Friends. That would be easier. That's what Fred was trying to prove to himself anyway.

At least she was talking to him, not avoiding him at every accidental run in between lessons and pretending that he didn't exist. It was strange how he had missed her, listening to her voice as they went through their potions work and hearing her laugh at him when he made a stupid joke. Seeing her cheeks warm slightly when their hands brush. That happened with friend didn't it?

Of course, he couldn't help the jealousy that swarmed his chest whenever he saw her with Chambers. Laughing at his jokes, brushing the hair from his face before he would kiss her. Fred reckoned if it came down to it he could take him on easily, if necessary.

Their pranks seemed to be navigating more towards the seventh year Slytherins. George never questioned why but he happily went along with it.

Even in defence against the dark arts Fred finds himself looking at her again from his seat at the back of the class. He watches her as she talks to Cordelia and brushes her hair over her shoulder. He knows he shouldn't, and he knows his twin is judging him for it as he can feel his eyes burn into the side of his head. As he looks at her all he can imagine is kissing that soft part of her neck that has now been exposed. Fred had seen Chambers attempt to do it at dinner one evening that week but she had batted him off. She wouldn't have done that with him, that's what he had convinced himself at least.

"You're such a creep." George chuckles silently and Fred turns his head, hesitant to answer.

"Not."

George bobs one shoulder in a shrug. "Staring at someone is pretty creepy. Besides, shouldn't you be staring at Angelina?"

He should be, but he couldn't explain it. He glances over at Angelina who's on the opposite side of the classroom talking to Alicia and he feels an overwhelming sense of shittiness. How was he meant to admit that when Angelina kissed him, he wonders what it would be like to kiss Lilith instead? That he was only dating Angelina, if he could even call it that, because Lilith was going out with that Chambers prat? How he hoped that she was even the tiniest bit jealous, and he had caught her looking at the two of them a few times, so he assumed she must be.

They are meant to be copying notes, after the second task Mad eye had seemed quieter than usual and was forcing them most lessons to duplicate the text, but Jordan sticks his hand up and Mad Eye, who's sat behind his desk taking a swig from his flask looks over at him as the some of the liquid drools from his mouth.

"What is it Jordan?"

"Sir, is it true you were practicing the Imperious curse on fourth years?" Fred smirks, of course Lee would question him about that.

"Practice?" Mad eye almost shouts as he stands up from behind his desk. "I was showing the fourth years how to defend themselves Jordan, why? Want a go?"

"I was just – "

"Front and centre then!"

Lee scrambles from his chair and makes his way to the front as Fred and George smirk at each other, this was going to be good.

"Ready?"

"I supp – "

"Imperio."

Jordan stands still for a moment and the rest of the class stares in wonder as they wait for Mad eye to give his instructions.

"Why don't you do a handstand for me Jordan?"

Lee does as she told and there's several claps from the class.

"How about a back flip?"

He lands it perfectly, and Fred and George stand up and clap wildly. "Eight out of ten!" They both yell delighted.

Mad eye walks over to his desk and grabs three knives, placing them in Jordan's hand. "Mind juggling those for me, would you?"

As Jordan does it there's several gasps throughout the classroom and several people near the front back away from their desk

Mad eye flicks his wand again and with a blink Jordan seems to sink back into himself, dropping the knives in his hands. After a second he smirks and takes a bow as the class cheer and Lee high fives Fred and George as he takes his seat again.

"Who's next, hmm?" Moody asks from the front of the class and a couple of hands shoot up. "Lestrange!" He yelled. "Up here, now."

"I'm fine." She responds quietly, starting to turn pale. "Thanks. Looks like Diggory is eager to have a go."

"You of all people should know how to defend yourself against this, considering your dear uncle was under it...wasn't he?"

Fred sees her glare, but she doesn't move from her seat. "I said no." She says boldly, and suddenly the tension in the room rises as Moody eyes her up. "You're not meant to perform any of the unforgivable curses anyway."

"I have permission from the ministry - "

"I don't care!" She yells back piercing the silence in the room. Fred can feel the hatred in her tone as she stares down the professor from seat. "I do not give you permission to do that to me."

"Do you think whoever's going to cast this spell on you is going to ask for you permission first, girl?"

'You can't just – "

"IMPRERIO!".

Fred watches from his seat as Lilith's head snaps back for a second and then her whole demeanour changes. Shoulders slump loosely, hands fall to her side. The class is deathly silent as they are waiting for the next instruction from Moody and Fred can't help the death glare he's shooting at the Auror.

This felt much more sinister than it had with Jordan.

"There were a lot of death eaters who claimed they were under the imperious curse, under the guise of you know who. Come here!" Lilith stands from her desk and walks to the front of the class. "Knife." She bends down and picks up one of the blades Jordan had dropped to the floor.

"What's wrong with her eyes?" Cedric asks and the mood seems to grow stagnant as Moody takes a step forward to look.

"Well, well...You see this." Mad Eye grabs her chin and faces her towards the class. "The glassiness in the eyes...means she's resisting. That's interesting."

Fred leans forward in his seat as he feels the sick in his stomach, his eyes focusing on the dagger clenched in her fist.

