Harry Potter 1. Chapter 1

**Title: Card Games  
Rating: PG-13 for now  
Disclaimer: I own nothing except my original characters, and this plot.  
Summary: Fred/OC. A romance story as told during the drama of the twin's fifth year and onwards (Harry's third year). Jokers are wild...**

Card Games

Despite movies making it seem like greatly amazing things only happen on warm, sunny spring days with flowers blossoming all around, the greatest thing to ever happen to Alexandra Freeman happened in the dead of winter, at just past midnight of December 10th of 1989. At a young age, Alexandra had already come to terms with the fact that there was something about her that wasn't normal. Nothing she could pinpoint, but it was enough to alienate her from her peers and to lead her to sit up late at night reading large books full of big words that would hopefully explain it. So it was that Alex had become convinced that she had some strange form of schizophrenia. After all, what other explanation was there that she was convinced that the grandfather clock in the kitchen was speaking to her, saying things such as "You're late" or "The bus leaves in fifteen minutes" or (strangest of all) "You would look much better with the red clip in your hair". The grandfather clock had been handed down in her family for about fifteen generations, and nobody had ever made any comments about it speaking to them so far as she knew. Her parents had never heard it speak, so she could only assume that she was losing her mind.

She knew better than to mention such strange happenings to her parents or to anybody else. When, in the first grade, she was convinced she had seen a stern-looking woman on the street corner turn into a cat and stalk away, she had been grounded for telling outrageous lies, even though she was sure she hadn't imagined it. In the third grade, when on a field trip to downtown London with her class, she had tried to ask her teacher about the very cheerful pub called the Leaky Cauldron and she had been dismissed as trying to cause trouble and given detention for a week. Alex could still remember the unusual looking building, which had been shoved between a book stop and a record store as if it had been a last-minute afterthought, but when she'd attempted to question her classmates about it, they had all stared blankly at her before sliding hastily out of her way. They were as convinced of her insanity as she was, it seemed.

Yawning widely, Alex ran her fingers through her shoulder-length black hair in a vain attempt to untangle the curls at the bottom. Not surprisingly, that didn't do any good. Glancing at her watch, she was surprised to note that it was past midnight. She'd been eleven years old for almost twenty minutes. _Happy birthday to me, your present? You're officially crazy._ She dropped her eyes back down to the large book she had borrowed from the library and read the passage for the fifth time in an hour.

_A person diagnosed with schizophrenia may demonstrate auditory hallucinations, delusions and disorganized and unusual thinking and speech; this may range from loss of train of thought and subject flow, with sentences only loosely connected in meaning, to incoherence, known as word salad in severe cases. Social isolation commonly occurs for a variety of reasons._

She had pulled out a well-worn dictionary in order to look up words such as 'auditory', 'delusion' and 'incoherence', but she had the basic idea. People with schizophrenia heard and saw things that weren't really there. With this new understanding of what disease she had, she stared at herself in the mirror, examining her bright blue eyes and prominent cheekbones, poking at her face idly. Was she imagining the image she saw looking back at her? Was she really dark-haired, blue-eyed Alexandra, or was that just another hallucination? Was she really some blonde haired, brown-eyed girl who was absolutely average in every way? Alex picked up a deck of cards from the desk and started shuffling them idly, pulling out the first card to come to hand and flipping it over. Oh, the joker card. Fitting. How nice it would be to be normal...

Just as she was pondering how best to convince her parents that she wasn't making it up this time, she heard a light tapping at her window. Frowning, she glanced at the dark window, but couldn't see anything but her own reflection frowning back at her. There weren't any trees near her window, so she dismissed the insistent tapping as another 'auditory hallucination'. After a few moments, during which she turned off the light and began to pull on her pyjamas, the tapping repeated, louder this time. Despite knowing that it was just a hallucination, she turned to the window again, and let out a short gasp of surprise. With the light off, she was now able to see out the window, and sitting there on her ledge in the snow, with a rather indignant expression on its face, was an owl.

The large barn owl looked like a ghost with its bright white face leering in at her, and she couldn't help but notice that this particular hallucination, if that's what it was, was very realistic. It had even caused foot prints in the snow on her window ledge. Staring blankly at it, Alex had the vague sense that she should probably open the window and let it in. As if reading her mind, the owl tapped its beak against her window again, more insistently, sticking out its leg, to which was attached a tightly wrapped scroll. Not entirely sure what she was doing, Alex opened her window hesitantly, and the owl glided over to her desk, sending the deck of cards scattering before it landed, sticking out its leg impatiently.

Alex continued to stare blankly at the owl, shivering as the icy cold winter air blew past her exposed arms. It hooted softly and rather irritably at her, sticking out its leg more insistently and she untied the scroll with shaking fingers, terrified that the owl was about to try and bite off her ear if she turned too far away from it. After a few moments, she managed to detach the scroll, and the owl swooped off out of the still-open window and disappeared into the dark. Staring at the open window, she wandered over and watched the owl's silhouette disappear into the night before she reached up and pulled the window closed against the cold wind. Then she dropped her eyes down to the bundle of papers clenched tightly in her fist. It was a hallucination. It had to be. Although the papers certainly felt real...and the joker card staring up at her from the floor had certainly not gotten there of its own accord...

After hovering with her hand over the garbage can for a few more moments, she finally undid the scroll and began to read...

Four years and some eight months later, a black-haired girl sat with her head resting against the cool window of a train as it zig-zagged through the countryside. The now-15 year old Alexandra watched the world go by outside, musing absently to herself that she was very glad that she hadn't turned out to be schizophrenic.

"Hey, Alex, do you want a Cauldron Cake or what?" Alex turned towards the two other people sitting in the train compartment with her, a slightly plump blonde girl who was busy buying about ten Galleons worth of sweets from the trolley, and a tall slightly scrawny boy who had chosen today that his hair would be a particularly vibrant shade of blue, and spike up in the front. In order to properly compliment those colours, his eyes were an extremely vivid blue, rather akin to staring directly at the sky when the sun has just risen.

"No thanks Carolyn..." Alex said, chuckling slightly at the armload of sweets Carolyn was eying greedily as she decided what she was going to eat first. "And Mark, are you planning to let McGonagall see you with your hair like that? She'll have a fit that her newly chosen Prefect decided to give first years a terrible first impression on his first day." Alex grinned cheekily as Mark gave her a rude hand gesture.

"Ah, sod off...you know as well as I do that I'm not going to leave it like this..." As he spoke, he screwed up his face slightly and his hair shimmered slightly somewhere between blue and blonde before settling on a dirty blonde and lengthening slightly so that the bangs fell messily into his eyes, which had turned a moss-green. "There. Happy?"

"God I hate it when you do that...do you know how badly I wish I could just drop off twenty pounds whenever I felt like it?" Carolyn said thickly through a mouth of Chocolate Frog, staring down at herself with a rather depressed air, her blonde curls falling over brown eyes. Carolyn had an hourglass figure which, in these days, translated to 'fat' in her mind and to a lot of other people. It had never stopped Carolyn from indulging her appetite, though, and she continued to munch on the candy she'd bought from the trolley.

"Don't be daft, you know you're gorgeous." Mark said abruptly, putting his hand discreetly on her knee with a smile that Carolyn returned with a pink flush spreading across her cheeks. Alex rolled her eyes and tossed a Chocolate Frog at the two of them, which hopped feebly once before lying still on the seat.

"Don't start you two. We are not becoming Markolyn plus one, we are still Markolex." Alex said with another cheeky grin as she lounged back, resting her legs on the seat across from her, munching on one of Carolyn's Cauldron Cakes. Mark and Carolyn had suddenly 'found' each other over the summer, despite having known each other since they'd all met on the train in first year. It wasn't entirely a surprise, Alex had pegged the two of them as being perfect for each other as early as third year, and a summer spent just the two of them (Alex had been on vacation in France) had finally cemented the deal. Although they had tried their best to be good while the three of them were all together, Alex could see the sidelong glances, the hidden smiles, the seemingly inexplicable flushes...she wasn't an idiot, after all.

"Don't worry Alex...in not too long you'll have found your own guy and then we can all double date and nobody will feel left out!" Carolyn said with a huge smile and Alex's grin faded as she saw the mischievous twinkle behind Carolyn's seemingly innocent face. She had known Carolyn long enough to know when something that was 'for her own good' was being planned without her knowledge. The last time Carolyn had had that grin, she'd found herself in the hospital wing from falling down the stairs. Carolyn had thought that if she 'accidentally' dropped her books in front of a rather adorable sixth year, that obviously she would fall in love on sight. Unfortunately, Carolyn's aim with a spell was rather bad, and Alex had ended up being blasted backwards down a flight of stairs. And rather than being sympathetic to her plight, the sixth year had laughed at her before stepping over her at the bottom of the stairs.

"Oh no...Carolyn what are you planning? I told you, I don't want to go out with anybody! I don't like any boys!" Alex said, watching with a increasing feeling of panic as the grin on Carolyn's face grew wider. "Carolynnn please tell me you haven't set me up on another blind date..." Alex whined sullenly, looking pleadingly at Mark, as if hoping he would reason with his girlfriend, but to her dismay, he was smiling just as widely, and, with a wink, caused his eyelashes to grow slightly so that he might flutter them innocently. Generally Mark stuck with changing hair and eye colour, so as to not confuse students and teachers, but both of his parents were Metamorphmagus, so he was fully capable of changing his entire appearance at will if he desired. As much as it could be the source of much entertainment, it had always been everyday for Mark.

"It's not a DATE." Carolyn protested, seeing the growing irritation on Alex's face. "It's just...there's this new boy...he just transferred here from Beauxbatons...he's got the CUTEST French accent..." Carolyn's assurances were faltering under Alex's continued cold look.

"Aw just give it a chance Alex." Mark said, having returned his eyelashes to their normal length, his arm draped lazily over Carolyn's shoulder, who snuggled automatically into his chest without even thinking about it. "I know you're convinced that love is just a fairy tale made up by guys who want to get into girl's pants but I mean...you never know who's going to prove you wrong." With that last sentence, him and Carolyn exchanged such a gooey look that Alex couldn't help but roll her eyes and pretend to gag over her Cauldron Cakes. She could tell, however, when they both returned their gaze to her, that they were determined.

"Fine, I will meet the guy. But!" Alex cut across Carolyn's delighted squeal, wanting to be sure that her conditions were clear. "I will not endure the two of you making oh-so-subtle comments about how cute a couple we would make or anything. Because you two are not nearly as subtle as you think you are. Clear?" Alex was sure that the two of them had not even heard her, they were busy making plans with each other that sounded suspiciously faux-subtle. Alex rolled her eyes and stood up.

"I'm going to the bathroom. Try not to get me engaged or anything while I'm gone." She said sarcastically before exiting the compartment, closing the glass door behind her. She moved out of sight and then waited for a few moments, listening carefully and, sure enough, she heard the unmistakeable sounds of snogging beginning on the other side of the door. Peeking in through the glass, she saw that they were kissing so deeply it was difficult to tell where Carolyn ended and Mark began. Evidently they had been waiting for her to take a bathroom break for the entire train ride. With a slight sigh, she headed off down the corridor. She had no intention of going to the bathroom, but figured her friends deserved a bit of time alone now that they were 'together'.

She was in the next car, peering into compartments, when she suddenly realised that she didn't really _know _anybody else at Hogwarts. She knew people by name and by face, but she had never hung out with anybody outside of Mark and Carolyn. And now Mark and Carolyn were Markolyn, which meant Alex was going to be left on her own more often than not. It was natural, of course, to want to spend time alone with your significant other, and she was not going to complain. Well, not unless they started spending twenty four hours a day together, then she might have something to say about it. Without even thinking about it, she reached into her pocket and pulled out the joker card that she always kept with her. It had become her good luck charm ever since she'd pulled it out of the deck on the night she found out she was a witch, and was so worn that had it not been for magical intervention it would certainly have ripped in half by now.

Twirling the card in her hand, she continued along, glancing in various compartments, noticing for the first time that many people she passed had worried expressions on their faces, reminding her of the first thing that Mark and Carolyn had talked her ear off about when she'd returned from France this summer. Well, after unnecessarily informing her of the fact that they were going out, as if the hand-holding and gooey eyes hadn't tipped her off the second she'd stepped off the plane. Punctuating her point, there was a discarded Daily Prophet with a sinister man leering out from the front page at her. Picking it up, she frowned at the headline, twirling the joker card back and forth. Sirius Black. After hearing about twenty different versions of the events which had led to him being imprisoned, she'd finally heard the full and complete story from Mark's parents one night at dinner. He had killed thirteen people, including one wizard, as well as being responsible for the deaths of James and Lily Potter. This particular issue of the Daily Prophet had rather sensationalized it, adding in quotes from 'eyewitnesses' who evidently had never been there.

