Towers - Fred Weasley

51

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EBONY WAS ASKED ABOUT DETENTION TE NEXT MORNING. She had sat down at the Gryffindor table near Harry and his friends and was asked by Lee how the pink toad had handled it. She shares a quick look with Harry who subtly shakes his head back at her. She hummed.

"It went well. . . just copying some lines." Again, she found Fred squinting his eyes at her. He doesn't seem to believe anything she says anymore and she couldn't blame him. 

After breakfast, he took her hand and dragged her to one of the hidden passageways of the castle. He didn't care that they were missing potions. There are currently more important things to handle, his girlfriend for example.

"I know you don't want to talk about it, darling but I'm worried about you." Fred says softly while gently rubbing his thumb on the back of her hand. "I love you and don't want you to suffer alone." Ebony takes a deep breath and nods.

"There's this um. . . this new portrait in the corridor of the Hufflepuff common room." Ebony swallows and looks down. "They hung up Cedric. He talked to me." She reaches her free hand up and wipes away the tears. "I can't handle that." 

"I didn't know." Fred mumbles softly. "Why would Dumbledore do that?" Ebony shrugs.

"Also, Umbridge is terrible." Fred frowns at her words. She pulls her sleeve up and reveals the red mark on the back of her hand.

"WHAT?!" Fred carefully takes her hand in his and looks down at the bloody text. "Why did she think this was okay?"

"I'm fine. The pain made me forget Cedric for a minute." 

Fred looks up at her through hooded eyes. He can't believe what he had just heard, his gaze continues to burn inside of her. 

"What?" Fred asks softly. "Please don't hurt yourself because it makes other pain less." Ebony shakes her head softly.

"I wasn't going to, Freddie. I just try to make it okay that I just got cut by a cursed quill." 

"We have to do something about this. Umbridge is awful and won't stop as long as she continues to have the power of speech." Ebony smiles softly. "What?"

"You're cute." She whispers. "I suddenly got reminded why I love you so much." Fred smiles at her and wraps his arms around her. She closes her eyes and breathes in the smell of his sweater. "You know, life is a lot easier to endure when I have you here with me."

"That's incredibly sweet, what did Umbridge do to you?"

"What do you mean? I'm always sweet!" Ebony argues and pulls away from him. "I'm the sweetest person alive!" Fred chuckles.

"Are you?" Fred asks and raises his brow. Ebony rolls her eyes and stands up but Fred pulls her down again. "Okay, you win, you are the sweetest." He looks down. "I think you should talk to the portrait--"

"I tried but it didn't go well." Ebony replies. "I can see the way people look at me, the way people wait for me to snap." She takes a breath. "I can't help but think that maybe they are right, and I will soon snap." 

"I know you're an incredibly strong person, Ebs, but no one. . . no one is strong enough to get through something like this without a snap." Fred says. "And honestly, that is fine. Just make sure when you snap I'm there to put you back together, alright?"

"Alright." She says and nods. "I promise." 

***

IT WAS A HELL! Ebony knew there would be mountains of homework now that she was sat in her N.E.W.T.s year but never did she imagine it would be this much. She wondered how Cedric managed to do all of that while also doing the Triwizard Tournament. Then again, he was good at all of his classes and never failed one.