Under Angela's guidance, Aubrey found herself running down the corridors so fast that she almost tripped on her feet. The solution had been there all along and now that she felt confident enough to go for it, there was no stopping her as she raced to the Gryffindor tower. Well, no stopping her other than the portrait lady who wasn't so keen on the idea of letting a Hufflepuff in today.

"Perhaps if you'd come earlier, I may have been in a more benevolent mood but Violet said the most ghastly thing about my hat today and I haven't been in a happy all day!"

"Well ... maybe the idea that I could be happy will make you happy?" Aubrey suggested hopefully, looking around just in case some kindhearted Gryffindor was coming. Sadly it was annoyingly empty right when she needed someone most, "I won't be long and I'll ... get someone to paint you something nice if you do?"

"I have it all already here," The Fat Lady replied, "I have some delicious sweet wines painted by a wonderful French artist as well as a still life fruit bowl a few corridors along. I will not be dissuaded that easily!"

"Please!" Aubrey said desperately, wishing her ad-libbing skills were perfect, "I ... um, someone's sick in there and I need to go help them? No, I just said it was something that would make me happy, that wouldn't," The Fat Lady raised a quizzical eyebrow "Oh Merlin's beard, I don't have anything else to barter here! Would you let me in on compassion alone?"

The Fat Lady's eyes gleamed, "Perhaps ... if your story's juicy enough."

"Juicy?" For some reason her phrasing made Aubrey feel distinctly uncomfortable, "Nevermind, it's just ... do you know Fred Weasley?" The Fat Lady nodded, "Well, you see we've just officially got together and it was going well but then we got into a fight about ... something which I can't really say. Anyway, I freaked out because I felt out of my depth so avoided him but my sort of friend helped me realise I need to talk to him for us to move past it ... so yeah, that's why I need to come in?" She attempted to widen her brown eyes in a sort of puppy dog way, "Was that ... juicy enough?"

The Fat Lady's expression was completely unreadable but a faint smile flickered on her face, "... no."

Aubrey's face immediately fell, "No? But I bore my heart to you, that was a big step for me!"

"Yes, but your story whilst sad was fairly ordinary, don't you think? Where were the damsels and valiant knights? The love triangle? The passionate midnight declarations of love for me to discuss with my friends? I simply - "

"Aubrey?" She swivelled around, her mouth open in shock as she saw the twins standing behind her, clutching many Skiving Snackboxes between them.

Behind her, she heard the Fat Lady clap her hands, "Oh, a plot twist! I love those, my interest is peaked once more!"

Aubrey ignored her, stammering, "H-how long have you been standing there?"

"Long enough to hear your speech," George replied, "Nicely done, Aubrey..."

Right now, there seemed to be a battle between relief and irritation inside her regarding their eavesdropping. Unsure of how to act right now, Aubrey did a sort of mini curtsey, smiling at George, "Well ... thank you. I thought it wasn't half bad."

"Could use more flare," The Fat Lady added, remaining unfazed even when Aubrey pursed her lips at her.

Since saying her name, Fred had remained quiet so she decided to prompt it, "Fred, what did you think ... could it use more flare?"

For a few seconds, he remained speechless before shaking his head a little, "Yeah ... I mean no! There was plenty of flare, it was ... brilliant, yeah," An involuntary smile crossed her face, as they rushed towards each other, Fred's arms slinking around her waist as he pulled her into a kiss.

Behind them, George leant on the wall beside the Fat Lady, looking up at her with a smile, "Doesn't this just warm your heart? I'm holding back tears here." This remark made the Fat lady stare back with vague confusion before shuffling away from him a little. It also led to Aubrey and Fred breaking apart due to a serious case of the giggles.

Instantly, George raised his hands, "Oh bugger, don't let me put you off, pretend I'm not here?"

Between giggles, Aubrey managed to reply, "That's a bit hard, hon, I hate to ignore such a fantastic person as yourself."

"You're making me blush," George replied, before an awkward silence followed, "Well, I'll let you talk it out somewhere ... I'll just head in here, I can get Lee to price tag these with me, take all the time you need..."

"Lee Jordan? He left about half an hour ago with that peculiar new girl, now she is fascinating," The Fat Lady remarked, "Sir Balin said her name was Saskia and she looked awfully familiar - "

"Let's not bring her up right now!" Aubrey said, with a quick look at Fred, "Our lives don't revolve around her - "

"But I mean, they can..." Fred said contrarily, meeting her gaze, "I'm fine discussing her and solving the mystery if that's what you want..." They remained silent for a few moments before breaking into giggles yet again, Aubrey resting her head against Fred's chest just as she'd longed to do since their fight.

