The Lost Witch | Fred Weasley

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

Close to eight o'clock that evening we headed towards the Room of Requirement for our first defence lesson with harry.

The first meeting went swiftly. I had paired up with George for the Expelliarmus practice and he groaned all the way back to the common rooms that it was completely unfair seeing as I was more advanced than him.

I decided to hold back in the practices in the next couple of weeks, being more of a dummy for others to disarm rather than do a lot myself. Harry liked the challenge though and partnered with me a few times. He was a lot better than all the others and managed to disarm me a fair amount.

As the first Quidditch match neared Angelina called in a stop for the DA meetings and this gave me a perfect opportunity to meet up with Draco more often.

We decided to keep a secret passageway I found as our meeting place and would each take turns on slipping a note or a whisper to the other as we passed in the hallways.

It was good seeing him again. I reprimanded him on his cocky behaviour, and he swore he would shape up his attitude, but also explained how most of it was a front. His father has a lot of ears inside this school, and you can't be too careful.

And I guess I could understand. He had been left alone in that house with his parents there to teach him what they thought was right and wrong. And of course he would follow along. He thought the other road had gotten me killed. That would scare any nine-year old to follow the flow. He just didn't have to be such a pompous jerk about it.

If I was left alone to fend for myself from my parents and all of their Death Eater friends over the years, I would've probably been a lot like him. I had managed to hold onto that piece of me that still made me human, though.

I just hoped Draco managed to do the same.

We also agreed that if he suddenly changed his attitude completely, people would start questioning it. And he had to keep up appearances because of his family. No one could see that he had his own opinions in this world.

However, I did warn him that if he was rude to my friends in front of me, I wouldn't hesitate to tell him off in front of everyone.

That seemed to scare him most of all. Being scolded like a child in front of his cronies was not something he wanted to experience.

The cold had finally arrived in November and me and Ginny had made a plan. I ditched lunch and went down to Hagrid's empty Hut, hiding behind it. I changed into my Animagus form, a snowy-furred fox with black socks and a black tipped tail. My eyes kept their blue colour but were much larger and brighter while I was a fox.

Ginny was supposed to come out for a walk with her friends, and I was going to present myself as tame and then start following students into the school building.

I walked around for a while, thankful for my thick coat to protect me from the chilly air. I spotted Ginny with two girlfriends as they headed out to take a walk along the Black Lake. I jumped behind a bush in a fake attempt to hide myself, but one of Ginny's friends spotted me.

She let out a gasp. "What was that?"

"What was what?" Ginny questioned.

"I don't know. I saw something white and furry jump into that bush. Maybe a winter rabbit?" she mused.

I stuck my head out of the bush and all three of them gasped. "Oh look! it's a fox! Oh, but the poor thing. It's got its winter coat already and it hasn't even started snowing yet. All the predators will be able to spot her from a mile away!" one of the girls exclaimed.