Hogwarts welcomed back its students, but Emerald couldn't join in on the frustrations of getting back to classes. She was sure that George couldn't remember what he had done to her. He went back to hating her and avoiding her glances in the hallways. He acted as if she didn't exist, and that was not helping her mentally cope with...that night. She shook every time the memory of that night entered into her head. Emerald was very close to losing it in front of Fred, but she had to keep her wits about her. If she were to lose it, she would surely cause a war amongst the Weasley family. That she wished to avoid.

Fred hadn't suspected a thing until one day, when he had cornered her in her yoga room. Usually this was a peaceful place for Emerald, but he couldn't help but notice that something had become suddenly very uneasy. Emerald had become jumpy and Fred couldn't place the reason. Whenever he would reach out to take her hand, she would flinch slightly at first before easing into his grip. It worried him when she would pull back slightly, but she would always just smile at him as if nothing was wrong. She acted like he couldn't see that she was upset.

Fred had snuck up to her room one night to find her merely sitting against the window. She was tucked into a small ball, her eyes focusing on her knees. She didn't even look up when he walked in and closed the door behind him.

"Hey Em." He muttered, walking towards her and carefully sitting down next to her. Just as it had been for the past couple of days, she jumped slightly when he sat next to her. Fred sighed quietly and wrapped an arm around her as she innocently leaned against his shoulder. "Shouldn't you be doing your yoga?" He asked. Emerald quickly shook her head.

"I'm not in the mood tonight…" She muttered. Fred pulled her tighter into his arms before suddenly furrowing his brow out of confusion. Despite the fact that they were extremely close, Fred had never felt so distant from her. It was like she wasn't even there.

"What's the matter with you?" He asked quietly. Emerald couldn't even bring herself to look up at him. Her body started to shake as she pulled away from Fred's grasp.

"Nothing…" She whispered, pushing back her hair and tightening her ponytail.

"If nothing's wrong then why won't you look at me?" Emerald nervously bit her lip.

"I don't want to talk about this." She muttered. Fred's eyes widened as she moved away from him.

"What are you talking about? Why are you suddenly so afraid of me?" Emerald shook her head.

"I'm not afraid of you." Fred grabbed her hand, forcing her to face him. She scrambled to her feet and tried to pull away from him. He went right after her and continued to pull on her hand, trying to force her to look at him. Tears started to well up in her eyes as images of that night came rushing back. Fred pulled her body against his and tried to wrestle her to just look at him, but he had no idea what he was doing to her. Emerald's throat closed up and she started gasping for air as if she were being choked. She screamed out, ripping her body away from him finally.

"LET GO OF ME GEORGE!"

The struggles in the room instantly stopped. Emerald collapsed to the floor, her sobs coming out in strangled breaths. Fred backed up against the wall, his face holding the look of pure terror. He clenched his fists and stared at Emerald as she pressed herself against the floor, the cool stone silencing her sobs.

"What happened?" He whispered. Emerald shook her head, wiping away the tears and trying to hold back the deep sorrow that enveloped her.

"I just went to talk to George…I just wanted to talk to him…" She continued to mumble this over and over again, mostly to herself. Fred ran a hand through his hair, trying to decide what to do.

"He raped you?" He asked, his voice shaking. Emerald's lower lip trembled.

"Please don't be mad at me…"

"Why the fuck would I be mad at you?" He asked angrily. His rage was directed towards George and he honestly hoped that she would know that.

"Because…I didn't say anything…even when you asked me." Fred dropped to his knees before her, gently taking her shoulders and forcing her to look up at him.

"I will never hate you. I will never be mad at you. I love you…and all I want to do is protect you." He let out a heavy sigh, leaning his forehead against hers. She didn't flinch away. She leaned in to him and gently kissed his cheek. "I supposed I couldn't even protect you from my own brother." He whispered. Emerald shook her head, cupping his cheek.

"There was nothing you could have done."

"If I had been there, I would have stopped him…I would have killed him..." Emerald ran her hands down his face before lightly kissing him.

"Please…don't do anything that you're going to regret later."

Fred pursed his lips together, the anger quickly rushing back into his body. George had done some pretty lousy things in his life that had been awful, but Fred had always forgiven him. He had always clapped him on the back with a big smile and said 'that's my brother.' This time, there would be no laughter and no simple excuses. Fred would make his brother pay for this…even if he and his brother would never talk again, Emerald was worth this. She was worth protecting and isolating the one person that needed to be isolated.

Fred pulled back from Emerald, staring down at her before gently kissing her forehead.

"I promise you that I'm going to do what needs to be done."