A/N Ahhhh! It has been way too long, and I apologize! With back to school and planning my Sweet 16, things have been so hectic around the house! Please accept my apology (it comes with a super amazing new chapter)! Also, I can't believe yesterday was September 1, 2017! It has already been 19 years since the Battle of Hogwarts and everything and I just can't handle it!
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or Doctor Who, just the plot to this story.
Chapter 25: A Very Detrimental Christmas
~ AMY ~
"Amy, dear! Ginny has been looking for you! She's waiting in the living room!" Mrs. Weasley yelled out into the yard in front of the Burrow as she continued to make supper in the kitchen.
Amy had been sitting out by the the lake all day trying to avoid Fred. She couldn't just sit around the house, seeing as he and George would be walking about helping their mother to prepare for Christmas day, so she opted to stay outside all day. Amy stood up, stretched out her limbs (they had been starting to cramp), brushed the small bit of snow off of her jacket, and began walking in the direction of the Burrow.
She had not even seen Fred during the day that she had been here. It was the evening of December 22nd, and Amy was feeling the urge to find Fred and apologize for everything that she said to him, but she had the feeling that he would just shrug her off.
As Amy entered the Burrow, she thanked Molly for relaying the message, removed her heavy coat, and moved into the living room. Ginny was sitting alone on the sofa in the middle of the room facing the fire. "What is it, Ginny?" Amy could tell she startled Ginny because she jumped as the words left Amy's mouth. "Finally, Amy! I've been waiting here forever! Don't you remember what you promised me last night when we got back to the Burrow?"
"You mean hanging out with Ron so that you could get Harry all to yourself so that you could confess your undying love for him?"Amy narrowed her eyes in thought.
"Well, I didn't use those exact words… but yes! You were supposed to spend the day with Ron so that I could talk to Harry." Ginny whined as she threw herself back onto the sofa.
"I tried Ginny. I really did. This morning during breakfast I asked Ron if he wanted to sit by the lake with me and he said no."
"And…? What happened after that?"
"Honestly, I stopped trying after that." Amy plopped herself down next to Ginny and proceeded to take a bite of one of the mince pies that was left on the table.
"You stopped trying? Amy —"
"Ginny, Hermione and I have already told you! Harry does like you back! All you have to do is ask to speak with him when you're alone, kiss him. I'm sure that will be better than having to explain your feelings to him."
Ginny seemed to take a long time to think this plan through; Amy was already finished with her fourth mince pie before Ginny spoke again. "Alright, fine. I'll try to get Harry alone after supper." Amy started off into the kitchen to help Molly prepare supper and Ginny yelled after her, "Oh, and Ron wants to speak with you after supper! Meet him outside!" Amy gave her a thumbs up without turning around and began setting the table with Molly.
"So, Amy, as you know, Bill is coming in tonight to stay for the rest of the holidays. Charlie is unable to make it, seeing as he's in Romania. And Percy is… well, he's out there doing Merlin knows what —"
"Molly, is there a reason that you're informing me off everyone that's going to be in the house?" Amy eyed the older witch.
"Well, I… I figured you would like to know that… that Fred and George will also be staying with us for the holidays instead of their flat above the shop." Molly smiled widely in the direction of Amy. "Ginny told me about what happened between the two of you and I know how you like to push things away when they don't seem important."
"Molly, I'm not going to get back together with Fred," Amy's heart broke inside as she said these words. "It's my fault that we're not together anymore and, who knows, maybe it's for the best. Maybe the two of us weren't meant to be together."
"Oh, Amy! Don't say that! You and Fred were good for each other! You helped to keep him grounded and he kept a smile on your face. You know, you haven't smiled at all today? The last time I saw you smile was when Arthur and I came to check on you, Ginny, and Hermione in the Hospital Wing. And do you know why? Because you were still with Fred."
"Molly, I don't feel comfortable talking about this with you. I'm sorry, but whatever there was between me and Fred: it's over. It has been for a few months now."
"You're just unwilling to accept the fact that you still have feelings for him, Amy. And I'm not just going to stand idly by while you ignore those feelings."
"Molly, please. Alright, fine. Even if I did still have feelings towards Fred, which I'm not saying I do, he's made it pretty clear that he doesn't want anything to do with me."
