NO SIGNAL ➝ FRED WEASLEY [1] ✓

FIFTY FOUR [HOGWARTS]

The rest of Amelia's seventh year at Hogwarts went by relatively quicky after Christmas break. Umbridge was, clearly, making the Dumbledore's Army students' lives a living hell, but the weekly meetings to learn, or, in Amelia's case, help teach magic helped make the hellish existence go by faster.

And obviously, being able to hang out with her boyfriend constantly helped make Umbridge's rule over Hogwarts less painful.

However, the middle of March brought about a new reign of terror: Educational Decree Number Twenty Six, and, a few weeks later, Educational Decree Number Thirty One.

To the single witch or wizard, the two Educational Decrees would not be an issue. But to a couple, such as Amelia and Fred, or Bellamy and George, these would pose some problems, for the first Educational Decree, Number Twenty Six, said that students of opposite genders could not be within six inches of each other.

And if that was not bad enough, Educational Decree Number Thirty One increased that amount to eight inches.

So Amelia and Fred began taking solace in the fact that Umbridge rarely—if ever, really—visited the Gryffindor common room; if she did, it was only in the common room itself, and never in the dormitories up the stairs.

They also began sneaking into broom closets, empty classrooms, and even lavatories to get some alone time together during the day, because every time they would even sit next to each other, Umbridge would cast some wordless spell and Amelia would go flying in the other direction.

Whatever incantationless spell Umbridge was so fond of using on rule-breaking students had ended up leaving Amelia with a broken wrist; apparently, she and Fred had been standing too closely together, and the spell had caused her to go tumbling down a flight of stairs.

And the cherry on top of her horrid second term was Dumbledore's Army being offically disbanded.

So, one night at the beginning of May, while studying for NEWTs in the Gryffindor common room with her sister, boyfriend, George, and Reese, Amelia decided she'd had enough.

"I'm sick of this!" Amelia broke the silence among them, slamming her potions book shut and throwing it at the wall.

The others looked up at her with worried expressions, and Fred reached over to put his hand on top of hers.

She snatched her own hand out of his grasp and stood from her chair. "No, don't touch me. There is a goddamn war going on outside these walls and nothing we have learned this year will help us fight!" She said, on the verge of angry tears.

"Meely." Bellamy whispered as she got up from her seat as well, wrapping her hands around her sister's forearms. "I know. But we've been teaching ourselves so much necessary stuff, we'll be okay. Just two more weeks, alright? We can do it."

While Bellamy did make a point, being in Dumbledore's Army and being so close to actually being in the Order of the Phoenix had taught her a lesson: don't give up, don't give in. Stand for what you believe in.

So she turned to Fred and met his concerned gaze.

"Are you still in to leave?" Amelia asked him, serious as she'd ever be.

The surprise in his expression was palpable. "Uh, yeah, why?" He said.

Bellamy caught on before he did. "Amelia, no!"

"Please, Bels." Amelia begged. "I can't stand being here another minute. Umbridge is a dictator and I'm suffocating here. Please, Bels—you don't have to protect me anymore. Just let me do this."

Her sister's face flashed with betrayal. "Protect you? I don't know how to be me without you. You can't leave me." It was Bellamy's turn to beg, now, and she seemed almost scared to let go of Amelia's arms, as if she would go running the minute she was free.

"Then come with me!'

gonna double update w the next one bc these r two of my fav chapters