My Secret Obsession

By Kukaburry

Chapter 11 – Timing is Everything

You didn't think I would actually stop there did you? See, that's what I do. I lull you into a false sense of security about life and them BAM I take it all away. Now where did I stop in the last chapter? Oh right, saving Fred's life.

I have never run so hard in my life. As you all know I'm not exactly a star athlete so I was out of breath pretty quickly, but I kept running even if it felt like my lungs were being torn to shreds by tiny icicles. Slamming the door open, I shouted for help from a couple of the people inside, and two men came running with me down the slope where we found Fred, completely pale and nearly lifeless. His breathing was shallow and his face looked nearly 10 shades too pale to be human. "No, Fred, don't you dare leave me." I shook him forcefully while the two men grabbed us and side-long-apparated to right outside the gates of Hogwarts. We rushed him to the Hospital Wing where I was taken 'into custody' by Professor McGonagall.

No matter how many times I repeated the story she continued to stare gravely at me. "What I need, Miss Longbourne, is proof. " My protests were ignored. "There is really nothing more I can do. If Mr. Weasley wakes up and can corroborate your story then perhaps we can discuss matters. Until then you will have to sit here and wait."

"Can I at least wait in the hospital wing? I want to be there when Fred wakes up." I tried looking as pitiful as possible.

A sigh escaped her. "I'm afraid not." She didn't elaborate why, but I knew it was because I could still be a danger to him. "What we have is an incredibly ill boy and no one to back up your story. Please remain here until Claire, Michelle, or George come back."

"That's what I'm telling you. Michelle is definitely not coming back, she's out there in a cave, dead. Just lying on the floor, dead. She really can't get any deader."

"I get your point. She's dead." Her lips pursed in annoyance.

"And come on, who knows when George will get here. He had to deal with that crazy bi—that crazy French girl… You know I don't think she's even French. Did I tell you that she changed her accent?"

"What did I miss?" George walked into the office towing behind him an unconscious, levitating Claire. "Sorry, she was going to hurt herself if I didn't stop her, not that I really cared, but I wanted her alive so that she could clear Mia's name."

I rushed forward and hugged George like my life depended on it. "Thank you."

He extricated himself from my crushing grip. "Save those hugs for Fred." Before I had the chance to bombard him with questions about him dropping the 'L' bomb on me, McGonagall ushered him towards Dumbledore's office.

"Mr Weasley please bring Claire for questioning. Mia, please stay here while we try to sort everything out." I didn't bother to respond because the moment she left the room I was on my feet headed towards the Hospital Wing.

My heart nearly shattered when I saw Fred with beads of sweat pouring down his face, his pallor completely ashy. His eyes flickered open and rested on my face. "Mia." He croaked out. I was aware of his eyes boring into me as I approached the side of the bed.

"Hey." I whispered.

"There's my Mia Mouse." He rasped, taking in my disheveled appearance. "You don't look so good."

That was quite a statement coming from him. "Well you look like you got run over by the Hogwarts Express so don't go judging me, mister."

Fred chuckled, and pulled my hand to his mouth and kissed it. "That's what I hoped you would say." My heart hammered against my ribs. Of all the scenarios I had imagined over the years, this one wasn't even the brother of a shadow of a thought I'd had. "If my mouth didn't taste like puke, I would kiss you right now."

"Thanks for warning me," I giggled slightly.

"Mia I'm.." "Fred I'm.." We began together. "You first," I nudged, my stomach too full of butterflies to properly convey my feelings.

"Mia, I'm sorry for what happened yesterday. George was just teasing you and me because he knew I was trying to get up the courage to ask you out. I wanted to come and tell you yesterday, but I didn't know what to say." I let that information sink in. So George had not been pulling my leg about Fred. "You've always been funny, Mia, but these past few weeks you've become the person I thought you were deep down. I always wondered when you'd let yourself go and become the fun, and might I add loud, girl you always were around me."

"The reason I did it was because you gave me the courage. I always thought I didn't belong in Gryffindor, but you taught me that being in Gryffindor meant being loyal to your friends and trusting them no matter what. I'm sorry for how I acted last night. I replayed it a million times and I knew I had overreacted."

He linked our hands and rubbed a thumb over my knuckle. "I should have told you my feelings then, but I thought it would have been bad timing. George can be like a gossipy old woman sometimes." A chuckle escaped him. "Boy do I ever regret that decision now."

Watching him gain some color back his cheeks lifted my spirits. "I have to ask, how did Claire get you guys?"

Anger quickly replaced Fred's look of tenderness. "I don't know when she got George, but I noticed he was missing and I assumed he had gone ahead of me to watch Michelle." His face softened. "Yes, we were still going to do some stalking for you. Claire met me on the road over and told me how you had asked her to do some digging into Michelle. She asked me if I wanted a biscuit and I took a bite of it like an idiot. The look on her face let me know immediately that something was wrong so I grabbed a puking pastie and vomited my brains out. That's the last thing I remember."

