Serendipity (Fred Weasley HP)

Chapter Three - Detentions And Defence

Her hair had taken on a grey tint and sat straight and limp against her head, the three boys didn't quite know what to do, they tried to include her in pranks and jokes but nothing seemed to cheer their friend up.

One late night, well past midnight, Halley sat curled up on an armchair in the common room in front of the dying fire. Her legs were tucked close to her chest and she wrapped her arms around them, burying her head in her knees and letting a few tears roll down her cheeks staining her pyjama bottoms.

"Hal?" Fred said with a yawn as he rubbed his eyes, walking over to the body in the chair. She didn't look up at her friend, simply ignored his presence and continued to wallow in her sadness. His heart hurt for the girl, they all knew what McGonagall meant to her and the cold shoulder was clearly taking its toll. He walked over and shifted her to the side then sat down and brought her half onto his lap, wrapping his arms around her. He didn't know what to say to her that wouldn't accidentally make her feel worse so instead, he just held her, resting his chin on top of her head, rubbing his hands up and down her back. When her crying stopped and was replaced by long deep breaths Fred didn't have the heart to move her so he carefully put his feet up on the table, leant back a bit to get more comfortable then fell asleep shortly after Halley.

****

"Her bed hasn't been slept in I hope she's okay," Alicia said with a deep frown as she climbed down the steps to the common room the next morning.

"I've never seen her so down, even Fred can't get her to smi-" Angelina stopped walking and talking the second her eyes landed on the couple fast asleep in the oversized armchair and she awed quietly, tugging on Alicia's arm to show her the cutest thing. Halley had curled herself around Fred's chest like a cat and Fred had one arm wrapped around her and the other resting on his stomach which was rising and falling softly.

"Should we wake them?"

"Wake who?"

"SHHHH." Angie and Alicia both turned and shushed Hermione who had come downstairs to get an early breakfast and some studying in before class. The three girls stood in the middle of the common room unsure about what to do. In a perfect world, they would just let them sleep but everyone else would be coming down soon and they had classes to get to. Alicia sighed and walked over to the pair and gently shook their shoulders till they started to stir.

Halley didn't know what she was sleeping on but it was quite comfortable and warm, her hand darted out to swat whatever was trying to disturb her comfiness. "Does she always do that when you try to wake her up," Hermione said with a small laugh.

"Pretty much, she doesn't like to be woken up, but if you don't she'll sleep for a week," Angelina said watching them intently. They probably should have given them more privacy but they also wanted to see their reactions when they woke up.

"Come on sleeping beauty, you'll miss breakfast," Alicia said gently and smiled when Halley opened her eyes a little.

Oh crap. Halley thought as she realised she wasn't in her bed, the last thing she remembered was... Oh, dragon dung. Fred had comforted her... and then nothing?

Fred slowly woke up, rubbing his eyes with his free hand. As consciousness returned to him he wondered why there was something heavy on his chest, only to remember the night's events like a painful flashback. In perfect sync, Halley and Fred looked at each other with shocked expressions. The stifled laugh from one of the girls in the room alerted them to the presence of the others and they both turned as red as Fred's hair then hurried to get off the chair. Fred cleared his throat and scratched the back of his neck awkwardly before hurrying upstairs. This then caused the three girls to look at Halley who just smiled weakly and vanished up to the dorm.