inertia || a Fred Weasley love story

five.

It'd been a weird blow, losing our house. Our mom was trying her best, but she just couldn't keep up with all the bills. First the water went out. Then the electricity. Then the letter came, and we were being ushered to pack 'only the essentials'. It wasn't her fault, we found out later- our finance manager had been skimming some money off the top. But it was fucked up because- that was money that we really didn't have. And then he disappeared, and mom had to move back in with her dad, who was a piece of shit. Then we were basically couch surfing until we got news that Alice and I had tested into Hogwarts, and mom insisted we go there as soon as we possibly could, that she'd have a place for us to stay by the time the holidays came. But then a year passed, and we were still on couches, still travelling all summer, still staying in hotels and airbnbs. She worked hard, my mom, but life was harder without my dad, and she'd lost years of experience when he was sick, years of connections she could have made, years that seemed like a deadweight on her resume. And now it was Christmas time again, which meant another year had gone and she still didn't have a job, probably, which meant she's probably sleeping on a couch somewhere, which meant that we wouldn't be able to see her, which meant that we still didn't have a home, so no home and no dad and no-

"Hey, Diana?"

Fuck.

It was Cedric, and he was concerned. I could hear it in his voice. But I was frozen in place, partly by anxiety, partly by shame. I made no movement, and he was silent for a while.
"Do you mind if I sit here?" He finally said softly, and I managed a small shrug. There was some rustling, and I felt his presence beside me, even though he was too far to be touching.
"I had a good time last night, you know." He said. "It was fun. You're a lot of fun to hang out with. I guess I didn't realize how much I missed that when I was with Cho and you were with..." He trailed off, before continuing, "Anyway, I hope we get to hang out more now, that we're both, well, you know. And you're- I don't know, you're easy to talk to, I guess. I never feel like I have to pretend with you? That probably sounds like bullshit. I guess I'm just talking because silence makes me nervous. Oh, fuck, I hope I'm not making this worse, I'm just-"
As he continued to prattle, I focused on his meandering words, and my thoughts slowed first, then my breath. Finally, I felt as though I breathed in over a hump in my chest, and I felt better. I sniffled, and rubbed my eyes into my sweater, before looking up at him. Cedric jumped when he realized I'd moved, and I couldn't help but laugh a little, which made him laugh, and then we were both laughing and it felt really, really good to laugh.
"Thanks." I finally said, heaving out a healthy sigh, "Sorry, I just uh- got some stupid news and I guess it became a little... I dunno. I'm just really hungover." I laughed nervously, "But thanks. I had a good time with you too."
He beamed, but then softened.
"Do you want to talk about it?"
"No." I scoffed, shaking my head, "No, nah, it's dumb."
"It's not dumb if it upset you, Diana."
His serious tone made me feel slightly taken aback. When I was with Judas, he'd just sort of ignore whenever I was sad until I was out of it. I thought that I'd liked that- I liked to just sort of be alone when I was upset. It was easier, I felt more comfortable in expressing how I felt when it was just to me. But having Cedric seem so honest made me feel a little sick.

"I mean, I think it's dumb." I said earnestly. Shaking my head and rubbing an eye, "-and how I feel about it is most important, right? Besides, it's passed, see?" I grinned widely, and pointed at the grin. At that moment, a familiar group rounded the corner.
"Ah, fuck." I muttered as the Weasley twins with their friends sauntered past, almost missing Cedric and I before I saw Fred's eye fall upon us.
"Hey, nice to see you again." The boy drawled, and his face was so far when i was on the ground and he was standing up. Cedric smiled at the two as the rest of their friends continued past us, Lee shouting out some greetings as they went. Fred and George hovered, and teasing remarks seemed to be bouncing around in their brains until George actually looked at me, sniffling and curled up, and he bumped Fred with his shoulder.
"Are you alright?' They asked over one another, not quite in unison. The oddity of them being out of sync made me laugh again, and I shook my head as a yes.
"Yeah, god you two are everywhere. I'm all good. Just a little hungover."
"Overwhelmed." Cedric tried. I pointed at him and nodded.
"Mhm, overwhelmed. Exactly."
"Okay." Fred said, sounding unsure and looking between the two of us.
"It'd be hard to imagine Cedric making a girl cry, anyway." George was saying, and Cedric flushed a little, laughing.