Just as she was reading a particularly juicy quote that claimed Sirius had turned into a oversized bat and swooped down on the unsuspecting victims with an 'unholy screech', the train suddenly shuddered to a halt, causing her to stumble forwards slightly. A short thrill of panic ran through her. Were they already at Hogwarts? She wasn't even in her robes yet. Glancing at her watch, she realised that there was no way they were at Hogwarts already, they should still have almost an hour to go. Frowning, she put down the Daily Prophet and made to start heading back towards her car when suddenly she was seized by a cold chill that literally froze her in place. All the lights went out in the car, leaving her illuminated by only the light of the moon casting a blue tinge on to everything.

The car door in front of her opened, and, slowly, a darkly hooded figure stepped towards her. Or at least, it moved towards her. It seemed to glide more than it walked, but the term 'glide' seemed like a far too fanciful term than should ever be applied to this. As the figure continued to move towards her, she felt her insides freeze up and even though every instinct was telling her to run, she couldn't seem to make her legs move. As it got closer, she could hear voices in her head, and thought she would never feel happy again, could never understand how she could have ever felt happy.

"_Alex make it stop! Alex that hurts, what are you doing? Alex stop it!"_

Suddenly, just as the fog was becoming so thick that she thought she might pass out, somebody grabbed her arm and yanked her into the compartment to her right. She stumbled slightly, and the figure paused for a moment as it gazed sightlessly in at her before continuing on down the compartment. She heard people screaming and gasping as the cold chill slowly dissolved.

"Hey, are you alright?" Alex turned her head towards the person talking, and found herself faced with a red-haired, freckle-faced boy in her year, who she knew by reputation. One of the two Weasley twins, though she couldn't tell at a glance which one it was. Her eyes travelled over him for a moment, since this was the closest she'd ever been to either of the twins. He was only a few inches taller than her, with a stocky build and piercing brown eyes that were at the moment gazing into hers with concern. She didn't blame him, she felt like she was going to fall over, her legs were shaking so badly, and catching a glance of her reflection in the window, she could tell that she was ghostly pale.

"'Course she's not alright, Fred, how do you feel right now?" Said another voice, and she noticed that the twin's equivalent was sitting, looking a little pale himself as she stared up at the two of them. "Give her a handkerchief, you moron, before she leaks all her fluids out on to the carpet." Reaching up to her cheeks, she was horrified to find them covered in tears, which she hastily wiped at with her hand. In the meantime, Fred was pulling out his pockets, dislodging bits of paper, a rather suspicious looking wrapped candy, and a few Knuts before pulling out a ratty-looking handkerchief. He waved his wand over it and muttered a few words, causing it to clean itself before handing it over, looking pleased with himself.

"Thanks." She muttered thickly, wiping at her eyes, feeling extremely embarrassed as she glanced around at the rest of the occupants of the compartment...

**OOC: Alright, first chapter. Alright, I know that was sort of a weird place to stop, but I figured this was good, right? Good. Yes. :-) Read and Review please!**


	2. Introducing the Jokers

**Chapter 2 - Introducing the Jokers  
A/N: Voila! Chapter 2! As always I own nothing and I hope this is better than it sounds in the plot summary. Enjoy!**

The compartment wasn't packed full like some of the others, there were only the twins and then their friend Lee, a tall black boy with dreadlocks. All of them looked a little shaky, but obviously none of them were on the point of passing out as she had been. Feeling weak and stupid, she quickly dropped her eyes down to the floor and sniffled into the tissue she'd been handed, wanting nothing more than to open the door and run away from their concerned looks, back to her friends.

Unbidden, brought on perhaps by her already weakened emotional state, an image of Mark and Carolyn sitting in the compartment comforting each other swam across her mind. She didn't know why, but that image caused her vision to swim as fresh tears welled up behind her eyes, as well as a strong desire to not return to her compartment after all. Taking a deep breath, she wiped at her eyes again and realised that the boys were still watching her, obviously gravely concerned that she was about to pass out.

"Your name's Alexandra, isn't it?" George asked from his corner of the compartment and she nodded, feeling a mild sense of surprise that he knew her name. "Here, have a chocolate...you look terrible, no offense." She took the offered Chocolate Frog and took a bite of it, surprised to find a pleasant warm sensation sliding through her.

"Thanks." She said, smiling weakly as she finished off the Chocolate Frog, as Fred sat down opposite his twin, and made a motion to the empty seat left in the middle. "And its Alex, if you don't mind...only teachers and my parents call me Alexandra anymore..." After a moment's hesitation, she took the offered seat. She might as well make the effort to be sociable for once, or else she was going to find herself very lonely for the next year. Before she could even start to worry about an awkward silence, the compartment door opened again, and a third year stumbled in, shaking and even paler than normal. Draco Malfoy.

He turned towards the occupants of the compartment, and looked around at them, obviously wishing he had checked who was in the compartment before he'd run in for shelter. Fred and George were both regarding him coldly and with mild amusement since Draco, usually full of swagger and arrogance, looked suspiciously like he was on the verge of wetting himself. It took him only a moment to re-compose though as he glared coldly at them.

"Wrong compartment...now I'll have to wipe the mud off of the bottom of my shoes." Draco said icily, causing both Fred and George to tense on either side of her, but Alex said nothing, just watched him coldly until he smirked and swaggered out. She caught the slight hesitation as he glanced out and made sure the cloaked figures were gone.

"Don't worry Malfoy...the Dementors are looking for somebody with a soul...you don't qualify." Fred said, earning a laugh and a high five from Lee, and she saw Draco stiffen slightly before he finally made the move away from the compartment to return to his bigger friends. "Git." With an amused grin, the twins turned their eyes on Alex.

"So why is it we've never met before? I thought we knew all the cute girls in fifth year, George. What happened to the list?" Alex's cheeks reddened slightly as she struggled to contain a huge smile, and then couldn't stop a laugh as George actually conjured a well-worn parchment out of his pocket and consulted it.

"Weasley's List of Certifiable Attractiveness! Hmm let's see...now you're in Ravenclaw am I right?" He didn't wait for an answer but continued down the list. "Alexandra...Alexandra...ah, there you are. Alexandra Freeman. Fred there's no checkmark next to her name! We've never met her officially! We're slipping bro."

"Should we do an official introduction or just an informal one?"  
"I think just an informal one...I don't have any new tricks up my sleeve and you know that girls talk...we can't be doing the same thing twice."  
"Especially not after what happened with Angelina...well, as I'm sure you've deduced, Alex, I'm Fred and this is George. Or the other way around. It doesn't really matter, but we're both pleased to meet you." Fred (at least she thought it was Fred) stuck out his hand and she shook it, unable to control a slight giggle as she raised an eyebrow.

"What happened with Angelina?" Alex didn't really talk to any of the other girls in her year, especially not girls outside of her house, but she did have a vague recollection of Angelina being put in detention for three weeks because she'd cursed the Weasley twins with such a nasty Bat Bogey Hex that they'd been in the hospital wing for a whole day.

"For Angelina Johnson they managed to charm a marquis to follow her around flashing 'Weasley Certificate of Attractiveness.'" Lee answered, without looking up from the magazine he had started flipping through (_Quidditch Today_), "Of course, they forgot to factor in that their minds are far from pure, so after a while it started spelling 'Weasley Certificate of an Awesome...'...well, you get the idea." Alex laughed as both Fred and George shrugged idly, evidently unabashed by this setback.

"A mild oversight on our part."  
"She's just lying to herself."  
"She obviously wants us."

It was hard to tell where George's sentences ended and Fred's sentences started as they were talking over each other, and it wasn't entirely clear if they were talking to themselves or to her. Lee was smirking at the two of them, but seemed capable of following the conversation perfectly as he had a habit of interjecting options and ideas periodically.

It took a bit of time, but Alex found that she was laughing and chatting with the boys as if they were Mark and Carolyn. Fred and George seemed to already be aware that she was Muggleborn, and did not mind explaining things to her that she sometimes hadn't heard of. They re-told the Sirius Black story for her benefit, after explaining that Dementors were the guards of Azkaban and they were probably here at Hogwarts looking for Sirius Black. None of them could come up with a logical explanation as to why Sirius Black would be at Hogwarts rather than hiding out somewhere staying hidden.

"I mean, those things are just horrible! I couldn't move, I couldn't breathe and it was like..." She paused, trying to come up with a description that would fully encompass the despairing feeling of utter hopelessness.

"Like drowning. Drowning in your own worst memories." Fred finished for her and she looked up at him, nodding fervently. "Yeah. They're horrible...our dad had to go to Azkaban once. Came back all pale and shaking. I don't know how anybody could possibly survive Azkaban, never mind get together enough willpower to escape." He stretched his legs out luxuriously and, with a flick of his wrists, pulled out a deck of cards and started shuffling them in his hands. She watched them flashing by, mesmerized.

"Yeah well, from what I've heard, Black was already insane before he went in there, so he didn't have much to lose." George said, also watching Fred's hands idly, as if waiting for an unspoken cue. Fred, however, turned to her and spread the deck in his hands so that they were facing down.

"Pick a card." Wondering if this was some sort of initiation ritual, Alex reached out and picked a card at random from the deck, pulling it out and flipping it over without really looking at it, watching Fred's face instead, searching for something. "Oooh, nice choice...that's definitely a sign that we should have been friends a long time ago." Alex glanced down and realised that she had pulled out the joker card, once again. Of course, since these were magic cards, the joker was dancing around on his card, making the bangles on his hat dance and jingle in her hand.

Suddenly she felt the train start to slow and the little bubble of time they'd been in suddenly popped. They were arriving at Hogwarts and none of them had changed into their robes yet. In the flurry of movement and shoving, she somehow managed to get herself out the door with a cry of 'See you later' to the boys, which was echoed by the three voices as she ran down the corridor, shoving open the car door at the end of the hallway and stumbling back into her compartment.

"_There _you are! We were worried the Dementors had knocked you out too and you were lying somewhere unconscious or something!" Carolyn said as Alex pushed past her and yanked her robes out of her trunk, pulling them clumsily on over her Muggle clothes, straightening them quickly. As she reached to close her trunk, she heard a light jingling coming from her hand and, opening it, realised that in her rush to get out of the compartment, she hadn't returned the card to Fred's deck. She had crumpled it in her fist unintentionally as she was running and the joker was now feebly waving his staff at her, struggling to smooth himself out. Smoothing it out carefully, she placed it carefully next to her own card in her pocket just as the train came to a full stop.

"What do you mean 'too'?" She asked Carolyn finally as they headed out together to the platform. Mark had disappeared to get people's attentions and she could see him suddenly stretch up in front of them so as to be more visible to first years wondering where to go. "Somebody was knocked unconscious?"

"Oh yeah!" Carolyn had evidently not wasted time getting the freshest gossip about everybody, and it was through her that Alex kept up with the latest rumours and happenings around school. "Harry Potter! You know, the one who –"

"I know who he is Carolyn, I don't need the re-cap." Alex interrupted impatiently, not feeling in the mood to hear the story of how Harry defeated You-Know-Who at the age of one for the millionth and a half time. It was impossible for her to feel any sort of amazement or awe about him...she was a Muggle, and her family had no memory or knowledge of You-Know-Who or what he had done. Although she'd heard all the horror stories from various people over the years, it had never fully sunk in.

"Right, of course, well anyway apparently the Dementors came into his compartment and he fainted! Just passed out and started twitching or something, from what I overheard. There was a teacher though, in their compartment and he did some sort of trick and it made the Dementor leave! You see I overheard that slime Montague telling Roger Davies, and he overheard it from that little third year Draco Malfoy – " Alex turned off her ears for a moment so that she could think. She didn't really need to hear the chain of gossip that had led to Carolyn hearing it, but she could tell easily enough that it would be all over the school by the following morning. She pushed Carolyn towards the carriages, because it was frigid on the platform and rain was coming down in sheets, sending goosebumps up and down her spine and soaking her to the skin.

