The train ride back to Hogwarts was dreary and lonesome as she sat alone in the cold Hogwarts Express cabin. At the beginning of the ride, she had sought the train greatly in the search for Fred. She would awkwardly peer through the cabins of the train as subtly as she could, quickly hiding behind the door if she saw someone look her way. It had seemed that she had searched every cabin on the train and had not found them, almost as if they were avoiding her. She shuddered at the through, quickly retreating back into an empty cabin to be alone with her thoughts.
Maybe they were avoiding her. It would make sense. He was mad and embarrassed that she hadn't sent him a letter back during the holidays and him avoiding her on the train back to Hogwarts was just his way of making her aware of the situation: that he no longer wanted anything to do with her.
She pressed her head to the window of the train and felt the vibrations pass through her as she closed her eyes and sighed.
How could she be so stupid as to let herself get attached to that boy? Had she not learnt that everyone she cared for left? But, as she thought about him, how could she not get attached? His mischievous grin and his bounding laugh. How he would tease her gently and she would bicker back. His eyes that caught the sun composing a shade of green so heavenly her breath would be taken from her. Even though she could not message him throughout the holidays, he was constantly on her mind.
They hadn't shared a kiss on their first date nor in the five months after. How foolish was she to let him penetrate her mind like that? Still more foolish to believe that someone like Fred Weasley would possibly feel the same way about her.
She knew the whole situation was too good to last and slumped in her spot as if falling into the realisation that Fred would soon be a distant memory to her; he felt like a dream she never wanted to wake from.
The trip to the castle and the walk up the Hogwarts stairs to the Entrance Hall was equally as lonely as the train ride up. With her head hung and her self-pity distracting her thoughts, she ventured her way up the Hogwarts stairs as students rushed past her in the haste to get to the Great Hall.
She wasn't sure why she was so down, it was usual for her to be alone. She had spent her first two and a half years alone at Hogwarts with only portraits for friends. She had never walked the up the stairs of Hogwarts with a colleague by her side and she was confused as to why this time, her solitary felt more lonesome.
In a way it was calming, she was back in her usual routine. She knew her place and she was no longer bothered by others, she could go back to doing whatever she did and not be seen. But she didn't want to be back in her usual routine if it meant she didn't see Fred anymore. But what she had failed to realise was that her unhappy feelings were not fueled by the physical disappearance of Fred, but by her insecure beliefs that Fred no longer wanted to be near her.
She slugged her way up the stairs as students in their groups of friends passed her, some knocking her shoulders as if she wasn't even there. It had seemed that after the break and Harry Potter's fight, her own rumours were no more, and she was back to being the nobody she believed she was.
A firm grip on her shoulder pulled her out of her thoughts as she walked the length of the Entrance Hall, spinning her around. Her sunken eyes that hid behind her fringe met with the ones of George Weasley, who had somehow managed to spot her in the midsts of the hurrying children. She let out a shaky sigh
"Are you okay?" George asked, still holding her shoulder. Maybe it was the slight frown that shrouded her lips or the breathy sigh of relief she exhaled when she saw him, but he could see that she was down. Instantly, a smile grew on her lips causing George's concerned expression to evaporate as she pulled him into an instinctive hug. She wrapped her weak, fragile arms around his torso, her head resting on his chest as she hugged him.
George hugged back, patting her back soothingly with a slightly off expression, thinking that she may have thought he was Fred. "I'm so glad to see you," Haidee smiled, pulling away. "Where's Fred?"
He looked down on her, eyebrows furrowed with concern. "He's been looking for you. What happened to you during the holidays?"
Haidee just smiled, not replying. He had been looking for her, he hadn't hated her. No, he wanted to see her. He wanted to find her, just as she wanted to find him. George was about to ask her something when a distant call caught her attention.
"Haidee!" a familiar voice called through the crowd of people. "Haidee!" Fred could be seen trodding through the crowd to meet her, his red hair was hard to miss in the masses.
"Fred!" Haidee called, a smile on her lips as he approached. He engulfed her in a hug when they met, an euphoria of happiness spread across Hogwarts at their meeting.
"You never wrote back," he sighed as they hugged.
"I'm sorry, I never had the chance," she murmured. The separated from each other, but Fred caught her hand before she was completely gone, sending her a cheeky wink as they walked into the Great Hall together.
They departed once they entered, each of them going to their separate house tables for the sorting and the feast. Haidee had found that she had been correct in assuming the new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher would be Gilderoy Lockheart, who was introduced at the end of the sorting.
After the feast, they were expected to head right back to their house areas, but somehow Fred had convinced Haidee to break the rules with him and find an empty classroom where the two of them could talk. He was astonished when he heard her agree to this plan, sure that she would need thorough convincing to break the school rules on their first night back at Hogwarts, but she agreed quite compliantly.
