(GoF) CHAPTER THIRTY: Welcome to the New Year
"Well?" demanded Fred as soon as Ellie took her seat next to him at the breakfast table. "What did he want?"
She glanced at George, who had his nose buried so deep in the Daily Prophet, he was clearly trying to avoid them. She blinked at the article staring back at her—an article that appeared to mention one Rubeus Hagrid on more than one occasion.
"Don't waste your time reading it," said Harry from her other side, having followed her gaze. "It's despicable. She goes on and on about how he's a half-breed and shouldn't be allowed to teach here."
She glanced instinctively up at the teachers' table, but was disappointed to find that he was nowhere to be found. "We should go to him," she said immediately, glancing at Fred, who was still clearly on the edge of his seat, waiting for her answer. "He must be devastated."
"We shouldn't do anything until you have a bite of food," said Fred impatiently; "you're quite thin enough already. And while you're at it, you can tell me what Pretty Boy Diggory wanted."
Ron grinned at his brother's use of his favourite nickname for Cedric as Ellie scowled at it. "You don't want to know. Now, let's just get to Hagrid's and—"
"Crabbe," drawled the all-too-familiar voice of Draco Malfoy as he and his lackeys passed by their table. "Cough up the Galleons already. Remember, it was four if they didn't make it past the first day, three if they didn't make it past the first week."
He had made a very obvious stop right next to them, so that a very annoyed Fred seemed to have no choice but to say, "And who might you be referring to, my unfortunately named friend?"
But Draco didn't seem remotely bothered by the insult. "Well, speak of the devil—here they are now. They don't appear to have broken up yet, though, do they, Crabbe?"
"She must not have told him yet," said Crabbe lamely—a line that had clearly been rehearsed on the walk over. "Maybe she doesn't realize she was seen."
Fred's gaze trailed heavily from them over to Ellie as he seemed to deduce what they were hinting at.
There was nothing in the world she hated more than seeing that kind of pain in those warm, brown eyes she loved so much.
"Crabbe," she said, shooting to her feet so fast, he flinched back in fear. "Walk away before my fists make your face look even stupider than it already does."
Crabbe sprinted off in fear at that, but Draco lingered, sneer still evident on his face. "Go on, then," he said to Ellie. "Try and explain. I've still got a few more days to make my money even if it works this time around."
And with that, he was gone, too.
"Fred," Ellie said, starting to sink back down next to him. But he caught her by the arm, rising to his own feet and gesturing for her to follow him out.
She glanced at Harry and the others, who sent her looks of sympathy and support, before following Fred into—ironically enough—the nearest empty classroom.
"Well?" Fred asked as soon as they were alone together.
She sighed. "You shouldn't let prats like them get to you. They don't know what they're talking about."
"I don't even know what they're talking about!" Fred shouted. "But I'd very much like to!"
"It was nothing!" she shouted back. There were already tears pricking at her eyes. She wished she could have told him differently. She would have told him differently, just as soon as breakfast was over. "He just… tried to kiss me, is all."
Despite having clearly seen it coming, hearing the words spoken out loud didn't seem to hurt him any less. "Tried to kiss you?" he asked in a softer, sadder voice. "Or kissed you?"
A tear did slip down her cheek at that. "Fred, please. You know I fought him. You know I didn't kiss him back. I wouldn't—"
He turned away from her at that. She half-expected him to punch the nearest wall for what would be the third time that year, but he didn't. Instead, he pressed both palms against it and hung his head.
"I don't know how much more of it I can stand," he finally said to the ground. "Hearing you say things like that. I fought him. I tried to stop him. It's not just Cedric. It's Aleks. It's—"
"It's not the same thing. And we're done with Aleks. I—"
"It is the same thing." He turned away from the wall, facing her with heavy eyes. "You're… you're a target, El. A… siren. You attract men; you attract danger; you attract… all the things that can hurt you the most."
Another tear slid down her cheek as she accepted the reality that he was right—she was all of those things—for better or for worse. Was it really fair for her to ask him to just… handle it? Had he not been through enough already?
"Okay," she finally said, wiping her eyes with the back of her hand. "I get it."
"You…" He blinked, staring back at her with similarly reddened eyes, looking confused. "You… do?"
"I don't like seeing you hurt, Fred," she said through a dry, scratchy throat. "But I especially don't like being the cause of it. If you can't stand it, then you can't. I have to accept that. Don't I?"
