Love In The Shadows | Fred Weasley x OC

Chapter 72

Chapter 72: Addy

Fred Weasley was manning the shop alone today. George and Vera were away celebrating their anniversary, and Angelina had gone to visit her parents for a few weeks. The shop, normally buzzing with life, felt especially chaotic today as the Sunday crowd poured in. Fred moved between the shelves, helping customers, his hands working without thinking while his mind wandered. The shop was his second home, and yet today, it felt oddly distant, as if the walls had closed in on him.

He chatted with a customer about the latest line of joke products, but his mind wasn't fully there. His eyes scanned the room, distracted by the noise, the laughter, the hum of the enchanted objects.

As Fred scanned the shop, something familiar caught his eye. At first, he couldn't place it, just a woman standing in the far corner, near the wall with all the photos. She seemed lost in thought, her eyes tracing the faces of people she didn't know, memories of a time that had slipped away.

He blinked, his heart missing a beat as the realization hit him. There, standing amongst the crowd, was the one person he never thought he'd see again.

Adhara.

The world around him seemed to slow. He saw the flash of her blonde hair, the way her posture was unmistakably hers. The small, subtle tilt of her head as she focused on something, the way she always did when something caught her attention. Her eyes, though—those eyes—met his for the briefest of moments, and in that instant, everything in Fred's world paused. Time seemed to freeze.

"Addy?" Fred's voice was barely above a whisper, the name slipping out of his mouth before he could stop it. The familiarity of it was so overwhelming that it made his heart ache.

Her gaze locked onto him, but there was no warmth there—just a guarded, unreadable look. "Fred," she replied, her voice just as cool and distant as he remembered, only softer, quieter.

Fred's heart hammered in his chest, a whirlwind of emotions surging through him. "It's been a while," he managed to say, his voice shaky. He didn't know what to feel. It had been three years since she left. Three years of unanswered questions, of silence. Of her absence.

"Three years," Adhara replied, her voice flat, emotionless. She didn't seem to feel the weight of the time that had passed, not like Fred did. She wasn't standing here, her chest aching with memories and regrets.

Fred couldn't help but study her. She was as beautiful as ever—more so, in fact. Time had given her an elegance that made her seem even more untouchable. She had the same aura of sophistication and mystery that he remembered, only now there was a deeper sadness about her. But the thing that caught his eye was the same ring—the promise ring he had given her so long ago. It was still on her finger. Fred's throat tightened at the sight of it. She hadn't taken it off. His chest constricted, the old feelings surfacing.

"I didn't think I'd ever see you again," Fred said, his voice soft, raw. He couldn't hide the way his heart hurt seeing her again, not after everything that had happened. He thought he had come to terms with it, but seeing her again made the old wound reopen, deeper than before.

"I didn't think I'd be here," Adhara replied, her voice distant, as if she were trying to distance herself not just physically, but emotionally too.

Fred couldn't let it go. He had to know. He had to ask. "Why did you leave?" His voice cracked with frustration, the words tumbling out, betraying the years of pent-up confusion and hurt. "You just... disappeared."

Adhara sighed, her gaze shifting to the floor, her fingers brushing the edge of a nearby shelf. The old familiarity of her actions sent a pang of longing through Fred's chest. She was still the same in so many ways, but so different in others. "It was complicated," she said softly, the words as vague as ever, a barrier between them he couldn't break through.

Fred's face hardened. "Complicated?" He repeated her word with disbelief, the frustration bubbling over. "That's all you've got? After everything?"

Adhara flinched slightly at his tone, but she didn't back down. Her eyes stayed on him, calm yet distant. "I'm sorry," she said, her voice barely a whisper. "I never wanted to hurt you."

The words hung in the air, but they didn't reach him the way he hoped they would. He wanted to believe her, wanted to believe that there had been some reason, some justification for her leaving him without an explanation. But the wound was still there, raw and bleeding. "You did, though, Adhara," Fred said quietly, his voice cracking just slightly. "I don't even know why. And I don't think I ever will."

Adhara's eyes flickered with emotion. For a moment, it seemed like she might say something more, something that could explain everything. But instead, she simply closed her eyes, as if gathering the strength to say goodbye once again.

"I should go," she said, her voice soft, almost apologetic.

Fred couldn't stop her. There was too much between them, too much pain. "Take care of yourself, Adhara," he said quietly, the words bittersweet on his tongue. They were final, but they were all he could offer.

Adhara turned and walked away, her steps measured, slow, deliberate. Fred watched her go, every step pulling him deeper into the past, pulling at his heartstrings. He didn't know when or how it had happened, but the years without her had hollowed him out. And now, seeing her again, that emptiness surged back in full force.

The bell above the door chimed softly as she left, and Fred stood there, frozen. The shop felt different now, the noise and laughter around him distant. He wasn't part of it anymore. He closed the shop early, unable to stay in the same space, surrounded by memories that hurt too much.

He didn't go to his apartment. Instead, he found himself standing before the house he had built for them. It was a house he hadn't visited in years, since the day he left. The house he thought they would share, a home filled with love and laughter. The house that never was.

He opened the door and stepped inside, the emptiness of it hitting him all at once. He stood there for a moment, staring at the familiar spaces. And then, the dam broke. The tears came without warning, overwhelming him with the weight of everything he had lost. The house that was meant to be their future, the dreams that had died with her departure.

It was too much.

He sank to the floor, the realization settling in like a heavy stone. He had been lying to himself for so long. He couldn't keep pretending to be happy with Angelina. He couldn't keep forcing himself into a future he wasn't ready for, a future that wasn't his.

She deserved more.

And so did he.

With a heavy heart, Fred made a decision. He couldn't keep living like this, haunted by the ghost of what could have been. It was time to let go of the past. It was time to end things with Angelina.

Because he wasn't whole yet. Not without Adhara. And he couldn't keep pretending to be.