Wisps of Beth Black ϟ Fred Weasley [2] (ON HOLD)

7

The next morning, Beth was the last to wake which was rather unusual as she was normally the first to rise. It was still early, so she gathered that the other girls had gone down to see who was putting their name in the Goblet of Fire. So once Beth was ready for the day, her clothes acceptable, her hair brushed and tied back into two braids, and her bag full of books at her side, she left the girls' dormitory and set off out of the dungeons and up into the crammed Entrance Hall, which she found rather annoying. 

Everybody didn't have to stand around it staring at it, nobody was even putting their names in! They were just staring like mesmorised fools stuck in a trance, whispering and pointing at the Goblet. There was indeed a golden line around the Goblet which Beth assumed was the Age Line that Professor Dumbledore was talking about. 

As Beth rolled her eyes at all the fools staring at it, she made to move towards the Great Hall for some toast when there were suddenly shouts of triumph coming down the staircase. Beth spun around to see Fred, George and Lee high-fiving everyone as they came down the stairs. They whispered something to Harry, Ron and Hermione before Fred caught Beth's eye and gave her a cheeky wink before he jumped over the Ageing Line and pulled out a parchment which presumably had his name and school on it. 

Beth snapped her head away from Fred and at his twin who gave a roar of a cheer and jumped over the golden line too, happily slapping his twin on the back. Both of them bore wide grins. Wow... perhaps it had really worked after all. 

Suddenly, there was a loud sizzling sound and then both twins were thrown out of the golden circle as though by an invisible force. Beth jumped at this, watching as the twins flew ten feet away and landed painfully on the cold stone floor. Then, there was a loud popping noise and the twins sprouted long, white beards not unlike Professor Dumbledores. 

The Entrance Hall rang with laughter, including Fred and George who appeared to think it was hysterical. And it was. Even Beth laughed at them. As though Fred could hear her laugh over all the others', he looked over at Beth and his laughter died out, soon to be replaced by a warm smile.

 Beth wasn't sure what Fred could have possibly seen in her, but she wasn't going to deny that it was something. 

As soon as Beth's laughter stopped and Dumbledore approached, suggesting to the twins that they go to see Madame Pomfrey, there was a light tap on Beth's shoulder. She flinched slightly and looked over her shoulder and was met with familiar hazel eyes that she had been looking into for quite some time last night at dinner. 

Aleks gave her a silly smile and a small wave. "Hello," he said sweetly, and as Beth looked down she saw that he was holding a bit of parchment. 

"You're entering," she pointed out stupidly, adjusting the strap of her bag over her shoulder awkwardly. 

Aleks chuckled softly, his fingers toying with the parchment. "Yeah, all of us have, 'cept me."

Beth stepped to the side to let Aleks through to the Goblet, and as she did so, Fred, George and Lee were sweeping past her. George and Lee still laughing about what had happened, and Fred, even through his new long beard, was visibly hurt at the sight of Beth and Aleks. 

Lee was yanking on George's beard as the trio made their way to the hospital wing, and George was fighting him off. Fred moved in silence, the humorous event from five minutes ago drained out of him completely. Lee and George hadn't noticed for they had been acting silly the entire walk, until they did when it was no longer funny to pull on George's beard. 

"Alright, Fred?" Lee asked from beside George, poking his head out so that Fred could get a good look at him. "You're weirdly quiet. Haven't even cracked a smile at this--"

Lee pulled hard on George's beard again. 

"Ow!" George yelled, shoving Lee playfully and rubbing his chin soothingly. "Enough of that. And as for Fred, he's jealous that Beth Black's got a new boyfriend."

"Seriously?" Lee exclaimed, causing George to snort. "I thought you'd be over her by now. She's obviously over you. Why pine after someone so heartless, Weasley?"

"She's not heartless and if you'd gotten to know her, you'd know that," Fred snapped at him. 

There was an uncomfortable silence, and for some reason Fred was feeling guilty for the way he said what he did. But he wasn't going to apologise, not for defending Beth. 

"Well, I quite liked that day we hung out with Beth in Hogsmeade," George broke the silence. "Shame about that mud, though. But the fight was fun."

After the twins had been through to see Madame Pomfrey and were beardless again, Lee separated from them to go and hang out with Alicia Spinnet and Katie Bell. George's stomach wouldn't stop growling the entire way as they set off towards the Great Hall for something to eat.  And they were almost there when they heard laughter coming down the end of one of the corridors. 

Fred and George wouldn't normally stop to look, but different accents were what drew their attention. It was the hazel-eyed boy with the perfect jaw that had been talking with Beth last night. He was with two other Durmstrang boys. There was something about their laughter, it didn't sound like how one would laugh at something silly like Fred and George's long beards, it sounded crude and unfriendly.

Fred slapped George lightly on the chest and pointed to the statue by the end of the corridor where they pretended to pass through to. But they stopped and listened. 

"What?" George complained, holding his rumbling stomach. 

"Shush," Fred said, leaning closer to listen. He had already missed something they'd said thanks to George and his hungry stomach. 

"...stop laughing, I'm serious... my father is a news-loving freak and her face is all over most of his collected articles and books and papers. She's Black's daughter," the hazel-eyed boy was saying. He was the easiest one to understand when he talked. 

Fred and George shared a look. 

"Well, I read that Black doesn't have a daughter," another boy said, and Fred could imagine him holding his chin up. "But to be fair, I don't care whose daughter she is... just that I wouldn't complain about getting some of that."

Fred made to move, but George's hand grabbed him by the shoulder and pulled him back. He felt so revulsed hearing the way these foreigners were talking about Beth, like she was nothing. Nothing but a relative of the infamous Sirius Black, like that was all that was interesting about her, and more. 

"So you recognised her then?" the third boy asked when their laughing quieted down. "That's why you talked with her?"

"Of course," the hazel-eyed boy said, followed by an unpleasant cough. "Don't know why yet, though. Maybe I wanna see if it's true what they say -- see if she's a psycho or something."

"What -- a psycho in bed?" one of them laughed.

"She's not bad to look at."

"Reckon she'd kill us all in our sleep."

"Maybe you could even chop off some of her hair and sell it for a ton!"

They began to laugh again, and Fred shook his head as George wrapped an arm around Fred's shoulder and dragged him away. 

"I'll kill them all in their sleep," Fred spat when they were out of earshot. 

"Don't worry about it, they're just being stupid," George said, but Fred shook his head at him. 

"Well, this is lovely. She goes for the bloke with ill intentions straight away, but hated on me just for looking at her from a distance when I first started talking to her," Fred said, still shaking his head. 

"Obviously you somehow brought out the best in her."

When they reached the Entrance Hall, he peeked his head into the Great Hall and then retreated towards the giant oak doors that lead to the grounds. George began to sputter and turned after his brother. 

"Hey, where are you going?" George called out. 

"To find Beth."