A Raven and a Lion

Christmas Eve

Even though Sirius had persuaded her, y/n avoided Fred for the next few days. She had done that so many times before, she knew how to do it well. Actually she sat in her room with the door locked the whole time. But she knew how to use her time, she studied for the upcoming exams and wrote Christmas mail to her friends.

But she had to come out at Christmas, she knew that. However, she deliberately sat as far away from Fred as possible. Brigitte commented on this with a sad sigh, but y/n didn't respond.

After the meal, the adults gave out gifts. Molly had knitted for the kids. And Brigitte and Sirius had bought little things for everyone.

When y/n was the first to say good night, her aunt looked at her disappointedly. "Just stay, it's Christmas."

"If I'd have final exams, I wouldn't take Christmas into account either," Hermione interjected, which seemed to convince Brigitte. Y/n smiled gratefully at the brown-haired girl.

"Y/n!", it came from behind her when y/n had already taken the first steps up. When she turned around, Molly was standing there.

"Yes?", she asked with a smile, going a few steps back down. Molly looked worried. "You don't think I don't want you to be with Fred?"

"We're not together," y/n said. Molly shook her head. "You know what I mean, Dear. I love you so much, and I know my son. Is he really good to you?"

"Of course," y/n nodded immediately. Molly sighed. "It's not like I'm not trusting him. But it's so strange when the children grow up. Suddenly they behave like adults, when they were just little children yesterday."

The words gave y/n a small pang. She suddenly realized that her mother would never be so involved in her life, that her mother didn't see her grow up. This affected her so much that she threw her arms around Molly's neck. "Fred is very sweet, as are you and your whole wonderful family."

"Oh y/n," Molly immediately returned the hug. When she let go of her again, she stroked her cheek in a motherly way. "Do you really want to go to your room? All alone?"

No, y/n didn't actually wanted to. But all these feelings that were building up in her right now were too much. So she nodded. Molly reluctantly let her go.

Y/n took advantage of the time, while everyone else was still downstairs, and went to the bathroom undisturbed. Then she laid down in her bed, even though she already knew that she wouldn't be able to sleep. Like often she thought about her mother, her father.

When she eventually dozed off, she heard someone tampering with the door to her room from outside. When it opened, y/n considered raising her head. But to avoid a conversation, she simply pretended to be asleep. But that didn't shy the intruder away. Instead, her door closed again from the inside and someone crept to her bed. Y/n knew it was Fred before he crawled under the covers with her. Without saying a word he began to stroke her hair. "I hate it when you want to be alone."

His fingers slowly moved over her forehead down to her nose. "Y/n, stop pretending, you're not sleeping."

"How do you know?", she muttered without opening her eyes. He laughed quietly. "I know what you look like when you're asleep."

Now she opened her eyes. In the dark she only saw him roughly. His hand now ran down the side of her cheek. "You only want me?"

Remembering the terrible dinner and the subsequent conversation with Molly and Brigitte, y/n cringed. She forcefully pushed his hand away. He didn't let that bother him and immediately started stroking her face again. "I liked what you said, a lot actually."

"I didn't," she said. Fred laughed, then put his arm around her waist and pulled her close. "I would have preferred to have heard that at a different moment, with fewer listeners. Then I would probably have reacted appropriately. But I'm very flattered that you did announce something like that to a room full of people."