Friendless » Fred Weasley

lxi. a calm christmas

"Are we sure we actually need the map?"

The three boys stared at the girl sitting on the fourth bed in disbelief.

"What?" Tori asked, looking at the three of them. "You three have the map practically memorized, we really don't need it."

It was Christmas morning, and the halls were practically empty since most students didn't want to be around Hogwarts when there was a beast in the loose. Tori was one of the first to sign the holiday sheet when it was placed.

She began pulling the sheet upwards and making the bed she was sitting on. Tori had also been sleeping in the boys' room since she was the only one left in her dormitory. The boys didn't mind.

"Well... yeah, but it's better to know where people are," George replied, clutching his sack of dungboms.

"Besides," Fred nodded. "We still have Filch knowing about those three passageways out of Hogwarts. He'll catch us if we use one of those."

"Uh, four," Lee said, glancing up.

"Four?" Tori asked, rushing over to the map with the twins. She watched as Argus Filch seemed to find a new passageway, the one leading out to the Forbidden Forest.

"Oh, no! That was a good one!" Tori sighed, slumping back down onto the fourth bed. She shivered, glad she had another Weasley sweater from Molly. (She got some fudge as well which Lee was already eating, much to Tori's dismay.)

"Good news, this doesn't change our plan at all. Bad news, we lost a pretty sweet passageway." Fred mumbled, he seemed pretty bummed about losing it. It was a cool passageway, one that the twins were really excited about finding.

"Okay. Let's go over the plan one more time." Lee suggested, tearing his eyes away from the map. "Tori writes this letter from Lockhart's adoring new fan, Isadora. Once he opens the letter, he'll be met with three dungbom explosions. When he unfolds the paper, two ink splats."

"Right. And why did I have to handwrite this entire letter?" Tori asked, holding the piece of paper up which was declare Isadora's love for Lockhart.

"It seems authentic, and you have neater handwriting. Blimey, you did a number in this one. It almost seems like you are in love with Lockhart." Fred noted, skimming her letter. Tori shook her head. "I just thought about what Alicia would say. Lockhart's not really my type." She laughed.

"And what is 'your type' then?"

Tori thought about it for a moment. "I don't know. But not Lockhart."

Lee muttered something to George who grinned widely. "What?" Tori asked, glancing in between the two boys.

"Whatever. I don't want to know. Are we sending this yet?"

The three boys nodded, wrapping the needed materials in the envelope. Tori rushed to go get Athena and brought her up to their dorm. The letter was sealed and neatly addressed.

Tori handed it to the barn owl, who flew out the boys' window and towards another part of the castle. "Anyone up for a game of exploding snap?" Lee asked.

The group made their way down to the common room, where Percy was reading a book while Ginny sat next to him. Harry, Ron, and Hermione crossed their paths once they arrived.

"Woah, careful, Tori. The heir of Slytherin is off to his chamber to have some tea with the beast." Fred chuckled. Tori threw Harry a sympathetic look. The twins, unlike most people, found Harry's talking to snakes thing rather funny. She knew they were joking, but she wasn't sure Harry did.

"Come on, leave him alone." Tori pushed the twins forward, mouthing a sorry back to the second year. Ever since the incident at the dueling club, most people backed off of Tori and mainly left her alone. She was happy about it, but she still felt bad for Harry.

"Enough of that." Percy snapped, glancing up from his book. "It's not funny, and you know that." Fred shrugged. "Some people have to laugh,"

The rest of the day was pretty calm. Tori lost a few gallons to Lee over an Exploding Snap game, Percy lectured the twins over their prank ideas, Ginny and Tori sat together by the fire and talked.

Tori enjoyed it. Sure, it wasn't as fun or exciting as the usual Christmas, but she liked the calm. No one really wanted to go outside either, with the whole monster running around.

Tori was in the astronomy tower, staring up at the stars while she fiddled with the end of her quill. She sat hunched over her star map, mumbling to herself when Fred appeared.

"Aren't you tired?" Fred asked her, handing her a warm glass of hot chocolate. Tori shook her head, glancing back at the sky.

"No, I can't sleep anyway, Lee snores. Besides, Professor Sinistra offered us extra credit to fill in some stars in our maps. Especially with O.W.L.S. next year, I need to do everything I can." Tori sighed, writing in the coordinates. It was weird for her to think that next year is what could determine her future. Tori had absolutely no idea what she wanted to do with her life either.

Fred nodded, listening to her ramble on about the tests. He personally didn't know what he wanted to do either, he and George weren't exactly the academic type. He did like listening to Tori talk, though.

"I don't want to end up with a T." The girl sighed, shivering a bit. It was freezing in the courtyard, especially as the sky was dark, decorated with twinkling stars. "You won't. I know you won't." He replied, leaning forward against the railing.

Tori smiled at him, continuing on her map. She was almost done, just needed one star left. Fred was watching her over her shoulder, skimming the coordinations. He took her telescope, moving it up and down to try and focus it on one thing.

"What are you—"

"Found it! Hamal, which leads into Aries."

Tori stood next to him, looking through the telescope to find he was right. Tori quickly wrote it down, hugging him. "Thank you! Now I can finally get out of here. I'm freezing!"

Fred laughed, taking a sip of his hot chocolate while Tori packed up. He was staring out at the sky when something came to him. "Isn't it weird how... Earth is so small? I mean compared to everything else. And in a few years... no ones going to know who we are, or what we did. Maybe that's why George and I do all these crazy things. So people can remember us..."

Tori paused, taking that in. She just chuckled, looking at him. "That's really... deep, Freddie."

"Freddie?"

"What? You've called me Tori for four years, but I can't call you Freddie?"

"No, I mean, you can. I guess it's just weird to hear it from you. Only George has ever called me that. But I like it,"

Tori looked at him for a moment, a smile playing on her lips. "Merry Christmas, Freddie. Now, can we go now? I'm freezing!"

writing a christmas chapter in july is my new aesthetic