Granger Danger ⇗ Fred Weasley

The Epilogue

The Epilogue

Song for this Epilogue: Things That Stop You Dreaming - Passenger [i seriously love this song -- and probably always will; I chose this song over the other one 'I Won't Give Up - Jason Mraz' because I want the story to end on a happier note, despite the sadness everywhere]

"There comes a time in your life when you have to choose to turn the page, write another book, or simply close it." ― Shannon L. Alder

It was early morning. 

I shuddered as the cold, stale air of the castle hallways grazed my arms, seemingly untouched yet by any other human being. 

Exhausted from the testing I had plowed through the day before, I was ready to go home for the summer; take a break. However, I knew deep down that there was no break awaiting me in the real world. 

Lana, Jenna, and Hermione were down in the Great Hall, somberly soaking up the relief of the year's end, but there was no happiness today. I couldn't bare to be in that hall, surrounded by the truth. So, I was walking to the Infirmary, in a small hope that Fred and George would be there, chatting with Bill. 

I liked Bill. 

Despite his marring, he still was kind and seemingly little affected by the scars and 'contamination' -- as Lupin had put the situation. Yet, even when he thought we weren't looking, I noticed the way his hand would sometimes trail absent-mindedly over the crevices in his face, the flash of sadness in his eyes when Fleur touched his cheek. I understood the pain. 

Pushing open the Infirmary door, I found that Bill's bed was empty and Fred was sitting in a chair beside an unused cot, staring absent-mindedly into the cotton fabrics of the sheet folds. Feeling that Fred was in the middle of remembering something important, I quietly stepped up beside his chair and sat down on the hard, cold floor, watching him with a small, sweet smile. 

"It's funny," Fred muttered lightly, turning his eyes down to me. I blushed and apologized for distracting him, mentioning that I had thought I was being quiet. "No, I was just thinking about something."

"Something funny?" I could hear the hopeful tone in my voice, as if begging for some humor in this time. Something to laugh at. 

Fred shook his head, but chuckled a wry laugh despite himself. "Not really. It's just... I spent so much time in this chair; I spent so much time here just... thinking about possibilities."

I frowned at the cot, but didn't say anything. My eyes trailed to the opposite side of the Infirmary, and I realized that the cot we were staring at was not the one that Bill had been in at all. "Where's Bill? Is he better?" I asked, eyes trained on the empty bed that Bill had been in, fear gripping me a bit. Bill hadn't been that badly injured... he was just kept longer for observation... right?

"He went home with Mum and Fleur earlier today." Fred stretched out his arms, joints cracking lowly through the still Infirmary. "They only wanted to keep him until the full moon, to see what would happen to him."

'That's a brilliant idea,' I chided Madame Pomfrey in my mind, 'keep a potential werewolf inside the school for observation...' But, either way, Bill had ended up being perfectly fine... except the scars and taste for raw flesh.

"Why this cot?" I blurted out, thinking of the empty one that was right in front of my face as I shifted on the hard, stone ground; it was a bit uncomfortable.

"You don't recognize it?" 

"Why would I?" 

"Huh," he shrugged, not looking at me. "Yup. I thought about a lot of misfortunes here, and what was going to happen in the future... It only felt right to be here now. After what happened to Headmaster Dumbledore and Bill...," he trailed off. 

I opened my mouth to mention that he never answered my question, but I decided against it. I thought of Hermione and decided that she would be shaking her head in dismay at me for not figuring out what it was on my own. Falling silent, I thought about all the horrible things that had happened at Hogwarts since I had been attending.

'Jenna,... Cedric,' I felt a bitter pang in my chest from that wound. Cedric was such a good guy, and some days it still felt surreal that he was not there, lounging in the courtyard with a suave grin. I thought about Lana's injury in fourth year, ...and mine. 

It seemed like a life time ago.

"Is this...," a curt, but soft, laugh cut out my words, "was this my cot? In fourth year?"

"Yeah," a grin quirk up the left side of his lips, putting his teeth on display. 

A flutter in my stomach was squashed by me as I rolled my eyes at him. "You're such a sap, Freddie -- such a sap." 

"You love it." 

And, there was nothing left to say. Everything seemed... far away. I leant my head against  Fred's knee and we merely sat there, in the quiet, staring at the empty cot, neither of us wanting to say anything. Neither of us needing to say anything. 

Some time passed, and Fred shifted on his seat, pulling me up to my feet with a hand so he could look directly into my eyes. 

"Do you want to marry me?" 

"Are you trying to guilt trip me?" 

Fred's eyes crinkled with the ghost of my favorite smile, but a grin didn't spread on his face. "Of course, Elizabeth. It's like you don't even know me." 

"I'd like to think I know you very well," I admitted, ducking my head with a smirk. I fiddled with my hands, then took Fred's hands into my own and began to play with his as well, intertwining them and unfolding creases only to fold them once more, eyes trained on my work. 

"Do you want to marry me, Elizabeth Rose Granger?" 

"...Maybe," I whispered, keeping my eyes on our hands. 

It was a fickle answer, and it hurt to say, but it was the truth. I wasn't entirely sure if marriage was in the cards for me at the moment. "I-I don't want to be one of those couples that have a shot-gun wedding because the world is falling to shit."

"Shot-gun?" 

"I mean... I just don't want to rush into anything. Besides, with Bill and Fleur's wedding right around the corner... it seems forced."

"Alright," he nodded, a real grin spreading over his face, reassuring me that everything was simply perfect, despite the hell around us. 

"Alright?" I questioned him, not understanding how he could be so cavalier about the whole conversation. 

"Alright."

And, it was alright. 

Everything was simply... alright. 

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no wedding for you guys -- jeez don't freak out ;)