Chapter Seven
Late that night, the common room was completely empty, save Fred, Ron, Ginny, Harry and I. We sat in an uncomfortable sort of silence. McGonagall had already sent word Mr. and Mrs. Weasley and they'd be arriving at Hogwarts anytime. They'd see to George being sent to Mungo's. It had already been decided that none of the Weasley children would leave school, much to their distaste. Fred wouldn't speak to anyone. In fact, he hadn't said a single word since we'd entered the Hospital Wing.
We'd been waiting all day for the Weasleys to show up, for some sort of news. None of us really understood what was going on. It was nearing midnight when the door to the common room swung open. Before the person coming in even came into view, Fred got up and went up the stair to the boys' dormitories without a word.
It turned out the person was actually people: Arthur and Molly Weasley. Harry said something about going to tell Fred and followed up after him. Ginny gave both her parents hugs and when they came over to him, Ron allowed Mrs. Weasley to place a kiss on the top of his head.
Harry was back downstairs moments later, an awkward look on his face. "He wouldn't come down," he announced. "He wouldn't answer me."
The Weasley parents nodded solemnly. Mr. Weasley cleared his throat then and said, "We've just left St. Mungo's. George is in somewhat of a critical condition. For some reason, none of the spells Madam Pomfrey attempt to use would fuse the skull back together and there's some hemorrhaging in the brain. They're planning on trying a few other methods, but—" he trailed off then, and Mrs. Weasley held his arm tight, tears starting to flow down her face again.
I looked over at Ginny and Ron. Ginny had started to cry and Ron's eyes were widened with fear. I was the first person to speak.
"Do they have any idea why the normal spells won't work?" I asked.
The thing is," Mr. Weasley started, "with magic we can fix most Muggle sickness and injuries, however, the injuries we acquire with magic—with spells or magical objects—are sometimes not as easily fixed. Usually, bludger injuries can be solved easily, though, so we're perplexed, to say the least."
The room was silent. No one knew what to say. When was the last time Madam Pomfrey hadn't had the answers? It was frightening to think that not even the Healers at Mungo's had a clue what was going on.
"Well," Mrs. Weasley said, breaking the silence. "We ought to be on our way. We've got to head back to Mungo's. We'll write with any news." She hugged both her children, kissing them both on the head and gave Harry and I both a squeeze as well.
"I love you, Mum," Ginny said in a choked sort of voice.
"I love you too, dear," she answered. "And you, Ronald."
And with that, The Weasley's were gone. Ginny excused herself upstairs and I knew I should go up and comfort her, seeing as she was my closest—possibly, only—friend other than Ron and Harry. However, I stayed in my chair. Soon after, Ron and Harry went upstairs too.
"Night 'Mione," Ron mumbled, his voice still sounding stunned. I murmured a good night back and offered a smile. He returned it weakly. I sat there alone for some amount of time. I'm truly not sure how long; my concept of time was rather jumbled. By the time I finally rose from the cushioned armchair, the fire had long since turned to embers.
When I turned to walk up the stairs, I didn't go towards the girls' dormitories. I wasn't thinking clearly, but either way, I found myself waking up the staircase towards the boys' dormitories. I stopped in front of the door labeled Seventh Years. It was times like these that I questioned the intelligence I supposedly possessed. Clearly, it had gone on vacation.
I knocked on the door lightly and it was moment's later that door cracked open. Fred Weasley's head stuck through the crack and his eyebrows rose at the sight of me. He chewed on his bottom lip, slightly, and stepped outside. He closed the door quietly behind him. I hadn't thought this out at all. I felt my heart beat starting to speed up and skip beats and generally, freak out. I tugged a hand through my hair and wondered if it looked frizzier than usual. Quickly, then, my nerves caught up to me.
"I-I'm sorry," I muttered. "I'll go. I just…I'm sorry."
I turned to walk away, but Fred caught my arm. I turned back around and he looked down into my eyes. His brown eyes were softer than I'd ever noticed before.
"Your hand is really cold," I said looking towards his hand, which was still grabbing on to my forearm. He dropped it quickly but kept looking at me. I diverted my eyes and started mumbling something about leaving again. He walked down the stairs ahead of me and slowly, I followed him. We reached the common room and he didn't stop; he walked straight out the portrait hole. I hesitated next to the door, not sure if he had meant for me to follow in the first place. Taking in a deep breath, I exited. He had been waiting outside, looking towards the ground, and when I came out he looked up towards me. He started walking again. I followed Fred through the halls quietly. I wasn't too worried about running into someone unwanted, even this late at night. I could easily say I was out doing patrols for my prefect duties and most of the prefects liked Fred enough and if we happened across Umbridge, well, I reckoned Fred would love to have a run in with her.