"A lot of witches, and wizards, were forced to do unspeakable things, sometimes to themselves. Lestrange, throat!

She brings the blade to her neck. Half the class gasp.

His throat it too tight to breathe.

"Stop it!" Fred suddenly finds himself yelling from his seat trying to hide the panic in his voice, he can feel Angelina's eye on her from the seats adjacent to him, but he doesn't care about that right now.

All he can focus on is the blade pressing into Lilith's throat by her own hand.

"You think you can help someone under the curse Weasley? Go on, give it a try if you want."

Fred remains glued to his seat: fists clench as he stares at the old loon. He wouldn't know what to do even if he did go up there.

"The only person able to stop it is myself, or her. I could have her jump off a building if I wanted, isn't that right Lestrange?"

"Yes professor." There's no emotion, nothing there as the words leaves her throat.

Mad eye leans over and mumbles something in her ear, and then her eyes slowly move to Fred's direction. She takes a step forward and pauses for a moment, as if hesitant to move, but soon enough she's walking towards him a hand reaching out and grabbing him by the collar, dragging him from his seat.

Mad eye sneers. "Let's see how you handle this one Weasley."

"HEY" George yells and mad eye shouts at him. Fred's not sure what else is happening, all he can concentrate on right now is Lilith pushing him to the floor and climbing on top of him, knife high above her head and her other hand on his throat pressing into his larynx.

Then suddenly she stops, arm frozen above her. The screams Fred heard from the rest of the class and his brother have withered away to nothing and he is staring into her white eyes as she doesn't stare back.

"Interesting." Mad eye says as he restrains George rather easily.

"What the bloody hell is interesting!" Fred yells, his hands wrapped around her arm that's clutching onto his neck, he can feel her nails digging into the soft skin of his throat.

"I didn't tell her to stop." He almost cackles. "Very curious."

Fred can see it, the hand holding the blade shaking as if something is holding her back, but his eyes focused on the trickle of blood run down the notch in her neck.

"Lil?" He says quietly, he should be aware of everyone's eyes on him, but he doesn't care about any of them in that moment. The grip she has on his throat tightens for a moment and he finds it difficult to breath in. Then suddenly she lets go of his throat and with a blink her eyes are back to hers. She is staring at him in complete terror, and he realises he's still gripping onto her arm like a vice. He forces himself to let go.

The class remains soundless as what occurred seems to sink into the room and Mad eye is hovering over them, looking slightly irritated. "Well done Lestrange, you were able to resist. I'm impressed." He sounds far from it.

He can see her trying to hold back the tears as stares at mad eye and suddenly she's lunging off him towards the professor. Fred and George take a hold of her, trying to stop her from murdering him with her bare hands.

"YOU'RE VILE!" She yells as she fights against the twins, and Fred is shocked by how scarily strong she is. "WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU."

"I was teaching, Lestrange." Mad eye says, not fazed at all as his tongue darts out to his lips. "You should be thanking me. Being able to break an imperious curse is an extraordinary thing."

"Get off me!" She screams at the twins. Although Fred is relucent to, he nods at his brother and they both release their hold on her. The class watches as she races out of the classroom.

"Now, who's next!" Moody bellows but everyone's hand remains down this time.

Despite the fact everyone's staring at him as he tries to catch his breath, still feeling the tightening on his throat, he runs out of the classroom after her, ignoring the protests from behind him.

As Fred enters the girl bathroom, he can hear the retching noise and he forces himself to hold back. Merlin what was he doing. The last thing she would have wanted right then is to see him, look at him, but the voice in his head is telling him fuck it. He had seen the look on her face, it was actually haunting him as he stepped deeper in the girl's bathroom and towards the stall the noise was coming from.

Finally, it stops, and he hears the slam of the toilet seat and flush of the lavatory. This is your last chance Weasley, you can leave now, and she wouldn't be any wiser. But then again, how could he. As the door opens she stalls when she sees him, and immediately avoids his gaze, like she's ashamed to look at him.

"What are you doing here?"

"Checking to make sure you weren't plotting how to murder Mad eye."

Her jaw clenches. "You shouldn't have held me back."

"Well come on Lil what were you going to do, use a killing curse on bloody mad eye?"

"No - " She says with a defiant voice. "I was going to strangle him actually."

Fred smirks and decides to try and break the tension. "You could always poison that flask he's always drinking from. Much sneakier."

She stares at him for a moment, but he sees a smile tug at the corner of her mouth. "You should have been a Slytherin Weasley." Fred can hear her attempt to hide the wobble in her voice as she brushes past him and moves to the sink, rinsing out her mouth.

"Mad eye is one crazy bastard." Fred mumbles, remembering the professors look of utter enjoyment during what happened. "At least if I did die it would have been an interesting story."

She spits the water out of the mouth and wipes it with her sleeve before turning to him, staring at him for a moment. "Look if you're here to try and make me feel better, I don't want it. So, can you go now please."

Fred furrows his brows as he watches her sadly look at him. "I just wanted to make sure you were ok." Fred says honestly, as he speaks, he realises how dry his voice is.

