Falling Slowly (A Hogwarts Lovestory) - Fred Weasley Fanfiction

03 | Hide and Seek

My fingers were drumming impatiently against the small diary that was placed in front of me on the Gryffindor table in the Great Hall. It was more a collection of songs than a real diary, a little note book where I collected all the lyric ideas that seem to appear in my head in the most untimely situations. I kept it with me all the time since it was very personal. That's why I called it a diary, I mean, aren't a musicians songs the most direct connection to his heart?

My friends were sitting next to me but they weren't noticing me at all. I was used to that kind of behavior and totally okay with it. It was the morning before the Quidditch game. Gryffindor against Slytherin. The days of a game have always been like this the past years.

It was not like I didn't care about Quidditch, in fact, I did. I was just the only one of my clique that never had the ambitions to be a player on her own. So I sat there, flicking through my diary, while Alicia and Angelina were discussing game moves and new strategies they had practiced. It seemed like they were making Katie all nervous, she sat with us today and I noticed she didn't eat a thing for breakfast. It was her first game as a chaser of the Gryffindor team today.
Everyone has made their hopes up for this game. Oliver Wood has trained the, to use his own modest words, best team that Gryffindor had showed for decades. With Katie as the new chaser and Harry Potter as the new seeker, the Gryffindors hoped to finally have a real chance to win the Hogwarts Quidditch Cup.

"Are you ready, ladies?", I heard a familiar voice say and someone took place next to me.
"This is it!", another voice, that sounded almost exactly like the first one, added. "We will make the Slytherin team look like total-"
"EHRM", somebody interrupted. That somebody was no other than Professor Snape, the head of the Slytherin House.
"You may better get ready, Mr Weasley", Snape said slowly, but there was not a touch of kindness in his voice, "unless you want to see yourself suspended right before the game begins. Or do you rather prefer to finish your sentence?"
George was just opening his mouth to reply something and I felt everbody at the table expecting the worst, as I decided to interrupt.
"Excuse me, Professor? I wanted to ask you a question about your last potions lesson all week and now that you are standing right next to me seems to me like the perfect moment", I stood up and smiled at him with the brightest smile I was capable of, considering it was still Snape I had to smile at.
"Miss Daniels-", he began, but I wouldn't let him continue.
"The daisy roots you used, do they have to be freshly picked or did you use dried ones? I can't remember but I don't know how to learn for the final exam if I don't get this highly important information right."
I saw Snapes eyes focussing me and watched his facial expression darken, but more importantly, I saw my friends and the twins sneak out of this tense situation and leaving into the direction of the Quidditch field.
"Miss Daniels. You are obviously not paying attention in my class or otherwise you would have known that daisy roots always have to be fresh and not longer than 3 hours not touched with soil, which makes it so hard to use them in potions. You will get this information right in an essay of no less than 15 pages. And twenty points from Gryffindor. Not only for not paying attention in my class, but also for thinking you are so smart you could distract me from other students who need to be punished for bad behavior. The essay will be ready tomorrow evening or otherwise I will take another twenty points from Gryffindor. Enjoy the game."
He turned around and left.

15 pages! Great. I knew I'd better start immediately but I wanted to watch the game which rescue had cost me twenty points for my house and at least one sleepless night. I stowed my diary away in my bag, let one last piece of those delicious peanut butter chocolate chip breakfast scones slip into my mouth and headed off to the Quidditch field.
I hoped to be there early so I could sit next to Hermione. She was the only one I could think of to help me find enough facts about the use of daisy roots in potions to fill 15 pages of parchment paper.

But during the following Quidditch match I did not spent one second thinking about Professor Snapes detention. I never watched a game that thrilling and Hermione had to stop me from biting my nails several times.
Watching my friends play and maneuver elegantly on their broomsticks through the air was pure enjoyment to me and I couldn't even say anything negative about the twins. Their performance in Quidditch was outstanding.
Oliver Wood got fouled by the opposing team, but even without a keeper the Gryffindor team won. Harry Potter truly was a brilliant seeker, he didn't even fell down when Snape tried to bewitch him.
Hermione told me, he had it in for Harry somehow since he got first sight of him. I couldn't hate Snape more this day and Hermiones words suddenly reminded me of his punishment that would keep me up all night.
I sighed and while all other Gryffindor students made their way through to the field to congratulate Harry and the others, I set off back to the Gryffindor tower, knowing it would be a long time until I could finally go to bed.

The party went on in the Gryffindor common room. Even Gryffindor's ghosts celebrated with the team and I could've sworn I saw a glass of sparkling wine in the Fat Lady's hands.
I on the other hand sat in the quietest corner I could find, a bunch of parchment paper and all the herbology books I could find in the school library in front of me. I knew I probably could work more concentrated up in my dorm, but I didn't want to miss the whole party. Because even if nobody knew, I kind of was a little bit responsible for the great game result tonight, since I kept Professor Snape from suspending Gryffindors best players.
I smiled at that thought, I always liked it better to be a part of everything in the background without drawing all attention to me.

"Tell me", I heard someone say behind me. The voice sounded familiar, but not the kind tone of it, "why is Julie Daniels sitting here all alone in the corner instead of celebrating with us? I mean, without you, at least my brother would have been in Snapes detention today instead of playing."
I turned my head around and looked in Fred's exceptionally kind smile. His hazel eyes were hard to read.
"Thank you for that, Daniels."
I didn't say anything at first, so he turned around and headed back to the party.
"You know, Weasley", I called after him and he turned in my direction again, now with the usual grin on his face, "you can call me by my first name, you know that, right?"
He laughed.
"I do know that, Daniels. It's just that I thought you liked being called that way."
I raised my eyebrows.
"Anyway", he continued. "Thanks again. That was pretty cool of you. I hope you get it back on Snape with whatever he has made you write there."
He nodded in the direction of my work on daisy roots and I glanced at him surprisingly. It felt strange to have a nice talk with Fred Weasley.
"It was totally worth it. You guys were great at the match today. And it's not as bad as it looks. I mean, I just read in Goshawk's Guide to Herbology about a nauseating effect of daisy roots and how you can control the duration of its effect by the time of cooking and the temperature of a special non-aqueous cooking liquid. I'm sure I will never make use of this information again but now it's stuck in my head for like a lifetime."
Fred laughed.
"Well, who would have thought how many-sided an unimpressive little plant like a daisy could be? And I wouldn't worry about the use of the information, you never know. Sounds useful to me, though. Controlling the time of vomitting could be an easy way out of a lame class. Maybe hide one little piece of daisy root in a piece of candy in your next potions class. I bet you will be out there before Snape can say daisy root."
"Seems like I brought up a rewarding idea in your mind, Weasley", I kept on playing his little last-name-game.
He winked mischievously at me.
"I'm heading back to the party now. Good luck with your essay. You can always come to me if you find out any more helpful qualities of daisies. Oh, and, Daniels?"
"Yeah?"
"Next time you're angry with me you don't need to hide and ignore me until I incidentally show up next to you at breakfast."
"Or", I answered, "if you want to talk to me, you have to get better at seeking."
He didn't respond to that, but he grinned.
"Good night, Julie. See you around."

Later at night, long after the party was over, I had finally finished 15 full pages about nonsense information that nobody, and certainly not even Fred Weasley and his preposterous ideas of some puking pastilles, would ever made use of ever again.
I fell in my bed right away, tired of this exhausting day. My last thoughts before I fell asleep revolved around how I should not judge anyone before I had had a real conversation with him and I dreamed of cinnamon buns and brown eyes showing me the way to them.

Can you see me count to three
No I won't play your hide and seek
See you dancing in the dark
- Little May