Lemon Grass and Sleep

ENOUGH IS ENOUGH

"I'm going to need you two to make up, like immediately." Glinda sliced her meat calmly before taking a bite, looking at me expectantly.

"Well, I'm not going to be the one to apologize first, I'm telling you that."

"I don't expect you to, not after what he said," she agreed, "But you've got to pick your battles sometimes. Perhaps he's too much of a coward to talk to you, sometimes you have to be the one to apologize first even when you're the one who deserves it more."

"Mmm," I thought over what she said. Obviously he would have apologized by now if he felt badly about hurting my feelings, but he hadn't. I didn't even say anything particularly bad about him, not anything I remember, anyway.

"But you do have to admit," she continued, "It is a rather silly thing to have an argument about."

I clenched my jaw and looked down to my plate. She was right, as usual. Neither of us even had anything to do with the tournament ourselves, and here we were letting our relationship die because of it. Sure, Potter was on the Hufflepuff's bad side right now, but that didn't mean me or Fred needed to care about that.

"I know," I finally mumbled.

But how do people make up after a fight? Shockingly, Glinda and I had never fought before. In fact, I can't really ever remember being on someone's bad side before. I'm a pretty neutral, forgettable guy.

So how does someone be bold enough to take a hit to their pride like that?

"Hey," I spoke quietly from behind him, and I saw Fred perk up as he sat at the library table. "Could we talk?"

I could almost feel the annoyance he felt in the way he moved and bristled at the sound of my voice.

"About what?" He asked coldly, flipping the page in his textbook.

"You know what about, don't be daft," I muttered.

"I don't really feel like talking right now," he retorted. "Maybe later."

"Fred-" I bit out, cutting myself off and taking a deep breath. "Can we please talk now?"

He paused for a moment, rubbing his thumb over the page as he mulled the thought over. Fred let out an irritated sigh before snapping his book shut and sliding his work into his bag. Finally, he turned around to face me.

I'm embarrassed to admit I blushed at the eye contact.

Not for long, though, I was sure to look away very quickly. This weakness to Fred's looks was something I'd need to get over if we were going to have more fights like this, it only makes things harder for me.

"Lead the way."

I walked ahead of him toward the room, the only confirmation that Fred was still following me was the constant sound of his footsteps behind me. At some point I became overly aware of how I looked from his point of view, and began stumbling I was so nervous. I had my tie on correctly, right? And hopefully my robe wasn't pulled weird around me because of how I was wearing my bag. What if my walk looks funny from behind? Or if my socks aren't matching--he'd surely be able to tell.

"What are you thinking about?" Fred was suddenly beside me, whispering into my ear.

My hand quickly reached up to cover my ear, and I looked over at him, startled. The gray door was in front of me, and I guess I had just been staring at it.

"Nothing," I replied quickly, pushing the door in.

"Well, what is it?" He asked as soon as the door closed behind him.

"I-" The room felt very quiet. Not even the fireplace dulled the silence. "I'm sorry for what I said about Gryffindors. I didn't mean it."

I couldn't bring myself to look up at him, and in the silence I felt nervous, upset tears prick at my eyes. What if he didn't even accept my apology? The Yule ball was soon, would he not go with me anymore?

"Helloo?" I looked up to find Fred holding both of my arms as he stood right in front of me. He was looking down at me with a hint of concern on his face. "Why do you keep spacing out?"

"Sorry," I said weakly, "I'm just caught up in thoughts."

He let out a long, tired breath. For a moment he just looked up at the ceiling, still holding onto my arms.

"What I said about Hufflepuff was out of line," he admitted, "It's a house trait that Puffs play fair, and I should've realized that you of course would be cross with Harry getting made a champion. In fact, even our house is a little mad at him."

"Why would Gryffindor be mad?"

"Well," he let go of me and rubbed the back of his neck, "Pretty much the same reasons as Hufflepuff, but without the Cedric part."

"So you agree it's suspicious, right?"

"It is a bit odd," he mumbled.

We were quiet again, just for a little bit as we let our apologies sink in. I decided I had enough guts to go ahead and ask a burning question.

"Do you still like me?" My voice wobbled more than I care to admit as I said it out loud. I was just barely keeping my tears held in at this point. "That sounds so pathetic," I murmured.

Fred hadn't talked, or so much as looked at me, in days. My life was beginning to go back to how it was before he even knew my name, and I hated it. Coming to me only for that poor imitation of intimacy--and I gave it to him! He probably thought I was too easy..and...

"What?" He asked quietly.

At that, my tears let loose. He didn't say yes! God, now I'm out a boyfriend and all the happiness that came with that. Now the only thing I had to look forward to were smuggled muggle chocolates and perhaps a dance with Glinda at the ball.

"Hey, hey now," Fred sputtered, wrapping his arms around me and pulling me into his chest. "Of course I do, what the hell is this about?"

"Well," I mumbled, reaching up to wipe away my tears. "You haven't had a normal conversation with me in days, and all you came to me for was sex--so I thought...I thought maybe you just-"

"Of course I was going to talk to you," he muttered, clenching his jaw. "I didn't know if you wanted me to yet."

"Huh?"

"Well," he cleared his throat, "I think we both can agree that what I said may have been worse."

I swallowed down the lump in my throat at the memory of him flinging insults at me like that.

"They were a bit more personal," I murmured.

"Sorry," he whispered.

"Do you really think I'm ditsy?" I asked, glancing up at him and resting my chin on his chest.

"No," he spoke softly, rubbing his hand up and down my back as he looked at me. "You're one of the smartest people I know, I was just being jealous."

"Fred."

"Yeah?"

"Could...we um, you know."

"Now?" He asked incredulously, wiping away one of my tears.

"Well, it's been...days, and I'm-"

Fred rolled his eyes as a grin overtook his face. He laughed quietly as he stepped back and pulled me by the wrist after him.

I find it curious that the room knew we'd still need the bed before we came in here.