Unique

Fred smiled and turned, walking backwards for a few seconds as he waved goodbye to his twin and their friends. He turned back and headed down the corridor that lead to Ancient Runes smiling to himself as he pushed a hand through the thick mop of ginger hair that had fallen into his eyes.

Everyone had been surprised when he had picked Ancient Runes as one of his elective studies in third year, George had been shocked at first but once he saw his twin excelling in the class he didn't really care anymore.

It had quickly become Fred's favourite class and not because there was an abundance of cute, smart girls (he had only been 13 when choosing and didn't really care about girls then). No the reason that Ancient Runes was his favourite class was for more selfish than that. The guilt of it had overwhelmed him for the first few weeks of study, but he grew used to the surrounding and enjoyed a sensation he never thought he would experience.

For once in his life Fred felt unique.

But it was more than that, he loved his twin deeply and being apart from him was like missing a limb but in this class, for these 3 hours every week Fred wasn't a twin, people didn't ask him "which one are you then?" Everyone knew this was Fred Weasley.

He could make a name for himself in this class, he could try hard and know that all the credit would go to his name because it was the only class that he didn't share with George and unsurprisingly it was the one he did best in.

After the first week of classes George had come to him wanting to talk, Fred had immediately panicked, thinking that George must be mad at him for abandoning his twin. He sat very still as George perched on the end of the bed, afraid that if he opened his mouth all the guilt in his chest would pour out.

"Thank you Fred."

Fred blanched, physically rocking backwards in surprise, this is the last thing he had expected to hear. "W-what?"

George picked at a loose thread on the bedspread, neither had been particularly open with their emotions, preferring to hide behind their extensive sense of humour even from a young age. "Thank you for choosing Ancient Runes. I know you feel guilty and think you abandoned me but really you were just braver than I was. It's difficult isn't it," he looked up suddenly, boring into his mirror image, "knowing exactly who you are but having everyone else get you confused. It's nice to feel so, so…"

"Unique?" Supplied Fred, smiling slightly at George's nervous expression.

"Yeah, exactly! Unique. It's nice to walk into Divination and be greeted by the right name, you know?"

"I do George" Fred smiled, "I really do."

Now two years later the brothers were still enjoying their ability to be told apart and honestly the separation had done them both the world of good, people had started to notice a few differences between them and some could even tell them apart enough to address them by name without having to guess.

"Fred!" a voice called behind him, he stopped and turned to see Angelina Johnson running breathlessly towards him. He felt his heart do a little flip flop in his chest as she skidded to a halt in front of him and flashed a dazzling smile.

"Come on slow poke!" she grabbed his hand tugging slightly "we're going to be late if you don't move" she laughed and pulled him into a run beside her and he followed more than willing.

So maybe he hadn't picked this class for a girl, but it certainly didn't hurt that a now very beautiful girl knew exactly who he was and seemed to like him a lot. He had noticed that she never greeted his brother with the same enthusiasm so it wasn't just looks. She saw and liked him as his own person.

He laughed with her as they slammed into the big wooden door of the Ancient Runes classroom, the thud echoed up the corridor; quickly they pushed into the room, looking for the teacher who had not yet arrived. Giddy on their narrow escape they wove through the desks, Fred completely aware that Angelina had not yet let go of his hand.

Right and left his fellow classmates greeted them with smiles and by name, he grinned back at them moving on and collapsing into a chair near the front of the classroom.

The teacher arrived a few minutes after he had and moved to the front of the room, talking as she did. She gathered a stack of essays off her desk and started passing them out. Fred scribbled notes down as she talked so that he wouldn't miss anything important, despite how distracting it was with Angelina next to him. He always lit up inside whenever she was impressed with his knowledge of the subject and it was a great excuse to tutor her privately.

The professor reached his table and passed him back his homework, a big red O was drawn on the front and Fred couldn't help but grin happily, he felt the professor put a hand on his shoulder and he looked up.

"Well done." She said sincerely "Fred."

As the professor moved on, Fred thought to himself. Yeah, I am Fred Weasley.

Unique.