"I think I should be asking you that Weasley."

Fred can still feel the grip on his throat, tender and raw, but he decides he's ok and he nods at her. "A sight better than you are anyway. Maybe some emotional scaring. Besides, I do have five brothers." He leans against the sink next to her as she wets her face. " I remember one-time Charlie pushed me out of our bedroom window. This is nothing in comparison."

"A window?" She's slightly alarmed but Fred shrugs.

"In Charlie's defence he had been writing letters to Mellissa Kennard all summer and I may have intercepted one and declared his undying love to her on his behalf. And I landed in a bush, so it wasn't that bad. Ended up with this scar though." He says as he indicates to his eyebrow and she smiles slightly at him. It's too forced. She's trying to pretend she's ok.

Fred was oddly quiet as he watched her. He wasn't good at comfort. George was more sensitive in that way. Fred just felt like an oaf.

He always asked stupid questions.

"What was it like?" He feels like a moron as soon as the words leave his mouth, knowing it's probably the last thing she wants to talk about. He's surprised to see her wet her dry lips before she answers, he had been expecting physical violence at his question.

"I don't know...like...I was there but...I wasn't. I could see everything I was doing - feel it, but I couldn't control it. It's like I was screaming, and no could hear me." She brings up a hand to his throat, rubbing her thumb gently over where her hand had gripped earlier, but he doesn't flinch like most people would have, because he sees the concern and anger in her face.

Don't be angry at yourself Lil.

"You stopped it." He tries to reassure her and she suddenly drops her hand and he feels cold from the lack of touch.

"I don't think everyone will see it that way." Her hands are now shaking as she grips the sink and looks back in the mirror, her eyes widening as she finally notices the blood that has dripped down from the nick of her neck and onto the collar of her shirt.

"Maybe they are all right. Maybe I am like her? or both of them." Fred can hear the agony in her voice as she carries on. "What if Moody was showing me – I mean he must know. He said I reminded him of her...so...he must know. Right?"

Fred couldn't figure out why she was doing this to herself. But he can't do it, he can't watch and listen to her as she tries to convince herself it was her fault. Fred wishes he was George for a moment so he would know instinctively the right thing to say.

So, he does the only thing he can think of and pulls her into him, expecting her to protest or push him away, but he feels her hands grip at his back and her face nestle into his neck. Her breath is hot and heavy as she tries to hold back the tears. So, Fred clings to her, one hand in her hair as the other gently rubs at her back, and he rests his cheek on the top of her head. She's trying not to cry. She sounds utterly broken. He wants to march to the dark arks classroom and slaughter Mad eye for making her feel like this.

He goes ahead and says something dumb instead.

"I promise I'll beat up anyone who says a word to you."

He feels the mumbled laugh against his neck but neither of them moves, and he doesn't mind. She feels warm and he can sense her heart race against him, and he's certain she can probably feel his from the nerves coursing through his body. He would stay like that for the rest of the evening if that's what she wanted.

"You sure you're alright love?"

Lilith pulls away then, and nods, her eyes bloodshot and red from holding back the tears. He allows his hand to linger for a moment longer before realising that holding onto her now was probably just odd.

"Love?"

"Uh…" Probably not the best moment to have used that for the first time. She smiles sweetly at him and his stomach flutters. "Yeah. But, are you ok?"

"I'm ok."

She's clearly not, but who was he to argue. Lilith looks back into the mirror as she fixes her hair, pushing her head band back and finally giving her face one final rub. "How do I look?"

"Disgusting." He says with a half-smile. "Just truly awful." She's beautiful as always. She smiles at him, but she looks slightly broken.

"I'm supposed to be meeting Xander before diner. But I really don't want to go out there."

"We'll just live here forever then. The house elves like me so they can bring us food and all sorts. The only thing is we'll have to put up with myrtle."

"She's not that bad."

Fred smiles gently, no one had ever said that about Moaning Myrtle.

"How is it with Xander anyway?" He asks because that's the friendly thing to do right? At least it changes the conversation from how she almost murdered him in front of their bloody year group, and she seems like she welcomes the change in topic.

"He's...nice."

"Nice?"

"Nice." She repeats. "How's Angelina?"

"Nice" He says back, feeling like a moron. "Angelina's...well - " He's not sure what to say because up until that moment he hadn't even considered her, and he realises what a shit boyfriend he was, if he could even call himself that.

As he's lost in his thought, he doesn't notice her moving towards him, slow and careful until he fees her fingers graze his wrist. "I'm sorry that it happened Fred."

Fred's chest throbs as he looks down at her. Her cheeks are flushed, her dark eyes are looking up with him. He feels her fingers brush against the skin on his wrist. "Me too."

She leans up and places a kiss on his cheek and he allows himself to embrace it for a moment. It's warm and soft. He didn't know why he expected her lips to be cold. He could have so easily moved his head, pressed his lips to hers. He forces himself not to because he doesn't want to ruin it, despite how badly he desires it.

For a moment when she pulls away, he think he sees it in her eyes too. He craves the contact again.

As she leaves the girls bathroom, he doesn't say a word.

Friends. Yeah right.