- CHAPTER NINE -

The Date

The next day word had spread around, Sirius Black had gotten into the castle again and this time he got into the Gryffindor dorms, he even slashed the curtains on Ron's bed.As concerning as this was, Emmie was more worried about the kiss with Fred, he said he liked her but then why did he kiss Angelina. She had heard he was a bit of a player. She really didn't want to get led on. After breakfast Emmie was sat in the common room when Fred came in. "Did you hear, Hogsmeade this weekend?" He asked her, "I was wondering if you wanted to go with me,""I don't know, I'm sure you and George are sick of me by now," she replied, "no I don't mean with me and George, I mean just with me," he said, there was a long silence before Emmie spoke, "I... I don't know,""What do you mean?" He asked her, "Fred I know you kissed Angelina,""Oh," "And I know you like me," she continued, "right," he sighed, "I like you as well but I'm afraid you'll hurt me," she said, "what? I would never hurt you," he said defensively, Emmie just shrugged. "come to Hogsmeade with me, I'll prove it to you," "I better not regret this," she smiled slightly, "so that's a yes?" He asked, "yes." She sighed.

*

Emmie woke on Saturday morning and put on a black skirt and tights, a jumper with red, orange, green and blue stripes on it and a pair of black Doc Martin's. She made her way to the Great Hall where Fred was meeting her, she noticed him waving from the Gryffindor table. "Sit my darling," he spoke in an exaggerated posh accent, pointing to the bench opposite him, she sat down, "now prepare for the best date you have ever been on and will ever go on in the future, prepare to be wined and dined my dear," he said as Emmie rolled her eyes at the rest of the people on the table who were wolf whistling, in a swift motion, Fred pulled a single red rose from under the table and offered it to her, "I have to say Weasley, I'm pleasantly surprised," she took the rose and took a comical inhale of the petals and sighed dramatically making the table laugh. Fred stood up and held his hand out, "come, your coach awaits," Emmie took his hand and, as she stood up, he kissed it lightly, Emmie scoffed, "you're the only person who can make this annoying,""Yeah but you love it though," he replied.

Once they got to Hogsmeade, their first stop was to Madam Puddifoot's tea shop. The door was a dusty pink colour and lace lined the windows which presented various intricately painted cups and saucers and small cakes decorated with hearts and bows. As they entered the shop a bell over the door announced their arrival in a tuneful tinkle, the inside was just as sickly sweet as the outside, the decoration was very tacky, frilly, covered with bows and cramped. The windows steamed up and the gaudy tables and chairs were all claimed by teenagers holding hands or kissing over cups of tea and coffee. The round tables were decorated with lacy napkins and china sugar bowls and cramped up the small shop to the point that Madam Puddifoot had great difficulty in moving in between tables to serve the couples.

Fred and Emmie found an empty table in the back of the room. As they sat down Emmie whispered, "how could you possibly think I would like it in here?""Love is in the air my darling," Fred simply replied, "alright drop the act, I know you hate it too," she said, "yeah it's disgusting," he suddenly sat up and spoke loudly, "right should we order?"Emmie looked up to see Madam Puddifoot stood before them with a great smile on her face. Emmie picked up the menu in front of her and scanned it quickly, it was full of drinks that she had never even heard of and with names so sickly she thought she would vomit if she said them out loud, "I'll just have a coffee please," Fred looked at her with wide eyes, "yeah me too."Madam Puddifoot looked disappointed for a second but soon her smile returned, "coming right up," she said with a giggle. As she left, Fred snorted in amusement, "Jesus," he said, "right, this is a date, let's do it properly. Tell me about yourself.""Well er, let me see. My name's Emmie Nightingale," she started, "I'm 15 years old and my birthday is the first of April-""No way, so is mine," Fred said,"There you go, we have something in common," Emmie replied, "anyway, I have a mum and dad and a younger sister called Mel,""What do your parents do?" He asked her, "my dad works in a factory and my mum is a cleaner at the Leaky Cauldron."As she finished her sentence, Madam Puddifoot returned with their drinks, a small pink flower was sat on both of their coffee's. "What about you?" Emmie asked, "my name is Fred Weasley," he replied, "I'm also fifteen and I have six siblings,""Six?" Emmie asked in shock, "yup, George, Ron, Ginny, Percy, Charlie and Bill." He replied, "woah, I would love to see how chaotic your house is," she said, "Woah hold your horses, this is only the first date," he exclaimed, "right, sorry," Emmie picked the flower off before taking a sip of her drink, it looked and tasted like normal coffee but the strong smell coming from it was as if it had been sprayed with perfume.

They both finished their drink and decided to get out, "where to now?" Emmie asked Fred, "I was thinking the Shrieking Shack could be fun and a bit more enjoyable than that," he looked back at the tea shop, "cool! I could take some photos," Emmie pulled the camera that Fred had got her from her bag, "yeah, you better be using that, it cost all mine and George's money."

