CHAPTER 11 - HOSTILITY AT HOGSMEADE

Before I knew it Saturday had come and the day of the big Quidditch match Gryffindor vs. Hufflepuff. The gossip doing the rounds before and during the game was the participant ban of Beater for Gryffindor; Fred Weasley. Much speculation was made as to the cause of such a severe and personal punishment for the very popular Fred. His brother was still not talking to him and either were most of the team. Perhaps then it should not have been much of a surprise that Fred didn't even bother to turn up and witness how Hufflepuff kicked some serious Gryffindor ass and won the game! Ernie was amazing and performed brilliantly, and I for the first time since attending Hogwarts, actually felt accepted and involved with my peers.

Everyone knew now that I was dating Ernie McMillan and some girls actually seemed jealous….I couldn't believe it. Jealous of me!It was like I was in some parallel universe. Ernie waved at me a couple of times and I thought I was just going to wet myself with excitement, well not literally. Don't think I'd be too popular then!Sophie, Bobby and I all stood and screamed our heads off; it was one of the best day's ever.

Life was great, everything was perfect. Just as long as I didn't think about...'him', just as long as I pretended that I'd not done something so terrible and was secretly a cheater.

Claudia Knight...cheater! It made me shudder.

I'd not seen Fred since our last fight and that stupid thing I did in the passageway of the castle.

Oh…why the hell did I do that?

Why did I kiss that asshole? He had me in tears and I bloody kissed him! If Sophie knew about that she'd just die. My life was great now and I nearly screwed it up again. All because I allowed that bully to get inside my head and confuse me with his mind games.

Yeah, I'm definitely over it, I'm forgetting about Fred Weasley, I mean …..I've forgotten about him…I have!

Why would I even waste my time thinking about him; the bully. I've got Ernie, and he's popular…..he likes me. Fred's just…well Fred's just…oh he's a stupid idiot.

Oh Claudia would you just stop thinking about him!

But every time I closed my eyes I could feel his mouth on mine and I despised myself for it because deep down, it made me feel good.

We were now all in Hogsmeade, 'we' being most of Hufflepuff! Everyone was celebrating and we were stuffed inside The Three Broomsticks like sardines. Butterbeer and snacks cluttered the chunky wooden tables; people were laughing and yelling over each other to be heard whilst discussing the amazing game play. Some of the discussions drifted off to Fred Weasley though, I couldn't help overhearing people trying to guess at what he'd done? How things may have turned out differently if he'd been allowed to play today.

"Are you listening to that, about Fred?" yelled Ernie to me, trying to be heard over the chorus of people.

I pulled a face and shook my head pretending not to know and appear disinterested.

"They think Gryffindor might have won if he'd been playing" he explained.

"Well that's just rubbish. He's not so great. A lot of fuss about nothing"

Ernie laughed.

"Exactly" he winked at me.

Leaning over he gave me a big kiss and some of his team mates began to wolf whistle at us. I could feel my cheeks turning red but was distracted when Sophie started nudging me under the table with a big stupid grin on her face, she was practically about to give me the thumbs up when I kicked her. I sat there watching the scene in front of me, everyone laughing and enjoyed themselves and there was me being right in the middle of it all. To think just a few weeks ago I was sooo not 'this'. I would have died if I'd had to walk into a packed Three Broomsticks and just sat there feeling out of place trying not to look completely retarded. But now because of Ernie and other situations or a certain 'red head' here I was living this different life now. It made me feel a little strange and I wasn't really smiling anymore, I just felt melancholy and it confused me.

But those feelings were soon forgotten about when I heard Sophie…..

"You gotta be fucking kidding me….." she muttered.

I glanced over at her to see her focused on the door, I nearly vomited into my mouth from shock when I spotted Fred standing there stoic and emotionless. His brows slightly furrowed as he surveyed the scene in front of him, eyes searching the room when suddenly they fell on me and his search stopped.

"Oh fuck, oh fuck, oh fuck" I thought.

I glanced back at Sophie giving her a 'help me' look! Last interaction she knew of Fred and I was the library, she was still waiting to see what he was going to do after that. She just stared at me but then her eyes grew wider and she mouthed…. "He's coming over"

I swallowed hard and just stared down at my butterbeer like it was the most interesting thing I'd ever seen.

"Oh Fred" I heard Ernie announce. "What are you doing here? Come join us for a drink… I think you may need one old chap" he laughed teasingly.

I cautiously tilted my head up to see Fred glaring at Ernie and then me.

"Celebrating are we" he said through purse lips.

"Now, now Fred no hard feelings, we owe you a drink for not being on the pitch today" he laughed again, while offering Fred a swig of his butterbeer.

Fred smacked the butterbeer away from him and right out of Ernie's hand, it crashed onto the ground with a loud clatter, spilling the contents all over the floor. A bunch of people stopped what they were doing and all attention seemed to fall upon us.

I felt my heart jump up into my mouth, I was absolutely mortified, and I was dreading what would happen next.

Ernie jumped up to confront Fred. Though Ernie was not as tall as Fred, he was tall enough to take him on. He shoved Fred back making him almost snarl.

"What the hell's your problem mate" yelled Ernie, I'd never seen him angry.

"Get your hand off me" ordered Fred smacking Ernie's hand away.

Bobby jumped up and tried to get between them both, pushing at Fred.

"Back the fuck off Fred" yelled Bobby.

"Get out of my face" responded Fred. "Who was talking to you?" he sneered at Bobby.

"I was you big moron!" challenged Bobby.