"Amelia Jessica Pond, you stop right there!" Amy hadn't heard Molly yell for a while now, and she jumped as the witch raised her voice at her. "Fred is not avoiding you, I can tell you that! He's been coming to the Burrow almost every day since your fight just to sit and think. I can tell you one thing, Amelia: it's not that he doesn't want anything to do with you. It's more along the lines of not knowing how to deal with the situation at hand." Molly gave Amy a very stern look as Any continued to set the table. Molly looked away from the young ginger and wiped her hands on her apron. "Now, that's enough of that. Would you mind getting Harry, Ron, Ginny, and Fleur. Let them know supper is on the table." After taking one last curious glance in Molly's direction, Amy moved off towards the living room to inform everyone of dinner. But when she walked in, she didn't expect to find two tall ginger-haired identical boys sitting on the couch.
Without even thinking about it, she locked eyes with Fred. She could tell that there was no meaning behind him looking at her. There was a certain look in his eyes that she couldn't define because he looked away before she could even comprehend it.
"Amy! How are you? I haven't seen you in ages!" George sprung up off the couch and lunged in Amy's direction, pulling her into a tight embrace. "Trying to save you from an awkward moment," he whispered to her as he let go. He gave her that smile that she had seen cross his face so many times before.
"It's nice to see you too, George. If you'll excuse me, I have to let everyone know that dinner is ready…" Amy walked briskly away from the boys and up the stairs to find her friends and Fleur. She knocked on Bill's door first. "Fleur, Molly wanted me to let you know that supper is ready." Fleur swung the door open and walked right past Amy to go downstairs. Amy cocked her eyebrow in her direction before continuing up the stairs. Without knocking, she walked straight into Ginny's room. But after seeing what she did, she soon regretted not knocking.
"Oh my, Merlin!" Amy covered her eyes and turned away, not wanting to see two people making out on Ginny's bed in nothing more than their underwear.
"Amy! Why didn't you knock?!" Ginny yelled. Amy could hear them gathering the blankets and their clothes to cover themselves.
"Well, in case you forgot, this is my room too! And I would appreciate it if you could give me a heads up beforehand!"
"Sorry, Amy, um, you can turn around now." As she did, Harry was pulling his shirt over his head to put it back on as Ginny fixed her hair. "I was only coming to let you know that dinner was ready. I think I'll go tell Ron now…" She turned quickly and continued up the stairs to Ron's room, really hoping that he wasn't hiding Lavender in there with him. So this time, she knocked.
"Who is it?"
"It's me," Amy called through the door.
"Come in." Ron was sitting on his bed as she entered.
"Your mother wanted me to let you know that supper was ready."
"Alright, then. I'll walk down with you." He stood up and exited the room, closing the door behind him. Together, they descended the stairs and walked into the kitchen. Arthur and Molly were already sitting at the heads of the table, as normal. Bill had arrived while Amy was upstairs and was sitting in between Fleur and Ginny. Harry was sat next to Ginny and her father. On the opposite side of the table, George sat next to his mother with Fred on his other side. Of course, Ron took the seat right across from Harry and next to Arthur, so Amy was forced to sit in the only empty seat: next to Fred.
She took her seat and supper began. Everyone was too busy digging in at that point out that Fred and Amy were sitting next to each other, all except for Ginny, of course.
Ginny kept glancing in their direction all throughout dinner, as if trying to tell one of them to make a move. As much as Fred was concerned, he had barely even turned his head in direction while eating. He only talked to her once, and that was to ask her to pass the mashed potatoes. Amy tried not to show it, but on the inside she was heartbroken. She really was. It was killing her that he wouldn't look at her or talk to her. She missed sitting with him by the garden. She missed when he would wrap his arms around her while laying on the couch. She missed his gentle forehead kisses as she would drift off to sleep in his arms. But she couldn't show any of this. She just couldn't. She was supposed to be a strong and independent Order of the Phoenix member. Not some little girl with a crush on the boy she had grown up with.
After supper, everyone dispersed into their own little groups. Harry, Ron, Fred, George, Bill, and Ginny were out in the yard playing Quidditch, Arthur and Molly were in the kitchen cleaning up, and Amy was left sitting with Fleur by the fire. Ginny asked Amy if she wanted to play Quidditch with them, but she used the fact that the teams would then be uneven as an excuse to avoid Fred.
Fleur had made it clear that she was not very fond of Bill's siblings or Amy. That's why Amy was so surprised when Fleur decided to strike up a conversation with her.
"So, I 'ear you and Fred broke up? I am very sorry to hear two looked very 'appy togezer."
"Yeah, well… things change."
"Yes, but not always for zee best." Fleur scooted closer to Amy and smiled at her. "About a year ago, Bill and I started dating. We got into a huge fight about somezing and we did not talk to each ozer for many weeks."
