Nicolai had began spending time alone, which bothered Florence to huge extents. Even George she had avoided with great effort, and it began worrying Alexander, too. No one knew what was going on but George, whom she told about her plan to isolate herself for a little while, only until she could figure out what the hell it was that she was feeling.

Florence on the other hand, seemed to have felt that George had something to do with Nicolai's worries, as he was the only one she spent the most of her time with for the past few days. She wasted no time in consulting Alexander about her theory, and they got their heads together at Transfiguration, the two sitting at the very front while Nicolai chose to sit with a Slytherin girl—minding her own business as she sat solemnly in her seat.

"Well if it really is George's fault, what do you suppose he's done to make her so upset that she can't even talk to us about it?" Alexander asked her in a whisper, his eyes darting towards McGonagall every few seconds to see if she was observing them or noticing that they weren't paying any attention to her lessons.

"I-I haven't got a clue. But I remembered once that she and I talked about them being official. I asked her if she was bothered that George hasn't made things official yet and she said no. Now that I think of it, I don't think she was telling the truth."

"It can't be that, Flo, Nicolai isn't a crybaby. It has to be something bigger than that."

Florence shifted uncomfortably in her seat, "That doesn't make things better, Xan. If it isn't that, then it means that George hurt her. So much that she can't even talk to us about it." she said worriedly, moments of silence following her words. She felt some sort of new emotion bubbling up inside her. Whether it was George's fault or not, she felt the need to be mad at him.

"Why don't we just talk to George, then."

"What?"

"Talk to George Weasley. Confront him about what he's done to Nic."

"Civilly, Flo, right? We're going to talk to him in a calm and composed manner?" Alexander clarified, knowing that there were only two possible ways that it would go. It would either mean that Florence would sit down and simply talk things through calmly or she would hex his eyelids close and swear at him like a whiskey-obsessed divorced bloke.

He feared that she would go for the latter, as she'd always go for the latter when her friends were involved.

It took Florence a moment's worth of hesitation, "Maybe." she muttered, Alexander giving her a look. "No, absolutely not. I will not, on any grounds, accompany you to talk to George if you don't promise to me, now, that you will refrain from screaming, swearing or using of any hexes—harmful or not."

Florence crossed her arms over her chest, "Fine—"

"Thank you..." Alexander sighed,

"—I'll go by myself then." she said stubbornly, to which Alexander reacted to by tugging at his hair frustratedly. "Florence. Please. We haven't even got any proof that it's George's doing that made her so miserable. You shouldn't attack him, okay? It's not right. Even if he deserves it."

"We have to resort to some drastic measures if he really did fück her up, you know, mentally—"

"Excuse me, Miss Price, I would take it, that as a person who has been studying my lesson in the same room for five school years now, you would know the rules regarding vulgar language." Professor McGonagall's voice interrupted their conversation, Florence looking up at the older witch in haste.

"Yes, yes I do, Professor." she replied solemnly.

"If that's the case, then I would have to dock five points from your house." McGonagall said, pursing her lips before looking back at the rest of her students, "Right. Now, on with the discussion..."

Florence huffed, slouching in her seat as she used the palm of her hand to prop up her chin. "You see? Swearing is not just unpleasant to the ears, but it leads to bad things—"

"You really really sound like a mum scolding a six year old, you know that?" said Florence, Alexander flashing her a look of annoyance.

"I don't really care how I sound like right now, Florence. But the point is that doing anything reckless will get us in more trouble. It's either you promise me right now that you will talk to him—and only talk, in a civil manner. If you don't, I'm putting a full body binding curse on you and I will personally carry you back up to your dorms and lock you in your bathroom."

"You wouldn't."

"Oh I most definitely would. Don't try me Florence."

"Fine, fine!" she gave up frustratedly, "You have my word; I will do nothing but talk to George Weasley and ask him if he knows or has anything to do with the fact that our friend is basically an emotional mess. And by talking, I mean that there will be no violence—definitely no hexing, no swearing or anything else that goes against the word calm."

"Very good." said Alexander, pleased with himself, before sticking out his pinky, "Now pinky promise."

"What are we, seven?"

"Just do it!"

"Fine!" Florence latched her pinky onto his, making the blonde boy grin. "That's settled then. If you must know, pinky promises are as crucial as unbreakable vows. You break it and I'm afraid that we will never speak again."

"Sure, you say that now. But you know we're as thick as dirty thieves."

----

"Im curious," said George, out of the blue. Fred and himself had just finished getting their Potion sample checked and they were lounging at their seats in ease, Fred finishing up an essay due that same afternoon. He chuckled, giving Gerge a sideway glance, "Hi curious. I'm Fred."

"Real funny..." he drawled out in a monotonous tone, "But on a much more serious note, I really am curious. Where do you go when I'm not around? I was thinking you'd go with Lee but he's said that you never really got to spend some quality time with him."

Fred snorted, "Well, that bloke's been avoiding me like I'm some sort of plague. I never see him around much, lately." he shrugged, "And to answer your question, I've had no choice but to spend time with Florence, but it's alright. You know, she doesn't really spend her time boringly like how we thought she would. She's...okay—"

George'e eyes lit up, "Florence?" he said, a hint of amusement evident in his voice, making his twin brother frown. "Um, yes. I mean, that is her name, is it not?"

"Well yeah, technically, it is. But..." George paused dramatically, grinning idiotically, "Since when have you and her been on first name basis?" he asked, waggling his brows at him, making Fred pause momentarily, his quill stopping in the middle of his parchment.

