Fire // Fred Weasley

Chapter 23

"Hey Freddie where have you been?" George asked as Fred walked back into the common room with a tray that consisted of two hot chocolates and a bowl full of cherries, and his sweater hanging loosely on his arm.

"Hey Georgie, I was just out with Melanie." He said not being able to control his smile.

"So I take it you two made up?"

"Oh yeah." Fred said happily as his grin was starting to widen. George furrowed his eyebrows skeptically. "I kissed her." He said quietly.

"Fredrick Gideon Weasley!-" George exclaimed.

"Shut up you git I don't want the whole common room finding out." Fred said rolling his eyes.

"So are you two going to start dating?" He asked excitedly.

"You know I like her, but she's not ready George and I'm not going to rush her or scare her away by being too forward. We will just stay friends for now I think." He said calmly. "Erm listen I know we were supposed to play a prank on Filch but I was kind of hoping-"

"Yeah yeah it's alright. Get up there lover boy." George patted his brother on the back.

"Thanks Georgie. And er please keep this to yourself."

"Of course." He replied reassuringly as he watched Fred disappear up the staircase to the girls dormitories.

Fred opened the door gently and walked in. Melanie was sitting on the bed in a grey tank top and black tracksuit bottoms. She was brushing through her hair quietly humming to herself. She looked divine, Fred thought. He put down the tray and sat down on the bed behind her.

"Hey." He said softly. "Did you have a nice shower?"

"Yeah it was great." She replied as she turned around and looked at him with her ocean blue eyes. She looked down at her bedside table, "what's this?"

"Oh just a couple of hot chocolates and some cherries. I thought it could warm you up and that you'd be a little hungry after your swim."

"That's very thoughtful Fred."

"It's been known to happen." He shrugged. As he picked up one of the chocolates and handed it to her.

"In a minute, I need to braid my hair."

"I can do that for you." He said.

"You know how to do that?" She furrowed her eyebrow.

"Yeah of course, I braid Ginnys hair all the time."

He took Melanie's hairbrush and positioned himself closer to her. He brushed through her long blonde hair cautiously and then separated it into three sections. He braided her hair while she sipped on her hot chocolate. Melanie closed her eyes and focused on the way Fred's fingers felt combing through her hair. She felt a small blush creep up onto her cheeks.

Fred finished off the braid and placed it on Melanie's shoulder. From the edge of her tank top he could see the remainder of the wound from the whomping willow and all of the emotions came flooding back to him.

He placed his fingers gently on the mark on her skin and he could feel Melanie shiver slightly at his touch. He traced around the scar and then instinctively wrapped his arms around Melanie, pulling her back into his chest. He rested his chin on her shoulder and sighed deeply.

"Madam Pomfrey says it will fade over time." She said quietly. "It's just a mark Freddie it's alright."

"It's not alright. I don't ever want to see you hurt like that again."

"Freddie." She said calmly as she turned around to face him. "Accidents happen. And with what I do getting hurt is inevitable sometimes."

"Yeah but not when you're training. Snape should have done something to prevent this."