The Flower and the Badger

Chapter 12

Anna yawned as she listened to McGonagall. She had pulled an all nighter, so she wasn't really listening to what she was saying. Something about dancing like swans and prancing like lions. Although she did wake up a bit when McGonagall had Ron dance with her, Ron looking absolutely petrified the entire time. Anna didn't understand why they all had to endure these mandatory dance lessons, they should have given them the option of whether or not they wanted to participate. When McGonagall had them pair up, Anna was paired with Neville, who looked even more terrified than Ron had been.

"Relax." Anna assured a practically shaking Neville. "You're going to do fine, alright?"
"But what if I step on your toes or something?" Neville squeaked, and Anna shook her head. "Don't worry about it, I've suffered worse than a couple of crushed toes, I'll be fine. I promise."
Neville nodded,and they slowly started dancing across the room, listening carefully to McGonagall's instructions.

"See, you're doing great!" Anna praised Neville. While he had stepped on her toes once or twice, it hadn't been nearly as bad as Neville had feared that it would have been. "With a little bit of practice, you'll be the best dancer at the Yule Ball." Anna added, and Neville blushed. "I'm planning on asking Ginny. Do you think that she'll say yes?"
"I think that she would be an idiot to say no."
"Who are you going with? Fred?"
Anna shrugged her shoulders. "Don't know, he hasn't asked me yet. I'm sure that he will eventually though."

Weeks passed and the Yule Ball drew nearer. Harry had asked Cho Chang, and she had said yes, much to Cedric's disappointment, as he was planning on asking her as well. Anna tried to console him as best she could, and he was taking it rather well. She found out that Viktor had asked Hermione, and Hermione had said yes, not that Anna was surprised by this. At least he had managed to say her name correctly. Fred hadn't asked Anna yet, although she was sure that it was only a matter of time before he did. Although as the days went on she became less and less sure of that. Fred hadn't been spending as much time with her as he usually did, and he wasn't spending it with George and Lee either. Neither one knew how he was spending his time, or who he was spending it with, although they were as eager to find out as she was.

"Maybe Harry will let us borrow the Map." George suggested. "It was ours before it was his anyways."

Harry was all too happy to let them borrow the Map. Like the others, he too had noticed how strangely Fred had been acting. Harry pointed his wand at the Map. "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good."
Anna watched as the ink slowly formed on the parchment, and they scanned it until they found Fred's name on the Map.
"It looks like Fred is in one of the lesser used hallways." George said as he frowned."With Rachel Kelly."
Rachel Kelly was a sixth year Hufflepuff. She was very beautiful with long blonde hair and a slim figure. What was Fred doing with her?

Anna followed the trio to the empty hallway. Well...empty besides the two people making out in the middle of it. Anna would recognize that red hair anywhere, and she felt her heart shatter in a million pieces. They had found Fred alright. Had found him snogging Rachel, them both feeling each other up. She glanced down at the ring on her hand, which was glowing a faint red. Love...he was feeling love, and it wasn't because he was with her.

"Anna..." George started to say, but Anna shook her head as she took the ring off of her finger, and threw it to the ground. It clattered as it hit the stones, causing Fred and Rachel to look at them, though they only looked for a moment before continuing their previous activities. Anna stormed off down the hall, refusing to let the tears that pricked at her eyes fall to the ground. How could he? She had loved him, loved him with all of her heart, and he had betrayed her. Although she could see why. Rachel was beautiful, more beautiful than Anna could ever hope to be.

"Anna!" Harry ran up to her, grabbing her hand. "Anna, please wait! There has to be some explanation-"
"The explanation is that he found someone that he deemed better than me." Anna snapped, causing him to withdraw his hand, his green eyes staring at her worriedly. "Anna-"
"Don't Harry. Please...just don't."
Harry watched as his heartbroken sister continued walking down the hall, and he shook his head. There had to be some reasonable explanation.

Over the next few days, the news of Fred and Rachel spread like wildfire. It was like Anna had never existed in his life. He didn't even look at her when they passed in the halls. rachel was always with him, and she would always give Anna a smug smirk, rubbing it in that Fred was hers now. And of course as soon as Pansy had found out, she was all too happy to rub it in her face.

"Not even the blood traitor wants you." She laughed. She had cornered Anna on her way to Herbology.
"Leave me alone Parkinson!" Anna snarled, causing Pansy to laugh again. "It was only a matter of time. As soon as he realized that you wouldn't give it to him, he moved on to someone that would."

Anna shoved her way past Pansy, the Slytherin's laughter echoing down the hallway. Anna kept her head hung low as tears dripped down her face. She bumped into someone and muttered an apology before continuing on her way.

"Anna." Cedric grabbed her arm, looking down at her. Slowly her gaze met his. "Cedric...hi."
He looked at her, his stormy grey eyes filled with worry and concern. "You look terrible."
"Oh gee thanks for that brilliant deduction."
"Listen, I heard about Weasley."
"Don't." Anna said immediately. "Please...just don't talk about him." If Cedric started to talk about him, she worried that she might start crying all over again.
"Come on." Cedric led her to his common room and he had her sit down on a couch. Once they were both seated he pulled her into a tight hug. Anna hugged him back just as tightly, gripping tightly at his shirt as the tears cascaded down her face. "How could he?" She whimpered as Cedric rubbed her back.
"I don't know, I'm so sorry Anna." He whispered as he comforted her, finally pulling away as he wiped her tears away with his robe sleeve. "he doesn't deserve someone as smart and kind as you. Give it time, he'll realize what an idiot that he's been and he'll come crawling back to you, begging for forgiveness."

There was a moment of silence between the two of them before Cedric spoke again. "Look, I know that this isn't the best time, but I haven't asked anyone to the Ball yet, and since it's pretty obvious that you aren't going with Weasley, I was wondering if you would maybe want to go with me."
Anna looked up at Cedric, thinking about his proposal. Was he just asking her as a friend, or as a date? She had to admit that she had never seen him in that regard, he had always been her best friend, never as a romantic option. But...the possibility was there. Cedric had always been there for her, he had never betrayed her or her trust. She didn't know what to do. "Um...can I think about it?"
Cedric nodded in understanding. "Of course, I'll give you a couple days to think it over."

Anna nodded and she gave him another hug before leaving. What should she do? Should she go to the Ball with him? She would definitely be the envy of many girls. Would they be going as friends? Or something more? Anna just didn't know.

A/N: Hi guys and thanks so much for reading! So what do you think? Should Anna go with Cedric to the Ball? Do they go as friends? Or as something more than friends? I'm leaving this decision up to you. Let me know in the comments!