A letter

Fred looked over the letter he had just penned, reading and rereading until the words didn't seem real anymore. He thought about screwing up the parchment until he saw the several other balls of paper all detailing the same thing. This was his best attempt and if he was going to say it, he wanted this to be his final draft.

But it was a letter. The emotion he felt couldn't be portrayed fully and it just felt wrong so he placed the letter to the side and tried not to give it a second glance. (y/n)'s most recent letter was in front of him and he read it over for the 3rd time. They hardly had any contact besides letters in the summer because (y/n)'s parents were quite protective with her being an only child. He understood of course but it was hard, the one-person Fred wanted to talk to the most was only reachable with a piece of parchment. So, he cherished the letters he received and looked over them whenever he felt a pang of missing for his best friend.

Fred had met (y/n) in their second year. They were both on the platform, George dared Fred to speed his trolley through the barrier and being one to never say no to a dare, Fred did it. He started a little way back with a curious look from his mother and ran straight through the wall onto the platform only for his trolley to spin slightly out of control and crash into someone on the other side. That someone being (y/n). She had a pretty bad bruise on her side for a whole month but had luckily seen the funny side to his crash. Her father laughed before her mother lightly smacked his arm and then made Fred apologise before having a word with Molly about her son's behaviour.

"Sorry about my Mum. I'm (y/n) by the way." Fred looked up to see a smile which illuminated the whole platform and put the stars to shame. She reached out a gentle hand and Fred took it, introducing himself and then subsequently George as his twin made an appearance at his side.

Fred smiled at the 4-year-old memory and reread the story of (y/n)'s uneventful summer before being called for dinner. Afterwards, Fred quickly jotted a letter telling about the upcoming world cup and going to get Harry from the muggle's and about how it was such a smart plan, he made sure the sarcasm was implied. He sent it off with Pig (who he had stolen from Ron) and waited for a reply.

A few days later just before they were about to set off, he got a reply. (y/n) had said she was so jealous and that she wished she could be there but she was stuck working at her Father's shop whilst he recuperated from an illness. Fred replied with wishes of wellness for her father and that he would get her a gift from the souvenir stands. He also wrote of not being able to wait until he could see her again and as he sent the letter off, this time with Errol because Ron had not been happy about him using Pig, Fred couldn't help but smile at the thought of (y/n) feeling the exact same way.

But he never found out how she felt because the letters stopped coming. Fred was utterly confused by this and tried multiple times to reach out. Had he gone too far and creeped her out by letting on about his romantic feelings for his best friend? At the thought of this, Fred stashed his unwritten letter away and shook off his crush. But a crush wasn't something that disappeared in a day at least not the level of the one Fred had for (y/n).

The quidditch world cup took his mind off (y/n) for a little while with all the excitement. He brought her a small Irish flag with his last bit of money that hadn't been wagered and kept it safe. Throughout the whole trip, he kept the last letter from (y/n) in his pocket and when the invasion of death eaters happened he held on tightly to it.

As soon as he got back to the burrow, he wrote a letter to let her know he was safe and about the terrifying events of the day. He still didn't get a reply and he begun to worry about (y/n). That was until he saw her on the platform with her mother. Fred walked happily over until he realised something was different about the way they interacted. Both (y/n) and her mother looked sad, neither looked as if they wanted to leave each other as they hugged. Fred thought it best not to interrupt and so left them alone, instead returning to his own family.