"No teachers so far?" Nicolai asked as George emerged from a corner. They had been there for approximately two hours, and counting. And still they could hear Florence banging on the door, only stopping for a few seconds before continuing on.

"She's never going to stop, is she?" George asked, sliding down beside Alexander, who shook his head.

"Nah, she will stop. That's Fred's job. You know, if he does it right."

"Does what right?"

He rolled his eyes, "Convince Florence to stop being such a raging bitch around him...or more..."

"Shouldn't she have tried to use her wand to get the door open?" he said, knowing that the girl was smart enough to find a solution.

Alexander smiled, retrieving Florence's wand from where it was tucked in his pocket, "I snatched it out from her robe pocket before Nicolai shoved her in."

"Yeah. I did the same with Fred's" he chuckled.

"Okay," said Nicolai, "I'm actually worried now. What if she ends up murdering him?"

"Nic!"

"What? That is a possibility. If it gets suspiciously quiet, we press our ears to the door and listen in."

"No," said Xander firmly, "Honestly, Nic, could you stop looking for reasons to eavesdrop on them. We all agreed that by doing this, we'd give them their privacy to actually talk things out."

"On another note," George pipped up, "Florence hasn't been quiet for even a second. So that is a strong indication that Fred is still alive..."

"You two are unbearable." Alexander muttered.

---

"Xander!" Florence yelled for what seemed to be the nth time, knuckles red as she continued rapping on the door as loudly as she could manage. Fred had given up long ago, and sat slumped on one corner of the small space. Knowing his brother's persistence, he knew that there was a possibility for them to spend the night in the tiny supply room if they did not sort things through.

"Florence. . ." he said, the first attempt he's done to communicate with her, "Give it a rest. They aren't going to open that door even if you screamed until your voice is hoarse."

She frowned, "That's because you aren't even helping me. You want to get out? Help me get us out of here. Give me your wand. One of them took mine before they locked me in... smart gits..."

"I don't have my wand on me. It's with George."

"So how are we going to get out?"

"I don't want to," said Fred, silencing Florence. Even he had surprised himself with his reply, "I don't want to get out just yet. I think they're right, you know. We have to talk things through."

"I don't want to talk to you. We've done enough talking."

"We haven't," he argued, "Honestly? I've been trying to explain to you why I did what I did. And you refused to listen—"

"I did listen to you, to all you had to say." she shot back, both of them in opposite corners of the small room.

"You were only hearing what I had to say, Florence, not listening. When you listen to someone, you have to understand what someone says..."

"I know what listening means," she muttered, turning her back to him.

"Let's just cut the bullshit, please? Aren't you tired of having to constantly avoid me every single day, when you know you want to talk to me just as much as I want to talk to you?"

Florence laughed hollowly, "A bit cocky there, Fred."

"Just," he sighed again, "Just please listen to me. Please."

With much hesitation, she swiveled around, her hard  eyes softening. Not that he'd tell her that he noticed, because then she would just attempt to mask it.

"When I met you, I-I didn't really think much of you. I saw you out on the Quidditch pitch, played games against each other's teams, had a few classes together. That was all to it. And then the dungbomb incident happened. . ." he chuckled, reminiscing the first few days of school last year.

". . .I haven't really told George about this, because he'd kill me for it, the reason why the dungbomb didn't go off on you because I didn't want it to go off on you."

"What?" asked Florence, puzzled.

"Yeah," Fred said, sheepishly, "I just wanted to annoy you. . . I kind of liked the way you reacted to us pestering you before we handed you the dungbomb. I never intended for it to explode in your hand."

"And then I met this wonderful person through my transfiguration desk. That was the best part of the year. Talking to someone I didn't even know but at the same time I kind of knew in a very weird sort of way. A stranger who wasn't really a stranger."

"I kind of had a hunch that it was you, my gut had convinced me one time that it might be you. You might be my protean buddy. But before then, I'll admit I did like you, Florence. I liked you so much. You have no idea how much I just wanted to...to kiss you, er, after our match with the Slytherins..."

Florence's gaze tore away from the floor, her eyes wide as she examined Fred's face. It was nothing but genuine, she knew, which made her heart thump wildly in her chest.

