one sickle ~ f.w.

chapter 24

-- y/n's pov --

"hey, y/n."

"morning fred. let's go inside, i'm freezing."

we enter the crowded inn and instantly feel warmer. the atmosphere is cosy and welcoming, the sweet smell of butterbeer and firewhisky hovers in the air as we hear the familiar sound of tipsy wizards laughing and sharing conversations. 

"it's been so long since i've been here," i say, looking around for an empty table. "let's sit here."

fred sits down opposite me and smiles awkwardly, taking his hat off and placing it on the table. "so... how are you?"

"i'm good, thank you. how are you?"

"i'm good too. let's get some drinks, shall we?" he begins to get up, but then notices a waiter walking towards our table. 

"what can i get you both?" i actually didn't know there were waiters and waitresses here - must be a new addition.

"butterbeer?" fred asks me.

"yeah, alright." 

"two butterbeers," he says to the waiter.

"alright, that's four sickles please." 

i reach into my coat pocket to get my money out.

"wait, what are you doing?" fred asks.

"what? i'm getting my money," i say, slightly confused.

"hey, it's a date. i'm paying." he smiles warmly.

"really? you don't have to, freddie-"

"but i want to." he says, and gives the money to the waiter.

the waiter walks off, leaving us on our own once again. 

i peer out of the window and watch the early january snow fall down, creating a smooth blanket on the ground. it wasn't snowing earlier - i guess it started after we came in. "hey, look, it's snowing." 

fred looks out the window, observing the cold weather outside. a smile begins to form on his face, he finds peace in the snow - it's easy to tell. suddenly i feel my cheeks begin to warm up - i think i'm blushing. 

he turns back to me and smiles softly, then suddenly his expression changes to a smirk. i really hope my blushing isn't obvious - that would be so embarrassing.

"are- are you... blushing?"

shit.

my eyes widen. he looks like he's trying to hold in a laugh, but can barely keep it in.

"uh- n-no, of course not." my attempt to be calm and collected is really not working - it's painfully obvious.

"you are!" he laughs gently, and his cheeks begin to go slightly red - just like mine. this'll be fun.

"well... so are you!" 

his expression changes again - this time he looks embarrassed. as he should be. "not laughing anymore, are you?" i raise an eyebrow at him and smile.

"shut up. i'm just cold." he begins to mindlessly tap his fingers on the table.

"sure." i giggle. "it's okay though, i think it's cute."

the tapping stops. 

he looks up at me slowly. that was quite a big move - maybe i shouldn't have done that. 

a shy smile begins to creep onto his face. "you- you do?"

"i mean- yeah, i guess." i smile back, and feel quite reassured. it definitely could be worse - it could've been 'ew, you think i'm cute?' , but it wasn't, and that's good.

unfortunately, our moment is interrupted when the waiter comes back to our table, this time with a tray holding our butterbeers. he carefully places them on the table. "your drinks."

"thank you," i say, and take a sip. fred just nods at the waiter.

we stay silent as we drink, we've both been craving warm drinks today - what with the cold weather and all that. both our glasses are empty within five minutes. 

"so, uh, what now?"

"i'm not sure," i say softly.

"we could go back to hogwarts," fred suggests. "or we could take a walk around hogsmeade - if you're up for it. i don't know about about you but i feel a lot warmer thanks to that butterbeer, i wouldn't mind a stroll around the area - but it's your choice, of course."

"yeah, alright. let's do that." we get out of our seats and begin to walk towards the door, but i stop when i realise fred's forgotten his hat. he notices i've stopped walking and turns around. "aren't you forgetting something?" i laugh, and pick up his hat from our table. 

"right! thank you. that was close."

we exit the shop and start our walk around hogsmeade, passing all the shops and going round every twist and turn until we're tired out. we pass honeydukes on the way, but decide against going in - we still have most of those sweets i got fred for christmas. 

after a while, we arrive back at hogwarts. "that was fun. i really enjoyed that." i say, as we enter the common room.

"me too." fred smiles. i walk over to the couch by the fireplace, and notice george and lee smiling giddily. they look like they're going to explode - i already know what they're going to say.

"have fun, did you?" george grins, as fred joins us, sitting down on the armchair next to mine.

"not that it's any of your business, but yes, we did."

"it's so our business! i'm your brother, and lee's your best friend!"

"do you really want to go into details?"

"yes." george and lee say in unison.

"do you want to?" i ask fred.

"i don't mind what we do." 

i decide to not share everything, and just say what we did and where we went. "alright, first we went to the three broomsticks, then took a walk around the area. hogsmeade, i mean."

"ooooh!" 

fred and i roll our eyes. "i knew they would be like this," he says.

"moving on-" i raise an eyebrow at george and lee, "-what have you two been doing?"

"just homework mostly."

"that doesn't sound very interesting."

"it wasn't." 

"what do you guys wanna do now? it's only, what, 12? we have the whole day." 

"anything but homework."

"oh! i have a great idea! why don't we have a snowball fight?"

***

sorry we haven't been uploading much recently, we'll try to be more frequent in the future <3

oh also, about the paying thing at the three broomsticks, i just put what i thought made sense, i literally have no idea how it works lmao

hope yall are staying safe :)

have a good day!

-dasha