Chapter 11

"Fred?" Lily asked, playing with Fred's hand which rested on her stomach. She was curled up to him by a lake around the back of Hogwarts, a frequent rendezvous spot.

"Mmm," He replied lazily.

"I'm sorry,"

"For what?" he asked lovingly and used the hand Lily wasn't fidgeting with to stroke her hair.

"That we have to hide," She said looking up through her eyelashes.

"It's okay sweetie," he kissed her forehead, "I understand why we have to,"

Lily rested her head back and eased it into the crook of his shoulder. She closed her eyes, taking in his scent.

"Doesn't it annoy you though? It annoys me," she admitted.

"Are you kidding me? I hate it. Every day I watch some prat hit on you and there's nothing I can do about it,"

"They why do you put up with it? The hiding, I mean," she opened her eyes and sat up, turning to face the ginger haired boy who was staring at her with a slight smirk.

"Because I have to. I know how your parents would react and I know how much it means to you to tell them yourself, in person. I also know that your reputation is important to you," she looked slightly offended, he placed a hand on her knee, "Besides, if I had to choose between sneaking around, and pretending to only see you as a friend, I'd choose this every single time,"

She leaned in and gave him a kiss. He could feel her smiling against his lips. He smiled too.

"I love you Fred Weasley," she whispered.

"I love you too Lily Scott. I always will,"

"You and Lily have been spending a lot of time together these past few months," George said to Fred when they were alone in their dorm later that day.

"Well, you know how I feel about her. I just want to spend time with her when she's alone, when she's not surrounded by people," Fred lied convincingly.

"You never told me what happened at Hogsmead,"

"Nothing happened. I chickened out and didn't tell her anything," Fred looked disappointed. He even surprised himself at how well he was lying.

Fred walked into the great hall for breakfast the next day. He took a seat between George and Harry. He looked over to the Slytherin table and scanned it for Lily. He saw her talking to Brady Hankins.

Immediately, a fire started inside of him. He'd never felt this jealous of anyone. He wanted to crucio Brady right then and there, even though he had no real reason to.

'It's okay, he's only talking to my girlfriend,' Fred thought to himself calmly. 'and making her laugh. And touching her arm.' he started clenching his fists and teeth without realising, 'and flirting with her. And UNDRESSING HER WITH HIS EYES!'

"Fred?" Harry waved a hand in Fred's face, breaking his stare, "are you alright?"

"Yeah," he glanced once more at Brady, then back at Harry, "Yeah, I'm fine," he said and piled his plate full of food.

Halfway through stacking pancakes on his plate, he felt eyes burning into him. He looked up and a goofy smile became plastered to his face.

Lily was picking at her blueberry muffin, and staring at Fred with a flirtatious look in her eye. She flashed Fred a cheeky smile, and he flushed as red as his hair in return. Lily noticed this and giggled.

He loved her giggle. It was so childlike and soft, and yet so mature and bubbly. Hearing her laugh, or in this case, seeing her laugh, filled his whole body with warmth. He loved the feeling she gave him.

Today was a Thursday, which meant Fred had no classes with Lily, and he had advanced potions first up. Even worse was that he had it with Slytherins. More importantly, Brady Hankins.

"Open your books to page 164," Professor Snape spoke in monotone. The class was silent, except for the turning of pages. They were learning some potion that could put you to sleep for weeks at a time.

When Snape instructed them to start, the room broke into chatter. Fred wasn't really talking; he was too busy giving Hankins a death glare. Hankins was flipping through the potions book with a few of his Slytherin friends. They stopped on a certain page and Fred suddenly became interested.

"Love Potion #9," his friend read out, "maybe you could use it on that Scott girl," they all laughed. Fred clenched his fists again.

"I don't need it, she'll go to the ball with me eventually," Hankins said smugly.

"Don't be too sure, she already rejected you this morning," another boy said.

'He's asked her!' Fred thought.

"It shouldn't be too hard, I'll just offer to write her notes," they all laughed again. Fred could barely contain his anger at this point.

"Shut up, Hankins," He said. Brady turned slowly to face him.

"I'm sorry, what did you say Weasley," He said, trying to intimidate Fred.

"You heard me. Stop talking about her like that,"

"You're defending her honour? That's cute. Too bad she would never go out with you, you're beneath her. She has standards, and you don't meet them,"

That was it. Fred burst. He gripped his wand tightly, lifted it to Brady and shouted "Stupefy!"

Everyone in the room stopped what they were doing and gasped. Snape rushed over to them.

"McGonagall's office," he said through a clenched jaw, "now"