Just A Bet ● Fred Weasley × Reader ●

38 - Christmas In September

I waved out the door to the room of requirement. We wouldn't be back until after Christmas, so we couldn't do much with Harry, but he'd be with us at Grimmauld place, so maybe...? No. I'd rather have a nice Christmas without distractions. That would be fantastic.

But I, instead, made my way to the hospital wing.

Draco and I needed to have a chat...

I pushed open the doors, walking toward where he lay in a hospital bed, looking a bit worse for wear. I heard he had a few broken ribs. The black eye was fading, though.

I greeted him with a curt, "Hi, Draco."

He opened his eyes to look at me. His eyebrows rose. "y/n? Hi. What-" he winced, "-are you doing here?"

"Just figured I'd check on you. You said some pretty dumb stuff on that field."

He groaned and raised a hand to his face, running it over, but not without pain. "I know... I'm really sorry. I was just mad that we lost the game. Stupid Potter and his stupid broom and his stupid scar..." He looked back at me. "I'm really sorry for what I said about you. That was... I was a right git for that."

I couldn't help but scoff. "Drsco Malfoy... Are you apologizing?"

He grumbled. "Don't get used to it... Look... can- can we go back to being uh... friends? You're the only friend outside of Skytherin, really..."

I lean back on my heels, pretending to think about it. "Well, I don't know..."

"Oh, come on, y/n! Please?"

I feared that if I kept pretending to consider it, he'd start begging. Some girl out there (🫵) might enjoy the sight of that, but certainly not me. A fit of laughter couldn't help itself. I wiped a false tear from my eye.

"Yes. Friends again."

"Thank Merlin... I already had George beat me. I don't need Fred too..."

"How do you know which is which?"

"Weasel G always looks more tired, I suppose. But he shoved Weasel F back, which was the dead giveaway. If Weasel F hadn't been held back, I dunno if I'd be alive."

How did he know all that? What, was Draco a secret fan of the twins or something?

"Fair. Alright. Well, I gotta get to my common room. Merry Christmas, Draco."

He groaned as he nestled further into his pillow. "Merry Christmas, y/n."

-

"Ginny! Come help me decorate!" Molly called from downstairs. I was up in Fred and George's room, stuck in a heated debate on how to properly ice a gingerbread man cookie.

"No. You put the squigel bits on the ankles!" Fred argued.

"What?! No. They're straight lines!" George retorted.

"Squigels!"

"Lines!

"Squigelssss!"

I raised my hand a bit before speaking. "To be fair, a squiggly line is a type of line."

Fred grinned triumphantly, meanwhile, George crossed his arms and scooted himself into a corner, faking a pout.

"y/n? Would you like to come decorate the tree?!" Molly called up the stairs.

Come to think of it... I've never really decorated a Christmas tree before. Before Hogwarts, I was too young to handle the delicate ornaments or was too distracted. After I came to Hogwarts, Mum stopped bothering with the tree. I guess without Dad, Christmas lost its touch...

"Sure!" I hollered back and trotted down the stairs, both twins following close behind.

I stepped into the main room and my breath was nearly taken from my lungs. Oh wow... Tinsel was hung from every doorway, little signs hung to replace every picture frame, tiny ornaments hanging from mini trees wherever Molly and Ginny could fit them, stockings hung on the mantle of the fireplace...

Arthur, Molly, Bill, Charlie, Percy, Fred, George, Ron, Ginny, Harry, and... me? Me. I had a stocking.

"What's this?" I asked, moving for the giant sock.

"Well, dear, you're basically family now... we figured that it was a nice touch," said Molly, that same hopeful smile that I had seen so many times plastered across her face. That same smile she had after her and Fred's argument over the summer... Like she knew something I didn't...

I took the stocking off the mantle, admiring the knitting work, tracing my fingers over the stitched y/n. At the bottom were a bunch of other little patterns, the main one being fireworks.

"The fireworks were my idea." George put his fists on his hips.

"And the colour was mine." Fred gave me that goofy lopsided smile that I liked so much. "I thought you liked y/f/c, but I couldn't be sure. Had to ask the lesser version of me."

George instantly responded by locking Fred into a headlock and aggressively rubbing his knuckles in his twin's ginger hair.

That's got to hurt...

I smile regardless. "Thank you... this means a lot."

Molly sweptme into one of her signature bone-crushing hugs. "Of course, deary." Then her voice dropped to a whisper only I could hear. "Fred wanted this to be your best Christmas."

...What?

----------

A/N - HA! Start of Christmas in September! To distract yall from the impending start of school, or the impending year if school has already started for you!

Until next time, Darlings! Xxx