"What are you on about?" he frowned, continuing to write, but at a much faster pace.

"Oh don't play stupid with me. You know well what I mean. It's always been Price and Weasley, hasn't it? Why the sudden first name basis?"

"Seriously, George. We're friends now, I guess. I mean, we're with each other most of the time when you ditch me and her friends ditch her. It shouldn't be surprising that we've moved up to using our first names with each other. It's what normal people who are friends with each other does."

"Sure it is." said George, the smirk still not wiped off his face, annoying Fred to extremities.

"Could you stop saying it like that?"

"Like what?" asked George in the same teasing tone, feigning oblivion.

"Like that. It's annoying me, if you must know." he grumbled, slouching in his seat.

"Okay... Fine, I'll be frank with you dear brother..." said George seriously, "Do you like Florence?"

"What?!" Fred asked incredulously, Snape glowering at the two from his desk because of this. George shushed him up in haste, flashing the Professor an apologetic look, before turning to look at him again. "I said, do you like Florence? Merlin, Fred, have you gone deaf or something?"

"No! I heard you clearly but why—in Godric's name— are you asking me that?"

"Like, do you fancy her?" asked George again, making Fred groan, "No, no I don't fancy her! That's just mad, George."

"What? How is fancying her suddenly mad—?" The sound of Snape dismissing them from class interrupted them, George unable to speak as they both collected their books, doing it much faster than Fred and practically shoving them into his bookbag before pestering him yet again.

"Why don't you fancy her?" he asked persistently, "I mean, she is sort of pretty you know, and smart, and—"

"Are you trying to play matchmaker with Florence and I?" Fred asked him suspiciously, pausing in his tracks.

"What? Matchmaker? Ofcourse not—"

"WEASLEY!" They heard a voice boom and the girl in mention was heading towards them, taking long hasty strides, Alexander in tow. "Florence, not too loud." the blonde chastised, Florence completely disregarding it.

"Yes?" both Fred and George asked simultaneously after a few blank seconds. "No, not you, Fred. I meant George." he turned to the other Weasley. "Xander and I need to talk to you about something."

"Okay...?" said George, unsure of how to respond. Florence wasted no time in pulling him away from his twin brother, marching further down the hall, leaving Alexander to deal with Fred for a brief moment. "Where's she taking him?" he asked curiously.

"Somewhere. We just need to talk to him. It will be really quick, I promise." he explained curtly, before catching up to Florence who had dragged George to a secluded corridor, only letting go of the hem of his school jumper as Alexander came in to view.

"Remember what we talked about, okay?" he reminded her, "No violence."

"Right," Florence breathed in annoyance, eyeing the redhead infront of him sharply. "Right. I'll skip the long, unnecessary introduction then. I will ask you this, and you must—I repeat, must—answer it truthfully. If you won't then I'm afraid things will get a tad bit ugly—"

"Florence," said Xander reprovingly.

"Sorry..." she mumbled, "Now... What have you done to Nicolai?" she asked George, as calmly as possible. She watched the lump on his throat bob up then back down, Florence's eyes narrowing down to murderous slits. "Why does she look so miserable?"

George adjusted his collar, "Me? Why do you think it has anything to do with me?" He asked, bewildered. He mentally cursed Nicolai—who could have told her friends that nothing was wrong to avoid getting him into tight spots with her friends.

"It doesn't really take a genius, Weasley. You're the one who's almost constantly by her side for a couple of weeks now. When she wasn't with you, she didn't even look miserable at all. So it has to be you."

He gave her a bewildered look, "And what do you think I did that made her so upset if it was me? I'm not the reason, Price, Haddlowe."

"Then why is she like that?" Alexander butted in, "If it wasn't your doing then what's making her so sad?"

George shook his head defiantly, "No... I shouldn't be the one to tell you this, not at all. I mean, I thought you two would be smart enough to piece things together."

"Piece together what?" Florence frowned, crossing her arms across his chest, "George, piece together what?"

"See? You haven't gotten a clue—"

"That's why I asked you, you ninny!" she snapped frustratedly, hearing Alexander sigh from beside her. "Florence... Weasley, mate, perhaps it would be wise if you cut the chase and get to it. Because our heads are aching immensely from trying to think of what we've done to get her to be so distant. We really need answers." he pleaded with the redhead.

"I'm sorry, Haddlowe. I've grown quite fond of Nicolai, to be honest. And I can't tell you—even if I wanted to, really, I really can't. It isn't something that I should tell you."

"So... You're telling us that if we asked her about it then she'd tell us? Just like that?"

George nodded, "Just like that. But only when she's ready, that is. She kind of needs the time to think things through herself—"

"Did you impregnate her?" Florence blurted out in suspicion, George's eyes growing wide, "W-What? Ofcourse not, I mean—I wouldn't even think of doing that!"

"Well... You better be telling the truth..."

"I am!"

"I don't think you are." said Florence pointedly, "But thank you for telling us a little bit. Even if that little bit was sort of irrelevant.." she muttered, Alexander nodding in agreement. "Well, I'll be on my way then, Price, Haddlowe." George nodded at the two, exiting the way he entered before going to find his brother.

"That was distraughtly useless... Don't you think?" huffed Florence as they walked out of the secluded corridor, going to their next class as they still had the luxury of time to walk slowly, Florence contemplating on how she could get Nicolai to open up to them about it.

/////
a.n: HAPPY 2K TO THIS BOOK! THANK YOU SO SO SOOO SO MUCH💓 It might be very little compared to what others have achieved, but it means the whole world to me that somehow people like what I write.

-Denise