Muggle | 𝐹𝑟𝑒𝑑 𝑊𝑒𝑎𝑠𝑙𝑒𝑦

Chapter 09

When I turned my head and looked, I saw Draco Malfoy standing behind me, an arrogant grin playing on the edge of his mouth.

     "What do you want, Malfoy?" I asked flatly, staring back at the lake.

     "Just want to know why you're here," he said, smiling down at me mockingly. "If Professor McGonagall knew you'd skipped your first class just to stare at the lake... tsk tsk... she'd be very disappointed in her new little Gryffindor."

     "And what are you doing out? Don't you have a class yourself?" I snapped back.

     "I can do whatever I want." He said arrogantly. "This is my school."

     I rolled my eyes and looked away, simply not being in the mood to argue. I felt that by that Malfoy became disappointed, probably because he had readied himself for a fight.

     "Piss off," was my final careless answer.

     His blood boiling, I saw Draco take out his wand out of his robe's pocket and point it at me, yet I didn't even stir, annoying him even further.

     "You better watch out, Hooper!" He snarled. "I don't know who you were back at your own school, but here, people know better to respect me! Or they'll have to learn it the hard way!"

     I turned to look at him and to scoff, but the next moment my eyes widened when I saw that his blond hair suddenly started changing color. I was confused at first, having no idea who had jinxed him, but I decided to roll with it all the same.

     "I love your new hair color, by the way." I said with a cheeky grin. "I see you're growing fond of Gryffindor."

     "What are you talking about – NO!" He went by the lake to see his reflection, only to find his blond hair now a deep shade of scarlet. "YOU WILL REGRET THIS, HOOPER!"

     "Oh, yes, I'm sure your father will hear about this." I snorted, watching him run back towards the castle.

     Just then, I heard someone say from the other side of me,

     "I thought you needed help to get rid of him." When I turned my head back to see the source of the voice, I found Fred Weasley coming out from behind the big tree trunk I was leaning on.

     "Nice one. He thought that it was me who had jinxed him," I smiled at him, but my smile quickly fainted away, remembering the confusion I was stuck in. "Look, Fred... not to be rude or anything, but... I'd really want to be alone."

     "Really?! Me too!" He said brightly and sat down next to me. "Let's do it together!"

     I chuckled. "What are you doing here, anyway? Don't you have a class?"

     "I said I wanted to use the bathroom." He shrugged. "I just couldn't get you out of my head – I mean... uh... you know? You were all sad since breakfast... and uh... I thought I'd check up on you."

     "How did you find me?"

     "With the help of a little parchment we'd passed on to Harry last year. I borrowed it now to find you – but you can't ask what it is!"

     "All right. I solemnly swear that I won't ask," I said with a little grin, watching with amusement as he became confused. But he then shook his head, trying to get back to the point.

     "So what's wrong, Lexi?"

     "Nothing."

     "Is this one of those nothings that girls say when in reality it's actually everything?"

     "I never took you as the type to be this smooth with girls, Weasley." I raised a brow at him, looking impressed.

     "I guess I'm more mysterious than what I look like, Miss Hooper." He grinned, using my own sentence against me, and I giggled in return. "And don't change the subject! Tell me what happened to you so suddenly?"

     "You wouldn't understand even if I told you." I shook my head. "You'll think I've gone mad. Even I think that I've gone crazy."

     "So what if you have? Life's more fun when you're a bit crazy." He shrugged with a grin. "I'm not gonna tell anyone. Pranksters' honor!" He crossed his heart.

     "Not even George?"

     "Who's even George?" He teased, his way of promising that it was going to remain between us.

     "Well, here it goes:" I breathed out one last time before saying, "I'm a Muggle."

     Fred laughed loudly. "Good one, Hooper. What's really wrong, though."

     "It wasn't a joke," I said with a stern face, watching his smile fade away. "I accidentally fell through the barrier of platform 9 3/4 and apparently, as Dumbledore said, I have traveled to past, to your timeline, for some reason that no one knows yet."

     I never thought that I would live to see the serious face of one of the Weasley twins, but there it was now. "Oh," was all he managed to say.

     "I told you you'll think that I'm crazy. Hell, I think that I probably am! I don't even think any of this is real yet! I've been raised reading these books about Hogwarts and the magical world, and as much as I liked to believe in it all as an honorable Potterhead, but deep down I knew it wasn't real! My father was always against it all, for some reason. I guess he knew that much imagination could lead to no good. He was right, wasn't he?"

     "Lexi, I don't think it's crazy." He said sympathetically, putting a hand on my shoulder. "But then... if you're really a Muggle... how are you going to be able to do magic here?"

"I don't think I'll be able to. But Dumbledore says that it's necessary for me to stay here. He wants to keep an eye on me, I guess."

"You'll be able to figure these things out, Lexi." Said Fred kindly. "I don't know how long it's gonna take, but it will happen eventually. I am betraying myself for saying this, but I think being in classes will be good for; it's good distraction."

"Thanks, Fred."

He then patted my head teasingly as if I were a pet and said, "You can cry on my shoulder all you want, just be careful not to get my robe too wet. After all, it's only seven years old; it's Bill's legacy, you know."

I laughed. "You're an idiot!"

"Thank you, madam." He bowed his head lightly.

"It wasn't a compliment."

"Yes, it was, and you know it."