Moonstruck

3-Dilemmas and Distractions

||THREE|| DILEMMAS AND DISTRACTIONS

---Fred---

Marlene was always a pleasant person. She preferred to stay happy and optimistic and never really got upset. Sure, she'd get annoyed anytime George and I went too far with a prank but she never got mad. Until today.

We spent the night in the great hall after Black attempted to break into the Gryffindor tower. Insane right?  Sure Hogwarts isn't completely impenetrable, Georgie and I know plenty of ways to sneak in and out of the castle but it's still insane. But the weirdest part is that none of us -me George, or Lee- had seen Marlene since before the Halloween feast. We even asked Diggory, the hufflepuff that I'm pretty sure Marlene has a crush on (why she does, I can't fathom). But then she magically appeared at breakfast this morning and seemed to be incredibly upset by something. 

The three of us took our usual seats around her: Lee sat next to her while George and I sat across from them. She hadn't seemed to notice our presence yet as she continued to mutter angrily under her breath while buttering her toast. I exchanged a look with George and it was clear that he was thinking the same thing as I was: We should say something. But before either of us could open our mouth, Marlene suddenly stabbed the piece of toast, making all of us jump. She looked up at me and as we made eye contact her expression softened from the glare she had been giving her toast. 

"When did you guys get here?" Marlene asked us, seeming to take in her surroundings for the first time today. 

"Oh looks who's come back to earth," George tsked at her. 

Lee rolled his eyes at George before answering her question. "We've been here for the last 20 minutes. You alright?"

"I'm fine, thanks." She stood up walking away from the table.

I frowned. She clearly wasn't 'fine'. "Are you sure Marls? If there's anything bothering you we can help out." I stood and followed her.

"I told you, Freddie. I'm fine."

"You don't look fine."

"Fred. I don't want your help!" And with that she strode out of the great hall. 

Diggory, whom Marlene had passed on her way out, watched her walk away before turning to me. "At least she's talking to you. She hasn't said a word to me all morning and I can't understand why."

"I thought she would have at least told you what was bothering her."

He frowned. "What are you trying to say by that."

"Nothing. I just thought she would have told you something since she seems to spend so much time with you lately."

"What? I thought she was with you and your brother."

By this point George had joined us "I have a brilliant idea. How about we take this conversation where everyone isn't staring at you!" he said cheerfully. looking around, I realized that the entire exchanged had captured the attention of everyone in the great hall. Even Dumbledore was looking on curiously. 

I nodded to George. Perhaps some privacy might help. Diggory seemed to agree as he followed us to an empty classroom. 

"I only have till 9:30 before class so we better make this quick," he said.

I rolled my eyes, "something's going on with our friend and your worried about missing class?"

"Well as a prefect it's my job to- wait are you two skipping right now?"

"That's not important right now," George said. "So Marlene, what do we know?"

"She's been unusually busy," Diggory offered.