I Solemnly Swear (Fred Weasley)

"So, Nora, whatcha going to do about that thing..."

I Solemnly Swear 8

 {All characters, places, objects, spells, things, etc belong to J.K Rowling, apart from those which I have made up. I take no credit for anything J.K Rowling has created.}

Chapter 8:

Today was the day of the first task. Everyone was buzzing with anticipation as we waited for the time to arrive. Finally, we all filed down to an enclosure with seats all around. There was a tent on the far side for the champions to wait in. Everyone was waiting to find out what the first task was.

"Hey - excuse me - oh! - sorry!" A girl with chocolate eyes and a mixture of light and dark brown curls had just tripped over someone's foot and fallen into Lyric's lap a she was making her way along the row. Lyric was seated next to me and the girl's hands were on my lap.

"I'm so sorry!" The girl apologised, standing up and awkwardly dusting herself off, grinning at us. (Us being myself, Lyric, Fred, George and Violet.) The girl looked familiar, I think I had seen her in one or two of my classes but I had never spoken to her before.

"Oh," Violet said, smiling at the girl,

"Hey, Katerina!"

"Hey, Vi," Katerina smiled back, and then looked at Lyric.

"I'm so sorry for falling in your lap, I tripped!" She apologised.

"I noticed," Lyric laughed.

"Anyway, I'm Katerina Plum, I'm in Gryffindor sixth-year too but I take very advanced classes - I think we have transfiguration together, though!" She stuck her hand out too me and then Lyric, we both shook her hand and so did Fred and George; Vi just grinned.

"I'm Eleanor, but you can call me-"

"Nora," Katerina cut in,

"Yeah, you're quite well known around the school, did you know? I mean, best friends with the very well-known Weasley twins-" she cocked her head towards Fred and George.

"-Pranking heaps of people, everyone knows who you are! And you too, Lyric! I've also heard some chattering going on about you, Violet as well!"

Katerina seemed very confident and straight-forward, as well as quite enthusiastic and positive.

"That's kind of weird!" I laughed, wondering how everyone knew of me.

"It is," Lyric agreed.

"So, Katerina, seeing as you can't seem to keep your hands off me, wanna be the newest member of our awesome group?" Lyric winked. I nodded my agreement and Violet smiled as well. Fred and George didn't seem fussed.

"Sure, that would be cool!" Katerina buzzed, sitting down in the empty seat on the other side of Lyric and immediately engaging her in a conversation about their favourite Quidditch teams.

I turned to my left and faced Fred, who was next to George who was chatting dreamily with Violet who was on his other side.

"Hey," I said, starting a conversation.

"Hey," Fred said back, grinning his amazing grin that made my heart beat just a little bit faster. Okay, I need to get a grip.

"So...." I trailed off, not really sire what to talk about.

"You like Kat?" Fred asked suddenly.

"Well yeah, she seems pretty cool! Why?"

"No reason, just wondering," Fred muttered.

"Okay, why did you call her Kat? Do you two know each other?" I asked.

"Sort of, we dated for a while in third year," Fred threw out casually, and suddenly I wasn't as fond of the newest addition to our group.

"Oh," was all I said.

"What do you think the task is?" Fred asked excitedly, a glint in his eye.

"I dunno," I pondered,

"Maybe something to do with animals, I mean, that there is basically an animal enclosure, maybe they have to fight a troll?" I guessed.

"Could be, I was thinking more along the lines of dangerous spells and stuff but I like your idea better."

"So do I," I laughed.

"When do you think they'll happen?" I asked, looking behind Fred towards Vi and George, chatting and laughing like the cutest couple ever.

"Who?" Fred asked.

"George and Vi, they are so cute!"

"I reckon in about a month or so, George is kind of uncertain when it comes to girls and Violet seems to have a few trust issues so they need to get way more comfortable with each other first," Fred said.

"Wow, you picked all that up just from how they act?" I asked, amazed.

"Well it's not hard to tell that something has happened in Violet's past that makes it hard for her to trust people and George tells me everything so that part isn't too hard either."

"Wow, you sure know people," I said.

"Hey, I've been wondering, why won't you go on a date with Jason Jacks when he obviously likes you and even you said he's attractive?" Good on you, Fred, make the conversation a whole lot more awkward.

"Well," I began, wondering how to phrase my words without them basically saying 'I have a major crush on you'. And I was the stupid one who told him how to tell if a girl liked him in the first place!

"Sure, Jason is attractive, you can't deny that, but he's an arrogant dickhead and Lyric likes him, so that would be breaking the girl code. Plus," I said in a moment of Gryffindor courage,

"I like someone else."

I sincerely hoped that Fred didn't take too much notice of my bright red cheeks and fast-beating heart. I looked down into my lap shyly.

"Really, who?" Fred asked, but his voice sounded a little constricted although fairly interested and intrigued.

"Someone," I muttered vaguely.

"Gryffindor?" He asked.

"Yes," I blushed.

"Our year?"

"Yes."

"Do I know him?"

"Yes."

"Am I friends with him?"

"Well, friends wouldn't exactly be the right way to put it, but yeah, I guess so," I replied.

"Okay," Fred muttered, looking a little upset. I wonder why? Maybe he couldn't figure out who it was that I liked.

"So who's this mystery girl?" I wondered.

"A girl," Fred replied.

"Gryffindor?"

"Yes."

"Our year?" I mimicked his questions and he mimicked my answers. Weird.

"Do I know her?"

"Definitely."

"Am I friends with her?"

"In a way."

"Hmm..." I thought for a while, who could it be? It could be Lyric, I mean we are more like sisters than friends, maybe that's what Fred meant. Or it could be someone like Angelina who I wasn't exactly friends with, but we were on good terms. I felt quite upset that it wasn't me.

Then Ludo Bagman's voice rang out over the audience and I looked into the enclosure, a dragon was being brought into the enclosure. Bagman explained that the champions would have to get past the dragon and get a golden egg from it's nest. A buzzer rang and Cedric Diggory walked out of the champions' tent with a scared but determined look on his face.


*


The first task was awesome, Harry came first and to celebrate we had a big party in the common room. He opened his golden egg (the clue to the second task was inside) and everyone covered their ears as a horrible squealing sound filled the room. The party ended not long after that and we all went to bed.


*


The next morning I woke by Lyric tipping a bucket of ice-cold water over my head. Does she always have to wake me up in the most drastic ways possible? I'm sure if she just shook me or called my name a bit I would wake up!

"Good," she said, once I had sat up and screamed at her for a bit.

"You're up."

"I am," I commented dryly, squeezing out my hair.