Yours, Fred | f. weasley x reader

Chapter 28: The Detention

The harsh reality of your own words echoed in your head, and you exhaled slightly in relief having finally spoken those feelings aloud for the first time ever. McGonagall seemed to sense that you had more to get off your chest, so she took a sip of her tea and watched you carefully.

You let out a sigh of defeat and leaned back in your chair, "my friends all seem to know what they want to do and where they want to be. Fred and George have always known what direction they want to go in and they've basically got themselves set up for when they leave school. Lee wants to go into media, Bea wants to study Magizoology and Cedric-" you stopped and took a breath before continuing, "Cedric wanted to work in the Department of Magical Creature Regulation with his dad. Everyone else seems to know who they want to be and I just have no idea."

Professor McGonagall studied you and then spoke, "when I was your age, Miss Y/L/N, I didn't know what I wanted to do either. As a Half-blood with a Muggle father, I was quite fond of Muggles and I wanted to do something to help to promote the co-existence of the two worlds, ours and theirs. So I thought the place I was meant to be was with the Ministry of Magic, and I worked there for a number of years and was even offered a very significant promotion. But I turned it down and came to Hogwarts to teach."

You were surprised that she was sharing such personal information with you, but her face softened as she saw your confusion, "the point I am making is that in this world we live in with such a vast array of opportunities, why should you only settle on one career prospect for the rest of your life? If you focus on short-term goals and what you want to achieve, and not what you want to still be doing in ten years time, you might find it far less difficult to make a decision."

You considered her words, and you realised that you had been approaching the subject completely wrong in your head. You couldn't make a decision because you were trying to figure out what the most feasible and realistic career would be for you to do until you retire, rather than thinking about what you actually wanted to do.

"I want to help people, and protect those who can't protect themselves," you told her firmly and she smiled at you, "and that there, Miss Y/L/N, is the first step to deciding what you want to do. The rest will fall into place, as long as you work for it."

"Thank you, Professor, I didn't actually realise how much I needed to have this conversation. It's put a lot of things into perspective," you smile at her gratefully.

She nodded and stood up from her desk, and you stood too, "You should probably not be late for Professor Snape's class." You chuckled as you gathered your things and you were walking towards the door when she called out to you, "Miss Y/L/N?"

You turned around to face the professor again, "you would do well to consider talking to your Head of House, should you ever need it. Or want a cup of tea," she nodded down to the tray on her desk and you gave her a genuine smile, "thanks, Professor." And then you made your way down to your Potions class, feeling a weight you hadn't even known was there finally lifting from your shoulders.

---

After Potions class, you walked into the Great Hall and set your things down on the bench beside your friends. They all looked up at you in surprise, "there you are! You disappeared with McGonagall and we didn't know what had happened!" George exclaimed.

You chuckled, "everything is fine, she wasn't scolding me. In fact it was just a chat about my career plans." You swung your leg over the bench beside Fred and pecked him on the cheek as you sat down, and he wrapped an arm around you and hugged you into his side.

"Missed you today," he told you and he smiled down at you fondly, and pecked your lips, you smiled back at him and cupped his face adoringly and then a loud cough caught your attention.