We walked through the Entry Hall and down the grounds, past the Forbidden Forest, and towards the lake. We walked around the lake and towards the very edge, Fred stopped at an alcove of a few short trees and tall shrubs. He sat down on the ground and I sat down next to him. Fred clearly knew the grounds like the back of his hand, because I could tell that there was no way anyone could be seen from this spot in the dark. The shrubs cast shadows just perfectly that we were completely hidden from anyone's view, unless they came right up next to us. He turned his head upward, towards the sky. He propped himself up on his elbows and exhaled loudly. He shut his eyes tight and bravely, and much unlike myself, I placed a comforting hand on his own.
"I'm scared," Fred whispered, his head never turning towards my own. He kept staring at the sky, as if it had some sort of answer for him. "George's the only person who's always been there, you know? I was only out a good fifteen minutes before he came along and since then, it's been him and me every day. I don't want to think about a world without him." "
You're not going to lose him," I said quietly.
He smiled sadly and said, "Really? Because none of this sounds good."
"I know," I answered. "But I'm fairly certain he'll be fine. You two are never apart and I don't think you're about to start now."
Fred looked at me then. He brought his head down so fast that I could've sworn he'd have whiplash. His lips parted slightly and as I looked closer, I saw a single tear tangled in his eyelashes. "You can't know that for sure," he told me.
"No," I said. "I can't, but you can't know for sure that it won't be okay."
"Not knowing is worse."
"Then just know that he'll be okay."
When I woke up, the sky was darker still and I knew it had to be the dead of the night. I sat up quickly, brushing dirt out of my hair. Feeling frantic, I looked around. I tried to get a grasp on where I was and why I was there. It wasn't until I felt Fred's hand grab my arm that I remembered everything that had happened.
"What time is it? How long have we been out here? Oh, God," I said very fast.
"It's only been about an hour and a half, can't be later than two," Fred answered.
"You say that like its no big deal," I exclaimed.
"It's not really. Calm down," he said.
"The last thing you want to tell anyone who needs to calm down is 'calm down'!"
"Duly noted," he said.
I did calm down then, letting my body lean back on my elbows. "Did you just sit here this whole time?" I asked.
Fred nodded and said, "I didn't want to wake you, so…"
"Right," I muttered.
"Are you cold?" Fred asked, looking at my arms.
"No," I answered quickly. I was freezing.
"You're shivering and you've got goose bumps all up your arms," he said plainly.
He stood up and shrugged out of his jacket. He handed it to me and said, "Let's get inside."
I slipped Fred's jacket on and waited. He looked at me after wiping dirt off of his clothes. Fred hesitated, but only for a second, before pulling up the zipper on the jacket. "The point's to keep the warmth in," he said.
We started walking back towards the castle. We got back inside fine, but once we were inside the castle, Fred turned towards the kitchens.
"Why are you going this way?" I asked. "Gryffindor's the other way. Did you hear someone?"
He shook his head and put a finger over his lips before whispering, "No, but if you don't keep it down, someone's going to hear you."
I stayed silent and followed him. In the short time that I'd started speaking to Fred, I'd learned that asking questions is pointless.
We reached a painting of a bowl of fruit. Fred reached up and tickled the pear and it turned into a doorknob. He turned and opened the painting, which turned out to be a door. We stepped into what happened to be the kitchen and I turned to Fred, eyes wide.
A tiny house elf came up to him, and Fred leaned down and said, "Could you make me a nice steaming hot chocolate for the lady, love?"
The house elf nodded furiously and skittered away. On one hand, I was sure that was terribly against the rules. On the other hand, I was still freezing and hot chocolate didn't sound half bad. A bit later, the house elf returned with a steaming mug of hot chocolate, offering it to me.
"Oh, thank you so much," I said, taking the cup. The warmth was enough to make me happy for the rest of my life. I took a sip and maybe it was the circumstances, but I was sure it was the best hot chocolate I'd ever had in my life.
I thanked the elf again and Fred led me out of the kitchen. We walked the corridors quickly, Fred showing me as many short cuts as possible. We had almost made it back to the Fat Lady, when we hear a pair of shoes clicking on stone behind us. We walk faster then, trying to get to the portrait before whoever it was got to us. When we got the portrait, I started whispering frantically trying to wake the Fat Lady up. When she finally did, she started complaining about disobedient kids and how she ought to lock us out.
"Alea lacta es!" I said cutting her off. She continued on her rant and Fred rolled his eyes, sighing.
"Come off it," he said. "Let us in, come on, we gave you the password!"
The pair of shoes was getting closer with every second and we were getting desperate. We couldn't afford a run in with Umbridge.
"Alea lacta es!" I said again.
"Whose there?" a voice down the hall called. "Is someone there?"
"Please!" I begged, eyes wide.
"Fine!" the Fat Lady groaned. She mumbled something about unappreciative students, before swinging open. Right as Umbridge came into view, we climbed through the hole, the Fat Lady swinging after us.
"That was close," Fred said once we were both inside the common room.
"Right," I answered. "And I only spilled about half my hot chocolate rushing down the corridor.
