Author's Note:
This one follows on from the phone call in the last chapter. Becky is a Gryffindor in Rose's year. I have some idea of where it's going, but not sure who's point of viwe the next chapter will be from.
Freddie's Pov:
Was I annoyed that James had randomly called me while I was trying to get back into Becky's good books? Just a little! But he sounded seriously worried, so I thought I had better do what he said.
"Look, Becks, I have to do something." I tried to explain to my girlfriend.
"What? Freddie, you always have to do something! Why can't you spend one night with me? Am I that annoying?" She whined.
"What? No, Becks. You're as gorgeous as ever. But something has happened. James just rang. I need to help him out." Becky looked at me for a second and sighed.
"Ok, fine. Can I help?"
"Could you get Dominique and tell her to go and wake Madam Pomfrey please? Tell her its an emergency." I quickly kissed her and then left the Common Room. I ran to McGonagall's office and knocked loudly on the door.
"Professor? Professor, please open the door!" I practically yelled. I heard footstep on the other side and hastily stopped shouting.
"Mr Weasley, what in the name of God gave you the reason to make such a horrendous noise this late at night?" McGonagall's thick Scottish accent made me smile slightly, but then I remembered why I was here.
"Professor, I just got a call from James. He sounded really scared. He told me to get you and come down to the Lake." I explained, well aware that I was wasting time.
"James? James Potter?"
"Ys, Professor! Please, we need to be quick. I think something is wrong. James told to me to wake Madam Pomfrey but I asked Dominique to do it so I could get you."
"Madam Pomfrey? Then someone must be injured!" I hadn't thought of that, but now she said that, I realised how right she was. "Mr Weasley, do you know exactly where Mr Potter is?"
"Yes, by the rocks that overlooks the Lake."
"Then we must hurry." She said and was off. For someone so old, she was incredibly fast. She started off speed-walking, but soon that wasn't good enough for her and she was running. It was hard to keep up with her, which is saying something seeing as I'm Captain of the Gryffindor Quidditch Team.
We were there in no time, and I saw James crouched over something. He looked like he was crying, which is something I'd never seen him do. I sped up and raced to his side.
"James, what's-" Then I saw what- or rather who- was underneath James.
Rose.
Her face was blue and she was soaked. I stopped and simply stared at my cousin. I couldn't bring myself to move. Distantly, I could hear McGonagall asking James to move away from her. I got myself together, and without looking at Rose, helped James get to his feet. McGonagall was already casting spells on Rose, so I just supported James and watched as a stretcher appeared out of thin air and Rose was levitated onto it. Then she was gone.
"Mr Weasley, would you bring Mr Potter to the Hospital Wing. I will be there in a few minutes, but first I think I had better contact Miss Weasley's parents." I nodded at McGonagall and helped James move. He seemed to be in shock. McGonagall walked ahead of us and as soon as I knew she was out of earshot, I turned to James.
"What happened? Tell me everything now!"
"She- She jumped." Was all James said.
"What do you mean? Were you having a laugh? Did she get caught in a current?"
"No, she jumped. I think she was trying to kill herself." Then he shrugged off the hand I had put on his shoulder and walked away.
"James! Hey, wait up! I'm supposed to take you to the Hospital Wing." He didn't wait, but I ran after him and caught him up. "You went in after her, didn't you?"
"I couldn't just stand there and watch her drown." James said. And then he broke down. Completely. I'd never seen him like this before and it worried me. He fell to the ground and started sobbing hysterically. I crouched down next to him and waited. When he finally stopped crying, I gave him a kind of awkward pat on the back. "You ready to go?" He nodded and got up.
"She's going to be alright, isn't she?" He asked.
"You know Madam Pomfrey. She'll save Rose. I'm sure of it."
"You weren't there, Freddie. You didn't see it. She was under for a minute. I tried CPR but it didn't work..." He cut off, as though lost in his thoughts.
"Hey, James, it wasn't your fault. You know that right?"
"Yeah, I guess." He sighed.
"Did she tell you why? Why she did it?" I asked tentatively, aware that at any moment James could break down into tears again.
"She said she was fed up. That she wasn't going to take any shit anymore. She said she was tired of the whispers and the teasing. That she didn't want to live in her parent's shadow." James said. Then his face went cold. "It was Albus."
"What?"
"Albus and his friends. They hurt her, Freddie."
"What do you mean? Albus would never hurt a girl." And I knew I was right. Albus had always been a sweet, kind kid. Although even I had to admit he had changed since he was sorted into Slytherin.
"Not physically. But emotionally, he was really nasty to her. The last thing he said to her was that she was weak. You know Rose always takes these things personally. I think that she decided if her cousin thought that about her, the world's opinion wasn't even worth knowing. That's why she decided to kill herself."
"Albus said that?" I asked quietly. I couldn't imagine it coming out of his mouth. He'd always been so thoughtful.
"Yes, and I'm sure it's not the worst he's said to her."
"I guess you can't expect much more from someone who is friends with Malfoy."
"And that damned girlfriend of his! What's her name?"
"Alexandra Smith? I didn't know they were still dating." They'd broken up after Albus had found Smith making out with another Slytherin.
"Neither did I." We walked in silence for a little while.
"So, what are you going to do?" I asked, as we entered the Castle.
"About what?"
"Albus, obviously. Are you going to tell your parents?"
"I guess I'm going to happen. I was going to just punch him and have done with it, but that was before-" He looked off into space.
"Yeah, maybe it's for the best. Although I don't want to be there when you tell your mum." James almost smiled. Mrs Potter had a fiery temper and she defiantly wouldn't be pleased to hear what Albus had been doing lately. We arrived at the Hospital Wing and went straight to Rose. She was still unconscious but looked much better. There was colour in her cheeks and she was breathing heavily. Dominique was sitting next to her, holding her hand. She looked up at us as we entered.
"What the hell Freddie? You get your girlfriend to tell me to come to the Hospital Wing and then Rose appears and she's almost dead! Anyone want to explain all this to me?"
"Dom, quieten down! We're not the only ones here you know!" I looked over at the different beds in the Hospital Wing. It wasn't as busy as it usually was because Quidditch hadn't started. But it wasn't empty.
"Sorry, Freddie. I'm just a little confused. What happened? James? You look weird." Now that we weren't outside in the dark, I noticed that James was turning blue as well.
"Oh, shit James! You're turning blue! Dom, go and get him a blanket or something. He's been in the Lake." Dominique looked questioningly at me but got the blanket anyway. We sat James down on the bed next to Rose and made an excuse to go outside. As we were leaving, we passed McGonagall rushing in with the other Heads of Houses.
"Ah, Mr Weasley. Is Mr Potter alright?" She asked us, gasping for breath. It looked like she had run around the whole school.
"Yeah, but he was shivering like mad. We gave him a blanket. I was just taking Dominique outside to explain what was going on. James is a little sensitive at the moment."
"And what is going on exactly, Mr Weasley?" So she didn't know. What could I tell her? Everything, I guess.
"Rose tried to kill herself." Flitwick gave an over the top gasp. I almost rolled my eyes. Dominique's mouth was open in horror. McGonagall told us to go straight back to our dorms. I looked back at James, who was just staring at Rose. It had really affected him. I know it was shallow of me, but the first thought that came into my head was "I hope this won't affect how he plays in our match against Slytherin."
So what do you think? Please review!
