That One Time I Fell In Love

(And Other Impossible Things). Fred Weasley II finally meets his match in the form of one loud-mouthed and free-spirited, Emma Terry. [NextGen GIR World!]

Still Emma's POV, yo

Chapter 37: That one time Emma climbed a building.

"Oh god, what about my bed? What am I supposed to do with this?" I yelled out from my bedroom.

Down the hallway, Libby called back, "Sell it? Pass it onto someone else?"

"You want it?" I joked.

"You've had sex with Fred in that bed, the hell do I want it!"

I just laughed, jumping and flopping down onto said bed. It wasn't that I was rather attached to this particular bed, but that it was becoming final now. Mine and Charmaine's furniture was slowly going, and my old bedroom that had been my safe haven the last nearly three years was barely recognisable. I let my arms and legs flop out like a starfish, listening to Libby back in the longue as she helped organise my shit (because let's face it, there's no way that I could do this by myself). Every now and then, she would say something to Clara who, last I'd seen her, had been happily playing in some of the empty boxes we'd brought in.

I was honestly going to miss this flat. This place had seen so much! Movie marathons and bad dates and that one time Fred told me he loved me …

Now there was something to remember.

Look, I'd been through a lot of heartbreak by that point. There was no way I was letting the tosser get to me! I was so sure that I was totally handling his bullshit in a mature and sensible fashion. So some guy had stopped talking to me for no fucking reason whatsoever – was I going to let myself get hung up over that? God, no. Nah, Fred could go fuck himself with whatever issues he had because I wasn't gonna get worked up.

NOPE. NO WAY.

I didn't care. I didn't need an explanation, and I definitely didn't want to see his face ever again –

"I'm sick of it! What the fuck was that – what did I ever do?" I'd once sobbed in Libby's arms, sniffing pathetically every now and then.

"Oh, Emma," Libby had sighed, stroking my hair back. "He's a dickhead, but whatever he's got going on, it's not your fault, ok?"

Eventually, I'd gotten words out through my tears and ended up asking, "I just wish I knew what the hell went wrong …"

"I don't know, Emma," Libby had murmured. "Bastard isn't talking. I even threatened him with bodily harm, but …"

"I hate him," I'd cried.

"I know, girl. I know."

… ok, fine, so maybe I hadn't spent the ENTIRE time as stoic as a rock. Yes, maybe I'd been hurt. I hadn't had any idea what'd made him suddenly ignore me, and for most of that time I'd thought that I must have done something. But then he'd even more suddenly tried to talk to me again, and god, I wasn't having it! I was sick of playing his game, I was sick of being stuck in the middle as he tried to figure out whatever the hell was going on in that dumb as fuck brain of his. Thank god I'd had Charmaine to keep fending him off with a ten foot pole, but then eventually there had come the night when my anger at the entire situation had gotten the best of me.

Naturally.

(Five months ago)

"You know what?" I stormed up to the doorway, where Fred was apparently once again screaming for me. Somewhere, I was aware that I was entirely not dressed for this situation. I was in my designated Moping Outfit, which basically consisted of my Yoda onesie, but fuck it, Fred didn't deserve me looking hot anyway! I sent him the best glare I could muster as I stood in the doorframe and said,

"I was finally going to tell you to fuck off myself, but now I'm realising that actually, I'm curious! So by all means, come in!" Charmaine and I stepped aside. Fred sighed with relief and took one step, only for him to start tilting dramatically to one side. He came basically staggering in through the door and slammed into the hallway wall.

"Whoa …" I added in bewilderment. "are you drunk?"

Fred made some stupid comment in response as he vaguely tried to claw his way back upright and if anything, it made me madder. Charmaine caught my eye and mouthed, "GOOD FUCKING LUCK," as she literally turned tail and walked out the door, slamming it shut behind her.

Suddenly I was left alone with the man who had hurt me more than I wanted to admit. Not only that, but when he finally DOES turn up again, he turns up DRUNK? FRED, YOU DUMBARSE. I had literally rehearsed every single pissed off word of what I might say to him, but I'd been holding it in for weeks. I'd hoped that finally sometime I might get brave enough to actually confront him myself, but hadn't really thought I'd get to say any of it. But now, with him turning up at my door and unable to stand straight … now, it was all suddenly burning on the edge of my tongue.

And I found myself goddamn yelling.

"Oh, come on Fred!" I cried in outrage. "WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU? You ignore me for WEEKS and suddenly, you think it's ok to start trying to talk to me again out of the blue?" I gave a disbelieving cry of laughter. "I'm sorry, mate, but that's not how this fucking works! FUCK YOU, Fred! Fuck you and all your shit because I'm not taking it anymore! You want to be my friend, be my friend, don't fucking DUMP ME for no reason and treat it like it's no big deal! Do you have ANY idea what I've been thinking the last month? I thought something was wrong! I thought I'd pissed you off, I thought I'd done something to you, I felt fucking terrible, Fred! But, what? You're just being a dickhead? I hate you! WELL?" I finally burst out, folding my arms defensively. "WHAT DO YOU HAVE TO SAY FOR YOURSELF?"

I breathed hard for a moment. Like, holy shit, did I actually say all that? I think I did! Somewhere beyond all the red anger, I actually felt rather proud, because I don't think I've ever had the strength to say anything like that to someone before. I was always too-eager-to-please Emma. The Hufflepuff who cared too much. The girl who could tease and make fun of others but could never actually stand up for herself.

But look at me now.

Fred, the fucker, unfortunately wasn't helping himself out much. He blinked a little at my tirade, before asking, "How did I get here?"

"What?"

"No, seriously, I don't remember coming here – I just remember drinkin' and – there was a lot of drinkin' – WAIT –"

I practically seethed. "THIS ISN'T HELPING!"

"Why are you yelling at me?"

"YOU HAVE COMPLETELY IGNORED ME FOR A MONTH!"

