Prophecy | George Weasley (COMPLETE)

13. Fred & Noah

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Fred gave Noah a knowing look but Noah shook his head.
They were standing in the library, Astrid was seated, writing with her quill.
"Let's leave them alone" Fred whispered to the boy.
"I can't-" But Fred grabbed his shirt and pulled him away from the two.
"Fred I can't! Astrid's already annoyed with me" Noah explained following Fred out the library nonetheless.
"Why is she mad at you mate?" Fred asked, ignoring his protests
"I- It's complicated, I'd like it to stay between the two of us" Noah mumbled.
Fred didn't say anything.
"Where are we going, anyways?" Noah asked, catching up with the redhead's pace.
"I don't know, Where do you want to go?" He asked smiling. Noah's heart fluttered. Fred Weasley wanted to hang out with him.
"The common room?" He scratched the back of his neck in nervousness. That's too plain. That's too safe! He won't wanna go. He's too cool for me
"Sure." Fred had a grin on his face. He led Noah sneakily to the gryffindor common room.
It was warm. Much warmer than the Ravenclaw common room. The fire, the comfortable looking armchairs, it felt homey.
They sat on the floor, right in front of the fireplace, soaking in the heat.

There was a comfortable silence between the two before Noah spoke up,"I barely know you, Fred. What's your life like?" He wondered.
It was as if Fred knew exactly what to answer. "It's chaotic but it's fun." He replied swiftly.
"I have six other siblings who are similar in no way but I wouldn't have it any other way.
Bill writes to us, but we don't get to see him as much. Charlie used to help us prank when he was at Hogwarts. He now works with dragons. It's bloody brilliant. I want to go visit him in Romania one day. Then there's Percy-"
Fred stopped for a few seconds. He shook his head. Noah wondered what happened with Percy but he knew not to say anything.
After a short pause, Fred collected himself,
"Then there's George of course, you know him. Ron is the youngest male, he's sometimes really thick but he really cares about his friends. Ginny, she's our little sister but honestly she's far better than George and I when it comes to magic."
Noah tensed up at Ginnys name. He knew that she was one of the reasons for the third year incident but Fred was too engrossed in talking to notice Noah's face fall at his little sister's name.
"She is really smart and she's got mum's anger so we try not to mess with her." Fred chuckled.
"It must be so much fun, growing up with a big family"
"Our home is small, it's not a lot, but it is home" Fred simply replied. "What about you?"

"Well, my parents lived in France and I went to beauxbatons for my first, second and third year. I came here in my fourth. I barely knew any english, that's how I met Dana. She was the one who introduced me to Astrid. Dana is a popular Ravenclaw. She fits right into it, she had a million friends and though we share everything, we don't spend as much time together. I can trust her with my life though.
Astrid, she's like my sister. I also have an actual sister but she lives in America and works in their ministry. My parents live in France. They transferred me to Hogwarts because they thought the schooling here was more advanced." Chuckle by Noah. "I agree with them...except DADA maybe"
Fred laughed. He had not been trained in Defense agains the Dark arts since Harry entered the school. It was a mess but it gave the twins a lot of time to work on their products.
Fred notices that Noah didn't really talk about his family much. He just talked about Astrid and Dana. Was he not close with them? Is that really possible? That must be the worst! He thought but moved on from the subject anyway.
"George and I finally completed the last product of our fireworks line. You have a lot of time on your hands when you're banned from quidditch." Fred said with a little snigger.
"Banned from quidditch?" Noah was confused. He barely went to any quidditch matches and so didn't know the drama Fred and George went through.
"It's a long story" Fred said waving it off.
"Completed the fireworks line!?That's amazing! When will you be testing your products out?"
"In a few days. We're paying a couple of first and second years to test it out"
"Poor kids!"
"They agreed to it, we never forced them to do it" Fred shrugged
"Well, I'll be there to make sure anyone who gets hurt reaches the hospital wing" He said whole heartedly.
"You sure you're not a hufflepuff?"
"That's a question I still don't have an answer to"

It seemed like Fred loved to talk. He would talk about anything. His family, his friends, his products, his classes. Just about anything.
Noah didn't talk. He listened. He observed. He  did give out occasional replies but that was it.

Fred soon ran up to his dormitory and came back with some bottled butter beer and fire whiskey. Noah refuses the whiskey so the two stuck with the butterbeer
"How come you don't have a girlfriend? You're such a nice lad" Noah almost spit out his drink.
he took a long gulp trying to think of something
"Unless you're secretly dating someone" the twin wiggled his eyebrows.
"No! I mean I-"
"I'm only messing with you" He laughed. Noah turned a deep shade of red. Fred had noticed how introverted Noah was. He had two friends in total, but it wasn't that he wasn't an interesting person. Fred assumed that Noah just didn't like to imitate conversation. Lucky for him, because Fred loved to do the exact opposite.

There was another silence.

"I wonder where Astrid and George are" Noah said out loud
"Probably snogging " Fred chuckles.
"Probably not!"

"Oh Merlin! I should be going, it's pretty late" Noah said looking at his pocketwatch
"You can crash in here if you want, plus George isn't back yet"
"I know but I want to make sure Astrid reaches her dorm-"
"Don't worry about that! George is with her!"
"I think that's what I should be worried about"
He laughed. Fred nodded in agreement.

"Well, I'll see you around Fred" Noah said standing up and walking towards the exit.
"I'm coming with you, till the doorstep of your common room" Fred followed.
"Thank you my Night in shining armor but this princess can go on her own" Noah clapped his hands together and batted his eyelashes, laughing in the end.
"But this princess has no escaping skills. She won't get to her tower in time and end up with detention" Fred played along laughing.
Noah didn't remember the last he laughed so hard. Their jokes weren't that funny but Fred's laughter was contagious.
"That's true" he said as a matter of fact.
"I know secret passageways, I'll lead you there, don't worry" the redhead smiled.
"Thanks Fred, I really appreciate it."
"It's fine mate!"

"Well I wish you a good night my princess" Fred Bowed in front of Noah.
"Thank you, oh courageous knight" Noah curtsied. This was the most fun he had had. He didn't want it to end but Noah needed to be there for when Astrid came.
"I'm not going to go to sleep until Astrid arrives, you're welcome to keep me company in the common room"
"Really? Thanks!" Fred's face lit up.

The night went on but the two didn't stop talking. Their backs were to the cold wall, sitting beside each other, their shoulders touching and their echoes filling the empty room.
They looked at each other. Noah could see the reflection of his happiness in Fred's face. He wanted to trace each freckle on his nose and cheeks. He wanted to feel the warmth of the flame colored hair. He wanted to look straight through his soul with those eyes and he wanted his thin lips to touch his own.
But Noah knew that he couldn't make constellations out of Fred's freckles  and couldn't reach his souls through his eyes.
He was living with this lie for so long but he couldn't.
He couldn't just hold Fred's cheek and pull him closer into a soft kiss.
Except he did.