Before you (Fred Weasley)

CHAPTER 39

"Hello Alice's mum, it's nice to see you too"

My mum stood there awkwardly, not saying anything. She looked like she wanted to run away immediately. But she wasn't looking at Bella, she was looking at the two people approaching us. I recognised them as the people in the photograph Bella had dropped in the library many months ago.

"Alice, meet my parents, Eleanor and Daniel Rose" said Bella.

Eleanor and Daniel shook their hands with me but when they saw my mother, they froze in their spots.

"Do you guys know each other?" I asked, confused. There was silence for a few moments before Eleanor and my mum spoke at the same time.

"No we don't" said Eleanor.

"Old friends" said my mum.

Daniel placed his hands on Bella's shoulder and guided her away from us and towards the train.

"I-I must have had you mistaken for someone else then" mum stuttered.

"Yes you must have" Eleanor nodded curtly before rushing to her husband and daughter.

"Mum what was that?" I crossed my arms.

"Huh? Nothing at all honey, now go! You'll miss the train" mum hurried me to the train but stayed a safe distance away from Bella and her parents as if they were a family of Blast-Ended Skrewts.

I kissed her on the cheek goodbye before boarding the train and finding the compartment with Hermione, Harry and Ron in it.

"Hey guys" I said, plopping on to the seat. The three of them smiled at me awkwardly.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

"Nothing, nothing at all" said Hermione.

"Yea, nothing" said Ron.

I looked at Harry but he didn't make any eye contact with me.

"Something is definitely wrong" I crossed my arms, glaring at the three of them.

"Well Harry uh, has a theory" started Ron.

"And it has nothing to do with you it's just-" interrupted Hermione.

"It's uh-"

"If you don't tell me what it is I will hex you" I said, producing my wand from my pocket.

"Alice we saw you with Draco at Diagon Alley the other day" Harry said quickly.

"So what? You know we're cousins" I said, putting my wand back down.

"Well uh..we also saw Draco at a rather questionable store that day" he said.

I swallowed a lump in my throat. They hadn't seen the Vanishing Cabinet had they?

"And?"

"Nothing. He just entered Borgin and Burkes and left after fifteen minutes"

"Well I know nothing about this, in fact, I was at Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes" I leaned in my seat casually.

"Do you know what Draco was up to?" Harry asked curiously.

"No I have no idea, I only shopped at the other stores for school supplies" I shrugged nonchalantly. They couldn't know that Draco and I were both death eaters. Or at least he was one, I only had the mark.

Harry didn't look very convinced but he nodded.

A first year knocked at our door and handed Harry a letter before hurrying away as fast as he could.

"What is it?" Ron asked, peeking over Harry's shoulder.

"It's some invitation from Slughorn, I better go" said Harry, walking out of the compartment.

Ron, Hermione and I talked about the new school year and in a couple of hours, we were at Hogwarts.

"Where's Harry?" Hermione asked.

"He's probably still with Slughorn" Ron shrugged, slinging his bag over his shoulder

"Has anyone seen Draco?" I looked around but he was nowhere to be seen.

"Not that I care about that slimy-"

"Ron!" Hermione nudged.

"No, no I haven't seen him anywhere" said Ron, carrying his luggage to the cart.

Once we reached Hogwarts, after being frisked at the gates for any 'illegal items', we were told that all Weasley products were banned in school. That made me chuckle, I knew no one would stop buying their products, they were a hit.

I remembered how I had left Fred standing in the shop without even saying goodbye. I felt terrible but I didn't want to lead him on, one more word from his mouth and I would have kissed him right there but I had to control my emotions if I was going to perform my part right.

We had started eating dinner and there was still no sign of Harry.

Ron was stuffing his face with food while Hermione, me and Ginny gaped at him.

"Will you ever stop eating? Your best friend is missing!" Hermione yelled at Ron.

"Oi! Turn around you lunatic" Ron shot back, pointing at Harry who was walking towards us.

"He's covered in blood, why is he always covered in blood?" Ginny sighed.

I wasn't looking at Harry anymore, I was looking at Draco who was looking at Harry with a disgusted look on his face.

"Excuse me, I'll see all of you later" I said, getting up from the table. I walked over to the Slytherins and tapped Draco on the shoulder.

"I need to talk to you" I said.

Draco pushed his plate away and followed me out of the Great Hall.

"What did you do to Harry?" I narrowed my eyes at him and crossed my arms.

"Nothing" he lied.

"Don't you fucking lie to me, I know that face. Spit it out"

"He was spying on me! Trying to get some information out of me I bet"

"So you punched him?"

"Well I stunned him first, then kicked him on the face, covered him with an invisibility cloak and left him on the train" Draco shrugged as if he was listing the ingredients for a recipe.

"You didn't have to be so violent you know"

"It's Potter we're talking about, I would hit him every chance I get, too bad that's illegal" Draco scoffed.

"Well what both of us are doing isn't quite legal either" I rolled my eyes, referring to Voldemort's 'mission'.

"Anyway Draco, good night, and try not to hurt my friends please"

"Can't make any promises" Draco said turning away from me and going to The Great Hall.

Sometimes I pitied Draco. He was dead set on completing this mission, he wanted to prove himself but for what? Killing a wizard? If only he understood that siding with Voldemort would bring him nothing but unhappiness in the end.

--