Novus Orbis | Fred Weasley x Insert | ON HIATUS

Chapter 21 - Blundering Idiot

Y/n wakes up early the next morning to make a trek to the Owlery, letter to Charlie in hand. She runs into Harry as she heads to leave the portrait hole, and he appears to have a letter as well.

"Would you like to walk with me?" She asks. He hesitates for a moment, and then nods, and they walk side by side through the silent and cold castle halls. Y/n rubs her hands together, having forgotten her gloves in the dormitory again, cupping them around her mouth and breathing hot air into them.

"Do you just forget your gloves everywhere?" Harry asks after a moment. Y/n chuckles.

"I guess I've gotten pretty used to Fred giving me his," she says. "Usually, it's at Quidditch practices and matches, so he has his other pair. It hasn't helped me become less forgetful, now that I think about it," she adds with another laugh.

"I'm sure you've been asked this, but–you and Fred?" Harry asks. Y/n sighs. 

"I guess. We're not really a thing. Just sort of close." She waves good morning to a portrait before they head outside into the cold. "I can't really talk to any of the girls about it because they all tease me and make fun of me and giggle to themselves whenever I'm with him. I love Angelina and Alicia and the other sixth-years, but..." she shrugs and sighs again.

"Do you like him?"

"A bit," she ventures to say. "Yeah. I do."

Harry doesn't say anything else. They walk a bit in silence, and then Y/n remembers something.

"What about you?" She asks. "Don't you like that one Ravenclaw girl? What was it–Cho?"

"Chang, yeah," Harry says. His face is already red from the cold, but Y/n would swear that his cheeks go a little pinker. They're silent until they reach the Owlery, and then they go to their separate corners. Y/n picks among the owls until she finds her favourite, a tawny owl named Lucille. She coaxes her awake and out of her perch, handing her a pebble of food and putting the letter into her talon.

"To Charlie, please," Y/n tells her. The owl needs no further instruction, having delivered letters for her since Charlie's first correspondence. "I think he might be at Hogwarts already, just so you know."

Having finished her morning errand, she hurries back down to the castle in order to reach the Great Hall in time for breakfast. Fred and George are entering as she bursts inside, closing the doors quickly to keep the cold wind away. At seeing her bare hands, Fred rolls his eyes and hands her a familiar pair of gloves–but this time, they're hers.

"Angelina brought them down this morning," he explains. "She said you ran in a hurry to the Owlery and forgot them. I wonder why," he adds with a sly smile. Y/n glowers jokingly at him as they sit down on the benches at the Gryffindor table. But she takes the gloves and tucks them securely in the pocket of her robes, pulling a plate to her and then reaching for the pastries.

-

"The potion for dreamless sleep," Snape announces as they walk into the classroom in the dungeons after breakfast. "Or the dreamless sleep potion. It is a medicinal potion intended to induce drowsiness and, if done properly, provide the drinker a dreamless sleep."

He watches them silently as they gather at their desks, setting down their bags and pairing up. Their house grouping is with Hufflepuff today, and Y/n waves when she sees Cedric Diggory. Walking up to him, she smiles, asking, "D'you want to pair with me today, Ced?"

Smiling back at her, he nods, and they pick a table. Y/n tries not to look over at Fred or George, knowing exactly in her head what kind of offended faces they're definitely putting on. I need some space, she convinces herself. And besides, I'm allowed to have other friends.