(WATTY AWARDS 2013) Speak Now: A Fred Weasley Love Story

The Tree House.

{updated}

(Nicki)

I trudged through the relatively thin covering of snow in the Burrows backyard, full of regret for not slipping on a pair of wellies, sat by the back door, when I walked out after dinner. The temperatures of the cold night made my legs eventually become numb, and my feet felt frozen, but it meant I could barely feel the cold anymore. I walked until I reached an old tree at the very back of the Weasley's land. An old ash tree stood there, an abandoned tree house perched precariously on its thick branches. Around the age of 5, Mr Weasley had built Ron and I this tiny, little, charming tree house, but as the years went on, we outgrew it, and it was left to waste away, ivory strangling and suffocating it. The rope to a swing that was attached to the above tree house wore on one side, and was now unusable. Mrs Weasley never really liked us playing in the tree house, as Mr Weasley wasn't particularly skilled in building, and she oftengot us out of the small, creaky cubby whenever she could. Cautious of the tree house's instability, I carefully climbed up the weak ladder, two of the steps breaking under my weight, due to rot over the years. I sat myself on the balcony of the tree house, and looked out toward the Burrow.

The Burrow was lit with warm light, an ardent glow coming from each window. I closed my eyes and thought back to last Christmas, where I sat in front of the fire with the twins beside me, Ron and Ginny arguing on the couch, a hot chocolate in hand, and everything just seemed right. I didn't have these feelings toward my best friend, and things were warm and full of joy. I wanted to regret every kiss I had so recently shared with my best friend, however I couldn't. I hated the way my feelings were not reciprocated by him, but I couldn't truly say that I wished it had never happened.

Not a lot of time had passed before my peaceful train of thought was destroyed the bickering of siblings, sounding from the backdoor of the Burrow, and torches began to flicker on. A loud and exasperated groan escaped me, and I laid myself down on the balcony's worn wood, trying to make myself invisible. A search party of Weasley's, I thought to myself, how wonderful!

"Nicki!" I heard my name escaped Ginny's lips loudly, which was then followed by a scolding from Ron.

"Shut up Ginny! Fred said I wasn't supposed to bring you on the search, the least you can do is be a little more subtle so mum and dad don't hear!" Ron moaned harshly, and I could almost hear Ginny rolling her eyes. The Twins had taken search in one part of the yard, whilst Ginny and Ron searched toward my area. I remained silent and listened to various other arguments between the siblings when they all met up close by my hiding spot. I wasn't sure why hiding from my second family was my brilliant idea for the night, but the idea of talking to anyone was the last thing I wanted to do. When stuck in a house full of 9 Weasley's, privacy is something that is quite hard to come by. Even hiding out in the bathroom wasn't exactly the best, because sooner or later someone needed the bathroom. Then there was the attic; dusty, creaky, wonky roofed attic. But even the attic was not unoccupied, as choosing to escape there meant sharing residence with the Weasley family ghoul. Not that the ghoul was much of a problem- instead was more like an annoying version of a dog, and I already had a low tolerance for dogs. That left the trees as the closest thing I could get to comfortable privacy, for no one ever needed to make use of them.

"What did you even do to her anyway?" Ginny asked Fred in annoyance, and I tried not to sigh dramatically. They were stood about 3 or 4 meters away from the tree house- a place they had all obviously grown to forget about over all these years.

"Who said I did anything?!" Fred complained at his younger sister's accusation. "Why are you even here?!" He whined loudly and Ginny scoffed.

"Well she didn't run away for no reason!" Ginny spat back and Fred groaned dramatically, ignoring his sister's words and continued to shine his torch around the yard. I took in the last moments of my aloneness and sat up, jumping out of the tree, and storming past the group.