[on hold] 𝐒𝐀𝐋𝐓&𝐋𝐄𝐌𝐎𝐍 → 𝑓. 𝑤𝑒𝑎𝑠𝑙𝑒𝑦

xli . sweet distraction

chapter fourty one
SWEET DISTRACTION

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   RUBY WALKED down the empty corridor with her arms overloaded with books. Since the exams of the year's end had started, the castle used to be calm and silent as every year at the same time, and she loved it just like that. Students were hanging out in the library, their noses stuck in books, and as her most favourite place at Hogwarts was way to crowded these days, Ruby left it and searched for a place to be where the whispers and chuckles of her classmates didn't drive her mad.

   Also, studying was a welcoming distraction from all the nightmares haunting her not only when she was asleep, so humming to herself, she was looking for an empty classroom, up to giving it a try with the transfiguration room. She shuffled her books into her left arm, her right hand stretched out for the doorknob.

   "Hey sexy", a husky voice all of a sudden appeared next to her ear, and Ruby flinched, snapping around, just to be faced with a pair of warm chocolate brown eyes right in front of hers.

   "Fred!", she gasped, letting out a sigh of relief. "Is there any special reason you decided to put the fear of death into my bones?"

   "Love, calm down", Fred chugged, wrapping his arms around her waist. "You're way too tensed lately."

   Ruby laid her head against his shoulder. "The mark is growing darker", she muttered, closing her eyes. His familiar scent of peppermint and fireworks filling her nostrils, and immediately her muscles relaxed. "Since Crouch's disappearance, I'm unable to cover it up. Fred", she looked up at him, "something is going on. I — I think wherever this leads to, we've not much time left until we'll have to face it."

   Fred's eyebrows furrowed, but he only pressed her tighter to his body, pressing his lips onto the top of her head. He didn't say a thing, but Ruby understood. The way he held her gave her the comfort of feeling completely safe as long as he would never let go of her.

   "You know", he said, "you shouldn't break your head about all of this. We can't change whatever is going to happen, do we? So what about I'll take your mind off those things for a while?"

   "Mh-hmm."

   His lips softly caressed her jawline, wandering down her neck. Shivers of pleasure ran down Ruby's spine, as she closed her eyes. Fred's hands moved over her back, they soon found the way underneath her shirt, meeting her bare skin, where immediately goosebumps bloomed. When his lips met hers, she felt his longing, hungryly kissing him back.

   "We shouldn't do this right here, what if anyone will see us?", Ruby breathed against his lips, as their breaths mingled.

   "Do we care?", Fred chuckled, his whole chest vibrating against her body.

   He didn't give her a chance to answer, his lips back on hers, as he slightly sucked at her bottom lip. Ruby longed for wrapping her arms around Fred as well, but they still had a grip around the books, so it was Fred pressing her against the wooden door behind her back, and a small squeak of surprise escaped her throat, as his hand found her thighs, lifting her up. Ruby flung her legs around Fred's torso, grinning wildly. This boy for sure knew how to distract her from her troubled mind!

   Ruby closed her eyes as their mouths met once more, suddenly feeling her back loosing the touch of the door behind her as Fred pushed it open. They stumbled into the room, and Fred sat her down on the nearest table, his lips now sucking in the delicate skin on her neck, surely leaving some hickeys on her delicate skin.

   "Fred, stop", Ruby giggled, but throwing her head in her neck, as his soft touch tickled her jawline. "You can't leave lovebites, they'll ask me stupid questions, and Ced will put one and one together."

   "Crap", Fred breathed against her neck. "Nobody will ever find out."

   "Wanna bet on it?"

   Like a bomb between Fred and Ruby had exploded, they bursted apart, frantically searching for the voice's owner.

   Ruby's face was burning, as her eyes landed on the three young Gryffindors; Hermione with her lips parted and a bit more than surprise on her face; Harry looking kind of lost, his eyes widened, scratching the back of his head nervously; and Ron.

   Ron wore a wide crooked grin on his face, his eyes glimming with an expression Ruby usually only knew from the twins.

   "I knew it!", the youngest Weasley Boy laughed. "So you prefer learning alone lately, huh?", he asked Fred, wriggling his eyebrows. "Wanna tell us what it exactly is, Ruby is teaching you?"

   "What the bloody hell are you three even doing in here?", Ruby hissed, trying to hide her embarrassment.

   "Practicing for Harry's task", Hermione replied in a high-pitched voice, and Harry to her left nodded frantically.

   "Seems like this is a rather popular place to practice, isn't it, Ruby?" Ron's grin grew even wider, but Ruby slid down from the table, narrowing her eyes.

   "Ronald Bilius Weasley, stop this stupid grin of yours", Ruby snapped, crossing the room to rim her index finger into Ron's chest. "And don't you dare to talk to me like that!" She watched the younger boy's grin drop. "I had a really horrible week — bullshit, it was a terrible month! And I ain't got the nerve for you acting like a moron right now, so don't you even try to make fun in me, or I curse your arse!"

   "I — I'm sorry?", Ron stammered, his ears turning crimson, as he tilted his head, his face wearing a ridiculous grimace.

   "So what are you still staring, the three of you?!", Ruby spat. "Out now!" Harry almost stumbled over Hermione as he tried to obey Ruby's command. "And don't you dare telling anyone about Fred and I, I swear I make your life a living hell, Ronald!", she yelled after them a second before the door banged shut.

   Taking a deep breath she turned around to Fred, a deep sigh leaving her lips. Fred stared down at her, both eyebrows raised, bug-eyed.

   "What was that?", he asked, his voice awestruck.

   "I — erm — I improvised?", Ruby stuttered, rubbing her neck with still burning cheeks. "Don't know ... That was ... It was —"

   "That was brilliant!", Fred laughed, his mischievous cheshire cat grin dancing on his lips. "I think I love you!"

   And Ruby's heart skipped a beat.

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