The pair arrived at the Shack, it was a tall, thin house which was leaning to one side. The wood was rotting and the doors and windows were boarded up. Emmie took a couple of pictures of it before turning to Fred and taking some of him, he tried to snatch the camera from her but stopped suddenly, he looked terrified and he was pointing at the Shack, "what?" She asked him turning to see what he had seen, "something... Something moving," Fred stuttered, "where? I can't see anything,"He quickly broke character and started laughing, "you can't scare me that easily," Emmie said "damn it." He sounded defeated."I love haunted things, you know people used to hear agonising screams from that place, not even Hogwarts ghosts will enter it," she said in a psychotic way, "it's more scary how much you like it," Fred replied, "yeah," she sighed, "is it bad that, although I'm scared of this whole Sirius Black thing, I find it kind of exciting, I mean things like this seem to be happening every year now," Emmie said, "yeah, there was that Basilisk last year," Fred replied, "yup, and the year before something happened with Professor Quirell, I can't even remember what it was," she laughed, "Voldemort was attached to him, how can you not remember that?"Emmie just laughed leaving Fred to look extremely confused, "I don't know. I've actually enjoyed today," she said, "what do you mean actually, did you not expect to?" He asked her, "no," she smiled, "hey," he lightly hit her. There was a pause before Emmie spoke, "you know when we kissed at the Quidditch match?""Yeah," Fred replied, "I can't actually remember it that well, could you remind me?" She smiled, he shook his head in amusement before cupping her face with his hand, he leant in as Emmie closed her eyes and then, with his free hand, he tapped her on the arm, "you're it," he whispered before running away from her, she opened her eyes, "that was mean!" She shouted before running after him, she finally caught up to him as he stopped to catch his breath, "it," she said as she tapped him and ran to hide behind a tree. She watched him looking around trying to find her, "Emmie!" He called, "ah, I hurt my foot, time out. You have to come here!" He lied. She quickly looked in the other direction to giggle so he didn't hear her but when she turned back he was gone. Suddenly she felt someone behind her and then two hands covered her eyes, she turned around and pulled the hands off to see Fred, he cupped her face again, this time with more force to push her against the tree and kissed her passionately. When they stopped she looked up at him and smiled, "I was right, you are a player," she spoke, "meaning?" He asked, "well you don't practice on your pillow do you?" She replied, he shook his head and laughed, "shut up."

The pair were interrupted by Ron who was walking past talking to himself, he leant against the fence and looked up at the Shrieking Shack, "even the Hogwarts ghosts avoid it," he said to no one. Emmie nudged Fred, "told you," she whispered but Fred was more interested in what his brother was doing. "I asked Nearly Headless Nick... He says he's heard a very rough crowd live here. No one can get in. Fred and George tried, obviously, but all entrances are sealed shut..." Ron continued."Did you actually?" Emmie asked him, "yup, would have done some brilliant pranks if it had worked," Fred replied.They heard voices nearby, someone was climbing towards the house from the other side of the hill; moments later, Malfoy appeared, followed closely by Crabbe and Goyle. Malfoy was speaking."... Should have an owl from Father any time now. He had to go to the hearing to tell them about my arm... About how I couldn't use it for three months..."Crabbe and Goyle sniggered.Malfoy suddenly caught sight of Ron, his pale face split in a malevolent grin."What are you doing, Weasley?"Malfoy looked up at the crumbling house behind Ron."Suppose you'd love to live here, wouldn't you, Weasley? Dreaming about having your own bedroom? I heard your family all sleep in one room - is that true?"Emmie grabbed Fred's arms to stop him leaping on Malfoy, "Don't," she whispered."We were just discussing your friend Hagrid," Malfoy continued, "just trying to imagine what's he's saying to the Committee for the Disposal of Dangerous Creatures. D'you think he'll cry when they cut off his Hippogriff's -"SPLAT!Malfoy's head jerked foreward as a large handful of mud hit him; his silver - blonde hair was suddenly dripping in muck."What the-?"Ron had to hold onto the fence to keep himself standing, he was laughing so hard. Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle spun stupidly on the spot, staring wildly around, Malfoy trying to wipe his hair clean."What was that? Who did that?""Very haunted up here, isn't it?" Said Ron, with the air of one commenting on the weather.Crabbe and Goyle were looking scared, their bulging muscles were no use against ghosts, Malfoy was staring madly around at the deserted landscape .SPLATTER!Crabbe and Goyle caught some this time, Goyle hopped furiously on the spot, trying to rub it out of his small, dull eyes.Crabbe blundered forwards, his long arms outstretched like a zombie, he started towards Ron but stumbled. As he fell Malfoy noticed something above him, a head, Harry's head, just floating there. The three boys turned tail and ran, at breakneck speed, back down the hill screaming.

"Harry!" Ron said, stumbling forward and staring hopelessly at the point where Harry had disappeared, "you'd better run for it! If Malfoy tells anyone - you'd better get back to the castle, quick -"The sticks on the floor crunched past Emmie and Fred telling them that Harry had left. They burst out laughing and Ron approached them, "bloody hell, have you two been here the whole time?" He asked them, "yep," Emmie replied, still laughing, "what you doing here anyway?"There was a silence and Fred just smirked, "gross!" Ron exclaimed, "I assume the date went well then?"