Catch Me, I'm Falling | Fred Weasley

Chapter 12

Fred stared at Olivia's pacing figure on the Marauder's map, entranced by her movements. George sat a few feet away, sitting on his bed and studying from a Charms textbook.

"Stop it," he said suddenly. Fred looked to him with a raised brow, pretending that he had no idea what his brother was talking about.

"Stop what?"

"Spying on her. You're a bloody stalker at this point, Fred," George argued. He wasn't wrong, as much as Fred hated to admit it. But Fred still argued back.

"I'm just looking at where she is. What's wrong with that?" Fred asked.

"Everything," George answered. "It's wrong on so many levels."

"But whyyyyy..." Fred whined.

"Because," George closed his book and sighed, "For one, it's a breach of privacy." Fred groaned, plopping face-first onto the bed beside George.

"But more importantly," George continued, "It means that you can orchestrate meetings whenever." Fred raised himself onto his elbows.

"That's why it's brilliant. She always ran away from me. If I'd just had the map with me..." he started, then shook his head. "I'm just scared she'll run away again." George met his eyes. They melted from stern to understanding.

"She won't, Fred."

"So we'll give it away, then. Like we said?" Fred asked, voice quiet.

"He needs it more than we do," George answered, echoing Fred's thoughts.

"It's settled, then. We'll give the map to Harry."

-

Olivia was in trouble. Deep, deep trouble. She shouldn't have gone to that quidditch game. Shouldn't have talked to Fred. Now everything was messed up.

She paced around her dorm, biting her nails. She'd tried to break that habit and had been somewhat successful until now. Shit, shit, shit.

What was the problem, you ask? The future. Because Olivia had foreseen Harry being attacked by dementors. She hadn't, however, foreseen Fred's injury. What she didn't know was that Fred had been distracted at practice recently, prompting Oliver Wood to add two alternates to the team. He'd been planning to have them join the quidditch team the coming year after two seventh-years graduated, but had decided to get them trained up early in case anything happened to the team.

Indeed, Olivia was partially correct. She had in some way caused the event, though to be fair it wasn't her fault. You see, Fred had been distracted, hadn't seen the bludger hurtling towards him because he had spotted Olivia in the crowd. It had made him so happy that a smile erupted on his face, but then the bludger hit him.

Olivia, however, was now in full-blown panic mode. She paced around, not knowing what to do. It took her a while before her mind settled on a solution. She couldn't just avoid Fred. He would only pursue her more. No, Olivia would have to bore him. Yes, she could play the role of the Ravenclaw prude. He would lose interest and scamper off to someone else.

-

Christmas came faster than Olivia had anticipated. One minute, Hogwarts was full of students, the halls buzzing with Christmas cheer. The next, it was nearly empty. The students staying were the minority, with only a handful of Ravenclaws from what Olivia could tell. She liked it, in a way. Most of the time, she had the Ravenclaw common room all to herself. She caught up on reading and delved deep into her studies, losing herself in the time-worn pages of knowledge.

She kept her promise to herself. Every time she saw the twins, she made sure to put the mask up. At first, Fred seemed to seek her out. He went to find her, asking if she wanted to hang out or join in on some prank or another. She always acted bored, snobby even. It had made her stomach twist every time she made his face fall. After a while, he left her alone. Olivia had to keep reminding herself that this is for the best. Even that didn't clear the sour taste in her mouth. Mercifully, that feeling could be ignored.