The next morning I had woken up feeling down right miserable. I had cried myself to sleep, feeling horrible after the fight Fred and I had. My stomach felt uneasy, and I didn't feel like eating, but the nurses did not listen, and I was forced into dinner despite my complaints. I assumed that my eyes were red and puffy and that I looked like a wreck, but I didn't care.
I lay in bed, moping, looking around the deserted hospital room. No one had come to see me yet today, and I knew that no one probably would. I knew that Fred would be too stubborn to come and set things straight with me. That is, if he wanted to. For all I knew, I had scared him off and made him not want to see me any longer.
And honestly, I didn't blame him. Who would want a girlfriend like me anyways? I was useless, and all I was good for would be to kill time, laying here in St. Mungo's hospital, rotting away. I could barely remember anything about my life before the necklace, and that scared me most. I had no idea what people thought of me, and I barely knew anyone outside of the Weasleys, and a few of my old Hogwarts friends that had come to visit two days ago. I was pathetic, I knew that now. I couldn't hold it against Fred—or anyone for that matter—if they didn't want to see me anymore.
The sound of footsteps broke me out of my depressing thoughts, and I felt myself feel hope that maybe Fred was going to be the bigger person and come to apologize for our fight. I sat up in bed a little, tried to fix my hair and I put on the best smile I could, waiting for him to walk through those doors. My gaze flicked to the turning handle, and they flew up to meet a head of bright red hair.
My heart sang, and I felt myself brighten up. He had come after all! I was about to speak when I realized that it was George who was walking towards me now—not Fred. My heart sunk heavily and my hopes came crashing down. I could feel my smile disappear, but I quickly threw it back on. Just because he wasn't Fred didn't mean I shouldn't be happy to see George; that wasn't fair. For all I knew, George had no idea about Fred and I's fight last night.
George grinned when he saw me smiling back at him, and he waved. "Morning, Kates!" He pulled a chair over to my bed and sat down. "Not who you were expecting?" He smirked.
I scowled and turned my head away from him somewhat. "No. I wasn't expecting anyone, George." I heard him laugh, and I couldn't help but let a small smile creep on my face. I turned to the still laughing George and rolled my eyes at him.
"Right, and I don't have a twin brother who you're not fighting with." He rolled his eyes and smirked at me. I glared back at him.
I glared at George and recrossed my arms. I sunk back in my pillows, and he laughed. "What?" He looked extremely amused at my expression. "Just trying to diffuse the tension..."
He smiled at me, and I rolled my eyes. "Look, George, if you came here just to annoy me, then congratulations. You succeeded."
George let out a hearty laugh and pretended to check off something on an invisible clipboard. "Right, now that I've accomplished that today, off to my next task." I sat there staring at him, completely unamused. He looked over to me nervously for a moment before letting out a weary laugh. "Right, so I actually did come here for a reason, Kates."
I cocked an eyebrow at this, signaling for him to continue. He caught on and spoke. "Well, it's actually about my less attractive, less humorous brother." My throat tightened at the mention of Fred, and I immediately felt guilty about last night. I assumed that Fred had made a big deal about it, telling his whole family that he was tired of me. I sighed sadly, knowing that he probably sent George here to break it off with me.
"Alright, go on. I think I know what's coming." George stared at me bewildered for a moment, but spoke anyways.
"I doubt that, Kates." He glanced warily back at the closed hospital room's doors, but smiled back at me. "Well, you see, I wanted to talk to you about Fred." My throat tightened further at the mention of Fred, and I swallowed back tears. I nodded my head at him, wanting to hear what George had to say.
"Well, you see, I don't know for certain what's happened, but he came back to our flat real upset yesterday." Their flat? Since when did they move out on their own? I pushed that thought aside, figuring that I knew about this before my accident. George noticed my brief show of confusion, and decided to fill me in. "Oh, so you don't know... Well Freddie and I decided to buy our own place about a week ago, after we up and left—" He saw the understanding on my face. "—well, you know all about that I'm sure, so I won't bore you with the details. Anyways Kates, we got this great place above our new shop. It's huge!" He smiled warmly, probably thinking about their place. I smiled at George, happy for him.
