Marooned - Fred Weasley

Chapter 50: Always Almost

Sarah climbed the stairs up to her flat, saw her three favorite people standing in the hallway bickering over something.

"What are you doing here?" she asked them, flicking her wand in the complicated movement that opened her door.

"We're here to kidnap you," said Fred cheekily, his eyes unintentionally trailing her up and down, her coat was opened and she was wearing all black, he quickly turned away and walked inside to stop his mind from going there again, where absolutely nothing was platonic.

"We haven't seen you in a while, figured you needed a night out," said Selena, gesturing for her to follow her inside. "Come on, get ready."

Sarah shook her head fondly and followed Selena to her room, changing out of her work clothes and into something more casual, despite Selena's protests and walked out, already feeling more fresh than before, she might actually need to get out tonight, and they'd simply read her mind from afar.

She wanted to forget her dreams, to forget her awful day at the hospital and all those people screaming for help and for some ease on their pains.

"Let's go," said Sarah cheerfully, setting her wand into her side holster and her coat back from the couch where she dumped in on her way in.

They walked into their usual pub and towards a booth, sat down and soon ordered the drinks that kept on coming, the night quickly became a blur to Sarah, just as she intended and she felt lighter, being surrounded by the people she cared most about.

_

The four of them sat down talked and laughed, just like they did endless times on the couch in the Gryffindor common room, only now there were almost adults, grown up, all four having a place they called home that belonged to them only, and it was endearing.

Selena ordered another round of shots, and Fred saw someone from Hogwarts he recognized, among those they liked to mess with because they were a pain in the arse. With George, they flicked a Weasleys' firework at them, that popped and sparked and startled them, that cause a minor chaos for a couple of minutes, leaving George and Fred snickering about it.

Sarah eyed him accusatorially, "Always creating chaos wherever you go."

Fred's surroundings blurred, the arm on the back of the couch slid around her neck and he tilted her chin up with his thumb, "I'm known for that, though, love, am I not?"

She shook her head fondly, her eyes flickering down his face before she could think otherwise, "I'm not sure that's a good thing, Weasley," she whispered temptingly, a way she knew it never would have happened if she was fully sober.

Her heart was beating hard against her chest, ordering herself to not think too much about what he just called her, how close her lips were to his a second ago, about how she could have reached up and let whatever she drank do the rest. She would have stayed there, with his arm around her, but she couldn't. She'll ruin everything. She refocused on whatever George was rambling about, and squinted because it wasn't well lit in here, breathing in and out slowly, her body temperature being way too high for what was happening here, a night out with friends.

_

When George left to find a bathroom and he came back with a girl next to him, the girl Sarah recognized now as the one from August, Alina from Ravenclaw. "Hey," he bellowed nervously, "Look who I ran into!"

"Alina," said Fred, glancing at Sarah who'd leaned forward on her seat when she saw Alina, he almost stretched out his arm to bring her back against him, but ordered himself not to. Because he'd heard her back at the shop. He needed to stop hoping, he needed a distraction. She was standing next to George right now. "Hey."