"What are they talking about?" The Fat Lady asked quizzically.

"No clue," Georgie replied jovially, "Now, Infundibulum ... let me in!" He gave them a casual wave before leaving them alone.

They almost began talking right away, Aubrey was definitely eager to but quickly remembered that even with George gone, the walls had ears ... literally. Instead, they chose to go outside even if it was getting a little dark. Eventually, they settled on the steps, Aubrey resting her head on Fred's shoulders as she badly paraphrased what Angela had said.

"I think she was right," Aubrey finished off with, "In my mind, we were still the same as we'd always been so I guess I was stuck in that dynamic. I felt like we couldn't do anything besides solve mysteries so I searched for one so hard. But we're a couple, Fred ... and I suppose I'm still figuring out what that means. But I do know for sure that we can do other things, we can just ... hang out or drink silly teas in Hogsmeade! That date we had was really fun until the last few minutes and none of that was related to the mystery at all."

"But I can tell you still want to do it," Fred said with a smile.

"Well ... yeah, but I can drop it if it's really annoying you."

"No, no, it's important to you so it's important to me," He replied firmly, "I guess I just didn't want to do it all the time, you got so lost in it."

She suddenly giggled, her hand jumping to her mouth as she leant forwards. Fred looked down at her with curiosity, "What?"

"Sorry, I shouldn't laugh," She quickly subdued it, "It's just ... were you sort of jealous of the mystery?"

At first, he sniggered but it quickly became a sort of shrug, "Maybe a bit? I don't know, I felt like ... you thought that's all we could do and I missed you when you got absorbed by those books looking for traces of Umbridge and Saskia. I don't, it sounds silly.."

"No, it really doesn't! I'm sorry," She replied, "Well, how about it ... unless something really crazy happens like Umbridge's head spins around or Saskia breaks someone's back, no more research until ... the Hogsmeade weekend? We can just focus on us ... and that's not to say I won't afterwards but I think it would be good just to have time to adapt. It's true, our lives have been all mysteries since we met really and we haven't had any time to really get to know us together yet! Like, what did you do before we met? What are all your brother like? Your parents? That sort of thing."

This suggestion resonated well with Fred who beamed, "I think that sounds bloody brilliant. Speaking of the Hogsmeade weekend, remember that secret Defence organisation I mentioned? I know we'll probably use that weekend for a date but could we maybe stop by the meeting?"

She nodded, "Of course. Getting back at Umbridge and figuring out magic? Count me in!"

"Brilliant," He leant over, playfully nudging her with his shoulder, "Now let's start this getting to know each other ... let's see, tell me the most embarrassing thing about you?"

"Oh no..." She buried her head into her lap, "Okay, hon ... don't judge me but ... I used to play the Cello."

Fred paused for a moment before sniggering, "If that's your most embarrasing fact, you and I have led different lives! That's wicked!"

"To a Wizard Rock enthusiast such as myself it is!"

His face suddenly became deadly serious, "I feel robbed that you haven't whipped it out yet and serenaded me yet actually! What sort of gentleman are you, Aubs?"

Whenever she broke rules, Aubrey usually felt a sense of guilt but breaking curfew to sit with Fred brought nothing but happiness. In fact, the broad grin still lingered on her face when she returned to the girls' dorm many hours later. Even Lexy's eyebrow wiggles or Saskia's incredibly painful hug didn't make it fade.

"Well, this worked well even without my locked door idea," Lexy grinned, as the three girls sat on Aubrey's bed, "You're happy, I bumped into Angela earlier and she seemed happy - "

"I'm happy too," Saskia squealed, "Because you're happy but also Lee managed to find my face in the stars," She lay back, tracing her finger, "He did this and joined them together! I love stars even more now!"

"I'm not happy," The three of them turned with a start towards Georgina, their sleepy roommate that they'd forgotten was there, "You three are talking and I'm tired."

"Come on, Georgina, feel the vibe here!" Lexy replied, the other two giggling.

Aubrey glanced at the clock on her bedside table, "It is actually quite late ... we can talk more in the morning."

After a bit of persuading, she managed to convince the two girls to clamber back to their own beds yet even after that, sleep evaded her. Still, it was much better to stay awake because you were smiling too much rather than tossing and turning over a fight. The only loose end from an otherwise great day seemed to be Kenny and Angela but she sensed that would take time and would be solved another time.

Still, that night and many of the next ones, Aubrey Jackson went to bed with a smile on her face.

• • •

I hate making Fraubrey suffer which is why I try and avoid it. Sure they fight and disagree because couples do but I like making them resolve things and smile far more than I like angst - E x