Decree No.29 (O.C) Fred Weasley/ Draco Malfoy

The Fallout Part 2

How it had all changed in the space of the day.

She had held all the cards, making the decisions about who she kept close to and how to handle things, and now it was all spiralling out of control. One by one, things were going wrong, her power was diminishing, and the momentum was slowly building up.

"Have you seen Fred?" George asked her grudgingly, the only person left who was willing to be near her. His voice was still in the silence, the only accompanying noise being the spit of the flame on the pillar that kept the hallway lit.

"No," Jessica started to say, being careful not to say or do anything that would trigger him off as well, "not since..."

"Well, we can't find him," George interrupted sharply. He lazily lifted his finger to point at the purple badge on her chest and looked away, wincing as if it brought him anguish to even look at it. "He walked off when you got your little marker there, and no one has seen him since."

This was worrying. Fred hardly ever missed meals, and it was very rare for George to not know where he was. As Fred had told her before, they knew everything about each other. So for George to be clueless, it meant that something was seriously wrong. "He can't have gone far, could he?" Jessica asked, "Umbridge has put up so many security procedures, so it's impossible to get out of the grounds."

"Yeah," said George, with a deep sigh. "Well, you would know, wouldn't you."

She would have rathered he had just started shouting at her, it would have been easier to digest. The despondency in his tone cut her like a knife, and his disappointment harmed her more than the aggressiveness of his younger brother. Jessica didn't know if he was now standing with her because he still liked her or if he was doing it just to keep an eye on where she was, letting Ron, Hermione and Ron find Fred before she did.

"Just why Jess...," he said to her soberly with sorrowful eyes, " have they forced you into this or something?"

Jessica looked down at the bronzed medal on the left side of her chest and wanted to immediately rip it off. It wasn't her, it was weighing her down, and it was a symbol of the betrayal that wasn't even her choice.

"Not exactly," she lied and George's eyes closed, his head falling downwards.

George was her last chance to tell her side of the story, as he was her closest friend next to Fred that she had. He was also the most understanding of the lot, which she was sure was why he was still there, and she knew he would listen to her out of principle even if he didn't want to.

"George, I need you to understand," she said, looking up at him with her biggest pleading eyes. "I had to keep this a secret from you guys."

"Yeah, you like keeping secrets, don't you," George scoffed with a sad smirk as he continued looking at the floor. He stepped back away from her, wanting to maintain a distance. "You made my brother one, and now look what's happened. He can't talk to anyone about this because you're involved, he can't tell anyone how he feels except me and even then that's hard to do because we're always surrounded by people."

His head lifted to meet hers, and she could see that his features had now turned to a point of irritation. He appeared to care more about Fred than the Inquisitorial Squad in general. "I told you," he said with emphasis, "he doesn't process this stuff well."

Her fingers clutched together and started nervously fidgeting. She hadn't thought about that. She just thought if he had George to tell then he would have his best friend in the loop and be okay. "I'm sorry," Jessica apologised, "but I had to, and this was why. I thought I could manage it without hurting everybody, but I saw where everything was heading, and it got too much. That's why I broke it off with him...and told you all to stay away from me last week in the Hospital Wing."