Surely it had to have sunk into his head by this point. He certainly looked sorry and I let him stew in it gleefully as he even attempted to stand upright, only keeping one hand against the hallway wall now. "I'm sorry!" he cried. "I'm sorry, Emma, I'm so fucking sorry that I don't even know what to say! I was so fine before I met you, but now – oh, look, I'm falling down again –"

He'd forgotten to lean the right way. I sure as fuck wasn't catching him (he could land on his face for all I cared) so I hastily ducked out of the way as he nearly keeled over. He yelped a little, struggling back upright and I growled out, "Don't kill yourself, please."

"I mean it!" he just carried on babbling, even as he smacked back into the wall once more, leaning heavily. "My life was great before you! It was fun and easy but then I had to go and meet you! You were supposed to be just another girl that I didn't care about, but I did, Jesus fuck, I did and DAMN IT, WHY?"

God, I could hit him. Naturally this still had to be all about him. Trust me, I'm normally the first to blame myself in these situations, but we weren't standing here yelling at each other because of what I'd done! "Right," I scoffed. "You just can't get over the fact that you are a dick at the end of the day and probably always will be. I get it. Get out of my flat before I get even more mad and hex you, Bonehead."

"No, wait, that came out wrong," Fred pleaded. "Shut up a sec!"

"I won't!" I spat out. "Fred, you're supposed to be my FRIEND! If you couldn't get over the fact that we used to sleep together, then you should have bloody SAID, rather than just ignored me and my owls to the point where I thought I'd hurt you somehow! What the hell? Who fucking DOES THAT?"

"Emma, you seriously didn't do anything wrong!"

Oh, fuck him. "Right! So you're legit going with 'it's not you, it's me'?"

"Stop it!" He looked agitated, rubbing his face frantically. "Just STOP IT, I CAN'T THINK–"

"Why did you come here, Fred?" What the hell did you think this was going to do, huh?

Suddenly, Fred looked straight up and into my eyes.

"I love you!"

Aaaaaaand I think my heart just stopped.

Oh, shit. Oh, shit, shit, shit.

SHIT.

There's no way he just said that, right? For a moment, I just stood there, certain I must have misheard despite the fact that he'd been pretty fuckin' clear. He looked like he was going to throw up, but also somewhat pleased, like he'd finally managed to tick something off his to-do list. I covered my mouth with a hand, trying to hold it in. How the hell dare he? I didn't need a man to say those words to me. Not anymore. Once upon a time, there might've been an Emma who did, but she had grown up and now, she had learned not to depend on hearing it. My existence wasn't dependent on someone else's capability to love me.

But Christ, hearing those words coming from Fred's mouth … I could have punched him. It was all I wanted to hear, and also the worst thing I could have heard at the exact same time.

"God, Fred–"

Unfortunately, he wasn't done.

"That's right!" he burst out. "Turns out that I'm in love with you! I don't know how I know it, I just do! I love you so fucking much that that I wanna gouge my own eyes out and drink only tea again for the rest of my life! You are literally the only person who has ever made me this messed up," He rubbed his eyes warily, sighing. "God, Emma, you are the first person I wanna tell when I get good news, and every time I fuck up, you're there to tell me what an idiot I'm being. You laugh at my jokes, even when I'm not funny, and every night when I go to sleep I wish that you were there next to me. I love you, I love your sense of humour, your passion, the way you kiss me and your hair – we're – we're – Han and Leia! I don't fucking know," He threw up his hands desperately. "I don't know how to say any of this, I have no idea what I'm saying, but I hope you know that I'm trying – I am trying SO HARD – because I never ever wanted to hurt you and I'm so sorry for that, I really am! I love you, Emma Terry, so CONGRATULATIONS! You are the first and only person who has managed to make me fall in love with them! So thank you, Emma! THANK YOU AND GOODNIGHT!"

Any second now, I'm gonna cry … ANY SECOND …

He stood there, looking flushed and breathing heavily, like he'd just run a hundred miles. When he'd said it once was bad enough! What the bloody hell am I supposed to do? Half of me was screaming, the other half cheering, and maybe a tiny, tiny part of me wanted to say it back, but oh god. I stomped that down hard. Before I couldn't even attempt at making a decision to do something, Fred opened his mouth as if to say something else. I almost yelled out literally anything to make him shut up. Lord help me, I would not be able to take much more! However, that was when he suddenly turned and bolted for the kitchen.

By the time I caught up to him, the poor bastard was throwing up in the sink.

I sighed. I honestly hesitated approaching. But like … we were supposed to be mates, right? At the end of the day, no matter what had been said, I cared, and I made the snap decision to step forward and rub his back, letting him get it all out. I had no idea what he'd drunk, but clearly the nerves of the last ten minutes had finally gotten to him. He was gonna feel like shit in the morning. He was almost already passed out by the time I was shoving a damp cloth into his hands and pushing him down onto my sofa, Fred curling up pathetically as I hit the lights.

"You're welcome," I muttered. "Goodnight, Fred."

I had to get out of here.

"OH, FUCK," I yelled out. "HELP! MAYDAY! IT'S A DISASTER, HEEEEEEELLLP!"

A slam. Someone muttered, "Ouch," before footsteps suddenly thundered down the hallway.

My mother came careening around the corner, barrelling into the lounge in a matching set of kitty pyjamas and her wild hair disarray. She pulled some kind of ridiculous battle pose with her wand as she cried,

"AM I UNDER ATTACK?!"

"Mum!" I yelled. "No, no, you're not under attack, but I need help!"

"Emma?" Rebecca Terry flicked her wand and the lights flared. Look, it was late in the evening, I was still wearing my goddamn Yoda onesie and probably looked like the world was ending, it was no wonder she looked shocked at my sudden appearance at home! I know I don't normally talk to my mum, but it was far too late to be disturbing Libby, Katie was all the way at Hogwarts and there was no bloody way Charmaine was gonna wanna touch this situation, so Mum it was. "What on earth?" she asked, clutching at her chest as she relaxed slightly. "Bloody hell, Emma Terry! You scared the shit out of me!"

"I'm sorry," I pleaded. "but Mum, I'm having a crisis! Fred said he loves me, HE FUCKING LOVES ME, MUM!"

SERIOUSLY, THAT JUST HAPPENED.

