Too Young » Fred Weasley

3.2

Almost exactly a month later, things at Hogwarts began to change. Not that any of them knew it at the time.

The DA had resumed their meetings and were now learning how to perform the patronus charm. Of course, Phoebe was far from succeeding, but it was a lot of fun watching everyone else produce them. The tension that seemed to follow the students of the school around had disappeared for a moment, everyone too caught up in the whimsical animals that floated around the room. They left trails of wispy blue magic behind them and for all the joy that encased the room, phoebe suspected they were infused with some sort of cheering magic.

"You almost got it then Phoebe!" Harry encouraged, after witnessing her fail for the seventh time.

Phoebe sent him an unimpressed look. "We both know that I'm never going to manage this."

Harry looked like he was about to argue, but then thought better of it, "At least you have an excuse." He shrugged.

Phoebe rolled her eyes playfully and went back to trying to work the incantation.

An hour or so later, as everyone was leaving the room, Fred grabbed Phoebe and pulled her to the side of the room.

"Hey," she smiled.

"Hey," Fred replied, but he looked oddly serious and was glancing nervously around the quickly emptying room.

"What's wrong?" Phoebe frowned, his nerves reflecting onto her.

"Can we talk?"

"Of course." Phoebe nodded. Inside her chest her heart was beating a thousand miles per hour. Was he breaking up with her? This sounded an awful lot like a break up.

"Um, George and I, well we- we feel like our time here has run its course, you know?" Fred stumbled over his words, so far away from his usual relaxed composure.

"No," Phoebe shook her head, a confused expression settling on her features.

"Well, with the shop almost set up, we feel like there's not much point in us staying at Hogwarts anymore," Fred explained, "We don't need NEWT's for it and we just want to start working in the joke shop."

Phoebe's mind struggled to process what he was saying.

"So that means..." She prompted for him to carry on explaining.

"We're going to leave school early, hopefully go out with a bang," He said with a half-hearted grin.

"Okay," Phoebe breathed, nodding slowly, "When are you going to leave?"

"Nothing's definite yet, but we want to leave before exams so start."

"So I have around three months left with you?" Phoebe asked quietly, fully aware of how pathetic she sounded.

"Come here," Fred ordered, opening his arms wide for Phoebe to step into. Phoebe obliged, burying her face into Fred's neck as he wrapped his arms around her.