The Clown and The Grim

Chapter 26

A week had gone by and still Fred had not spoken to Claire. She missed his voice, no matter how many times she tried to talk to him he always avoided her. When they were in The Great Hall, her eyes would be stuck on him. She almost felt as though she was just getting to know him again. Stealing glances in potions class, making sure she was in the same room at the same time with him, but this time instead of his eyes being full of curiosity and admiration they were cold and distant.

Quidditch was coming up soon, Claire knew she had to push everything out of her mind. The hardest part of this would be, the match was against Gryffindor. She would be flying circles around the one person that would mean the world to her and the cause of all her heartache, while also trying to focus on throwing a ball through a hoop.

The last practice before the match had come to an end. Claire sat on a bench resting her elbows on her thighs, taking a deep breath as she pushed herself off the bench and gathered her things. She crossed over the grass back to the castle. The Gryffindor team passed by her, a familiar laugh filled her ears.

Fred kept his gaze forward, not noticing her eyes following him as he passed by. He took a deep breath and pushed his sweaty red hair back. George glanced at Fred before looking back at Claire giving her an apologetic look before glaring at his brother again.

"Fred, are you ever going to give her a chance to explain?"

Fred flipped the beater bat around in his hand, tossing it in the air and catching it. "I don't know. Even if I did, how could I know if she was telling the truth?"

George grabbed his brother's arm, turning him to look at him. "You will never know if you don't at least talk to her mate."

"Georgie, weren't you the one saying I didn't really know anything about her?" Fred dropped the bat down to his feet before kicking it back up in the air. "Besides drop it, we need to focus on taking them down at the next match."
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Claire sat resting her chin on her hand as Professor Flitwick went over the silencing charm.

"The silencing charm is used to silence any creature or person." The tiny Professor stood on a pile of books as he revisited the charm with the class. "To cast this charm on must simply say 'Silencio'" A small smile drew on Claire's lips as her mind took her back to summer when Fred had used this charm on her.

"Come on, Claire." Fred's words from summer holiday echoed in her memories. She could feel her hair move and it twirled around his finger. "I haven't been able to get to you all summer, let me have a little fun. Not to mention you keep saying I need to practice." She could still feel the heat of his breath, his kiss, his hands on her skin. She shivered as she wiped underneath her eyes forcing the water falling from her eyes to stop. Even the smallest thing reminded her of the short time she spent with Fred Weasley.

Double potions next. An hour and forty-five minutes of Snape and the dark cold dungeons, and also of finally having Fred sit behind her where she didn't have to look at him all the time.

"For today's lesson you will be finishing the Invigorating Draught." Snape's cool tone echoed through the dungeons. "It should take you no more than one hour and a half to finish. The ingredients cabinet is open, you may begin."

Claire retrieved her cauldron, carefully setting it on her table so as to not spill the orange liquid inside before going over to the ingredients cabinet. She grabbed a small vial of honey water and infusion of wormwood.

"Ow." She spoke as she turned around, bumping into something very sturdy and dropping the vial of honeywater. Glass laid in a puddle of water.

"Miss Fienley, please refrain from dropping my ingredients." Snape scowled as he looked at the embarrassed Slytherin girl.

"I'm sorry, Professor." Claire's checks flushed rose as she bent down to pick up the shattered pieces of glass.

"Mr. Weasley, kindly pay attention to where you are going."

Weasley? "Fred?" She whispered.

"Sorry, Professor."

No, not Fred. Wrong voice, similar but not Fred. George bent down, helping Claire with the mess.

"Sorry, Claire." George whispered.

"It's okay. How's Fred?" She chewed on her bottom lip as she inquired about his other half. He wasn't speaking to her though, so she had no one else to ask. She thought maybe if she knew what he was thinking, or how he was feeling maybe it would help her fix this mess.

"He's Fred." It was a simple answer, but Claire assumed that meant he was doing fine. Unlike her, who was collapsing more and more everyday.

Both George and Claire stood, taking their rightful seats again.

George leaned over, "she asked about you." he whispered as he dropped honey water into his cauldron.

Fred didn't look up from the potions book in front of him. Part of him cared, and the other part of him had no feeling about it. He had done his best to attempt to push everything that had happened in the Room of Requirement and the hallway out of his memories. He had never remembered anything like he did the article in the Daily Prophet informing him that his girlfriend's parents were not only Death Eaters, but were locked up in Azkaban up until that day.

"Did she mention why she lied about everything?" Fred flipped the page.

"No, but that's not my business. Also would you tell anyone if our parents were Death Eaters?" George glared at his twin. Fred knew that his brother had a point, he wouldn't want anyone to know that either. Not really something to brag about.

"If I had trusted someone for two years, yes Georgie. I would tell someone that. Especially her." Fred slammed his book closed. "But no. She lied, about more things than one." Fred's voice began to rise in volume slightly, enough to make Claire glance over her shoulder at him.

"I would never lie to someone I cared about." It seemed as though Fred was speaking to his brother, but the reality was he was speaking to Claire and she knew it.

"Fine! I get it!" Claire slammed her hand down on the table as she shouted causing the entire class to glare.

"Miss Fienley, would you like to share something with the class?" Snape raised an eyebrow as he cupped his hands together.

Claire's cheeks turned redder than the Gryffindor crest as she sank sheepishly into her seat. "No, sir."

"Claire's not really one for sharing."

"Freddy!" A look of shock covered George's face.

Claire whirled her head around to glare at Fred. "Not when people act like this after they find out!"

"Enough!" Snape shouted through the classroom. "Detention. Both of you."

"What?!" Claire and Fred's voices married together as they shouted at the exact same moment.

"But Professor-"

Snape put a single hand in the air. "Detention Friday, both of you."