yellow ribbon | a harry potter fanfiction

some little prejudice and a whole lot of pride

"Nothing," Fred quickly said putting his pillow over his head.

Ron looked at his other brother asking him what was wrong with Fred without the needs of words, like only brothers can. George only shrugged his shoulder and followed to get his clothes to change into.

Wendy was in the common room until late hours. She was thinking about Draco and how difficult their relationship was turning out to be, a simple friendship. She thought of her time at the manor, especially of the day they were in the garden that grey afternoon and the day she gave him his birthday gift.

She felt so happy, and decided to list down, mentally, all the good things that happened to her, all the happy memories. Not long after she managed to cast a patronous again and Diego popped out of the silver light. The dog snuggled close to Wendy, and even if he didn't feel as warm as her actual pet from her life before, she was happy to have a familiar face with her.

"You're still awake?"

Wendy turned around and Diego got up alerted. The small dog was soon to calm down after seeing that it was just Fred, still in the clothes he came to Hogwarts with.

"Couldn't sleep, you?"

"Me neither."

He looked beside her and Wendy scooched over to make space for Fred in front of the crackling fireplace. Fred looked at Diego, who was calmly in front of them before the fire, as to enjoy the heat it was producing.

"That's a patronous, isn't it?" He asked mildly surprised.

"Yes, his name is Diego," She smiled remembering the day she got the dog from his brother.

"You named him?" He chuckled.

"He looks like the dog I had when I was... when I was back home."

Fred frowned, he knew how much she was missing home, and hated how he started that topic. But didn't stop her from continuing her story, "Michael gave him to me when I got my first house on my own. It was a big step for me and I was scared of being alone. He told me that with Diego, I might be less lonely."

"Did it work?"

"Yeah," she laughed, "Diego was such an attention seeker, couldn't go without someone petting him for more than an hour. He made a mess of my house and wouldn't stop being so mischievous—kind of like you."

"Me?! Why me?" He pushed her lightly.

Diego, as he felt his owner being pushed, he looked at her and made sure she was okay not moving from his place. As protective the dog was, he knew she was safe with Fred. Something from Wendy's subconscious just transferred such feeling to her patronous.

"You might be a total pain and an arse, but you mean good," She simply said.

"Ill take the 'mean good' but you owe me for that 'pain and arse' thing," He laughed.

They stayed there for a while, enjoying the silence of each other's company. Something Fred never found himself doing as he preferred doing so many things at once, never really focusing on one. But a little exception was always needed.

"Why did you storm off earlier?"

"Uh?"

"when we were talking here, you stormed off, "Wendy looked up at the boy, "Seemed odd for you, you never act like that."

Fred looked at the fire, now a little dimmer, but Wendy could still see the sparkles of the fire reflect in Fred's brown eyes. Anyone who said brown eyes were boring never have seen what Wendy was seeing that moment. Something about his gentle face felt familiar to Wendy, but at that moment his look was something different, something deep and serious.

"You don't know what his intentions are," He repeated himself.

Wendy didn't want him to storm off again, she wanted him to stay a little longer, but she couldn't stop herself from asking, "and you do?"

Wendy wasn't sure why he didn't leave that time, maybe less pressure from people around being only the two of them. She allowed herself to feel special.

"He likes you," he almost whispered, scared of letting out his words.

Wendy looked at Diego, not wanting to leave her gaze from him. But the dog was starting to fade out, until it left them more alone than they already were. Worried thoughts started to come to Wendy and Fred knew it. Fred kept his gaze on the crackling fire, fighting to stay alive just like the image of the dog.

"Don't hurt him, please."

Wendy frowned and betrayed herself by looking at him. She thought he meant Draco, but why would he mind him getting hurt if what he passed the past years tormenting the guy.

"Who do you mean?" She whispered under her breath, scared of his answer.

Fred simply smiled at the girl, like nothing and stood up to walk back to the dormitory.

"Better sleep, Stone—first day tomorrow!"

"Don't call me that!" She nearly screamed back at him.

She wasn't sure what time it was, but she knew it was way too late to have a good night sleep. But she headed upstairs too so she could have herself some rest before the first classes of that new year.

So many new things were coming. She wasn't sure if she could stop all of them before time and all on her own, but she had to try. She knew she wasn't going down without a fight, she would have saved Harry from this death-wish competition and Cedric from actual death. She wasn't sure if she could stop Voldemort, but she would give her life if she had to. Something in her knew something bad was bound to happen.

Notes
Here's another chapter in the same day, as an apology for my hiatus. Also keep in mind, I didn't edit this before posting it so there might be some grammar errors and it might seem messy and confusing