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Chapter 7; Fred
"You great big lummox. Get your ass out of bed." Fred grunted and swung a fist at whoever was trying to get him up. For the first time in over a year, Fred had slept well. After that first nightmare anyways; and he did not want that to be interrupted. George easily ducked his swing and with a mighty shove, Fred tumbled out of bed. He sprang to his feet and promptly tackled his twin brother. Their momentum sent them flying into Lee's bed, who roared with laughter before diving into the rumble.
"Well...that escalated quickly." Fred grinned at his twin, feeling better than he had all summer. Lee groaned, he had escaped from the fight with only a bloody nose and a fat lip. Fred and George sported twin black eyes and bloody lips. All three of the boys were covered in bruises. George leaned back on his mattress, which he had at one point used to pin Lee and Fred to the wall. He chuckled and held a cloth to his bleeding lip,
"Aw Fred, we need to fight more often, that was bloody pathetic. And Lee! I know you're a great commentator but for my Merlin's sake - " Fred piped in,
"And there's Fred with the left hook - "
"George with the block kick combo - "
"And finally, Lee takes the heat from both!" The twins finished, smiles as wide as the universe as Lee laughed, stood, and socked them each in the gut.
"At least I made it interesting," He grinned evilly, "Now if you ladies will excuse me, I'm going to clean myself up before breakfast, cheerio chaps!" He sauntered out of the room. Fred glared after him, holding his side. George clapped him on the back,
"All in good spirit eh?" Fred met his eyes and nodded.
"Aways Georgie." He groaned as he pulled himself up off the floor. After finding his wand and cleaning his and George's face off, the pair headed down for breakfast. George whistling a jovial tune and Fred skipping in step. He was beginning to feel like his old self again when he turned the corner into the Great Hall and was bombarded by fan girls. Apparently Lee had spread the grand story of him fighting off the two twins in a battle over the best mattress. Fred rolled his eyes and left George to deal with it,
"Ladies, ladies please...calm yourselves. I am afraid to tell you, you have been deceived - " Fred smirked as he left George to his devices. He made his way to the Gryffindor table, it was almost quarter of seven and he was starving.
"Morning all." Hermione, Ginny, Harry, and Ron all smiled up at him and murmured their own good mornings. He sat and began to fill his plate. As Harry and Ron began to complain about their bad luck with getting stuck in Potions on a Monday, Fred's mind drifted. His dream was still fresh in his mind and his eyes wandered to the Ravenclaw table. She wasn't there. He tried to ignore the twinge of sadness at the observation and turned his focus back to his table.
"Who do you think the other schools are?" Ron, Harry, and Hermione were discussing the upcoming Tournament. George slid into a vacant seat with Lee in tow.
"Alright, Mr. Warrior over here," Lee smiled sheepishly while George lightly socked him in the arm and continued, "says that he'll have the aging potion ready in a few weeks. So we are a go!" They high-fived while Hermione shook her head.
"A simple aging potion will never work! Dumbledore would have thought of that." Fred chuckled
"My dear Hermione, that what makes it so brilliant, it's so simple!" He grinned wide as a Cheshire cat when something caught his eye. He stood from the table, "George, Lee, if you would join me please, I do believe we have a rule breaker to apprehend!" He waved to his fellow Gryffindor's before heading out of the Great Hall and after the fanged frisbee he had just seen a first year from Slytherin stuff under his cloak. It was turning into a good morning after all.
The oh so tremendous trio raced through the halls, shooting jinxes at each other and ducking down secret passages until they finally caught up with the firstie,
"'Ello mate!" George tried his best attempt at an Australian accent. Lee and Fred snickered. The first year has a pinched face, watered down grey eyes, and frizzy red hair. He glared at them.
"What do you want eh? Bunch of Gryffindor scum, I heard about you, bunch o' mudblood loving freaks you is!" The boy tried to make a run for it but Fred pinned him easily, he could feel his anger starting to get the better of him. He tried to calm his racing heart and managed to speak very calmly,
"Look...we don't want any trouble. But I know you have a fanged frisbee...and trust me when I say you're lucky we caught you with it, anyone else may actually punish you. Now hand it over." The watery eyes looked at him in disbelief.
