Smile - Book One of the RP Saga

Deathly Silence ( 26 )

When the two girls had arrived back in the common room, Fred stood meekly in front of his brother and friend. George and Lee spotted Rachel enter and shoved Fred in her direction. Fred hissed at them but soon stopped when he was in front of Rachel. Hermione took the opportunity to slide away.

"Hey, Freddie." Rachel rose an eyebrow, noticing the two boys behind him. "Everything okay?"

"Yeah, uh, ignore them." Fred closed his eyes and pointed to the boys. "Uh, what are you doing today?"

"Me?" Rachel took a moment. "Nothing, why?"

"Let's go Hogsmede." He blurted out.

"Hogsmede?" Rachel laughed. "Fred, I can't go to Hogsmede without a teacher or a seventh year. You're neither."

George slunk over, with a smirk. "Ah, you see, Rachel. This is where Freddie's incredibly smart brain comes into play." He ruffled Fred's hair.

"What are you two on about?" Rachel shook her head.

"Well," Lee spoke, standing next to Fred, "Fred here knows a way to sneak you into Hogsmede. So there's no excuse to not going."

Rachel began to smirk. "Is that true?" In front of her, Fred just nodded, making Rachel grin. "Okay, give me two mins to get into warmer clothes."

She ran off with a giggle and could have sworn she heard Fred swear at the boys. When she came back down Fred was alone by the portrait hole, his arms crossed. He gave her a smile when she got closer and they walked off.

They managed to sneak their way across the school grounds and fields towards Hogsmede, the two laughing as they had to duck behind trees to hide from Professors. In the distance, Rachel could see Hogsmede.

"Lets go this way." Fred pulled Rachel away from the village to where a little wood and fields lay.

"Wait, how come?" Rachel frowned, she noticed he hadn't let go of her hand.

"Just trust me." Fred said with a wink.

Eventually they reached the field that over looked the Shrieking Shack. Fred stood next to Rachel, his eyes fixated on the house.

"Have you heard?" 

"That, that is the most haunted building in Britain? Yeah." Rachel laughed, also looking at the abandoned building. 

"Do you reckon it's haunted?" Fred turned to her. "I always thought it could be a boggart."

Rachel paused for a moment and smirked. "Lets go look!" 

Fred looked at her with wide eyes and a mischievous grin. "Come on then." He quickly said, crawling under the barbed wire fence. 

Rachel followed suit and slipped under the fence and headed towards the building. Further away, it didn't look as scary but closer up it looked quite frightening. The house creaked and groaned as if it was old and tired, the door hung on whatever hinge was left. Nervously, the two slipped through and looked around. The room was dark and full of cobwebs. When you entered there was a sense of tenseness and almost as if something was watching you, it was really unnerving.

"This is so weird..." Fred whispered, grabbing Rachel's hand, which she squeezed back.

"I know... should we... go look around?" Rachel quietly asked, too scared to disturb something with her loud voice. 

Fred nodded and pulled her into his side protectively. She clutched his hand as they ventured on. Suddenly, above their heads, the floor boards creaked as if someone was walking across them.

"What was-" Fred started, when suddenly behind them in the corner where an old bookcase stood, whatever of the books remained flew off.

"Fred..." Rachel gasped.

"I-it's okay, don't worry." He tried reassuring.

The window on the wall flew open and a gush of wind flew in causing Rachel to yelp. But then it went deathly silent. They were frozen to their spots, a couple of seconds passed and then it happened. The ceiling began to slowly decay away and parts fell down. Bangs and crashes were heard over the whole house and what seemed to be a screaming was heard.

"What the hell?" Fred jumped back, his arm in front of Rachel.

"Quick, come on!" She shouted, pulling him out of the house and into the cold air. 

They got out and sprinted all the way back to where they had been, on the other side of the barbed wire, not daring to look back. Only when they reached the field far away from the shrieking shack, did they stop.

"Oh my God." Fred breathed next to Rachel, collapsing onto the grass.

"Never. Again." Rachel said, lying next to him.

"Jesus... I... are you okay?" He quickly asked.

"You?" Rachel nodded.

"Yeah..." Fred also nodded. 

The two lay for a moment in silence before Rachel sniggered. Fred looked at her, confused, until he saw her trying to bite back her laugh. Her eyes were on the sky until they looked towards Fred. As soon as they did, the two burst out laughing.

"We're such brave Gryffindors aren't we?" Rachel laughed as Fred began to stand up.

"That, we certainly are." Fred grinned. "Now, uh, lets go back now, that's enough bloody adventure for a lifetime." 

They arrived back at the school just in time for lunch, both breathless from laughing and joking around. They walked into the Great Hall, playfully shoving each other. Draco spotted them from his seat in the Hall and rolled his eyes, scornfully. Fred and Rachel found George and Lee and flopped onto the benches.

"So, how was Hogsmede?" George waggled his eyebrows with a smirk.

"You know, you look ridiculously creepy like that." Rachel pointed out. "But... it was good."

"What did you actually do today then?" Lee asked.

"Oh, not much, really." Fred shrugged. "We just went into the Shrieking Shack." He finished his sentence with a smirk.

"You went in the Shrieking Shack?" George and Lee both exclaimed at the same time.

"Yes, we did, it was bloody scary." Rachel recalled. "I don't recommend you going in there." 

"I'm not planning on it." George sighed and carried on eating.

Rachel made eye contact with Fred. They shared a small smile.