ALEXITHYMIA ➹ Fred Weasley

six

Boy, was Hogwarts going to be a treat this year.

Upon arrival and after the First Years sorting ceremony the school was thrown into a mandatory house dinner; much to Flo's dismay- where Professor Dumbledore announced that they were going to be hosting the Tri-Wizard Tournament.

The Tri-Wizard Tournament was a magical contest that involved a representative from each of three schools where they compete in three dangerous challenges with one victor being announced at the end. Hogwarts was quickly introduced to the students and Headmasters of the two other competing schools, Beauxbatons Academy of Magic and Durmstrang Institute, which nearly every boy and girl of Hogwarts fawned over.

Flo had to give it to them, the girls of Beauxbatons were beautiful and the boys of Durmstrang were incredibly attractive, but she just didn't see the need to try to get with one of them when there were more pressing matters at hand. Ones that affected the greater good and future of Sixth and Seventh Year students.

N.E.W.Ts

It was a matter of life or death with Flo when it came down to taking her N.E.W.Ts. The Tri-Wizard Tournament coming at a rather horrible time in her eyes, because she needed to focus and that couldn't happen if she was worrying about extra people being in the halls or the library and most importantly worrying about her friends, cause god knows they were always in the middle of some trouble that stopped the girl from studying. Flo needed to get an 'E' in all five of her courses that she was taking in order to become a Healer like she desired, and she wasn't going to let anything stop her from getting her dream job.

Flo was stubborn and persistent and after her Mother passed she refused to accept that the Muggle doctors couldn't save her. She yelled and screamed and wanted to take her to a healer so desperately because she knew that if there was magic somewhat involved her Mother could have been around for some time longer. And being the way she is, she knew that she had to become a Healer. Many people have told her along the way that Ravenclaws should go for more academic jobs, something within the Ministry or even working in a Magic Medical Research Facility but she couldn't do it, this is what she wanted and she wouldn't take no for an answer. Thankfully Mcgonagall and her Father believed in and supported her all the way.

The maximum number of courses that is required of a student in order to complete the N.E.W.Ts exam itself is actually three, but Flo being a Ravenclaw she couldn't help herself and decided to do all five courses that were recommended for the job. It was also required of students to have an 'Exceeds Expectations' mark or above in the optional courses, which did add a little stress, but Flo loved the challenge and any reason to spend more time in the library and not around the pranks of a certain pair of Weasleys sounded amazing to her.

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Walking to Potions, Flo had to squeeze and slide past the many students in the hallways that were either just standing around or huddling in groups talking to people from the other schools. Flo rolled her eyes with a groan as she saw the desire in their eyes for the need to be noticed and acknowledged by the newcomers, the girl herself wanting nothing more than to throw up in the nearest bin from the radiating desperation.

Flo slipped into the room and sat at the desk in the third row, right next to the windows, not wanting to be right at the front but close enough where she wouldn't be distracted. Thankfully, in this class she had Professor Snape. Although many students despised the black haired man, Flo was relieved because that meant there would be no goofing around in class.

It was common knowledge that two of the four houses at Hogwarts shared their class times together, meaning that Gryffindor was with Slytherin and Ravenclaw were with Hufflepuff. Although no one knew why they still allowed the two houses of Gryffindor and Slytherin to be together due to their burning hatred for each other, Flo just being grateful for it because it meant she would be with the 'Kindest House', meaning a nicer competition and more concentration within classes. And it also meant that she didn't have to share classes with Slytherin, which for some reason loved to pick on and ridicule her for having no friends, something that Flo found completely juvenile. It was like the whole house was Malfoy's minions.

The class slowly filled with students, Flo simply arranging her desk to her desired layout which had to be perfect in order for her to fully concentrate. Her textbooks at the top right of her desk, parchment on the middle left, quill precisely to the left of that.

Every other time she took class the seat beside her would be empty, as everyone sat with their friends in class and Flo's only friends were two years younger than her- but this time the chair beside her scraped as it was pulled out and a handful of books were dropped onto the spare table next to her. Looking up in surprise Flo met the eyes of a smiling Cedric Diggory as he sat down. Flo's eyebrows furrowed ever so slightly in confusion as he had never made any effort to sit or even talk with her before so she was baffled as to why he was sitting next to her right now.

"Hey Florence!" He smiled widely as he sorted through his books, opening his Potions textbook and taking out his quill and parchment.

Flo smiled slightly at him in reply, gathering her thoughts to try and ask him nicely why he was sitting with her, but what she managed to let out was far from nice. "Why are you here?"

Cedric let out a little laugh in response, thankfully not taking the question harshly. "I always see you sitting alone so I thought I could keep you company?"

Flo nodded hesitantly not really buying it, she didn't see any reason at all why anyone would want to sit with her but she wasn't complaining, Flo was sure that having Cedric as a friend wouldn't be that bad. Awkward silence surrounded the two for a few moments as they didn't know where to really take the conversation.

"Oh, I also wanted to ask you a question" He said hesitantly, clearly uncomfortable and embarrassed, but wanting nothing more than to break the silence. "It's nothing bad".

"Oh um, okay?" Flo replied as she turned her body towards the Hufflepuff sitting next to her.

"What do you think about Cho? Cho Chang?"

Flo took in a sharp breath the question taking her by surprise, her eyes narrowing at a hesitant Cedric. She knew there had to be a reason why he wanted to sit with her and of course it wasn't because he wanted to be her friend. Flo scoffed, rolling her eyes in frustration which caused Cedric to look at the girl worriedly, wondering what he had said wrong as he meant to be nothing but nice to the girl.

"So you just want to sit here to get information on my dorm mate who I barely even talk to, and not to be my friend whatsoever?"

Cedric's eyes looked as if they grew to the size of saucers, as he waved his hands quickly in denial at the Ravenclaw. "No! No! No! No! That's not what I meant I just wanted to ask someone who knew her and someone I knew I could trust. And from what I've seen and heard from Hermione you're really trustworthy!"

Flo looked at Cedric hesitantly, when did Hermione ever talk to him? She didn't recall ever being told about that, plus it all seemed rather too convenient in the moment. But she was willing to give the boy the benefit of the doubt, just this one time.

And as she was about to reply, Professor Snape walked into the room which caused every conversation to cease immediately. Flo looked at Cedric from the corner of her eye and let out a deep sigh in defeat. "We will talk about this after class" she muttered to him which earned a frantic but thankful nod in response from the boy. Flo picked up her quill and began to take notes on what Professor Snape was saying as one thought crossed her mind, 'What was she getting herself into now?'

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a/n
Hey guys!!
Hope you enjoyed this chapter, I'm planning on having more of the twins in the upcoming chapters so hang in for that.
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brie x