just for me ⚘ a Fred Weasley Fanfiction

24. i hate parties, maybe

Juniper awkwardly followed Blaise and Matilda through the Forbidden Forest, putting all her trust in them to lead her to the party, and not just murder her in the middle of nowhere. She left enough space so they could whisper to each other without her overhearing, which was more for her sake than theirs. She had already caught them making out in the Slytherin common while they waited for her to get changed out of her dress into more casual party clothes. And that was way more than she wanted to ever see.  They had come to a slow stop, getting touchy with each other, and Juniper had to interrupt before she was scarred for life.

"Hey! Is there actually a party out here, or are you guys just planning to murder me?" She shouted, their heads snapping up in embarrassment.

"Sorry Juniper, I forgot you were with us." Matilda said sheepishly, bursting out into giggles. "That punch was strong."

"We're coming up to the tent." Blaise continued leading the way to the party, a little bit more sober than Matilda. A few more minutes of walking through the deserted forest, they came across a tent, which looked like it couldn't hold more than five people.

"We just walked, what? Seven hours? Just to have a picnic in the forest?" Juniper groaned at the underwhelming sight, exaggerating out of frustration.

"Well they didn't want teachers to find it, it had to be hidden." Blaise rolled his eyes at her, heading towards the tent. He held the fabric door open for Matilda to walk in, waiting for Juniper to go in as well.

"Who's 'they'?" Juniper crossed her arms over her chest, following in after Matilda reluctantly.

"Relax." Blaise muttered, following her inside. "They won't even notice you're here. Or at least one of them won't."

The tent was huge on the inside, with at least 150 people fitting inside, with plenty of room to spare. The room glowed a soft orange from the candles spread across the room, with party lights flashing across the walls. The music was blaring into Juniper's ears, making it hard for her to concentrate on where she was going and what was happening. She had lost Matilda and Blaise to a corner of the room with a a bunch of bean bags, where they had already made their place and began making out, again. She was trying to look around the room for another familiar and friendly face, but whisked up into a crowd and shoved towards the middle of the room, where the music was somehow louder, and everyone was dancing. After a few failed attempts to leave the group, she was grabbed by the arm and yanked out, being dragged all the way to the opposite side of the room. She tilted her head upwards to see Viktor Krum looking down at her, a small, but happy, smile on his face.

"Hi!" Hermione's voice piped up next to him, appearing out of nowhere.

"Uh... hi." Juniper stuttered back, still trying to process her surroundings.

"I saw you were struggling so I asked Viktor to help." Hermione smiled, seeing the panic on Juniper's face. "It's a lot, isn't it? The twin's always go above and beyond with their parties."

"This is their party?" Juniper groaned, looking around. Along the wall there were containers filled with ice and drinks, another punch bowl, and So. Much. Alcohol. "It's aggressively... Gryffindor."

"Really? I didn't notice..."

"Where are the twins anyway?"  Juniper asked, trying to keep a mental tab on their whereabouts so she could avoid them.

"Um... George is probably topping up everyone's drinks without them realising and Fred is..." Hermione stood on her tiptoes, trying to look across the packed room. "Over there, with Angelina."

"Who?" Juniper whipped her head over her shoulder to see where Hermione was pointing. Fred was leaning against a table, deep in conversation with the girl he went to the Ball with. As they spoke, his head inched closer to hers, and he stared deep into her eyes. And Juniper couldn't look away from them. His hand had reached up into Angelina's hair, playing with the ends of it. He snuck a glace at Juniper, knowing that she was watching, before pulling her in for a kiss. Juniper's stomach twisted into a knot, that now-familiar jealous feeling filling up her chest again.