Before Me

In retrospect, perhaps it could have all been avoided if one or the other had just spoken earlier. It wasn't like they were silent around each other, far from it. First of all, Arlet fully believed that it was impossible for Fred Weasley to be quiet around anyone — it was impossible for him to be quiet at all.

"I take full offense of that, Arly-kins," Fred had said when she joked about it. All their other friends seemed to agree with Arlet as they laughed together.

"Do you? Do you really take offense to that?" Fred's own brother was probably laughing the hardest out of everyone.

"Shut it, George," Fred muttered and grabbed a handful of jelly beans from their shared bowl on the table. He flicked a few jelly beans at those closest to him. "You're all terrible friends," he declared.

Arlet was in a giggling state, even when one of the jellybeans hit her forehead. "C'mon Fred, you're one of the loudest people I've met." She got up from her spot on the floor and plopped down beside him on the couch.

"Am not," he insisted. Still grumbling, he offered her a jelly bean from the pool in his hand.

"Oh, are too." Arlet reached for a jelly bean and popped it into her mouth. She didn't think one simple comment would cause all this. It wasn't often she got to Fred, and even more that she made others laugh. She wasn't very good at jokes. "I'm sorry—"

But someone had called Fred at that moment. Fred looked over the couch, grinning on the spot.

It was Willow Jade, easily one of the prettiest Gryffindor girls — prettiest girl in school altogether. She was a bright redhead — go figure — and had soft hazel eyes. Her word was like law. If she called you, you went to her, no questions asked. It seemed like she could put any boy under a trance.

It was hard admitting that beyond petty jealousy, there was actually nothing wrong with Willow. She was kind, a bit of a jokester herself, and very lively, not to mention smart. But if anyone asked Arlet, she could not stand her. And she knew exactly why. She knew it when Willow called Fred away from their group each time.

"You need to say something," Arlet's younger sister, Aracely, told her later in the evening when the girls had retired to their dorm. "It does no one good when you simmer with jealousy."

Arlet was pulling her covers down, huffing and puffing, but saying absolutely nothing. Aracely rolled her eyes; this wasn't a new conversation, not by a long shot.

~0~

When Arlet and her sister Aracely transferred to Hogwarts, the sisters quickly befriended the Weasley twins. Arlet's situation, although common with the September 1st rule, brought a bit of extra attention when she started. Her birthday was past the cut off the date which meant she had to start school one year later which meant she started along with her younger sister. How could the twins not go poke at that? They were the self appointed welcoming committee of Hogwarts. Their first act was to play the welcoming pranks, only that when the fireworks went off and Arlet fell quite literally in Fred's arms, the latter felt awful for frightening her like that...and thinking she looked just a tad cute.

Arlet had bright blue eyes and plump cheeks. Those quickly became Fred's favorite things about her. When he had caught her from behind, she blinked at him with those blue eyes of hers, wide as could be. The apology tumbled out of him on the spot.

George still hadn't forgiven him for that one. They pulled pranks, they never apologized. It's how it went.

"Oh, but sure, one look from the new pretty girl and you're like fucking jello." George smacked his twin upside the head. "Absolutely pathetic. I will be holding onto this information for future usage."