Diving Into You | Fred Weasley

60 | Out of the depths

Naia had not been herself for weeks.

She was closely starting to resemble an empty shell, and refused to talk about the loss of her gift. She couldn't expect anyone to understand. They didn't know what it was like to lose something that has always been a part of you.

Whenever her mother, Sirius, or Fred tried coaxing her to talk about her feelings, she would snap and shut them out. They had given up after she set an Imperturbable charm on her door after Matty and Maria's attempt at an intervention. Naia was not having any of it.

It was a painful sight for Fred to see. Frustration bubbled inside him whenever she refused to talk to him. But for the past few days it's grown more than that. Naia seemed to be unable to even look at him, and it was driving him insane. They bickered constantly over her wellbeing, sometimes ending in screaming matches that had him hanging his head in frustration as she locked herself away in her room.

The only time she would willingly accept his comfort was when she needed it the most in the dead hours of the night.

"Not him! Please!" Painful screams would wake the residents of the burrow. "Stop! Kill me! Don't touch him, kill me instead!"

They were so terrifying that when the nightmares first began, everyone at the burrow exited their rooms with wands drawn defensively, looking for an attack. Fred raced to Naia's room with Sirius and Charlie only to find her thrashing and crying out in her sleep.

"Naia! Naia, wake up, love!" Fred shook her, holding her wrists still and gathering her into his arms. She awoke in a sweat and burst into tears immediately at the sight of his face, "Fred! Fred... you're here-"

"I'm here, love. It was just a dream. You're safe." He cooed, burying her head in his neck as he rocked her gently. Emmaline, Sirius, and the others watched in concern from the doorway before Fred waved them off as he soothed her back to sleep.

The next morning, she would always wake up and avoid him, as if embarrassed for what she had done the night before. He told her a thousand times that he would be there for her, and that perhaps it would be better if she slept with him in his room. But she refused, preferring the privacy of her own room as she grieved for the part of herself that she lost.

The dreams were usually of Fred's torture. That faithful night she let the killing curse kill her off instead. But one night, the dreams shifted.

"No! I'm sorry!" her cries woke him up once more like they always did for the past week. "I didn't mean to! I didn't mean to!" she cried desperately just as Fred barged in her room again. He gathered the witch in his arms, his own magic tugging at his chest as usual whenever he did so.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry! Come back, please! Come back..."

"Bunny, wake up. It's me. Hey, Fred's here, bun, wake up." He soothed. She jolted awake and stared at his tired face before crying softly into his neck, clutching onto his shirt for dear life.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry," she kept mumbling into his skin, Fred shushed and rocked her gently, soothing her back. "You have nothing to be sorry for, love"

"All my fault-"

"Nonesense, don't say that-"

"It is! It's all my fault! They all hate me," her lip quivered. "I lost the ancient magic. They all hate me, Fred. All my ancestors. My mother- " she hiccuped, "-died for nothing protecting me if I just lost it-"

"Don't think that way. She died because you were her daughter and she wanted to protect you."

"I put her in danger in the first place because of what I am. And now I don't even have that advantage anymore... useless, wasted it, lost it-"