The Chaser : A Fred Weasley Fan Fic

Thirty: Absurd

"Where did you go last night?" Hermione chimed, beaming across the table at me. My eyes seemed to glaze over as I stared blankly into her bowl of porridge.

My head still felt fuzzy and my own breakfast stood cold and untouched on the table in front of me. I'd been staring into space, my head spinning not just from the hangover but from the events of the night before.

Even in the fog of my brain, I knew his presence was close. He would hear every single word from my mouth, even in a whisper. Hermione meant well but she had a knack for saying everything exactly at the wrong time.

"No where" I questioned, raising my eyebrows at her as though I hadn't the faintest clue what she meant.

"I only asked because I woke up in the early hours of the morning and you were gone" she shrugged, ladling the perfect dollop of mealy sludge on to her spoon.

"Were you with Cassius?" Ginny cut in, her voice sounding bright, far too bright for the aftermath of the Yule Ball. Though I supposed she hadn't snuck in alcohol like the rest of us.

"Of course she wasn't" Hermione scowled, glaring past me to the Slytherin table.

"Why, what happened?"

Taking a deep breath, I shut my eyes, forcing down another squirm in my stomach. I wasn't in any mood to explain what happened. To be honest I'd pushed it to the back of my mind. I'd shut it away in a small box, leaving it to fester until it had to be dealt with. The good had overpowered the bad last night, that was all I could focus on.

"Nothing, he was just a little too forward" I replied, raising my eyebrows at Ginny.

Hermione huffed quietly, as though disappointed I hadn't denounced Cassius and dragged his name through mud. I wanted to. I planned to. But I was still reeling from my conversation with Fred.

Unlike the past few weeks he'd sat near me today. Not pressed as closely as he used to, but enough that I could feel him there. I felt at ease around him again. There was no barrier between us. The only thing left lingering was that nobody knew how we felt about each other. It was our secret.

"How was your night?" Ginny said, looking across at Fred with a wicked glint in her eye. She didn't know. She still acted as though Fred had hell to pay and I relished in it.

"Fine" Fred shrugged, taking a bite of his thickly buttered toast.

"Don't lie" George laughed. I held my breath, waiting for whatever he had to say and hoping that Fred hadn't told him already. "It was rubbish! Angelina had one too many Firewhiskies in her drink and she spent most of the night with her head down the loo. Alicia had to brew her up a remedy just to get it to stop but it took a good few hours and this idiot fell asleep on the sofa waiting"

"I wasn't waiting- Alright, alright, how about Odette?" Fred replied sharply, with a smirk playing on his lips, "She wasn't exactly a barrel of laughs"

George glared at his twin over the top of his cup of tea before sighing deeply.

"She was quite boring. Pretty but not much to say" George said gloomily, "She disappeared with her friends after a while. I didn't even get a peck, instead I spent the evening listening to these two argue"

George motioned to us and Ginny smacked him on the arm, making his tea jump into his lap. George howled loudly at the heat but he quickly whipped out his wand and scourgified his trousers.

"These two have a blazing row and I'm the one getting burnt" George muttered, before aiming his angst in our direction, "I'm surprised you're even sitting next to each other this morning"