never miss a beat , [open]

[lee]

Fred wasn’t exactly having the most exciting day, tapping away at top of one of the window-side tables in the Gryffindor common room. Several scrunched up balls of paper laid about his feet and littered the top of the desk, while splotches of ink adorned the immediate area of his workspace and kept smudging on his hand. Fred grabbed a spare piece of parchment and tried to wipe it off, before ripping off the last disaster that was his essay, crunching it into a ball and throwing it over his shoulder. There wasn’t really anyone else in the room with him – a first year was dozing on the sofa by the fire, but that was it – and to be honest, he was perfectly bored of Transfiguration homework.

It was his own fault, he mused and rather imagined one of his cousins would tell him exactly that when they found out he’d been sat there for the last hour. He’d woken up late that morning, none of his room mates seemingly willing to wake him up. Fred frowned slightly in memory at that; someone could’ve at least woken him up, but he guessed he had been complaining (rather loudly) about a killer headache the night before. Maybe the guys was trying to help Fred out in case he was still feeling ill? Nonetheless, Fred had been at least half an hour late for class and since he decided to spend the rest of the day chatting instead of working, he now wasn’t able to go down to the Quidditch pitch with his friends to watch them practise. This homework was due in the next day and Fred hadn’t even made a start on it.

The brunette realised he’d stopped writing again and looked down at the fresh parchment, hand hovering over it as though threatening to douse the page in ink. He’d written his name in the top corner during his little reminiscence – an untidy scrawl, barely legible – but nothing was coming to mind. They had been learning about... well, something. Fred really hadn’t been paying much attention, more preoccupied with flicking parchment balls at a Slytherin’s head to improve his aim. He’d had little success, but had managed to get one down his shirt collar. That had made his morning. Sighing, he delved into his bag and pulled out his course book, muttering to himself. ”Teachers are working us wicked bloody hard,” he complained, astounded by how fierce the entire staff were being already. He’d known NEWTs were going to be tough, but did it have to be this bad? It was only the beginning of term!

Sitting up and chucking the book on the desk, he managed to knock his inkpot off the desk and he watched helplessly as it bounced onto the floor, over the rug and towards the sofa. ”Bollocks!” he hissed, grabbing a piece of spare parchment, unscrunching it and chucking it over a puddle of ink in the hope that it would absorb the mess up. Just what he needed, staining the floor and getting Longbottom pissed at him. He ran over to collect the ink pot, grumbling under his breath about how impractical it was for pots to be round – why couldn’t they be square? They’d roll less! - and frowned as the pot had gone underneath the sofa. Getting down on his knees, he made a grab for the pot when the first year he’d forgotten existed decided to wake up. The first indication Fred has was a pair of legs slipping down either side of his waist, accompanied by a small shriek from the surprised, confused and sleepy boy. Fred himself couldn’t say he wasn’t a little shocked – he jumped, whacked his head on the edge of the sofa and sat up, accidentally pulling the first year off the sofa with the motion as the boy’s legs hooked behind Fred’s arms, and then falling backwards on top of the kid.

There was a minor struggle and Fred desperately scrambled to get off the scared child, who promptly ran away. Irritable, he yelled after the kid. “Watch where you’re putting your damn legs, brat!” he shouted, raising a fist after the kid. Seriously. Fred was not having a good day. And besides, how could the kid not have expected someone to be down there when he woke up? Grumbling to himself once more, he returned to fetching his pot from under the sofa and sat down in front of it, clutching the offending item in one hand and gingerly poking his head with the other. He winced. Okay, that was a pretty hard whack, apparently. Maybe he’d be forced to go see the school nurse, and then he could get out of lessons? That sounded pretty damn good to him.

word count; eight hundred nineteen
tag; open! lucy! and others if they feel like it.
notes; no point wasting a good sample, right?

[Lucy Weasley]

Lucy sighed as she walked through the hall, heading back towards the common room. She had just spent the last couple of hours in the library working on(and finishing) her homework for the week. She would have gone hunting for one of her cousins, or Noah, but at the moment she just did not feel like it. She had a small head ache and wanted to sit in the common room and maybe read a book, or if someone happened to come in talk to a friend.

Lucy soon arrived at the Portrait and gave the password to it. However, it seemed fate had other plans for Lucy's quiet hour. Almost as soon as she had entered Lucy had to dodge a paper ball that had been thrown at her from a brunette boy over at a desk. She found out just who said boy was when he bent over and grabbed a book from his bag. It was Fred, and from the looks of it he was trying to do homework.

She watched, and had to stiffle the giggles threatening to erupt when he slammed the book on the desk and caused his ink pot to fall off and then roll under the couch. However, she could not keep them in any longer after she watched the struggle between him and the first year that, from the look on the poor boy's face, her cousin had scared half to death.By this time Lucy was shaking with laughter and had her arms wrapped around her clutching her sides.