Mum blinked a few times, before blindly sitting down on the sofa. She watched me for a moment, before taking a hair tie from her wrist and throwing her curls up into a bun away from her face. Oh boy, apparently this meant Serious Business. Mum naturally didn't know a lot about the crazy Fred Drama, but Katie had to have told her things and when her kids got fucked over, one could always count on my Mama Terry. I just looked at her in a panic. Mum, now's about the time you say something useful, goddamn it!

"You mean your friend, Fred?" she apparently decided was the most important thing to clarify.

"YES, THAT FRIEND, FRED!"

"Honey, keep it down, the neighbours will complain," Mum glanced over her shoulder and added, "Who knows how your dad's sleeping through this …"

"MUUUUM!"

"Yes, yes, I'm listening!" she sighed. "Would you please sit down and start breathing normally?"

"HOW CAN I SIT DOWN? FRED'S IN LOVE WITH ME!"

"You mentioned. Aren't you guys fighting?"

"I thought we were!" My legs were restless. I honestly thought my heart might slam right out of my chest as I paced back and forth, frantically. "He's been a bloody DOUCHEBAG, who the fuck is he to ignore me for so long, then just say that out of the blue?! He turns up on my doorstep blind drunk right, and goes into this goddamn rant about how he's sorry, how he loves me so much, AND HOW DARE HE? I don't care how much he says it, he hurt me, Mum! I thought I'd done something to make him ignore me but NOPE, turns out he was just too much of a fucking coward to say what he really felt and I don't care that it's what I've wanted to hear basically since we met, I don't care, I DON'T CARE! I HATE HIM!"

"Do you hate him?" Mum said, dryly.

"MUM!"

She shook her head, chuckling a little. "Oh, Ems. Where is he now?"

"Passed out on my sofa."

She laughed. "Oh my god."

"YOU'RE SAYING OH MY GOD?" I cried. "MUM, ONLY I GET TO SAY OH MY GOD! … OH MY GOD!"

"Ok, Ems," Mum held up a hand. "You've yelled, now you really need to just back up a bit and explain. You barely tell me anything about this lad, is this the one who has a baby?"

"CHRIST, no, that's James," I cringed at once. "No, Fred's the bloke I used to – to go out with," I stumbled slightly over the words there. Look, I know that this is Mum and Mum's know things, but I wasn't about to spell it out for her. There's just some things you don't want your parents hearing, right? "But I told him I liked him and he dumped me, and we didn't talk for ages. Then we became friends, only about a month ago he just randomly stopped talking to me out of the blue and I didn't know what I did but apparently he loves me?! WHO THE FUCK JUST SAYS THAT?!"

"Wait, this boy dumped you?" Mum leapt to her feet.

"That is like, the least important part of this story."

"I'll give 'im a piece of my mind!"

"Blimey, Mum," I rolled my eyes. "Fuckin' chill, please, we got past that part. Mostly. Well, I don't know, I at least thought we had," I moved forward and shoved on her shoulders, pushing her back down onto the sofa. I made to join her, but found that I still couldn't quite bend my knees. I realised that my hands were shaking along with my pounding heart. "Oh Christ, I just don't know what do to, Mum! I thought I could move on from him, I thought I wouldn't let a man hurt me ever again, but look at me, I'm standing here in a panic because this idiot came along and made me fall in love with him. When he said all those things, it was literally everything I wanted to hear, but he was emotional and drunk as hell, he probably won't even remember saying it tomorrow! How do I even know he meant it, how can I forgive him, how–?"

I cut myself off, my face crumpling. Let's face it, I'm a bloody crybaby and everything just crashed on top of each other until I was suddenly sniffing and covering my face. "Oh, sweetie …" Mum sighed, reaching up and tugging on my wrist. I let her pull me into her lap, and I wrapped my arms around her, letting the tears spill over like a little kid again.

"I'm a mess," I sobbed.

"Emma Louise Terry," Mum said, fiercely. "you are a strong, beautiful, amazing woman. It's ok that you love him. It proves that I raised a daughter who cares despite everything. It's ok that a part of you liked hearing him say it."

"Why can't I just get over him?"

Mum held me tight. "This doesn't mean you have to forgive him, Emma. Sometimes the people you love fuck up. It happens. You're allowed to be mad and disappointed that this hasn't worked out the way you wanted, and you're allowed to be pissed off about the way he's treated you."

A part of me wanted to argue I know that, Mum. But the fact that she had to actually tell me out loud probably said that I hadn't known. I stayed quiet, thinking as I rested my head on Mum's shoulder and wiped at my face with a hand. Merlin forbid the day I had made the decision to sleep with Fred Weasley, but there was no going back now! We were here, and the boy was clearly dealing with the fact that he had caught Feelings and didn't know what to do with them. He was going to be hungover as hell tomorrow, which was at least a small consolation for how he'd acted the past month.

I wasn't letting him off. I wasn't taking pity, I wasn't going to let things just snap back to normal because he doesn't get to do this to me. I don't care WHAT he was dealing with, he treats me like shit and I will make him regret it. A part of me ached a little – he loves me, Fred is in fucking love with me – but I gathered all my resolve. I loved the stupid man, but I told myself that he would have to do a lot of apologising and changing to fix this mess.

Maybe, just maybe, I'd eventually forgive him if he tried.

"Sorry for crying on ya, Mum."

She just snorted softly. "That's what I'm here for."

(Present day)

"CLARA, NO!"

I jerked suddenly out of the random memory as Libby's voice crashed back across my consciousness. I heard a loud shriek/giggle and Libby cursing as I remembered that oh right, I was supposed to be organising and packing stuff! How we'd gone from disastrous love confessions to this, I hadn't a bloody clue. Before I could hastily roll back off my bed, Libby came storming in, her tiny daughter babbling away in her arms.

"Here!" she said, dumping the baby on top of me. "Please, for the love of god, watch this child so I can please pee in peace?"

"Aw," I sniggered, 10-month-old Clara wobbling as she perched on her hands and knees on my chest. "Clara, are you not letting Mummy get even a moment to pee?"

"She follows me everywhere!" Libby's voice was already halfway down the hallway to the bathroom.