He continued to speak after a few seconds of silence. "Katie," He spoke seriously now. "please make up with my brother. I know it's probably his fault and all," He smiled goofily at this, and I couldn't help but giggle. "but just please try to see wherever it is he's coming from. He's really upset—downright miserable." Another wave of guilt washed over me, and I felt the tears coming. I blinked furiously to keep them from falling in front of George, and he came over to give me a hug.
"Aw, Kates, don't cry on me!" He glanced around nervously, not sure of what to do. "Come on, dear, I mean, I know he can be a prat and all, but—" I sniffled loudly and cut him off.
"—Oh, George, its not that!" I wiped some tears away. I was just one big sack of emotions lately, and I hated it. "It was all my fault, you see, I was just so, so stupid, and—" I couldn't even finish what I had been trying to say, I was crying so hard. George wrapped his arms around me tighter, and eventually my crying slowed down a bit. I felt like a child.
"Shh, it's going to be okay, Kates." I sniffled and nodded against his chest.
"He hates me, doesn't he George?" I asked softly.
George pulled away from our hug and looked at me, stern faced. "Don't say that, Katie." I nodded stupidly. "He cares about you. Too much, I'm afraid..."
I straightened up and wiped the tears from my eyes. "George, what is that supposed to mean?"
He smiled down at me. "Nothing, dear. Just me rambling on again." He pulled me into a one-arm-hug and I smiled up at the freckle faced man. "Just remember, okay?"
I was confused greatly by this, but nodded my head once again. "I will, George. I'm trying."
It was his turn to nod his head. "I know, Kates. I know." He hopped up off the bed and turned towards the door. He looked at me with a smile on his face. "So, want anything to eat? I'm starving!" I laughed and shook my head. George was always hungry, that much I knew.
He shrugged and walked towards the door. "Suit yourself. I'm off to grab a bite to eat." He flashed me a smile. "See ya later, Kates." I smiled warmly at him and he waved.
"Thank you, George." He nodded, and out the door he went.
And so there I was, alone once again. What was I to do now? I couldn't leave the hospital, and there was no way I could figure how to get in contact with Fred so I could apologize. I felt horrible for how I acted last night, and I needed to set things right. I cared to much about him to stay mad over something this stupid.
So what did I do? I sat there in my bed, not being able to get up and do anything, in fear that one of the nurses would scream at me to get back in bed. I smiled at the memory two days ago.
I had just woken up early in the morning—not even Fred was here yet. I really had to go to the bathroom, and I couldn't find a nurse in sight anywhere. Itching to move around and put my legs to use, I shakily swung my legs over the edge of the hospital bed. My bare feet touched the cold floor, and I slowly got up. I gripped onto the bed for support, my legs feeling extremely shaky from their lack of use the past week or so. Achingly slow I shuffled my feet one after the other on the floor, never letting go of the bed.
Finally I had released the bed and tried to stand on my feet. That was a big mistake, because the minute I did my legs gave out and I grabbed around for what was around, knocking over a lamp on the bedside table over. The lamp shattered and I slumped to the floor, trying to push my weak body back up.
Hearing the sound of the shattered lamp an elderly nurse came running in to check on me. She looked frantically at my missing body from the bed, but immediately found my slumped figure on the hospital floor. I smiled up timidly at her, and she gave me a stern look, clicking her tongue at me.
"Tsk, tsk, tsk. Now what do you think you're doing out of bed, dear?" She scuttled over to me and helped me back on my feet.
I shrugged my shoulders once I was back in my bed. "I had to go to the bathroom." I blushed at this embarrassing fact and she smiled at me. Suddenly a wheelchair was by her side, and the elderly nurse helped me in it, wheeling me to the bathroom.
Once back in my bed, the nurse placed a glass of pumpkin juice next to a new lamp on my nightstand. "Now Miss Bell, please don't hesitate to call next time you need help getting out of bed—that's what we're here for." I nodded sheepishly at her and she went to go attend to other patients.
I sighed and lay my head back in the large white pillows of the hospital bed. I was so restless just waiting here, not being able to do anything. I needed to get out of this bloody bed and walk, to use my muscles. I wanted to not rely on others for my memories and for help to just walk a few feet. I sighed. Most importantly I needed to speak to Fred, and I needed to do that now.
As if I had willed him into the room by the power of my mind, the door to my room opened timidly, and in poked an all-too-familiar freckle covered face. A smile broke out across my face, and despite my weak body, I threw the covers off of me and half-ran half-stumbled to Fred. He caught me as I lunged at him, and I started to cry, tightening my hold on him.
