Summers at The Burrow - Fred Weasley

Chapter Fifty-nine - The Third Task

quite a lot of time passed between the second task and now. nothing really changed at all. most people knew about Fred and i by now and we had mostly been doing well in lessons. we may only have a few classes but we made up for it in actually trying. i would be exempt from the exams but the twins still had to take them so they had begun studying. they mostly glanced at my notes since they vowed to commit everything they hear to memory and never take notes. that does not work for things like the subjects at Hogwarts so they were thankful that i provided them with an easy source for course information.

the last Hogsmeade weekend of the year was today and it had warmed up enough that we could go out in short sleeves. the twins and Lee walked with me to the village but hung back at the three broomsticks to have a drink while i made my way to the cave on the outskirts of the village with a basket of food i had collected. 

"hello, Chloe!" my father said when i entered the cave with the basket.

"Hi, Dad. i brought a few days worth of food this time." i announced as i handed it to him.

"Lovely, now tell me what's new since i last saw you." he requested. it had been since before the second task that i had last spoken to dad and i was yet to inform him of my romantic relations with my best friend as well as what happened during the task.

"well i got myself a boyfriend a while back." i said and paused because his reaction was not what i expected.

"it's that boy Fred isn't it?" he said and my jaw dropped in shock that he was able to figure it out so fast.

"how did you know?" i questioned dramatically.

"you talk about him like your one moment away from falling madly in love with him, sweetheart." he said and i scrunched my nose at him giving him an ungrateful grimace.

"i hate you." i said untruthfully.

"anyways, i heard in the paper that you sustained a nasty gash on your back from the mermaids in the bottom of the lake. Congrats on second by the way." he said.

"for what?" i asked confusedly.

"the tournament! Harry and that Diggory boy are tied for first now at eighty-five points and you've got eighty-two. from what it said they gave you a deduction for being second in the task but also for the gash on your back. you started with a hefty score from the first task though so you managed to pull through past Krum even though he scored higher than you in the second task." he explained.

"you read the paper more than i care to." i said with a sigh.

"well i don't have much else to do. look, i know you don't want to win this whole thing but at least stay in second or tie with the others because i want to see my little girl win and so this is the compromise." he stated.

"i wish you could come be my guest for the task." i admitted as i moved to sit next to him comfortably.

"at least Dumbledore was able to pull some strings to be able to get Remus to come to support you and your boyfriends mum is coming to support Harry so you'll probably have her support too. do not think for a second that just because I'm not there in person that I'm not cheering for you in my heart because i am so proud of how far you have come and i cant wait to see how this tournament turns out." he said deeply.

"your going to make me shed a tear." i said mockingly as i fanned fake tears off my face.

"your a joke." he said with a chuckle as he leaned back sticking his hand into the basket of food.

"like father like daughter." i said and earned a light jab to the ribs.

i stayed with my father for the remainder of the afternoon but once my watch struck Five o'clock i had to depart back to the school in order to go to supper and then later meet Remus at the front doors. Harry and i were meeting Mrs. Weasley and Bill along with Remus and taking them on a small tour of the school. although Remus had been here all year last year i insisted that he come along the tour via letter because i wanted to spend time with all of them together before i was whisked off for champions duties for the next day.