fred&hermione - doing just fine on your own

chapter eight

i approached george and his new found "friend" sitting amongst the marram grass. they were so deep in conversation they didn't even notice me gaining on them, their conversation becoming clearer as i came within ear range.

"that was when i realised-" luna explained, as i caught their conversation mid-sentence.

i cleated my throat deliberately, hoping they'd hear me and not think it too weird i had basically just walked in and eavesdropped on their conversation. george and luna struggled to look away from each other and towards me. i mentally rolled my eyes, george was never such a melt like this.

"'sup, fred?" george enquired, awkwardly.
"could ask you the same question, forge." i replied, glancing at luna with a smile.

before george could answer, luna rose to her feet gently, dusting sand off her thighs.

"if you must know, mr weasley, i was just beginning to tell your brother about my time in the dungeons at malfoy manor, quite the experience it was. do you want to hear about it too?" luna chimed, in her small, sweet irish accent.
i chuckled, "i think that might be a bit of a long story for me, luna. short attention span, me." i added, patting my chest.

i glanced around george, whose eyes were focused closely on luna as her tailbone-length, wavy blonde hair blew gently in the wind.

"george, however," i added, "could listen to you all day. i think you better finish that story, and come back to shell cottage for tea after if you're still not finished. i'm sure malfoy manor is full of things to talk about."

i winked at george, who's eyes widened with awkwardness as i encouraged luna to continue sitting with him. i smiled to myself, wandering off slowly as luna sat back down with my twin again. what a silly goose, i thought, shaking my head.

walking back to shoreline, ginny, harry, ron, bill, flour and hermione were trudging back out of the water, wringing wet.

"missed all the fun, you did." bill chimed, patting me on the shoulder as he passed by me, hand in hand with fleur.

the rest of the group trudged back to their belongings and the picnic blanket, hermione tagging behind. although, she stopped to speak to me. her wavy hair clung to her back, upper arms and shoulders and her freckly little face was spotted with water droplets that shone in sunlight.

"george seems busy then." she giggled, glancing over my shoulder.
"trust me, he knows what he's doing. this time, anyway." i replied.
"he's got the charm then?" hermione added, as i followed her back to the picnic blanket.
"what charm? oh, you mean is he the charming one? no way, that's me." i smugly replied, flicking my hair in the wind.
"i would say george has more of a proclivity to put it into practice." hermione assessed, wrapping a towel around her shoulders, covering how the wet swimsuit clung to her body.

that was disappointing, i strayed my eyes away and tried to focus on the conversation. we just sort of stared at each other for a moment, it was a strange sensation.

"you two coming then?" harry asked, breaking our stare.
"...um, yeah," hermione replied, sort of stuttering as she averted her eyes, collecting her belongings and the picnic basket, and following ginny towards shell cottage.

she disappeared in seconds, and i could hear her and ginny quietly giggling as they faded away into the distance. harry, ron, bill and fleur followed, maintaining their own little conversations, and i was left alone, not knowing whether to wait for george and luna, or walking home to shell cottage feeling rather lonely. i decided on the second option.