my best friends brother - fred weasley

i. coming home

Walking down the corridor of the Hogwarts express alone, only with my black cat as company, was not the start of the year I was hoping for. Orchid's purrs, along with the muffled conversations of students, were creating a comfortable ambiance as I looked through each compartment, searching for my three best friends. I let her wander in front of me, relying on her to recognise them. She darts into a compartment, leading me in behind her.

"Hi guys!" I announce my arrival.

"Um, hello." A voice far deeper than any of my friends says. I look up and see two identical faces staring at me, very confused. I can feel my face turning a deep red as I realise who I just intruded on.

"Oh, I'm so sorry, you two aren't my friends." I reach to grab my cat.

"That's a bit rude." George Weasley says, jokingly. "Known her for what, three years now and we still aren't her friends?"

"Just a bit rude, George." Fred Weasley says, his deep brown eyes burning into my face.

"Sorry, again." I hoist Orchid into my arms and try to leave the compartment, when the train comes to a screeching halt. I stabilise myself and poke my head out of the door, seeing other students doing the same. The sliding door closes itself, trapping me in the compartment with the two older boys. I slowly sit down on the seat, watching the windows frost over.

"This is new." Fred mumbles.

"Old Alby is outdoing himself this year." George adds on with a laugh as the lights flicker off.

"Do you two know what's going on?" I ask them, whipping my head around to look at them. They shake their heads in unison, staring through the window behind me. I follow their eyeline and watch a dark figure float through the corridor. There's a low, deep groan as it passes, creating a feeling of impending doom and complete misery for the entire compartment.

"Freddie, do you know what that is?" George stammers from behind me.

"I think I do, Georgie." Fred replies, Orchid hisses and buries herself underneath my arm as the figure passes. We sit in silence as we wait for the figure to leave. After a moment, the lights turn back on and I can hear loud conversations through the walls of the compartments, I grab Orchid and bolt out of the small room, without saying a word to the twins. I break out into a hurried jog, looking in each of the windows for my friends.

"Clover!" I hear Ron shout as I start running, stop in my tracks and turn back.

"Hi!" I say breathlessly. I walk into their compartment and sit next to him and Hermione. Across from us, Harry is laying down asleep, and a stranger is watching over him. "What happened?"

"You didn't see that- that- that thing?!" Ron says, panicked. "You didn't feel like you'd never be happy again?"

"I saw that. But why's Harry asleep, and who's this?"

"Remus Lupin." The man dressed in shabby robes said without looking at me. Harry starts to sit up, putting his glasses back on. He looks at the four pairs of eyes staring at him with concern. "Eat this, you'll feel better." Remus Lupin offers Harry a small block of chocolate.

"What was..." Harry begins.

"That was a dementor. They're the guards of Azkaban." Remus Lupin responds to Harry's confused look. He gets up and leaves to talk to the train driver, as Hermione, Ron and I explain what happened. We told him about the feeling the dementor gave us all. The train begins moving again and we all relax a little bit.

"I wonder why there was a dementor, especially on the train." I sit back and ask the group.

"Haven't you heard? Sirius Black has escaped from Azkaban." Hermione says, handing me the Daily Prophet. On the front of the paper is a scary, almost insane looking man. He screams at the camera and then turns to the side, screaming at someone else. His eyes have sunken in and his hair is ratty.

"Who's this?" I ask, looking at the three of them expectantly.

"He's the reason my parents were killed." Harry looks up at me, sad.

⊱✿⊰

The warm, welcoming energy inside Hogwarts was much more comforting than that of the train. I sat between Harry and Ron, and opposite Hermione at the feast. Conversations seemed louder thanks to the hollowness of the stone room and the nerves of the students. Dumbledore began his long annual speech after the first years had been sorted into their houses.

"I'd like to welcome Professor R.J Lupin." The school applauds softly as the man on the train stands up. "Who has kindly consented to fill the post of Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher. We wish you good luck."

"Potter, Potter!" I turn around to look at Draco Malfoy, already picking at Harry. "Is it true you fainted? I mean... you actually fainted?" The group of Slytherin students all laugh as one of them imitates Harry, falling back onto Draco.

"Shove off Malfoy." I sneer at the blonde boy, who just glares back. Dumbledore continues, informing us all that the Dementors will be staying at Hogwarts while Sirius Black is still unfound. Everyone begins eating once he has finished his speech. Between mouthfuls everyone catches up on each others holidays.

"You're not telling this story again are you, Ron?" Fred Weasley interrupts Ron telling us all about something that happened in Egypt. Ron looks up at his brother angrily.

"This is the bloody twentieth time you've told them." George follows up. We all laugh at Ron's defeated sigh.

"Whatever, tell us about your holiday, Clover." Ron mumbles.

"Well," I try to think of an interesting thing to talk about. My parents had split up before I was born, making my muggle mother keep me at home every single break. I wasn't even allowed to talk about magic because of how much she had grown to hate my father. I try to make up a lie to hide the fact that I just laid in bed the whole summer, not even writing to any of my friends once.

"Come on, we haven't got all night." Fred Weasley rolled his eyes jokingly. I felt heat rising in my cheeks as I try as hide behind my dark brown hair.

"Well, it certainly wasn't anything compared to Egypt." I tried to shift it back to Ron, hoping he'd catch on and cover for me.

"Surely you did something fun." He replied, oblivious toy plea. I looked up at everyone staring expectantly. I had to think of a good lie, one that my nosey friends wouldn't try to follow up on.

"I got a boyfriend." I spat out. There were a few gasps. Not that! What the hell was that Clover? I scream internally.

"Ooo, did you hear that Fred? Clover's gotten herself a boy." George winks at me.

"Well, come on then... What's his name?" Hermione raises her eyebrows excitedly.

"What's his age" Fred chimes in.

"Where's he from?" George follows up.

"And his star sign?"

"His blood type?"

"His favourite scary movie?" The twins poke fun at me as I blush further.

"It's all a secret." I say matter-of-factly. The conversation quickly diverges away from me, thankfully. I'm not a vey big fan of being the centre of attention anyway. We all end up getting up and heading towards the common room, the stairs changing only changing on us twice. I wait at the back of the group, happily trailing behind everyone. My friends all stay in the common room while I head up to my dorm, ready for the day to be over. I had been laying in bed for about 2 hours without a wink of sleep, when Hermione walks in. She gets into bed and it's completely silent for a moment until she speaks up.

"You don't have a boyfriend, do you Clover?"

"Hermione, you know me. Boys are the last thing on my mind." I admit, not getting a reply. I turn around and close my eyes, preparing myself for the year.