Alongside the Great Hall were classrooms that were never used, even in the peak of school, that the two of them snuck into while the crowd was hurriedly heading towards their house areas. It was a simple classroom with some bookshelves and desks, which Haidee took upon herself to sit on top of.
"Wow. Sneaking off and now sitting on school desks," Fred gasped as she swung her little legs which hadn't reached the floor. "So rebellious all of a sudden," he laughed, leaning up against the table across from the one she sat. She smiled softly, tempted to get off the table after his remark.
"I don't think you're one to judge," she said with a small smile, deciding to continue to sit where she was.
"Touché," Fred grinned, obnoxiously bowing to her slightly. It was then that he began to recount his holidays to her, describing his story of saving Harry from his Uncle and Aunty's house in his dad's bewitched car. Haidee's eyes widened at his reckless behaviour, especially considering he was the one driving the car but smile as she watched him explain his story. He seemed very proud of himself, a wide smile on his lips as he enthusiastically encountered every detail.
"Mum wasn't very happy," he admitted. "Basically screamed the house down when we got back."
"Screamed with love," Haidee smiled, trying to lighten the mood as Fred sulked, remembering what his mum had said.
"She said we ought to be more like Perfect Percy," Fred huffed with a tinge of a laugh. "Could you imagine?"
"No actually," Haidee laughed with him, "I could not."
The two of them continued to talk for a bit. He had asked how her holidays had been and she recited what she had done, which was much more boring than Fred's holidays, so she made the story simple and sweet. She had told him that she was at her muggle job whenever she had received a letter from him and since she hadn't had an owl, couldn't send one back. After that, the two of them separated again, leaving Haidee to sneak her way back to the Hufflepuff common room.
The first couple of weeks of school were interesting, to say the least. It seems that Ron and Harry had flown to Hogwarts in the bewitched car Fred and spoken to her about, crashing into the Whomping Willow. The school went into a frenzy when they had heard the story, expecting both of the boys to be expelled, which they had not.
The twins seemed to have been very pleased with their brother on the account. Haidee had been walked the halls with them when they had rushed past the crown, Fred dragging Haidee along to reach the boys where they both said, "Why couldn't you have called us back, eh?" making Ron red with embarrassment.
"Hope you boys are okay," Haidee managed to say as she hurried alongside the twins' long strides.
"Yeah, thanks Haidee," Ron answered, but his nervous redness told her otherwise.
"Well, we're not expelled," Harry said quickly with a sigh of relief. It seemed that it had been the first time someone had actually asked that boy if he was okay.
It was the next morning's breakfast that Ron had got the howler from his mother. The entirety of the Great Hall heard her speech, her growling voice echoed deafeningly off the stone walls. Haidee had heard the letter word for word, even from the Hufflepuff table.
The week only worsened as the new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher had begun corrupting the school with wrong spells and celebrity influence. His actions did not correlate with his writings, as he was nowhere near as brilliant in person as he was on paper. He was so clouded in his fame that the classes were more about him than the dark arts.
Most girls were following him as he walked the halls, in awe that a celebrity taught at their school but Haidee could perceive he was a fraud from the minute he started speaking in class, as could the Weasley twins.
Considering her classes, Haidee had to put some extra effort into her Arithmancy class, doing additional homework to what she was asked as she thought she might struggle considering she hadn't done the subject last year. However, she had found the class extremely interesting and not as challenging as she expected, making it easier for her to invest her time into and learn more.
She was still spending quality time in the kitchen, playing with sweets and cakes with different flavours. Haidee had just given Fred and George a batch of individually wrapped, fruit flavoured, hard-boiled candies to share with their Gryffindor friends.
"I have some more for the Hufflepuff common room," Haidee smiled as she handed them the sweets. "But let them know that they make your iris' change to the shape and colour of the corresponding fruit."
They smiled when they heard this, making her believe that they were not going to tell them. Her plan was to leave them in the Hufflepuff common room in a bowl, with a little warning note to make sure the consumers were aware.
"Could you not specify that you got them from me?" she asked. "I'd prefer if they didn't know."
"Oh, secrets!" said George with a cheer. Haidee shuffled uncomfortably, not really knowing if they were going to keep her secret. The shuffle caused the twins to laugh at her concern. "Ah, don't you worry. Your secrets safe with us."
"Although I don't know why you don't want everyone to know," Fred shrugged. "If it were me, I would want the whole school to know." Haidee shrugged at the thought of the whole school knowing of her skill. The limelight had never seemed appealing to her, even if it was filled with praise. She would rather people eat her sweets unknowingly so that she could unsuspectingly hear them mutter about them in the halls, which always brought a smile to her lips.
"I know you would," Haidee smiled. "How very Gryffindor of you." She laughed slightly at her own words.