"Oh, Fred—" I cried into his chest. "—I'm so sorry!" I tucked my head further into his chest, and I was relieved that he didn't pull away from me. That must be a good sign.
I heard him chuckle softly. "What are you doing out of bed?" I looked up at him through watery eyes and smiled. "Didn't you learn your lesson after last time?" I laughed at his bemused expression and leaned my head against his chest once more. He didn't seem mad.
"Fred, I'm so sorry. I shouldn't have—" I was speaking quickly and softly to him, but he cut me off.
I looked up at him. "Hush now, don't say that." Suddenly he scooped me up in his arms lazily and I did my best to suppress a shriek of surprise.
He walked back to my bed and placed me down softly. Sitting down next to me, he lay a soft kiss on my forehead. "Don't apologize." He whispered against my forehead. I blushed at the close proximity between us, and I was glad he couldn't see. "I should be the one apologizing to you—I was being such a prat." I giggled and he looked down at me, pressing his forehead against mine.
"Forgive me?" I could feel his warm breath on my face and all I could do was squeak out my agreement. He laughed and pulled me into his arms once more. I was more than happy to be there, and I snaked my arms around his waist.
"Good, because I missed you. I don't like fighting with you." I smiled and looked up at him, my head still leaning on his chest. He looked down at me and smiled.
"I don't either. And I'm sorry, too." He shook his head at this and my brow furrowed.
"Don't say that, I was wrong."
"No, Fred, I was wrong."
We stared back at each other for a minute and I couldn't help but laugh. "Are we really going to fight about who's wrong now? I mean, this is kinda ridicu—" And then suddenly, his lips were on mine.
My heart sang at the feel of his lips against mine. The kiss was soft and sweet, and all too short. I was upset when he pulled away after a brief moment, but still excited about our kiss. I had never felt anything like it before—it was wonderful. It felt right.
Fred rested his chin on top of my head, still holding me against his body. "You don't know how long I've waited to do that." He breathed.
Now what did he mean by that? He was talking as if we'd never kissed before. Surely we have, I mean, we were boyfriend and girlfriend.
I pulled away enough to look at him, my face looking confused as ever. "What do you mean?"
He looked around confused for a moment, and appeared at a loss for words. "Um, well—" his eyes darted around a bit and settled back on mine. "—you know, we haven't kissed since, um, your accident, right?" He let out a nervous laugh, and I stared back at him suspiciously.
"Right.." Why was he acting so strange lately?
He flashed a smile at me, pretending like nothing was wrong. "Anyways, I wanted to talk to you about something." He seemed suddenly serious, all joking aside. This sobered me up from our kiss before, and I tried to focus without thinking back to it.
"Alright, then shoot."
He looked down for a moment, but brought his eyes up to mine, taking my hand in his. "Katie, I was just wondering, if you would, you know, only if you wanted to—"
"Just spit it out, Fred. Stop beating around the bush."
"Right, well, okay." His eyes bore into mine, and I blushed at the intensity of his gaze.
Fred cleared his throat. "Katie Ann Bell," He spoke so formally, so not Fred. "I love you, and I was wondering if you'd move in with me."
Everything I had expected him to say flew out the window at the sound of his words. My mind went blank, and I'm pretty sure I forgot how to breathe.
"W-what did you say?" Fred looked nervous, almost unsure of himself. Had I not heard him correctly? I prayed to God that I had indeed heard those three little words come out of his mouth, and I hadn't just imagined them.
I saw him swallow. "I..." Poor Fred looked so nervous. "I love you."
The way I felt after he kissed me magnified by itself a thousand times greater. My heart swelled, and I could feel the butterflies flutter about wildly in my stomach. Head reeling, I tried to sober up. Fred just told me he loved me, and I was staring at him like a complete idiot.
"I love you too, Fred." Sadness flashed across his face before it lit up. I smiled, and was proud at how confident I sounded at saying that. I loved Fred Weasley.
"Yeah?" He sounded so unsure of himself—like he hadn't heard me correctly.
I nodded happily and smiled brightly back at him. "Yeah."
He let out a relieved laugh, and hugged me fiercely. I pulled him closer to me, and pressed my head into his neck. "I love you, Fred Weasley." I whispered.
I heard his muffled reply against my hair. "I love you too, Katie Bell."