[[A/N: HELLOOOOOO Readers! :D Here is another one of my Harry Potter oneshots :D I wasn't too sure about this one but the girl I wrote it for really liked it which was encouraging, so I'm posting it here too like I did with the others :D Enjoy!
Edit: For those of you who haven't already read this… Good for you, because it has a lot less errors now xD If you have then be relieved that it's fixed :P]]
The first thing Gillian saw on the morning of her seventeenth birthday was that the curtains surrounding her bed were not their usual red, but a distractingly bright orange. "What the bloody hell...?" she mumbled, rubbing her eyes furiously as she pulled them aside, looking at her bedside table and gasping. Her wand was orange, causing her to gasp again in shock. Sure, orange was her favourite colour, but an orange wand? It was a little weird, to say the least. After getting over her surprise, she went to shower and get changed into her usual uniform and robes, finding that her socks were orange too. "This is so weird..." she thought aloud, deciding that as soon as she got back to her dorm, she would have to start investigating.
Once Gillian had re-entered her dormitory, she grinned as her friends - Angelina, Alicia and Katie - shouted "Happy birthday Gillian!". She hugged each of them in turn and thanked them eagerly, before folding up her pajamas and putting them away. Remembering how some of her possessions had mysteriously changed colour, she beckoned Katie over to her bed and asked, "I know this sounds really weird, but did you turn my socks orange?" The other girl shook her head and said, "No, I didn't..." Taking one last look around the room as Alicia and Angelina went into the bathroom, she shrugged and said to Katie, "Let's go down for breakfast, I'm starving...", with a wide smile on her face. She was hungry, it was true, but what she wanted most right now? To see a certain special someone...
Once the two girls made it downstairs and had taken their seats at the Gryffindor table, Gillian piled up some toast on her plate and picked up her knife, though it fell down with a loud clattering noise as she saw her plate change from its usual plain white to the same orange as her socks, wand and curtains. "You alright there?" she heard Fred Weasley ask from behind her; and immediately she blushed, wondering if he would make fun of her for this or not. She liked him a lot and there had been some rumours going around that he had a big crush on her too, but she wasn't entirely sure. They'd been friends since their first year – and surely if he liked her, he would have said something about it by now? At least she thought so...
"Morning, Fred... And I'm fine, thanks, just had a bit of a shock" Gillian replied, laughing awkwardly. The tall, red headed boy sat down next to her and gave her a hug, before saying "Happy birthday, Gill!" in his usual enthusiastic manner of speaking. She hugged him back, only letting go when Fred's twin George arrived, sitting on Fred's other side while their friend Lee was seated across from them – as they had no idea how she felt about Fred. Once Angelina and Alicia had joined them, the seven friends were chatting amongst themselves until it was time for classes.
In Defence Against The Dark Arts, Gillian was surprised to see her parchment occasionally turning orange while the students copied down some notes that Professor Umbridge had asked them to do, though it returned to its normal appearance once it came time to hand them in. Gillian had to admit she was grateful for this; even if she had found it amusing, she knew that Umbridge wouldn't agree. Potions class was next and she was amazed upon entering the cold, dark dungeon of a classroom - someone had charmed her cauldron, and it too was bright orange. Taking her normal seat in between Angelina and Fred - who were already there, as she was running late - she nudged Angelina and asked, "Did you do that?". The dark-haired girl shook her head and said she had absolutely no idea who'd done it, at which Gillian sighed but laughed good-maturely.
(Unbeknownst to her, Fred was smiling to himself, feeling rather proud. He could see that despite Gillian's confusion, she seemed to enjoy having all her things being turned orange, which made him even happier. "I'll tell her after dinner" he decided, nodding as he adopted an unusually serious expression. "I'll tell her it's all me, and then she'll know I like her".)
By lunchtime Gillian was starting to feel very confused. During the meal, her goblet had turned a bright orange and she had raised her eyebrow suspiciously at everyone within her line of vision. "George, do you know anything about this?" she asked, pointing to the glaringly bright object, but he told her he hadn't done it. During their next "lesson" - which was really a free period - she saw Lee laughing and shot him a look, then saw what he was looking at; her tie was orange now. "Bloody hell..." she murmured, shaking her head as she tried to concentrate on her work; Professor Snape had assigned them an essay on the potion they'd made today, but she'd found it difficult to concentrate because of what someone had done to her cauldron. Fred nudged her, winking as his eyes met hers. "That orange tie looks really nice on you," he whispered into her ear. She blushed, beyond pleased at his compliment.
Gillian's next class was Divination, and even though she enjoyed it; something was missing. A certain ginger, tall, freckled, funny, handsome, talented boy... Fred Weasley. Though the lesson turned out to be pretty interesting, even without him. They were reading tea leaves today and for a moment, she had honestly expected that her cup might turn orange but it was her textbook, which Trelawney seemed to think meant only bad news was on its way. "I don't think so, look in here," Gillian retorted cheerily. The confused Professor peered into the cup and clapped in delight at the shapes she saw, announcing, "My dear, I believe this means that romance is on the cards!".