They rode up to the school in the carriages as usual, with Carolyn still gushing on about other gossip she had heard on the train, about who had hooked up with who over the summer, and how the cute boy that Alex had crushed on for all of third year had finally broken up with his girlfriend and that now was the perfect moment to make a move. Honestly, Alex had gotten over the boy in question (one Jeremy Priva) at the beginning of fourth year when she'd realised that he was a total moron, but she let Carolyn have her fun and nodded her head absently at the appropriate moments, not even aware what she was agreeing to. Her mind was on the joker cards in her pocket and the smile she could barely conceal at the thought of finally having friends outside of Mark and Carolyn to hang out with.

As they arrived, she felt the familiar sense of belonging filling her as they entered into the Great Hall, and the glow of candles illuminated them. Although she was still soaked from the short walk outside (she didn't envy the first years, who she imagined were still in their boats), she felt better than she had all summer. Carolyn and Mark (having returned to normal height) sat down next to each other, and she could see their hands tightly clasped under the table. Taking the seat across from them, she swivelled in her seat, scanning the Gryffindor table at the far end of the hall for her newest friends, and she found them easily, the ones making the most noise at the far end. To her surprise, she caught Fred's eye, as he was swivelled in his chair scanning the hall as well.

He grinned and waved and she waved back with a bright smile before she heard McGonagall clearing her throat idly and quickly turned to the front where the Sorting was about to begin. She smiled absently to herself and cheered as the Sorting Hat finished its song, but didn't enjoy the peace for very long as Carolyn leaned over the table towards her.

"Since when are you friends with the Weasley twins?" Carolyn asked in the breathless sort of way that indicated she thought there was juicy gossip afoot. "One of them is still looking at you! No, don't turn around!" She hissed, without waiting for her first answer, grabbing her arm as Alex started to turn to see if Carolyn was correct. Rolling her eyes, Alex cheered as another first year joined the table, before answering.

"They kept me from being eaten by a Dementor." She said sarcastically, almost subconsciously reaching for the joker card in her pocket as Carolyn watched her eagerly. "And I just...hung around with them for a while. We talked. They're nice." She shrugged, ignoring the boos that surrounded her as somebody walked by them to the Slytherin table.

"You shouldn't get too close to them." Mark added, turning his head towards the Gryffindor table, with an appraising sort of look in his eyes. "They're not trustworthy...always pulling pranks, no regard for school rules...and their younger brother is friends with Potter. That's just asking for trouble, you remember what happened the last two years with him." Alex was staring at Mark with an incredulous look on her face, but he didn't seem to notice as he turned back to watch the end of the Sorting. She'd never known Mark to judge somebody he'd never even met based on rumours and who they were friends with, but Carolyn answered the question for her with a roll of her eyes.

"Oh come off it, they're harmless. You're just sore because they convinced everybody in first year that you had a rare contagious disease and that's why your hair was always changing colour." Although Carolyn laughed, Mark's cheeks reddened slightly and Alex thought she saw him clench his fist on the counter. She didn't entirely blame him...Mark had been ostracized by everybody but her and Carolyn for the first few months of first year because everybody had believed the twin's jokes about his 'disease' and had kept a wide distance. It had been a silly juvenile prank, but it had really hurt Mark at the time. Carolyn seemed content to gloss over it in the name of Alex finding more friends, but she could see that Mark was not quite so quick to forget.

Turning in her seat, she watched the twins cheering wildly and thumping some poor first year on the back as he joined the Gryffindor table, and wondered if such exuberant cheerfulness could really be hiding malicious intentions...

**A/N: Done! Read and Review, and Chapter 3 will be up soon!**


	3. Is this typical of being your friend?

**A/N: Chapter 3!! Alex learns what exactly is involved with being friends with the Weasley Twins. Please Read and Review, I really would love some feedback (constructive or glowing, I don't mind). Enjoy!**

The morning dawned bright and sunny as Alex made her way down to the Great Hall, feeling decidedly less cheerful about being back at Hogwarts now that there were actual early morning classes to attend. Carolyn and Mark, both morning people, were already sitting at the Ravenclaw table, examining their timetables. This morning Mark had bleached his hair a spiky blonde, with unnaturally blue eyes that mirrored the Great Hall's ceiling that morning. All three of them were in the same general courses, except that instead of Muggle Studies and Divination, Alex had taken Care of Magical Creatures and Ancient Runes. As she sat down grumpily, with her hair still tangled from her sheets, Carolyn handed her the timetable.

"Good morning sunshine. We've got Double Divination first thing this morning...you've got Care of Magical Creatures...with Hagrid." Alex could tell from the sceptical tone of voice that Carolyn had adopted that she was not necessarily confident in the teaching skills of the groundskeeper. Alex had never really met the groundskeeper herself but knew by reputation that he was a gentle giant and knew he couldn't be much worse than Professor Kettleburn had been in the last few years, who had made Professor Binns look like an avid, interesting teacher. As she mused over her schedule (Care of Magical Creatures followed by a break before lunch), she noted with a small smile that she was sharing her first class with the Gryffindors and wondered idly if the Weasley twins were in that class.

"Just out of curiosity Carolyn, are you ever going to sit at the Hufflepuff table anymore, or have you just decided to become an honourary Ravenclaw?" Alex said around a mouthful of toast, earning herself a small whack on the arm before Carolyn cuddled back against Mark. The only time she got a break from the two of them was when they all retired to their respective houses, and Mark returned to his pre-Carolyn self. The one who actually made jokes and wasn't always being gooey.

"Oh, oh, here comes Jeremy...Alex, quick, look here, I've just mastered this trick..." Without giving Alex a chance to protest Carolyn waved her wand at Alex's head and face while muttering something under her breath. Alex felt her hair flattening out and then curling delicately at the ends. It also, however, felt as if about ten pounds of make-up had just hit her in the face and she coughed as she was suddenly engulfed in a cloud of powder. "Oh no, that wasn't supposed to happen!" Alex wasn't pleased to hear a distinct note of despair in her voice.

"What did you do to me Carolyn?" Alex said angrily, grabbing a spoon and struggling to see her reflection in it. As the powder was clearing around her, she could hear people start to laugh and looking around she could see the other Ravenclaws pointing her out to their friends as they snickered behind their hands.

"It was an accident, I swear, I'll fix it!" Carolyn said desperately, as Mark clutched his stomach in a fit of hysterical laughter next to her. "What was the spell that cleans up messes again..." Alex didn't wait for Carolyn to try and fix the mistake she'd made. The growing laughter was already beginning to attract the attention of the other Hufflepuffs and Slytherins. Alex grabbed the pocket mirror that was in Carolyn's pocket and held it up so she could see her own reflection. She let out a gasp of horror as she stared at her own reflection.

Her face was covered in a fine orange powder that made her look like she'd used too much fake tanning oil. Her lips were a vivid shade of green, and her eyes had been surrounded by heavy blue eyeliner and green eye shadow as well as large perfectly circular red splotches on her cheeks. All in all it looked like a clown had tried to do her make-up in the dark. A colourblind clown.

"_Scourgify_!" Alex said desperately, pointing her wand at her face, but all that achieved was raising another cloud of dust. "_Tergeo!_ God dammit Carolyn!" Alex jumped to her feet, grabbing her bags and knocking off a bunch of plates and goblets as she went. She glared at Carolyn furiously before quickly running out of the Great Hall, shoving past people as she went, with her head down. She made it to the mercifully empty bathroom and stared at her reflection in the mirror. She quickly turned the faucet on and started washing her face in the sink, rubbing vigorously. After a few minutes she raised her head, and barely suppressed an angry scream. Although the orange paste was thankfully washing away in streaks, staining her robes as it washed down her neck, the lipstick and huge raccoon-eye eye shadow were still stubbornly there.

"You know you really shouldn't experiment with magical make-up..." Came a ghostly voice from behind her, and she turned to watch Moaning Myrtle floating serenely out of her toilet, watching Alex at the sink. Now she knew why the bathroom had been empty. The transparent girl floated towards Alex, who had chosen to ignore her and continue wiping at the make-up around her eyes. "Oh that won't work you know...you need some kind of special paste...I've seen the other girls use it..." Myrtle was using a very superior tone of voice and Alex turned, her fists clenched and her eyes closed, counting slowly down from ten.

Just as she was about to ask Myrtle what kind of 'special paste' this might require, the door to the bathroom opened and Alex quickly turned to head into one of the stalls before the girl entering saw her.

"Oh, no need to hide, you're positively radiant with green lips." Came a familiar male voice and she whipped around in surprise, forgetting her embarrassment as she stared at Fred Weasley, who had just strolled nonchalantly into the girl's bathroom. "And that eye shadow! Really makes your eyes pop!" The brief shot of relief that had shot through her disappeared in a rush of cold anger – he was just here to make fun of her too.

"Shut up and leave me alone." She said icily, not appreciating that he had actually gone out of his way to come here and embarrass her. Turning back to the sink, she tried to ignore Myrtle who had just started wailing in evident displeasure behind her. She rested her elbows on the edge of the sink, covering her ears with her hands.

"You can't be in here! This is a _girl's _bathroom!" Myrtle shrieked as she 'paced' back and forth in front of the stalls, but Fred ignored her just as much as Alex did, walking over to stand next to Alex and leaned down so that he was closer to her face.

"Hey, don't be like that, I'm just kidding..." Fred said, in a gentler tone of voice and she looked at him sourly. "You have to admit...it's pretty funny." Alex made a frustrated tone of voice and pushed off from the sink, stalking off towards the other end of the bathroom, continuing to ignore Myrtle's increasingly despairing wails.

"It is _not _funny! I look like an Oompa-Loompa!" She yelled, gesturing angrily at her face.  
"What's that, some kind of weird animal?"  
"No it's something from a movie..."  
"What's a movie?"  
"_YOU HAVE TO LEAVE!!" _Myrtle wailed as she floated in front of Alex, who was staring at Fred with the exasperated look that wizards usually reserved for her ignorance. It felt so bizarre that somebody could be ignorant of a huge cultural icon. There was a slight pause as they continued to stare at each other in mutual disbelief, while Myrtle continued to make unearthly wailing noises that echoed around the tile bathroom.

"Oh go chase the giant squid Myrtle!" Fred finally snapped and Myrtle wailed one last time before diving into one of the toilets, sending a cascade of water out on to the floor and leaving them in blissful silence. Alex took a deep breath and covered her face with her hands, trying to hold back the tears that threatened at the edge of her vision.

"Now, as I was saying...I didn't come here to make fun of you." Fred continued, moving cautiously towards her as he reached into his pocket and pulled out a tube of paste of some sort. "I brought you this...George and I have spent enough time experimenting with potions and spells that we have quite a bit of quick fixes stashed away. Now come here." When she didn't move, looking at him suspiciously from behind her hands, he sighed and squeezed a little of the paste out of the bottle and rubbed it on his own face. When, after a few moments, nothing horrible happened, she grudgingly moved a little closer and closed her eyes.

"I don't blame you for not trusting anything that comes from my hands." Fred said conversationally as he rubbed the paste across her eyes and cheeks gently. She felt a warm sensation seem to spread from where he rubbed, swiftly followed by a cold chill. He hesitated slightly before smearing it very quickly on her lips, and he continued in a determinedly normal voice. "Oh and don't worry, nobody's going to come in...I've got George and Lee outside keeping watch. Now, it should just...there we go." She opened her eyes and met his brown ones as he smiled at her, and she suddenly realised how very close he was.

"Thank you." She said quietly, rubbing at her cheeks. Fred collected up her bag and handed it to her, with a rather curious look in his eyes. "What's so funny? Do I still have an orange face or something?" She asked, examining herself quickly in the mirror to make sure that the paste really had worked.

"No, nothing's funny, it's just..." He paused for a moment, seeming to be thinking about what he was saying, looking away from her towards the floor for a moment. "...it's nothing. Just wondering how you're planning to get back at your friend for the prank she pulled." He seemed a little too committed to that question, but she let it go, shrugging as she shouldered her bag.

"It wasn't a prank...she just made a mistake. It's not the first time it's happened." Visions of falling head over heels down the stairs flashed through her mind, not to mention having to have Professor Flitwick save her from a magically charmed hairbrush that had given her a black eye. "Let's just say if it had been any hour of the day besides first thing in the morning, I wouldn't have even given her the chance to try a make-up charm on me."

"Well yeah, but...aren't you angry? She just publically embarrassed you in front of the whole school, everybody will have heard about it by lunchtime." Fred asked, a perplexed look on his face as he regarded her. "I mean...I've cursed my own brothers by accident lots of times and they almost never fail to get their revenge on me. Or, rather, they try. I'm too smart for them."