Luckily, Clara didn't seem to mind so much that Mum had just abandoned her. She tried to crawl off me and onto my bed, only she lost her balance and ended up comically plopping off my chest and landing on her back like an upside down turtle. I sat up and glanced down at her, but thankfully she seemed to think it was funny that she'd fallen. She giggled on her back, chewing on her fingers and I tickled her tummy.

"You're gettin' big, my girl!" I told her. "Look atcha, crawling everywhere and stuff! Soon you'll be walking and talking, blimey. I still remember the first time I ever met ya!"

She'd been so tiny then. Tiny Human, that's what Fred calls her. I'd first held her in the hospital and nearly cried, she was so perfect, and I wasn't even a real auntie! She had grown from a new-born to the almost toddler she was now, all rolley baby limbs and wide smiles and soft dark hair like her parents. She rolled over then and climbed up onto her hands and knees, keen to explore this new bed environment. I watched her until naturally, she went for the box of tissues on the nightstand and started ripping them out.

"Oi!" I rolled over and scooped her up and away from the box. A tissue came with us, which she tried to eat until I managed to get it off her. "No, no, those are probably not very good to eat, Clara. Probably. I mean, I dunno, I've never eaten a tissue before, but sorry, I'm not lettin' ya experiment. Maybe Fred would, but not this auntie!" I plonked Clara down in my lap and thankfully, she didn't squirm and try to escape. Libby came back a couple minutes later and Clara squealed at the sight of her.

"Ohhhh, you see Mummy!" I said as Libby grinned, jumping onto the bed with us. "Hey, Clara, do you see Mummy?"

I lifted her up onto her feet and Libby held out her arms for her. The girl stood there in concentration for about ten seconds, wobbling on unsteady feet. Then, she promptly sat back down and crawled over to Libby instead. "Ah, well," my friend sighed, sweeping Clara up and kissing her cheek. "She'll get it someday."

"Hey, sometimes I forget that she can even crawl, let alone stand with assistance for ten seconds," I laughed.

"She certainly is a wonder," Libby mentioned lightly. "Eh?" she added to her daughter.

Clara patted Libby's cheeks happily.

"Can't believe she's a few months from turning one," I mentioned and Libby overdramatically held up a hand.

"Please," she begged. "I start sobbing uncontrollably every time I remember!"

"Honestly, though. Thank you for still managing to be my best friend despite the little one driving ya crazy the past year," I said. "God knows it's been a lot of drama."

"We should be used to drama by now," Libby snorted softly, Clara wiggling in her arms. "How does it feel to be moving out?"

I just took a deep breath, releasing it with a huff.

"That bad, huh?"

"It's not bad, just weird," I complained. "I've been basically moved out for months already, but now it feels real. I dunno, Lib. How did you feel?"

"Well I didn't really move out, it was more James who moved in," Libby reminded me. "I admittedly freaked a little. YES, ok fine!" she added, letting Clara crawl out of her arms once more, as the girl was clearly now bored with being held. "Ok, so maybe I freaked a lot. I got super drunk on a night out in town and totally disappeared on him, ended up crying at my brother's place. Actually, James probably still hasn't forgiven me for it," she added.

"Oh, dear," I mentioned.

"Emma. I just mean it's ok to be scared," Libby pointed out. "You know that, right?"

"I know. I guess … it's hard not to panic when so far, this entire relationship has been built upon our kind of spectacular ability to panic."

"True, you guys are pros."

Clara tugged at my jeans then, as if to add, 'Ya, Auntie Emma, you're insane.'

I just smiled down at my fave lil human, letting her clamber over my legs. "You and James are both able to come to our birthday party this weekend, right?" I asked. "Like, no pressure if one of you has to stay with Clara, but–"

"ARE YOU KIDDING?" Libby said. "I am literally counting down the days until we get to drop her off with Harry and Ginny! Sorry, babe," she added at her daughter, who appeared none the wiser.

"I think she's ok with it."

"Good," Libby sighed then, before pressing her hands onto my bed and pushing herself up back to her feet. "Well, c'mon. If we stop now, then we'll never get all this shit sorted."

"Libbyyyy, I just want a break!"

"You've been on break for the last half hour!" Libby yanked at my arm, hauling me upright next to her. "This is YOUR flat, and you are moving yourself out of it."

"Fine," I grumbled. "C'mon, Clara." I scooped up the baby before reluctantly following Libby back to the Lounge of Boxes.

"Aaahhhhhhh," Clara smacked my nose.

"Yeah, my sentiments exactly."

When lunch hour started a few days later, I was quick to run out of the Cursebreaker building and out into Diagon Alley. Sure enough, my girl was there outside the bank in her designated spot, waiting for me.

"EMMAAAAA!" Lily Potter practically screeched.

I laughed and moved to hug her enthusiastically.

Look, there's something about shared trauma that just bonds people. Within an hour of first meeting Lily, we had found ourselves both facing off against the ex that had caused us the most amount of grief in our lives, and let me tell ya, that shit changes your view on a person! Lily wasn't just James' little sister, she was a fellow comrade, someone who knew and understood what I'd been through because she'd been through the same. It was honestly uncanny to realise that we had both gone out and subsequently been screwed over by the same person, and ever since the incident, Lily and I had taken it upon ourselves to become official guardians of each other! I mean, basically we just met up every now and then when our schedules permitted to get caught up on the goss, but we were always thinking of each other when doing it.

We honestly didn't really talk about our shared past much. We'd gotten that all out of the way the first time we'd agreed to meet up after the Incident. I'd only owled her with the suggestion that she come round for tea, but it had ended with us six hours later completely piss drunk off wine, sitting on the kitchen floor and complaining/crying over our mutual hatred for the man.

"Did'e ever – like, he'd pour out all 'is own issues, righ'?" I'd leaned back heavily against the kitchen cupboards, passing Lily the wine. "But whenever I'd fuckin' wanna talk about sumthin' – I dunno, the fucker would somehow make you feel bad for ever mentionin' it?"

"OMG," Lily had punched me. "like he'd expect ya to deal with all of his shit, but never help ya deal with your own?!"

"YOU HAD THAT TOO?"

"He did it all the bloody time!" Lily had thrown the wine into the air. "FUCK MARK."

"FUCK MARK!"