"You got lucky because she thought you were George, so she didn't bother finishing the job. She went on this crazy rant about guys and tried to force me to kill him."

"Is George alright?" Trying to ease his concern, I spent the next ten minutes describing what happened with Claire and Fred burst out laughing when I reached the end. "A vomit fountain? That could be the best thing I've ever heard. I wish I had been there."

"No, I'm really glad you weren't." I leaned forward and pressed my forehead against our intertwined hands. "She really wanted to kill you." It happened that exact moment. I looked up from the scratchy bed sheets and Fred's face smacked right into mine.. in a good way. His lips descended on mine and I am almost certain we snogged for ten minutes. I learned what first and second base was that day. He had been right about his mouth tasting a little bitter, but I barely noticed since fireworks were exploding in my brain. All I could think was, 'About freaking time'.

The End

Alright it's not really the end. You probably have a couple of questions about the events from the previous chapter right? Geez you people ask so many damn questions.

First - Why did my chocolates cause Claire to puke?

Well George answered that one pretty quickly. As Fred told me, he was planning on asking me out and George, seeing that he would no longer be allowed to pull tricks on me, took it upon himself to do one final trick. He injected all of my hazelnut chocolate with the substance from the puking pasties. He 'might have upped the dosage' because it was going to be the prank to end all pranks with me. I had to admit that seeing Claire puke up a fountain of vomit was kind of hilarious. I told him I fully supported his career in making vomit-inducing candy.

Second - Why did Claire's voice change?

You'll never believe it, but Claire's family is rich. Filthy rich. Rich to the point that they paid other schools to keep the 'mishaps' associated with Claire quiet. Admittedly, she never killed anyone at her old schools, but most of them became catatonic or hysterical after eating her biscuits. So whenever she changed schools her parents paid instructors to teach her German, French, Italian (she really did go to four different schools before getting caught here). Of course I assumed she used some kind of spell on her parents, but apparently they're just terrible people and didn't really care that their daughter was a raving lunatic. From rumors I heard afterwards, her parents tried bribing Dumbledore with over ten thousand galleons to let her go and he sent them a box of bertie bots every flavor beans with only earwax in them. I don't know if that's actually true, but I like to believe it is.

Third - Did I get in trouble with McGonagall?

Of course. She ripped me apart when she found out I had left her office, but I think she held back a little considering Claire, with the assistance of a little truth serum, had divulged her entire plot to kill the male species. Much to my dismay, she escorted me away from Fred and I had the longest conversation with Dumbledore in my life. Surprisingly, he never seemed to doubt what I was saying. Maybe the old codger wasn't as bad as I always thought. I did see Claire one last time while I was in Dumbledore's office. She said in the calmest voice I'd ever heard, "She wanted to kill her boyfriend just as much as I did. I don't know why she isn't being sent to St. Mundgo's Hospital too." I unleashed five years of repressed feelings on her and boy did I enjoy it. I can't really go into detail because most of the words aren't appropriate for anyone's ears. People don't call me mouse anymore.

Fourth - What happened with me and Fred?

Simple, I fell deeply and madly in love with him because he is the most charming and amazing person ever. Did I mention that he is hilarious. He also has washboard abs and amazing biceps. I could stare at them all day long. We go on moonlight walks on the beach and stare at each other lovingly for hours and hours because he's just so awesome. I'm the luckiest girl alive.

Ah hem. Yeah, so I definitely did not write the above passage. Someone who shall go unnamed found out I was writing a story involving them and decided to interject their own little spin on events. So what really happened with Fred and me? Let's just say the above passage isn't that far off. I'm in my last year at Hogwarts and Fred is running his sweets shop with George. I'll just say that he's not half bad.

He is spectacular at everything in the bedroom. He's also huge.

Alright, the person who shall go unnamed is forever banned from anything to do with the bedroom. If he happens to be reading this right now, he should feel ashamed. Well that's about it from my end. Now you know the story of the batshit-insane girl who tried to kill off the entire male population with biscuits, and my secret obsession with Fred Weasley. I guess it's not much of a secret anymore, is it?

Oh I hate endings. They're so bittersweet. I think Mia might be the most fun character I've ever written. Trying to think so negatively was quite a challenge. I'm usually the 'see the bright side of life' kind of person. Anyways, I hope you all enjoyed it and are looking forward to more chapters from my other selection of stories. A lot of people seemed to really enjoy 'A Friendship Broken' which was also a joy to write.

I love hearing back from you guys. Love it or hate it, feel free to leave a comment :). Until next time! ~Kukaburry