The Flower and the Badger

Chapter 6

Word of what happened between Anna and Seamus spread like wildfire. Naturally Pansy decided that she had to rile Anna up even more, and she approached her in between classes. "You really can't keep a guy can you?"
"Shut up Pansy." Anna was sitting on a bench, discussing Divination work with Hermione. Both girls had decided that Divination was a completely useless class.
"I mean, I knew that you were ugly, not even the pyro wants you." Pansy continued, making her little group of friends giggle. "And for Weasley to not even want to, not only that, but to blatantly ignore you...well, that just goes to show how unwanted you really are here."
"Pansy, you better watch it." Anna growled. "I was this close to hitting Draco, I'm not afraid to do it to you as well."
"You wouldn't dare." Pansy scoffed. "You're too afraid of Snape."
"But I'm not." Fred walked up to them, and he stared down at Pansy. "I'll gladly hex you."
With a scoff and a flip of her hair, Pansy stalked off.
"I had that handled." Anna said as she glared at him. Fred raised an eyebrow. "A thank you would be nice."
"Did you need anything else? Or would you like to antagonize me further?"
Fred rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly. "Um, actually I was wondering if we could talk?"
"Isn't Angelina going to miss you?"
"Actually, we're not together anymore."
Anna was surprised by this. "What happened?"
"It turns out that she was only with me to try and make another guy jealous."
As much of a jerk as Fred has been recently, Anna couldn't help but feel a bit of pity for him. "I'm sorry..."
"It's fine." He sighed softly. "Anna....I'm sorry, about a lot of things."
"You do have a lot of things to be sorry for."
"I'm sorry for being such a jerk, for being an idiot, for not saying how I really feel."
Anna bit her lip. "Well...you could say how you feel now." As much as she had tried to tell herself that she hadn't felt anything for the Weasley boy anymore, she couldn't lie to herself anymore.
Fred took a deep breath. "I love you." He said quietly. "I've loved you since last summer. At first I never admitted it because I was scared that you wouldn't feel the same way, then Wood said all that stuff so I got together with Angelina to try and forget you."
Anna scoffed. "Yeah, I really lit into Oliver for that."
Fred chuckled. "I heard about that. But anyways....yeah...I love you Anna Potter."
Anna was silent for a few minutes, making him worry that her feelings toward him had changed. "If you ever do that to me again..." She finally said, "ignore me and basically act like I don't exist, I don't care how much I love you. I will bloody kill you."
Fred grinned at her. "So...does that mean that you'll go out with me?"
"Mm, that depends." Anna had a playful smirk on her lips.
"On what?!" He said desperately, and Anna laughed lightly. "It depends on how well you can kiss."
Fred smirked as well. Hermione had left to give them space. He sat down next to Anna, gently cupping her cheek in his hand, his thumb rubbing over the smooth skin. Anna felt her heart rate quicken. Finally....after spending so long waiting, dreaming of this moment. Slowly their lips met in a gentle, loving kiss. Anna understood now why some people said that when they kissed the person they loved, they felt fireworks. Anna felt like her heart might explode from happiness. After a few seconds, Fred pulled away. "Was that kiss good enough for you?" He asked with a low chuckle, and Anna giggled softly. "Yeah, that was pretty great."
Fred smiled as he took her hand into his larger one. "I'm sorry for being an idiot for so bloody long Anna."
"You're a guy, it's to be expected."
"Oi!" He protested with a laugh. "Not all guys are idiots."
"No, you're right. It's just you." Anna laughed as Fred pouted at her. She kissed his cheek before standing. "As much as I would love to just sit here with you all day, we do have classes to attend."
"We could skip them." Fred said hopefully, and Anna shook her head as she laughed. "I have Potions today, and Snape already jumps my ass enough as it is."
Fred pouted more. "Not even if I begged you?"
"Nope. Now scurry along to class, I'll see you later." She pecked his lips before dashing off, a grin that practically lit up the room on her face the whole way.

Fred came up to Anna that night at dinner. "Something weird just happened." He declared as he sat down next to her. Tensions at the table had relieved since the two had gotten together. When George had heard, he had dramatically shouted for all to hear that the Romeo and Juliet of Hogwarts were finally together. "Just don't die!" He had shouted at the two, which caused Anna to want to hide in embarrassment. She looked at Fred as she filled her plate. "What do you mean?"
"Professor Lupin just came up to me. He congratulated me on getting together with you, but then he also told me that if I was stupid enough to mess things up with you, then I would be hexed into nothingness."
Anna groaned. "Of course he did." She grumbled.
"Is he usually this protective over third years?"
"No, but apparently he's protective over his goddaughter."
"He's your godfather?"
"Yeah." Anna nodded. "Apparently he was close friends with my dad in school."
"I better not make him mad then. Merlin knows what tricks he night have up his sleeves."
"I'm sure that you'll be fine. I'll talk to him." She kissed his cheek, and Harry pretended to gag. "I would like to be able to enjoy my food." He groaned, but he was happy for the two, it was a long time coming, for both of them. He yelped as Hermione nudged him in the stomach. "Ow! What the bloody hell was that for?!"
"Behave yourself." Hermione said sternly. "They're in love." She was genuinely happy for them, she could see how happy Anna finally was. "Bit I agree with Professor Lupin, and I'll gladly help him if you break her heart."
"The whole school's ganging up on me." Fred groaned.
"Poor baby." Anna cooed. "But if you think that this is bad enough, just wait until you get the threats from Cedric."
"Oh joy." Fred grumbled.
"Oh, and Mum." George piped up with a grin. "I wrote to her and told her, so you can probably expect a letter in the mail tomorrow."
Fred groaned again, and Anna laughed lightly. "Oh come on. How bad could it be?"
"She'll probably send me a Howler because she heard it from George instead of me. I'm dead."
"Don't worry, I'll save you from the big bad Molly." Everyone laughed at this, and Anna smiled as she continued to eat. It finally felt like everything was right in the world.