I Know The End {Fred Weasley, ACT I}

Chapter 46- Wolfstar Give Relationship Advice

She didn't wake to birds chirping.

She didn't wake to a soft spring breeze brushing across her face.

She didn't wake to a cloudless blue sky.

Everything good, everything beautiful had left the world the night before and she didn't believe it would ever return.

She hadn't slept anyway, unable to lose a single second of Fred's touch. She knew better than to hope. It was over, and he would move on. He was the one who had a long, winding line of previous lovers, many of whom she assumed would be more than happy to mess around with him again. He would be fine. He always had been.

She doubted such success awaited her. She knew her end.

She would be nothing more than a grave for Fred to visit. Maybe he'd come with their friends, maybe with the family he'd form, maybe by himself, maybe not at all.

A heavy mist had fallen over the grounds over night and Eleanor could hardly make out the Black Lake in front of them. Cold water droplets breezed across her face. She shivered, Fred's cloak still wrapped tightly around her, and huddled closer to his side, gently. She didn't want to wake him, didn't want the night to end, but she wanted to be as close to him as she could before it was all over.

Her head lay in the crook of his neck, his arm wrapped around her. She assumed he was asleep from the pattern of his breathing, the slow, even rise and fall of his chest. She concentrated on breathing him in, angry that the smell of Earth was intermixing with that of fireworks and cinnamon. Of life. Of happiness. She'd been focusing more on all her senses, not realizing how important such details were to Fred until he'd found himself without his memories and found hers lacking.

His fingers caressed her arm suddenly, alerting her that he was awake. That everything was over. She felt his hand move up her arm, landing in her hair as he brushed a few strands off the side of her face with his fingertips.

She'd feign sleep. She'd feign sleep for the next week if she must. If that's what it took to keep them where they were, if that's what it took to keep his hands in her hair, to continue breathing him in.

"Ella?"

She cursed every higher being that Muggles worshipped. Every god and goddess of past and present. How dare the fates intertwine them only to pull them apart.

She let her eyes flutter open, pretending to have awoken from a deep sleep. Fred's head was turned to the side, his lips close to hers. Too close. Too tempting. He brushed her hair back again and made an attempt at a smile.

"We should go back," he whispered, his breath warm against her face, contrasting the cool air.

Eleanor shook her head, unable to speak. She felt too weak to move. Heart ache was a burden she didn't bear well.

"They'll wonder where we are," he pointed out, causing the corner of Eleanor's mouth to tug upward.

"Let them wonder."

Did he remember saying that to her the first time they'd spent the night together? Was that one of the memories he'd gifted her once upon a time? She would never know, being unable to ask such questions now. If they were to be friends, they couldn't talk about when they had been so much more.

He sighed, running his hand through her hair one last time before sliding out from underneath her. It took every ounce of strength that remained in Eleanor's body to push herself off the cold ground and into a sitting position beside him. She stared ahead at the endless fog, wanting to lose herself in it, become one with it.

Disappear. She needed to disappear.

"We should head back to the dormitory," Fred said quietly, standing in front of her with his hands in his pockets. "Get changed and get breakfast before..."