"Nah, nah." I waved a hand, "Fuck off, you two. Your twin mind reading shit is freaking me out."

The twins laughed, but it didn't seem genuine, and Fred's face seemed a little crestfallen.
"Byee." I emphasized, and they bounded away with a simple,

"See you later." From each. I rolled my eyes, and then closed them, slowly letting my head rest on the wall behind me.

"What're you doing later?" Cedric asked.
"Huh? Oh, um. Apparently they are watching Christmas movies in the Gryffindor common room tonight. My friends and I were invited."
Cedric's 'oh' sounded slightly put out, and I opened an eye to look at him.

"You not doing anything tonight?"
"Um, no, I am. The team wanted to hang out, drink some beers, talk Quidditch, you know." He waved a hand, "Stuff."
I nodded, understandingly.

"Sounds super fun." I said without emotion. He chuckled, looking at his hands.
"Yeah, it's going to be a right blast."

A moment of silence passed between us, and I wasn't really sure what to say. There wasn't really anything to say, I guess. I looked down at my phone, which I'd started to spin in my hand absently. There was a text there from Judas, and from a 'Maybe: Elliot', who was a fifth year Slytherin I'd been hanging out with. Both were just asking what I was doing right now. I opened Elliot's first.

"Okay, I'm gonna go chill with a friend now, I guess." I said to Cedric, and he let out a little hum, nodding understandingly.
"You sure you're okay?" He asked, and it made me slightly uncomfortable once again.
"Yeah man, I'm all good. Seriously." We looked at one another for a moment, "Seriously." I reiterated, dropping to an honest tone. He nodded again, before sighing and standing slowly, offering me a hand. I took it.

Elliot was a pretty cool guy. We'd started talking in potions a couple of months ago because I was failing, hilariously. After his help for a month, I was back to a steady 'passing' pace. Sure, he could be kinda blunt sometimes, and the company he kept was hella weird. Like, there was this Draco kid who'd always be hanging around with his friends while we were studying that seemed to desperately need a xanax. And maybe a good fuck. And then there was Terence Higgs who was literally just a straight up racist, and always made me feel hella uncomfy. But Elliot himself was chill, and whenever we hung out it was easy. Mindless shit, like hitting a bowl a couple of times by the lake.

"It's so cold." I was saying, stomping my feet and rubbing my hands up and down my arms. Elliot was laughing at me, smoke lazily drifting from his mouth. He offered me the bowl, and I took it with cold fingers.

"It was your idea to smoke." He said calmly, putting his hands in his pockets and gazing out at the lake. I mumbled defeatedly, and held the bowl to my mouth, lighting the bud and taking in a deep breath before lifting my thumb and taking it away from my lips.
"I didn't know we'd be going outside-" I said, still holding in the smoke, before double inhaling and exhaling slowly. I offered the bowl back to Elliot but he shook his head, so I emptied the thing and put it back in it's ziplock bag.
"Malfoy's been kinda pissy recently, and has a tendency to be kind of a narc."
"Do you know what's got him all worked up?"
"Nah, no one does. Blaise thinks it might have something to do with that guy Potter, but Pansy thinks it's something more than that."
"Maybe he has a crush on the Potter kid."
Elliot laughed, and then stopped suddenly, looking at me quizzically.

"You know, maybe he does."
I barked out a laugh, clapping a hand over my mouth, feeling giggly and woozy at once. Elliot stretched and made to stand from the crate he was sitting on.
"Where are you going?" I whined, "I just got comfortable."
"Inside, you dolt. Weren't you the one complaining about the cold."
"Oh, yeah." I said breathlessly, standing with him, "I'm hungry."
He laughed, and we made our way back to the castle.