The Scars to Prove It

The sun was climbing its way through the sky by the time the boys woke up that Saturday, rolling over and rubbing at their unruly hair.

“Hogsmeade?” one of them asked; it was impossible at this point to tell one from the other.

The latter emitted a series of grumbles, which must have been affirmative because he pulled himself upright and proceeded to ruffle his hair even more.

“Were’djewhinkFarrenwen?” the standing one mumbled, revealing himself to be George.

Fred, being George’s twin, didn’t need to ask again what he said.

“Farren? Probably on a date.” Both boy’s expressions hardened without the other’s seeing. Unclenching his jaw, Fred continued. “What about Rina? It’s weird to imagine her hanging out with anyone but us. It’s been four years and we can hardly get her to talk to anyone outside Gryffindor.”

George nodded. “You’re going to have a time trying to find her, mate.”

“Me? Farren’s face changes every time we see her. You’re going to be the one having a time.” George groaned, throwing himself face first once more into his bed.



George left before Fred, since he had a little more incentive to find Farren than Fred to Carina. Not that Ri wasn’t everything to the twins; Farren was just... a bit more than everything.

Fred threw the first clothes he found on (which was a pair or jeans and a sweater, he was pretty sure) and stuck his wand in his back pocket before jogging out the door. George had left a little under an hour ago, and Fred was going to have to search Hogsmeade from back to front to be able to find Rina, seeing as he didn’t have the slightest idea where she was.

On his way out the courtyard of the school, he ran into none other than Lee Jordan, who also looked like he was late going somewhere.

“Alright there, Lee!”

Lee glanced up hurriedly before looking back down at his shuffling feet. “Hey Fred, love to stay and chit-chat, but I’m a little late for something...” He scurried off in the direction of the castle, leaving Fred rather bewildered. Shrugging it off, he continued his way to town.

He barely paused at the entrance of the village before making the decision to walk through the whole thing and make sure he didn’t see Carina out in the open before going back and looking more thoroughly. However, by the time he reached Madame Pudifoot’s, he had already accepted the fact that he made this resolve so that he could sneak a peek at the cozy restaurant to make sure that Farren wasn’t there with someone. Quickly casting a Disillusionment charm on himself, he peered into the window closest to him. Although he had been scanning the place for the telltale signs of Farren, his eyes eventually landed on the back of a girl’s head, with recognizable stark-black hair pulled to the side in a braid. Blinking, it took Fred a moment to realize that this was Rina; usually when she’s in much crowded places, she’s glancing back and forth or biting her lip nervously. But when she turned a little towards Fred to toss her braid back and out of the way, he not only noticed how confident and happy she looked, but the identity of the boy sitting across from her.

Fred frowned, a little bit of jealousy beginning to burn deep in his chest. Rina didn’t look that self-assured around anybody but their friends. Who was Diggory to pop out of no-where and steal her away? Fred had to remind himself that all-in-all, Carina could do a lot worse. It only took one conversation about the pure-blooded boys that her father wanted her to be betrothed to before Carina came to Hogwarts to convince both Fred and George to stay out of her love-life -- although none existed until now, as far as Fred knew.

Keeping his Disillusionment charm on himself, Fred headed into the restaurant.



Carina snorted -- yes, snorted -- at Cedric’s last joke, causing both herself and the boy in front of her to laugh even more. No one outside of her small circle of Gryffindors had ever made her feel so comfortable, and this feeling of making friends was still so foreign to her. Both of them quieted down after a moment, and Carina took a dainty sip of her hibiscus tea to fill the silence.

“I’m really glad we did this,” she said quietly, her pale green eyes running over the long-forgotten Herbology book.

Cedric nodded, his grey-eyed stare a bit more intense than before. “Me too. I’ll be honest, when I first heard of you back in first year, I only saw you for your last name. But after all the rumors about what happened with your family...”

Carina looked down, all evidence of her care-free smile now gone. Cedric leaned in, his calloused hands covering her dainty fingers that held her tea cup.

“If there’s ever a time that you need someone to talk to, ever, I’ll be there. You know that, right?”

Carina nodded and smiled softly. “Thank you.”

Right at this moment, there was a bang as a chair near the two fell over, causing both of them to jump a little. Staring at the fallen chair in a moment’s shock, they both jumped again when the restaurant’s door slammed shut. However, when they both glanced up, no one was even close to it.



After he was far enough away from Madame Pudifoot’s, Fred whisked his invisibility away and continued down the cobblestone road. How dare that Diggory character lead Carina on like that, telling her things that both he and Fred knew were lies? The twins had dealt with Diggory on the pitch for the past three years, and they knew that he was nothing but an air-headed, over-confident twit. If he kept stringing their Rina on like this, something was going to have to be done...

“Oi! Fred!”

Fred glanced up at his twin, waiting for him to catch up before continuing down the alley.

“Any luck?”

Fred frowned, not looking up at his twin. “I don’t know if you would call it luck, but I found her. Down at Madame Pudifoot’s.”

George paused for a moment, as if the idea that Carina going on a date was almost unfathomable. “What? With who?”

“Diggory.”

With this, George stopped dead. His twin didn’t need to explain any further. Just as he was turning around to talk sense into Rye, Fred caught him by the elbow.

“What about you? Did you find her?”

George shook his head. “I can’t find Farren for the life of me...”

Fred nodded. “Well I’ll go back and make sure that neither of the lovebirds do anything stupid, and you find Farren. What if she’s on a date with some tosspot too?”

George frowned. “Like who? I think it’s Rye we need to be worrying about here, there aren’t any other narcs left for Farren to be on a date with.”

“You’ve seen the way Flint looks at her on the pitch.”

George paled. “Farren has better judgment than that...”

Fred threw his arms into the air. “I thought Rina did too! The world’s gone barking mad, and I don’t know what to believe anymore!”

Both boys nodded fervently before setting off in different directions, intent on their goals.