The Lost Witch | Fred Weasley

CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO

- TW: Animal cruelty -

★

In the next couple of weeks, I felt lighter than I had done in years. I had told him the whole, complicated story and still he didn't run for the hills. I was enjoying myself a lot, even with Umbridge ruining our days with her toad face.

Hogwarts quickly got used to the fact that they now had a fox living amongst them, and I trotted the halls with no one being the wiser.

I got to eavesdrop on a lot of juicy conversations. I found out that the Pansy girl who had tried to come at me twice had a huge crush on Draco and wanted him to ask her out for Valentine's Day. I heard Cho telling her friend how she and Harry had kissed the last DA meeting before Christmas.

And I caught Flitwick and McGonagall gossiping but when she saw me, she sent me a stern look, so I quickly hurried off.

I was sat with Hermione and George at breakfast one day when I spotted Alicia's lion on the long table.

He was running around, pushing a grape back and forth with its paw, as if it was a ball. A fork came into my field of vision, and I looked up. George was holding it out for me with a tiny bit of breakfast sausage on it.

I bit it off and turned my attention back to the lion.

"Weasley, your fox is eyeing my lion," Alicia warned George. Before anyone could think any more about it, I leaped up onto the table and went towards the lion slowly. It looked up at me curiously, before taking a few steps forwards itself.

I leaned down and sniffed it, before knocking him slightly with my snout. He lifted a paw and touched my snout before he let out a tiny roar. He ran down the table and I chased after him, dodging jugs, dishes and goblets all the way.

People quickly grabbed their drinks and plates and tried to move their stuff out of the way before we crashed into it. The lion quickly pulled the breaks on his run though, and spun around, running through my legs and heading the direction we just came from.

I tried to do a gracious stop but ended up knocking over a bowl of fruit before I turned and headed after the lion again.

I reached him and put a paw up to him, knocking him off balance. He lay on the table in front of me and I leaned down, licking his head. I felt hands on me, and I was lifted off the table.

As I was sat down on the floor by the table, I looked up and saw Fred was responsible for moving me off the lion. He must've arrived when I was in my chase.

I jumped up on the bench again and Fred slid a goblet with orange juice towards me. I stood up and leaned against the table with my front legs and sipped the drink.

Suddenly all chatter from our friends seized as Ginny and Angelina came to the group.

Angelina had a comforting arm wrapped around Ginny's shoulders and Ginny looked down at her feet. They sat down and I quickly moved over to Ginny, leaping into her lap and nuzzling my head against her neck in a comforting manner.

She stroked my back, a small smile coming across her face. She looked like she'd been crying.

"Ginny, what's wrong?" George questioned, moving closer to his sister.

"The Inquisitorial Squad," Angelina grumbled. "Bulstrode and Parkinson were giving her a hard time." We all looked at the girls then for further explanation.

"They cornered me in the bathroom," Ginny huffed, annoyance lacing her voice. "Cowards. Waiting until I was alone and then came at me, four-on-one." "What do you mean, 'came at you'?" Amelia questioned warily.