(Book 1 in Emily Cooper series)
Emily Grace Cooper is a Muggle-born witch and best friends with the Weasley twins and Lee Jordan since they met on the train in their first year. Well known for her pranks and "don't give a shit" attitude, Emily is l...
The next Hogsmeade weekend couldn't come quickly enough, I was super excited for my first date with Fred, but also really nervous. What if we didn't have anything to talk about on the date? What if we only click as friends? What if it's awkward? I pushed these thoughts to the back of my mind. I can't think like that, if I think bad thoughts then bad things would happen, as mum used to say. God, I missed her, and dad, they would have loved to hear all about their little girls first date. But they couldn't. They were gone. It had been so long since I had thought about them, I felt guilty, like they thought I had forgotten about them.
"Emily?" Angelina asked, pulling me from my thoughts.
"Hmm?" I asked, snapping back to reality.
"Fred's waiting for you downstairs." She told me, a cheeky grin on her face.
I made my way down to the common room and found Fred sitting on the couch waiting for me, looking terribly nervous fiddling with his hands.
"Morning, Freddie." I said, taking his hands to stop him fiddling with them.
"Morning, Love. Have a good sleep?" He asked, smiling down at me.
"The best." I replied.
"You know, I never really noticed how much of a midget you are." Fred teased as we left the common room.
"Oh, ha ha." I said sarcastically. "Just because you're a giant doesn't mean you can hate on everyone that is normal height."
Fred chuckled at this; it was true I was kind of short at 5'3" but with Fred being a whole foot taller than me of course I looked like a midget next to him. We walked, holding hands, in a comfortable silence to Hogsmeade, me pointing out a rabbit every now and then. When we got there Fred led me to Madam Puddifoot's Tea Shop, a small tea shop decorated with frills and pink bows.
"Wouldn't have pegged you for a tea shop kind of guy." I stated, sitting down at a table.
"Hey, I like tea as much as the next guy." Fred defended, sitting across from me.
Madam Puddifoot came over and took our orders quickly so as to not interrupt us too much, we smiled thankfully when she brought our hot cups of tea to our table. There were other couples in the shop too, all chatting happily or holding hands over their table. Fred seemed to take a cue from the other couples and slipped his hand into mine, smiling at me when I looked at him.
"So, excited about the Quidditch final?" I asked.
**********
We sat in the tea shop for a couple of hours, talking happily about anything that came to mind, our tea finished long ago. Fred had just finished telling me about a prank he pulled on Ron when they were younger, apparently Fred and George thought it would be funny to turn one of Ron's stuffed toys into a spider. I sat there laughing at his goofiness, barely able to contain myself.
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"Did you want to go for a walk?" Fred asked.
"Lead the way." I replied, taking his hand and leaving the tea shop.
Fred and I walked along the path that led to the Shrieking Shack, said to be the most haunted place in Britain. I ran my hand along the fence as we walked, admiring the shack from a distance.
"Do you reckon it's really haunted?" I asked, stopping to stare at it.
"Dunno, no one's brave enough to go in there." Fred replied, shrugging.
"We should go in." I suggested.
"You're crazy." Fred stated, chuckling.
"I'm serious, come on, Fred." I said, pulling on his arm.
Fred gave in and we ducked through the wire fence and made our way quickly over to the shack, it was big and old and rundown, a creaking sound coming from inside. I pressed gently on the front door and it opened with ease, stepping inside I followed the staircase upwards, looking in every room I came across and stopping in the last one, turning to face Fred.
"Well, this is boring." I said to Fred.
"Boring is good sometimes. This place is creepy." Fred said. "Can we go now?"
I giggled at Fred's words and nodded, leading him back down the stairs, but before we exited the shack, I noticed something in the floorboards. It was a trapdoor.
"Where do you suppose this goes?" I asked, opening the trapdoor.
"Not sure I want to find out." Fred admitted.
I shut the door again, silently agreeing with him, and we left the Shrieking Shack.
**********
As we walked through the gates of the school I stared around at the grounds, taking in my surroundings before my eyes landed on the Whomping Willow.
"Wait a minute." I said suddenly.
"What?" Fred asked.
"You don't think...?"
"What?"
"Couldn't be..."
"WHAT?"
I pointed at the Whomping Willow, staring at him, waiting for him to understand. When he didn't, I sighed.
"You're really thick sometimes." I stated. "The trap door in the Shrieking Shack, you don't think it could be where the secret passage leads do you?"
"Oh my god." Fred said in realisation. "You could be right."
"No shit." I said, poking his arm.
Laughing happily, we met up with George and Lee in the Great Hall, sitting across from their smiling faces.
"Went well then?" George asked, grinning.
"Could say that." I said happily, leaning my head on Fred's shoulder.
"Did you guys kiss?!" Lee asked excitedly, earning the attention of half the Great Hall.
"No, Lee, we didn't." Fred answered, shooing off the onlookers with his hand.
"Well that's a shame." Ginny said sadly.
"And why is that, Ginny?" I asked suspiciously.
"Oh, no reason, I just really want Fred to have his first kiss is all." Ginny replied.
"I am choosing to believe you." I told her, pointing my finger at the clearly lying young girl.
I really wanted to know what was going on, I definitely felt like it has something to do with the book George was hiding from me. My friends had something going on and I was determined to find out what it was.