"Um… is there a moral to this story?"
"Oh, yes! Of course, I forgot zee most important part! It took some time away from Bill to realize what I had known all along… that we really are meant for each ozer! So, I am sure you and Fred will find your way back to each ozer and realize that you two are meant to be togezer." Fleur smiled at Amy and took her hands. "It just takes some time."
"Why are you being so nice to me? I didn't think you liked me…" Any chuckled.
"When I first met you, yes, but zat was only because I saw what you and Fred had, and I became jealous. Until I was with Bill, no guy has ever liked me for what is on ze inside. Only for my looks. Zeeing you and Fred made me realize that I needed somezing like zat."
"So, why are you helping me now, Fleur?"
"I can zee you are unhappy, and I just know zat you know you still have feelings for him. Zat was what happened with me. You need to tell him before you leave for school. Because if you do not, the next time you will zee him is summer break, and you should not wait zat long to tell him." Amy could tell that Fleur was being sincere with her advice. Perhaps she wasn't so bad after all.
Before Amy could respond to Fleur, the Weasleys and Harry began piling into the Burrow through the kitchen. "Amy, what are you doing sitting here? I told you, Ron wanted to talk to you outside after dinner!" Ginny placed her hands on her hips.
"Sorry, I, um… I forgot." Amy smiled at Fleur to thank her and then stood. "I'll just, um… I'll go now." She stared off towards the kitchen but stopped and turned back towards Ginny. "Wait, didn't Ron just walk in with you and Harry?"
"What? No, of course not. You must have thought Bill was Ron." Ginny shrugged her shoulders and went upstairs to take a shower. Amy sighed and continued on in the direction of the garden. She walked outside and waited, but Ron was nowhere to be seen.
"Ron? Are you out here?"
"Amy?" a voice called from the other side of the yard. Amy walked in the direction of the voice and soon noticed that it definitely wasn't Ron that was waiting for her outside. Ginny you sneaky little bitch! she cursed to herself.
Fred stood in front of her, looking just as confused as Amy was. "Amy, what are you doing out here? Ginny told me that Ron wanted to speak with me —"
"And she told me the same thing, so don't your wand in a twist!" She stared at him pointedly and he stared back. She soon softened her look and turned away, planning to head back inside. She placed her hand on the doorknob of the front entrance and she felt a rush of heat through her hand. "Crap!" She rubbed her hand with the other and turned back towards Fred. "Did you do this?"
"Did I do what?"
"Do something to the doorknob so that it burns when I touch it?" She continued nursing her hand to the side.
"What?" Puzzled, he went to see for himself. He reached for the knob and pulled it back quickly, just as she had. "What the hell?"
Amy went around to the back of the house to check the kitchen door, but that one burned her hand as well.
"Why aren't we allowed back in the house?"
"Dunno… let me try apparating..." Fred took his wand out of his pocket, closed his eyes and nothing happened. "Huh… you don't think…?"
They both went over to the kitchen door and looked in. Standing in front of the kitchen table were Ginny and George, waving at them and smiling.
"Are they mental? Do they want us to freeze out here?"
Amy crossed her arms over her chest. It was quite cold outside, seeing it was December 22nd. She only had on a t-shirt, jeans, and a pair of socks, because she only thought she was coming out for a short conversation with Ron. Fred, on the other hand, was completely bundled up due to the fact that he had just been playing Quidditch. He was wearing boots, a pair of heavy jeans, a t-shirt, and over that, his sweater embroidered with an 'F' that Molly had made him the previous year.
Amy began to shiver as she sat on the bench connected to the house.
"Are you alright?" Fred eyed her, but she just kept looking at her feet.
"Do I look alright to you?" she mumbled under her breath.
She heard him sigh deeply and start to shuffle around. She was then hit in the face with a fuzzy green ball of wool. She unraveled it to reveal Fred's sweater from Molly. "Fred, I'm fine without your sweater, thanks." She threw it back to him.
"No, you're not. All these years knowing you, I'm going to pickup a thing or two." He opened up the sweater and pulled it over her head, placing her arms into the holes. His hands were know resting on her sides. "You always get cold during the winter. Especially when you're not covered up properly." He took his hands off of her and sat down beside her, slinging his arm around her shoulders.
"Fred, you —"
"Amy… just… let's just sit for a while."
She leaned into his body as he tightened his grip around her shoulders. Slowly, she began drifting off to sleep; the warmth in her chest completely counteracting the cold in the air.
