𝙿𝚊𝚛𝚊𝚖𝚘𝚞𝚛 | 𝐅𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐖𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐥𝐞𝐲

• Chapter 37 •

Sage's POV:
"What are you doing up?" A husky voice spoke from the darkness
"Hm?" I replied
Fred stepped into the light from the window, wiping the sleep from his eyes. He was in flannel pajama pants and a white t-shirt

I swallowed thickly, noting the toned muscles visible through the thin fabric.
"Did I wake you? I'm sorry." I whispered
"No, George's snoring woke me up." He joked "Mind if I join you?"

"No." I said moving my legs out of the way
He easily lifted himself into the windowsill across from me. I kept my legs tucked up out of his way but as he adjusted he put his legs on either side of me and took my legs and placed them on his hips.
His hands rested gently on my knees.

It was strange to be acting this close with Fred when I didn't know where we stood. When I'd spent years hating his guts. On the other hand, we told each other we loved each other. Yet he didn't break up with Angelina and we never said another word about it.

I wrapped my arms around myself, letting his warm hands on my knees make me feel fuzzy inside.

I wasn't used to physical affection. I wasn't even entirely sure that's what this was. Most guys who put their hands on me didn't have good intentions. I was used to flinching and bracing myself.

"Hey."
"Hm?" I replied
"Smile for me."
I furrowed my brows "What?"

"I want to know what your smile looks like." Fred explained
"I-"
He laughed lightly at my reaction "Never mind, I'll see it one day though."

I stared at him as his attention reverted back to the window. What was he doing?

We settled back into the silence before Fred decided to pursue another topic.
"You've been ignoring me." He stated simply
"I didn't know what to say to you. You ignored me too, I might add."

"That's true." He laughed lightly
The moonlight reflected in his eyes as he continued to stare out the window.

He always had some sort of mischievous glint in his eyes but the moonlight reflected something different that I couldn't explain.

"You cut your hair short." I pointed out
"Yeah, had to. Caught on fire when one of the projects me and George were working on went wrong."
My jaw fell "Are you serious?"
He shrugged.

The silence was quickly becoming awkward. The more he said the more I stopped fearing that he still hated me. But if He didn't hate me then I had even less of an idea about where we stood.

I shifted uncomfortably, averting my gaze from his face and towards what was outside the window.
"I'm sorry I woke you."
"You didn't. I'm usually up at night, it's more peaceful."

"You don't strike me as the type to wants peace."
"I'm not." He agreed "But it's nice sometimes."
We sat there, staring at each other. Neither of us seemed to know what to say.

I wanted to look away, to pretend like I felt nothing but his gaze was so intense. I felt myself being drawn in, letting myself get lost.

"Well," Fred cleared his throat "4AM we better get back in bed."
"Y-yeah." I stuttered
My mind swirled with a thousand questions.

He was the first to get down, reaching up to grab me by the waist and help me down. I couldn't bring myself to look at him once he let go. Afraid words would start falling out that I wouldn't be able to take back.

"Goodnight then." Fred's done had an uncomfortable edge to it
"Night."
We both crawled back into our respective beds. I laid there staring at the window we had just been sitting in.

I didn't know what to think. I tossed and rolled in my bed until Hallie decided to roll onto my pillow and then push me out of the way like I was on her side of the bed. I laid there with her hands digging into my back until the sun rose and I decided to get up.

It wasn't uncommon for me to stay up all night and be fine the next day, but I wasn't usually stressed over anything when I did. A shiver racked my body as I pulled on a jumper over my pajamas.

    I took a glance around the room at everyone making sure I hadn't woken any of them up before slipping out of the room. I assumed everyone was still asleep in the house and that the banging around from the kitchen was just Kreacher.

    "Good morning dear." Mrs. Weasley spoke awkwardly
I felt myself nearly jump out of my skin "O-oh! I'm sorry, I didn't realize anyone was awake."
"Don't worry about it, I'm just getting breakfast ready before the first meeting." Molly replied

    "O-oh." I replied dumbly
Though Mrs. Weasley had moved on from holding a vendetta against me and my brother, she still set me on edge. Not as in she made me mad kind of way. More of a, it felt as if she could switch opinions and I couldn't blame her if she did kind of edge.

    "C-can I help you at all?"
"What?" She asked holding up the knife she'd been chopping with
My eyes widened at the sight of her holding up the large knife "H-help- do you need help at all?"

    "Oh." She set down the knife "Actually I do. Would you mind chopping these?"
"Yes ma'am." I shakily took the knife from her and started chopping where she left off

    She hurried on, finishing the twenty other things she had going. The silence felt deafening until Sirius came in and brought a more cheerful energy with him.

    "She put you to work huh?" He smiled
"Y-yeah" I replied, laughing nervously
"And I'll put you to work too if you aren't careful." Molly playfully scolded pointing a wooden spoon at him, causing him to raise his hands in surrender

    "I finished." I butted into their conversation
"Thank you dear." Molly smiled uncomfortably "The meeting will be starting soon, so why don't you head back upstairs."
"Okay."

1030 Words | Aug. 14 2023
It took me years to get this chapter out and it's not even that good 😭 I apologize. I rewrote this more times than I can count and I was just having a struggle. I promise I'm not gonna be one of those people who starts a book and doesn't finish it. It really did just take me that long to write this chapter well enough that I felt I could post it 😃👍