Chapter 20: Raise a glass of Butterbeer

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Gwen shivered as soon as she stepped outside. She wished that she could say that it was from the cold but frankly, as nice as the guy was, he still gave her the creeps.

Gwen looked at her watch and noticed that she still had about half an hour before she and the gang had to return for Quidditch.

She decided to slowly make her way to the Three Broomsticks where they all were supposed to meet.

When Gwen entered the small pub, and thankfully she didn't slip on her way there, she scanned the place in search of her friends. In one of the booths in the far corner, she noticed Fred sitting there alone.

He was furiously tapping his fingers against the table to find something to relieve him from the boredom that was looming over him.

Gwen quickly slid her way towards the ginger and sat in the seat facing him. "I need to show you something," Gwen said as she instantly sat down not even giving Fred a chance to say hello.

The Gryffindor girl rummaged through one of the bags in search of her box while Fred smirked gently at her. "Gwenny, as flattered as I am, I think that that is not something that you should share with the public."

Gwen paused her rummaging for a few seconds and stared at her friend. "You know very well that's not what I meant. Merlin's beard, get your mind out of the gutter." Gwen exclaimed and then went on with her search.

Fred laughed quietly at Gwen. When Gwen found the box that was lying in the bag along with Alicia's gift, she placed it on the table.

Fred looked at the box closely. "I see.. a box." Gwen couldn't help but roll her eyes at her friend.

"No, it's not. Wait, actually it is but it's not just a box. Look," Gwen opened the box and pushed it closer to Fred. Fred looked at the contents inside with a questioning look.

"I don't get it?" Fred added as he glanced at Gwen. Gwen couldn't help but smile at the mere thought of what truly lay inside.

"I went to that old antique shop and the owner showed it to me when he noticed that I was a Hamilton. You see, this belonged to one of my parents, most likely my mother. Those withering pieces of parchment over there, are all letters written from my father to my mother. Isn't it great?" Gwen added an involuntary squeal at the end.

Fred glanced back and forth from the box to his best friend, he smiled at the excitement Gwen was showing.

Fred nodded in agreement and rummaged through the contents carefully. It would be a shame if something happened to the sentimental memorabilia.

Fred stopped when he felt cold metal against his fingertips and then pulled out a round silver locket. He glanced at it thoroughly and then handed it to Gwen, for her to look at it. In the meantime, he kept looking through the box.

Gwen looked at the silver locket in her hand. It was simple but it was also clear that it was truly made from pure silver. She finally opened it and when she saw what was on the inside she didn't know how to react.

Just like that, as soon as she opened the locket, she saw the moving picture of her mother smiling at her. Looking at her, Gwen could see how true it was when people said that she looked a lot like her mother.

Clementine had long straight hair, just like Gwen. Gwen also had her thin lips and long nose along with her face structure. The girl also noticed that she happened to have the same smile as her mother.

On the other side of the locket, was another picture but this time it was a picture of her whole family. Both her parents and her brothers along with their aunt Jocelyn.

Gwen was being held in her father's arms, she looked to be about three in the picture.

"Gwen, is everything alright?" asked Fred from her side. Gwen finally tore her gaze away from the locket and felt hot tears running down her face. She wiped them away with the sleeves of her shirt, she didn't even notice that she was crying in the first place.

Fred looked at Gwen in worry and wondered what had happened to Gwen for her to start crying. Fred thought that she was crying because of the painful memories of the past but Gwen was crying for a completely different reason.

She couldn't call them tears of happiness, but the discovery of all these items told part of the Hamilton story. And Gwen already felt closer to her family.

"Everything's fine, great actually. Look at this," Gwen moved to the chair right next to Fred and passed the locket to him in so that he was able to see.

"That's my family right there, and that's my mum," Gwen explained.

"You look a lot like her, just as pretty. Okay, no offence, but more than her." Fred explained and Gwen couldn't help but laugh.

Gwen then closed the locket and placed it back inside the box.

Her hand kept searching the box until she found what she was looking for. She pulled out the diamond ring that she glanced quickly at before.

The ring was simple. Made of round diamonds with green and yellow gems stuck here and there. Gwen had a suspicion on what it was. She checked the inside of the ring and saw a date carved there that faded after all the years.

