All she could do was stand there, dumbfounded, while the rest of the school spoke in awe and excitement and dispersed through the castle. She didn’t know just how long she’d been standing there. Finally she started to function again, and she saw Lee was in just as bad of shape as she was over this abrupt departure of the Trouble Twins. She raised her hand in a wave when Lee looked in her direction. He nodded and they walked toward each other, meeting halfway on the staircase. They sat there for a few moments in contemplative silence before Lee finally said something.
“So,” he offered, desperately looking for some semblance of normalcy.
“Yeah,” Andrea replied.
The silence returned. People merely walked around them on their way up and down the large staircase. They could see that the best friend and the girlfriend of the dearly departed needed their space.
“I mean, we can have fun without them, right?” Lee turned his head to look at her.
“I sure hope so,” she groaned
“Not exactly the inspiring answer I was looking for,” Lee frowned, and there was nothing left to do but laugh at their sad situation. Finally they picked themselves up and somewhat trudged back to the common room. There was an odd feeling when they got there. The absence of Fred and George in Gryffindor Tower was palpable.
“So, er, what is there to do around here now that we don’t have the boys?” Lee asked Andrea.
“Um,” she thought, “all I can think of to do is homework. There’s always some of that.” Lee gave her a look which clearly said he was horrified and repulsed by the idea. Andrea just shrugged. “I’m kind of at a loss for thinking of anything right now.” She sighed and looked around the common room. She spotted Angelina Johnson over in the corner; she’d just closed one of her books and had leaned back in her chair, apparently taking a pause. “Scratch that last comment, I thought of something,” she smiled and took Lee’s arm.
After five minutes or so of chatting with Angelina and Lee, Andrea excused herself, satisfied that Lee had the last piece he needed to get things going with Angelina. Lee was a slightly different person without the twins around. It was like he had a Weasley Twin mode, and when he was stripped of his crazy best friends, he retained his wit and easy-going nature, but he was able to tap into a stored up maturity. It was quite fascinating really.
Andrea snatched up one of the smaller study tables and slung her schoolbag onto it. She opened Advancing in Transfiguration: OWL Preparation and began reading chapter twenty-three. She whipped out some parchment, a quill and ink and put down notes while she read. An hour later she closed the book, finished with her reading, and had no recollection of what she’d actually read.
Amazingly though, she’d accumulated a fair amount of notes. Although she didn’t know how she’d done it, she was at least glad she wouldn’t have to read the whole chapter again. She was feeling a bit listless and couldn’t study anymore. People were watching her. Not everyone, but some, and though she didn’t look around at them, she knew why they were watching her. Some regarded Andrea and George as the Golden Couple, and had grown accustomed to seeing the two of them together. They were looking at her with pity, and she just didn’t like it all that well. She gathered up her things and went silently up to her dormitory. She heard Lavender and Parvati in their room giggling and chatting animatedly about something, but she didn’t really care what it was about.
Neither Sophie nor Hermione had come up to their room yet, but she wasn’t surprised by that. It was still early in the evening, too early to go to bed. She was glad for the quiet and the absence of the sympathy stares. It wasn’t like they’d broken up. It was just going to take some getting used to not having George around. Looking over the day’s events, it seemed pretty obvious now that George had an idea he might be leaving. He had planned the picnic for her after all. It had been wonderful. It had been a beautiful afternoon. It would be a long time until she would see him again. Not forever, but at that moment, it seemed like it would be forever. She changed into pajamas and then crawled onto her bed and gazed out the window.
She didn’t know just how long she had stayed there like that, but after a while the door to her room opened, and Sophie came in. “Hey, there you are, An. I’ve been looking for you.”
“Hey, Soph.” She smiled a tiny bit but kept her gaze out the window.
Sophie kicked off her shoes, then walked over and sat on the bed next to Andrea, enfolding her into a supportive hug. "How are you holding up?” Sophie asked her.
Andrea still had her eyes fixed on the night sky outside. “I miss him. It’s going to be weird, but I’ll manage. Absence makes the heart grow fonder, right?”
Sophie pulled back, but kept her hands on Andrea’s shoulders. She gave a firm nod.
Andrea sighed. “I just need tonight to take it in. I’ll deal with it tomorrow.”
“Sounds like a good plan. Do you want anything? I didn’t see you at dinner.”
Andrea shrugged. “I am a bit hungry.”
“I’ll see if I can find something for you.”
~*~*~
The next morning Andrea and Sophie didn’t wake up until Hermione sent off a bang in the room with her wand. The two shot up in their beds, looking around. “It’s a good thing I double-checked to make sure you two didn’t oversleep, or you would’ve missed History of Magic. You’ve only got half an hour!”
