Except For You ~ {Fred Weasley}

Chapter 16

It’s been most of Summer, and even though I’ve been in Egypt my mind is back at Hogwarts with Miss Salty. I’m writing something to her, that I’ll probably throw out because there’s no way I can get it to her, when mom calls out to everyone at the table. “Who’s owl is this?” I look up from the parchment and see a small barn owl. There’s a little letter tied to its leg. I move over to mum, turn the letter and read who it’s addressed to. ‘y/n Mathias’.
“Miss Salty!” I mumble.
“Who’s ‘Miss Salty’?” Mom asks, confused.
“Just a girl from school.” George answers.
“She’s not ‘just a girl’!” I exclaim, heated. “She’s funny, and smart, and witty, and amazing, and beats everyone at everything, and she might hate me-” I stop, mortified. George is cracking up, and everyone is looking at me, either smirking or with their eyebrows raised... or both. I flush and stare down at the table. “Point is, Miss Salty is someone who I care about.”
“Evidently.” Percy mutters, returning to his scrambled eggs.
“Okay, but why is it here?” Dad asks.
“I don’t know, but it won’t leave.” Mom answers.
“Maybe it’s for Fred, from his girlfriend.” Ginny teases.
“She’s not my girlfriend!” I snap.
“Yeah, because if she was we’d all know it by now, what with him drooling like that.” Bill replies.
“You hungry Fred? That drool’s really piling up.” George adds, holding a piece of toast toward me.
“Oh ha ha. Plus, it’s not from her, it’s to her, probably from Del.” George suddenly goes quiet, still and red. Everyone turns to him.
“Looks like Fred’s not the only one with a crush.” Ron sniggers.
“Shut up.” He turns back to us. “Why won’t it leave?” Mom shrugs.
“I tried shooing it but it just kind of ignored me.” I suddenly realise that the entire time it’s been staring at me.
“I think it’s here for me.” It kind of nods and flutters forward, closer to me. I rush over to my seat and finish my letter to Miss Salty. I stuff it into an envelope and scribble my name and her name, tying it quickly to the owl’s leg. It churrips sweetly and finally leaves. Mom turns to me.
“So… tell us more about this ‘Miss Salty’ girl.”
“Not much to tell really.” I mumble.
“But only a few minutes ago you were rambling on about how she’s ‘not just a girl’?” Bill inquires smugly.
“Yeah, well…” I flush a bit harder and return to my seat.
Mom redirects her attention. “Well, before the owl incident, we were talking about school. Ron, you’re starting those other classes right?”
“Yeah, I need a couple more books but that’s it.”
“I need some new robes!” Ginny exclaims. “Mine are too small.”
Mom starts, “Ron do you have-”
“Yep, she can ‘ave ‘em.” He responds. Ginny mumbles about wanting something that isn’t a hand me down. I mean, it’s not like anyone can blame her, but we’ve just never had the money to get it for her. Once we get the money, George and I are going to spoil her rotten. Ginny deserves it.
“Fred? George? Anything new?”
“Just the usual mom!” George starts.
“And that is?”
“The entire book store!” I reply. Everyone laughs but mom and Percy. I roll my eyes. “Lighten up Perc! Grade five mom.” I add. She nods.

“Hurry up! We need to get to Diagon Alley! You guys are so slow!” I call out, already at the fireplace.
“Someone’s eager.” George puffs. I roll my eyes. Mom finally gets to the fireplace with the floo powder.
“Alright Fred, if you’re so eager, you can go first.” I grab a pinch of the coarse grey powder, and stand in the fire. I throw it down and shout out the name of the place I wanted to go to.
“Diagon Alley!” The flames engulf me fully and send me spinning in circles. I had done this often, so I don’t get sick anymore. I squint my eyes and get out at the Leaky Cauldron. While I’m brushing the soot out of my hair, George, Ron, and dad come out as well. Soon we’re all there and mom’s brushing the soot off of our clothes.
“Okay, I’ll go with Ron to get a wand, and you can go get your books with dad.” I was barely listening to mom when I had started to wander to the back, pulling out my wand and tapping the brick three times. A gaping hole immediately started forming, leading into Diagon Alley.
“Oi, Fred! Where you goin’?” Ron calls out, jogging up to me. I point simply into the street and he shakes his head. “So, you really are eager for something. But it’s not school.”
“I… was looking for inspiration.”
“Inspiration for what?”
“New pranks! Be wary lil’ bro, you’ll never know what’s coming!”
“Oh haha. Oh! There’s ‘Mione! Seeya later!” Ron runs into the Alley and up to Hermione. The others have finally made their way over to me.
“So, what do you need?” Dad asks while mom bustles over to Ron, dragging him over to Ollivanders.
“Ask Fred, he seems to know where he’s going.” Percy sneers.
“Um, Ginny needs to get her robes fitted.” I blurt out, pushing the attention off of me. Ginny doesn’t mind the attention, so I figured it would be okay.
“Yeah, Ron’s old ones are still too big.” She adds.
“Right then! Madam Malkins it is.” Dad led the way down the alley and to a familiar pink shop.

