Semper - Fred Weasley

Chapter XI

„Okay. What do you mean, what was about Moody and Harry?“, I asked him.
Remus and Fred exchanged a quick glance, as if they were debating whether or not to tell me.

But he did.

Apparently Professor Moody wasn’t the real Moody. It was a death eater called Barty Crouch Jr. under poly juice potion. While the real Alastor Moody was trapped in his trunk.

It was all long planned. And the Dark Lord in fact was back. A shiver ran down my spine at the thought of it.

And a second death eater was involved as well…

„Remus?“, I asked. „The man… was he.. Was he my dad?“, the words felt heavy on my tongue.

Remus watched me, he tried to read my face before he sighed.

„Yes. Nobody knew that he’s alive. And nobody knew that he’s a death eater.“, his expression became sad at the thought of his former friend being a death eater. I could tell that he felt betrayed.

Matthew Campbell was alive. My dad was alive. And he was a death eater. I wasn‘t sad. I was devastated. All the years that I thought he was dead. Wasted.

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The following couple of days were hard. All the sad looks from the other students.

Harry, Hermione and Ron seemed to live in their own world. Like a bubble they’ve build around them, nobody’s able to enter. Not even me.

But I didn’t really mind. I knew that if that’s what they needed to do, it’s fine.
After Remus left that day, Fred refused to leave my side. He was a great help. He helped me grieve, he listened for hours to me talking about Cedric because my guilt was eating me up.

I was standing in the common room, Fred by my side. But I wasn’t able to move. It was our last day of school and Dumbledore had planned a small memorial service.

„No, you can go alone. I can’t. I’m staying here.“, I said.

Fred took my hand in his.

„Penny, you can. I’m with you.“, he gave me an assuring smile.

Eventually I gave in and let him guide me to the great hall.

When we arrived, the other students were already in their seats. At the very front, next to Mr. Diggory, there were two seats. One for me, one for Fred.

„Fred..“, I begun, my voice a whisper. „they will all look at me.“

„It’s okay, we’re doing this together.“, he gave my hand a little squeeze and stepped through the door, me following behind.

When we entered the hall, the conversations stopped. Some students turned to me, others just looked at the floor.
The path felt endless, and if it hadn’t been for Fred, I would have turned around and ran away on the spot.

Mr. Diggory gave me a small nod, when we sat down. He looked absolutely broken.

Dumbledore started his speech, but I didn’t hear a word he was saying. I was the first to leave the great hall when he was finished. I ran back to my dorm and slammed the door behind me.

I reached the bathroom just in time, before I threw up. I just choked dry, there was nothing in my stomach that could have come out.

After a few seconds I heard the door open and turned around to see Hermione standing there. She came over and sat down next to me, comfortingly rubbing my back.

She didn’t say anything, but it wasn’t necessary either. When my stomach settled, I got up, washed my mouth, and looked at myself in the mirror. I was shocked when I saw how thin I had become.