His Hufflepuff ; Fred Weasley

86

In the last chapter, I accidentally wrote Nick's mothers name as 'Fairy' though her name is Danika. I got it mixed up with Nate's mum whose name actually is 'Fairy'. I've changed it but wanted to let you know so you didn't get confused.

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May 4th of 1996
//NARRATOR//

It was Friday.

The sky was covered with dark clouds. The sun was hiding and it looked like it was gonna rain at one point. The weather was perfect for how the five friends were feeling.

Julie woke up in Fred's bed, mumbling to him that she didn't want to go. She didn't want to be at the funeral, but after Fred dragged her out of bed and convinced her to do so, because if she didn't, she'd regret it, Julie got dressed in the clothes Fred had helped her choose for the funeral.

She was wearing a black flowy dress that reached above her knees and both Fred and George were wearing plain black suits that they had rented. They were gonna be attending the funeral too, along with a lot of Hogwarts students.

Julie held Fred's hand as the three apparated to the Little Hangleton Graveyard where the funeral took place. Fred felt his Hufflepuff girlfriend squeeze his hand automatically at the sight of all the people and the casket that stood next to a hole in the ground. The hole was the perfect size for the casket and Julie found herself hating the fact that her best friend was about to be buried six feet under.

Mrs Crane had wanted a few of Nick's friends to speak at the funeral, and Julie had volunteered, wanting to say a few words about her deceased friend. He would've loved that. She hadn't written anything down. She wanted to speak from her heart.

The three slowly made their way through the gate to the graveyard. Julie's four remaining friends were gathered together, staring at thee casket like it was the most horrible sight in the world.

It was the most horrible sight.

Their best friend was inside, his heart still, eyes closed, his lungs no longer working to give him oxygen. Their best friend was gone and most of them had yet to realise that he wasn't gonna walk through the gate any moment to laugh with them again.

Julie let go of her boyfriend's hand when Melba laid her eyes on her. The two girls immediately broke into tears as they threw their arms around each other. Callie was next, joining them as she too started sobbing.

Seth and Nate watched their three girls hug and comfort each other. Both boys stood next to each other, their hands hidden away in the pockets of their trousers. Nate hadn't been able to get just one hour of sleep since he and Callie found their friends hanging in a robe from the ceiling of his room.

Every time he closed his eyes, he saw Nick's face, drained of blood, completely pale. He remembers the robe marks on his neck after getting him down, and he remember screaming for Nick to wake up while trying to pump his heart back to life. He remembers looking up at Callie, seeing her with both hands over her mouth, not knowing what to do with herself, and he remembers Nick's parents come running into the room by the sound of Nate's screams.

He will never forget the look on their faces or hearing Danika Crane scream for her son while Myron Crane had to lean on the doorframe for his knees to not give in.

Nate can't close his eyes without seeing all of that, plus hearing his own cries mixed with Mrs Crane's screams. Everything had changed and the five friends didn't know what to do now.

They had all received letters from Dumbledore a few days before the funeral. They had been allowed to take their exams early in case they wanted to leave Hogwarts, and all five were gonna take him up on that offer. None of them wanted to return after what happened.

"Guys." Seth said calmly, causing the three girls to pull apart. Julie immediately went back to Fred to get the comfort from him as he wrapped an arm around her, but the seven of them all turned to see the whole house of Hufflepuff enter the graveyard with Professor Sprout leading the way.

Cedric found his way to his teammates to hug them and offer his condolences before he went to talk to Mr and Mrs Crane along with Nick's older brother Ember.

A few Gryffindor's entered the graveyard as well, along with some Ravenclaws, but what the five friends hadn't expected, was seeing a few Slytherins come in last. Adrian Pucey was in front and the sight of him, made the five boil with anger.

"Oh... no he does not." Nate sneered. He lunged forward towards Pucey but Callie pulled him back, pressing a hand to his chest.

"Don't do this." she said in a whisper. "It's not fair to his family."

"What's not fair is the one responsible of all of this, showing up at his funeral." Nate whispered back. "He has no business here and he knows it. He's just here to see his work complete."

"Stop." Callie broke into sobs, making Nate's face soften before he pulled her in for a hug. Julie watched her two friends while leaning into Fred's embrace, loving the way he had his arms wrapped around her.

When the ceremony started, every one were gathered around the casket and the official who was in charge of the ceremony. He started off by speaking about Nick, things he had been told by Mr and Mrs Crane. He talked about how good Nick was, how he always wanted the best for people, how he was always happy and would never hurt a fly.

Students who didn't even know Nick personally, were crying. Though they didn't know him, their hearts bled. Everyone knew about the six friends. Everyone knew that they saw each other as family, that they always had each others back so even for people who weren't involved with them, the thought of the five losing one of their own, was something that would make their heart ache.

Julie's speech was sweet. It made people cry, yet laugh at the mention of Nick's pizza obsession. He would do anything to get the last slice, especially if it had pepperoni on top. Though there was one part of her speech that really hit a soft spot in herself, her friends and Nick's family.

"It's no secret that Nick and his family are very religious. I mean, his name is Jesus. He didn't like the name so we called him Nick. We did love to tease him about it and call him by his first name just to get a reaction. Nick loved god and once when we were twelve, he said he was kinda excited to know what the afterlife was all about. He said he didn't want to rush but one day, he would go home. His home was with god." Julie spoke, remembering how the cute boy had spoken to her about it in year two. She sobbed and wiped her cheeks as she looked at the picture of Nick that had been put out here. "Nick, baby... you're home. We never wanted you to leave this way, but you're home now. You're safe. No one will ever hurt you again and I'm sure– one day we'll see each other again. It'll take a while but one day, the six of us will be together again."

Throughout the funeral, Nate kept looking over at Pucey. He didn't have a reaction on his face. He looked unbothered even and it was pissing him off. How dared he show up at Nick's funeral when he was 100% the one who caused this. How dared he stand there and look at the casket and listen to everyone talk about their Nick.

He was gonna get revenge. Nate wasn't joking. He was going to get revenge for Nick. He wasn't stopping until someone had paid the price.