Amy was shaken awake by the movements of the boy sitting next to her. As she opened her eyes, she realized that it was already morning. Had they really stayed out here all night? Amy looked at Fred, but he was still sleeping. He must have had a nightmare…
Amy released herself from his grasp, placed the sweater back on him, and walked into the kitchen.
Sitting at the table was the entire Weasley clan, Harry, and Fleur; all looking up at Amy, smiling at her, as she entered. She tried to evaluate everyone's smile:
Ginny and George were smiling at her smugly, fully intending for something like this to happen. Fleur and Molly both had those 'I told you so!' smiles across their faces. Harry, Ron, and Bill smiled at her as if they knew exactly what happened in the garden last night. And Arthur… well, as usual, Arthur didn't know what the hell was going on with her, so he was just smiling at her innocently.
Amy took one last look at them all, smiled, looked away, and muttered "shut up" under her breath before excusing herself to take a shower and get changed.
Amy dried her hair as she decided what to wear that day. She finally chose a heavy red sweatshirt, a black skirt, a pair of black leggings, and blue converse. To tame her hair, she plucked one of Ginny's hairbands from her drawer and pinned her hair down.
Amy made her way down the stairs but stopped when she heard two familiar voices in the living room.
"Fred, I don't know what the problem is with you! It's obvious she still loves you. And I know you still love her."
"No, Ginny! I don't! I told you this weeks ago when you owled me!"
"Mum tells me you're miserable without her! And I don't think mum would lie to me, so why don't you just admit it already!"
"I don't love her, Ginny! How would you know?! You're just a little girl with a celebrity crush that won't pay any attention to her!"
"This has nothing to do with me, Fred! This is about you and Amy. The girl that you're meant to be with —"
"I'm with someone else now, Ginny!"
What? He's… he's with someone…?
"What do you… what do you mean you're 'with someone else,' Fred?" Ginny chuckled. "You're not supposed to be with someone else, you're… you should be with Amy."
"I already told you, Ginny, I don't love her anymore. And she's made it ultimately clear that she doesn't need me, so why shouldn't I see other people?"
"Because Amy's your soul mate!"
"Soul mates don't exist, Gin. You've been reading too many fairy tales..."
And with that, he stomped off towards the stairs, not expecting to be facing a girl standing there, crying.
"Amy," he breathed out. Worry spread across his face as he rubbed the back of his neck. "How much of that did you hear?"
"I heard enough. I've heard quite enough." She spoke through bared teeth. "You know, Fred," she laughed through the tears. "I actually thought you were being nice to me last night. But then again, I guess you were just leading me on."
"Amy, you're the one that said you didn't need me anymore," scoffed Fred.
"Yes, and you're the one that was giving me hope that we would get back together while you were also shagging another girl!"
"What the hell are you on about? Who said anything about 'shagging?'"
"Don't play games with me! I know how you really are. You just weren't like that with me because you never really cared about me." She waited for him to respond, but all that was left was silence. "You never did, did you? You never cared about me. You never loved me… you never even liked me."
"I'm not the only one though, am I? I heard your conversation with mum yesterday. How it was for the best that we ended things. And how maybe we 'weren't meant to be together.' I heard it all when George and I flooed over —"
"You never even gave me a chance to explain myself in the hospital wing that day." She looked him dead in the eye when she said this. "That day, when I said I didn't need you," she stepped towards him. "You didn't get to hear what I was going to say after that. You want to know what it was?" She moved closer to his face. "'I don't need you… here. Because Hogwarts isn't safe. And I don't want you to be harmed.' That's what I was going to say. But you didn't stick around long enough to hear it. And you know what? You could rot in hell now for all I care. Because you don't give a rat's ass about me." Amy felt a gust of air pass through her and onto Fred, but this was the least of her worries at the moment.
She ran back up the stairs and locked herself in her's and Ginny's room. Ginny left alone for most of that night, which Amy was undoubtedly happy about. She didn't feel like looking at anyone after what had happened. She was only bothered once that night, and that was when Bill showed up to deliver her leftovers from dinner.
"It's not much, but it's for you." He put the plate down on the nightstand next to her bed. "I hate seeing you like this, Amy," he placed his hand on her shoulder as he sat down next to her. "I haven't seen you this upset since… well, never. And I feel even worse knowing it was one of my idiot brothers that did this to you. Trust me, if mum would let me hex him, I would… But you would have to tell me which is Fred and which is George beforehand. Eighteen years with them and I still can't tell the difference..."
"Bill..."