Gillian squealed suddenly and almost knocked her cup over, causing Katie, her only Gryffindor friend in the class, to tease her. "Maybe that means Fred's gonna ask you out? Ooooohh, I wonder what he'll say? When he'll ask you?" she babbled excitedly, once the girls were on their way to their last class of the day - Charms. Everyone else was already there and as she walled in, took her seat and unpacked her things, some of her things were orange - which she had come to expect by now. She was delighted to see orange parchment, an orange textbook, an orange quill and orange spots all over her bag.
"Whoever's doing that has to be really, really good at Charms" Gillian mused. She pulled out a piece of parchment and wrote a list of names out, crossing off the people she'd already asked... That left Lee, Alicia and Fred. She would have considered some of her friends in the other houses - but it made more sense for them to be in Gryffindor, as her curtains had been charmed too. Though that also made Fred and Lee very unlikely suspects, as they were male... Sighing softly, Gillian looked over at Alicia and hissed, "Are you turning my things orange?". After a brief silence, the other girl replied, "No, I'm not, I swear", leaving her utterly frustrated. She didn't feel she was friendly enough with any of the younger Gryffindors for them to do this; and would the younger students even know how to do all of this? She thought not. Whoever was doing this had to be quite experienced.
At the end of the lesson Gillian scrunched up her list before anyone saw it, starting to believe that she'd never find out who it was. She knew who she wanted it to be, but that was an entirely different thing. "At least Fred said the orange tie looked nice on me, that's something" she told herself.
Dinner was fairly entertaining that night. Fred had insisted upon sitting next to Gillian again at the Gryffindor table, and of course she had agreed. Just as they had been earlier, her plate and goblet were a striking shade of orange; but she decided not to question anyone about it until after she'd finished eating. After she had contented herself with some chicken, roast potatoes, and Shepherd's pie, she looked over at George and whistled, to get his attention.
"Huh?" George replied, raising an eyebrow. Gillian proceeded to ask him once again if he knew anything about this - if he was the reason all her things kept turning orange - but he said it wasn't his doing; and with his face devoid of shifty eyes or a smirk, she had to believe he was telling the truth, simply smiling as she stared off into space. Only brought out of her daze once Fred told her that dessert was there, she smiled at him before reaching for some sticky date pudding and eating it until she felt comfortably full. After dinner, she retired to the Common Room with her friends; and they sat in a circle while they were giving the birthday girl her presents. Gillian was rather excited; the girls had given her some jewelry, Lee had given her a joke book, George had given her some homemade fudge, and Fred... He'd given her a sweater that he'd asked her mother to make, and a small bracelet with her name on it.
"These are such great presents, thanks guys!" Gillian enthused, looking at the sweater. It was orange, with the letter "G" on the front, in black; and she pulled it on over her head after taking her long coat off. After a few minutes, the girls trooped upstairs to change for bed. Gillian changed into a pair of green sleep pants and a black tank top, donning the sweater once more before brushing her teeth and walking back downstairs. The Common Room appeared empty now, but luckily the fire was still blazing, so she took a seat in front of it and sighed as she felt its warmth enveloping her. Out of nowhere, she heard what sounded like someone snapping their fingers; and just as this happened, the couch she'd claimed was orange. Looking around slowly, she stood up and called out "Is someone there?", almost daring him or her to ignore her - she desperately wanted to know who was responsible. Footsteps could be heard making their way over to her, and soon another person joined her. Brushing some hair out of her eyes so she could get a better look at them, Gillian's mouth formed a perfect "O" as she saw the person... It was Fred! "Why is everything orange? … Fred, was this you?" she asked, feeling her heart rate increasing markedly as the red headed boy took her hands in his.
"Yeah, it was me... Probably should've told you earlier, but I had something else to tell you, so I thought I'd wait until now" Fred admitted. "It probably seems a bit weird, but I wanted to try and do something that would make you happy. You know the rumours that have been going around about me liking you..." - Gillian nodded - "... Well, they're true. I really do like you Gill, as more than a friend, and... And I want you to be my girl. Will you?" he finally asked, not letting go of her hands.
Gillian gasped softly, nodding as she replied, "Yes, Fred, of course I will". With an ear-to-ear grin on his face, Fred leaned in and kissed Gillian, stroking her cheek until it ended; and then he whispered "Happy birthday" - and it was indeed.
[[A/N: So yeah, there you have it... My longest HP oneshot yet xD I should just point out that none of these stories are related to each other. they're all just their own little random stories xD I think my next one that I'll post is about James Potter again, so while you're waiting for that... Why don't you review this one so I know what you thought? =D Toodles! xoxo]]