"Fred ... hey, Fred!" Given how odd life had been for the past year, Fred merely dismissed the disembodied voice calling to him in Charms. He had too much on his mind to add yet another mystery to it; Aubrey and his future business plans were taking up a lot of time.

However, after ignoring the voice it only seemed to get more agitated, clearly not wanting to be ignored, "Fred ... for God's sake, get out of your head?"

Finally, he looked up, his eyes instantly turning to Roger who furrowed his brow, "Roger ... was that you?"

" ... no," Roger replied monotonously, "Surprisingly, I have a man's voice," He pointed down to the row below where Lexy was waving frantically, her cheeks slightly reddened probably due to residual Roger feelings. Fred concealed a snigger as her wave accidentally attracted the attention of Flitwick, forcing her to wave him away. Rather than wait any longer, she clambered up, awkwardly moving past people until she got to the end of the row.

"Lexy, sit back down!" Professor Flitwick said firmly from across the room.

"Gladly," Out of the corner of her mouth, she whispered to Fred, "Budge up."

He obliged, shunting into Roger who glowered. Fred offered him a sheepish grin as Lexy slid onto the end of the row.

Roger grimaced, "Your legs touching mine."

"Count yourself lucky, I usually charge extra for this sort of action," Fred replied with a wink, earning himself both a suppressed giggle and light slap on the arm from Lexy.

"I won't be here long, Roger" Lexy promised, poking around him before quickly flicking back, softly whispering, "I was so calm ... so collected, are you proud, Fred? You'd never know I used to like him."

Even if things were off with Aubrey, he was glad Lexy was being fine with him. 

"Very proud ... so what's up?"

"Well ... er ..."

"Take your time," He teased. Her face was screwed up, she'd clearly come over on a burst of excitement but hadn't figured out what she wanted to say yet. Eventually, she nodded firmly more for herself than him.

"I need your help um ... bringing some textbooks with me to ... maybe here at around 8? They're very heavy and George is busy."

He arched an eyebrow, "Doing what?"

For a moment, she opened her mouth to speak before suddenly bursting into a splutter of giggles, "I was about to say me but realised you'd take it the wrong way, George has corrupted me..."

"Your lying skills need work too," He grinned, suddenly twigging what was going on, "Mainly because I can kind of see what's happening."

Her face fell, "You can?"

"Aubrey will be there and you'll force us to talk?" He guessed, "It's very sweet, Lexy and ... I might be willing to talk now just because I ... you know, miss her a lot but I don't think she wants to talk to me at present, she's uncomfortable with this sort of thing and I don't want to force her."

"It worked last time and she reacted to the George disagreement quite similar to this. Anyway, she will talk, I know it..."

"How?" He asked.

"I just do ... I know someone very persuasive," Lexy replied persistently, "Please, Fred? She's sad and you're sad and I know she'll talk, I just know it ... please?"

It vaguely amused him that Lexy thought there was a chance he'd turn down the offer, "Of course, I'll be there."

"Brilliant," She beamed, "You know, this is quite comfy really, might just stay there," At this, Roger's eyes widened with alarm, "On second thoughts, it is a bit crowded ... I guess I'll see you later!"

Due to her bubbly personality, some people assumed that Lexy was a bit thick. Whilst she wasn't the most academic, Lexy Masters was far from thick, especially when it came to her best friends. Whilst her skills of deduction and persuasion could be used for evil, she never chose to use them for evil. Having managed to convince Fred to talk with remarkable ease, Aubrey was going to take a little more work.

"Angela, Kenny ... hi," Lexy grinned approaching the couple after lessons had finished.

They both beamed although their faces became much more serious when they noticed the solemness on Lexy's, "I need to talk to you, Ang, it's about Aubrey - "

Instantly Kenny took a step forward, pulling his arm free from his girlfriend's grip, "Is she okay?" His shoulder shrugged multiple times, "What's happened - "

"Nothing bad, Kenny, calm down," Lexy said quickly, "She and Fred had a disagreement and she's freaking out that if they talk, they'll break up. Even Saskia's getting upset over it and that's a nightmare on its own. Yesterday she stayed awake all night out of discomfort ... it was not a nice night."

Lexy expected cold aloofness from Angela but when she turned to look at her, all she found was concern etched across the girl's face, "I'm trying to get her to talk to Fred tonight in one of the classrooms so they can actually address it but she won't listen to me nor Saskia, not even George. We've all tried, she's freaked out, feeling out of her depth and very stubborn so Ang, I was wondering if - "

"Yes, obviously I'll have a word with her," She replied before Lexy even had a chance to finish her sentence. Both Lexy and Kenny eyed her up with surprise and the confident Angela seemed to slump out of vague embarrassment, "What? We had a disagreement but I don't want her to be miserable..."

Lexy smiled. This was going to be easier than thought ... if Angela could convince Aubrey that is.

• • •

Just like many evenings before, Aubrey had decided to sit in silence with Saskia, mainly because Saskia's persistent moaning about Aubrey's sad demeanour was getting to her. However, when she came to the library to meet her friend, she was met with nothing but emptiness. Eventually, through word of mouth, she discovered that Saskia and Lee were observing constellations together from the astronomy tower and Aubrey decided perhaps being alone would be good for her.

