my best friends brother - fred weasley

liii. ily

Harry and I didn't speak about the conversation we overheard at Slughorn's Christmas party. We had an unspoken agreement to focus all of our energy into the silent feud between Hermione and Ron. During our walk to the Hogwarts Express we swapped between the two, listening to each of them complain about the other, nodding along as though we agree with what they're saying. We all sat in the same compartment but as soon as we set off, Hermione left without a word. We waited for her to get back but after half an hour of watching the snow fall outside the train, Harry decided to start a conversation. 

"Are you sure Snape said 'Unbreakable Vow'?" Ron tried to catch up with what we were telling him. 

"Positive, why?" Harry said, he was curled up on the seat across form us. 

"It just... you can't break and Unbreakable Vow." Ron shrugs. 

"Really? I would never have guessed." I break away from the window to roll my eyes at him, Lavender Brown catches my eye from the other side of the door. "Ron." I nudge his shoulder. 

"Oh, bloody hell." He groans when he sees her. She fogs the window up with her breath and starts drawing with her finger. 

"You're dating a 12 year old Ron." I laugh to myself, watching her in disgust. I notice Harry playing with the chair as we all sit in an awkward silence, waiting for Lavender to leave. Her finger is squeaking on the glass as she draws a heart around her and Ron's initials. 

"Lovely." Harry finally says as she slowly drifts away, trying to look at Ron as long as she can. 

"All she wants to do is snog me! My lips are getting chapped, look!" Ron panic's, leaning closer to Harry. 

"We don't want to hear about all of your snogging, Ron." I say as Harry leans further back into his chair. Our heads all turn to see Hermione staring at the heart that's still drawn onto the door, she turns her nose up at us all and storms off through the carriage. 

"Well..." Harry breaks the silence once again. "What happens if you break an unbreakable vow?"

⊱✿⊰

Hermione left Kings Cross Station without a word to any of us, obviously hurt by Lavenders excessive display of affection to Ron. He spent the rest of the trip complaining about the two of them, Lavender was too clingy and Hermione wasn't clingy enough. Harry and I both stopped listening and just nodded along. We all followed Ginny to Weasley Wizard Wheezes, all trying to ignore how empty and run down it was. There were more broken windows and doors that had been ripped off their hinges than there was t the start of the year. The Death Eaters were making their way through faster and more aggressively than Hogwarts told us. Ginny opened the door to the store, which was surprisingly empty, not even the twins were there. 

"George is letting us use their fireplace." Ginny looked over at Harry, who had obviously forgotten about the Floo Network, as his confused face had suggested. One by one, we stood in the fireplace in the flat above the shop, and were sent to the Burrow. I was the last one to go so I took advantage of the emptiness to snoop around. The flat was lazily decorated, with newspaper clippings and some photographs on the walls, paper work was sprawled across the coffee table, dirty mugs were still in the sink and there were countless knitted blankets spread around the living room. I opened a door on the far right of the room and was welcomed by Fred's bedroom. It was just as messy as his one at the Burrow, and it had the same firewood and cinnamon smell. My curiosity got the best of me and I wandered further in. On his desk I saw the pile of letters I had sent him, each one was worn out as though they had been read hundreds of times over and over again. Next to the pile was a small notebook, it's pages had replies to my letters, Fred's familiar messy handwriting taking up all of the notebooks pages. I bite my lip trying not to grin too hard. I take a final deep breath and make my way back to the fireplace, shutting Fred's door behind me, and sending myself to the Burrow. 

"Ah, you're here!" Molly gushed and waddled over, holding her arms out to embrace me. She squeezed and all I could smell was vanilla and flour from whatever she had been baking. "Go on, get comfortable." She shoo's me up the stairs and I make my way to Ginny's room. Opening the door, I'm welcomed by Fleur Delacour and Ginny arguing over the sleeping arrangement. 

"Clover, tell her that you're sleeping in my bed and she has to sleep on the floor!" Ginny sees me in the doorway. 

"Clover, you don't mind if I sleep in the bed, do you?" Fleurs French accent is significantly fainter since I saw her last. I'm still trying to figure out why she is here. 

"I'm going to go and find..." I slowly back away from the yelling, continuing up. 

"Clover!" George shouts from the bottom of the stairs, looking over the railing I see his massive smile. 

"Hi George, have you seen Fred?" I yell down. 

"Have I seen him? I wish I hadn't, a real stomach churner he is." He starts mumbling, talking about how much better looking he is than Fred. 

"Thanks, George." I roll my eyes and continue on.

"Clover, you took your time to get here." Ron says, stopping me.

"Ron, I would normally love to chat, but I'm kind of occupied at the moment." I huff in is face, nudging him out of the way.

"Oh right, use protection." He chuckles with a wink, earning a slap behind the head. 

"Clover! I was wondering if you-" Harry stands in front of Fred's door, blocking me from turning the handle. 

"Harry!" I groan. 

"She's looking for Fred." A chorus of voices says from behind me. I turn around and Molly, Ginny, Fleur, George, Ron and even Arthur are all watching me.

"What are you all doing?" My face drops in embarrassment by the audience all crowded on the stairs. 

"We're just excited for your reunion." Yet another voice says, this time its coming from above and behind Harry. Looking up I see a red head of course, but he looks older than the rest of the Weasley kids, and a bit more attractive too. He's leaning against the railing, watching me along with everyone else.  "Bill Weasley, oldest." He catches onto my confused stare. 

"Well, are you going to open it?" Arthur chimes in. My stomach flutters as I grab onto the handle, turning it slightly. You could hear a pin drop with the silence, something that the Burrow hasn't had in a while. I lightly push on the door and it swings open. Fred is on the other side in a dark green, velvet suit, the one he wears to work on good days. I just stare up at him, unable to speak or even think now that he's right in front of me. Before I can even think to smile, he cups my face and pulls me into a kiss, bringing me into his room and closing the door. 

"Hey, you two know about my door rule!" Molly shouts from the other side of the door. 

"Mum, you have six kids, I think you two need a door rule." George yells back at her, there's a few murmurs and it sounds like everyone has either left, or is pressed up against the door, trying to listen. 

"Hi." I smile into the kiss, Fred moves us over to his desk, picking me up to place me on it. 

"Hi." He says back, his hot breath on my lips. His thumbs rub against my jaw as he breaks away, looking at me with a big grin. "I missed you."

"I missed you too." I pout, bringing my hands up to the nape of his neck, playing with the ends of his hair. He pecks my bottom lip and stays staring at me, we both try to take in each others presence by just looking and feeling. Even sitting on his desk, I have to tilt my head up to meet his eye line, I'm not sure how many minutes pass where we just stay staring at each other. 

"I'm in love with you, Clover." He says finally, staring straight at me. 

"And I'm in love with you, Fred." I can't help but grin back at him, feeling his shoulders relax from my response.