The Language of Flowers | Fred Weasley

23: S I L V E R L E A F G E R A N I U M - recall

"What do you mean this isn't that simple? I just said it was that simple!" I was desperate now, my one shot at victory slipping through my fingers. I was so desperate in fact, that I grabbed Fred's arm without thinking. We both froze and I almost let go but instead I kept my grip, wanting him to know I was serious. I was not going to let this go. "Come on Weasley, is it that hard to let me have this one win?"

"What's the magic word?" Fred smirked as he gently removed my hand from his arm. "Your hands are like icicles." He laughed.

"Please," I whispered between gritted teeth. My hands curled into fists at my sides, my nervousness gone, replaced by red hot anger.

"What was that?"

"Please," I said louder this time, holding my chin up. I might be willing to beg a little but I was not going to give up all of my dignity.

"Oh come on, Winnie. Fight with me. You've always got such a mouth on you, why give in now? You weren't made to beg. Not over this, at least. Don't settle for winning a little battle, the fight's almost over." Fred implored me.

My eyes landed on his, narrowly slight. "Did you get possessed, Weasley?" I asked, because it was the only possible explanation.

"No, I'm not bloody possessed. We've both put too much work into this for one of us to quit now."

"You're weirding me out, Weasley."

Fred let out a sigh, running his hand through his hair. "Whatever, let's just drop it. We still have a little bit longer." Fred said. Without warning he began worming his way through the crowd towards the entrance to the Great Hall. The entire crowd was surging forward, ready to get into the ball room.

"Fred!" I called but he doesn't even give me backward glance. "Jerk," I muttered under my breath as I too began to try and get through the crowd. With my dress and with the large amount of people pushing into one doorway, I managed to only move up a little bit before I stopped trying all together.

I kept a hand on my dress, holding it off the floor so it wouldn't get stepped on. My dress didn't rest too much on the ground but the few inches that did were stepped on every few seconds so it was better to just hike it up a bit.

I continued scanning for Fred, not bothering to look for my friends. I didn't feel like making up a lie about why Fred and I weren't heading inside together. My head was spinning, I was still trying to digest all of Fred's words. He hadn't been making any sense at all. I had literally given him the opportunity to prank me without any retaliation and he didn't take it. He was acting so strange today.

I brushed a curl over my shoulders, eyes wandering aimlessly over the crowd. The Slytherins came up from their common room, the fourth years leading the way. I watched all of them join the crowd, wanting to find a familiar face. "Ellie? Is that you in Slytherin green? I always knew you were supposed to be with us!" I smiled as I spotted the long, dark hair and dark honey eyes of Gabriella, a sixth year Slytherin. She was the last Slytherin to arrive and I watched with a smirk as several of the boys nearby stopped what they were doing to glance over at her. She looked like a royal, from her dress down to her walk. She commanded attention.

I rolled my eyes at her, she was one of the most dramatic people I knew. She grinned at me, making her way over, the crowd parting for her like a hot knife parted butter.

"Merlin's beard, How have you been?" I asked as we hugged. She was wearing a black dress, her arms and collar decorated with black lace. She grinned, looking me over as she pulled out of the hug.

"Same old, same old. You look gorgeous, I must say, and ugh, I want to snatch that dress off and wear it myself." She said with a smirk. I laughed, looking myself over. I did look amazing in this outfit, it flattered my figure and it was just modest enough that I wouldn't get in trouble, but just barely so. The dress had a lovely v-neckline that was the perfect length, not too long and not too short, and paired with the slit that ran up to the middle of my thigh, I felt like a model. The material of my dress was nice too, a simple chiffon(Adhera had told me that) that was so comfortable that I wanted to wear the dress all the time.