Control ▸ Ron Weasley [2]

X. A VERY WEASLEY CHRISTMAS, PART ONE

CHAPTER TEN:
A VERY WEASLEY CHRISTMAS, PART ONE
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      Nova Nott owed her life to the twins.

      Not only had they given her a place to stay over the summer and winter breaks, but they also made her feel happier and kept her mind off their git of a brother whenever she got upset. If there was one thing Fred and George were great at, it was distractions. More times than she could count had they cheered her up with a funny prank or a new product idea.

      However, as she stood in the middle of the flat she shared with them, nervously tugging on the bottom hem of her dress, she decided she absolutely loathed them.

      They had told her that she hadn't needed to dress up, but she had ignored them. This was the first time she was meeting their mother. She wasn't about to show up to their home looking like an unkempt gnome. They were relaxed in jeans and sweaters, but Nova had self-consciously scoured her closet until she had found an acceptable long-sleeved dress. It was green, as every piece of clothing she owned happened to be green, but she hoped Mrs. Weasley wouldn't mind.

      "Oi, you sure you want to wear green?" Fred asked as he walked into the living room, seeming to revel in her uncomfortable fidgeting. "Our mum might think you're a nasty Slytherin just proving a point to us lowly Gryffindors."

      "Should I change?" Nova asked wildly, already halfway to her room. She knew the dress had been a bad idea. She had been sweating nervously when she put it on, and the boys did look a lot more casual than she did. Maybe a skirt would have been better, or—

      "Stop worrying, woman," George interrupted her inner ramblings, latching onto her arm. She was holding a strawberry cake she had made for Mrs. Weasley, clutching it like it was a life saver. She had followed an old recipe Fred and George had been given (it belonged to their Aunt Muriel) because they had told her it was a cake Mrs. Weasley had grown up with. She had emerged from the flat's kitchen covered in flour, even after using nothing but magic to put the cake together, and was pretty sure she still had flour in her hair. "Mum'll love you, no matter what you wear."

      "I can stay here, really," Nova argued, shaking her head. "I'll even do inventory!"

      "You aren't doing inventory on Christmas, Nova."

      She'd much rather do inventory. Apart from feeling nervous about meeting Fred and George's parents, she was also nervous about being in the same house as her ex-boyfriend, a fact she had brought up to the twins that they liked to ignore. And then there was the fact that she was missing her brother terribly, as it was the first Christmas she wasn't spending with him. He was spending the holidays with the Malfoys, like he had spent summer break, but Blaise had invited him over for a week towards the new year. Though she knew Theo would be having a better Christmas break than she was, she was still anxious without him by her side.