inertia || a Fred Weasley love story

four.

"Oh god, Juliet, please for the love of god tell me you actually know a guy." Peaches hissed once the twins were out of view, "If I don't get to swallow George Weasley's cum I think I will actually die."
"Jesus Christ Peaches," Juliet laughed, "Yes, I actually know a guy."
"I'm going to live. Bless you." Peaches cried, smacking her hand to her chest.
"They're literally identical twins." Wilda pointed out, "Why specifically George?"
"Just because they're identical doesn't mean they're the same person, you dolt. George is so sweet and soft, okay? And he's a little taller- look." She gestured to the two boys, who were not sitting with their friends. They were hunched over, and so it was hard to tell if she was just being crazy.
"They have bad posture." I mused. "Sloped shoulders. Besides, the best way to tell them apart is their profiles. Duh."
The three looked at me in confusion. I pointed at my own nose.
"Fred has a bump. George doesn't. And their earrings, I guess. They're pretty easy to tell apart."
"Do you like Fred?" Juliet sang. I pulled a face at her.
"What the fuck? No? I'm just perceptive."
"Oh my god, Diana Sterling has a crush." Wilda cried.
"Holy fuck, I don't."

"Yeah, you do, you're totally blushing." Peaches teased. I looked between the three of them in disbelief, and they burst into a fit of giggles.
"Y'all are the worst."
"Drink!" Wilda yelled, and they all scrambled to take a dramatic sip of something. I rolled my eyes at their antics, and out of the corner of my eye noticed that Fred was looking at us. I ignored him stubbornly.

I found my sister, later, while meandering around the grounds. Juliet and Wilda had gone to see Juliet's 'guy' about the firewhiskey, and Peaches went to take her midday nap, so I'd been left with some time to kill until we met up later to pregame and get ready. My mind was fuzzy, and I'd almost missed her and her group of friends. But there they were, huddled together on the frozen grass, doing something stupid, probably.

She was a fourth year, in Ravenclaw. We were almost exactly one year apart, to the week. But she was always smarter than me, and always had a hard time getting along with her peers. Back in Ilvermorny she'd been known as sort of a recluse, never going to hang out with anyone, only really interested in her hobby, embedding magic in computer code. But something had changed when we came to Hogwarts, and she had seemed to grow a little into herself, gain a little more confidence, be a little more outgoing. It was nice to see her out and with people. It was probably all this time we spent away from our mom, she'd told me once.

Anyway, I obviously had to go and bug her.

"Yo, what's up kids." I called out as I approached the group. They all looked up at me, and Alice- my sister- seemed absolutely delighted to see me.

"What the fuck do you want?" She called back. I shrugged, grinning, as I came to stand over all of them. It appeared they were doing something with some potted mushrooms, which was held in the lap of a particularly tall looking guy with dark shaggy hair.

"What're you guys up to?" I asked offhandedly, gesturing to the boy. He seemed flustered at being singled out, and stuttered a little as his face blushed red.

"Just- we're- well- it's, see- this is-"
"What Neville means to say," one of the girls spoke up, sporting familiar looking red hair and a freckled face, "is that we're seeing how long it takes for the leaping toadstools to go into hibernation in the cold."
"It's been about ten minutes already!" A blonde girl chirped from beside my sister, eyes wide and expression vacant. I looked at the group of them as my sister glared up at me.
"Nerdy." I said in a satisfied tone. "How do you know they're not going to die?"
"Neville's good with plants." Alice said curtly, gesturing to the boy, who blushed once more, "He wouldn't let them die."
"Thanks Alice." He said shyly, and my sister offered him an offhanded smile. I looked between the two of them, and folded my arms, giving my sister a knowing look, and she rolled her eyes.
"Can you fuck off? Don't you like, have some boy to whore yourself out to?"
"Jesus Christ, Cimex." I scoffed, calling her by her nickname, "-that was totally unneeded."
"Well, like, you are. A whore."
"Oh my god!" I exclaimed. Her friends were giggling around her. "I'm not a whore! I was literally in a committed relationship like, my whole time here."
She shrugged, looking down at her notebook.
"I don't make up the rumors, Nox." She said, calling me by my nickname condescendingly, "Maybe if you weren't always getting wasted at parties people wouldn't say things about you."
I knew she was teasing, and I knew it was something that my family did- the three of us, mom, Alice and I. We were mean and harsh to one another in order to prepare each other for life, my mom said once. But something about what she said had struck a vein, and something that I'd been holding in since Judas and I had broken up unfurled a little inside of my stomach.
"Bruh-" I retorted, trying to cover up my hurt and discomfort, "That was rude as fuck."
She grinned sheepishly at me, and I melted a little. As much of a pain in the ass my sister could be, she was still my baby sister, and I'd literally die for her.
"Sorry." Alice was saying, and batting her big green eyes up at me. I rolled my own, and surveyed the group, who looked a little uncomfortable after the exchange.
"Wait- aren't you a Weasley?" I said suddenly, pointing at the redheaded girl. She blinked, and crossed her arms.
"Yeah, why?"
I shrugged.
"I dunno, like, you brothers have been on my ass suddenly. It's kind of annoying."
"They can be annoying. You mean the twins, right?"
I nodded. She sighed.
"Yeah. They mean well though. Just don't add anything to inflate their egos, okay? They suddenly think they're like, god's grace to earth this year."
I laughed, thinking back to their behaviour at the party.
"Yeah, they kinda do, don't they. Hey- what was your name?"
"Me?" The girl pointed to herself. I made an 'of course' motion, and she blushed a little, "I'm Ginny."
"Nice to meet you Ginny. And you guys?" I gestured to the other two.
"I'm Neville." The boy said at the same time as Alice saying, "I already said his name."
"Oh, right, and you're...."
"Luna." The girl next to Alice said, and shifted closer to her, further from me. I nodded, sucking my teeth a little and surveying the little group.

"Well, you guys have fun with your plant stuff. Nerds."
"Wait, Nox-" Alice said suddenly, "Have you heard from mom?"

I made a face.
"No? Should I have?"
"She's been trying to reach you- we tried to call you last night, but I said you might've been, uh, busy."
The party, I figured. It was weird how fast news travelled when everyone literally lived together.
"Anyway, she said she's not sure if we'll have somewhere to celebrate Christmas. We might have to stay here for the holidays."
My chest suddenly hurt.
"Ah." Was all I managed out, and Alice shrugged.

"You should probably call her."

"Yeah." I breathed, already turning to get away from the group, "Yeah, I'll try. Later nerds." I was waving behind my back, trying to keep my voice steady, but I could feel hot tears pricking behind my eyes. Fuck, this was embarressing. I managed to duck into an empty corridor before the hyperventilating started. I pressed my back against the wall, and slid to the floor, bringing my knees tight to my chest. I tried to focus on steadying my breath, but my brain wouldn't stop racing.