they have other friends. by lise.

 

Lee stumbles into the dormroom in his bathrobe, wet from his shower and wiping his eyes blearily. "Thought you two were out toni--" and he stops. "Whoops."

Fred looks up, a bit annoyed. "Thought YOU were out tonight." His hand isn't in George's pajamas. Not quite yet. His hair's messed up though, and George is kind of leaning on him in That Way.

Lee shrugs, going over to his bed. "She cancelled. Sorry." He doesn't sound that sorry.

George sits up, away from Fred's not-quite-roaming hand. "Again? Bugger," he says, and, "she say why?"

Lee is pulling out jeans, and a sweater, and his Transfiguration notes. "Didn't bother asking." He's frowning a lot, but not in a sad way, mostly in a pissed off way. "Too much bother, this one. You know?" He glances over, and now the two of them are just sitting beside each other, no not-quite-hands or not-quite-proper things, so he can look at them full-on. "What'm I saying. of course you don't know."

George laughs, full out, and Fred has to put a hand out to steady him. "You know," Fred says, "I heard that Marjorie wanted you to speak with her." He offers it up, thinking maybe Lee will like her. She's got pretty hair, and she's not skinny, not big. A little round. but nicely round. Fred likes her all right, thinks that her and Lee will get on.

"Yeah?" Lee is pulling on socks, and his trainers, stuffing the laces inside his shoes. "I'll talk to her tomorrow. You know what kinds of things she likes?"

"Good in Potions," George offers, planting a wet kiss on Fred's cheek. "Think she's not too dim, you know? Good head on her shoulders, not daft. Doesn't giggle."

"Heard she's ticklish," Fred says immediately after this. "Her little brother told me."

"You're ticklish," George says, absently.

Lee goes back to digging around in his bag. obviously he's getting ready to go out. "Where you off to, then?" Fred says.

"Oh, you know." Lee comes up, triumphant, a packet in his hands. "We have a test tomorrow, thought I'd sneak round to the kitchens? Study some, maybe ask Marjorie if she wants a date."

"Bit late," George comments, "how you gonna get into the Hufflepuff wing?"

They know exactly how: once you're on the second floor you cut through the Charms classroom, through the broom closet that actually has a door out to the courtyard, and then skirt the wall till you hit the greenhouses and knock on the windows. Lee's grinning. "You told me last month, remember?"

George relaxes, and his shoulder brushes Fred's. "Good," George says.

Fred leans over and kisses George, and the not-quite-hands are back. Lee looks away, wrinkles his nose a bit. "Aren't you two a bit worried about getting caught at that?"

Fred shrugs. "A bit, yeah."

"We're kind of counting on it being such a surprise to anyone," George goes on, "that they promptly forget about it."

"Ah," Lee says. He's hefting his book under his arm, getting ready to leave.

"Kind of counting on it being Percy, actually," Fred says, and he's already kind of, got his mouth hovering over the bit of skin behind George's ear, one hand planted firmly on his neck.

George tilts his head back, but he's still looking at Lee. "Being that Percy will probably die on the spot. we're hoping."

"Best joke ever," Fred says, and Lee grins a bit but, okay, the not-quite-hand is more a definite-hand, so he backs away and goes out of the room. It's a bit, odd. Them being so open about doing it. Even in front of Lee, who's their best friend. Lee always thought some things were kind of private? but Fred and George really don't.

He makes sure to lock the door, and doesn't plan to come back for at least a few hours.