Feather - Fred Weasley X Reader [[ON HOLD]]

VI

PUBLISHED: 31/12/2022
A letter is written, and a trip to the Hut is had
READER'S POV

Adrian and I sat side by side at a table in the library as we figured out what to write. Many people were looking at us oddly, Madam Pince included. I couldn't blame them, Slytherin students barely has any inter-House friendships, liking to keep within their own House. A friendship with a Gryffindor, however? Unheard of.

"So, you write about your first day in classes and tell her about how I went through the stairs and how it scared you so and how I'm unable to take the stairs anymore." I advised him, "Add in that this stressed you immensely and so forth."

Adrian nodded, and grabbed his quill and dipped it into his ink pot, letting the excess drip off before placing it on his parchment.

"'Dear Mother,'" He dictated as he wrote, his quill gliding gracefully across the parchment.

"Can't you call her Mum?" I asked, cocking a brow, "Mother sounds cold."

"It's the pureblood way," He waved me off, "Anyway, 'Dear Mother,
My first day at Hogwarts went well, for the most part. I am roomed with other, well-raised pureblood boys in my dorm, and we sit together in our classes. I see my relatives when I can. However, during Herbology, Professor Sprout paired us Slytherins up with someone in Gryffindor House to go on a scavenger hunt with. I was paired with the Groundskeeper's daughter, (Y/N) Hagrid. She is very kind and gave me all of her spare Chocolate Frog cards, and set up a chance for me to trade with others and get doubles off of them. During our scavenger hunt, she went through a fake stair on the staircase. I had to levitate her onto the real stairs. It frightened us both. She was scared she was going to fall to her death-"

"-And I will be seeing this situation in my worst nightmares." I supplied, making Adrian grin.

"I will be seeing this situation in my worst nightmares. Due to her incident on the stairs, she now cannot use the main staircases due to the unpleasant memories, and the physical pain it brings her, and has to use Filch's corridors to go to and fro classes, which embarrasses her greatly. She is worried that she may get bullied. She has informed me that Dumbledore refuses to change the stairs, which worries her as she is nervous that other students may fall through the stairs as she did and go through her horrid experience. I would like your advice on how to support my colleague, and any help you can give us in this matter will be greatly appreciated. I hope you and the rest of the household are well.

Love,
Adrian." He finished, placing his quill down and putting the lid back on his ink pot.

I nodded with a grin, "Sounds good."

"Let's go send it." He stated, getting up from his seat and gathering his stuff, then carefully folding the parchment up, then placing it in an envelope which already had his address printed on it.

"Actually, I have to go get something from the Hut, I'll catch up with you sometime later," I objected as I got up, and walked out of the library, waving goodbye.

•••

I now stood in the living room of the Hut with Fred. I had asked him for his help carrying stuff so I could talk to him and about why he stormed off. He was looking around the room, taking it all in. I felt embarrassed. It wasn't nearly as nice as the Burrow.

"What do you think?" I asked him uneasily, shifting from foot to foot and fiddling with my bracelets.

Miffy came up to him and rubbed herself against his legs, purring deeply. He leaned down and picked her up with ease.

"I like it." He affirmed, "It's nice – homely."

"Are you just saying that to be nice?" I prodded, walking into my room and grabbing my bag, then grabbing my sack of lollies and shoving that into my bag.

"No, I really do like it. It's warm, and it feels like a home." Fred insisted when I reappeared in the main room.

"You promise?" I asked shyly, fiddling with my bracelets.

"I promise." He affirmed with a grin, making me smile and look away.

I let out a breath that I didn't know I was holding, happy that he liked my house. He was now looking at some of the photos littering the walls.

I pointed to a picture of me as a toddler popping out of Da's pocket, "That was me the first day he got me. I would only sleep in Da's pockets."

He chuckled, then moved on to another photo.

"I loved sittin' in his boots, too." I added, watching him chuckle at a photo of me eating watermelon as I sat in Da's boot, Da sitting on the step behind me smiling down at me.

"That's the outside of the Hut!" He exclaimed quietly, eyeing the photo closely.

I gave a quiet 'mhm' as he put Miffy down carefully.

"Can I carry something? Here, pass me your rucksack," He commanded lightly, plucking it from my grip, "All set? Let's hurry, I want to be one of the first to dinner, we've got detention straight after."

I laughed at the red haired boy as we exited the Hut, Miffy and Fang following. We walked in a comfortable silence up to the castle. I took the lead as we walked back up the the Gryffindor Tower using the hidden corridors. I stopped Fred before he exited the corridor, though.

A familiar pain started in my shoulder blades, "Freddie – why did you storm off earlier on today?"

He huffed, "Why does it matter?"

"Because you haven't ever done it before!" I burst out, before calming myself, "Did I do something wrong?"

His expression softened, "No, it's not you – it's that Slytherin you hang around, I don't like him – he's too nice to you!"

I furrowed my brows in confusion and tilted my head, "Isn't that a good thing?"

"No – He's a Slytherin, our rival, and he has no reason to be nice to you," Fred explained, scowling.

"Maybe he's nice to me because he saved me life, Fred!" I yelled throwing my arms up in exasperation, "Why do you have such a problem with him!"

"I have such a problem with him because you promised that we would spend our first afternoon at Hogwarts together, but instead this little snake stole you away from me – and George!" Fred snapped, his face red, "I even got a whole new Exploding Snap deck for us in Diagon Alley to play with out of the money I was going to send with Charlie so he could buy me some stuff from Hogsmeade, but instead you decided to spend your afternoon with a pillock who doesn't even like us, who would think, if you never ever got paired with him this morning, that you were the dirt beneath his shoes!"

My face dropped. Oh. I did promise him and George that I would spend my first afternoon with them, back at the Burrow. My mind just got muddled after everything that happened today. I was a terrible friend.

"I'll give your stuff to Angelina or Alicia to take up to your dorm, and ask them to walk with you up the stairs." He mumbled as he pushed the portrait covering the corridor exit, Miffy and Fang following him out as I stood still, like an idiot, with my shoulder blades throbbing in pain.

§§§

Freddie 🥺🥺

Love y'all ❤️