ad astra per aspera - {♕ f.w.}

10. The Mysterious Illness of one Professor Lupin

The Fat Lady's portrait was restored and classes resumed, but nerves were higher than ever amongst students and teachers alike. Despite being encouraged to operate like normal, all anyone could talk about for the following week was Sirius Black. You overheard conversations about his whereabouts and motives everywhere you went.

People around you whispered to their friends, glancing distractedly towards the windows as if to check if Black was trying to get in again. Even you found yourself too weary to bother taking notes. Every class you shared with Fred was spent passing bits of parchment back and forth, exchanging far fetched guesses as to how Black had ended up inside the castle.

What also resumed as normal, even after Hogsmeade, was the tension between him and Cedric. Only now, since the Hufflepuff boy had explained the reason behind their "feud'", you found it easy to ignore them. You had no reason to get involved, and even Cedric himself seemed less engaged. Recently he hadn't been quipping back as much, instead giving you pointed, knowing looks whenever Fred tried to start something.

Now that he'd laid out his case, Cedric was trying to prove a non-existent point. It was like you were now in on a secret he'd been keeping. On several occasions, you considered telling him to drop it, as his seemingly innocent observation had left you in an awkward situation.

On top of worrying about the upcoming quidditch match and Sirius Black, you'd been overanalyzing everything Fred did when he was around you.

It wasn't the first time. The overthinking occurred whenever your parents brought it up, or one of your other friends. When Ginny insisted over the summer that her brother liked you as more than a friend. You'd considered on countless occasions the possibility of the boy harbouring non-platonic feelings for you. Every time you came out unquestionably certain that he didn't.

This time was no different. After days of agonizing over whether Cedric was right, you decided Fred was still the same.

What had happened with them wasn't out of the ordinary for Fred. While the Chamber of Secrets was open, it wasn't uncommon to overhear him tell someone off for suggesting you had something to do with the attacks. One time, a Hufflepuff boy spent an entire class talking to your chest, trying to get you to go to Hogsmeade with him. He had bright green hair at breakfast the next morning, someone having evidently tampered with his shampoo. Said Hufflepuff was a part of Cedric's tightly knit friend group. To Fred, this must've made Cedric suspicious by proxy.

He was just trying to protect you, the same way you'd never hesitate to snap at Malfoy whenever he took a shot at any of the Weasleys. There were things, somethings, that could've once been considered romantic, but had been watered down to nothings after five years of friendship.

Fred was the same as always. Charming. Funny. Loud. Forwardly flirtatious. Cute. Cute in the same way you thought George was cute. Lee. Oliver Wood. Cedric. Even Slytherin's Adrian Pucey, although you'd never admit that to anyone.

Yet, Cedric persisted. He hinted with fleeting glances and smirks that the nothings were somethings. He was sure more was going on, even after you assured him that you'd never known Fred to act differently. If Cedric was alluding to the fact that Fred Weasley had always liked you, he was unfortunately mistaken.

As November 6th grew closer, you took on a very Oliver Wood mentality and decided the game was the only thing that mattered. The match came at the perfect time. You needed a distraction.

Not willing to let a single second of practice time go to waste, Oliver dragged the team out to the pitch on the Friday morning before the game. As you got dressed in the near darkness, you couldn't help but feel that the weather was less than ideal. The winds had reached a howling point, and thick rain fell from dark grey clouds that blocked any sunlight.