The Girl who Survived (Fred Weasley)

CH 10. Collection

~Fred's POV~

"Alright mates, I'll see you in the great hall after," I told George and Lee as they entered into Ancient runes.
I had to go up the spiral staircase for Divination. Useless class, but since Lee had gotten George and I caught pulling a parked on Filch, McGonagall thought the appropriate punishment would be giving up our free period. Oh, how little did she know. Normally I would have taken the same class as George, but again, McGonagall wanted to punish us further.
I wasn't too early, and some people in front of me were heading for the same class, so I figured I'd walk in and take my seat. Angelina Johnson wouldn't be too far behind, she usually liked sitting with me when George. I did however have to evade her not so subtle advances.
As I was rounding the corner to enter the classroom, I was crashed into by this tiny creature that smelled of rose and vanilla. She looked up to me and I was met by fear in her eyes. I had startled her as well.
"Whoa, easy. Are you okay?" I asked her.
"Yeah, sorry Fred. Just," poor Elodie she was completely flustered. "Did I hurt you?" She asked me.
"It's all right love, I'm sturdy," I told her. Her eyes blinked rapidly like if she was trying to adjust her vision.
"Forgive me, I'm all flustered," She explained.
"I do tent to have that effect on the ladies," I told her. She really set that one up.
She gave me a stern look, like if that's all it took to wake her up. "Charming Fred," She said.
In all honesty, I hadn't seen her too often the last couple of weeks. The few times I had, was either in the great hall for meals, flumped over a book, or in the common room, laying her head in a book. I didn't recall fourth year being so much work, and she was always ahead so it seemed rather strange to me.
She moved around me to start making her way down the stairs, and I figured I would cease the opportunity.
"Hey Elodie?" I called her nervously.
"Yes?" She answered.
"I haven't really been able to see you too much lately, and I was wondering if you'd want to maybe study together tonight?" I said and regretted it instantly. I didn't want to study with her.
"Oh, I can't tonight, I'm sorry" She said. Of course, she couldn't I thought to myself. "But if you'd like, I would really enjoy your company in Hogsmeade tomorrow?"
It hadn't been a no she had given me; it was just a shift in request. She had said yes. To me. Not anyone else.
"Yes, Yes, Absolutely," I told her. Wow that was really eager. She chuckled a bit, so It wasn't too bad.
"Alright, I see you at dinner," she said and resumed her walk.
"I'll see you then beautiful," I said too low once she was far enough away that she wouldn't hear me.
As predicted, Angelina found a way to turn everything I said into a something that sounded foul coming from her lips. It did however make the time pass by. I met with Lee and George at the bottom of the stairs.
"Ahh there's my uglier half!" George called to me.
We entered into the great hall together. To find Ginny and Elodie sitting together. Ginny was talking to a Neville while Elodie had her cute nose in a textbook. Lee and George sat across the table, but I decided to sit next to her. She looked even more breathtaking under the candle light. She didn't acknowledge my presence at first and I looked up to George who was wiggling his eyebrows at me.
"Fancy seeing you here," I told her.
She didn't respond, but instead her head dropped down and then snapped back up. She had been sleeping. She looked around and was surprised that so many people had flooded in.
"Bloody hell, how long did I doze off for?" Se asked still coming to.
"I'd say quite a bit, oh, you got a little drool right there," George said and touched the corner of her mouth. Oh, how I envied what he had just done.
"Not that long, definitely less that ten minutes," Ginny informed her entering the conversation. "I thought about waking you, but since you haven't been sleeping much lately, I figured it wasn't a good idea."
"Thank you," She said and closed her book giving up on the notion of reading.
"Haven't been sleeping have you? What too many late nights with golden boy?" Lee asked her jokingly. For a moment I didn't know what he meant, but then I realized. Of course, that's why I haven't seen her, she's been with him.
"Ha, ha, ha, you're not funny." She told him sarcastically looking him dead in the eye. "I've been struggling with this Divination class, and my partner is about as useless as a whistle in a library," she informed us.
This slightly elevated my mood again. I gave George a look and subtly made a round motion with my index fingers to signal him to ask more.
"How has Golden boy been? Since we're on the subject," I didn't want him to ask THAT.
She looked up at him and raised her eyebrows, "We're gonna talk about boys?" With a chuckle in her voice.
"Yeah, didn't think so," George said awkwardly.
As much as I hated listening to it, it was a bit odd that she didn't want to talk about Cedric. Ginny told me that they hadn't been speaking lately but she wouldn't say why. My own sister, refusing to help me. It made sense though, if they had possibly gotten into an argument, she wouldn't want to discuss it.
"You okay?" I asked her low enough for only her ears.
She turned to me and gave me a warm smile, then she grabbed my chin resting her thumb. It was subtle, something a mother would do, but when she did it, it made my heart flutter.
"Just in need of a shower and a good night's sleep," She told me and removed her hand from my face.
We enjoyed dinner for the most part. Elodie got a little worried when Harry told us about how he was able to ride a hippogriff in Hagrid's class. Sometimes it slipped everyone's mind that the two were related. Harry looked up to her like a sister, when he talked about her it was always with praise, but at the end of the year they always went their separate ways.
Elodie on the other hand, treated Harry more like a friend.Yeah she worried about him, and would do her best to look out for him, but it was different. Not everyone saw this, maybe it was just me. Harry loved talking about his parents, but she refused to. From what my parents and Harry have told us, Harry was one and Elodie was three when they died. No one's ever said if she remembers what happened that night, I mean three is a bit young to remember things, but who's to say.
She always talks kindly about Professor McGonagall, I mean, that's the closest mother figure she has other than mine. But a mother figure isn't nearly the same thing. There still remained this wall. I don't think she even realized it was up all the time. No matter how happy she looked, if I looked into her eyes longer than I should have, I would catch a glimpse of it, she always pulled away before I could decipher it though.
I kept a collection of all the times she would give me these tiny glimpses. When I finally had the chance to tell her how I felt, I would let her know that this was the reason. All the things about herself that she wanted hidden from the world, they were all the reasons why I had fallen in love with her. I wonder if this was Cedric's reason too?
When she had pushed her plate away refusing to take another bite, she stayed and engaged in conversation with everyone. She seemed a bit more awake now. Then as always with absolut perfect timing, here came the golden boy.
She hadn't noticed that he was approaching, she had been laughing at something Ginny said. He put a hand on her shoulder and her head turned up and he instantly placed a kiss on her lips.
"Hi," She harmonized.
"Evening, can I walk you home?" He asked her. When he did his eyes flashed at me. He didn't change his gaze or anything like that. Little did he know that I intended to be his competitor.
"Yes you may, I'll see you guys at home," she told everyone as she arose from her seat to leave.
So this must have been why she said no to me. She already had plans tonight. But what could it really mean if she agreed to see me tomorrow? Maybe they weren't as serious as it appeared. She wouldn't mind sharing the truth with me when we were on our own. Perhaps what's when I'll ask her. The worst is she'll tell me to piss off. Then again, she could also tell me I don't stand a chance. The latter would definitely be worse.
As they walked away I could see he reached for her hand, but it looked like she had pulled it away. That made me smile a bit. Her subtle gesture was her saying NO to him.
There was still a chance. I would hold onto that. Put it in the collection. I meant what I said when I said I would be patient. Golden boy wouldn't be so golden for long.
"You alright with that Freddie?" George asked me, gesturing to the entrance of the great hall.
"Yeah," I told him. I turned back and smiled at him. "It's okay, So long as I get the girl in the end." And I would. I just knew I would.