Playing It Safe {Fred Weasley x Reader}

{19}

- - Edited - -

A week later and I am finally released from the hospital wing. After a lot of convincing, and possibly bribing, Madame Pomfrey and Dumbledore decided it would be alright for me to attend the second task. That was of course, as long as I had someone by my side watching over me. I didn't want to be babysat, but if I wanted to go then it was the only way.

I didn't know who they asked to escort me to the task until the morning of, when I carefully made my way down the stairs to the Gryffindor common room dressed in a cozy maroon sweater and jeans. 

Fred turned to face me.

I managed to keep the surprise and slight guilt and nervousness under control and not let them show on my face. It was hard to read his own expression, a mixture of concentrated calmness and perhaps a bit of worry.

I clear my throat awkwardly.

"Hey."

He presses his lips together, rocking back onto his heels. 

"Hey. You ready to head down to the lake?" His voice is so neutral and so unlike him that it almost scares me.

"The lake?" I question.

"Yeah, it's where the task is being held." 

"Oh."

We don't talk the whole way down to the docks, but when we snatch a rowboat and make our way towards the observing platforms in the middle of the water, he speaks up.

"I'm sorry. For acting the way I did, in the hospital wing." He states quietly while rowing.

"Please don't apologize," I sigh. "It's fine. I don't blame you."

"No Y/N." His voice is suddenly hard. He stops rowing. I look up, startled by the intensity in his eyes.

"I had no right to talk to you like that, or to try and force you into giving me information that you want to keep to yourself. I shouldn't have kissed you, not when you were bloody lying in a hospital bed. I shouldn't have pulled away and made it seem like I was scared of whatever is going on."

He lets go of the oars and grabs my hands as we drift off in the slight breeze and current. 

"The night of the Yule Ball meant a lot to me. And I'm not going to give that up, and everything else that has happened between us this year, because of a secret that isn't mine to know. You deserve to be able to keep personal things to yourself without question, and I'm sorry for ever trying to take that away from you."

His eyes are sparkling with meaning. His tone is that of a gentle but firm plea. He means this. He means all of it.

And I don't know what to do with that.

"I'm sorry. And I'm not giving up on you, on this." He motions between us. "Okay?"

I open my mouth to speak but he doesn't let me. he leans forward and presses his mouth to mine in a single, firm kiss. He pulls away and grabs the oars, beginning to continue towards the observing platforms, where I am sure the task has already started by now.

I am too stunned to say anything else. I can't even organize my thoughts to form a complete sentence. I can only think of two words, two words that are running through my mind over and over and over again.

Fred. Weasley.

We don't speak again until we make it to the platforms, where he offers me his hand and helps me out of the boat. He leads me up the stairs slowly, as I am still considered under watch, until we reach the topmost level and join our friends.