Fire // Fred Weasley

Chapter 11

"Why isn't she at dinner?" Asked Fred nervously. He hasn't seen Melanie since she ran off to the common room. He couldn't believe that he was so stupid as to ask Melanie about the one subject that obviously made her uncomfortable. He basically forced it out of her. He was sat next to George who was silently playing with his food.

"Maybe she's going to eat later. Or eat with Diggory again. I think you're overthinking it." Replied George. Just as he said that Harry, Ron and Hermione came and sat down next to them.

"Hermione have you seen Melanie? Is she coming down to dinner?" He asked impatiently.

"She's sleeping. She's been asleep ever since me and Ron came back from Hogsmeade. I don't think she'll wake up in time." She scanned the twins up and down before she added, "what did you two do?"

"Us two?!" George replied frustrated by the insinuation. "I wasn't even around when he got her all upset." Fred shot a glare towards George who immediately looked down into his plate.

"You what?! Honestly Fred she hasn't even been here a week and you're already upsetting her with those pranks of yours." Scoffed Ron.

"It will be fine, Freddie just needs to go do some damage control." Suggested George as he took an empty plate, put some fruit on it and almost forced it into Fred's hands. "Go. Talk to her, apologise and don't let Minnie see you smuggling that food out of here."

Fred got up and started making his way to the common room. If only it would have been that simple. He decided to not tell George about what happened as he didn't want to make it worse. Thankfully, George could tell the severity of the situation and didn't question it too much. Before he knew it he was standing in front of Melanie's door. All he had to do was knock.

"Come in." Melanie said sleepily. She was in her pyjamas and her hair was tied up in a messy bun. She covered herself a bit more with her blanket before the door opened and she saw a tall redhead in the door frame. The room was very dim and she couldn't see very well. But she could sense by the tone of the knock that it was Fred.

"You didn't come down to dinner."

"I wasn't hungry."

"Well you might be hungry later so I brought you some food." He placed the plate on her bedside table."Nothing too fancy, just some fruit."

"Thanks Fred."

"How do you do that?" He asked as he awkwardly sat on the edge of Melanie's bed.

"Do what?"

"Each time I see you, you can always tell me and George apart. How do you do it?"

"Well.. I can't be spilling all my secrets to you now can I?" She said with a soft but somber smile.

"You're right. That's why I came up here. Mel I'm so sorry for being so pushy earlier. I was curious and I wasn't thinking and then when you ran away I was just-"

"Fred." She said calmly "You're rambling."

"I just. I'm sorry. I didn't want to force you into saying anything." He lowered his head a bit and even though there wasn't much light in the room Melanie could see his face clearly now that he was sat in front of her. The corners of his lips were low and his eyes seemed heavy and droopy. They were no longer their usual happy, golden colour, they seemed darker somehow. Melanie wasn't angry with Fred. He didn't mean any harm, he was just curious. If anything Melanie was a bit angry at herself for reacting the way she did. After all, people die every day, and it wasn't Fred's fault that she couldn't talk about it comfortably. She needed to get over it, or at least not cry at the mention of Spike.