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

The Misfit Alliance

"Oh no, you've done enough. I can do that later," Jessica told the old house-elf in her bedroom as she put away her freshly washed clothes.

Upon learning that she had been sorted into Slytherin (the house of his old 'mistress'), Kreacher had become rather fond of Jessica and had happily applied himself to doing all of her chores. After seeing how it made him cheerful instead of cranky, Jessica reluctantly let him do it to prolong his change of mood. He had just washed her entire trunk of clothes when he came in, wanting to put them away as well.

"Nonsense, it is Kreacher's pleasure," the house-elf hissed happily, "to be back serving purebloods who align with mistress's values. It is an honour."

Jessica felt a little bit uncomfortable seeing Kreacher so submissive, so she sat back on the bed and buried herself into her copy of Healing Through The Ages. She must have read it cover to cover five times already, but nothing had gone in, her focus being distracted by the one thing she had been trying to get her mind off.

 After her and Fred's night in London, there had been a nagging feeling inside of her that had been hard to shake away, and now she spent more time replaying that night in her mind than anything else.

Fred didn't say anything after he had pulled Jessica in to hold her on that rooftop, and it left her wondering if he had meant anything deeper by it. They apparated straight back to Jessica's room as soon as the fireworks had ended and they said nothing else to each other except for a brief but civil parting of 'goodnight', both appearing to not know what to say. The next day they awoke as strangers once again, with Fred not even checking in to say hi over the next few days that followed. It was now the last two days of Christmas break, it was likely she wouldn't see him again until they were leaving for the Hogwarts Express, and she was annoyed at herself for filling her mind with thoughts of what-if's that were likely to be untrue. 

It was silly replaying it all in her head, analysing for clues as to why he might have been ignoring her now. She was still angry at him for everything he'd said, one night wouldn't fix that, and she would've been a fool to think that he would've been any different.

So why could she still not get them dancing together out of her mind?

Kreacher eventually left, and about five minutes after his exit, there was a knock at the door. Jessica slumped off her bed to open it, expecting to be met with either Molly or Arthur, but to her surprise, it was Tonks—looking quite dubious underneath her mane of long green hair.

"Hey, how are you?" Tonks asked her brightly.

"Fantastic," Jessica responded tonelessly, now wishing it had been Kreacher coming back, "living the dream."

"Ah, nice," said Tonks, pointing her finger inside Jessica's room. "Would you mind me coming in for a minute?"

"Can I ask why?" Jessica questioned, crossing her arms, "I just don't fancy being bound and gagged without prior knowledge."

Ron had come out of the bathroom at this point and turned a bright shade of red at Jessica's answer. Jessica smiled amusingly at him as he ran down the staircase to the ground floor, where everyone else in the house was playing a game of exploding snap in the living room.

"It's not for an interrogation, I promise," Tonks whispered, "but I would appreciate it if you could keep silent until the door is shut."

Jessica, intrigued by why such secrecy was needed, realized she had nothing to lose and stepped aside to let Tonks in. With slightly lighter footing than usual, Tonks took a large step onto the floorboards, and Jessica shut the door behind her.

"Does that still have the automatic locking charm you put on it?" Tonks asked, indicating the door handle.

"Yes," Jessica replied, "why?"