Chéri || Fred Weasley

xii

    I tried opening my eyes but was blinded by a bright white light. "Maddie? Maddie are you awake?" I heard Timothée's voice. I opened my eyes and the new surroundings caused my breathing to speed up again. "Maddie look at me, deep breaths, deep breaths" he said holding my hand. I could only nod since I felt like I couldn't talk. I took a couple of deep breaths and my breathing stabilized again. I took in my surroundings and realized that I was in the Hospital Wing. I looked over to my right side and there was Fred.

    "Gave us a right good scare there Frenchie" he said trying to lighten the mood. "What happened?" I asked quietly. "Well after you ran out of class I went after you and you were passed out in the girls bathroom. I think you must have hit your head pretty hard" Fred said. "How long have I been out?" I asked them. "The whole day Mads, I was worried sick" my brother said, "mum sent you some things to make you feel better and you got some letters too". He handed me the letters and there were from mum, Sirius, Andromeda and Tonks. "Alright you two out, it's dinner time and Madeleine here needs to rest" he said to both Fred and Timothée. They both nodded and looked over at me. Fred gave me a reassuring smile and a wink and my brother squeezed my shoulder before disappearing through the large wooden doors.

    "Madam Pomfrey, how do you know my name if this is my first time in here?" I asked the older witch curiously. "I know your family very well dear, your mother specially. An extraordinarily kind woman, she always wanted to become a healer but your grandfather did not let her. What a shame", she said before walking back to her office. Since my head was still pounding heavily I had no problem whatsoever drifting into sleep.

   
    Fred was walking alongside Timothée to the Great Hall. "Mate can I ask you something?" The blonde boy asked the redhead. Fred nodded allowing Timothée to speak. "Was she in Moody's class when she ran away?". "Yeah, he was showing us the unforgivable curses" Fred answered. "Makes sense" Timothée said shaking his head. "If you don't mind me asking, what happened to her?" Fred asked the boy with concern in his voice. "Most likely a panic attack, she gets those quite often actually. If she's ever with you while having one remind her to take deep breaths, that's what mum told me at least. And by the way, thank you for taking her to the hospital" Timothée said before joining his friends in the Gryffindor table before Fred did the same thing. He now knew two new things about the mysterious blonde girl he was growing fond of. She had panic attacks and the unforgivable curses caused them.

    "How is she doing?" George asked his twin. "She's awake but Madam Pomfrey won't let her go til tomorrow" he said piling his plate with food. From the corner of his eye, he saw Angelina and Meredith whispering and giggling looking at him. "Party on tomorrow then" said Lee to the twins. Both nodded and went back to eating their dinner. Fred was awfully quiet that night, his thoughts were completely clouded by Madeleine. He tried connecting dots but after a while gave up, he tried but couldn't sleep so he put on his shoes and snuck out of the portrait hole. He opened the doors to the hospital wing being as quiet as he could and he saw a dim light coming from Maddie's bed. He slowly walked over to her but she didn't notice him since her nose was deep buried in a book.

   
    "Maddie", I flinched and saw Fred standing in front of me. "Bloody hell Fred you scared me!" I whisper yelled. He softly chuckled and sat next to me on the bed. "Thought you might need some company" he said looking deep into my green eyes. I shook my head a smile forming in my face before going back to my book. "What are you reading?" He asked me. "Le Petit Prince, one of my favorites" I said showing him the book. "What's it about?". "It's stupid really, it's meant to be for kids but it's one of my favorites" I answered as my eyes met his again. "I didn't ask you if it was stupid I just wanna know what's it about" Fred replied with his classic smirk. I huffed, "the way I see it is about the innocence and kindness of children, I have a copy in English if you wanna check it out" I said to him. "And why do you like reading it?" He asked, taking the book and scanning the pages. "It tends to remind me how shitty growing up is" I replied. "Damn Mads that's really depressing" he said chuckling. "Well you asked so I answered" I said taking the book back from him.