Then end of year 6 is nigh! That's too bad, it was a fun one to write.

Swimming

June 26-27th, 1995
Sixth year
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After Dumbledore left, the five of them continued chatting amiably for a while until the matron produced sleeping draughts. Marcus and Luna left, while Fred lingered.

Jo downed her vial in one gulp, eager to sleep away the lingering effects of her wounds but Leili refused hers.

"I recommend you take it, dear."

"Can I stay up just a little while longer? I just…don't want to sleep right now," Leili said quietly.

"Very well, I'll leave it here for you," Madame Pomfrey left the vial on the nightstand and turned to give Fred a look. He started to stand when Leilani reached for his fingers.

"Can… Can Fred stay? Please?" she pleaded.

Madame Pomfrey pursed her lips but reluctantly agreed. "Very well, if you keep your voices down."

"Thank you."

After Madam Pomfrey retreated to her office, Fred sat and turned to Leilani, "Are you ok?"

She tilted her head side-to-side, reaching out to wrap a finger around his, "I don't know. I just don't want to sleep and I don't want to be alone." She withdrew her hand suddenly and looked away, "Did I presume? You don't have to stay, if you don't want. I'm sure your bed would be more comfortable than that chair."

He took her hand again, "I'll stay with you."

She looked back at him, eyes wide and soft and full of gratitude, "Really?"

"Forever, if you want," he confirmed.

They stayed up well into the night talking. She was wide-awake but he fell asleep eventually. She picked up the potion and looked at it. She swirled it around and put it back down without drinking it. She stared at the walls for what felt like hours before she swung her feet out of bed and crept towards the door.

"Lei?" Fred murmured sleepily.

"Shh-shh-shh-shh," she whispered, padding back and crouching by his side.

"Wadderyoudoin?" he jumbled.

Leili smiled, "Man, you're cute when you're asleep. I was sneaking out, d'you wanna come?"

"Sneaking out is my middle name. …Actually it's Gideon, but don't tell anybody," he winked at her and got a quiet snicker in response.

"C'mon then," she took his hand and gently pulled him out of the chair. They snuck past Madam Pomfrey's office and scampered into the hall

"Lei, where are we going?"

"The same place I always go when I'm stressed." That was the last she said of it until they came upon the prefect's bath, "Swashbuckling."

"This is where you come?"

"Well I can't swim in the lake, silly," she said as she pulled him inside.

She turned on all the taps and waited. It filled in less than a minute and Fred stood there, mouth agape, staring at his girlfriend of less than a month as she stripped off her hospital pjs, leaving her in her bra and panties—both of which were half lace—and slipped into the pool-sized bath.

"Are you coming, or what?"

"Do you do this often?"

"Swim in my underwear? No, I usually use a swimsuit. Does it make you nervous?"

"I'm not sure nervous is the right word."

Leili's lips twisted up wryly, "Uh-huh. Is this an 'I-need-a-cold-shower' moment or…?"

Fred's mouth dropped open, the few times he'd interacted with her before they'd started dating, or been close enough to casually over-hear her, she had not come across this way. "Blimey Lei, don't take this the wrong way, I thought you were shy!"

She laughed, "Nu-uh. Shy kinda went out the window, ohh, I'd say about six or seven months ago." With Oliver, were the words she didn't need to add, "I mean: I wouldn't want to walk out in the middle of the school like this and it's not like I'm naked. As long as I don't think too hard about things like this," she dipped her chin to indicate her state of undress, "I'm good! But, if you're shy or uncomfortable, we can turn on the bubbles. Whaddya say? You joining me? I hate to swim alone."

In a 'why the hell not' moment, Fred stripped down to his boxers and jumped in.

"Yaaaay," she whooped, using her legs to tread water so she could clap.

"Why didn't you take the sleeping draught?" he asked as they swam.

"I didn't want to."

"Yeah, but why?"

"I didn't want to sleep." She shrugged, "I don't know what to say beyond that. I just didn't want to sleep." I'm afraid of what I'll see if I close my eyes.

"What happened to you, yesterday?"

She popped her lips and started ticking off a rough summary of events on her fingers, "Saw Voldemort revived, it sucked; met Voldemort, that sucked more; ran away; broke my ribs;" she gestured briefly to the truly ugly bruise on her side turning black, blue and purple, "turned a Death Eater into a fine pink mist, almost got killed, and apparently electrocuted three teachers! Sucked, sucked, sucked, suckie-suckie, suck-sucked, sucked."

They blinked at each other in stunned silence before she groaned, dropping her face into her hands, "I'm sorry, that was snippy." She muttered, "I'm still trying to get Oliver's voice out of my mouth; I thought I'd been doing so well."

Fred's sudden grin was bright and cheerful and infectious, she soon found herself smiling back. "You're doing fine," he said before he took her hands and twirled her around in the water, stopping his feet just barely from slipping on the the bottom. He laughed and she laughed with him.

They swam for what must have been hours, not talking much, just enjoying each other's company in the echo-y room. They splished and splashed and Fred at one point dove under the water to shove his head between her knees and stand up.

"Woah!" she cried in surprise as her head rose six feet in the air, instinct had her crocheting her legs under his arms and squeezing her knees on his shoulders. His hands gripped her shins and hers dove down to press against his chest. Between the two of them, there was no way she could fall. Once she realized that, she sat up carefully, her arms spreading out in wings for balance. His contagious laugh reverberated through her legs and bubbled up out of her own throat as he spun.

Still laughing, she yelped as he—without warning—dropped back underwater and tried to swim with her on his back as though she were half her size. She leaned back and released her legs from his shoulders, allowing her to somersault back, it stretched the bruise on her ribs uncomfortably but not to the point of abandoning swimming by his side.

When Leili finally tired, she pushed herself up to sit on the side of the bath-pool, breathing harder than usual. "Ow," she winced as she took a few too-deep breaths, the bruise on her side sending spears of pain through her before tapering off to an ache. She tried not to flinch when Fred's fingers came up to skirt the edge of the bruise.

He could feel the way the bruise was one big lump spreading over her ribs. He looked to see her face tilted to the ceiling, jaw clenched tightly. His fingers turned feather light on her skin and she stopped breathing.

"That. Tickles," she ground out, dropping her chin to look at him as he pressed his hand flat on the floor. She inhaled carefully, "Thank you." She wanted to scrub the itch his fingers had left behind but resisted; it would hurt.

She watched as Fred pushed up on his hands in front of her. They were so close. Face to face. Kissing distance. Once again she was struck by how pretty his eyes were. People talked about brown hair or brown eyes as though they were boring, but his eyes, at least, were anything but.

Concern shimmered in those pretty brown eyes. She kinda wanted to kiss him… what should she do? She knew what would happen if he'd been Oliver, he'd have had his lips on hers. Pressing back, back, back until she was flat on the deck with him between her legs…and then between her legs. …But this wasn't Oliver, it was Fred, and they'd only been dating a month. She wanted to do things differently this time.

She traced her fingertips over his face—he had such a nice face—before cupping his jaw and running her thumb along one freckled cheekbone, "Hi…" she breathed. A small, secret part of her thought she might be falling in love with him. She squashed it; it was too early for that kind of thinking.

Fred smiled, "Hi."

"We should get back," she whispered.

"We should," he agreed.

Neither of them moved.

The next morning they were discovered back in the Hospital Wing, safe and sound, having made their way back eventually. Leili was curled up against Fred's side, his head pillowed against her hair. Her sleeping potion was still corked in its vial on the table. Jo was dying for a camera.