Muggle | 𝐹𝑟𝑒𝑑 𝑊𝑒𝑎𝑠𝑙𝑒𝑦

Chapter 18

I clapped my hand over my mouth, shocked at the sight. Running towards the Durmstrang crowd, I managed to stop one of them.

     "What's going on!? What happened to Ivan!?" I asked the boy as the rest of them had helped Ivan out of the Hall.

     "It vas a boy," said the guy, angrily in a thick Bulgarian accent. "He took out his vand and hexed Ivan!"

"But – who did it?" I asked worriedly.

"I don't know. Ve didn't see," said the boy. "He said he vas coming to find you but ven he took too long ve vent looking for him and saw him like this."

"I'm – I'm so sorry he turned out this way." I muttered, still in shock. "Let me know how he's doing later, will you?"

     The boy didn't answer me and so with one last glare at me, he left to join his friends and returned to their ship so they could help and heal him.

     I lingered around for some while, watching people dance and some who just like me, sat bored by their tables.

I watched Krum and Hermione dancing around, not too far from them Cho and Cedric. The only people who actually looked as miserable and bored as me were Padma and Parvati Patil.

But soon, even they were asked by other boy and left Harry and Ron behind, enjoying the rest of the evening.

I sat there for some more while but at last, I stood up grumpily and walked out of the castle, making my way towards the black lake and sitting on my usual spot, leaning against the tree.

I gazed at the lake blankly, wondering what had suddenly happened to Ivan and then kept thinking about the rest of the tournament.

     I was drowned in my own thoughts, but it didn't take long for someone to drag me back to reality.

"I knew I'd find you here." I smiled at the familiar voice of Fred Weasley.

"I don't remember the last time I came here and you didn't pop up behind me." I grinned. "Where's Angelina?"

"Uh – she's with her friends." He explained, sitting down next to me, where he always sat.

"Heard you and that Durmstrang boy didn't work out." He said flatly. "Heard he turned into a pumpkin."

"News travels fast," was all I could manage to say.

"I'm sorry," he said, obvious in his tone that he didn't really mean it. "I'm sure you'll find someone soon that his head isn't as big as a pumpkin."

I narrowed my eyes at him suspiciously. "Who are you and what have you done with the real Fred Weasley?"

"Hey, I can be a romantic too!" He retorted, then wiggling his eyebrows at me teasingly.

     "Fred, sorry to disappoint you," I started. "But calling someone a pumpkin-head doesn't make you romantic. Besides, I didn't like Ivan that much. I barely knew the guy. But I was just hoping that tonight would turn out better."

"Welcome to my world." He snorted.

Sighing, I opened my tight bun which was hurting my head and let my hair down. Moving closer to Fred, I placed my head on his shoulder, feeling him getting a little stiff.

We kept gazing at the water and it was a beautiful sight, watching the moon reflect herself on the still lake.

"Your hair smells like cherry." Fred suddenly said out of the blue.

I took my head away and looked at him with raised eyebrows. He cleared his throat, shifting awkwardly where he sat.

"I-I'm not saying this in a creepy way – just – observing," he tried to reason.

I placed my head back on his shoulder, saying nothing else on the matter as I grinned to myself. There was a few moments of silence before we both broke down to chuckles.

"C'mon, Lexi," Fred said at last, standing up and holding a hand out for me to take. "Let's go back to the Ball. We don't want to miss the Weird Sisters."

And so taking his hand, I stood up and we walked towards the castle and back in the Great Hall.

We gathered around with a few friends as we jumped and danced around to the magical band's songs as the beat picked up.

But in the end, when a slow music was playing for the last song, Fred looked at me and bowed slightly, saying teasingly, "May I have your arm, beautiful?"

I couldn't help but giggle as I took his hand and said, "Of course, handsome."

Fred then led me to the dance floor. He placed both of his hands on my waist and I wrapped my arms around his neck, dancing to the song.

The world felt at ease once again as I leaned my head against Fred's chest for a few moments, hearing his rapid heartbeat.

And suddenly, for just one last song, I let myself forget about everything, as my heart started to get warm from the inside.