Isn't He Lovely • A Fred Weasley Story

p r o f e s s o r b a k e r

A week later, I'm walking onto the Quidditch pitch with my broomstick resting over my shoulder and enjoying the sun shining down. Despite the fact that it's a chilly Thursday in late January, the sunshine is a significant mood-lifter as it floods the field and creates a happy atmosphere for the first training session since before break.

I see Ginny, Harry, Ron, Clarice and Afiya already out on the field as I approach them, birds chirping overhead and the sky blue as can be. Connor hasn't arrived yet, but given that we still have about ten minutes until the official start time of our practice, I'm not surprised.

"Hi, everybody," I greet cheerfully as I join the group. "Good to be back out on the field, yeah?"

"Really good," Harry replies, grinning.

"Totally!" Clarice chirps from beside me. I look down at her and Afiya with a smile.

"Hey you two," I say to the pair of girls. "I know I haven't gotten to chat with you much during classes with Slughorn... how was your break?"

"It was wonderful," Afiya answers, beaming. "My parents got me brand new Quidditch gloves and some new sweaters... plus, Clarice and I got to see each other."

"Yeah, our families are close," Clarice adds, nodding. "Oh, Afiya, we almost forgot to tell her about Diagon Alley!"

"Oh, yeah!" Afiya says excitedly, looking to Clarice with a grin.

"What about Diagon Alley?" I ask, intrigued. The two girls look at me simultaneously.

"Well, we went there over the first week of break, with our parents..." Clarice starts, "...just to do some shopping, you know. And we saw this real colorful shop on the corner, with lots of cool stuff in the windows-"

"So of course we had to check it out," Afiya cuts in, smiling. "And we found out it's a joke shop!"

I grin with realization, my mind wandering to Fred and George's shop and recalling fond memories. "Ah, yes, Weasley's Wizard Wheezes..."

"Yeah!" Afiya continues excitedly. "We went in there and we saw these two really tall guys, with this bright red hair, and when they turned around we totally recognized 'em! From here, from Hogwarts! From Quidditch!"

"So we ran up to them, right?" Clarice now says, the two girls' enthusiasm making me chuckle lightly as they explain. "And we said- we said, 'hey, did you two go to Hogwarts?'"

"And of course they said yes," Afiya adds. "So we said to 'em that we had seen them play on the Gryffindor Quidditch team... and we told them about us taking their spots!"

"What did they say?" I ask, my interest fully peaked now. The two girls giggle a moment before answering.

"Well, they both looked at each other for a second, and then they got all excited to meet us, actually..." Afiya says, smiling and shrugging a bit, "...they said you told them about us, and how they had been wanting to meet us."

"So of course we were a bit surprised that two graduated legendary Quidditch players from Hogwarts were interested in meeting two goofy twelve year old girls like us, but we weren't complaining!" Clarice laughs. I grin, nodding.

"Yeah, I'm- I'm good friends with them, they were really into the idea of you guys taking over as beater superstars," I say. The girls exchange a smirk before looking back to me.

"Eloise..." Clarice says slowly, grinning mischievously, "...good friends, huh?"

"That's not what that redhead told us..." Afiya giggles beside her friend. I roll my eyes but smile, crossing my arms and sighing.