"Yeah I'm sure you pranked them by accident." She said sarcastically as they exited the bathroom, but before he could respond she was distracted by a loud bang followed by a whistling noise as a flash of light came whizzing past her. Fred quickly grabbed her and pulled her back as another firework came flying by, missing her by inches as it spiralled off down the hall.

"Oy! I said make a _distraction _not draw as much attention as you possibly can!" Fred yelled down the hall at his twin who was disappearing behind a tapestry. "And I thought we were saving those fireworks for disrupting the first years' Astronomy class next week!"

"It was Lee's fault! He dropped them into a puddle from last night and they just went off! I warned him that they were wet-start!" With that, George vanished behind the tapestry, and just as she heard the sound of people approaching, Fred grabbed her by the arm and pulled her behind a statue, ducking as another firework went flying past.

"Great, out of one mess and right back into another. Is this typical of being associated with you?" Alex asked in a harsh whisper, watching as a pair of painted lovers ran shrieking from their painting as a firework collided with it, singing it but thankfully not setting it ablaze. Around the edge of the statue, she could see Filch hobbling towards the commotion, followed by Professor McGonagall who had evidently just finished eating her breakfast and did not look pleased.

"Don't worry, when you're with a Weasley, there's always a way out. Watch out!" He pushed her out of the way as he pulled a painting back, revealing a hole in the wall that he then pushed her through before crawling in behind her and closing the painting, leaving them in complete darkness. Her bag had gotten in her way as she'd stumbled to get out of Fred's way, falling in such a way that the bag had jammed her arm against the side of the tunnel so that she couldn't reach for her wand and already she was losing the feeling in her fingers.

"Alright so this tunnel leads down to the dungeons..."  
"Fred..."  
"And from there we should be able to run out down to Hagrid's cabin..."  
"Fred!"  
"And nobody will ever know we were anywhere near here!"  
"FRED!"

"Oh, sorry..._Lumos_." As light filled the tiny space, she heard him crawl up behind her and tug on her bag, dislodging her arm. She felt the blood rush back into her hands and shifted so that she was facing him, flexing her fingers and grabbing her own wand from her back pocket before examining the tunnel that they were now sitting in. The passageway was made out of stone, and was just big enough to fit her if she sat flat on the floor. It had the rough feel of something that had been dug hastily, and had never been polished. She had never in all four years at Hogwarts seen this passageway before, but she was somehow not surprised that Fred knew about it.

After pulling out her own wand and lighting it, she started crawling along the passage, feeling the rough stone scraping away at her elbows and knees. Fred had taken her bag for her and was crawling along behind her, dragging the bag behind him. Behind her, she heard a slight snicker, and she turned her head slightly, looking back at him as much as she could in the cramped space. He was smirking to himself.

"What?"  
"Well...it's just that you have quite the nice – "  
"Say it and I'll curse you to oblivion and then leave you here."  
"Oh be still my wounded heart."  
"Shut up."  
"Okay, I'll just enjoy the view in appreciative silence then..."

She turned her head again, with an icy retort on her lips, but whatever it was going to be was cut off as her hand suddenly went straight through the seemingly solid floor. She shrieked, tumbling head over heels down a chute before skidding through an opening of some sort and landing in a heap on a cold stone floor, her wand flying across the ground with a clatter. Groaning, she could hear Fred letting out lots of choice swear words up above her somewhere before she heard him start crashing down to land next to her.

"Are you okay? I'm sorry, I totally forgot that the passageway had that huge drop, I haven't used it in about two years, it's an emergencies only sort of escape route and seriously are you okay, Merlin I'm so sorry..." Fred was talking really fast as she lay on her back, too winded to answer him even if she had an answer for him, struggling to take shallow breaths as stars spiralled in front of her eyes. Fred was hovering over her, looking anxious and still talking very fast as he struggled to his feet.

"Yes. I'm fine." She said breathlessly, finally pushing herself painfully up so that she was resting on her elbows, blowing a stray piece of hair out of her eyes. "But if this is what I have to look forward to every time we cross paths I think I'm going to have to invest in some sort of insurance policy..." He laughed as he helped her to her feet, brushing off the dust and handing over her bag which looked a little bit worse for the wear. She smoothed down her robes and fixed her hair, picking up her wand and extinguishing the light which was no longer needed now that they were in the lit dungeons.

"Well...we're still only about ten minutes late for Care of Magical Creatures...if we run, well, worst case scenario everyone thinks we've been snogging somewhere." Fred said with a cheeky grin as she rolled her eyes, and started up the stairs to the main floor. He quickly followed after her, walking on her right side. "You know I think we should have some green lipstick marks on my collar, just to, you know, make it even more realistic..."

"Keep dreaming, Weasley." Alex said, but she couldn't help smiling to herself anyway. Glancing at Fred, she saw that he was smiling to himself as well. Together, they walked out of the dungeons, through the Entrance Hall and out into the morning sunshine.

**ooc: And done! Chapter 4 up soon, assuming I find time around studying for midterms and other such annoying** **real life things. Read and Review!**


	4. Amortentia

**A/N: Chapter 4! To me it feels like this story is moving very slowly but I don't want to rush into the romance...but don't worry, things will pick up soon. :) Read and Review!! :) Reviews make me happy which makes me want to write more!!**

As they arrived to Care of Magical Creatures, they found George and Lee both leaning against a fence post, breathing heavily, having obviously just arrived themselves. They both looked amazed to see Fred and Alex, although George looked at Alex's dishevelled appearance with a raised eyebrow. Fred, however, ignored his twin's unspoken question, and grinned cheekily at them.

"Had to run from the fourth floor?" Fred asked his twin with a slightly superior smirk as both George and Lee nodded. "Should have taken the passage behind the poker-playing trolls...takes you right down to the dungeons remember?"

"Didn't have time to make it there...Filch was already rounding the corner. It seems a bit much even for us to get detention on the first day of the new term."  
"Well it's not like it'd be the first time...I mean there was that time in second year when we pushed a suit of armour down the stairs..."  
"Well how were we supposed to know that McGonagall was walking by at the bottom? She's got great reflexes for a woman her age though, do you remember how she dodged the statue and then levitated it back up at us?"

Alex tuned out whatever the rest of the 'argument' was as she began listening to Hagrid who was describing the benefits of unicorn blood which she scribbled down on a piece of parchment in her arms, as best she could.

There was no doubt that Hagrid was trying hard to be the best teacher he could be, but by the end of the class Alex had not learned a single thing about unicorn blood that she did not already know from previous years. He did, however, promise that the next lesson they would be working with actual creatures that he was going to capture himself from the Forest, winking and nodding knowingly at them, obviously expecting that they should be excited about it though by that point most people just looked bored and were glancing at their watches as they waited for the bell that signified the end of classes to ring. As soon as it did, people were on their feet and moving before Hagrid had even had a chance to dismiss them.

She left Fred, George and Lee down at Hagrid's cabin, since they had stayed to congratulate Hagrid on his first class, and walked back towards the castle alone, enjoying the warm September sunshine. Rather than head back inside, she decided to take a walk around the lake while she waited for her next class to start, but hadn't gone more than a few steps when her peace and serenity were unfortunately shattered by a group of fifth-year Slytherins.

"Hey Freeman, loved the make-up job this morning...it almost hid your face!" She couldn't tell which of the group had said it, but it was easy enough to distinguish the five of them who sat under a tree by the lake, watching her go by with jeering sneers on their faces.

"Yeah and Merlin knows she needs to hide it if she ever hopes to get any respectable wizard...what with all those Mudblood traits poking through." That voice, however, she recognised and despite her efforts to keep her temper in check, she faced the group and quickly found Montague, leaning against the tree as his minions laughed at the indignant look on her face. Her hand twitched towards her wand, but even in her temper she knew that five against one were impossible odds.

"Oh, are you looking for tips on how to hide all your moron traits, Montague?" She retorted, watching the superior sneer turn into an unpleasant sort of snarl. "Because I'm sorry to say, all the make-up in the world couldn't hide those." One member of Montague's minions, obviously a new arrival, had the guts to laugh at her joke but was quickly silenced as the remaining three punched his arm meaningfully. Montague, however, was busy looking sourly at her, stepping away from the tree and towards her, his wand already in his hand.

"Oh, sorry Montague...no kisses today. Besides which, it's frogs that turn into princes when kissed..." Alex continued, making no move to draw her own wand, knowing that Montague wouldn't attack her in broad daylight on the grounds unless she made the first move. "...I don't think it works on stupid ugly gits who have their heads so far up their ass that they can see what they had for lunch that day."

Montague opened his mouth to respond, but was silenced as his friend nudged him and nodded behind Alex. Turning her head, she caught sight of Professor Snape walking across the grounds towards them, looking stern.

"Ms. Freeman." Professor Snape said curtly as he arrived, nodding once at the Slytherins who nodded back pleasantly. "If you could come with me please...I'd like a word." Without waiting for an answer, Snape turned and headed towards the castle at a brisk pace, and Alex scurried after him, with a sinking feeling in her stomach. As they walked, they passed by Fred, George and Lee on their own way in. Fred and George exchanged a quick look before hurrying up on either side of her, holding her arms and whispering to her under their breath.

"Okay, just stay calm..."  
"There's no way they have any proof about the fireworks..."  
"Whatever he says, deny deny deny...plausible deniability...innocent face..."

"Inside." Snape snapped from in front of them, opening the door to his office and ushering her inside, closing the door in the twins' faces. Alex took a seat in front of the desk and tried to keep from fidgeting with the edge of her robe. Snape sat down across from her and folded his hands on the desk, regarding Alex coolly for a few moments.

"Now, Ms. Freeman, I suppose you know why you're here." Alex shook her head wordlessly, struggling to maintain a cool composure.

"Well, as I'm sure you'll hear soon enough, somebody let off an entire set of fireworks in the first year corridor this morning between breakfast and first period..." Snape watched her for a reaction, while Alex attempted to look suitably surprised. "The fireworks damaged a great many of our oldest paintings, as well as causing severe distress to those that were occupying the paintings."

"That's too bad Professor Snape..." Alex said, feeling her mouth going dry, and swallowing quickly in an attempt to keep her voice from cracking. _Plausible Deniability...Innocent Face..._ "Are the paintings going to be able to be repaired, because you know I read the other day about a great charm - "

"What are those stains on your robes, Ms. Freeman?" Snape interrupted suddenly, cutting smoothly across Alex's babbling. Alex glanced down at the orange make-up stains that still streaked the neck of her robes. She had completely forgotten to clean it off after washing off the make-up in the bathroom. "The aftermath of a magical mishap I saw in the Great Hall this morning, perhaps?"

"Yes Professor..." She said quickly, wondering where this was going.  
"And yet you are remarkably fresh-faced and clean now."  
"Yes, that's true Professor, I cleaned off after breakfast..."  
"Well now, you see....that's strange Ms. Freeman, because the kind of make-up charm your friend tried to use on you can only be cleaned off by properly processed bubotuber pus..." Professor Snape got to his feet and leaned his hands on the desk, leaning towards Alex who automatically leaned backwards. "Which, as you should know, is illegal in Hogwarts outside of the hospital wing...and I have just spoken to Madam Pomfrey who tells me that she is missing an expensive tube of bubotuber pus...you wouldn't happen to know anything about that, would you, Ms. Freeman?"

Alex could feel the blood leaving her face as Snape was talking, realising very quickly that she probably should have asked Fred what kind of paste it was he was rubbing on her face. Unable to find her voice, she just shook her head soundlessly. Snape made a disbelieving sort of noise and sat back in his seat with his arms crossed, regarding Alex coldly.

"Well, Miss Freeman, I have heard from a certain witness that saw you put what was unmistakably a yellow paste on your face in the bathroom down the hall from here. This witness also says she saw you pull out about ten fireworks from your bag before you stepped outside, and no more than five minutes later, we have fireworks ricocheting around the corridor." Snape's nostrils were flaring with evident pleasure at having cornered Alex, as her mouth dropped open in shock, trying to think who it was who would say such lies about her.

"Now, normally it would be Professor Flitwick who would be in charge of your punishment but  
as he is busy repairing the damage done to our paintings, he has given me permission to deal with you as I see fit...let's see, to start with, two weeks of detentions with me for stealing the bubotuber pus..."

