petrichor ☆ fred weasley

t e n

Almost at once, Persephone felt a shiver run through her body and tickle up her spine. Worried she might topple over, her hand immediately rested on the forearm of Fred in order to keep her stability.

"Well what happened? Is everyone okay? Where's Harry?" She asked frantically, looking around for the messy mop of brown hair he always sported.

Her Father grabbed her to reassure her, causing her to halt her search for the familiar stranger who was Harry Potter. "Harry is fine. Black got in somehow and attempted to gain entrance to the tower which he was then denied. He slashed the portrait and ran off."

Persephone nodded, still panicking but being calmed by Fred, who was slowly rubbing her hand in a reassuring matter. She reached a hand up to his, lightly gripping his index finger in attempt to comfort herself, causing a halt to his kind gesture. 

Her Father's eyes glanced over the exchange between the two, speculatively darting between both Fred and Persephone's distracted faces. "Here come your friends" said Lupin, looking over the head of his daughter, "I need to help search the castle, will you be alright?"

"We can look after her Remus" said Cedric, coming up to group and pulling her into a tight hug. Whispering into her ear, he said "we just heard what happened. Are you okay?"

Persephone, who was suddenly pulled from her contact with Fred, looked towards her best friend, her eyes wide and emotionless. 

"I'm fine, just shaken up."

The air was thick, almost awkward as they hugged in front of the crowd of onlookers. Klara and Gus stood to the side, Klara tucked under Augustus's arms for means of protection, Fred (who had since been joined by George), stood to the left, and Lupin stayed by his daughter's side, a hand resting heavy upon the thick woollen jumper she through on over her pyjamas. 

Pulling away from Cedric's tight grasp, and standing by herself for the first time in what felt like hours, Persephone made her way back to Fred's side. 

"Is there anything we can do, Pers?" questioned Klara, her eyes full of concern and sympathy. Though Cedric was the only one who knew the full story of Sirius Black and his past friendship with her father, Klara and Augustus knew as much that warranted them to be concerned. 

She nodded, unable to formulate a coherent sentence, her mouth moving but with not even a whisper escaping from her pale lips. She didn't even know if she was okay. How could she be, after that man had entered the one place she felt safe? After everything he had done to her, to her family? What could they do, find him and send him back to Azkaban? It was impossible - he'd escaped once, how could they prevent him from escaping a second time, let alone a third, or fourth, or even fifth. 

Breaking her thoughts, she forced herself to smile up at the crowd surrounding her. It was a rather pathetic excuse for a smile though, not even reaching her red rimmed eyes. Obviously, no one in the group believed her, but they smiled back, in attempt to reassure their friend. 

Cedric stood apart from the others, a mixture of worry and protectiveness in his eyes. Fred and George on the other hand, looked confused as Persephone did during a History of Magic Class. 

"Okay everyone " called a voice belonging to the annoying and overbearing brother of the twins, "Everyone in your sleeping bags please! Lights out, I am Head Boy you know?"

Next to her, she heard the collective groan of both Fred and George. Even in her discombobulated state, she couldn't help but giggle. God this guy was a prat. They both smiled down warmly at her, joining in with a light hearted chuckle. 

"Come on Persephone" called Klara, amusingly watching the Head Boy running around like a cattle dog herding up sheep. "We should go find a sleeping bag before this Weasley prat explodes like a Filibuster Firework"