"Is that all you want? Fine then, have it!" With that, the boy suddenly hurled the frisbee and Lee. The frisbee latched onto the commentators hand and began to snarl and rip at the flesh. Lee yelled in alarm and flung the frisbee back at the boy. Fred slammed the Sytherin to the ground along with the frisbee. Lee was hurling curses and was screaming at the boy,
"You bleeding idiotic git! There's a reason fanged frisbees are banned, and this is why!" Lee lunged for the boy and George quickly grabbed him, laughing, and pulled him around the corner. Fred looked at the boy. He was struggling to break free and looked positively terrified. Fred suddenly felt a sort of pity for the boy, his anger vanishing.
"Kid...what do you think you're doing?" He let the boy up. He shrank away from him and sniffed, wiping his nose.
"I needed protection. The upperclassmen...they can sense weakness." The boy's eyes jumped around in fear. Fred chuckled,
"Kid, Hogwarts isn't like that, you just gotta stand up for yourself. Make some friends. You'll see." The boy looked at Fred like he was crazy,
"Are you kidding? After people find out about this, that I got pinned by a blood-traitor Weasley," Fred's gaze darkened, the boy shrank further into the wall, "No offense...but no one will want to be my friend!" Fred sighed, he had never had these troubles.
"I won't tell." The boy gaped at him before his face hardened.
"You're lying." With that he jumped to his feet, re-releasing the fanged frisbee and took off. The frisbee snapped at Fred, who dove out of the way, and took off around the corner.
"Oi! You prat!" Fred followed the frisbee. He heard a roar of laughter and growled, those gits think everything is just so funny. He swiped at the frisbee, missed, and caught a glimpse of someone standing in the hallway. The frisbee swerved toward the figuring, a girl, she tried to move out of the way but tripped over something sleek and shiny. He lunged at the frisbee, caught it and almost crashed into the girl. At the last second he caught himself, his arms surrounding her. She had ducked, so Fred turned to the laughing idiots and raised the frisbee, triumphant. They began to cheer and Fred momentarily forgot about his prisoner.
"Hey, who's that you got pinned there?" George was craning his neck trying to see. Embarrassment flooded through Fred as realized how close he was to this stranger, her breath was cold and sweet, mixing with his own. He turned toward his captive, planning on pulling of his closeness as a joke, smile in place he met her eyes. He forgot how to breath.
It was her. The Ravenclaw girl! And he was so damn close to her...he felt his smile slip. She was staring at him in horror, shock, and something else that he couldn't quite place. He opened his mouth, begging his brain to start working, to say something, introduce himself, anything! She continued to look at him, a blush on her cheeks, black hair everywhere, and piercing eyes meeting his own. Suddenly a sharp pain shot through his hand. Fred yelped, throwing the frisbee as he jumped away from the girl and the wall.
She darted away from him only to trip over the silver thing again. He could see now it was a fox. George and Lee began to snicker despite Fred sending them a death glare. He approached the girl, her face red from embarrassment, and offered his hand.
"You alright?" His voice wasn't his, it was gentle and soft. Not his. He searched her face, meeting her blue eyes, the same as Dumbledore's, and had to keep himself steady as she took his offered hand. He became immediately aware of his large and calloused hand, he completely encompassed hers. When she was on her feet Fred drew away quickly despite the urge to never release her hand. He rubbed his neck instead and looked at the ground. Chagrin filled him. "Sorry about that..." She laughed nervously, and seemed to survey herself,
"Don't worry about it...no harm done." She rocked onto her toes and back to her heels, he looked up at her and was overcome with the need to see her smile, Fred then went about saying the lamest joke he had ever uttered in his entire life.
"Pretty loyal fox you got yourself." She smiled, her eyes brightening, Fred's breath caught in his throat.
"Worthless piece of...she's the whole reason I was down here this early you know. I spoil her.." She stopped talking and shifted from foot to foot. Fred looked at her, smiling. They were actually having a conversation! She looked nervous. "I better go," he felt his own face fall as she quickly continued, "I-I'm gonna be late." With that, she darted down the hall, her fox not far behind. Before he could stop himself, like he hadn't already made a big enough fool of himself, he called after her,
"I'm Fred, by the way! Fred Weasley." She turned to look at him, her black hair whipping around her face. She grinned, almost like she didn't have control over the grin.
"Evelyn...Evelyn Winters." With that, she disappeared out the castle doors. Fred sagged against the wall, ran his hand through his hair,
"Evelyn..." He whispered. Beautiful. He turned, a stupid grin plastered across his face, and took off after his idiot brother and best friend. Today, Fred owed that smile to none other than a spineless Slytherin boy! Who would have thought.