Falling Slowly (A Hogwarts Lovestory) - Fred Weasley Fanfiction

06 | I Don't Have to See You Right Now

Oliver and I developed a little routine where we used to go for a walk everytime after Quidditch training. I would sit on the tribun and watch their training and then would come down to them afterwards. Angelina, Alicia and even Katie Bell would glance at me sideways (I would have to tell them every little detail before we'd go to bed later at night) and Oliver would greet me with a kiss on my cheeks. I would chat a little bit with Harry every now and then as we found out we had a lot in common. We both tried to avoid talking about our life before Hogwarts and still felt a little awkward in the magical world from time to time. Somehow we bounded over our past, but I couldn't get rid of the feeling that there was still something more to it.

My friends fondly called me the Gryffindor Quidditch mascot, but obviously not everyone felt that way about me. George Weasley leastways greeted me when I visited them at the field, but his twin brother, however, pretended I wasn't even there. But why would I care, he was being rude to me almost every single time since we both got accepted at Hogwarts three years ago.
Oliver on the other hand treated me with respect and patience.
During our frequent walks around the castle, he told me all about how it was growing up in a small village near Glasgow. His accent was rather cute and I enjoyed listening to his stories. When he smiled at me, I felt butterflies moving all over my body and when he accidentally touched my arm it felt like their little wings tickled me softly on my skin.

Several weeks passed like this.

One night on our way back to the castle, shortly before we entered the Gryffindor common room, he took my hand, gently pulled me closer to him and kissed me softly on my lips. A feeling of pure happiness washed over me like a fountain of sparkling water.
"I'm sorry to interrupt, darlings, but would you step aside a little bit, please? You're not the only ones who want to enter the common room, apparently", we heard the Fat Lady's voice say. She sounded a little annoyed.
Slightly embarassed we stopped kissing and stepped aside and I watched Oliver's face turn crimson. We turned around to see whose access to the portrayal we were blocking and it was no other then Fred and George Weasley. Did I say Oliver's face turned red? Compared to Fred's face, he was pale as a ghost.
"Oh, so sorry guys! We didn't... didn't hear you coming", Oliver said ashamed. "See you later in the common room?"
"Yeah, whatever, mate", Fred replied angrily, nearly shouted the password to the portrait and disappeared through the hole in the wall that was hidden behind it without even looking at me. George however gave me a long glance I was unable to read, said good night to us and followed his brother inside. The door closed loudly behind them.
Oliver looked irritated.
"Maybe I was pushing them too hard on the field today?", he wondered.
"Yeah...", I mumbled. "That must be it."

I couldn't get much sleep that night. When I told my friends about what happened, I ended the story at the kiss in front of the portrayal. This occured to me like the right ending to that story. As expected, my friends were comletely out of their minds. They wanted me to share every little detail about the kiss, from the shape of Oliver's lips to where he put his hands when he kissed me and I was relieved I had the possibility to concentrate on Oliver more than on Fred for even a little while.

But later, long after the other girls had fallen asleep, I couldn't pretend I didn't feel guilty anymore. Because I did. I felt the guilt deep in my stomach and I wasn't able to lie to myself anymore. Fred Weasley's reaction today (and during the last weeks) mattered more to me than I wanted to admit. A part of me, and now I realized how big that part actually was, wished that the reason for Fred's anger today was jealousy instead of exhaustion.
I know I wasn't being fair to Oliver. I had to make a decision.

The next day, at breakfast, I went straight over to where the older Gryffindor students were sitting.
"Hey", Oliver's warm smile greeted me.
"Hey."
His friends stopped talking and started watching us instead.
"So", I began slowly. "About yesterday."
Oliver turned to his friends.
"Guys, could you give us some privacy?"
"Oh, no, they can stay", I said hastily. "I just wanted to make something clear. So... you're my boyfriend now?"
Oliver glanced at me surprised but then a bright smile appeared on his face. He laughed happily.
"You don't know how happy you make me right now, Julie. Of course I am your boyfriend! Do you want to meet up after training tonight?"
"Great", I said. "But can we please meet up somewhere else this time? I don't want to... disturb your training sessions any more."
"Yeah, sure", he answered understandingly as always but he didn't get suspicious. I felt relieved.
"I'll pick you up at the Great Hall after dinner, okay?"
"Yeah, fine." I kissed him goodbye.
First thing of my today's list was done. Now the harder part began, but I had no doubt I had made the right choice.

With all my courage I walked over to the other side of the Gryffindor table. I stopped right in front of the Weasley twins. George was just filling up his plate with scrambled eggs, but he stopped when I appeared and watched me expectantly. Fred, as always, totally ignored my appearance.
"Morning, Julie. Good to see you again, do you want to join us during breakfast?", George asked kindly. It was a shame he and his brother looked so much alike but had such a different understanding of the word kindness.
"Actually, George, I'd like to have a word with your brother. Could you give us a moment?", I returned Georges kind smile, even if I was rebelling on the inside.
"Of course. Come on, Lee, let's go visit Harry and Ron over there", George said and stood up.
Fred, wo has starred stiffly at his french toast, lifted his head.
"You can stay here, George. Julie and I are going to talk outside, right, Daniels?"
I noticed he used my last name again but I didn't say anything and followed him out instead.

"So, Daniels, what do you want from me?", Fred asked harshly as we were standing next to the little garden in front of the castle. He eyed me angrily.
"I want to apologize to you for what I said to you recently during the DADA lesson. I didn't mean it that way. You don't make me nauseous."
He raised his eyebrows and I noticed how his typical pretentious smile started spreading over his face, so I continued.
"But, Fred, I don't want you to treat me the way you're treating me right now. I didn't do anything to you and if I did anyway, I'm sorry. I never meant to upset you.
See", my voice broke, "I am dating Oliver now and I don't want any childish mood to get in the middle of that. I honestly thought we could become friends after the latest Quidditch game, but obviously, we can't. I'd prefer to chose friends that don't ignore me for no reason."
I handed him over the note I found inside of the little bag of daisy roots that he gave me as a present.
"I'm giving this back to you. I already threw away the roots as I couldn't stand the smell anymore, but I kept the note because I thought it meant something to me. But now I realized that it doesn't."
When I finished the little speech I prepared, I turned my back at him rapidly and walked back inside the castle. I couldn't stand to look him in the eyes and neither wanted him to see the tears in mine.

Digging like you can bury
Something that cannot die
We could wash the dirt off our hands now
Keep it from living underground
- Local Natives