Serendipity (Fred Weasley HP)

Chapter Ten - Bedside Confessions

Fred was not looking forward to January 2nd when all the students were due to return to Hogwarts. He'd enjoyed having Halley all to himself for the two weeks that it had slipped his mind Diggory would be returning as well. Halley wasn't the kind of person who just ditched her friends the second she got a boyfriend, but Fred didn't like the idea of having to share her with someone else, it even bugged him when she and George or Lee sat together, but rather them than Hufflepuff's golden boy, Cedric Diggory.

When the students returned late that evening, Halley asked them if it was okay for her to sit with him at dinner and George said it was okay so Fred couldn't exactly say no without looking like a right prat. He barely ate dinner that night as he watched the pair from his seat next to his twin and stabbed his piece of beef when he saw them steal a quick kiss.

"What did the beef ever do to you?" Lee asked staring down at Fred's knife which was sticking up right out of the meat.

"That's funny, tell me more," Fred mumbled humourlessly, pretending to pay attention to what Lee was saying about his holiday. The two shared a look then followed Fred's eye line till it made sense.

"Mate you have to get over it, she's with Cedric and she's happy." Lee shook his head and ate the rest of his mashed potatoes.

George looked sympathetically at his brother, he knew what it felt like to fancy someone and not have the feelings returned and it sucked. "It'll get easier, and who knows you might find someone else."

Fred didn't say anything but he didn't deny his feelings anymore. He liked Halley, he wanted to be the one holding her hand and stealing kisses when they thought no one else was looking. He wasn't sure how it happened but without realising he'd developed a pretty strong crush on his best friend, and now he could only sit and stare at her laughing with someone else.

"Would it make you feel better if we pranked him?" George asked and poked his brother in the arm sharply.

This brightened his spirits considerably and the three Gryffindors began planning their first prank of the new year.

"I can't wait for you to meet Salem, he's just the sweetest owl and he loves head rubs," Halley told Cedric all about her holiday after hearing about his which included a burnt turkey and a small fire in the living room.

"Oh so like someone else I know." Cedric tucked a piece of her hair behind her ear and Halley subconsciously leant her head against his hand. She did like people playing with her hair, her Gran would always rub her head when she was sick and it would relax her so much.

"Well yes maybe." She said sheepishly and ate the rest of her dinner. When she'd finished Hal pulled a small, thin, wrapped present from her robes and placed it in front of Cedric. "It's nothing big, just a silly present really, you don't have to like it." She rambled on, feeling insecure about what she'd bought him.

Cedric silenced her with a kiss to her nose. "You got it for me, so I know I'll love it." He said smoothly and took her hand under the table, the two unaware of the glares that were being sent their way. He unwrapped the present and a half yellow half red rubber band fell out into his hand. "Okay, I might need some help figuring out what it is."

Halley smiled and put it around his wrist, a small magnetic disk was encased in the rubber at the top. "It's a muggle thing that Violet has, I owled her parents to help get it for me. She says it's meant to help with your balance, something about the magnet here," She tapped the disk, "Reacting to the natural magnets in the ground or something like that. I thought you could wear it when you fly so have better balance, I know it's silly it probably doesn't even work..." Halley looked a little embarrassed and blushed deeply. "I also got it in our houses' colours."