A.J RYAN IN THE ORDER OF THE PHOENIX

Chapter 31 - Oliver Wood

Fred was pacing the Wheezes bathroom while George was the only one working.

"Why don't you go talk to her then?" George remarked frustrated with his brother.

"She's in class." Fred answered.

"How long for?" George sighed. He knew they wouldn't get her to skive off classes.

"Another... thirty-five minutes." He answered after looking at his watch for the twentieth time. "But she's got to see Simon at dinner, then some Professor after that." He finished with a groan.

"Since when do we actually call him Simon?" George asked.

"Lexi calls everyone by their proper name. Even calls Snape, Professor. Her respectfulness is rubbing off on me." Fred said in horrified realisation.

George chortled.

"Well spill. We're going to talk about it." George said firmly. He didn't think he could take that much more of his brother's distress.

Fred thought for a moment before agreeing.

"You know the guy Lexi dated over summer?"

"Yeah, Oliver, wasn't it?" George confirmed.

"That was Wood."

George's mouth dropped open. "As in ex-Quidditch captain, Wood? He's a bit old for her, don't you reckon?" He scoffed.

"No one's too old for her. You know how smart she pretends she's not." He smiled fondly.

"So?" George prompted.

Fred looked at his brother incredulously but decided this was not the point he was upset about.

"She slept with him."

"Oh. How'd you find out?" George asked sympathetically.

"Katie Bell's still in contact with him. I heard her talking to Angelina and Alicia about it, I mean it kind of implied they had slept together. He loves her." Fred finished.

"But you said she doesn't love him?" George asked.

"No."

George thought for a couple of moments. "So, you're jealous." George concluded.

Fred started. But his protest was caught in his throat. "Yes." He answered reluctantly.

"She's quite a catch mate. It was bound to have happened." George reassured.

"Yeah I know. I just got a thousand questions going through my head that I could've asked when I was with her." He finally took a seat beside his brother.

"What time's she finished with the Professor, wait which Professor?" George asked.

"She didn't say." Fred smirked at his brother's side-tracked curiosity. "But she said if I was still up at one-"

Fred and George turned to stare at each other as they both silently decided that is what he should do.

"There's no way I can wait until tomorrow." Fred grinned.

"You probably wouldn't be able to sleep anyway. But I'll help you stay awake just in case." George matched his brother's grin.

"Now can you help me with this? I think if we tweak the measurements of-" George focused back on work for their joke shop.

Fred was determined to talk to her tonight. He was trying to rearrange his thoughts to get all the questions sorted out. He groaned internally and just considered letting A.J into his mind to pick the questions out herself. He sat up straighter and tried to find her at the Ravenclaw table. After two long glances up and down, he resigned to the fact she wasn't there.