"Merlin....Fred....do you....think ....you scared.....the....poor....boy enough." she said in between her laughter. She was practically rolling on the floor from watching her cousin's little scene. After a few more seconds of laughing, Lucy mangaed to compose herself."So what are you doing up here Freddie? Did you not do another homework assignment till the last minuet again?" she asked giving her cousin her signature"I know you to well" look."By the way Freddie, next time your chucking paper balls across the room, can you watch your aim? You nearly hit me." she said grinning at him.

word count:364
tags:Fred
comments:

[lee]

Fred froze for a moment in front of the sofa, arm still shoved halfway underneath when he heard the all too familiar giggling. Cousins, who'd have 'em? Feeling the heat spread across his cheeks, tainting them with a faint flush of embarrassment, he sat up without retrieving his ink pot and shifted back on his knees, turning round to find himself staring at a hysterical redhead. A small part of him was a bit irritable – he wasn't having a good day and he hated being laughed at, rather than laughed with – but at the same time it was his cousin Lucy, and he found himself in the rather unfortunate position that he couldn't hold a grudge against any of his kin. Damn them all for being such lovable gits. Even as he stood up, scowl on his face and determined to get his own back on her for walking in at the wrong moment in time, he could feel his ire slipping away and had to fight a grin from emerging on his face. The healing powers of laughter, true magic if there ever was any.

“No, no,” he shook his head as he approached the laughing girl, doing his best to look menacing. “I think he needs more scaring yet, but we'll worry about that later. I know where he sleeps, after all.” Fred paused for a moment, shrugged and then shook his head. “Well, I can guess. There's only so many first year dormitories, after all, and at least it's narrowed down to Gryffindor.” Fred was unfortunately not the kind of person to feel the slightest bit abashed by Lucy's little knowing look or comments, and so he simply raised his hands as if to say 'What do you expect?'. He gestured behind himself to the table he'd been sat at, rolling his eyes a little bit. “Yeah, well, to be fair, it's only a Herbology essay, so it can't be that hard, right?” Except for the part where, you know, Herbology was one of Fred's many weaknesses. At least he wasn't as bad in Herbology as he was Potions; that was always a disaster waiting to happen. He was pretty sure that half the house had been thankful when he didn't make it onto the course for NEWTs, and even he had to admit to a certain amount of relief. Still, it had always been fun to annoy everyone else when things went wrong.

Fred huffed at Lucy's last comment, putting his hands on his hips and raising an eyebrow. “Only nearly hit you?” he asked, sounding mock-annoyed. He shifted his arms to cross over his chest and frowned a little, kicking one foot like a petulant child. “Damn, gonna have to work on my aim, Luce, I was gunning for your head.” Unable to keep it up much longer, the brunette too broke out into a grin and held open his arms. “Come on, I want a hug now. How're you doing, Luce? World not getting you down?” It was something he asked all his cousins when he saw them, a state of habit he supposed. He just liked to check they were all alright, really.

word count; five thirty nine.
tag; lucy!
comments; thank you for joining the thread! *hug* hope this is okay. <3

[Lucy Weasley]

She shook her head at her cousin's comment. He could be so mean sometimes, but she loved him anyway. She raised an eyebrow at him when he said it was only a herbology essay."Freddie, we both know that herbology is not one of your best subjects. AND its a NEWTs year, so you have to do well!"She said exaperatedly at her cousin. Sometimes she wondered about him.

She stuck her tongue out at him when he said he needed to work on his aim."Thats not nice! And here I thought you loved me! Im so hurt Freddie!" she said dramtically. And then burst into a fresh bout of giggles and then ran over and practically tackled him with a hug.She smiled up at him when he asked how she was doing."Im doing great Freddie. Really really great." she said and giggled again, and thought about Noah. They had just started dating and she could not be happier. She however, was not sure if Fred knew yet. Oh well he would find out sooner or later, the later probably being at Christmas when she brought him home with her."Im doing great in school. Which by the way if you need help with that essay I wouldnt mind at all. I stole Molly's herbology book over the summer and actually read the whole thing before she even opened it." she said with another giggle and grinned at Fred.

words:244
tags:FREDDIE!!!!
comments:its great!*hugs back* <3

[lee]

Lucy could shake her head all she wanted, it wouldn't ever change Fred or the way he thought. Besides, he was only kidding about scaring the kid more. Sort of. The firsties needed the fear of the older years put into them within the first three months, otherwise they'd think they could get away with anything for the next seven years. What was happening to the system, huh? All this earning respect and your place on the sofa, like when he'd started at Hogwarts- Oh Merlin, he was starting to sound like Uncle Percy. Fred decided to cease that train of thought right there and then. He raised an eyebrow back at his younger cousin and scratched the back of his head, pretending to be nonchalant. So she remembered that then, huh? ”Yeah, well, I'm getting a P, tha'ts for Pass, isn't it?” he asked, genuinely unable to remember. Anything above a T was generally good going for the only son of George Weasley, if he was being perfectly honest about it.

”Oh, NEWTs. Everyone exaggerates, it's not that bad,” he lied, shrugging and dropping his hand from his head. She didn't have to sound so put out by it. It wasn't like it was her future he was putting into jeopardy, right? He stuck a tongue right back out at her, forgetting that they were both too old for this kind of behaviour, really. ”Nah, I just pretend to like ya to get you to give me presents,” he said, finishing just in time to find himself with a rather rapidly moving armful of Lucy. He let out a minor oof and shifted back a few steps, but managed to keep himself standing. ”That's good to hear, Luce,” he replied, grinning down at the redhead and bringing a hand up to mess her hair a bit. She was always so... bouncy! It was infectious, certainly.

