Scratches (Fred Weasley)

(39) Word Out

Her words drifted in the air momentarily. Neither one of them said anything after that. Florence still could not believe that it was him on the other protean the whole time. She did not even think that it was him, everything just wouldn't add up to Fred Weasley. Not that she wished he wasn't. It was perfect. But Fred thought otherwise.

He was astonished to see her standing there, as he thought she was crossed out of the list for good sfter the hospital wing incident. And nothing was just a coincidence, she really was her. It made sense but somehow it didn't.

He couldn't really put a finger on why he thought that the situation was at it's worst at the moment. It wasn't like he did not want Florence to be his Protean buddy, but it also wasn't like he wanted her to be. Ofcourse he liked her, he really did fancy her. She was beautiful, standing there while the light from outside made her hair a lighter color of brown.

Maybe it was because he fancied her that made him do what he did next. It didn't really make sense at all, but somehow it did to him. "Florence?" he replied nervously, what felt like days of silence finally broken, "What are you doing here?" he asked, trying to be as oblivious as he could.

"I—" Florence began, starting to get confused. She was overwhelmed with how many emotions she was feeling at the same time. Right now, the last thing she needed was to add another emotion into the rave. She felt like passing out right there, but had to fight it.

"I came here. . . To see you." she finally got the words out, looking at Fred intently. She didn't understand, why he looked so bewildered as if he didn't know what she was talking about. But he did, didn't he? He was, after all, the one who wanted to finally meet her.

Fred's frown deepened, praying that she would not see how badly his hand was shaking. He did not know why he was doing this, why he wasn't going to tell her that it was him. Fred wanted to, he really did. But he made a last minute decision, and wasn't really sure if it was wise to pursue it.

"What do you mean you came to see me?" he chuckled, hoping that Florence did not hear the slight cracking in his voice. He was slowly regretting the words that came out from his mouth. Florence wouldn't really mind if I lied about it, right? I'm sure that she doesn't even want me to be her protean buddy. The look on her face says everything, Fred thought.

But the look on Florence's face meant nothing similar to disappointment. As of the moment she was slowly feeling as if confusion was ruling out all the other emotions. What did he mean? Was he not her mystery person? But she wanted him to be. And Fred was thinking otherwise.

"Well—I, uh..." Florence stammered, at loss for words. For the first time in her life, she did not know how she was going to use her words, how she was going to come up with a sentence that would say what she wanted to say. "Didn't you come here, for—for the same reason as I?"

"I dunno." shrugged Fred, and Florence could literally feel her heart dropping in her chest, "I mean, did you come here to look for your Owl as well?" said Fred, the stoic expression on his face managing to convince Florence. She swallowed the lump on her throat, continuing to gaze at him intently.

"Why—Why would your owl be in the Clock tower?" she chuckled nervously, hoping to catch him in his lie. Hoping that he was lying and hoping that he was just messing with her. But Fred wanted to be very convincing. To which he added with a shrug, "Oh, uh... It's not really my owl. It's the family owl. That bloody bird, Errol—really old. He's mistaken the clock tower for the Owlery a lot of times before. It's his old age getting to him, I guess, getting unfamiliar with places."

"Oh." Was all Florence could manage to say. She stood there, dumbfounded as Fred continued to stare back at her with much regret suppressed. Fred spoke again, which prevented her from dissolving into tears there and then. "What are you doing here, by the way?"