Anyway. We had thankfully gotten all our 'fuck Mark's out of the way and eventually, we been able to actually talk more about other things. Hell, this woman was four years younger than me and had probably done more than my entire lifetime so far! She was the kind of confident that I only ever wished I could be, and I loved the girl dearly. Lily squeezed me tightly before pulling back, her long red hair blowing gently in the summer breeze.

"Good to see you!" she said. "Merlin, it's been ages since we last caught up."

"I know! I'm sorry, I've been super busy with work lately," I admitted.

"I figured, since you're here on a goddamn Saturday," Lily joked. "What, a tomb blow up or something?"

"It's a long story," I sighed. "Incompetent team members, angry boss, so there's all that in between keepin' Fred together and shit …" I trailed off a little awkwardly as Lily and I set off down Diagon Alley in search of our usual lunch café. "Wait, I'm sorry, Lily. I didn't mean to bring that up."

"Hey, nah, it's ok," Lily was a bit more subdued at the vague reference to her uncle. "It's still a little hard to believe. Is Fred doing ok?"

I thought for a moment before nodding. "He's … yeah, he's doing ok. It's up and down. Sometimes he's perfectly fine and then other times it just smacks him round the face, but he's getting help and he's getting somewhere."

"God, I can't imagine …" Lily linked her elbow through mine. "You're tough as shit, Emma."

"I don't think so," I scoffed.

"You kidding?" Lily said. "You manage to handle Fred not only when he's being regular douchebag Fred, but also when he's rightfully grief-stricken Fred. Dave had to watch me lose an uncle, but you had to watch Fred lose his dad. You've got my mad respect."

I guess I hadn't thought much about how it had affected me. I had met George Weasley briefly, but hadn't really known him at all. I wish I had. From everything I'd heard and from my own brief encounters, it seemed that he had been a riot; funny and resilient and an incredible person to know. But even if I hadn't known George, I knew his son far too well, and it hurt through him. I hated the nights when he couldn't sleep and I hated when the grief would suddenly hit him with no warning. I hated when I'd had to watch him self-destruct and now how moody he got on therapy days. I hated how much of a battle it clearly was for him and how it seemed like half the time I was being more of a hindrance than a help. I mean, god, I wasn't going to forget the hysteria of the night I'd had to beg Scorpius to talk to him any time soon.

I was terrified. So, so terrified, to the point where Rose hadn't even known what I was trying to say at first through the panicked crying. It wasn't until I'd practically screamed Scorpius' name when it had finally gotten through. I certainly owed Rose one for calming me down.

"I guess I like Fred enough that I don't mind sticking around for the shitty parts," I ended up saying casually.

Lily thankfully laughed. "Oh, how times change! When we first met, you guys were still barely knew each other, right?"

"I've started gettin' nostalgic about it, please don't let me ramble at ya," I insisted.

"But I love the Fred dramas!"

"Yeah, yeah, let's get tea before anything else dramatic happens," I rolled my eyes, shoving her forward.

We had a café that we both liked down Diagon Alley, and more often than not ended up there for the amazing tea. Maybe that was another reason I liked Lily so much, I could always appreciate a fellow tea-drinker! I waited until we had sat down and had cups in our hands before finally telling her, "We, um, live together now, by the way."

Lily hastily held out a hand as if to stop me. "HOLD UP," she said. "you serious?"

"Very."

"That boy let you move in?" she said in amazement.

"He didn't so much 'let me' as I just slowly kept moving all of my stuff until eventually, he had to," I laughed, but Lily still cheered and practically leapt the table to hug me. "It wasn't a conscious decision, though, I swear!"

"Nah, 'course not," Lily snorted.

"No, really! It was literally the furthest thing from my mind, I haven't lived with a man since Mark," I admitted.

"Shiiiiit," Lily let out a breath as she flopped back into her chair. "How you dealing, then?"

"Better than I thought I would!" I said. "I've had the natural meltdown, but eventually I figured that it couldn't be much harder than what we'd already been through, so."

"Damn, girl," Lily laughed. "I literally never thought Fred would get to this point."

"I might've thought the same a few months ago."

"Oh, bless him," she smiled. "He's so lucky to have you, Emma."

"Thanks. Love ya, bitch."

"Love you too, bitch," Lily took a gulp of tea before we started talking about other things. Mine and Fred's birthday party, which was FINALLY tonight, I ensured that she was coming to, and Lily asked me all about work. We chatted more and more as lunch hour went by, me going on about the botched up Gibraltar Project and her complaining of what was her 'mundane life' until eventually, I had five minutes to get back to work and we were still busy hastily bitching about Lily's current boss.

"Apparently Bea had to deal with her at one point, and turns out she wasn't exaggerating! Last time I EVER freelance for the Witch Weekly," Lily shuddered as we practically ran, the bank finally coming into view. "God, I can't wait to get out of here!"

"You have much work coming up?" I asked.

But Lily suddenly hesitated.

Despite that I might be late, I paused. Lily Potter wasn't exactly a girl who hesitated. But my question had made her quiet, made her glance away and I daresay made her look slightly … guilty? I wasn't sure if I was imagining things, but apparently there had been something stewing underneath the surface of this entire catch up. Something she'd been meaning to say, but hadn't. I only had to ask, "What?"

And she cracked.

"Ok, I have to tell someone!" she leapt forward, grabbing my hand. "I didn't know whether to say anything because it's not really official official yet, but I just found out and–" I watched in bemusement as she gave a muffled excited squeak. "Emma, I'm moving to New Zealand!"

"Oh my god," I said. "LILY."

"I know!"

"You've been thinkin' of doing it for ages! Did the right time finally come?" I asked.

"Basically. I never wanted to stay here permanently," Lily said. "I've been thinking about it since before Clara was born, and I finally got tired of just thinking, I guess. I've been casually applying for jobs, but I suddenly got offered one with a wizarding media company in Auckland so I applied for a working holiday visa. It only lasts two years … but after that time, you can apply for permanent residency," Lily practically beamed at me. "Emma, I'm so excited."

"You should be! Holy shit, I am so late for work, but I don't care!" I cried. "God, is Dave happy as well?"

"He can't wait to get the fuck outta here, he hates London," Lily laughed.

