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

5

The silence was rather uncomfortable but at the same time, Fred had been expecting Beth to grow angry and agitated, expected at least a scowl from her. 

The Gryffindor was suddenly taken back to a year ago when he had walked into the library with George and Lee and spotted her sitting in a corner reading the daily prophet, the way his breath suddenly caught in his throat when her eyes first looked up at him, his astonishment at how much more beautiful she was when he was sitting next to her. 

Today, Fred's eyes trailed all over her and he tried to figure out her body language. Beth was clearly ill at ease and couldn't look him in the eyes, or anywhere at him really. Her hands were fidgeting with each other and her eyes were staring hard at the pile of books she had beside her. She still had her hair tied back into a braid with a few strays of hair falling on the sides of her face and across her forehead which was unusual to see. Beth had always had her hair tied back perfectly, which made Fred think that today just wasn't her day, or, even though it may have been wishful thinking, he could've been clouding her thoughts too. 

"Are you okay from this morning? I'm sorry, I know this is really weird and you hate me and everything, but..." Fred started, hoping he didn't sound as silly to her as he did to himself, "...but, I feel...I don't even know how to explain it, but I hate it. You don't mean to but you mess with me."

Beth was looking at him with a rather thoughtful look. Fred's eyes were probably playing tricks on him but it also looked as though she understood him perfectly. She looked down for a second before looking back up into his eyes, licking her lips. Fred thought she was going to say something, and maybe she was, but she decided to simply purse her lips. 

"I don't expect you to care of course, I mean, I know you told me not to talk to you anymore. But... are you truly fine without me? Maybe that's all I need to know to let you go."

Beth was silent for a moment as she stared at him, apparently taking in his words, before she opened her mouth to speak. 

"You were opening up my heart, Weasley," she said slowly. Fred couldn't breathe, he didn't want to miss a single thing she said. He felt horrible all over again. "That's not something I ever do and you broke it. You tricked me from the start and that's not something I can just simply forgive and forget--"

"But you can eventually, can't you?" Fred tried not to ask this too hopefully, but he was sure he did judging from the guilty look she threw him. "Can't we even just be friends? Acquaintances even? We can just talk from time to time. Did you even read any of my letters?"

He spoke too fast and Beth opened and closed her mouth as she couldn't get a word out. Fred was, weirdly enough, surprised to see Beth suddenly scowling. 

"Just leave me alone, Weasley!" she seethed at him, snatching up her belongings and storming away from him, leaving nothing behind other than the scent of her perfume. 

"What the hell just happened?" Fred couldn't help but think aloud. 

He looked over to the right to see George still standing by the bookshelf he left him at, but George was looking Fred's way. George looked just as confused as Fred. 

~~~

"But you eventually can, can't you? Can't we even just be friends? Acquaintances even? We can just talk from time to time. Did you even read any of my letters?"

Was Fred Weasley really that stupid? Beth knew he just missed her, she could understand that, but why he couldn't realise that he had broken her heart even just as friends was a mystery. She wanted to tell him that he had not only broken her heart but had broken her trust and made her feel so much regret for finally opening up to someone, but she just couldn't, and the more he talked, the angrier she got... not only at him, but also at herself for not being able to just speak her mind to him. Not like she used to. Although her heart was broken, the piece that wanted to hurt Fred's feelings was missing. 

The worst she could spit out at him was, "Just leave me alone, Weasley!" 

And before leaving him sitting there, she caught on to the hurt, miserable look on the boy's face. Beth's mouth quivered as she thought about it, storming through the castle. She didn't care where she went, she just wanted to be somewhere people weren't. 

Beth wished Fred hadn't been so stupid as to make a silly unbreakable vow, one that she was involved in most of all. If she just pretended that he hadn't done that, she could think to herself without feeling stupid that she wanted him in her life. But she could never trust him again, so there was no point. All that would play through her mind was him doing something horrible or idiotic, or something that leads her to end up like her mother. 

Suddenly there was nothing Beth hated more than having nobody to turn to. She even missed Adrian annoying her and boasting about himself, but there was no chance that he was missing her the way that she was missing Fred. When Beth reached the top of the grounds, she saw that Adrian looked genuinely happy as he hung out and laughed with the Slytherin Quidditch team down aways. 

"Beth?"

Gasping softly, the Slytherin spun around. She hadn't heard anyone creep up behind her and definitely hadn't expected anyone other than Fred to talk to her. It was Hermione Granger who had said her name, and she was standing there with Harry Potter and Ron Weasley. 

"What?" 

The Gryffindor trio shared awkward glances with each other, and eventually the two boys stared at Hermione and waited for her to do the talking. Hermione narrowed her eyes at Harry and elbowed him, forcing him to speak. The green-eyed boy looked at Beth as she arched an eyebrow intimidatingly. 

"I -- we-- we were just wondering if you'd gotten any letters..." Harry stammered, uneasily adjusting his round glasses. 

"Letters?" Beth asked, but she had a feeling she knew exactly what this was about.

"Yeah, from...Padfoot."

Beth twisted her mouth to the side, looked down at Harry's shoes before looking back up at him and shaking her head.

 In any other case she'd ask why he cared for a letter from Sirius, but on their way off the battlements the night Sirius had escaped on Buckbeak, Beth had asked Hermione why they cared so much to rescue her uncle. She explained, of course, that not only was Sirius innocent, but he was also Harry Potter's Godfather. 

"I'm guessing you haven't either," Beth said to him. 

Harry shook his head. "Makes me wonder if...something's happened. Did you get any letters over the summer?"

"No," Beth responded shortly, hoping this conversation would just end and they'd leave. She was beginning to feel...weird...and she didn't want Ron Weasley to start asking her about Fred. Beth could already see the youngest Weasley boy eyeing her like he wanted to say something. "I...I've got to go."

Beth quickly brushed past the three fourth-years before they could get another word out.