inertia || a Fred Weasley love story

thirteen.

"Lupin." I said quite seriously as I landed heavily atop one of the front desks.
"Sterling." The teacher said without even looking up.
"How'd you know it was me?" I asked haughtily, crossing my legs.
"It's always you, Diana. What do you need?" His voice sounded tired.
DADA had just ended, and it was now lunch time- but I had decided to linger behind today, as I did an embarrassingly often amount. Juliet said once that my insistent attachment to our DADA teacher was a result of my dad dying when I was just at the cusp of my sexual development. Wilda was convinced that it was just an unhealthy crush that any boyfriend our age could help fix. Peaches said once that maybe it was just a sweet friendship. I personally liked to call my infatuation a dad crush- it was necessarily sexual nor was it romantic, merely a desperate desire to have the approval and attention of an older man I considered a mentor.
So I threw a paper at his face.
He shot me a short glare before returning to the essay he seemed to be trying to get through.
"Lupin, don't you want to know about my day?" I whined, moving to sit at the desk I'd been atop of, sliding to a deep slouch.
"Aren't you hungry, Sterling?" Lupin said back with disinterest. I huffed, sliding further down in my chair, and he finally glanced up at me seriously, a smirk playing across his face. I pouted drastically and he finally sighed, placing the essay down and folding his hand on top of it, looking at me seriously.
"How was your day so far, Diana?" His tone seemed condescending, but I didn't care, as I launched into an explanation of today's unfair events.
"I wasn't even a part of anything! I have no idea who that Potter kid even was! I just followed Fred without thinking." I whined at the end of my story, flopping across the desk and letting out a heavy sigh. Lupin let out an amused chuckle, shaking his head at my antics and tapping his desk with his pen thoughtfully.
"Well, for starters, it sounds like the Weasley boy might have feelings for you." He said seriously, and I scoffed.
"What, Ron? I only talked for him for like, thirty seco-"
"No, Diana, I'm talking about Fred."
I rolled my eyes, even though I knew that was what he'd meant. I made a strangled noise in the back of my throat, mostly a result of not wanting to get my hopes up about anything, but also in response to a teacher commenting on my love life.
"It's the only explainable reason for the whole group chat drama." He said in his usual calm, matter of fact way and I huffed dramatically. He shook his head in amusement before continuing, "I'll talk to McGonagall though, as it sounds a little unfair for you to be in detention for a fight you weren't a part of."
"Don't get me wrong though Lupin, I could hold my own in a fight." I said quickly, and the professor laughed.
"Don't worry Diana, I never thought such a thing."
I smiled contentedly, finally sitting up fully. There was a moment of easy silence between us as he seemed to mull over something.
"How's your mother doing these days?" He asked finally, and I slumped again, earning a slight chuckle.
"She's fine." I said curtly, picking at the table, "We don't talk very much. She's making us go to the Weasley's for the holidays, since we don't have anywhere else to go this year." My foot bounced beneath the desk, and I felt my heartbeat quicken at the prospect of having finally said that out loud. Lupin made a small sound in front of me.
"Seems like Molly. She does like taking in strays. I'll be at their Christmas party, you know."
I looked up at my teacher with an incredulous expression, which he let out a bark of a laugh at.
"How do the Weasleys know fucking everyone!" I exclaimed, ignoring Lupin's quiet plea of 'language',
"I knew Arthur when we were younger," Lupin said with sudden ease, leaning back and looking up with an expression of amusement at some memory he was reliving, "We ran in the same political circles. But it wasn't until Harry became friends with Ron that we started getting invited to the Christmas parties."
"Harry? Like the Potter kid? Are you, like, related to him?"
Lupin looked at me, surprised.
"Well, not biologically, but his father is like a brother to me. So I do see them as family. As do the Weasleys, I suppose."
I flicked some stray eraser bits off the desk absently, leaning my head heavily on my hand, curling my fingers in my hair.
"So I'm going to be an outsider for this too, huh." I muttered, more to myself than my teacher, but he heard me none the less.
"Oh, the Weasleys are such a welcoming family, Diana. I am entirely sure they'll make sure to make you feel like one of them as best they can. Especially considering your situation."
I huffed, feeling my face grow hot as a result of various emotions tangling inside of me. I sensed that part of me wanted to cry, but my eyes stayed stubbornly dry, which I was thankful for. I picked at the desk, which had some sort of sentence carved into it.
"Really, Diana." Lupin said softly, "I'm sure you're going to have a great time."
"I know." I said back even softer, wanting nothing more than to shrink into nothing, or disappear into the floor, "I just miss having a home."
There was a scratching of chair against floor, and footsteps, and then a hand was placed on my shoulder. It was big, and warm, and suddenly my eyes were not so dry anymore. I tried to will them back into my face but they refused, and began to stream down my face. I hid it behind my hands and pressed them angrily into my skin, refusing to move, refusing to sob. Lupin's hand began making slight comforting movements along my shoulders, and the gesture was so overwhelmingly all I had needed.
"I can't believe I got detention." I got out with a weak laugh, sounding more whiny than I'd intended, and Lupin let out a surprised chuckle, crouching down to my level, gently taking my hands away from my face and pushing a strand of hair behind my ear. My stomach fluttered, but it wasn't a romantic moment. It felt like an adult caring for a child, and my heart hammered in my ears as a small piece of me realized I hadn't known that feeling in a very long time. He held one of my hands in his own tenderly.
"You'll get through it. Detention at Hogwarts can sometimes be fun, you know."
I sputtered out another laugh, and the tears continued to fall.
"My mom'll be so disappointed if she finds out. She's always disappointed in me. I'm always fucking up. 'In the wrong place at the wrong time.'" I said bitterly, making air quotes with my free hand. Lupin chuckled and patted the other.
"I'm sure she just wants the best for you."
I rolled my eyes, sniffling and wiping at my face in frustration.
"I know, it's just hard to do the best when you don't have the same tools as everyone else."
Lupin's face looked almost stunned for a moment, and I realized he had freckles, underneath his scars.
"I know, love. Trust me." He practically whispered, and the genuinity of the statement had me humbled into silence. His thumb was stroking the back of my hand absently, and I stared at it instead of his face. Suddenly, the door to the classroom burst open and Lupin stood up swiftly, but placing a hand on the back of my seat in a protective gesture.
"Lupin!" A boy's voice practically screamed from behind me, and I recognized it as that Potter kid's. I turned to see him trailed by a bushy haired, dark complexioned girl and a familiarly freckled pale face.
Ron looked a little apologetic as the girl gave me a curious glance while Harry barrelled past, ignoring my presence entirely.
"Lupin, I swear to god, I'm going to kill Malfoy. I swear to god." He started wringing his hands and pacing in the front of the room. The girl let out a heavy sigh and sat heavily on top of one of the desks. Ron sidled up to me as Lupin started to try and calm the pacing boy down, chiding him for bursting in while he was obviously with another student.
"Sorry about this." Ron said shyly, clasping his hands behind his back, "But we've been listening to him rant about stupid Malfoy all morning. Needed to make someo-, wait, have you been crying?"
He said it soft enough that Harry and Lupin didn't hear, but the girl looked over from where she was watching the chaos unfold up front. She leaned forward now, worry contorting her face.
"Oh, I'm so sorry." She cried gently, "We wouldn't have come in if we'd known there was someone else here."
I offered them a grin.
"It's all good." I said, sniffling and wiping at my tears in embarrassment, "Wasn't anything but hormones anyway- you know how it be, full moons and shit."
They looked at me in confusion as I hurriedly gathered my things and rushed from the classroom.