Clueless ━━ Fred Weasley

vi. In Bloom

       "I wasn't," he says. "But I like him. He's pretty fucking cool... And he says he's still got our grandma's records upstairs, and he said I could have them! How fucking sick is that? Apparently she had loads of Elvis and Frank—" Frank, meaning Sinatra, Livvy's first love. Livvy's eyes are wide with joy. "I'm growing to this already."

       "I'm glad to hear it," she says, and she thinks, you're about to say it, come on...

       The smile fades from her little brother's face, as he looks around anxiously, looking hesitant. Briar begins to feel nervous as well, her inner eye warning her of what her brother's about to say. "You know Draco sent me a letter at the end of last year, telling me what happened with Dad," says Livvy. If anything, Briar loves that Livvy's calling him Dad. He pauses, and Briar thinks, spit it out. Get this over with. Let Briar hear "you're fucking disgusting" and let her get on with it. "Saying how Dad's a werewolf..."

       Briar nods. "Yeah, uh, Fred did the same..."

       It sounds stupid, she knows it does, but just the memory of her best friend makes her feel a little less nervous — no, not nervous. She dreads what her brother's going to say, what her inner eye's telling her is about to happen. But, she feels comforted by the thought of her best friend. Even though he will never find out Briar's secret — she swears now, hell will freeze over before Briar says those three words to Fred — she still feels comforted.

       "And Dad, uh, he was telling me how he was when he first went to Hogwarts, when none of his friends knew what he was. Like, how he would get very quiet around the full moon, how he'd stay to himself around that time but be fine afterward," says Livvy. "And I dunno... It reminded me of you."

       Briar feels her stomach tie into knots. "I think you know why."

       "Are you really a werewolf?" her little brother asks her, and he stands up. He looks surprised, maybe even sad, but not at all disgusted. She finds that strange.

       Briar nods. She still can't say it, she still can't find the courage to say aloud I'm a werewolf. She can't. Part of her won't let her say it, because maybe, if she doesn't say it aloud, if she just gets on with it, it isn't a fully-fledged problem for her to deal with. Briar won't become, Briar the Werewolf but instead she'll stay as Briar. Briar Crouch, maybe Lupin. Briar the Seer. Briar, the girl that left Hogwarts. Not Briar the Werewolf. It would crush her, people seeing her and their first thought being she's a monster.

       "When—?"

       "The day we were told we were going to Beauxbatons," says Briar. "Grandpa had been saying nasty stuff when Greyback was being held by the Ministry and..." She smiles weakly. "The rest is history."

       "Why—Why didn't you tell me?"

       Briar looks across at him, as if it's now her turn to hesitate. She glances at the door, to check that's it's closed shut. Her inner eye predicts that her dad, in less than a minute, will walk from the living room to the kitchen: he'll be downstairs, he won't hear this. She almost tells her brother, Because I'm disgusting, but she knows it'll crush him. It would crush her, hearing him say that. So she picks something else.

       "I don't want anyone to know," says Briar. "Please do not tell any of your friends, I can't have anyone finding out... As soon as people know the truth, they'll turn their backs. I won't be able to get a job when I'm older, just like Dad, I'll struggle with everything... Please keep this a secret."

       "I will," says Livvy. He frowns at his big sister, before he stands up and walks towards her, opening his arms to give her a hug. Briar smiles softly, and she hugs her little brother. "I won't tell anyone, all right?" He smiles at Briar. "I mean, I know what it's like to be different..." And Briar nods, remembering when he came out to her last summer. "That's why I like Holly so much. She isn't gay but she's really accepting about it..." And then Livvy began to talk about his new best friend, which was nice for Briar, especially when her little brother's emphasising how this friend of his is "really accepting." It's a nice change from Draco.