"And, I think this is my parents' engagement ring. I remember once that Laurence was running around the house in search of it. I don't know why he was searching for it, but I remember him mentioning that it had been missing for quite some time." Gwen explained to Fred.

She then dropped it in the box and was about the close and pack it but instead, when the ring hit the box, it bounced back up and fell to the ground.

Gwen started to panic instantly, the missing ring that was found, would about to be missing yet again.

"Wait, I see it. Don't worry, it's just beside your seat. I'll get it." Fred claimed as he bent over on one knee and went to grab it. Gwen felt the panic drain out of her.

"You have it?" Gwen asked.

"Hm. Yeah right here, take it."

"NOOOOOO!" Gwen let out a small scream when she heard Lee shout and a few seconds later he flashed right in between the two. Lee grabbed Fred's arms and pulled him up with much force.

"What are you doing Lee?!" Gwen asked as she was still shocked by what had happened. Everyone in the Three Broomsticks was staring at the three Gryffindors.

"What am I doing? What are you doing!? I can't believe my eyes. You're both fifteen! You're too young to ruin your life this way! And don't you think that you're moving too fast? No one even knew that you two were together!"

Fred and Gwen looked at each other with wide eyes, they had no idea what Lee was ranting about. "Lee, what the bloody hell are you talking about?" Fred asked as he sent him a hard glare.

"What I'm talking about? You- you- you were about to propose to Gwen. I didn't even know that you were together! Oh, sweet Lord, does Cedric even know that you've been cheating on him?" Lee ranted, Gwen could see that he was about to continue so before he could, she grabbed him by his shirt and shook him frantically.

"Snap out of it, lunatic! I don't know how you came to your wild conclusion, but Fred wasn't about to propose to me and we haven't ever dated." Gwen explained as she kept shaking him.

Fred noticed that she had shaken Lee one too many times and went to stop her.

"Okay, that's enough. We wanted to shake some sense into him, not turn his brain into an omelette." Fred interfered between the two by grabbing Gwen by the shoulders and pulling her away from Lee.

"Why did you even think that I was proposing anyway?" Fred continued as he helped Lee straighten out his now messed up clothes.

Lee was fixing his dreads, trying his best to straighten out his messed up hair.

He gave Gwen a glare for messing up the hair which he loved more than his father.

"I mean, you can't blame me. You were on one knee and had a ring in your hand. Who's ring was it anyway?" Lee asked out of curiosity as he took an empty seat at the table.

Fred and Gwen copied their friend's actions and sat down as well. Gwen saw the box on the table and pulled it closer to her.

Despite what happened she still smiled as she looked down at it. "I bought it from the antique shop, it belonged to my mother. And that ring that you made all that fuss about it is- was- my parents' engagement ring."

"Which fell and I went to get it for her, here it is, by the way," Fred said as he handed Gwen the ring.

Gwen took the ring and placed it gently in the box. She was not going to make the same mistake twice.

"Can I see it?" Lee asked as he pointed at the box. "Sure, just be careful," Gwen said as she pushed it towards her curious friend.

Lee opened the box and started searching through it. He even picked up the ring and silver locket for him to examine it well.

At last, he took out the other locket that neither Gwen nor Fred had the chance to look at.

Lee inspected it and was about to place it back in the box but Gwen stopped him before he could. She wanted to take a good look at it as well.

The locket was made out of gold and had an octagonal shape. In the middle of with was a green snake who spelt the initial 'S'. Gwen bit her lip. Someway, somehow, Gwen felt slightly uneasy holding it.

Then Gwen tried to open it but found out that she couldn't. "Weird, I can't open it," Gwen stated as she passed it on to Fred, giving him a chance to try.

Fred also tried to pry open the locket but failed. He gave up a few seconds later and simply placed it back into the box.

"So, where are the others?" Lee asked. Gwen shrugged as she also had no clue.

"Well, I got separated from George as he wanted us to be able to get each other presents without knowing what it is." Fred started to explain.

"We agreed that when we're finished, we would meet up here. As for the girls, they are here but they went to the bathroom. Been some time since they went actually," Fred finished off.