"But I didn't steal it!" Alex cut in desperately, finally finding her voice, and Snape looked at her sternly, raising an eyebrow.  
"Well then how did you get it, Miss Freeman?"  
"I – I found it..."  
"You just found a random tube of paste on the ground and thought that it would be safe to smear it on your face in the hopes that it would clear off your make-up?"  
"I – No...I...I knew what it was." This was a lie, Alex hadn't had the slightest clue what the paste  
Fred had handed her had been.  
"Well then you must have known that it was illegal for you to have and should have turned it in right away."

Alex didn't answer, chewing her lip quietly as she watched her hands.

"Alright Miss Freeman, Professor Flitwick tells me you are a model student, and so has his doubts that you were responsible for this all on your own. So he has put it upon me to ask that if there was anybody else involved, that you inform me immediately, so that the punishment might be shared evenly." Snape said, watching her carefully. Alex kept her eyes glued to the floor.

"I don't know who set off the fireworks." Alex answered evenly, trying not to meet Snape's eyes. She had always had the feeling that Snape could read minds, and it seemed prudent to keep her eyes downcast. "But it wasn't me, Professor I swear...I don't know who the witness is, but they are mistaken..."

"Somebody who has nothing to gain from you being in trouble, Miss Freeman, so you'll forgive me if I find their word a little more reliable than your defense." Snape cut across smoothly, and then stood, making it clear that the meeting was over. "So, a month of detention then Miss Freeman, and I will see you here tomorrow night at eight o'clock sharp - "

"No!" Alex whipped her head around so fast that she gave herself whiplash. She stared in disbelief at Fred, who had just burst through Snape's door with a loud bang. Alex thought she caught sight of George diving out of sight from where they had both been crouching by the door. "It was me. I stole the bubotuber pus...I felt bad because the other students were making fun of her and I know that Madam Pomfrey usually lets the student walk around like that for a day to teach them a lesson about make-up charms...but Alex hadn't been responsible for what happened to her and it didn't seem fair, so...I stole the paste...and gave it to her. Alex had nothing to do with it."

"I see...and the fireworks?" Snape said coolly, regarding Fred with an icy look as Fred stood there panting as if he'd just run a marathon. "Were those your doing as well?"  
"Yes. I'd asked Alex to hold on to them for me, but I told her I was saving them for the Christmas holidays." Fred didn't look remotely ashamed of his actions, and in fact took a moment to wink at Alex who was still staring at him in a cross between incomprehension and awe. Snape, however, looked highly irritated.

"Well, in light of that...heartfelt confession, Mr. Weasley, I guess I will have to punish you as well as Miss Freeman." Snape sneered sarcastically, and Alex opened her mouth to argue but Snape continued without giving her a chance to speak. "Whether or not you actually stole the pus or let off the fireworks, Miss Freeman, you were still involved and should have been smart enough to know that the Weasley twins rarely have pure intentions. You will still serve two week's detention with me and twenty points from Ravenclaw."

"And you, Mr. Weasley..." Snape said, turning to Fred, who glowered at him darkly. "Although I have not spoken with Professor McGonagall about this, I'm sure she will not object to a month's worth of detentions as well as twenty points from Gryffindor as well...and we'll make it an extra twenty more as I'm sure your twin was involved somehow as well. Now, both you and Miss Freeman will be here at seven o'clock tomorrow evening. Do not be late. Dismissed."

Before Alex could say a word to him, Fred disappeared out of the office and down the hall with his twin as a bell chimed somewhere, but he turned back and winked at Alex once more, who waved absently as he disappeared around the corner.  
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Why would he do that?" Carolyn asked Alex the next day as the two of them and Mark sat finishing their lunches. Too excited to share the story of her eventful morning with the twins, Alex had allowed the make-up incident that morning to slide, much to Carolyn's obvious relief. Although they'd already discussed the whole incident to death the day before, Carolyn was eager to keep Alex in a good mood. "I mean, why wouldn't he just let you take the blame?"

"I'm telling you, they're up to something." Mark said automatically, looking suspiciously across the Great Hall at the Gryffindor table, although neither of the twins were there at the moment. In fact, Alex hadn't seen them at all since she'd left Snape's office the day before. "They're probably just trying to get you to trust them so that they'll have an easier time pranking you. I think you should stay away from them."

Alex didn't answer right away, frowning down at her plate of mashed potatoes as she pondered Mark's words. She wanted to argue that it seemed unlikely that the twins would go to such an effort just to prank somebody, but she had to admit that they had done crazier things in the past (The story of Angelina Johnson's marquis flashed through her brain).

"Well you might find out in a few minutes." Carolyn said cheerfully as she took one last bite of her lunch before pushing it away from her. "You two have Potions with the Gryffindors this afternoon while I'm in Herbology."

The three of them grabbed up their things and headed out of the Great Hall. As they reached the Entrance Hall, Mark and Carolyn lingered to say their goodbyes. Alex kept walking towards the entrance to the dungeons, since their 'goodbyes' tended to be on par with couples who were separating for months. As suspected, when she turned her head back, they were deeply wrapped around each other with some sort of weird desperation, as if they never wanted to let go.

"Three's a crowd, eh?" Came a voice behind her, and she jumped a little, turning to see Fred and George Weasley leaned against the wall watching Carolyn and Mark as well, with identical amused expressions on their faces.

"Oh well...they just got together over the summer...they'll get over themselves soon enough and get back to normal." Alex responded, but there was a slightly false note behind the smile she flashed at the twins. If they noticed, they didn't comment, watching as Mark finally disengaged from Carolyn and hurried over to catch up with Alex. As he caught sight of who she was talking to, he slowed, his face transforming into a distrustful expression.

"We're going to be late, Alex." He said quickly, taking her arm and starting to take her into the dungeons, without even acknowledging the twins more than a slight incline of his head as he passed. With very little choice but to follow since Mark had an iron grip on her arm, she waved to the twins quickly as they entered the dungeons. They took their seats just as Snape began the lesson with the usual lecture on how important their OWLs were and how high his expectations were. Then he set an assignment of brewing a cauldron of Amortentia, and the class began murmuring as they lit fires under their cauldrons and collected ingredients.

"What on earth was that?" She hissed at Mark as they started chopping up their ingredients into properly sized pieces.

"What? Oh you know...I can't help it, Carolyn and I are still in that 'can't-live-without-each-other' phase, it'll pass..." Mark said without meeting her eyes, intent upon making sure all of his pieces were exactly the same size.

"That's not what I meant. Why were you being so rude to the Weasleys?" She said crossly, slicing up a daisy root with a little more force than necessary before dropping it into her cauldron and beginning to stir counter-clockwise.

"Look you know that I don't trust them, and I don't like them." Mark said, with a deliberate calm as he dumped in some essence of belladonna into his cauldron, and she followed suit, watching him sourly. "I can't control what you do but I don't have to be nice to them just because you are...and you want to add the Ashwinder eggs next, not the flobberworm mucus, that comes last."

Alex gave him a sour look, but followed what he told her, since he had always achieved much better marks in Potions than she had. Glancing around at the remainder of the class, she caught sight of Fred and George with their heads together at the bench right behind her. Fred's potion was letting off a bright green steam and had approximately the consistency of fresh cement. George's was hardly better but seemed like it had the potential to be saved. They didn't seem too concerned with their potions; in fact, when George noticed her watching, he nudged Fred in the ribs. Fred glanced up and his face split into a wide grin as he caught her eye. She raised her eyebrow at his potion and he shrugged nonchalantly, dumping in some essence of belladonna haphazardly, which caused the potion to start bubbling threateningly, and turn bright orange.

"A pitiful effort, Mr. Weasley." Snape said as he wandered over to them, sneering down at the contents of his cauldron. "This potion is beyond salvaging. A failing grade I think...you will not make it through this year with such ridiculously weak efforts, Mr. Weasley." Snape vanished Fred's potion with a wave of his wand and moved on without further comment. Fred shrugged and packed up his cauldron and ingredients before shifting over to sit next to Alex with a grin.

"Did you even try?" Alex whispered with a laugh, stirring her potion carefully before adding the flobberworm mucus, smiling as the steam starting rising in spirals. Inhaling deeply, she caught a citrusy scent, the air freshener that her mother kept in their car, and a strangely earthy smell that she couldn't place.

"Nope. That smells really good though...do you smell that?" Before she got a chance to remind him that the potion smelled differently to everybody, he continued. "Man it smells just like...like Quidditch. Like the grass, and the wood polish...but there's something else..." He trailed off, seeming puzzled as he thought about it.

"It smells different depending on the person." Mark said from his corner of the desk, where his potion was bubbling and spirally perfectly. Alex could hear a tone that sounded suspiciously condescending and she gave him a warning look, but he had turned back to his cauldron without another word. Snape passed by and looked down at her potion without a word, which was a good sign in Snape's class.

"Thanks, by the way." Fred said to Alex, acting as if he hadn't even heard Mark. "For not ratting us out to Snape yesterday...but there's no need to be so noble on our behalf...we've been in trouble with every teacher in the school. We're seeing how many different kinds of detention they can throw at us." Fred grinned cheekily and she couldn't help but smile back, not even sure what she was smiling at.

"Thank me? Thank you. You could have just let me take all the blame and been off the hook."  
"Yeah but then you'd never talk to me again." Fred answered without pause, smiling down at her. "That would have been far worse than any amount of detentions."

Not sure what to say in response to that, Alex just grinned, feeling her cheeks starting to hurt from the length of time that she'd been smiling. As she met Fred's eyes, she felt her cheeks warming slightly, and she quickly glanced down at her cauldron under the pretence of checking her potion one last time. When she raised her eyes again, Fred was still watching her, with an odd half-smile on his face. Just then, the bell rang signalling the end of class and she and Mark both began packing up, having both received a grudging E on their potions.

"Hey, well, I'll see you tonight, right?" Fred said with a wink as he, George and Lee headed off towards Defense Against the Dark Arts with the Slytherins, while she and Mark went towards Charms with the Hufflepuffs, which meant that Mark could return to Carolyn.

"Tonight?" Mark said suspiciously as they were walking and Alex rolled her eyes, ignoring him. "What are you doing tonight?"  
"Detention, Mark. I have detention with him tonight, not that it's any of your business." She snapped irritably as they caught up with Carolyn, who immediately grabbed Mark's hand, ignoring the sour look on both of their faces.

"There's no need to be so nasty Alex." Carolyn piped up, having deduced quickly what the argument was about, and was eager to keep the peace between her best friend and her boyfriend. "He's just trying to look out for you and he has a point about the Weasley twins, they haven't exactly been model students..."

"Stay out of it Carolyn!" Alex snapped with more force than necessary before sitting with her back to both of them and staring out the window in sullen silence, feeling a slight twinge at guilt that she was creating a rift between her friends on account of people she'd only met two days beforehand.

_They're wrong though._ She thought to herself, clenching her fist around her wand as Professor Flitwick started the lesson at the front of the class. _There's nothing wrong with the Weasley twins...Mark is just being paranoid. That's all._

As the class wore on, she felt her hand stray automatically to her pocket and to the joker card there that was still jingling faintly. _Nothing wrong with them..._

**A/N: Done Chapter 4!! Chapter 5 will up soon. Review please!!**


	5. Boiling Over

**A/N: Needless to say, this is my favourite chapter so far. I think you'll know why by the end of the chapter. Read and review! Enjoy :)**

At ten to seven that evening she found herself sitting with her back against the cold stone wall of the dungeons outside Snape's office, absently twirling the joker card in her hand. She had left the common room earlier than usual, having decided that she couldn't take anymore of Mark's carefully neutral remarks about Quidditch, the weather, or the essay that Snape had assigned them on the proper uses of the belladonna plant. She had been sitting outside of Snape's office for almost ten minutes now, further wrinkling Fred's joker card as she turned it over and over in her hands, lost in thought.

As the remaining ten minutes wore on, she wondered idly if Fred was going to show up on time. It didn't seem to be in his nature to be punctual about anything, least of all detention, and she could only hope that Snape didn't extend both of their punishments as a result. She was also still trying to think what nasty things Snape would think of for them to do over the next two weeks. Pulling out her wand, she idly started levitating pebbles on the ground and flicking them against the opposite wall. The clattering noise they made as they hit the wall echoed around the otherwise empty dungeon corridor.