But he didn't seem to like this response any more than he had liked finding out about her kiss with Cedric. "Then… what are you saying, exactly? We just… break up? Like Malfoy and his stupid cronies wanted?"
Even hearing the words break up made her heart give a lurch as if flying off a very high cliff. But what else could she do? It had been less than a week, and she'd seen him unhappy nearly as much she'd seen him happy. "I'm saying I understand, Fred. I understand if it's too much. If you'd be happier—"
"Well, I wouldn't," he said suddenly, crossing his arms.
She blinked up at him through the latest wave of tears. "You wouldn't… what?"
"Be happier without you. And I don't think you'd be happier without me, either. Haven't we learned that lesson all these years, if nothing else?"
He was right, of course. And yet… "But… you said you weren't sure how much more of it you could stand. You said—"
"I think," he interrupted, taking a step toward her and taking her hands in his, "I'm having a bit of trouble adjusting to the fact that we're actually doing this—that we're actually together now—that I'm actually able to say these things out loud. For so long, I couldn't say anything at all. And now… I suppose I'm saying too much. And I'm sorry for that, El. I didn't mean it."
She appreciated the sentiment, but she wasn't entirely sure she believed him. "I don't want to make you unhappy, Fred. I don't like seeing you this way. I—"
He interrupted her with a kiss so sudden, swift, and passionate, she nearly lost her balance and fell altogether. It was only by the surprising strength with which he held her that she managed to stay upright at all.
"I'm a million times happier with you than I've ever been before," he told her in a deep, husky voice once he'd pulled away from her. He kept his lips close to hers—trailing them toward her ear as he held her just as close as he had during their kiss. "I'm just learning how to navigate some rather overwhelming envies… and desires."
His use of the word desires had her weak at the knees all over again, but before she could even think to act on it, he had straightened up, taken her by the hand, and said, "C'mon, beautiful. Let's go and start our countdown."
They spent most of the afternoon in their dog forms, galloping around the grounds and enjoying the scenery of the castle. Ellie had barely had the chance to see Fred's Animagus in action since the revelation of its existence on her birthday, and it reminded her just how much she loved him—and how much he loved her, for having done something like that just to be closer to her.
They stopped by Hagrid's around sunset to check in on him. He was in rough shape, red-eyed and near hysterics, but their love and support—particularly Ellie's assurances that neither of them could care less if he was half-giant, half-werewolf, or even half-troll, for that matter—seemed to calm him. By the time they left, he had at least stopped crying.
"You're a good person, you know," Fred told Ellie as they strode hand-in-hand to the beach by the lake, taking a seat in the sand. "That big heart of yours likes to get you into trouble, but I do love it very much."
She smiled, leaning back into the stand and staring up at the stars. "Back atcha, Weasley."
They sat in silence for several minutes, feeling nothing but the cold, wet air and hearing nothing but the soft thudding of each other's heartbeats. Finally, she turned to look at him and said softly, "I want to talk about it."
He glanced back at her, warm, brown eyes gleaming in the moonlight. As always, he seemed to know exactly what she was thinking. "About when I leave?"
She nodded.
"It's a year and a half away. We have loads of time to figure it out."
"I don't care. I want to talk about it."
He smiled softly at that, clearly amused by her persistence. "Okay. Well, I reckon we'll stay together. That is—if you aren't sick of me by then."
She allowed him a laugh at that, but her gaze remained firm. "It won't be easy to see each other. You can't Apparate in and out of Hogwarts. There aren't—"
"Then I'll be there for every Hogsmeade visit," he interrupted. "And I'll spend the rest of my time here sucking up to McGonagall so she grants me special permission to come and see you. And—"
"You'll be living your own life. Running a joke shop, or working at Zonko's, or—"
"My life is with you," he interrupted firmly. "Always has been, always will be."
His words sunk so deep into her heart and her soul, it was as if he'd wrapped them in a tight, warm blanket. She wasn't sure she'd ever heard anything so sweet.
"I love you," she said softly, reaching out to cup his cheek with her hand.
"I love you, too," he said.
And with that, they rang in the new year together.
Well, you didn't think I'd do them dirty AGAIN, did you? I am team Frellie, after all, even if it doesn't seem like it sometimes. Keep those comments and follows coming, folks!