"Fair enough, the traffic is terrible," I said. "When are you going?"

"It's kinda still up in the air since the job offer is pending until my visa gets accepted, but if everything works out … I could be there before the end of the year."

"Oh, damn, I'm gonna miss ya!" I moved forward and hugged her fiercely. Lily laughed and wound her arms tight around me.

"Emma, I'll miss you too."

Of course Lily, THE BITCH, asked me not to actually tell anyone about her decision to move halfway across the world yet.

("I wasn't even gonna tell you! PLEASE?"

"FINE, will you let go of me so I can go and not get fired from work now?")

Therefore, I resigned myself to actually having to concentrate on my job and try and forget about it for now. Work was admittedly crazy, so it was probably good to have my undivided attention anyway. It was somewhere around mid-afternoon when I was just imagining getting out of here in a few hours, when I kind of accidentally made a break through.

"ALEXIIIIIISSSSSS!" I yelled, running down the main work corridor.

My co-worker turned in confusion as I shouted. Alexis and I worked on the same project team, and I held up my clipboard reverently when I finally skidded to her side. I panted a little ridiculously until eventually, she said,

"Uhhhh … Emma, you alright?"

"I think I've figured it out!" I cried. "At least, maybe – I think I know how the shipment disappeared!"

"No way!" Alexis was immediately on board. She grabbed the clipboard, flicking through the pages. "How'd you do it, what happened?"

"I was looking through the shipment manifesto again for like the tenth time, because I figured we had to have missed something," I began. "and yeah, yeah, I know it's basically all just rocks and whatever, but one of the items was 'miscellaneous wooden tools'. Like, what the fuck does THAT mean?"

"C'mon," Alexis rolled her eyes. "It means the guys onsite couldn't be arsed figuring it out, so just shoved it in the shipment for us to do in the labs instead."

"Ok, yeah, but I started thinking about it and it's just a theory, but what if the miscellaneous wooden tools … were actually the remains of early wands?" I said.

"Interesting. Continue," Alexis grinned.

Thank god, she was humouring me. "Look, we know that wands are generally buried or burned with their owners so what if when these wands were dug up, they didn't want to leave their owners? We know wands are kind of sentient, and it would explain how an entire shipment disappears out of nowhere and can't be traced."

"We are admittedly talking broken, hundreds of year's old wands here, Emma," Alexis pointed out. "Besides, the guys working onsite would have surely found bodies at the same time if they really were wands?"

"C'mon, Lex, you and I both know there's a million ways that a body could move or disappear entirely," I scoffed. "It could've been magic of some kind, not to mention that we've already established the onsite team is lazy as fuck. Try harder to stump my theory!"

Alexis just laughed, though. "We gotta get on this shit, see if it pans out. If your theory's right, then the shipment might be back where it originally came from! Hope you didn't have plans tonight," she joked.

"Nah, I – OH, shit," I suddenly swore. "actually, I've got a party tonight."

"With all of this going on?"

"IT'S SATURDAY!" I cried, throwing my hands up. "And it's kinda my own party, so I can't exactly not turn up – hold on, I gotta send some messages –"

I ended up having to hastily scribble out a note to Fred, lest he wonder what the fuck had happened to me. Written on the back of an old, scribbled out autopsy report, I sent it on its way with a work owl that had the same dozy-eyed look that kind of reminded me of Ravi:

Yo Fred,
Still at work, BUUUUUT we hit a breakthrough! Unfortunately, I'm seriously not getting out of here any time soon, so don't wait around. Eat without me, and I'll meet you straight at the party whenever I finally finish here, ok?
xxx
Princess

"Right," I said determinedly, looking up at Alexis once more. "LET'S DO THIS SHIT!"

Though quite honestly, the next several hours were spent in utter chaos. We got somewhere, but it was only after multiple angry Floo calls, several written reports that promptly had to be changed at least three times, and a lot of tears. By the time I was allowed to actually leave the bank, it was way past ten in the evening and all I wanted was a shower and a change of clothes. However, the adrenaline of the afternoon was still kicking and I just needed someone to scream at, ok?

"FRED, WE DID IT!" I yelled.

The party was in full swing by the time I went crashing onto the balcony of Rose's building. A large banner was strung up along the rails that read 'Happy (late) birthday, Fred & Emma!' and it appeared that Rose had even taken to decorating the place, lanterns illuminating the balcony as cheerful conversation spread amongst the crowd. Fred turned in confusion from where I'd spotted him talking to Scorpius, and I barely gave him seconds to react before I was throwing myself at him.

"HOLY TITS, WE FOUND THE SHIPMENT!" I cried.

"Wait – what?" Fred said, arms wrapping around me in bemusement. "I got your owl – I was literally about to go make sure you weren't dead somewhere, did you really only just leave the bank?"

"I'm so sorry, I've been there all damn day, but that breakthrough I mentioned, my theory was right! BE MORE EXCITED, GODDAMN IT!"

"I WOULD IF I KNEW WHAT WAS GOING ON!"

"Mate, just spin her around like she clearly wants," Scorpius snorted then.

Fred hugged me off my feet and I laughed with glee. "Ok, ok!" I said once he'd put me back down. "I had this theory right, that the missing shipment contained early wand remains that were still sentient and had messed up the delivery and after a LOT of Floo calls, we found the bloody shipment back at the dig site!"

"Oh my god, you guys finally found it?" Fred thankfully got why this was so important to me.

"Hell of a theory, Emma," Scorpius nodded, impressed.

"I KNOW," I practically yelled. "Hell, even Director Gale said I'd done a good job! DIRECTOR GALE!"

"That's amazing!" Fred said, as even Scorpius congratulated me. I suppose that if anything good had come out of that night I begged Scorpius to talk to Fred, it was finally getting to know said bloke. I knew of him sure, I spoke to him if we ever crossed paths, but Scorpius and I weren't exactly close. However, we'd gotten to know each other a lot better since Fred had taken it upon himself to mutually fall in love with the guy. I always watched in bemusement as they'd chat enthusiastically and greet each other with hugs. And not a ridiculous hand-clasp-back-slap kind of thing either, I'm talking a full-on, arms around each other kind of hug that Fred clearly appreciated. I mean, we've already established that shared loss bonded people. "We may have to send them on a date sometime," Rose had mentioned at the first witnessing of the phenomenon which quite honestly, I thought Fred would totally go for.

