Friendless » Fred Weasley

cviii. a broken heart

"Tori! Wait up!" Cedric called, running after the Gryffindor girl as she walked on the bridge outside. Tori waved goodbye to the Ravenclaw girl she had been talking to, smiling up at him.

"Hey," She greeted, her breathing appearing as she talked. "You alright?"

"Yeah, yeah. I... wanted to talk to you for a minute." Tori nodded. "Okay. What's going on?"

"I was, uh. Well, I was wondering... if... uh, you wanted to go to the Yule Ball with me?" He scratched the back of his neck nervously. Tori's face fell as she stared at her friend. She felt speechless for a moment, her mind racing with thoughts.

I... I'm sorry. I wanted to go..."

"Fred?" Cedric asked her. Tori bit her lip, not wanting to meet his eyes. But Cedric didn't seem upset, just a little disappointed. He smiled, "I should have known. I see the way you look at him..."

Tori nodded slowly, staring at the ground. "We're still... friends though, right?"

"Of course. That's not going to change." Tori smiled, pulling him into a hug. "You know," She began, still hugging him. "Asking me isn't going to catch the attention of Cho Chang."

"What?"

"Don't play dumb with me, I know you like her. You don't exactly hide it well."

Cedric paused, a slight smile forming on his lips as he thought about it. "You think she'd want to go with me?"

"Of course she would. You're Cedric Diggory, aren't you?"

The two grinned at each other, obvious to the pair of eyes following them as they left the bridge. They made there was to the great hall for study hall, and Tori said goodbye to Cedric.

She sat next to Angelina in the study hall, which was overwatched by Professor Snape, who was very strict on his no-talking rule. Fred and George didn't seem to care, since they were talking to Ron and Harry constantly. Tori could only hear snippets of their conversation.

"Who are you going with?" Ron whispered, throwing a sheet of paper back at Fred. Fred scanned the table of girls, making one last final decision. Were they talking about the Yule Ball? Tori stared down at her paper, biting her lip.

Picking up the crumpled piece of paper, Fred chucked it, hitting Angelina. "Oi! Angelina!" He whispered. She glared up at him, annoyed. "What?"

"Do. You. Want. To go. To the. Ball. With. Me?" He gestured out each phrase slowly, waiting for her reaction. Tori pretended to be to busy to notice. Or she was pretending she couldn't feel her heartbreak.

"Alright." Angelina nodded, turning back to Tori and Alicia, smiling. Tori gave her a huge fake smile, scribbling down the answer to the next question.

"Hey Hermione... you're a girl..." was what she heard next. Tori tuned everyone else out, trying to focus on her paper. She felt like she had just been punched in the gut as she watched Hermione hand Professor Snape her journal and storm out. Fred had asked Angelina. But why?

She finished only minutes after Hermione, handing her work in and preparing to leave. "Hey! What's the rush?" Angelina whispered. The twins both stared at Tori as well, who played it off with a shrug. "I've got a couple of last-minute charm work to do... I'll see you all later."

She then rushed out of the great hall, hoping to leave her broken heart with it.

✧    ✦    ✧

The rest of the day, Tori actively ignored everyone. She spent a good chunk of the day in the library but had to leave since girls giggling over Viktor Krum had plopped down at her table.

Astronomy was her last class of the day, and she couldn't avoid anyone then. "I'll be down in a second, I have to find my scarf," Tori called, digging through her trunk. Angelina nodded, leaving out the door after Katie. But Alicia stayed put. Tori figured she was just being nice, but she waited until Angelina's footsteps faded before speaking.

"Why are you letting her do that?"

Tori glanced up, puzzled. "Letting who do what?"

"Why are you letting Angelina go with Fred?"

"What do you mean? I'm not letting her do anything. Fred asked her, she said yes."

"So you just going to let it happen? You're going to ignore everything after six years?" Alicia looked upset now, but Tori wouldn't meet her gaze. "Ignore what, Alicia? You're not making any sense..."

"You're going to ignore your obvious feelings? You're not going to tell Angelina that you wanted to go with Fred?"

"... Why would I do that? Besides, I didn't even—"

"Don't start that dung with me. Angelina and Katie might have bought it, but I won't. Why aren't you speaking up about this Tori? Why? Hm? Why?"

"Because Alicia!" Tori nearly shouted, getting up. "Because I'm not going to ruin a friendship over a guy who clearly doesn't have the same feelings! Because Angelina has been up here every night, miserable that no one asked her. Because Angelina was starting to think she wasn't pretty enough to get a date! Because not everyone gets to go with the guy they want, like you! So whatever you think Fred and I had, was all an illusion. Okay? It... it wasn't real..." She turned away, leaning back into her trunk as she felt tears appear in her eyes. She wasn't going to cry. Not over a boy.

"He is entitled to ask or like whoever he wants. That's not up to me. You're wasting your time trying to fix things. It's only going to lead to a bigger mess." Tori snapped, eventually finding her scarf. Alicia stared at her. "So you're just going to ignore how you feel?"

"I don't feel anyway. We're just friends."

"Hurry up! Are you guys coming... did something happen?" Angelina came back into the room to see both Tori and Alicia staring at each other. "No," Tori said quickly. "I thought Alicia had my scarf."

"Yeah." Alicia said, not taking her eyes off Tori, "Seems I don't know where my heads been these last few days."

i'd go with cedric... just saying