Wisps of Beth Black ϟ Fred Weasley [2] (ON HOLD)

3

Beth Black sat in the pub a few nights later with a cup of tea, reading through a copy of the daily prophet. All that was really in it, other than the idiots still writing about Sirius Black, was news about the Quidditch World Cup and a list of stands and tents you could go into to buy products to support either Ireland or Bulgaria, or products completely unrelated to the subject.

It was all completely dull to someone who wasn't interested in Quidditch at all, but she convinced herself not to pout about it because she could possibly enjoy herself...somehow.

"Hi," came a voice. Soft, quiet and uncertain. Like a mixture between not knowing whether to disturb or retreat but having to stick to disturbing.

Beth hesitated to, but slowly looked up, her grey eyes meeting a pair of soft brown ones. It was suddenly hard to swallow and she had almost forgotten what Fred Weasley had done to her. All she wanted to do in that moment was sink herself into his arms, but she would not give him the satisfaction of giving in to him or his apologies. She hated him.

"You're alone," she pointed out, trying to make herself sound bitter but it wouldn't come out.

Fred helped himself to a chair across from her instead of beside her, which she was happy about. He did a double take when he managed to look up at her and his eyebrows pulled themselves in.

"What happened to your face?" he asked, the softness in his voice gone.

"None of your business."

"Tell me who hurt you," he continued. "I promised that I'd take care of whoever did. Didn't I?"

"It's none of your business," Beth growled at him, somehow throwing him off guard. Fred sunk back into his chair and twisted his mouth to the side.

"Dad and George are outside. I told them to wait out there while you and I talked and...well I thought it was for the best. You see, the Cup is tomorrow and we've all got to be up at the crack of dawn -- honestly, I'm surprised my mum even let me come tonight since I did something stupid with Harry's cousin and...well, she's in a mood."

Beth said nothing, simply sat there with a sour look on her face as she listened to Fred. Fred seemed to get it into his head that Beth didn't want to hear anything she didn't need to hear and that he had to get straight to the point.

"Yes, well...you've got to stay the night at my house, the Burrow--"

"Excuse me?" Beth snapped, crossing her arms at the redheaded boy. He looked up at Beth with sad eyes.

"Well I said we've got to be up at the crack of dawn to get to the Portkey. You can't just show up from here, you probably won't even know where it is. It's best we stick together anyway. Harry and Hermione are already at the Burrow and Mum and everyone else already knows you're possibly staying the night, given that you agree to come to the Cup..."

Beth didn't know what to say, only wished Fred had included this in his letter so that she could outright tell him no in one of her letters or just ignore him altogether, right from the start. She simply leaned her elbows up onto the table and buried the lower half of her face in her hands as she thought.

"Beth, I--" Fred cut himself short when Beth's eyes flickered up to him icily. "I've missed you like crazy...god, there are no words--"

"Don't," she said strongly, glaring at him. "I don't want to hear it. And if your dad and brother weren't outside waiting I would have told you to piss off and that I'm not going. But since you dragged them along I don't want to have wasted their time..."

"So, you're coming then? Mum said you can stay the whole week up until school if you wanted, and if you leave your list she can get your supplies for you while we're at the Cup." Fred said this all eagerly if not excitedly.

Beth really wanted to refuse going there at all, wanted to refuse seeing the Quidditch World Cup, and all she could think about was the annoying mess she had gotten herself into. She didn't know anyone other than Fred and it would be incredibly awkward being around the rest of his family. She knew Hermione Granger and Harry Potter for all of three minutes.

"Fred," Beth said quietly. "I think I'll just see you at school."

"What? Why?"

"I just can't," she replied. "I'm sorry I dragged your dad and brother out here, not necessarily sorry about you, but really I can't."

"But you're here all alone, and all summer I've just been miserable about you. Can't you see that if I could take back what I did, I would?"

"That still doesn't make it okay," Beth frowned at him. "Look, when we're back at school I don't want you to come up to me and I don't want you to try talking to me. I want to go back to the way things used to be before you made your vow."

Fred mouthed wordlessly at Beth as though he couldn't believe what he was hearing. Beth looked away from him; she couldn't bear to see him anymore miserable than she knew he was...she wasn't exactly having the time of her life either, all summer in fact. Not when he was all she could think and dream of.

Sighing sadly, the redhead stood from his seat, gave Beth one last look and left the pub, where Beth could see an excited looking Mr Weasley standing next to George through the gap of the door when it opened.