the case if the last game especially, she had been enjoying herself immensely. Evelyn only hoped that Margaux, unlike Max before her, didn't make too big a deal of her decision.

"So, you agreed because you wanted to know why he wanted you to agree? Well I must admit, that is clever, Evelyn, though why not simply ask him what the real reason was? surely that would have been easier?" Margaux said.

"I would have asked him, but I very much doubt that I would have gotten a reliable response. I mean, he insists that that is the reason - and the only other hint he has given me is that he wants to be friends, but I can hardly believe that Fred Weasley would go to these lengths to make friends with me. Before the start of the year, I had never said two words to him." Evelyn explained. Margaux nodded silently, and appeared to be processing the information, probably to give Evelyn some sort of ridiculous sounding advice, or ask her some thought provoking question like she usually would. Evelyn looked at her expectantly, eyebrows raised and mouth twisted into a small smirk.

"Have you considered," Margaux started carefully after about a minute of deliberation, "that maybe, the reason he has been so... so... obsessive over this tournament and getting you to agree to it, is that he..." she paused, gesturing with her hands as though trying to find the right words, before continuing in a slightly strained voice, "he has feelings for you."

Evelyn coughed, her eyes wide as her hand shot to her mouth.

"What?" she shook her head and chuckled lightly to herself, "In case you weren't present during our conversation earlier, Margaux, I have a boyfriend."

"With all due respect Evelyn, having a boyfriend does not automatically erase you from the minds of others. Personally, I think that it's a very logical explanation. This boy, Fred, likes you, and has devised a way to get closer to you without raising any questions. Now, I don't know if there have been any other signs of this but -"

"I'm sorry but that is preposterous." Evelyn insisted, "It's rather well known at Hogwarts that Fred Weasley is almost only interested in Pranking, and having fun at the expense of others - if he were to be crushing on anybody, it would probably be Angelina Johnson. Not me. So stop making assumptions about people you've never met, and Let's forget this conversation ever happened." Margaux nodded, looking down at her lap. "Good, now can we please go and get something to eat?" Margaux looked up and smiled.

"Of course. maybe you could make us some kind of ice cream. I know it's cold but yours is the best and I would be lying if I said I haven't been craving that fantastique hot chocolate and peppermint flavour since november first! If you want, I can consider it part of my Christmas gift from you!"

"That's alright, I was actually going to offer to make you some anyway. I for one don't think you can really call it Christmas without a bowl of festive flavour, whether it be hot chocolate and peppermint, firewhisky and black cherry or a classic vanilla and mince pie."