𝐄𝐍𝐃𝐋𝐄𝐒𝐒 | f. w

xxxi. hell on earth*

chapter thirty-one
HELL ON EARTH

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This chapter contains mentions of torture, blood, and emotional trauma. Please read with caution.

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» » FRED DIDN'T GET FAR before he ran into a frantic Cerise. He was apparating to Hogsmeade—the Three Broomsticks—when he caught sight of a short, strawberry haired girl with a jacket two sizes too big on her. He had tried to run the other way, hoping to make himself unseen, but she had already spotted him walking alone up the alleyway. Besides, he didn't exactly look like he was there to simply enjoy a pint of beer by himself, in fact he looked far too suspicious to be out there on his own. So when Cerise caught sight of him, she didn't exactly shy away from interrogating him about it.

"Fred?", she spoke up, and an already too stressed out and frustrated Fred, was forced to turn around and acknowledge her. "Is that you? I've been trying to reach you for ages. What's going on? You okay?", she kept on going, and the redhead found himself losing more and more of what little patience he had left. As if he wasn't already too occupied with finding out where Edith had been taken, now he had to face the wrath of his so called 'girlfriend' too.

Cerise and Fred hadn't gone so far as to make their relationship official. They had been on a fair share of dates, they'd kissed before and she'd been invited to stay over at his place a few times, but they never took it further than that. No, Fred could never go through with sleeping with her, despite how close they'd gotten to doing it. He couldn't bring himself to do anything other than give her a good nights kiss that one time, and it all came down to the fact that she simply wasn't Edith.

No, she could never hold a candle to the stubborn, hot headed brunette with terribly selective humour and a heart of pure gold.

He wasn't in love with Cerise, after all.

He was in love with Edith, and he couldn't fool anyone to think otherwise.

So when he stopped answering Cerise's letters, stopped inviting her over and started ignoring her instead, Cerise had quickly caught on on what was happening. But that didn't mean she was willing to accept that the guy she was seeing, had his eyes on someone else.

"Cerise. Hi. Look I really can't stay and chat I—", Fred tried explaining himself, rambling on as he continued to walk briskly up the road. He couldn't help but let out an exasperated sigh upon hearing her footsteps trudge after him.

"Look, I know we haven't really gone out for that long, but I was hoping you'd at least feel comfortable enough to talk to me, you know?".

Fred was trying his hardest to zone her out, letting his heart guide him to where he needed to be. If he was going to find Edith, he had to quicken his pace, he thought, and Cerise was only slowing him down.

So he didn't say much, instead huffing and breathing heavily as he kept on walking. Soon enough, they'd both reached the very end of the street, looking up at a sign reading 'the Three Broomsticks'.

Cerise, who was still rambling on about how she wished Fred would simply explain his recent behaviour to her, was surprised to see that he had slipped inside, leaving her alone once more.