CHRYSALIS - FRED WEASLEY

CHAPTER 14

"I'm fine," he replies, "Listen. I'm serious about you telling me before you come. Dolohov is breathing down my neck about getting this intelligence done, and I think Rockwood knows I've been sneaking someone in."

"Honey, I really don't think anyone knows I'm coming to see you--"

"They might, okay?" he snaps, "It's not fucking complicated, just tell me before you come."

He gets up from his chair, shrugging his jacket off and unbuttoning the collar of his shirt. He looks at her and stops, a strange look on his face, "What are you wearing?"

Lillie looks down at herself; she's wearing a mini skirt in a warm, khaki color, with sheer, plum-colored tights on her legs.

"I don't know, tights?" she says cautiously.

"They're fucking hideous."

Lillie is ripped from the memory at the sound of the wide, double wooden doors opening. She turns to see Fred walking purposefully towards her, his hands in his pockets. She smiles; his hair sticks up at odd angles, like he just rolled out of bed.

"Hello!" he says once he's in earshot.

"Hi," Lillie replies.

"Not late, am I?" he says, comically turning around and craning his neck to check the giant clock that faces the courtyard. He arrived at 2 pm on the dot. He stops short of her, standing with his hands still shoved in his pockets. He felt the instinct to hug her, but quickly realized that would be inappropriate.

"No, you're perfect," Lillie says before realizing the connotation, "Perfectly on time, I mean." He nods, chuckling lightly.

"Shall we?" He says, gesturing with a flourish.

"Yes," Lillie says, as though she's just remembered why he's here, "I think I'm going to do the south-west part of the castle today, if that's okay? Potions classroom, Defense Against the Dark Arts, Divination?"

"Divination," Fred repeats, "Yeah, of course. Sounds good. Divination."

They walk, chatting lightly, to the section of the castle. Lillie, leading the way, tactfully avoids the viaduct where they had their last confrontation. However, this makes the trip winding and long, lengthening the period of awkwardness that follows the pair around.

"So, I'm a bit, erm, fuzzy on the details of what exactly you're doing today," Fred says.

"Okay. Which part?" Lillie asks.

"All of it," Fred deadpans.

Lillie laughs, "Well, over the summer I found out I'm a telekinetic."

Fred nods his head, trying to understand, "Ok. Those are rare, right?"

"Yeah," Lillie says, "They say, like, one in two hundred million. I think it's probably more, though, and people just never realize."

"Okay," Fred says, urging her to continue.

"So pretty quickly after I, um," she pauses, "found out what I am, I moved to New Mexico. The Puebloans have a super high telekinetic population, and they've figured out some amazing things about the wizard brain and how to use it to control things around you." She pauses, considering her next words, "Not just, like, objects. Energy currents, particles, everything. Is this making sense so far?"

"Yeah, I'm following," Fred says, though he sounds a little lost.

"Remember in Charms, we learned about how people who are especially skilled at wandless magic are often natural telekinetics?"