"I know, I know, sorry. This is about you. Ah, come here." He moved her so that she was in his arms. "Amy, I'm here if you need me, you know that. You and I are the most mature in this family and I need someone to have intelligent conversations with every once in awhile."
He got her to laugh at that. She let him know that she wanted to be alone, so he left her. In all honesty, she didn't really want to be alone at the moment. Who she needed right now was Tonks. Tonks had been through everything with her, and she couldn't even spend Christmas with her this year because she was at her post at Hogwarts.
Amy glanced over at the dinner that Bill had left for her, but she ignored it just went to sleep.
It was Christmas Eve and the celebrations had begun in full swing. Remus had arrived that morning and he would be staying in Bill's room, meaning that Bill would have to room with Fred and George, and Fleur with Ginny and Amy.
Ginny and Amy had decorated the entire ground floor with Fleur, much to Ginny's dismay, while Fred, George, and Bill worked on the outdoors. Ron and Harry were put to work in the kitchen by Molly, and the three adults were lounging around in the living room during all of this.
"You know, Remus, I could get used to this. Usually, Arthur and I are the ones setting up for the holidays. It's nice to have some extra hands around the house."
"I just want to thank you both for inviting me to spend Christmas with you this year," Lupin smiled at the Weasley parents. "Especially since the full moon is tonight. I want to make sure Amy's alright."
"Zee full moon?" Fleur asked from across the room. "What does zat have to do wiz anyzing?"
"Oh, it's no big deal," Amy laughed it off. "It's just that I'm… part werewolf." Amy saw Remus lower his head at her comment, blaming himself for this. Amy ran over to him and hugged him. "Cheer up, Remus! It's Christmas!" She threw some decorative sparkles in his face as she danced away to continue decorating. As much as she didn't like the voice of Celestina Warbeck, the melody was undeniably pleasant.
"You are a werewolf? I can not even begin to believe what zat is like! I feel so sorry for you!"
"Don't worry about me, Fleur. I'm pretty much used to it already."
The conversations continued as people came from and went into the yard. At supper, they decided it would be better not to sit at the table since there were so many people there already. Amy found herself sitting in the living room with Arthur, Harry, and Remus. She and Harry were explaining to them what they had overheard during the conversation between Snape and Draco.
"Harry, you can't assume anything if these types of situations."
"Professor Lupin, I —"
"Dumbledore trusts Severus, that should be enough for you to trust him as well."
"But, what if… what if Snape really is a double agent, but for their side? Has that ever occurred to you? And what about Malfoy? Don't you think it's a little odd that he's been sneaking around the school lately?"
"Harry, I'm sure that whatever he's doing is completely normal." Amy tried to get from the subject of Draco. She was as involved in this as he was, and she didn't want to get dragged under the bus with him.
Harry eyed her suspiciously. "What do you mean, Amy? Do you know something?"
"Me?" Amy laughed. "I don't know anything. Call me crazy, but, I'm pretty sure Malfoy's just been sneaking around so he could meet Hermione in secret. They've been getting along recently and, well, they thought it was better to meet in secret than for the entire school to know."
"So you're saying him waiting for her in that classroom after the Quidditch match wasn't an accident? He was supposed to meet her?"
"Well," Amy sighed. "I'm not sure how long, exactly, they've been meeting, but it's completely innocent."
"I think you should trust Amy's judgment, Harry," Remus smiled. "Not once, since I've known her, has she ever been wrong." Remus stood up and walked away to go to the kitchen. Amy ran after him.
"Remus, wait! Do you actually believe that? That I've never been wrong?" The kitchen was completely isolated except for the two of them, and she hoped to get this information from him before they were interrupted.
"Well, yes, I do. You are very much like I am in that sense."
"So if you think I've never been wrong, why do you never answer my questions about my parents? I wrote you about them months ago. I haven't heard from you since."
"Yes, Amy, well, I just don't think I am in the position to give away information about your parents."
"Of course you are! You're my godfather, Remus, and I need to know that I can trust someone through everything that's going on… I need to know that I can trust you."
"Of course you can trust me, Amy. It's that… I can't trust myself to stop myself from telling you too much."
Amy narrowed her eyes. "What? What are you talking about? What can't you tell me, Remus?"
He looked at her and then looked at his watch. "8:30," he muttered. "We should get ready, Amy." He held out his hand, waiting for the wolfsbane to be placed in his hand. After staring at him, wondering what was so terrible that he couldn't even tell her, she removed the potion from her pocket and handed it to him.
"Come on, then." And they walked outside.