While being in Fred's arms was always a good place to be, I eventually had to leave the boys so that I could actually say hi to other people and get them to also scream about work with me. I caught Lily's eye with a bottle of tequila over by the music, several of Fred's mates from the Auror Office and even a few Cheetahs players that James had clearly invited (sadly, no Sebastian … I may one day get over the Love of My Life, but today is not that day!). I practically screeched to Libby and Sarah, the two naturally getting the enormity of the situation within seconds.

"I still can't believe you went to work on a Saturday," Sarah snorted.

"I CAN!" Libby had hugged me around the middle and refused to let go. Now, she just clung on like a growth on my side, but she was a rather loveable growth, so I was tolerating it. "Emma, I'm so proud of you!"

"I mean, I didn't do much," I added, hastily.

"Bitch, the entire thing was a PR disaster, and you just single-handedly solved it," Libby grinned. "You're gonna get promoted, I swear to god!"

"Lord, I dunno if I even wanna get promoted," I said. "That means leadin' entire projects, travelling overseas, being responsible for other people …"

"Hey," Libby let go so that she could straighten and look me in the eye. "Emma. You could do it, if you wanted, seriously."

I smiled half-heartedly.

"Thanks, Lib."

"EMMA!" I barely had any time to get used to standing without someone clinging to me, as seconds later, James was apparently bowling into me. "I hear congrats are in order! Oh, and happy late birthday!"

"Jesus, James," I huffed under his weight.

He squeezed me tight before stepping back. As Libby and Sarah carried on their conversation, I got a good look at James. He certainly seemed like someone who's baby daughter was driving him nutty, but the punch-drunk grin also told me that he was just very glad to be at a party right now. "You and Libby down a few before gettin' here or something?" I asked in amusement.

"What? Nooooo," he waved a hand until he caught my disbelieving look. "…ok, fine, but I promise that Clara was already with Mum, we're not THAT irresponsible."

"Sure, sure," I snorted.

"True! Mind you, I think it was only two or something in the afternoon when we dropped her off," James rubbed his forehead a little, before taking another drink from the bottle in his hands. "I mean, I love the hell out of my daughter, but god we needed a break. We literally napped for four hours, and then had some frankly amazing sex."

"That make ya feel any better?"

"A lot!" James grinned. "But anyway, I shouldn't be complaining about being a parent, this party is supposed to be all about you! I was gonna congratulate you anyway because I heard from a certain someone – not naming names – that there's apparently some cohabitating happening now, huh?"

"LIBBY, that bitch."

"Hey, I didn't name names."

I just grinned. "Yeah, we live together."

THAT'S RIGHT. I DID THAT!

"Noooo, really?" James mocked.

I smacked him on the chest. "Shut up, it's a big deal for us! That kind of thing is easy for you, you and Libby actually talk about that kind of thing, whereas we usually just–"

"Sit on things and stay silent until eventually, it all explodes into a Feelings Avalanche?"

"… I feel called out."

James just snorted, but still slung his arm around my shoulders then as we watched the party go by around us. "Nah, honestly, I'm so proud of ya," he said. "Who would've thought though, huh? Fred and Emma got to this point! I probably owe someone money now, actually."

"Please," I almost laughed. "You're gonna make me cry!"

"Baby."

"Thanks, James," I rolled my eyes.

"Hey," he said. "Seriously! I got your back, Emma. He ever do anything you just let me know. You're my homegirl, remember?"

"I'm so glad I met ya," I grinned.

James hauled me in closer. "Well, I guess ONE good thing managed to happen at those godforsaken Cursebreaker galas."

"I'm touched!" I said.

And no really, I was. My life had gotten 1000% more interesting the moment James Potter had stepped into it, although maybe that was because his best friend also hadn't been far behind. Speaking of which … James and I turned in confusion as suddenly, the music was turned down and someone was calling out from halfway across the balcony. I smacked my forehead when I realised that Fred was now attempting to climb on top of a table.

"Oh, no," I muttered.

"IF I COULD HAVE YOUR ATTENTION, PLEASE," he was yelling.

"What's he doing now?" James asked in amusement.

"You think I know?" I said, before hastily pulling away and darting through the crowd. Everyone was turning curiously, gathering around the rather shoddy plastic table but I hissed, "Fred!" before hurtling right up to it. I might've also smacked a hand down if I weren't afraid of the entire thing splitting in two (though it'd serve him right). "Get your arse down from there before you crack your head open!"

Literally, his only reaction to noticing me was pointing at me and calling out, "EEEYYY!" I mean, honestly. Sometimes having a conversation with this man was like talking to a drunk parakeet.

"First, I'd like to say thank you!" Fred called out over the crowd. "For coming to mine and Emma's birthday party! Second, I'd like to say that I am not drunk, despite what Emma is probably thinking," he grinned down at me and unfortunately, I thought throwing myself off the balcony was a little too dramatic to get out of this. Instead, I hid my face behind my hands. "Thirdly, I'm up here because I have a proposition for you all. A challenge, if you will! See, I once told Emma that if we could make it to the roof of this building, we could fucking do anything …"

I suddenly glanced back up.

"OH, NO," Rose stormed forward as mutters and nervous laughter tittered through the party crowd. "Fred, I will haul your arse down from there! No one is climbing this goddamn building! YOU!" she suddenly added towards her husband, who had been watching this entire thing play out in amusement. "Don't encourage him!"

"I didn't even say anything!" Scorpius held up his hands in defence.

"Well," Fred cut back in. "True, we would prefer it, my dear Rosie, if you didn't end up as splatter on the concrete below this time."

"Remember how I call you one of my Idiot Twins? THIS IS WHY, FRED."

"And I never agreed to this!" I added.

Fred jumped down from the plastic table, thankfully. He approached us with a slight gleam in his eye and I suddenly realised that this had to be what his huge idea was, the reason he kept going on about why this party HAD to be in Rose's building. The thing I'd been bugging him about for so long … it was THIS? For Merlin's sake, Fred! I had to take a deep breath, or maybe five.

