inertia || a Fred Weasley love story

nine.

"Christmas at the Weasley's?" Peaches screeched.
It was Sunday morning, and my three friends had collected in my dorm room despite my protest, and to the chagrin of Aurora, who was trying to study in her bed, as she often did.

"Maybe." I hissed, dragged my covers over my head.
"No, no." Wilda chided, pulling them back down to reveal my pouting face. "You're going to tell us what happened when you were alone with George."
Peaches's face grew cold as I glanced at her apologetically.
"Literally nothing. We just talked about our mutual dislike of Christmas movies. He said we were too hard on Ina- obviously- and then seemed excited at the prospect of Alice and I staying with them."
"I don't get why he likes her." Peaches muttered, slouching against my headboard.
"Tits." Juliet said simply, tucking her legs under her as she sat across from us, tapping at her phone.
"Who're you texting?" Wilda muttered from her side, peering over her shoulder at the screen. Juliet snapped the phone back, not meeting any of our eyes.
"Nobody." She said anxiously.
We all stared at her blankly.
"No one?" Peaches echoed, and Juliet nodded. Then Wilda dove for the girl's phone, and squeals and yells were emitted from the three of us. We all attacked her, Peaches tickling her armpit as I grabbed her torso so she couldn't wiggle away from us, Wilda gripped her wrist and wrenched the phone from her hand.
"Stop! It's embarrassing!" Juliet cried as we huddled around her stolen phone, opening up the recent texts.

"Wait-" I muttered as Wilda and Peaches pushed and shoved to get a better look. The name at the top of the screen wasn't as interesting as the group chat I'd noticed under it.
"What's this?" I said, tapping on it. Wilda noticed first, and tipped the screen away from me.
"It's nothing." She said with a nervous giggle. I looked between the three of them, who all seemed to look guilty of something.
"Are you guys in a group chat without me?" I asked, feeling my stomach flip a little.
"No!" Peaches exclaimed as Juliet said "Not exactly!" At the same time. A ringing began in my ears.
"It's not just us." Wilda said calmly, "It's um- it's for a project."
"You guys don't have any classes together." I felt small. I'd thought they were my friends.
"It's not bad!" Peaches cried desperately, "They asked for you to not be in it!"
"Who did?" I tried to keep my voice and expression light and easy, but I suddenly really, really wanted them to leave.
"Nobody, it doesn't matter." Juliet hissed, elbowing Peaches, who made a defensive sound.
"Whatever." I laughed, feeling my chest tighten, "It doesn't matter."
"The twins." Wilda said defeatedly, and we all looked at her, Juliet hissing her name chidingly. "What? She's going to find out eventually."
I felt the blood drain from my face. I was about to spend two weeks with a couple of guys who specifically asked for me to be excluded from a group chat?
"That's kind of fucked up." I tried to laugh again, but it sounded more like I was about to cry.
"It's seriously not why you think!" Peaches attempted again, reaching out to comfort me. I huffed and gave her a tight smile.
"It's okay Peaches, really."
"Diana, we can explai-" Juliet was saying, but I cut her off.
"You know, you guys, I'm really not feeling that great. Brown liquor hangover, you know?"
"You want us to leave?" Peaches's voice sounded small, and their expressions were guilt ridden. I felt something bubbling up in my stomach, but I couldn't tell if it was anger or disappointment. I fought it down with apathy.
"Yeah." I said, sounding a little sterner than I'd intended, "Um- yeah, I think maybe it'd be a good idea if you guys left."
"Seriously, Diana-" Wilda tried this time, but she stopped when I gave her a tight look.
"I kind of want to be alone, guys." My voice was hard, and they looked surprised at it.
"We'll explain when you're willing to listen, then." Juliet sounded angry as she stood up.
"We can't just let her think it's bad, though." Peaches's sweet voice sounded close to tears, and I felt a little guilty, but my mind was made up. I just wanted to be alone. Just be by myself. I kept my eyes on my blanket, feeling stubborn.
"Fuck, we were doing so well." Wilda muttered as they left the room.
"Why'd you have to open my messages." Juliet hissed, snatching her phone back and tucking it into her pocket.
"I feel really bad." Peaches's whisper carried through the hall as the door closed.

I felt Aurora's gaze on me, but I kept mine low.
"Don't." I said quietly. She shifted to look back at her book.
"I wasn't going to say anything." She said softly, but I knew she was happy to have her silence back. I slid low under my blanket, pulling it up to my ears.
What the hell? I thought the Weasley twins were warming up to me. Now they had a secret group chat with my friends?
I thought back to my interactions. Was I too mean? Peaches had told me once I could be a little stand offish- that boys were sometimes scared of me. Did they feel like I ruined the vibe? Maybe I was too negative. I replayed the conversation from the great hall yesterday. Was that why they'd looked at one another? But why wouldn't they have just gone to the forest with my friends- Juliet had told them they'd be willing to go without me. And why, then, had they forced me to sit next to Fred last night? Had they just wanted to push me out of the conversation? It had kind of worked, I guess, thinking back to the end of last night. But my memories were fuzzy due to the dark liquor and having been tired. Maybe I'd said something annoying. And how long had they even had the group chat? Was it only from last night? Had they made it while I was outside with George?

Is that why George had taken me outside? I thought we'd had a nice time.

I rolled over and stared at the ceiling. I was angry, I decided, but not at my friends. I was angry at myself for not noticing. Angry that I'd been stupid enough to be douped like this. I wasn't sure what I was going to do. I didn't want to stop hanging out with them. They were the closest things I had to best friends. I pulled the blanket over my face.
I knew I wasn't going to stop hanging out with them. I literally couldn't. But it still made me feel further apart from them than I had felt in a long time.
I felt my phone buzz from underneath my back, which surprised me, as I hadn't realized the phone was there. I slipped it out and glanced at the screen.
There was a message from Cedric, asking if I was going to breakfast.

Part of me didn't really want to see anyone right now, but the other part kind of longed for Cedric's easy company. Hanging out with him recently had felt really reassuring. And maybe talking to him could help me work out what I should do. I peered up at Aurora, who caught my eye and glanced down quickly.

"Do you mind if I have a boy in here?" I hissed loudly. She looked up again and studied the situation for a moment, before heaving a great sigh and shaking her head no.

'Im so hungover :(' I tapped out. Then paused, thinking about how to continue:

'Bedridden x~x'

'Can u bring me some nourishment plssssssss <3 <3 <3'

The little typing bubble popped up for a second, then disappeared. I watched it anxiously. Cedric wasn't really one to break rules, like sneaking into the girl's dorms. He was usually the one kicking the boys out of them. I knew it was a shot in the dark, but I really didn't want to get out of bed, and I really wanted to see if he would do it.

'To your room?' he replied.

I simply sent back the puppy eye emoji. A full minute passed of the bubble popping up and disappearing. I could feel his anxiety through the screen, but I sent a silent prayer that he'd grow some balls for once.

'Just dont tell anyone' He finally replied. I snickered silently.

'What do u want?'

'Bless u bby boi' I replied instantly.

'Coffee & a blueberry muffin pls pls pls pl s pls'

He reacted to the message with a thumbs up, and I rolled out from under the covers, checking my hair in the mirror and reaching for my deodorant. I glanced down at myself, wondering if I should put on some pants.