"Mind if I sit?" The interruption came about ten minutes into her mind-numbingly dull revision. For a moment Aubrey thought she was dreaming mainly because Angela had barely uttered a word to her since the start of term.  Somehow the most interesting topic could become the worst when one was told to look at it for school so the interruption was still welcome. 

The idea of rejecting Angela brought no satisfaction to her so she accepted and Angela took a seat. After a few moments of what could only be described as pure awkwardness, Aubrey spoke, "Hey hon ... long time, no see."

Angela didn't say anything before shrugging, "Yeah ... I didn't come to talk about that today so let's not."

"Just stop by for a casual chat then?" Aubrey asked with a smile.

"No, I came to discuss something more serious," Angela replied sternly, making Aubrey feel oddly guilty despite having done nothing, "You and Fred are fighting, right?"

Aubrey's eyes narrowed, "Did Lexy tell you?"

"Yes," Angela replied flatly, "Apparently it's been weeks now and you're still being cold to him, right?"

"We're fine," Aubrey replied flatly.

For a moment silence befell the girls before Angela spoke, "Okay, pretend that we're not fighting right now. Pretend we're still as close as we used to be before you randomly snubbed for most of the time in favour of Fred ... I probably should have worded that better," She added in response to Aubrey's irritated expression, "Look, communication isn't your strong point, Aubs. When the going gets tough and you feel like you can't handle it, you just don't."

"No, I don't - "

"Then how come we haven't talked at all this year?" Angela pointed out to which Aubrey didn't reply, looking down with mild shame in her eyes, "Avoidance is sort of your go to in matters like this..."

"I was busy and ... and that," Aubrey admitted before sinking her head on the desk, "I just don't get it, me and Fred fought last year and everything was fine. I could still work, we still talked and we just got over it, I don't get why this is so hard."

"Because you're going out with him now, you dolt," Angela replied casually tipping her chair back, grinning as she made eye contact with Madam Pince.

Aubrey didn't raise her head from the desk, "Yeah, but we were together all the time last year and for half of that we mutually liked each other. We were basically going out ... well, the whole school thought we were."

"The whole school didn't care, I did," Angela replied flatly, "And answer this ... when did you two start hanging out so much for no reason?"

"Um ... last year, around October?"

Angela continued, "When did you two kiss?"

Right now, Aubrey was thankful to have her body back so her cheeks didn't go scarlet. Discussing this still made her a little uncomfortable, "Well ... towards the end of last year, right after the Third Task although we confessed our feelings a few months before that."

"Where you together then though?"

"Well ... no."

"When did you start going out?"

Aubrey lifted her head from the desk, "Why all the questions?" She didn't need an answer, Angela's raised eyebrow was enough for her to forget the question, "I guess officially a week and a bit ago, that was our first date ... and first fight."

"Then that's when you started going out," Angela replied flatly, "The dynamic's changed now, being a couple and being friends who like each other are two very different things ... that's why you're freaking out. Being in a relationship is a big deal, you never seemed to get it before but maybe now you're in one of your own, you're seeing and understanding it a bit better. It must be really scary, Aubs, I feel for you but the stakes are higher now because you're in a committed thing with Fred. Before if you fought, you'd have a bit of awkwardness but otherwise not much, now you have this new relationship resting on it."

"That sounds about right," Aubrey agreed, "I don't want this to end, Ang, I like him a lot but ... we're disagreeing over a pretty fundamental part of our relationship. I don't want to talk to him and then say the wrong thing."

"Avoidance isn't the solution though, it will only drive you further apart. If you're going to make this work, communication goes a long way otherwise it's not going to be a healthy relationship. You think me and Kenny get on with every single issue? No, he thinks me being Vegetarian is stupid and I now think meat is gross. But we talked it through and now we don't make rude comments about each other's food. Better that than stewing in silence," Angela sighed, "We're not perfect but we try and talk. You need to as well, Aubs."

"What if he breaks up with me?"

Angela gave a small smile, "I've seen you two together, he's as crazy about you as you are of him. Just be calm, try not to be accusatory and compromise. It doesn't even have to be a fight, more like a discussion ..."

As much as she hated to admit it, Angela had worked her magic. Aubrey was suddenly feeling a lot more positive mainly because Angela had somehow managed to keep a relationship going for over a year now, she knew what she was talking about even if her words did seem a little hypocritical in places.

"Go and talk to him," Angela said firmly, "Lexy mentioned something about a plan to lock you two in a classroom, the Charms one but don't let her do that. Just talk to him on your own terms."

"Maybe tomorrow - "

"NOW!"

"What happened to on my own terms?" Aubrey asked with a playful smile.

Angela leisurely tossed her hand, "Eh, you'd just freak out even more if you waited, I know you."

"True ... I would," She jumped up, "I'm going to go, we will have a reasonable discussion about this because Aubrey Jackson can do relationships now!"

"That's my girl!"