"Well, we can go get you another, if you'd like," he said, his trademark smirk creeping onto his face.
"Ha-ha," I said sarcastically. "Funny, but I don't fancy getting expelled tonight."
"Fine," he said. "But if you ever do, I'm your man."
"Don't I know it," I replied, smiling.
I yawned and he said, "You should get to bed."
"I should," I answered. "And I will, right after I finish this. " I signaled to my drink and he nodded.
We sat down in two chairs opposite each other by the fire. I took a sip from my drink and wondered who had remade the fire. We sat in silence for the rest of the night. I finished my hot chocolate and turned to tell Fred goodnight. But when I looked, he was already fast asleep. I got up and ruffled his fiery hair. Smiling to myself, I headed to bed.
It had been a week since that night and I still had Fred's jacket folded at the end of my bed. To be fair, I hadn't much talked to him since then and an opportunity to return it never came around. Finally, I couldn't put with Lavender's incessant questioning about where it had come from any longer. After class that Friday, I tucked the jacket away in my robes and left towards the common room.
There hadn't been much news about George throughout the week. The Weasleys had written once to tell us all that it was more of the same. Likewise, Fred hadn't left his dormitory much at all except for classes and even then, he frequently stayed locked upstairs.
I entered the common room and although, I didn't expect Fred to be there, I looked around anyway. As expected, he wasn't anywhere to be seen. I crossed the room to where Lee Jordan was sitting on a couch, scribbling furiously on a piece of parchment.
"Lee?" I said to get his attention. His head snapped up and his mouth turned into a smile.
"All right, Hermione?"
I nodded and said, "Have you seen Fred anywhere?" I tried to keep my voice casual and I thought I had done a pretty good job, but Lee cocked an eyebrow anyway.
His grin turned into a small frown and he pointed towards the stairs before saying, "He's upstairs, hasn't come down all day. I'm getting a bit worried. He's never been like this before."
"Yeah," I said, chewing on the inside of my cheek. "It's been hard on him."
I thanked him and said goodbye before heading up the boys' staircase. I was forever thankful that their staircase didn't have some sort of anti-girl charm on it like ours did for the boys'. It would make all this quite a bit trickier.
When I reached the seventh years' dormitory, I took a deep breath and prayed Fred was inside alone. I knocked on the door and it opened quickly.
"Thought it'd be you," Fred said, opening the door more widely so that I could come inside. I entered and looked around. It was dark; none of the lamps on, and no one else was there.
"And why is that?" I asked.
The corners of his mouth turned up and he said, "No one else knocks."
"Ah, right."
"So," Fred said. "To what do I owe the pleasure?"
I reached into my robes and handed Fred his jacket. He took it and grinned.
"Oh," he said. "I see. I thought you'd just taken a liking to it. I wouldn't have minded much." He threw the jacket on to his bed and sat down next to it. I looked around the dark room and wondered what he had done up here all day long.
"Did you just sit up here all day?" I asked nervously.
He looked to the ground then and pushed his tongue against the inside of his bottom lip.
"For the most part," he answered, after a minute.
"Don't you get lonely?"
"Maybe I was waiting for a certain curly haired witch to come join me," he said, eyes flickering.
"Oh," I said, feeling heat rising to my cheeks.
"Only joking," he laughed. "Well, sort of."
"I never got an invitation," I said, trying to play along: something I was never too good at.
"Who are you? The Minister? D'you need a formal invitation to every silly event? Merlin, how pretentious," Fred said, his smirk crawling up on his face.
"Very funny," I said. "I only meant that—"
"Oh, hush. I knew what you meant. Sit down, why don't you?"
I sat down on the bed next to Fred and for the first time, my nerves weren't ice cold and I didn't feel my palms clamming. For once, I could think clearly and every thought was his name. However, one thing didn't change: my heart was still skipping beats.
I descended the stairs back down the common room slowly. I felt genuinely happy. I saw Harry, Ron, and Ginny all huddled together near the fire and I attempted to sneak down slowly so none of them would notice me coming down from the wrong staircase. They seemed to be preoccupied with something anyway.
I neared them and I placed a hang on Ginny's shoulder and messed up Ron's hair, which I knew he hated. He did nothing, however. Instead, he just looked up at me. The look on his face was far from breaking, because it seemed to have already broken. Harry looked at me solemnly, shaking his head slightly. Ginny turned in to me, throwing her arms around me in a hug. I hugged her and rubbed her back through her sobs.
"What's going on?" I asked, but before I could even get it out, Ron was shoving a piece of parchment into my hands. I looked at the envelope it came from and all at once, I felt my insides crumble. A letter from the Weasleys.
A/N: I tried uploading this chapter already and the format came out all wrong and it took fooooorever to sort out but I finally figured it out I think so yay! Haha I hope you guys enjoyed, review & tell me what you thought. Also, if you want to follow me on tumblr or send me messages about the fic that'd be awesome: iriusblack . tumblr . com
