Before you (Fred Weasley)

CHAPTER 44

Fred's POV:
I sipped on my cup of tea, watching George as he whizzed about the shop, getting it ready for the customers. We were going to open in half an hour.

"A little help here Fred?" George yelled from the store room.

I hadn't slept all night and I was in no mood for leaving my seat.

"I'm busy" I yelled back, leaning into my chair and taking another lazy sip.

"Good morning Fred" greeted our assistant, Emma.

"Hey Emma" I smiled at her.

"The both of you have cleaned up already, nothing much left for me to do" Emma said, looking around.

"Would you like some tea?" I said, pointing at the chipped tea cup on the small stool in front of me.

"Sure" she said, sitting across from me and pouring herself a cup of tea.

She kept glancing at me nervously as she clutched the cup in her hands, as if it was going to slip any minute.

"What's wrong? Constipated?" I joked.

"What? No!" Her eyes widened.

"Grip that cup any tighter and it'll break. That's the only other cup we have left so you'll have to buy us a new one" I said.

"No it's not that" she sighed.

"Then what is it?" I asked curiously.

"I-I was just wondering if you'd like to..I don't know..grab a bite to eat or get some coffee or something after we close in the evening?" She said as quickly as possible.

For some reason, the first person that came to my mind was Alice. But she had made it clear she wanted nothing to do with me.

"Sure" I grinned.

"Great" she sighed in relief.

"It's opening time you lazy shits!" George yelled from across the room, walking towards the door and unlocking it to welcome our first customers for the day.

.

Alice's POV:

I was having a terrible headache for some reason. I sat on the Hufflepuff Table, my head in my hands, groaning in pain.

"You um alright there Alice?" Ernie asked.

"No. Human. Interactions. Today" I said slowly.

"Geez alright Miss Moody" Ernie chuckled.

An owl landed on the table, its feathers sticking out in all directions. It looked rather confused, maybe it was having a headache too. How dull it must be to just fly around, delivering people's letters.

'He's a bird you idiot, that's what he does' a voice in my head said.

I took the letter from the owl. Not bothering to read who it was from, I ripped it open.

Stay away from her. Her and her family are trouble.

Huh? What did that even mean?

I looked at the envelope to see that it wasn't actually meant to be delivered to me. But to Bella.

I looked at the owl who was swaying around as if drunk.

"Ernie feed the poor thing something, I have to go"

I got up from my seat and walked to Bella who was sitting with a few other second years.

"Bella? There's a letter for you, I opened it on accident thinking it was for me" I said, handing her the letter.