"You were this seemingly uptight up Ravenclaw who cared for nothing but school and grades... And then you weren't anymore. You started meaning a lot to me..."

"And what I did in the clock tower—I—I don't really have a good explanation for that aside from the fact that I was being utterly stupid." he chuckled lightly, looking down at the floor and then back at Florence.

"I just re evaluated stuff—poorly, I might add. I was insecure... I thought maybe I wasn't the person that you expected your Protean buddy to be. Merlin, had I known of your feelings..."

"I thought I was too obvious," said Florence in a soft voice, "How could you not have noticed that I was starting to like you?"

"Because I'm as observant as a brick wall, Florence. I'm Fred Weasley, one half of the biggest dunces in the castle, just a bunch of slackers... I didn't think you'd like me that way with the way I am."

"But I did..."

"Yeah. I know that now. And I'm sorry, Florence, I really am. And, I just want to be with you, you know? To pick up where we left off before I ruined everything."

"...You want to be with me."

"I do," he nodded, his face flushed into a deep shade of red. "Look," he said, "I have no idea if I'm doing this confession thing right or not. Merlin, I'm really bad at this—"

Florence took big strides across the small space, standing close enough to Fred to hear him breathing. His face was barely illuminated by the torchlight above them.

His red hair flared against the light, brown eyes wide as he waited for her to do what she wanted to do.

She was hesitating, evidently, or caught in a daze just by examining every bit of detail, mesmerized by everything down to the smallest freckle.

Not being able to wait any longer, he leaned in, his nose brushing against hers as his lips found hers. Their foreheads bumped awkwardly against each other, it seemed like there was too much getting in the way.

But they were kissing, nonetheless, eyes closed as if their lips against the other's was all that mattered to them at that moment. Her lips were soft against his—the two were conscious with the way that they were doing it. Neither of them had kissed anyone before.

Fred had daringly moved his arms, pulling Florence closer to him as the two pulled apart from each other to regain their breath, lips locking once more after mere seconds.

It wasn't the best kiss in the world, not that Florence had anything to compare it to, but it definitely made her burst with unexplainable feelings. From all the books she had read, that is what a kiss did to someone.

She wanted them to stay like that longer, even if her breath was limited. Florence didn't really mind being locked in with him after all...

Until the door had flew open, light filling the room as quick as the two had broke apart from each other.

"Nicolai!" Alexander groaned at the brunette girl, who was gaping at both Florence and Fred—the two blushing furiously.

"I told you not to go in!" he continued to scold, even if he knew that she was not paying attention in the slightest

"Way to go, Freddiekins!" George laughed, a wide grin spread across his face as Nicolai clapped a hand over her own mouth to suppress a gasp.

"Finally!" She yelled after moments of silence, "Finally, finally, finally!"

"Keep it down, will you?" said Florence, despite her still-embarrassed state, "With how loud you are, the whole school might here you."

"As they should!" Nicolai said, "Finally!" she yelled once more, pumping both fists in to the air.

"Now, Nic," said Xander, a mix off amusement and seriousness on his face, "Since you ruined their moment to—as you say—see if they didn't kill each other, why don't we leave for real to leave them to themselves for awhile? Since you've confirmed that neither of them murdered each other."

"But—!"

"Nope. You've done enough. Let's go. You two, George." Alexander said, walking away, the two following suit in hesitation.

Florence looked at Fred, as soon as her friends were out of eyeshot. "Did that just happen?"

He grinned, "The kiss, or that Alexander was able to get the two to follow him?"

"Both."

They laughed. "Er, that was pretty awkward, wasn't it?" asked Fred nervously, "I mean, I never kissed anyone before..."

"Me too. But it was nice." She said, surprising him, "You think so?"

"I do," she nodded, "But you still owe me, Fred Weasley. Don't think that kiss made up for everything. I will not be that sort of girl." she said. He found it amusing how her mood changed fairly quickly.

"I know, I know... So a Hogsmeade date then?"

"Have a something a little extraordinary in mind?"

Fred cupped her face in his hand, before planting a small kiss on her forehead, "I never said anything about it being an ordinary Hogsmeade date, did I?"

//////
a.n: ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh how did I do with the kissing scene? That was the first time I've written one 😂

-Denise