Harry did great and most of Gryffindor thought so too as they celebrated in the common room. I sat between Fred and George on the sofa, my own gold egg on my lap as a group of Gryffindor's hoisted Harry onto their shoulders.
"Should I open it?" I asked the twins and they shrugged.
Then Harry asked the entire crowd if he should open his egg and everyone encouraged him, eager to find out what the egg concealed. Harry sprung open the latch and the room filled with an ear piercing screeching noise, he fought to get the latch closed again.
"Don't you dare," Fred said plucking my egg out of my hands and holding it out of reach as I fought to get it back.
"What the bloody hell was that?" Ron asked from the doorway and the room went silent.
"Do something," I said nudging Fred in the side, he handed my egg back to me and I clutched it close to my side as he spoke again,
"All right everyone, go back to your knitting. This is going to be uncomfortable enough without all you nosy sods listening in." He called out and as if cued by a script everyone was suddenly very busy or focussed on something else. I hoped this was the moment that Harry and Ron made up.
"Hey, Emmy you're still bleeding." George said suddenly very worried about the blood trickling down my leg, I'd noticed a few cuts on my hands since coming back inside and a underneath the dirt on my face was a graze – I must have slid against the rock when I'd fallen.
"Oh, it doesn't matter." I shrugged, "I'm sure it'll stop soon."
"C'mon," Fred said pulling me up from the sofa.
"Where are we going?" I asked as I dropped my egg onto the cushions.
"To see Madam Pomfrey, of course." Fred replied as if it were the most obvious thing in the world, I reach back to pick up my egg but George plucked it out of my reach, telling me he'd take care of it. I was half walked and half dragged down to the infirmary to see the nurse.
"Ah, Miss Potter." The nurse said as she sat me down on a bed to take a look at my leg, "You'll live I should think," She said, making a sort of joke out of my injury, "You may think about washing your face though." The nurse healed up my cuts and bruises without any problems, a couple of taps of her wand and it was like I'd never been hurt at all – she even brought me so water and a cloth to wash my face. All the while Fred sat on a stool by my bedside, just like last year.
I woke in the middle of the night, dripping in a cold sweat and confused about where I was.
"Hey, darling." A voice said and a hand clasped my own, "It's okay, you're okay." I wasn't okay, I'd just had a nightmare about my godfather turning into a werewolf and attacking me – I'd relive that scene in my dreams every night for months and slowly it would start to fade out but occasionally it would pop back up to remind me of the time I was almost bitten by a werewolf. I looked down at the hand holding my own and followed its connected arm up until I found Fred's face.
I gulped back tears but a few still escaped my eyes and Fred used his other hand to wipe them away. I wasn't badly injured, a few bruises here and there but I woke up screaming some nights so Dumbledore had thought it best I stay in the infirmary so as not to wake the other girls in my dorm. I felt pathetic – Harry was practically dead that night and he was fine.
"Talk about it," Fred said, pulling me close to him so I rested against his chest, he said talking about it would help me feel better about it and sometimes nights it did, others not so much but I tried it anyway.
"We battled the whomping willow to save Ron from the dog that dragged him off," I began, this always got at least a small laugh out of Fred. "Then when everything inside the shrieking shack was over – everything was good." I smiled here because for a few seconds – Harry seemed truly happy. "Then the moon – and Professor Lupin began to change." It had been rather horrifying to watch as his bones cracked and his features distorted as he turned from the godfather I had started to let beyond the walls I kept around myself into a beast unable to control himself. "Then he leapt at me, I screamed – Like a child." Fred assured me he'd have probably screamed too. "I hit the ground so hard that I'm not even sure if I was completely conscious for all of it - the creature had me pinned and I fought at him with my hands, he scratched me with his claws." That word always got caught in my throat and Fred's grip on me tightened a little, "There was blood, all mine – my hands were covered in it and my face, he goes to bite me then and I'm convinced I'm going to die..."
I trailed off then because I'm crying too much to continue. Fred rocked me gently.
"But you didn't," He tells me like I need reminding that I'm still alive, "You didn't die, you're still here." I was still here because Sirius had transformed back into a dog and battled dived at Lupin, knocking him away from me, I'd fallen unconscious then and next I woke up it was morning and I was in the hospital wing and Fred was sat beside my bed, asleep but still holding my hand.
I hadn't liked coming to the hospital wing since then - I avoided it as much as possible. Thinking about Remus Lupin now made me feel guilty for not responding to his letters – I never even opened them, he must feel awful about what happened and I was terrible for not giving him the forgiveness he deserved, I didn't even blame him for what happened. I promised to myself that I would open his letters and respond to them that night.
"That wasn't so bad, was it?" Fred said and I turned to look at him, I threw my arms around his neck and squeezed him hard without really thinking.
"Thank you," I said and he patted my shoulder gently.
"Alright Em, calm down," He replied, "All I did was sit here." I pulled back from him and he looked at me with those careful eyes again.
"Not for now," I told him, "For last time." He offered me a small smile and nodded.
"All I did was sit here." He repeated and offered me a hand to help me up as he stood. I took it, he knew very well that isn't all he did for me back then, I hoped he knew how truly grateful I was – other people had visited me, Harry of course and he'd brought Hermione along with him, Ron was on crutches but even he'd popped in with them, George had come too and Angelina had brought me flowers but only Fred had stayed and he never let go of my hand.
The two of us left the infirmary and for a little while, Fred still held my hand.