“Is everyone here? Everyone alright? Okay, good, now let’s get some food.” Mom was saying, counting us all. We all sat down at the biggest table the Leaky Cauldron had and Tom instantly started coming out with lunch. I was just serving myself up when two very giggly girls came in. One had long, silky, black hair and the other had wavy, honey blonde, shoulder length hair. They were both wearing pretty outfits and giggling about something. The one with long hair must have said something extremely funny because the wavy haired one threw her head back and laughed loudly. I was able to glimpse her freckle strewn face. I must have been staring at her because George nudged me.
“Oi, who you looking-” His eyes had caught on the girl with long hair. “So, you’ve been staring at Miss Salty and her friend?”
“Not her friend. I leave that to you.” I wink, looking back at Miss Salty. Her friend must’ve finally noticed because she pokes her. Miss Salty mutters something. Del whispers back. She turns around impatiently and her eyes fall on me. She slams the money on the counter and glides over to our table, Del following.
“Hey.” I greet.
“Hm.”
“You got my letter then.”
“I got Del’s first.” She responds. Her eyes sweep over the table I’m sitting at while mine focus on her. Mom bustles over to her. No, no, no! Please don’t say anything!
She introduces herself, “Hello dear! Nice to meet you, I’m Molly Weasley.”
“Nice to meet you, I’m y/n, y/n Mathias.” Miss Salty glances over at me. “…Known to others as… Miss Salty.”
“So you’re the girl Fred’s been talking about all summer!” She responds loudly, drawing everyone’s attention to our conversation. George laughs behind his hand and I flush, glancing away from the girl and up at mom.
“Mom!” I whisper sharply. Miss Salty turns to me, crossing her arms.
“You’ve been talking about me to your family?”
“No! Mom was just wondering who’s owl Ésperos was, that's all.”
“Uh huh.” Looking like she’s suppressing a smirk, she turns to my mom. “What, may I ask, has Fred told you about me?” Mom’s eyes glint and I know everyone’s watching this unfold. She offers her and Del a seat. I’m flushing harder now, trying to hide behind my butterbeer mug.
“Well, he’s told me about your grades.”
“And how I’ve beaten him in all our exams?”
“Yes. He also said, ‘you hate him’?” She asks innocently. “Any reason why?”
“Well, if you must know, in our first year he and his twin brother dropped a massive-” I shoot my eyes up and me and George start shaking our heads aggressively. “-You know what? It doesn’t matter. I’ve forgiven them.” I look at her, surprised and confused. “Mostly.” She adds. Of course she hasn’t forgiven me yet, that would be ludicrous. Mom slowly sits back down and dad leans back in his chair, keeping his eye on us. George and I recover from the shock and pick up our butterbeer mugs in sync. “Well, I think we should go. Nice meeting you Mrs Weasley.” She stands up and gathers her things, but mom pushes her arm down, making her sit back down.
“Nonsense! Eat with us!” She glares at us, and we quickly look away. “We all want you both to stay!”
“Um, sure, I guess, but I have to head back before dark. It takes fifteen minutes.” Mom nods violently.
“Of course. What about you dear?” She asks, turning to Del.
“Oh, um, well, me and my family are staying in the rooms so it doesn’t really matter.” She replies, blushing. Miss Salty face-palms.
“Right! Um, this is Del, my best friend Mrs Weasley.” Del nods. Her eyes dart over to George and he looks down into his butterbeer mug, blushing. I laugh in my head. “We’ll be back soon.” Miss Salty grabs Del and rushes her outside.
“Well?” I ask.
“Well what?”
“Well, are you going to ask her out or not?”
“I don’t think I can.” He mumbles.
“Are you mentally insane? Of course you can! You’re George Weasley! If she turns you down, she’s a nutter.”
“No, she’s not!” George snaps, fuming.
“You’re right. You’re George Weasley. Who’d wanna go out with you?”
“Oh ha ha. Alright, I’ll ask her out.”
“Good.” I hear laughter from outside. Soon Miss Salty and Del come jogging back in, Miss Salty very giggly about something. I quirk an eyebrow at her, and she smirks. Her eyes dart from George and Del and I nod. She also picked up on the hints George hasn't.

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We love how the golden trio as become increasingly irrelevant 🤣 like they're sitting right there damn