“Are you serious?” Sophie asked, hastily throwing her covers off.
“Blast,” Andrea groaned. She rolled out of bed and then the two girls hastily grabbed their clothes and went to the showers. They showered and wand-dried their hair in record time. Wand drying hair quickly doesn’t give it quite as nice an effect as if you take a little more time, but they were running late. Andrea could’ve cared less what her hair looked like today anyway, it’s not as if she was looking to be particularly attractive seeing as George was gone now, and she didn’t care about any of the other boys.
Twelve minutes after getting Hermione’s wake-up, Andrea and Sophie were heading out of Gryffindor tower. “Where’s Terry?” Andrea asked as they hustled down the halls and stairways to get to the Great Hall. “He usually meets you on the way to breakfast even when you’re late, doesn’t he?”
“Yeah, he always did. We broke up though,” Sophie answered simply.
“WHAT?” Andrea stopped dead in her tracks. “When? How did it happen?” she asked in shock.
Sophie tugged on her arm to get her to keep going. “I’ll explain it all, but let’s get going.”
“Okay, and I want details.”
Sophie took a deep breath. “We broke up last night, right after classes. We missed the whole departure of Fred and George.”
“Why didn’t you tell me last night?”
“You needed comforting more than I did,” Sophie smiled.
Andrea began to protest, but Sophie gently cut her off.
“Andrea, your relationship with George means a lot more than mine and Terry’s did.” She ignored the look on Andrea’s face and continued explaining. “When you told me about how you told George that you loved him, it made me think. I don’t love Terry. He means a lot to me, but I don’t love him. Who knows? Maybe in a couple of days or a couple of weeks, or a couple of years Terry and I will be in love. Right now we’re not. I just look at you and George, though, and what you have is so real. I’m out to look for that. Why not find it as early as possible?”
Neither spoke for a moment or two. Andrea glanced sideways at her longtime best friend. “You’ve really thought this over, haven’t you?”
They’d just entered the Great Hall at this point, and Terry waved genuinely at them, not looking sad or harboring any resentment.
“Terry and I still are important to each other and want to be friends, and he says that we get to judge any of the other person’s future prospects since we know what works for each other in a relationship and what doesn’t. Kind of nice, actually.”
“That is nice,“ Andrea agreed. “”It’s also rare.”
“I know, it really is amazing.”
“So do you really think it will be like that?”
“I sort of hope so. I hope that months of cultivating a relationship won’t be all for nothing,” Sophie shrugged.
The girls went down the table to where Roderick, Edward, and Katie were finishing their breakfast. Most people were finishing and getting on their way to classes.
“Sophie, what if George doesn’t love me though?” Andrea asked suddenly before they reached the others.
“Nonsense. Take a look at your afternoon with him yesterday! Besides, the proof is right there,” Sophie pointed to an owl that waiting anxiously next to Roderick.
“Finally! We were wondering whether you had been swallowed by your blankets,” Roderick smiled. “This owl won’t let me touch the letter, and he won’t go away either. He stole my toast, the little blighter.”
They all laughed, and Andrea’s heart skipped a beat when she saw the letter attached had her name written on it in what could only be George’s handwriting. She sat down, quickly detached the letter, and broke the seal.
Ed, Rick and Katie left for their class, Rick kissing Andrea on the forehead as he stood.
Dear Andrea,
Fred and I spent last night in Hogsmeade. Madam Rosmerta put us up in one of her few boarding rooms. She’s always had a bit of a soft spot for us, which is to be expected. Who doesn’t? Other than Umbridge. Percy maybe as well, probably all of that ribbing we gave him about being Prefect and then Head Boy had a bit to do with why he was always so angry with us.
Mum was pretty angry when she heard we’d left. I don’t know how she heard so quickly. Maybe Umbridge sent her a notification about her “delinquent boys.” Got her Howler this morning. Not the best way to wake up, but Fred’s writing to her about how we’ve actually planned and prepared and that our actions aren’t as rash as she thinks. Like we announced when we left, Fred and I already have a shop secured in Diagon Alley. We’ll open up this Friday. Not before ten. Anyone in their right minds shouldn’t wake up too early as a habit. That’s one thing I won’t be missing about Hogwarts.
I’ll be missing you though. Lee as well. Keep an eye on him. He’s likely to be pretty lost without me and Fred. I’ll be counting the days till we’ll see you and Lee once the Hogwarts Express rolls into London.
Give my regards to Umbridge,
George
Sophie read the letter right after Andrea handed it to her. “See,” she smiled. “He wrote you first thing this morning, and he already confesses to missing you. There’s nothing for you to worry about.”
