Adored - Fred Weasley

Chapter Twenty Nine

"Fred?" you said out of surprise, "What are you doing down here? And with my cat?"

Now that a candle was lighting up the room slightly, you could see Fred in more detail.

He was wearing his flannel sweatpants and his large Quidditch sweatshirt. His red hair was messy, in an obvious state of bedhead. 

Sam looked like he did when he was a small kitten, nestled in both of Fred's big arms and partially blanketed by the sweatshirt's sleeves. 

He purred as his head rested in the crook of Fred's elbow.

"Oh uh," Fred stammered, standing up slowly from the armchair, "I've been down here for some time and Sam just ran into the room a few minutes ago. Don't worry, he hasn't been down here long."

"Why were you down here in the first place?" you asked, taking a few steps toward him.

"Couldn't sleep I guess," he said, shrugging as he turned and ever so gently placed Sam down on the armchair, being careful in not disturbing him.

He was lying. You could always tell when he was.

"You're lying," you said bluntly, surprising yourself with how forward you were being.

"How do you-"

"You may not remember me, but that doesn't mean I forgot about you," you responded, "besides, you're a terrible liar, you always have been."

"Okay, I'll tell you. Might as well. It's just, I can't stop thinking about it- we were together weren't we." Fred said, interrupting his own sentence.

His words took you by surprise, it was so strange to hear him speak of your relationship and to speak of it as if it wasn't real.

You wanted to think that he had remembered, that you finally came back to him.

But you could see it in his eyes and hear the doubt in his words. He hadn't.

"Yeah, how'd you find out? George, I'm guessing?" you said, your voice also quiet. 

"For the most part, yeah. He told me that the two of us were together. I am so sorry," he said.

"You're sorry? For what? You haven't done anything." 

Fred slowly made his way towards you, his hand rubbing the back of his neck, "I just can't imagine what you've been going through. And now you have to be here with me for Christmas. That can't be easy. Just again, I really am sorry."

Your chest felt heavy hearing him apologize to you. 

Fred was now standing right in front of you, looking down at you with his hazel eyes full of sympathy.

"If you want me to," he almost whispered in his low voice, "I'll stay away."

He was so close. Too close.

"I think I need some air, just for a minute," you said, stepping away and slightly rushing towards the door which led to outside.

Before Fred could say or do anything you quickly opened that door, stepped outside, and closed it behind you. 

You stepped right into the cold, winter air which hit your face suddenly, burning both your cheeks and the tip of your nose. 

Looking out at the yard, you saw that the ground was completely covered in white, and more was drifting down from the sky. It was snowing.

As you heavily exhaled, clouds of your breaths became visible in the air. 

You grabbed your wand out of your pocket and swiftly pointed it down at the snow in front of your feet.