Serendipity

FINDING AN ESCAPE

May 2, 1998

Flashes of green, red, and white engulfed the school she had once called home. Walls were crumbling down, a sentiment to the loss of many peoples' childhood as they valiantly fought alongside their peers, children just the same. It was almost humorous to think about how such a safe place like Hogwarts was now under attack, slowly succumbing to the Dark Lord's forces.

Cressida Findlay could feel the adrenaline pumping through her veins every time she threw out an "expelliarmus", "protego", or "stupefy", trying so hard to make her way to the red-headed boy she had grown to love. It was hard to think that she had wasted so much time stressing over school during her 7th year when it had amounted to this, so much time she could've spent with Fred-not that she knew she would regret this.

Just as she as threw a curse at a death eater that she happened to distastefully cross paths with, the sound of spells being shouted and the blasts of rock fell silent and were replaced with the same high-pitched tone she had experienced moments before the war had broken out, "dispose of your dead with dignity".

As Cressida made her way to the great hall, a sudden burst of energy hit her body as she so longed to meet the grassy, green eyes she believed her soulmate possessed, she was unbeknownst to the family of 9, now 8, huddled over a cold, lifeless body sprawled onto a stretcher.

She had burst into the great hall with determination, sighting the bright, red hair she had become so accustomed to, sprinting until she fully drank in their statures, stopping halfway as she noticed a figure on the floor. Her eyes darted upwards as she went down the line of the names of the family,

Molly,

Arthur,

Bill,

Charlie,

Ron,

Percy,

Ginny,

George... George?

Cressida's eyes inspected the empty space next to George's sides that were usually occupied by his twin; that was all it took for her to know. She didn't even need to move any closer, it was in that split second when her brain clicked that she had registered the loss of her love.

She ran the rest of the way to the family, immediately engulfed into George's arms as he whispered "he's gone" through choked sobs in her neck. Fred Weasley was really gone...Cressida's world was gone, so why hadn't the battle seized?

June 2, 1998

It had been a month since the war had ended. In the Daily Prophet, it had said that they had won, but Cressida didn't feel an ounce of victory as she clutched the frayed, forest green sweater of her lost one. She sat in the room she shared with him above Weasley's Wizards Wheezes, not leaving the spot in his side of the bed where she had resided for the past month, only leaving when Molly came to check on George and forced them both to eat and take a shower.

She knew her friends were worried, she knew that Harry, Hermione, Ron, and so many others lost so much more in the battle, but she couldn't seem to care for anyone else when the hole in her heart only seemed to grow as she looked around the room and saw Fred's things strewn across the room, "organized chaos" he liked to call it. She could still smell the scent of fireworks and cinnamon on the sheets.

Earlier in the day, Hermione had stopped by and told Cressida that she should clean up the room, telling her that it would help her move on if she put away some of his stuff; Cressida just stared blankly until Hermione left. It was now 7 PM and Cressida still couldn't get up, but she decided that she needed to do this, she couldn't keep staying in the room with all of Fred's stuff on display.

As she opened his sock drawer, ready to stuff the pile of clothes she had amassed in it, her eyes landed on a black, velvet box. Tears filled her eyes instantaneously. Fred had always brought up the idea of them getting married, always telling her that as soon as she graduated they would get married and have kids later down the road; but now? Now he wasn't here. She opened the box to reveal the big stone. After taking the ring out, she saw the words "I solemnly swear that I will never leave your side" engraved on the inside of the band, something they had always said to each other after the twins had shown her the marauder's map.

This was her breaking point, sure she had gone through moments of relapse and cried out for Fred as she sat on the floor with her knees close to her chest, but she had yet to go through the step of throwing things around the room, breaking and ripping everything in sight; which is exactly what she was doing now, with George listening in from the other side of the door, heart hurting and tears running down his face as he heard the girl his brother had loved so much go through the same loss as he was.

This was it, Cressida couldn't comprehend how the world she had grown up in had ripped her light from her, and she decided she couldn't stay in it any longer. In a momentary loss of judgment, she packed a bag, wrote a letter to George explaining her departure, and grabbed the ring that had caused these actions, before gripping her wand and apparating to New York, a muggle state she had always talked to Fred about wanting to go to... together.

Cressida had come to the conclusion that she could no longer be a part of the world that had taken Fred Weasley away, so she ran away; ready to start a new life, without him.

A/N: Sooo, this is my new Fred fic and I'm super excited to start it!  I really hope you like the first chapter, but please leave feedback if you had any problems!!