Fred raised an eyebrow and shook his head. Sometimes he was glad Roxanne was a girl rather than a boy. Less prone to stealing his things, or so he'd always thought. Maybe he just didn't notice it much. ”Did you ask her?” he questioned, then realised he didn't really care that much. It would be amusing if it had annoyed Molly anyway. ”Yeah, maybe later I guess. I don't think I've got any more ink down here and I can't be bothered to go get another pot right now. Steal the sofa with me?” he asked, plonking himself down heavily where the first year had been sleeping not five minutes before.

word count; four forty three.
tag; lucy!
comments; *hugs back* whee <3

[Lucy Weasley]

She looked at Fred in disbelief and then shook her head at him again."No Freddie, P is for Poor." she said before giggling at him. Oh she loved Fred, sometimes he could come up with the greatest things. She remembered how she always hung out with him and Lily and the other boys rather than the majority of her female cousins. She had always kind of been just one of the boys.

She looked at him like he had sprouted another head."NEWTs not that bad?" she asked shocked."Oh course their that bloody bad! Im already trying to get myself ready for mine next year. You know my Dad doesn't expect anything less than perfection from me!" she said. And it was true, while Percy loved his older child and was always proud of her, it was Lucy who he expected to be perfect and follow in his footsteps. Molly was more like their Mum, while Lucy was most deffinetly her father's child.

She sniffled acting hurt at his comment about acting like he loved her."Thanks Freddie that good to know! See if I get you a Christmas present!" she said, and then grinned at him. She laughed a bit when he took a few steps back after she had all but tackled him. She grinned up at him when he ruffled her hair."Hey! You know not everyone can look as dashing as you without having to try, it took me an hour to try and manage my crazy hair!" she said and then giggled.

She smiled when he said that it was good to hear she was doing well. Oh boy did she have news for him. She wondered if she should tell him about Noah, or wait until he caught them sharing a kiss in the halls. She decided to tell him, but later. She laghed when he asked if she had asked Molly if she could read the book "Yea, but Molly expects me to go through all her text books before her anyway." she said grinning at him. She went and flopped in the couch next to him."Okay, you can use one of my ink pots later if you want Freddie" she said snickering about the previous events again."Oh Geez Fred you really should have seen your face earlier," she said with a small giggle.

words:397
tags:Freddie
comments:

[lee]

Fred paused for a moment, as if taking in this new piece of information he'd been provided with. Oh, he thought to himself, suddenly realising just why his mother had been shaking her head at his reports from last year. Huh, and here he'd thought he'd been doing reasonably well last year. That was the last time he was listening to a bloody Hufflepuff when they claimed they could explain the marking system to him. He didn't know why he'd trusted the guy in the first place; after all, what the hell was Hufflepuff, anyway? What did that have to do with badgers? Shaking his head, he looked forlornly back at the parchment scattered over the desk by the window. Could be be arsed? No, he really couldn't. Tomorrow was another day, one with more energy and no bad things happening, if he could help it. Yes, tomorrow he'd finish it. Or start it, even. Either would be a form of progress. “So, telling Mum that I'm verging on slipping down from a P would be bad, right?” he asked, less because he didn't know the answer and more because he was hoping denial would change the answer.

Fred laughed at Lucy as she gave him a funny look. He did feel sorry for her, what with her father's perfectionism and everything compared to his own parents being relatively laid back (okay, so his mum would kill him if he got anything less than a passing grade for his NEWTs, but at least he was doing them, unlike his father), but everyone knew she could handle it really. “You'll be fine. Brains of the bunch, Luce-Monster. Got it in the bag!” he reassured her, fully believing every word he said and accentuating them with a nod.

Fred rolled his eyes as the redhead threatened to not get him a present and shrugged. “Oh well, one less person for me to get a present for then!” he retaliated, sticking his tongue out. He really didn't feel like a seventeen year old about to face the future when Lucy was around; more like a nine year old without a care in the world, aside from what game to play next. He scoffed as she tried to defend her hair and made it a little worse, just for the retaliation. “If you think that's dashing, Luce, then you've got another thing coming. We don't call you Monster for nothing!” he teased, letting go, admiring the mess he'd made of her hair. Perfectly scruffy, just how a Weasley should be.

Was it just him, or did Lucy have that mischievous look going on about her? He mentally shook himself; he was just imagining things, surely. He hoped. It was too early in the year for Lucy's games, far too early. “Fair enough,” he shrugged, thinking it was a strange relationship between the two sisters, but who was he to comment? He grinned in gratitude as she offered up some ink for him to borrow – he'd have to get some more on the next Hogsmeade trip – but frowned, grabbed a pillow and threw it at Lucy's head as she laughed at him. He couldn't help but smile back, though. “Oi! It was not. That kid needed to watch where he was putting his feet!”

word count; five fifty seven.
tag; lucy!
comments; wtf XD fred's an idiot...