"Speaking of that, I was supposed to order us some Butterbeer before you came. I'll be back." Fred said standing up as Gwen and Lee watched their friend go.

"Get mine extra sweet!" Gwen called out after him. Fred turned and gave the Gryffindor girl a thumbs up.

Gwen picked up the box, thinking that it would be best to keep it away from the upcoming Butterbeer.

"What are you and Cedric doing tonight, anyway? Beside snogging, of course." Lee asked as soon as Gwen straightened herself on her seat.

Lee watched in amusement as Gwen's face reddened a little.

"Well, it's supposed to be a surprise so I don't know. And me and Cedric hadn't been snogging. Yes, we do kiss but in no such way where we would just kiss the daylights out of each other." Gwen needed to stop talking as her face was getting warmer by the second.

"Hey, what's wrong with this tomato over here?" Both Lee and Gwen turned around when they heard the voice of Alicia who was walking towards them with Angelina behind her as she fixed her shirt collar.

Gwen eyed them both suspiciously as she noticed how flustered both of them were. Angelina didn't seem to notice but Alicia avoided her gaze.

Lee smirked. "Gwen here was telling me about Cedric and their snogging sessions." Alicia and Angelina glanced at the other and shared a smile.

Gwen interrupted their thoughts and made sure that they wouldn't jump to any conclusions. "We do not have snogging sessions. We just kiss every once in a while." Gwen explained.

Angelina scoffed. "So you're telling me that with all the prefect duties you have during the late hours of patrolling the castle, you don't just pull yourselves into a classroom or whatever just to get to know one another better."

Gwen let out a sarcastic chuckle, "Yes actually! I'm sorry to disappoint the whole lot of you but we don't."

The other three Gryffindors slumped slightly in their seats. "Listen, I'm not like you all. I want to take this relationship slow not like those books where a girl and a boy fall madly in love at first sight and then hook up after a week."

Angelina sighed. "I know, but don't be afraid to take the next step if you want to and when you decide to snog him, trust me he'll snog you back."

"Snogging? Okay, you all must be referring to Gwen and Pretty Boy." Gwen rolled her eyes when she heard George's voice.

George sat down next to Lee and set down the bags next to him.

"Where's my brother?" Was the first thing George asked as he was taking off his jacket to reveal another jacket and a green knitted sweater underneath it.

"Ordering us Butterbeer. I wonder what's taking him so long." Gwen replied. George let out a scoff. "Well, I hope that he doesn't take any longer. If we arrive late for practice, Oliver will skin us alive."

"Don't worry, I'm here," The group looked up to see Fred coming over with six glasses of Butterbeer. He was walking very slowly as he didn't want to drop them. George saw his brother struggle and went over to help him.

"Thanks. What were you talking about?" Fred asked as he and George passed Butterbeers around.

"Snogging," Lee replied bluntly as he sipped from his glass. All of the Gryffindor girls gave him a quick glare which Lee didn't pay attention to.

Fred grinned. "Nice. Who's snogging who?" Fred asked as he looked around the table. Everyone couldn't help but stare at Gwen which led Fred to raise his eyebrows.

Gwen, who was staring at her glass of Butterbeer noticed that Fred was looking at her and instantly felt flustered.

"What- no! The conversation was that I am not snogging!" Gwen explained herself which made Fred laugh.

"I believe you. We'll change the subject, you're turning as red as my hair." Fred said with a smile as he ran his thumb across her cheek which somehow made her blush even more.

The rest of the Gryffindors looked at one another with unreadable expressions.

George clapped his hands. "Well, we better all gulp this all down. We have to leave now if we want to be on time for practice." He said and then gulped down the entire glass of the sweet substance.

All the Gryffindors drank their Butterbeers and started to put on their jackets and warm clothing.

As soon as they stepped outside, they were greeted by the cold weather and their feet slowly sunk in the white snow.

"I hate the cold," George claimed as soon as he closed the door behind him. Gwen noticed that after a few seconds out in the cold, his nose was already turning red.

They made their way towards the castle and laughed and talked as they got closer. Gwen even slipped twice, falling face-first into the snow, making her friends laugh and her scowl.

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