"Hermione?"
Rapunzel's voice was hardly a whisper, gazing down in horror at her friend; skin pale and eyes unblinking, frozen in time. Her fingers were curled in the air, as if she had been clutching something moments before.
Rapunzel stepped towards the cot, placing her fingers over Hermione's wrist. Her skin was cold, but she could feel her pulse and hear the blood pumping through her body; albeit slower than it should've been.
A hand on her shoulder, Rapunzel looked to see McGonagall standing beside her. Her mouth was drawn into a thin, stern line but her eyes told a different story; apologetic and fearful.
"I'm sorry, Miss Lupin." McGonagall sighed. She sounded so tired. "I'm sorry that we haven't caught whoever is doing this."
Rapunzel sniffled, leaning into McGonagall's side. She felt McGonagall still for a moment before accepting it, arm now coming to wrap around Rapunzel's shoulders. Pascal let out a whimper from his place in the front pocket of her robes, snuggling against Rapunzel reassuringly as he turned a deep blue.
"I'm sorry too." She muttered, but McGonagall caught it.
"Whatever for?"
Rapunzel looked up at McGonagall, eyes red and wet from crying, lower lip quivering.
"For not stopping it."
~*~
Hermione's petrification set something off in Rapunzel, giving her the burst of motivation she needed to start digging into the history of Hogwarts; the facts not included in the history books.
She found herself distancing from her friends, spending long hours in the library, sneaking into the restricted section and devouring book after book until her eyelids grew heavy; and even then she wouldn't stop.
Her friends noticed the change too, although Harry and Ron were a bit preoccupied with their own investigation, and weren't quite as bothered.
Fred and George, however, were a bit concerned.
Rapunzel had gone from reclusive and anxious to warm and smiling over the course of a very long year, only to become distant and wary near the end of it. It was such a drastic switch that it frightened the twins.
They did everything in their power to try and get Rapunzel to laugh, but nothing worked, she was too focused on...well, whatever she was doing. Fred even intentionally fell off his broom once in the hopes it would make her laugh.
It did make her snicker a little when she realized he wasn't actually hurt, but it never lasted. They didn't give up though.
"Hey, Blondie."
Rapunzel glanced up for a moment, seeing Fred and George approaching her table in the library, before her eyes became glued to her book again. Pascal nudged her hand to get her to put down the book, but it didn't work.
The boys pulled up chairs, sitting on either side of her, sandwiching her in the middle; partly because they wanted to see what she was reading, partly so she couldn't ignore them.
Rapunzel looked a little rough, dark circles beneath her eyes, the bright green of her iris' seemed a little duller lately. Her golden hair, tied back in thick, twin plaits was messy; strands falling from the front that she kept having to tuck back.
"What're you reading?" George pressed, squinting at the book. Too many words, couldn't sit there and read it that long or he'd lose his mind.
"A book." Rapunzel replied dryly, not intentionally, she just didn't seem to be fully there in the conversation.
YOU ARE READING
LUCKY FLOWER||FRED WEASLEY {REWRITING/MOVED}
Fanfiction"Wait, your name is Rapunzel? Like-" "The fairytale princess, yes." Rapunzel was named after a storybook princess, and for good reason. Born with the ability to heal those with her own hair that grew very long very quickly, it's no surprise her pare...
