The Language of Flowers | Fred Weasley

26: C O R I A N D E R-lust

The room exploded with sound, all of us talking over one another.

"Language, George!"

"I am not a coward, George!"

"Bloody hell! You think I like him!?"

Everyone began yelling at George all, trying to get our opinions across but it was just a blur of sounds. I was blushing like mad, furtively denying George's claims that I was a coward and that I liked Fred. If I liked Fred everyone would have known by now, I couldn't keep my mouth shut when it came to stuff like that. It was clear that George was losing his marbles.

"Enough!" McGonagall screeched and the room hushed. "George, you are free to go back to the ball. No more trouble or I will give you detention." McGonagall told George and he quickly got up and left, a slight smirk on his face as he went. McGonagall took a deep breath, pushing her glasses up her nose. "I thought I was going to have to worry about couples getting a little too close," She muttered under her breath.

My skin was beginning to itch, the wet material of my dress rubbing uncomfortably against my body. The dress was now warm enough that I wasn't shaking, my hands the only body part refusing to warm up. I refused to look over at Fred, my eyes staring straight ahead at McGonagall. Where did George get that horrendous idea that Fred and I liked each other? He was the only one besides us two that knew we were pretending to like each other, surely he hadn't forgotten that.

The only thing that I could think of that could have convinced him of that was the snowball fight earlier today, that was the only time I could think of where Fred and I had done something intimate enough that could have convinced someone who knew that we were faking that we liked each other. I closed my eyes, grimacing at myself. I would never live that snowball fight down.

I thought back to this morning, the strange warmth I had felt as I had laid on the courtyard grounds, Fred sitting over me. I shook my head, clearing the thoughts from my mind. I needed to spend some time burying that memory as deep as possible. The warmth I had felt was something I could have felt with anyone, not just Fred.

"You both are very quiet, anything to add."

"I don't like him," I blurted quickly.

"I don't like you either," Fred added quietly. Our eyes briefly met and I looked back forward, feeling my cheeks get even hotter.

McGonagall cleared her throat, looking stunned. "Clearly we aren't going to get anywhere so here is what I propose. I am going to give you both detention for two weeks, the amount of time you two managed to get along. If I hear of you two arguing or fighting any day after today, I will be adding one more day to your detention period. You two are dismissed. I don't want any problems after today, do you understand?"

"Yes, Professor." I nodded quickly, thankful the conversation had come to a close. I got to my feet quickly, grabbing my shoes with one hand and keeping my towel wrapped tightly around myself with the other. I raced past Fred, squeezing between his long legs and McGonagall's desk.

Thankfully, I thought to myself as I made my way down the four flights of stairs to the ground floor, McGonagall's office didn't require me to walk past the Great Hall, so I didn't have any run-ins with any of my friends. I wouldn't have been able to handle talking to them anyways, I would have struggled so badly explaining what had happened. Even thinking about having to explain the situation to them made me embarrassed all over again, I wanted to crawl into a hole and die. Well, maybe not a hole, maybe I'd just accidentally fall off the Astronomy tower instead.

I cursed silently at the stairs as I ran down them, trying to keep ahead of Fred, whose steps followed me all the way down the stairs. I didn't like Fred, but there was no way I would be able to talk to him. George had some idea that I liked Fred, I didn't want Fred to see me this nervous or he would believe I liked him as well.