Admittedly, no, it hadn't been about the view when we'd joked about it last time, back in April. Nor was it out of defiance for the 'no roof access' rule either. We'd been in a weird place back then. An awkward place, only barely knowing what to do next, hesitating on whether to move forward or back or whether to even move at all. But Fred had looked me in the eye that night and dared me to climb up to the roof and sure, we might've only made it halfway before Rose nearly died, but I could remember what it was like to be hanging out over the London street with only Fred holding onto me. In that moment when I'd reached the third floor … I'd felt like we could do anything. And look where we had eventually gotten.

Imagine actually getting to that roof?

(Jesus, this is why I shouldn't be allowed to make decisions!).

"Rosie, you FELL last time," Fred pointed out once more, grabbing hold of his cousin's shoulders in excitement. "Don't you want to finally get up there? So many years living in this building, and you've never been on the roof! Bea!" he suddenly let Rose go to dash over to his cousin-in-law, grabbing her hand and pulling her forward. "You got to the third floor last time. We've got a bet going on, remember?" I crinkled my eyebrows, but apparently Bea knew exactly which bet Fred was talking about and to my surprise, the only sensible one of the group was now laughing.

"You don't have to convince me," she said.

"Bea, I don't know about–" Al began hesitantly.

"Oh, come on, dear husband!" Bea said, turning towards him. "Last time I did this, we actually got approved to adopt! If we could get to the roof … come on," she added, suddenly quietly and fiercely. "you know our children are literally just waiting for us."

Al sighed. "There's no correlation between that and–"

"Aw, she knows, Al!" Rose shoved her best friend. "C'mon, it's not about logic right now, this is about hoping! And, uh … not letting go," she added in a warning.

Suddenly, encouragement and enthusiasm started spreading throughout the party. I watched as more and more people stepped up to the plate, convincing their friends to do it, and Fred watched me with a grin that could split his face. Christ, that look was gonna kill me someday.

I stepped closer and he matched me until we were face to face.

"If you think it's stupid though, I won't do it," he suddenly felt the need to say.

But I just scoffed at him. "Fred, you couldn't convince me to not do it last time, what makes you think I could say no this time?" I said. "Let's just get to the fuckin' roof already."

Look, if you can imagine 30 odd-so people balancing on a thin balcony railing before being hauled and pulled up to the next storey above, then you pretty much have the idea of what happened next. I think it was something about the physicality of it, using sheer muscles, willpower, and teamwork, grabbing hands and pushing legs until you were scrambling over the railing, and then doing it all over again up to the roof. It was about something stronger than if we'd simply used magic to get up there. Lily apparently decided that this ridiculous building caper warranted the need for getting the music back, so she shoved the portable speaker in her pocket before reaching up and taking Scorpius' hands.

"Ohhhh god, I am nowhere near drunk enough for this!" Rose had anxiously been unable to let go of the railing and stand for what felt like a good ten minutes, until eventually we reminded her that that was probably a good thing. James and Libby took to the challenge with gusto, climbing up with almost no hesitations, though maybe an accidental stumble or two. There were occasional screams and some tears, and I noticed somewhere around the third floor that down in the street a group of Muggles had camera phones out, yelling and pointing up at what probably looked like mass lunacy to them. "I swear to god, if this goes viral …" I grumbled to Fred, but the comment went over his head because apparently, he'd forgotten once again what the internet was.

We were the firsts to reach the roof.

"C'mon, Emma!" Fred had already clambered up over the rooftop ledge and was leaning over, reaching for me. It was much too high for tiny me to reach without help. A few of Fred's ridiculously tall friends lifted me by the legs, and it was just enough to reach his hands. Oh, Christ. One wrong move and I was SO DEAD. Mummies, I can handle! Dead shit, no problem, but dangling over the street at the rooftop level of a three-storey building was making me sweat. "Come on, I've got you!" Fred called.

Down below, the party was screaming and cheering. Lily was still blasting the music. Fred heaved and thank the maker, I managed to get pushed and pulled enough to get my own leverage. My legs left the grip of our friends down below and I literally rolled over the edge of the roof and onto the dirty concrete instead. OHHHH MY GOD!

"I think I'm gonna throw up …" I groaned, hand pressing over my eyes.

But Fred was tugging it away and suddenly, he was there leaning over me. My heart clenched a little as he pulled me to my feet. Quite honestly, I was a little disappointed with the roof. I was expecting a secret Jacuzzi, a buffet, maybe some patio furniture at the VERY least, except all that accompanied us was a locked door with the sign 'roof access – MAINTANCE ONLY' and a lot of bird shit. But god, when Fred Weasley was looking at you like that …

"Welcome to the roof," he grinned.

I kissed him. Long, hard, until his fingers were curling against my hips, and nothing else mattered.

A/N: WHAT'S THIS? ANOTHER UPDATE THAT DIDN'T TAKE OVER A MONTH? WHAT KIND OF WIZARDRY? ? ?

This is unfortunately the end of Emma's POV :(((( But I'm so glad I did a second Emma chapter bc I just needed to get these moments out at least. I mean, mah girl Lily! Mama Terry! Libby and James! The ILY Incident from Emma's POV, and THEY GOT TO THE FUCKING ROOF, FINALLY!
I seriously hope yall liked this! Please tell me what you thought!

Incredibly, I think I can now actually say that this fic is... near the end? Oh Jesus. I'm literally talking a couple more chapters, like 2 or 3 or something and I swear to god, this shit will be over. For months now I've wanted nothing more than for this fic to just be bloody done with already, but now that I'm suddenly facing the end it's like...oh no. ohhhh nOOO. OHHHHH NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO.

Fred and Emma honestly mean way too fucking much to me to explain in words. I love this universe and all my faves, but Fred and Emma are somethin' else entirely. I dunno if yall get what I mean, but I would really love to hear what it is about Fremma that keeps you reading this fic, because it's fucking ridiculous that yall are even reading a Fred Weasley II/OC story to begin with, hahahhahsghsgh

I'm emotional. I love you guys so much!
Moon. xoxo