New Perspective ⌁ Fred Weasley

Chapter Twenty

Fred walked up to Gryffindor Tower after his detention, quite happy with himself. It was nice to see Maxine smile and laugh and have a good conversation that didn't involve numerous insults (though there was a couple). She was opening up to him, and he liked it.

As mysterious as she seemed to those around her, Fred knew there was more to Maxine than her hard, mean exterior. He was impressed by her motivation to prove others wrong, to show that she was more than just a "beater girl."

Inside the common George was lounging in a chair near the fire place, with Lee sitting on the floor. They seemed deeply engaged in a conversation but as they saw Fred, smiles spread across their faces.

"Freddie!" George motioned for him to come over. "How was hell?"

"It was good," Fred told him honestly.

A perplexed expression formed on George's face and he looked down at Lee, who had the exact same expression.

"What do you mean good?" Lee squinted. "You had detention in the library and that means scrubbing the floors and dusting and mopping. Things that are the complete opposite of fun."

"Not to mention it was detention with Beater Girl," George added.

"Speaking of which," Lee pulled out a long piece of parchment. "George and I thought of a brilliant idea for our next prank."

"Maybe we should take a break from the prank war, at least until after the holiday break," Fred suggested as he sat down on the couch near the two other boys. "And Maxine is not that bad."

George's jaw dropped and Lee look like he had just seen a ghost.

Fred rolled his eyes at the two boys. After they had established the prank war, the had established that after it was over, they would all go one their way and not have any relationship with the girls. But now Fred was becoming friends with one of them.

"Did you just call her Maxine?" Lee asked slowly. "As in her first name?"

"Yes."

"Are you two friends now?" George raised his eyebrows.

Fred shrugged. "I don't know yet. We had a really good conversation. I learned a lot about her. She's quite nice."

"She turned your hair black and yellow!" Lee threw his hands in the air.

"And we made her pee her pants," Fred waved him off. "We may be at war but I think she is a nice person. She's...intriguing."

"Do you really think we should discontinue the prank war?" George asked seriously. He wasn't going to judge Fred for whatever choice he made. It seemed as though there was something more going on in his head.

"I don't know," Fred said. "Maybe we should meet with the girls and determine where we go from here. McGonagall was pretty serious when she said that she would end it herself if we got into any more trouble."

"Alright, whatever you say," Lee nodded along with George.

Then a sly smirk crossed George's face. "So, what exactly makes Beater Girl interesting?"

"To begin with," Fred smiled to himself. "She explained exactly why she doesn't like being called 'Beater Girl.'"

When Maxine arrived back into her common room after detention, she took a hot shower in order to relax. The conversations with Fred left her quite tense.

She had never had someone be so interested in her before. He asked her so many question and seemed so invested in all of her answers. There was no judgement whatsoever as he listened to everything she had to say.

Fred was much nicer than Maxine ever though he could be. He was charming and quite kind, which was she found very surprising. All this time Maxine had assumed that Fred only cared about himself.

There was great motivation in Fred's demeanor as he had told Maxine he was going to change her perspective on how she saw life. No one had had ever challenged her thinking before. It was very unfamiliar.

There was no judgement as Maxine told Fred why she didn't like being called Beater Girl or as she explained how she viewed the purpose of life. He wasn't treading on eggshells or become uncomfortable.

Maybe there was more to Fred Weasley after all.

i have covid again so i have nothing to do but update stories