WHO: Angelina & Fred WHAT: Gossip and chill. WHEN: backdated to September 6 WHERE: Angelicia's abode WARNINGS: 🍨
The news of the day had left Angelina with a lot of nervous energy she hadn’t been able to burn through yet. Once Alicia had left, she’d even tidied the living room, albeit half-heartedly. But at least the socks she’d left draped over the corner of the telly were stowed away in her room now and the sofa was once again a piece of furniture instead of her personal closet. That was something. She guessed.
Waiting for Fred was kind of doing her head in. She was ashamed to admit she didn’t want to be alone, not after what they’d all heard. Because she was supposed to be braver than that. But she didn’t want to be alone.
When she heard him, she was nervously playing with her phone and she jumped immediately to her feet to greet him. It was only when the food was safely set down that she threw her arms around him and took the first deep breath she’d managed to take all day.
Fred returned the hug, arms wrapping around her tightly and a kiss placed on the top of her head. Despite having talked to her, there was nothing like seeing her in person and confirming that she was fine, physically at least.
After a long moment he stepped back, hands running down her arms to find her hands, a grin on his face, lopsided and fond. “Is that how you greet all delivery guys?”
“Yep,” she said, returning his grin with equal fondness. She tilted a bit, just enough to catch a glimpse of his delivery. “Especially ones bearing ice cream!” Her grin shifted, some of her uneasiness with the entire day creeping in, and she squeezed his hands. “I’m just really glad you’re here.”
“I’m really glad you’re here too.” He wasn’t one to dwell on negatives, but that it could have just as easily have been one of his quidditch playing friends wasn’t lost on him. He gave her hands a return squeeze before dropping one to lead them to the (surprisingly clean) sofa, summoning the food over to them once they were seated, arm moving to casually drape around her shoulders. “Pizza or ice cream first?” he asked. “Or pizza with ice cream on top? The new wiztagram famous food combination.”
Angelina made a show of considering her options, tapping her chin, until decisively, “Ice cream first.” She summoned a pair of spoons from the kitchen and after catching them deftly, she passed one off to him. “It’s been A Day, so we deserve to eat it straight from the carton.”
Fred dug straight in, scooping as much ice cream as he could fit onto his spoon in one go. “Isn’t this just how you always eat ice cream so Alicia doesn’t have to do as much washing?”
“Sometimes I do the washing up,” she insisted, though she was unable to keep a straight face while she said it. She dug in with her own spoon and emerged with a more modest bite, settling in comfortably under his arm. “Or I’m very good company while she does it, at least.”
“You're my favourite company,” Fred agreed, if only partially because he didn't consider George company. “You two are okay now, right?” He asked, despite really wanting to avoid any further involvement in their disagreement. “Because delivery is fine but I draw the line at doing your dishes for you.”
“You know, it’s really funny you’d say that,” she said with a sneaky grin, “because Alicia actually said she and I couldn’t be friends again until you’d done some of our dishes.”
Fred laughed, prodding Angelina gently in the side. “That’s too bad because she already agreed to be my new brother so you’re the only one missing out.”
“This is because Alicia and I were sooo convincing that year we were you and George for Halloween, isn’t it?” Angelina asked with a laugh, grabbing for his arm to fend off any further prodding. She knew Fred was talking about Percy, though, and all she could think about suddenly was what he’d offered to do for her.
“Oh yeah,” Fred laughed again, letting Angelina grab his arm. “So good you had me convinced that maybe I wasn't even the real George.”
“Gross, you’re not George,” she said, wrinkling her nose at him, barely suppressing a grin as she said it. But she couldn’t stop thinking about Percy so she released his arm and turned her attention to the ice cream, stabbing it with her spoon a few times as she added, “Hey, so, that reminds me, though. You know how I said I’d talk to Oliver and Percy?”
Fred bit down hard on his spoon, teeth clenched around it as he answered with a “Yeah.”
“Well,” she said, glancing quickly at him out of the corner of her eye, “I did.”
“Oliver have anything interesting to say?” He asked casually, taking the spoon out of his mouth and digging back into the ice cream carton, all while avoiding looking at Angelina.
As she moved her spoon out of his way, Angelina snuck a hand over to Fred’s knee and tried to pretend she hadn’t. “Oliver thinks Percy thinks he can fix the Ministry from the inside,” she said, “which is kind of what I suspected might be the case.”
“But he can’t,” Fred took out his frustration on the ice cream, digging too hard into an icier section and sending a chunk of it flying. “He’s only one person and the closest he's ever come to rebellion is taking points off other people who did it.”
She bit her lip and stared at the chunk of ice cream for a long moment. Abruptly, she jabbed her spoon into the ice cream for safe-keeping and shifted her leg up onto the sofa to face him. “He said he was going to change my address at the Ministry. I didn’t ask him to. He just said he was going to do it. He’s changing my mum’s and Alicia’s, too.”
Fred silently continued to mash the ice cream for a moment, trying to process the complex feelings that came with any conversation with or about Percy. “That's good of him,” he conceded eventually, leaving his spoon in the container and instead bringing his hand to touch her ankle, tracing his finger around the bone as he spoke. “Obviously I want you and Alicia and your families to be safe. But that doesn't make up for everything else. If anything, it just shows that his friends are more important to him than his family ever was and he’ll continue to show up for them while ignoring us.”
“I know,” she said quietly, watching him. She felt awful for him and a little guilty having Percy’s offer framed that way so she leaned in to press a kiss to his cheek. “I don’t think it makes up for it either and I don’t think he should ignore you or your family. I don’t get it at all. But…” She twisted her mouth in thought for a beat. “He did get George that form.”
The kiss brought the ghost of a smile back to his face and he pulled her closer, wrapping both arms around her now. “He did,” Fred agreed. “So maybe not totally irredeemable, just a massive twat.” His smile grew, insulting Percy feeling normal enough to improve his mood slightly. “Which is classic Perce, really, a well-meaning prat.”
It was hard not to smile along with Fred. She was too relieved to see it. She slung an arm across his stomach and breathed out a laugh. “I asked Oliver if Percy took points for talking back to Umbridge and he said not yet so…”
“What he should do is take away one of her cat plates every time she says something offensive.” Happy to see Angelina smile, he ducked his head down to kiss her, pushing away any further thoughts of his traitor brother. “Anyway, think I'm meant to be cheering you up.”
“My slacker boyfriend,” she said, with a mournful shake of her head. She seemed to get over her mournfulness quickly, though, because she shifted, wrapping her arms around his neck and pulling him back in. “In that case, I’m going to need more—” Instead of finishing her thought, she kissed him again.
Fred smiled into the kiss, more than happy to oblige her request.