At lunch Andrea sat with Sophie, Seamus, Neville, Dean and Ginny. It wasn’t really that different. She and George had sat together with all of these people, as well as other Gryffindors in sixth and seventh year, but now she was sitting there without him by her side. It was awkward. It was like that feeling you carry around after you cut your hair, and you go to brush it, and it’s not there.
Other than that feeling that something was missing, it had been a normal day.
Until Elsie Smoot approached her. Elsie was a sixth year Ravenclaw, Lee’s cousin, and the queen of the Hogwarts gossip mill. It was well known among the students that if you wanted even the most obscure tidbits of information on anyone inside Hogwarts, you could easily get what you needed from Elsie Smoot. If anyone knew it, she would. If you didn’t want your information noised abroad, you could either pay her off to keep quiet or keep it quiet yourself in the first place.
“Hello, Andrea.” She wasn’t actually friends with Elsie, but she wasn’t surprised that the girl knew her name. She was the center of student knowledge, after all. “Mind if I sit a minute?”
“Go ahead, Elsie,” Andrea smiled, a bit bewildered as well as slightly nervous.
“I’m sure you must know I’m here on business,” Elsie flashed a grin. “I’m going to assume that even though George is gone, you’re still together. Is that right?”
“Of course it is,” Sophie answered for her.
“That is good to hear.” Elsie’s smile was actually very warm now. “I always liked you two as a couple,” she said, lowering her voice slightly. The others around them were polite enough to take the cue and go on with their conversations. “Even though you’re not a couple that I set up, I saw it coming. However, you and I are both realistic. I want you to know that if things end with George while I’m still at Hogwarts, I’ll set you up with the best. You just let me know because you’re on the ‘it list.’”
Andrea blushed furiously. She’d heard rumors that Elsie Smoot ran a bit of a matchmaking service, and she now had her confirmation that it was true. “‘It list?’”
“Definitely. Now, on to the other thing I wanted to talk to you about. What are you doing tonight? The UFFC is having a wake-”
“UFFC?”
Elsie gave a laugh before explaining, “The Unofficial Fred Fan Club.”
“You’ve got to be joking me!” Andrea joined in the laughter.
“I wish I were. Formed just this morning. They’re holding something of a wake tonight for his departure, and they want you and Lee to come speak about him.”
Andrea just stared at her blankly for a moment, wanting to laugh, but a little too disturbed at the thought of obsessed fan girls. “I’ll be there,” she finally answered. “I’ll drag Lee with me if he refuses to come, but I doubt he will. It should be rather entertaining. But I have to ask, has this club approved by her royal Umbridge?”
“‘Course not,” Elsie laughed. “That toad doesn’t have any control over this school anymore.”
“Well, then you can definitely count me in. I would’ve had to refuse if Umbridge had endorsed it.”
~*~*~
“So, you really were serious about meeting in the girl’s toilet,” Lee snickered.
“Yeah, not a bad idea at all. You’ll be the only bloke, so if there’s any intruder trouble, we’ll shove you in the toilet, and then you can make all sorts of unpleasant noises to scare off anyone from checking your stall,” Andrea explained as they entered the first meeting of the UFFC.
There was a squeal as they crossed the threshold of the doorway, and they were immediately greeted by a girl with blonde hair and a contagious grin. Her vibrant eyes were framed by copious amounts of blue eye liner, which fit the sixth year Ravenclaw rather well. “I’m absolutely electrified you two could make it,” Haley Holabird trilled, taking one of each of their hands.
“Eclecterfied?” Lee whispered to Andrea, who just shrugged as Haley went on.
“We want you both to talk for a few minutes about Fred, and I’ll announce when we want you to step up for that. We’re going to-oh! Shanae, there you are!” she waved at a girl who had just shown up. “Feel free to sit wherever,” she finished, motioning around the bathroom.
Andrea just laughed as she looked around the room. There were cushy chairs all around the room, red flags and ribbons, and even posters of Fred.
“Fred is not going to believe this,” Lee muttered.
“We could never even tell him about this! He might just go and make it his official club, and then we’d never hear the end of it!” Andrea cried.
They took a spot near the back of the room, next to a girl with brown hair. She had her sleeves rolled up, and her blue tie was loose around her neck. She smiled at them, and she and Lee began to chat.
“Andrea, this is Emily Albain, she’s in sixth year, but she lives down the road from my house,” Lee explained.
The three chatted for a few minutes. It was mostly Lee talking to Emily, who was obviously one who was shy around new people, but eager to talk with old friends. When there was a bit of a lull in the conversation, Andrea pursued a thought that had just occurred to her. “So what do you think will happen if we happen to be caught? We already decided that we’d shove Lee into a stall and have him scare people away from it, but all these decorations?”
