As the Second Wizarding War ended, many students decided to go back to Hogwarts to finish their studies. Anne-Leigh Conway was one of them.
While she attempts to come to terms with what's happened, she gets entangled in an effort set forth by Headmi...
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Chapter 32: Are You Blushing?
The sharp and cold winds immediately ripped into Leigh the second they stepped outside, and she tightened the scarf around her neck. The summer air had long abandoned them, and all that was left now was the chilly and dark last months of the year.
The two of them naturally walked closer due to the cold, and Fred glanced at her, all packaged into her coat.
"I should've brought a scarf," he said in feigned sulkiness, one hand grasping his jacket beneath his chin to keep the cold from his skin.
"Is this your way of asking for mine?" She raised an eyebrow.
"No, I could never," he immediately responded with a smile. "It suits you too well."
With it nearing December, Fred couldn't help but bring up the holiday decorations which were soon to be strewn across Hogsmeade. Trees with lights and creative Christmas displays in all the shops' windows. This, of course, included Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes.
Fred delved into the type of lights and decorations they would have both on the shop in Hogsmeade and the one in Diagon Alley, and Leigh couldn't help but just listen and smile. Some of the notable ideas he brought up was dressing the mechanical Weasley in front of the shop up like Santa Claus, and putting a permanent snowing charm over the shop entrance.
Once he'd explained the type of decorations Zonko's, and other shops, had had in the past he seemed to run out of words and a comfortable silence surrounded them.
They were walking down the street between the buildings, no specific destination in mind.
Surprising both herself and Fred, Leigh spoke up. The curiosity got the better of her.
"So," she glanced up at Fred, "How did it go with the girl?"
She could see him suppressing a smirk, yet he replied: "Which girl?"
She rolled her eyes with a grin and looked at him with a gaze which screamed 'I'm not blind'. "The girl you were stood flirting with."
He laughed, kicking a pebble on the path before him. "First of all, I wasn't flirting."
"Really?" She didn't buy it.
"Yeah, really," Fred mimicked her, looking down at her mischievously. "She was flirting with me."
Leigh nodded. "Mhm, right," she said, unconvinced.
Fred looked down at her with playfully narrowed eyes, tilting his head to the side slightly as if to tell her not to challenge him on it. "Second of all," he continued, "it didn't go anywhere because I didn't want it to go anywhere. If I wanted to I totally could've," he shrugged.
"Is that so?" She teased, raising her eyebrows. She found herself really enjoying their back and forths.
"Yeah, it is exactly as so," he replied childishly, pointing his nose up in the air.