I sat cringing…. 'Oh shut up Bobby' I thought.

"I'm warning you. Sit back down you stupid little git or you'll regret it!" growled Fred.

I just sat with my mouth hanging open at what I was witnessing.

"You're making a big mistake coming in here starting trouble Fred when the place is packed with Hufflepuffs" announced Ernie "Who will back you up? Your own house isn't even talking to you" he warned gravely.

Fred came back towards Ernie and looked like he was about to hit him when he glanced in my direction and no doubt saw the look of absolute horror on my face. He seemed to change his mind and just stared menacingly at us all.

"Enjoy your little celebration people while it lasts because believe me, it won't be happening again….I will be back on the pitch soon and then you'll remember why Gryffindor always win!"

"Oh bugger off you loser" said a cocky Bobby, maybe he'd drank a few too many butterbeers.

"You Hufflepuffs are pathetic wimps…you celebrate out of a fluke! You're just a bunch of losers!" And then he stormed back out again.

People sat stunned and I was visibly vibrating with nerves.

"What the hell was that all about?" Bobby was asking Ernie.

"What a fucking sore loser, can you believe him" stated Ernie.

Then the place erupted into a frenzy of gossip

I sat there numb and furious with Fred. Sophie was checking to see if Bobby was okay and everyone was asking Ernie what it was all about as he shook his head utterly confused. I was absolutely livid with anger at the entire embarrassing display. I suddenly jumped up and walked right out the pub unnoticed by everyone. As the door opened and I stepped out on to the street the cool air hit me like a wall. It was dark and the lit lamps were scattered around Hogsmeade creating a candle like glow. I ran down the street looking for him and when I turned the corner and glanced down a lane I spotted Fred marching along it near the end, heading back in the direction of Hogwarts. I raced into the darkness and caught up with him.

"YOU'RE A FUCKING IDIOT YOU KNOW THAT?"I yelled at him out of breath.

He stopped dead and turned around to glare at me.

"What was that for? Why'd you do that? You made yourself look so stupid!" I snapped.

"If you had a brain inside that little head of yours Knight you would have stayed put in that pub" he growled at me.

"You really are an asshole Fred aren't you?"

He slammed me into the wall knocking the wind out of me.

Fuck!

"DON'T"he threatened….

Both his hands leaning against the wall as he hung over me and I was trapped.

"Don't push me Knight…I'm already so pissed off to point I will certainly do something that you'll be sorry" he spat.

I knew I should have been scared by his temper, by his heavy handedness again but I still went on and pushed. I couldn't stop myself.

"Why did you do that back there?" I whispered.

"I'm so mad at you right now, you're sitting there…..acting like something you're not, being somewhere you don't belong and they're all celebrating…and what about me? I'm the one who is still being punished because of you. I wish I'd never met you!"

Oh no, you did not just say that to me.

"Sounds ironic to me….you finally get a taste of your own medicine Fred…..how does it feel to be the unpopular one now?" I hissed.

I was angry; the words were out my mouth before I could think.

Fred closed in, his lips hovered over mine, and he was right in my face.

"I say it's about times we evened things out don't you Claudia" he sneered.

My heart was drumming way too fast, my breaths were shallow, my eyes suddenly glued to his lips.

Fred grinned crookedly, a knowing menacing grin and licked his lips; my stomach tightened and lurched toward him.

"What are you going to do?" I breathed.

But before he could answer he was dragged back and I heard the smack as Ernie's fist collided with his face.

"Get away from her you bastard!"

Fred nearly fell back but managed to keep standing, I gasped when I saw the trickle of blood run from the corner of his mouth.

Fred stalked towards Ernie ready to retaliate.

"You little fucker you're going to regret that" he snarled.

"STOP IT! …..STOP" I screamed.

Both did stop and looked at me.

Ernie stepped towards me and pulled me to him.

"Are you okay, did he hurt you? …..What did he do to you?"

"I…..I …."

Fred was staring at me incredulously.

"I came out to confront him that's all, for making a scene"

"Your pathetic you know that?" Ernie snapped back round to Fred "You're twice the size of her and you were threatening her".

Fred started to laugh and we both looked at him stunned.

"You're a stupid bastard Ernie…you want to know the truth? Because I'm more than willing to tell you….believe me…I'm just dying to getthisoff my chest"

I looked at Fred petrified and started shaking my head at him. But he just grinned back at me.

"Tell me Ernie…..You want to know the truth?"

"What truth? ….What are you going on about?" asked Ernie angrily as he stood with his arms around me protectively.

"Well…let me see, it's all very relevant to tonight events…shall we start at the beginning?" he announced looking at me, still smiling but it didn't reach his eyes. It was an empty cold and callous smile.

I was shivering and shaking my head. I mouthed the words "Fred please don't" to him. And he opened his mouth to speak when ….

"FRED!"…..

We all turned around to see George standing at the end of the dark lane, watching us all. He slowly walked up and approached Fred standing before him, both brothers just staring at each other.

George put his hand on Fred's shoulder firmly.

"Let us just get out of here…OKAY!"

Fred stared at him for the longest time before turning to walk away silently. George was right next to him and gave Ernie a brief look as if to say it was all over. Then he glanced at me with a knowing look and nodded subtly. I gave him a solemn smile in return as a thank you and then they both disappeared.

Ernie looked down at me then pulled me into a hug.

"It's over, it's okay!" he tried to comfort me not fully realising what had really happened.

"Let's just go back to the pub; I want to forget about this" I mumbled.

And we both slowly walked back towards the glow of Hogsmeade.