Glancing at her watch, she sighed and got to her feet, brushing off her robes as she walked up to Snape's office. Just as she raised her hand to knock, she heard the unmistakeable sound of sneakers on stone as somebody came racing down the stairs from the Entrance Hall. Pausing, she smirked as Fred came barrelling around the corner, a whirl of red hair, robes and freckles. He skidded to a halt in front of her, tucking a piece of parchment into his pocket.

"What, no shortcuts today?" She asked with an amused smirk as he struggled to catch his breath. "I would have thought you'd know so many that you'd never have to run anywhere."

"Aw, Filch was hovering around the one that leads down here from the fourth floor." Fred said, once he'd stopped gasping for air. "He was in his office when I left the common room, I don't know how he got up there so fast..."

"How'd you know he was in his office?" Alex asked with a raised eyebrow, knowing that the Gryffindor common room was in one of the towers, and Filch's office was down on the first floor.

"If you two are _quite _finished...you are both late." Snape said coldly before Fred could answer, throwing open the door and making them both jump. Although they both made to walk into his office, he stopped them and closed the door, locking it with a wave of his wand before beginning to stride off towards the Entrance Hall, with Fred and Alex following in tow. "This week you will be spending your time in the greenhouses. Since Madam Pomfrey is now out of bubotuber pus, you will be collecting it for her. Gloves will not be necessary...I would advise you to be very cautious, as the undiluted fresh pus tends to cause a very nasty reaction when it comes in contact with human skin."

Alex did not think it was at all fair that Snape would actively put them in harm's way and could only hope that Professor Sprout had some extra gloves stashed around the greenhouse. Fred, however, seemed mildly amused at this form of detention. She could only assume he'd been expecting something more severe, or that he had some sort of trick up his sleeve.

Although it was only the beginning of September, the sun was already almost completely set as they walked across the grounds to the greenhouses. The greenhouses, however, were stifling hot as they entered, causing Alex to break out into a sweat almost immediately. Looking around, she could see pots full of wriggling black tubes that were covered in large boils. There had to be at least fifty of them scattered around the greenhouse, and they all seemed to be wriggling in some sort of discomfort.

"As you can see, the bubotubers have been left untended for quite some time as Professor Sprout has not been here to manage them...the temperature in the greenhouse has been increased so as to make the boils easier to pop." Snape said, gesturing to the black plants. Almost every inch of the plant that was protruding from the soil was covered in evidently pus-filled boils, and Alex grimaced. "You will collect it methodically into these vials...Professor Sprout will want to know which bubotuber gave which vial of pus, so you will label them accordingly."

Snape paused here to look at the two of them, gesturing at the shelf full of dozens of clear glass vials behind him. Fred was slouching with his arms crossed, watching the bubotubers with a curiously interested expression on his face. Alex, in contrast, was feeling mildly nauseated as she stared at the bubotubers. The black squirming plants reminded her vividly of giant throbbing black slugs. Giant black slugs who were also going to squirt painful nasty-smelling ooze on to her in a few minutes.

"It is also my unfortunate duty to inform you that the cream for soothing pus burns is located on the shelf next to the vials...." Snape said, sounding incredibly displeased that he was being required to give them that information. "I will return to dismiss you at ten thirty at the earliest, at which point you will mark your place, and return tomorrow evening to continue. You will continue every night until you are finished both greenhouses." With that, Snape turned on his heel and left the greenhouse, leaving Fred and Alex alone. Alex heard the muted click of the lock as Snape locked them in.

"Right....let's just get started." She said after a few seconds silence, taking a vial and scribbling down the first bubotuber's number (001 – a.k.a 'Merlin'). Next to her, Fred grabbed a second vial and took a seat. She gingerly pressed down on the first pus-filled sac, watching anxiously as it swelled. Then, without much warning, it popped loudly, sending pus shooting outwards on to her hands, which immediately began swelling with painful red boils. Swearing loudly, she grabbed the vial and caught what remained of the pus. Next to her, Fred's hands had also started to swell from the undiluted pus from his own plant. The cream that Snape had left them did little to soothe the pain from the pus, or diminish the size of the boils on their hands.

"Oh this is so much better than doing my Charm's essay..." She muttered sarcastically as she started on her fifth plant, two hours later. By this point her arms and hands were covered in angry red boils. She stood up and started pacing, cradling her arms against her and resisting the urge to put her fingers in her mouth to try and soothe the pain. "You know, I just love spending my second night back at school elbow-deep in plant ooze!"

"Oh yeah, 'cause this is a real thrilling experience for me, Alex!" Fred said sourly, stopping to rub some cream futilely on his hands and arms, which were as covered in boils as hers.

"Maybe, but it's your fault that I'm here to begin with! If you hadn't given me the stupid paste, and then let off those stupid fireworks!" Alex clenched her fists as she turned on him, feeling suddenly infuriated at the way he sat there so calmly.

"Hey, nobody made you take the paste, you could have just gone around all day looking like a damned Poomba-Noomba." Fred snapped back icily, getting to his feet as well so that he towered over her, glaring down at her.

"It's Oompa-Loompa!" Alex hissed, feeling unnaturally angry that Fred should be unable to even quote Willy Wonka properly.

"Whatever. You should take make-up tips from them, 'cause Merlin knows it made you look much better!" Fred said nastily and Alex suddenly just launched herself at him, slamming her fists ineffectually on his chest. The fact that this caused some of her boils to pop only served to fuel her anger.

"You big jerk! I can't believe I lied to Snape for you!" Each word was punctuated with a strike of her fist against him. Somewhere in the back of her mind she heard herself and had the mild realisation that she sounded completely ridiculous, but she didn't care. "You little conniving...weasel!"

Admittedly, that wasn't her most inspired insult, but it seemed to touch a nerve. Fred caught her wrists in his hands at this, popping a few more boils. His grip was so tight that she felt the circulation being cut off to her fingers. Struggling against his arms, she glared at him, her face flushed with emotion.

"Don't call me a weasel." He said, his voice unnaturally calm, as if he were suppressing the nasty words he really wanted to say.

"Well that's what you are! Weaseling out of everything!" Alex said hotly, struggling against his restraints. When she couldn't get her wrists free, she tried to kick out her legs, but he dodged them deftly.

"I didn't weasel out of this, did I? Like you said I could have just let you take the blame, but I didn't!"

"Well then why didn't you, huh? Why'd you feel the need to burden yourself?" She stopped struggling and looked him in the eye, feeling her arms throbbing even more with the anger now pulsing through her as she looked up at him, feeling like all of this was his fault.

"Because...I...just...because!" He stuttered out, looking embarrassed. There was this ringing silence as they stared at each other, locked in the middle of a struggle. Even behind the apprehensive embarrassment, she saw a fever in his eyes that had nothing to do with anger.

"What?" She said breathlessly, staring at him, confused. Rather than answering her question, he suddenly pulled her in to his chest without releasing her wrists, holding her so that her arms were crushed between his chest and hers. Pressed so tightly against him, she suddenly smelled the same scent that had been wafting out of her Amortentia potion: A strong musky smell mixed with a hint of gunpowder. Before she had a chance to analyse this, he bent his head and pressed his lips urgently against hers.

It took a moment to fully register this sudden change from passionate anger to just plain passion, and for a moment she was caught in indecision, part of her struggling to push him away, the other part wanting to pull him in even tighter. The result of this conflict was that she was stuck frozen in spot for a very long second as her brain processed which of the emotions she wanted to follow. After a moment she found that her arms were released from his grasp as he pulled his head back. He had a very guilty expression on his face, somewhat akin to being caught with his hand in the proverbial cookie jar.

Suddenly all she could think was that the thing she wanted most in the world right this second was to have him kiss her again. So, without thinking, without planning, she stood up on her tiptoes, wrapping her arms around his neck and pulling his head back down to hers. He responded eagerly, wrapping his arms around her back and almost pulling off her feet in his enthusiasm.

After what felt like no more than a few seconds, there was suddenly a bright flash of light and she felt herself being pushed violently away from Fred, so that she stumbled against the shelf of vials, causing them to cascade down around her head, shattering at her feet. Fred meanwhile had been shoved backwards by a similarly strong force, falling against the shelves with the bubotubers, causing a few of their boils to spontaneously burst, oozing out on to his neck and face.

"As much as I'm sure you two have been enjoying yourselves, this is _detention_, not a coffee date." Snape said icily from the door, his wand pointed at the spot where Fred and Alex had been locked in embrace only moments before. "Ten points each from Gryffindor and Ravenclaw." With a flick of his wand, the shattered pieces of glass around Alex rose up and became vials again before returning to their places on the shelf. As Fred stood up across from her, looking slightly guilty but incredibly pleased, he walked over and offered her his hand to help her up. Feeling slightly dazed, she took it and he pulled her up to her feet.

"You will serve your detentions on alternate nights from now on, starting with Mr. Weasley tomorrow night." Snape continued, opening the door and gesturing to the two of them to exit. Glancing at her watch, she realised that it was already 10:30. Hadn't it only been ten o'clock when she'd started yelling at Fred? Glancing at Fred, she realised that the right side of his neck was erupting in bright red boils, but he didn't seem to have noticed. Snape, however, looked coolly on him, and continued. "Mr. Weasley, I will accompany you to the hospital wing...Miss Freeman, you willreturn to the Ravenclaw common room, and I will see you here at seven o'clock on Thursday night."

Without further comment, he grabbed Fred by the shoulder and steered him up towards the castle, leaving Alex standing outside the greenhouses. Fred glanced back at her, as much as he could with Snape's firm grip on his arm, and she saw that he was still smiling like an idiot. After they disappeared through the front doors, she started wandering back up towards the castle, wrapping her arms around herself to fend off the chill breeze that was blowing off the lake. She became suddenly aware that her arms and hands were still throbbing, even more so now that a good chunk of the boils had popped.

By the time she reached the fifth floor stairwell that led up to the Ravenclaw tower, she had analysed everything so much that she felt mildly dizzy. She had now convinced herself that she did not, in fact, like Fred that way at all, because that was crazy. She'd only known him for three days. People did not fall in love with other people after three days. _Although, he was a really good kisser..._

Smiling to herself, she entered the common room and drifted up to bed, determined that the next day she would find and talk to Fred. Obviously he just hadn't had a girl for a long time and had just lost self-control...that's what had happened to her. Wasn't it?

**A/N: Whee :) I hope this has been enjoyable for people. Don't worry the story is FAR from over and just because they've kissed doesn't mean their problems are over! Chapter 6 will be up soon.**


	6. Jealous?

**Sorry guys I know this one took a bit of time and it's not that long, but I've hit a bit of a block on this story. Don't worry though, next one will be longer! Read and review!**

Alex didn't see Fred the next day, however, and in fact didn't see him for the rest of the week. Despite her best efforts to spot him in the Great Hall, it seemed that he and his twin were skipping all their meals. She caught herself doing double takes every time she saw a flash of red hair. It wasn't until Saturday night as she returned from another night of bubotuber pus collecting that she saw any sign of him at all. It was almost eleven when Snape finally released her from the prison of the greenhouse, sweaty and with her hands covered in fresh boils.

"Alright here's the plan..." Alex paused with her foot on the main staircase in the Entrance Hall. The door to the right of the staircase was slightly ajar and she could hear what was unmistakably a Weasley voice. She tiptoed over to the door, pressing herself against the wall, listening. "Lee, you keep watch with the map. If anybody gets within two corridors of here, signal us. Fred, you take care of the drinks, and I'll grab us some food. Fred? Fred!"

Keeping carefully pressed against the wall, Alex peered through the crack in the door. She caught sight of the two Weasley twins and Lee, all with their backs to her. Fred and George were each clutching bags. If she had to guess, she would assume that they were on their way to the kitchens, though why they couldn't just eat in the Great Hall like normal people was a mystery to her. Lee had what appeared to be a blank piece of parchment in his hand. Fred, who had seemed lost in thought, started as his twin called his name.

"Sorry, yeah, I'll nick the drinks."  
"What's got you so unfocussed anyhow?"  
"Oh...nothing."

"You're thinking about her..." Lee said with a cheesy grin, and she thought she saw Fred stiffen slightly, but he didn't answer, fiddling with an oversized portrait of a bowl of fruit on the wall. "So what's next, Freddy? Gonna snog her in the girl's bathroom? Careful, I hear she's frigid!" Alex frowned as she drew her head back for a moment, still listening. She supposed it was just friendly sibling ribbing...she hoped people didn't really think she was a cold fish kisser.

