Serpentine ; Fred Weasley

Forty-five

I'm starting school tomorrow.

Help.

-

Waking up the next morning, the house was quiet and calm.

Normally when Carter, Maya and I were all home, the house would be noisy from Carter playing music in his room and Maya screaming at him to turn it down.

Though this morning, everything was quiet and I knew that Carter had come home after I went to bed last night so that made me realise that he ever only played loud music to annoy Maya and get a reaction out of her.

Just the typical older brother behaviour.

Rolling over in my bed, I looked towards the window to see it slightly open with the curtains pulled to each side.

Mum had been in here.

She always did that. In the morning she got up early, cleaned around the house and opened the windows in the bedrooms to get some air in so it wouldn't smell of sleep in here.

It was just annoying that she did the same during the holidays when Fred slept over.

I sat up, staring into my room as I ran a hand into my messy hair. I looked around, my eyes landing on my duvet, and I sighed loudly as I threw it aside, then pulled my legs over the edge of the bed, my bare feet hitting the ice cold floor.

I got ready for the day, took a shower, put on some clothes, did my hair and my makeup and then went downstairs to the kitchen where Carter was making himself some freshly squeezed orange juice.

He glanced at me and smiled.

"Hey Hogwarts dropout." He grinned, going back to focusing on his orange juice. "How was your first night as a free woman?"

"Shove off." I muttered, making my way across the room to where the fridge stood.

"What?" Carter laughed. "Didn't you just drop out two months before your exams? How extremely dumb can you get?"

I ignored him and found some ham in the fridge, opening the package to eat one raw piece and then I put the package back.

Carter leaned back against the counter with his glass of juice, taking a sip as he looked at me.

"Oh, did you drop out for that sweet boyfriend of yours?"

"No, Carter." I said out of annoyance and walked over to grab myself a plate and then a slice of bread so I could make myself some breakfast. "I dropped out for myself."

"Yeah?" He asked. "Well you never seemed to have such impulsive ideas before you started going out with that Fred guy."

I sighed.

"Well, maybe that's because it wasn't until I started dating that Fred guy that I realised that I am my own person and doesn't have to try and be as good as my older brother who apparently is a fucking saint!"

Carter took another sip of his juice as he looked at me.

"...are you alright?"

"No, Carter. I'm not fucking alright!" I snapped. "I came home last night with a hope that mum would be understanding about this whole situation but instead she started comparing me to you. 'Why can't you be more like your brother. He's achieved this and that and you've achieved nothing', I couldn't even make the damn Quidditch team because I fucking suck at everything. I didn't even want to be on the team, I just wanted to proof that if you could do it, so could I. And then I wake up today and I come down here for some breakfast and you're being fucking annoying!"

Carter sighed and looked down at his juice before he placed the glass on the counter, then turned towards me.

"I didn't know you felt that way."

"No of course you didn't." I scoffed. "The only person who cares about me in this family is dad. Mum doesn't see me, Maya can't keep a secret for life and loves getting me into trouble with mum and you... you're just blind because mum and dad are actually proud of you. You take in all of that praise and then you don't give two fucks about me."

"Hey, that's not true." He said. "C'mon. You're my Irish twin. That's what mum always used to call us..."

"Yeah, well we aren't." I said. "Irish twins are born within twelve months of each other and I was born fourteen months after you."

"That doesn't mean shit." Carter scoffed. "Listen, Kai. You're my sister. I love you and I'm sorry if I've been too rough on you. I thought you knew I was just joking around."

"Jokes are fine as long as they are fun for both parts." I said. "And when you constantly joke around, it's starting to become boring and offensive."

Carter didn't say anything at first. I grabbed any plate and walked over to the table to sit down, then took a bite of the sandwich I had made.

"Hey, I'm sorry." Carter said. "I really am. I never meant to make you feel like this."

He took his glass of orange juice and joined me by the table.

"I think it's nice you had the guts to drop out and stand face to face with mum after she found out." He said. "I wouldn't be able to do that. You're a lot stronger mentally than I am, and you've got more willpower too. Heck, I just got a job at the ministry to settle with something stable and according to dad, you're out here wanting to open a bookshop which is also something you need courage and willpower to do."

I stared at my brother.

I knew he was trying to cheer me up. It was kind of sweet but on the other hand he had never been this sweet so to me, it was a little suspicious.

"What're you up to?" I asked, which caused his eyebrows to fall into a frown.

"What do you mean?" He asked. "I'm trying to make sure you know that I love you and I appreciate you."

"You've never done that."

"Well, I'm doing it now." He shrugged. "I don't want you walking around, thinking I don't care, because I do. I care about you, I care about Maya... you're my sisters."

I took another bite of my sandwich while looking at Carter.

He seemed genuine.

I looked down at my food before I looked towards the window as an owl showed up and a second later, mum was rushing through the kitchen to let it in and take the letter from it.

"Who's it from, mum?" Carter asked as mum turned the letter over in her hand.

"Felix." She said with a confused tone to her voice and I frowned as I sat at up a bit straighter.

She ripped the envelope open before she pulled out a letter and something that looked like a picture.

One look at the picture and my mum gasped audibly, supporting her weight on the counter and then she let the picture drop to the surface.

She clamped a hand over her mouth and then looked at me with almost sorrow in her eyes.

With confusion, I got up and made my way over, grabbing the photo and when I saw it, my heart dropped.

It was an exact copy of the photo Felix had stolen from Fred.

He had duplicated it.

My mum didn't even know I was having sex and now she had seen a pornographic picture of me.

"Pack your things." Mum said, eyes full of tears, causing me to look at her with my eyes wide. "I want you out of here."

Then she turned around and left the kitchen while I stared down at the picture, breaking into tears as I tore it up into as many pieces as I could.

"Mum!" Carter called, following her out of the kitchen. "You can't kick her out!"

I leaned against the counter, crying my eyes out as I felt my world crumble around me.

Felix was determined to ruin my life because I didn't want to be with him, and my mum had officially kicked me out of home.