“Haley and I worked on them for a couple of hours this afternoon,” Emily explained. “We created a few of the banners at lunch. If we need to abandon everything in a hurry, all I have to do is snap this pencil in two and everything vanishes.”
“That’s brilliant,” Lee said.
Emily smiled, “Honestly, I wouldn’t even be staying if I weren’t intrigued about what will probably erupt here tonight.” At this she pointed to the other side of the room. “Anna Pevensie, in Hufflepuff, looked like she barely refrained from hurling her eggs at Haley. I’ve a feeling she’s very annoyed that Hal came up with the idea first.”
That was all the information there was time for though. Haley was at the center of the bathroom calling everyone’s attention for the start of the meeting. Andrea, however, was watching Anna Pevensie intently. She had a dark look on her face, a mix between rage and sadness.
Haley beamed at the gathering, “As the president of the Unofficial Fred Fan Club, I’m so happy to welcome everyone to the first meeting and wake. We’ll start off by letting people share their memories of Fred, and then we’ll hear from Lee Jordan and Andrea Benning. I’ll start of with my own fond memories...”
Andrea listened as Haley shared her experiences. She noticed that there were angry whispers while Haley spoke, but she didn’t chalk it up to more than jealousy on the part of the other girls. Then people began taking their own turns.
The girl called Shanae got up and relayed how she and Fred had gone out on the grounds to lie out by the lakeand gaze at the stars. Andrea found it odd that they had gone out for a romantic evening by the lake, as it hadn't been long that their destination was considered fertile ground for romance.
“Shocking how uncreative Fred was with these birds,” Lee remarked after they’d heard basically the same outline of an evening shared between Fred and yet another girl, this one experiencing a narrow escape from Filch and ending up in a broom cupboard hiding together.
Andrea nodded in agreement. Then one girl got up and spoke about the night of passion she and Fred had shared. At least, she started to. She was interrupted by a shrill cry from Anna. “You little liar! How dare you make such a claim?”
“Oh, good!” Lee spoke in an undertone to Andrea. “I was worried I was about to get far too much information.”
“I make that claim because it’s true!” the seventh year Ravenclaw spat back at Anna.
“But it’s not true! Julie talked to Fred, and he said he hadn’t been sleeping around!”
“Hang on there,” Haley flared up as well.
But from that moment on, it was hard to decipher just what was being said, and who was flinging insults at whom. Andrea and Lee looked at each other, making the silent decision that it was time to bail out on the chaos. They barely made it through the crowd of girls now snapping at each other before the hexes started to fly.
“Got a bit boring right up to before that explosion, don’t you think?” Lee asked. “Honestly, I got sick of hearing the same thing over and over.”
“No kidding,” Andrea laughed.
“You’d think Fred’d be a bit more creative, though I guess he didn’t have to come up with many ideas if he was using them on different girls nearly every time.”
Though they laughed most of the way back, Andrea was still very much thinking about the meeting and how odd it was. It wasn’t just the fact that the UFFC existed; it was what they’d said in their ‘testimonials’ and, as Lee had stated, just how similar all their stories were.
~*~*~
Andrea pulled out some parchment, a quill and ink and sat down to the desk in the small sitting room of their dormitory. She thought for a very long time before she started writing anything in her letter. She really couldn’t believe how outrageous the UFFC meeting had been. There was something more to the whole thing, but she wasn’t quite sure how she was going to find out just what that something was.
She debated whether or not to write to George about the UFFC. She finally came to the conclusion that it could wait. She was going to get to the bottom of it herself, and she thought the knowledge would come in handy later. Finally she dipped the quill into the green ink and began to write.
Dear George,
You’ve only been gone one day, and already Lee is bored out of his mind. I probably would be too if it weren’t for all the studying I have to do. Everyone is starting to become obsessively paranoid about the exams. Including the teachers it seems, as I’ve been assigned about ninety essays just today.
There is no end of chaos around the castle now. It seems everyone is competing for the opening of top prankster now that you and Fred have gone. No one even comes close to Peeves though. I think he truly admired the two of you, because he seems to have taken your last request to heart. Umbridge and Filch can’t keep up with everything going on, and it’s only been one day.
I’d love to write more but word is that Sophie’s looking for me. She wants to study. Go figure. I don’t want to study anymore for the rest of my life, but that’s not likely to be a possibility. I’ve done a pretty good job of eluding her so far this evening, but I may as well throw her a bone tonight.
Write again soon,
Andrea
She rolled up the parchment and then headed out to the owlery before curfew. She’d take as long as she could because Sophie couldn’t complain about sending off a letter to George.