"Shut it." Fred said hotly, while George and Lee were both snickering, exchanging identical mischievous grins. "You know as well I do that I'd rather date the Bloody Baron." Alex let out a small gasp involuntarily, which was luckily covered by George and Lee's renewed laughter.

"Oh come off it Fred, you two would make an adorable couple!" She could hear obvious sarcasm in George's voice as he slapped Fred on the back. "Now, when should I plan the wedding? Maybe down by the lake, so she can invite her ex-boyfriend...the Giant Squid!" Peering through the crack again, she saw Fred shove George off of him.

"Look I said shut it! Even the idea of snogging with her again..." Even from where she stood, Alex could see Fred shudder as he grabbed the doorknob that had suddenly appeared in the painting and swing it open, revealing a passageway. "You know I only did it the first time because you two dared me...Its creepy how she's so in love with me...I mean, I feel bad for her so I'm nice to her, but that's it. Now come on, let's go."

Alex backed away from the door and practically sprinted up the staircase, not stopping until she was almost at the entrance to the Ravenclaw tower. Leaning against the wall, panting and gasping, she was startled to find her eyes swimming with tears. Closing her eyes tightly, she willed them back, wiping at her eyes as she glanced up and down the hallway to make sure she was alone. It was ludicrous that she should be so upset, especially when she'd been planning to tell Fred that she didn't have any feelings for him. Despite telling herself that it was ridiculous, however, she could not shake the image of Fred, George and Lee sitting in the Gryffindor common room with a group of boys, regaling them with tales of how they'd dared Fred to kiss the social outcast, the freak, the loner. Feeling more tears threatening at the edge of her vision, she sought in her pocket for a tissue, pulling out the first piece of paper she found.

The joker card danced happily in her palm, oblivious to the happenings around it. Seized with a sudden fit of rage, Alex crumpled it into a tiny ball, ignoring its tiny squeal of indignation, and flung it over the stair railing with all of her might. Turning away, she walked the last little way to the Ravenclaw common room, feeling anger slowly dissolve into sadness. As she entered the common room, she saw Mark start to rise from where he had obviously been waiting for her.

"Wow, I thought Snape was never going to let you out! Here, I got some more of that soothing ointment – Hey, what's wrong? Have you been crying?" Mark took her by the shoulders, looking down at her in concern, scanning her slightly blood-shot eyes. Alex opened her mouth to answer, then paused for a long moment.

"No, I'm fine. It's just these boils really hurt." She lied finally, forcing a watery smile as Mark quickly grabbed her hands and started putting the ointment on for her. Watching him, she knew that she couldn't handle the superior expression that would appear on his face when he found out about the twins. The many different ways he would say that he had warned her. She would tell him, of course, just...not yet.

She endured a few more minutes of casual small talk about how unfair Snape was, how much Mark had finished on the Potions essay while he was waiting for her, and how Carolyn had finally figured out how to properly cast a Shield Jinx after they'd been practicing for hours in an empty classroom. All of these were things she would gladly discuss on a normal night, but all she could honestly say she felt like doing was escaping to someplace nobody could see her. Thankfully, Mark finally went to bed and she was able to retreat to her room, where she lay staring up at the ceiling for a long time before she finally fell asleep.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

On Monday morning, she walked down to Care of Magical Creatures alone and very early, having left Mark and Carolyn in the Entrance Hall. She still hadn't told either of them about what she's overheard, feeling that she could no more stand Carolyn's obvious pity than she could stand Mark's barely concealed smugness. With still almost twenty minutes before class was supposed to start, she found Hagrid standing outside his cabin looking even more shabby than usual. As she got closer, she could smell the stench of stale alcohol wafting from within the folds of his beard and coat, and the bloodshot eyes only confirmed her suspicion.

"Hello Hagrid." She said pleasantly, although keeping a safe distance out of the range of alcohol stench. She had, of course, heard about all that had happened with Draco Malfoy and had seen him prancing around school like he'd survived a heroic battle. "Are we learning more about the unicorns today?"

"What's that? Oh, uh, no...no...Flobberworms. How to take care of 'em, keep 'em alive..." Hagrid seemed to be more talking to himself than to her, gesturing vaguely towards a box of slug-like creatures which was sitting on the ground in front of his cabin. Peering in, Alex suppressed a shudder as the worms flopped and slithered over each other.

"Oh...well...that's great. Sounds fun." She said, but she needn't have made the effort. Hagrid wasn't even listening to her, staring off into his paddock where the Hippogriffs were still tethered. They seemed unconcerned, and were busy preening themselves.

"Alright Hagrid, we've got about twenty heads of lettuce, is that enough?" She heard a sickeningly familiar voice call from the garden, and she felt her stomach drop into her toes as Fred and George Weasley strolled from around the back of Hagrid's cabin, each laden with a box full of lettuce. When they caught sight of her, Fred's face broke into a wide grin, but she didn't smile back, dropping her eyes to her books and pretending to be organising her notes.

"Er, yeah...yeah tha' should do it..." Hagrid said absently, and the twins dropped the boxes of lettuce next to the box of Flobberworms. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw George give Fred a pointed look and nod towards her before sidling over to Hagrid. Fred came over and took a seat next to her on the grass, but she didn't look up, very slowly and deliberately scribbling her name on to a piece of paper, followed by a title and the date.

"Hey, I've been looking for you..." Fred said after a moment, smiling widely at her. Alex didn't respond, hearing a ghostly version of Fred's voice floating through her head. _I feel bad for her, so I'm nice to her, but that's it..._ "How are your hands? Mine have been oozing all morning." She finally glanced up at that, as he demonstrated his hands, which were still bright red and covered in bandages.

"Fine, just a bit sore." She said quietly, dropping her gaze back down to her notes. The rest of the class was starting to arrive, and she was scouting hopefully for somebody that she didn't hate that she could sit with, in the hopes of making Fred leave. The last thing she wanted was his pity.

"Oh well...that's good." Fred seemed momentarily thrown by this indifferent answer, and she took advantage of the moment to make a hasty escape, spotting the first and yet last person she ever wanted to talk to.

"Hey, Jeremy!" She called, jumping to her feet and jogging over to him. She suppressed a grimace as he gave her a once-over, his eyebrow rising into his hairline. Jeremy was one of the best looking boys of the fifth year Ravenclaws, with angelically blonde hair and blue eyes, as well as delicate features, giving you the impression that he was really very sensitive to your problems. This was all an illusion of course, because as soon as you actually talked to him it became apparent that he was an idiot and completely insensitive.

"Hey uh....Andrea." Case in point.  
"Alex."  
"Right, right...what can I do for you?" He wasn't really looking at her, sort of glancing over her shoulder, scanning the crowd. Glancing briefly over her shoulder, she caught sight of Fred watching her, although when she turned, he quickly turned to talk to George. Suddenly she was seized with a surge of anger. Floating through her mind, she could see him and George laughing about this later. About how much of a relief it was that the loser girl was not infatuated anymore. It was perhaps a result of this anger that she did something that could later only be described as unwise at best, completely idiotic at worst.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"You did _what_?" Carolyn's shriek echoed around the whole Great Hall, causing a great many people nearby to turn and stare at the three of them. Alex dropped her head into her hands, massaging her temples.

"I thought you said you didn't like him anymore." Mark said with a frown, dropping his voice so that the curious observers couldn't overhear.

"I never said that." Alex said defensively, but she couldn't quite meet Mark's piercing gaze, feeling a slight tinge of guilt at lying to her friends so blatantly. Looking up, she caught sight of Jeremy farther down the table. When he caught her eye, he grinned and winked at her. She forced a smile that she suspected looked more pained than anything else before quickly turning her head away.

"You _snogged _him! Right in front of everybody!" Carolyn was regarding Alex with a mixture of admiration and disapproval. She clearly thought Alex had lost her mind, but seemed to be torn on whether she was glad about it or not. "So now you two are...together?"

"I suppose..." Alex hadn't actually thought it through that far but she supposed the arm that had been placed possessively around her shoulder was probably a sign that they were now 'together'. Honestly, at the time she'd been too busy inwardly shuddering at the nasty taste of smoke that Jeremy had left in her mouth to really pay attention to everybody staring at them. She had, however, caught Fred's expression, which she had expected would show only amusement and relief at the fact that she was no longer 'in love' with him. All she had seen, however, was a curious mixture of disappointment with a pretty Gryffindor brunette. Glancing over at the Gryffindor table, she could see Fred and George sitting on either side of the same brunette, who was looking absolutely transported.

"Hey Carolyn...who's that girl sitting with Fred and George?" She asked, trying to make it sound as casual as she could, but not quite succeeding. Carolyn didn't notice, but she could see Mark watching her suspiciously. Carolyn swivelled in her seat to look at the Gryffindor table.

"Who? Oh the brunette? Christina. I don't know her last name, but I heard the most interesting rumour about her and this Muggle this summer..." Alex tuned out whatever else Carolyn had to say about Christina, not really caring much, still staring at her and the twins. She watched Fred turn in his seat and glance towards her and she quickly dropped her eyes to her plate. She suddenly found that she had no appetite for her lunch. Suddenly a hand dropped down on her shoulder and she swivelled, finding herself face to face with Jeremy.

"Hey baby, ready to go to Herbology?" Alex stood up and glanced back towards the Gryffindor table again, watching Fred put his arm around Christina's shoulder and kiss her on the cheek. Taking a deep breath, she let Jeremy put his arm around her.

"Yeah. Let's go."

**Yeah, so there you go. People are stupid sometimes, huh? :-D I know this one is pretty short, but the next one will be longer I'm sure. Read and review! :-D**


	7. Can't We Just Be Friends?

**A/N: Sorry this chapter took so long, it's just been a combination of writers block and school crap and it's all just very...yeah. So this is done but I'm still sorta meh on it, so review? Yeah? Enjoy!**

"What is that you're playing with?" Jeremy asked one day in the middle of November as they sat outside the library, theoretically doing their Potions essays, although Jeremy kept trying to talk her into something more...interesting. He pulled the joker card out of Alex's hands that she'd been twirling absently. He looked down at the decidedly inanimate joker card incredulously. "A Muggle joker card? Why on earth would you carry this piece of junk around?"

"It's my good luck charm." Alex said hotly, reaching to snatch it back, but rather than let go, Jeremy held fast to the card, 'causing it to rip in half. Gasping, Alex quickly snatched the other half from Jeremy, and held the two together. "_Reparo_." The two pieces slid back together, but the card looked even worse for the wear than it had before. She supposed even magic had its limitations. Jeremy, however, looked decidedly unconcerned as she slid the card carefully back into her pocket.

"Good luck charm? Aren't you a bit old to be carrying around a security blanket?" Alex didn't answer him, scribbling on her parchment with rather more force than necessary. She was just counting down the minutes until Jeremy would leave to go to his Quidditch practice. She felt there was a certain sort of cruel irony in the fact that Jeremy was the Beater on the Ravenclaw Quidditch team, though she wasn't quite willing to address what exactly was so cruel about it. They were playing the second match of the season the next day, against Gryffindor, and Alex had been unable to escape the talk of it no matter where she went, what with Jeremy and Mark. And she hadn't been able to separate Carolyn from Mark in weeks, so she hadn't even had any refreshing girl talk.

"So Priva...ready to have your arse kicked tomorrow?" Alex's hand stopped mid word, and she forced herself to raise her head slowly, looking up at Fred, who stood next to their table, grinning mischievously. She hadn't spoken to him since that fateful day in Care of Magical Creatures.

"Not a chance, Weasley..." Alex could hear Jeremy's voice dripping with dislike as he sat up straighter, facing Fred. "Ravenclaw's going to win the cup this year, especially after what happened last time..." Jeremy's face split into an almost diabolical grin. Alex shot Jeremy a slightly annoyed look; it seemed in poor taste to bring up the result of the last match. It hadn't been Gryffindor's fault that the Dementors had incapacitated their star player, and she didn't blame him. Even from twenty feet up, she had felt the tightening cold clenching around her chest.

"Oh Fred!" Alex felt her skin crawl with goosebumps as an incredibly high-pitched voice sounded out Fred's name from around a shelf. Before Fred could do more than look around guiltily, Christina rounded the corner and bounded towards him, practically bowling him over. Both her arms wrapped around his neck, she grinned sappily at him, causing even Alex to raise an eyebrow. "_There_ you are, sweetie, I have been looking all over for you! I never thought I would find you in the _library_."

