MATILDA - fred weasley

Chapter 8

History of Magic and Care of Magical Creatures were particularly boring that day. Professor Binns was recounting the story of how the Goblin War came to happen, which meant the whole class had an extra hour of sleep while he droned on about the story they'd all heard before. Hagrid's classes had become increasingly dull as a result of the case with Malfoy, and Matilda had spent most of her lunch trying to heal the burns on her hands from the Firecrabs Hagrid had made them "look after".

By the time the bell rang signalling class, Matilda had managed to stop the burns from stinging every time she moved her hands but they continued to blister as she made her way to the Defence classroom.

She was fixing the bandage on her hands as she came 'round the corner and – not looking where she was going – ran right into someone's chest. Their books crashed to the ground, a loud bang echoing through the corridor.

Matilda hissed as the contact of the person's jumper stung the exposed skin on her hand. She clutched her hand close to her chest, trying not to make a scene but it really, really stung.

Fred Weasley bent down to pick up their books and went to give Matilda's to her when he saw her hand, "Shit, Diggory!"

"Shut up, Weasel," she said through gritted teeth, glaring at him.

He awkwardly tucked her book back into her bag and then looked concerningly back at her hand, "It was not that bad at the end of class."

Matilda rolled her eyes, "Obviously not. You just ran into me!"

"You're the one who walked around the corner without looking. I was just standing there."

"And why were you standing there?"

"I was trying to remember if I'd forgotten something."

She stared at him.

"Okay, I was looking at that wall to see how much paint I would need to cover it," he answered solemnly, nodding at the wall behind her.

Suddenly, George appeared by his side. He grinned between Matilda and Fred, "Getting along well, dear friends?"

"Yes, we're practically married," Matilda replied sarcastically, pushing past the twins and going into the classroom.

"Did you hear her, Georgie? She said we're practically married!"

"She was definitely kidding, Fred."

"Still!"

Matilda rolled her eyes as their voices carried into the room and went to place her head in her hands, only to yelp as she touched the sensitive skin. She cursed under her breath and conjured more bandages from her wand, wrapping them carefully around her hand.

"Impressive charm."

She looked up to see Professor Lupin.

"Oh, uh - thanks."

"I didn't think Flitwick taught that until Seventh Year?"

"He doesn't," Angelina said, sitting next to Matilda. "Til's just a genius."

Matilda blushed, "I'm not. It's just a...handy spell to know. See?" She pulled the bandage away slightly to show them her burned skin.

"How'd you get that?" Professor Lupin asked, walking to his desk and fiddling around in one of his drawers.

"Fire Crab," Matilda said.

"Did anyone else get burned?" He took something out of the draw and walked back to them.