"Hey Chrissy." Fred sounded, on the contrary to Christina, slightly embarrassed, dislodging her arms from around his neck and rubbing at it ruefully. She didn't seem perturbed, letting them drop so that she had them wrapped tightly around his waist. "Yeah I didn't think you would find me here either..."

"I wanted to wish you luck since I know I won't see you before the match tomorrow!" Christina said happily, oblivious to whatever Fred may have been implying. "You said you need complete focus between practice and the game so that you don't forget the tactics, and I completely understand that sweetie! I'll be in the stands cheering you on!" Leaning in, she gave Fred a deep kiss before giving another tinkling laugh and disappearing back around the shelves and out.

"I have to go too, practice starts soon...I'll see you before the match tomorrow." Jeremy leaned down and gave Alex a slightly too involved kiss before giving Fred a superior smirk.

"You know, that's funny, I heard the Ravenclaws weren't practicing until nine...it's only six thirty." Fred said, a little too casually.

"You heard wrong." Jeremy and Fred glared at each other until Jeremy turned and walked out of the library without another word to either of them. Even after he was gone, Fred glared at the spot where he had disappeared for a few more seconds before turning back to her.

There was a long awkward silence as he stood looking at her, shifting from foot to foot, seemingly indecisive about whether he should stay or leave. Alex was reaching into her bag for a pack of gum to clear the nasty taste of smoke out of her mouth, keeping her eyes deliberately averted from Fred, her jaw set tightly. After a few seconds, Fred cleared his throat slightly and walked away, taking care to go very slowly it seemed. Alex stared down at her essay blankly, having long since forgotten whatever it was that she was writing.

Even though over two months had gone by since she had overheard that conversation between Fred and his friends, she couldn't stop herself from going over it and over it in her head. Every single time, she felt the familiar sinking feeling, as if somebody had just dropped a lead weight into her stomach. About a half hour later, realising that she wasn't going to make any more progress on that essay tonight, she packed up her things carefully. She shouldered her bag and exited the library, heading towards the common room. She knew that Mark wouldn't be there; it was before curfew which meant he would be off cuddling with Carolyn somewhere.

She felt a mild sense of loneliness descend upon her as her footsteps echoed through the empty corridors. Almost everybody was in their common rooms by this hour, especially with all the extra security around the castle. Sirius Black had caused the entire castle to become tense and paranoid. Whenever she saw anybody wandering the castle alone after dark, they always had an anxious look, and often looked over their shoulders as if they expected to be jumped from behind. First years were travelling in packs of five or six, clogging the corridors during the day to the point where she had started using secret passageways just to get to class on time.

Alex had not been seized by this panic and often found herself wandering the corridors alone late at night simply to enjoy the quiet. Mark and Carolyn spent most nights comforting each other, while Jeremy was at his Quidditch practices. It was on these evening strolls that she found herself missing companionship that was neither her friends nor her boyfriend. More than once she came upon the trio of George, Fred and Lee, either stealing food from the kitchens or plotting some other sort of mischief, and it was after these silent encounters that she felt the loneliness most keenly.

Turning the corner, she found herself face to face, not with the trio of pranksters, but just Fred alone. There was a long pause as she stared at him, suddenly feeling the almost overwhelming desire to burst into tears and throw herself into his arms for comfort. It wasn't logical and she could deny it all she wanted, but the fact was still there: She missed Fred. Although they'd only been friends for a few short days, he had impacted her life in such a way that now that they weren't speaking, it was as if she had misplaced something very important.

In the time it had taken her to think all of this, Fred had moved around her and started walking in the other direction, looking just as lonely as she felt. It struck her that this was the first time she had seen Fred out by himself, and wondered if maybe he wanted some company as well. Before she could really think about how angry she was supposed to be at him, she found herself calling out to him.

"All by yourself? Where are your partners in crime?" A slight smirk turned up one corner of her mouth as Fred turned, looking surprised that she was talking to him again.

"Detention. For missed essays for once, instead of mischief...a poor excuse for a detention if you ask me." Fred gave a bright, albeit tentative smile. He seemed concerned that this brief truce was on the verge of being broken again. "What about your gang?"

"Comforting each other in a dark corner somewhere I would imagine..." Alex said with a shrug, falling into step with Fred as they headed, through some unspoken mutual agreement, towards the ground floor once again. "As usual."

"Hmm...are you hungry?" This seemed like such a random tangent that Alex could only blink for a moment as she processed this topic change. "Sorry, it's just...I didn't see you in the Great Hall during dinnertime, so I thought you might be hungry."

"Yeah...but the Great Hall is closed now." Alex said, ignoring her stomach rumbling in distress. It was true that she had had nothing to eat since lunchtime, and it was now closing in on eight o'clock at night. Fred's face, however, had split into a mischievous grin and she stopped, frowning at him suspiciously. "Why...?"

"Come on, I've got something to show you." Fred took her by the hand and began leading her through various shortcuts and down corridors until they were almost at the Entrance Hall. Alex struggled to ignore the thrill of excitement that had sent goosebumps up her arm the second Fred had touched her.

"Look, I'm telling you, even if we break into the Great Hall, there isn't going to be food there..." Alex said as Fred started down the stairs, and Alex slowed down instinctively, knowing that with all the mud and snow, that the stairs were extremely slippery.

"We aren't going to the Great Hall...I mean, come on. You're with a _Weasley_. Breaking into the Great Hall would be kid stuff." Fred said, grinning hugely at her from the bottom of the stairs. He waited for her to reach the bottom before turning and continuing on.

Raising an apprehensive eyebrow, Alex followed Fred around the corner of the stairs and through the door that she knew led to the Hufflepuff common room. It was also where Fred, George and Lee had been standing when she had overheard their conversation, in what seemed another lifetime. Alex paused at the door, recalling the last time she had stood here in the dark, overhearing a conversation she severely wished she had not. Fred was standing in exactly the same spot he'd been that night and he turned to her. The huge smile on his face faltered as he saw the shadows of sadness in her eyes.

"Hey...don't worry...me and George have done this loads of times...no chance we'll get caught." With that, he paused and held out his hand again, a crooked, if somewhat nervous, smile crossing his face. Alex hesitated, words that never seemed to fully silence echoing in her head: _Its creepy how she's so in love with me...I'd rather date the Bloody Baron..._ Then she took a deep breath, took his hand and let her lead her over to the giant painting of the bowl of fruit. It had been two months and Fred could certainly no longer claim that Alex was in love with him...there was no harm in giving him another chance.

"Tickle that pear." Alex stared at Fred and raised an eyebrow.  
"Pardon?"  
"Tickle the pear. Right there." Fred pointed to the pear in the painting, looking incredibly pleased with himself. The grin on his face could have blinded small countries. Looking sceptical, Alex reached up and tickled the pear and jumped back with a gasp as it suddenly giggled, squirming slightly in its spot. Alex took another step back, reaching for her wand instinctively to defend herself from whatever was about to shoot out at her, but relaxed as the pear morphed into what looked like a door handle.

"Well done! Try not to be so jumpy though, alright?" Fred was still holding her hand, but quickly released it when she glanced down at their entwined hands. She quickly looked down at her feet, feeling her face suddenly flush for seemingly no reason. The feeling of his hand in hers felt very comfortable, which surprised her. When she held Jeremy's hand, which wasn't often, it felt somehow...wrong. Like somebody had found two puzzle pieces that obviously didn't fit together, but had jumped on them and shoved them until they fit. Having never held anybody's hand before that, she assumed it was just how hands were supposed to go together. Now, however, holding Fred's hand, which felt so warm and cosy around hers, it seemed different. He cleared his throat slightly, suddenly looking embarrassed as he reached up and turned the door handle, pulling the painting forward towards them, revealing a large entrance. "Ladies first."

The first thing she noticed as she entered the huge room was four large tables that sat in the middle of the room in a row, much like the Great Hall tables. Next were all the pots and pans hung on the walls around the kitchen, gleaming in the warm orange light which she realised was coming from a gigantic fireplace set into the wall directly across from the entrance they had just walked through.

"Master Weasley!" Came a squeaky voice, followed immediately by a murmur of dozens of greetings as she and Fred found themselves suddenly surrounded by tiny creatures. They were all only about two or three feet in height, with giant glassy eyes and huge ears, and they were all wearing a tea cosy with the Hogwarts crest stamped on the front. "Oh and Master Weasley's friend! Come and sit by the fire, Masters, we will bring you a drink, would you like something to eat?"

A little taken aback, she turned to give Fred a quizzical look, but he had already made his way over to a seat which had been pushed over to the fireplace for him. Seeing as she had very little choice, Alex allowed the little creatures to take her by the hand and lead her to a second chair next to Fred. Before she had a chance to even ask, the little creatures had brought her a goblet of pumpkin juice, as well as a platter full of sandwiches, chicken and treacle tart that they placed on a table between Fred and her.

"What on earth – " She asked as the creatures bobbed around her, offering her a blanket, some more pumpkin juice, anything she might ever possibly desire.

"Well for starters, this is the Hogwarts kitchen." Fred gestured around the room vaguely as he picked up a sandwich from the tray. "And these are the Hogwarts house elves. Dead useful aren't they?"

"_These_ are the house elves?" Alex said, and practically stood on her chair trying to get a good look at the little elves who were still bouncing around her chair. "Somebody told me there were little elves who did the cleaning and cooking, but I thought they were just trying to trick me since I was Muggle..."

"Yeah, George and I found them down here on our first journey here back in second year...they know us pretty well by now." Indeed, the house elves had again returned to Fred's chair with some more treacle tart which he quickly started eating. After a few more moments of bewildered wonderment, Alex took a sandwich and began eating as well, suddenly remembering how very hungry she was. Before long, they were sitting and chatting like old times, laughing as the house elves continually replenished their food and drink. Alex found herself feeling happier than she had felt in a very long time.

By the time they were finally ready to leave, the house elves had given them bags of food to take back with them, not seeming very inclined to take no for an answer. Alex was reminded strongly of her grandmother, who used to always stuff Alex with food when she'd go to visit, and then give Alex a very large bag of homemade treats to take home with her. Her grandmother had died when she was in second year, and she felt a slight lump rise in her throat at the thought, but she pushed it away. By now, they were exiting into the Entrance Hall again.

"So...did you want to come back with me sometime?" Fred asked, suddenly looking everywhere but at her, and fidgeting with the bag in his hand. They were standing right at the base of the staircase now, facing each other, and she smiled slightly. "I mean, I guess this bag will probably last you for quite a while, but I mean...I could show you the other stuff. There are other secrets in this castle, you know...I'd love to show you sometime."

"Yeah." Alex felt her face reddening and she quickly looked down at her bag, pretending like she was examining the contents, resulting in that the rest of her sentence was slightly muffled. "That would be a lot of fun..."

As she looked up again, Fred was watching her with the same peculiar expression on his face, smiling slightly. She gave him a bright smile in return, feeling her cheeks flush darker. Suddenly, he started leaning in hesitantly towards her. She felt her heart suddenly jump up into her throat, beating wildly. She found herself moving towards him instinctively, but just as his lips were about an inch from hers, the entrance doors banged open loudly, revealing the entire Ravenclaw Quidditch team, Jeremy at the lead.

Alex and Fred both started guiltily and Alex took a step away from Fred, as suddenly she remembered certain facts that had been conveniently erased from her brain. Namely, that she still had a boyfriend. She didn't know what exactly the situation was between Fred and Christina, but the guilty expression on his face was answer enough. Clearing her throat slightly, she turned towards Jeremy, who had just spotted her.

"Alex! Hey baby!" He came across the room and grabbed her around the waist, pulling into her a deep kiss. He tasted like smoke again, which meant he had snuck some cigarettes in at the last Hogsmeade weekend again. He finally released her, and she coughed slightly as he pulled her against his side. "What are you doing hanging out with _that _slime?" Fred had already started walking up the stairs stiffly, looking back down at her every so often.

"Nothing." Alex answered, a little too quickly as Jeremy started leading her up the stairs, his arm tightly around her waist. Right on cue, she saw Fred suddenly get cornered by Christina, who flung her arms around his neck and gave him a deep kiss. He wrapped an arm around her as they walked away around the corner, but she saw him look back at her one last time. She felt as if somebody had just stabbed her in the heart all over again, but she quickly pushed it aside, taking a deep breath and letting herself snuggle closer to Jeremy. "Nothing at all."

**A/N: Voila! Chapter 8 coming up soon I hope...:)**


End file.
