It was that strange time of year between Christmas and New Year's Eve, that drifted by in a haze of leftovers and hangovers. Nobody knew what they were meant to be doing and it seemed to simply be a continuation of the festive season.
On the 29th of December, 4 days into my daze of cold turkey and finishing off the last of the nettle wine, a note arrived via our family owl, Atherol. It was addressed to me and I recognised Ginny's handwriting instantly.
"You're coming for dinner tonight, I'll be cooking. 8pm sharp - Ginny" it read.
Admittedly, since Christmas I had vowed to spend sometime alone with my family. I hadn't been ignoring The Weasleys, though Ginny had invited me over a few times, but after Colin's abrupt arrival on Christmas Day, my parents hadn't been the same. They moped around the house and usual activities, like country walks or having dinner together, didn't bring them joy. I couldn't just run off and have fun with my friends while they were like this.
The only thing that brightened my mother's face was planning her annual New Year's Eve party but that wasn't for another couple of days. I had been hoping not to have to socialise with anyone until then, but from the blunt tone of Ginny's note I knew I had to go.
It was one of the coldest evenings of winter so far and I arrived outside of The Burrow wrapped in my warmest coat and the scarf that Molly had knitted for me. I gave two short raps at the door and Ginny opened it and pulled me into an embrace before I could give a third.
"It feels like forever since you've been round!" Ginny cried, holding me at arm's length to look at my face.
"It's been 4 days! You're acting like it's been a year" I laughed. She moved us into the kitchen and began opening bottles of beer for us.
"So where are have Molly and Arthur gone?" I asked.
"They're visiting Charlie in Romania, they'll be back tomorrow. How are your parents doing?" Ginny asked in a concerned tone, handing me a bottle.
I sipped down the foamy liquid and thought about her question for a moment. I didn't know whether to tell the truth, but they had all seen Colin the other evening and there was no way my parents could be expected to cope after that.
"Not great to be honest", I started, "but my mother's looking forward to New Year's Eve, it will take her mind of things"
"Good, we'll make sure she has fun. Well, hopefully tonight will take your mind of things too! Follow me, the boys are playing cards already" Ginny said, stepping round into the living room area.
I walked out to see Fred, George and Ron hunched around the coffee table playing, what sounded like, a very vicious game of Rummy. They were so engrossed they didn't even look up when I came in.
"Hello!" Ginny shouted sarcastically, "we have a guest?"
Fred looked up first and his furious expression softened as he nodded me a hello and the others followed.
"We'll be with you in a minute, I've just got to win this" George called, slamming his cards down to show the others he'd won.
"How did you manage that!?" Fred shouted, throwing his cards at the table.
"You're cheating!" Ron exclaimed, looking down at his own cards.
"Never mind! Dinner's almost ready" Ginny shouted over their bickering, "Ron, when will Harry and Hermione get here?"
Ron's friends joined us shortly and we all sat round the dining table to dig into the delicious meal Ginny had prepared for us. It felt like summer again, the beers carried on coming and we got on to the topic of school, as usual.
"So who was everyone's first year crush? Come on, we've all had them" George chuckled, "Starting with you, Ron"
"Erm..no one" Ron muttered, avoiding everyone's eye contact and picking at the label on his bottle of beer. Me and Ginny giggled, knocking into each other. We all knew it was Hermione but he was just too shy to say so.
"Alright boring, what about you Ginny?" George asked, cocking an eyebrows. Her laughter muted immediately, knowing she had been caught out too. She glanced over at Harry sheepishly but she was always able to think on her feet.
"Dean Thomas" she answered, glaring at her brother.
"Dean! But he's in our year," Ron groaned, "you can't start dating boys in our year Ginny!"
"I can do whatever I want Ronald! Anyway, it was only a crush, it's gone now" Ginny said, shaking her head at her brother.
"Reading?" George questioned, turning his attention to me. I flicked my gaze to Fred for a moment and our eyes met, he looked intent on knowing what my answer was too.
"Oliver Wood" I laughed, looking down at my hands in embarrassment.
"Got a thing for Gryffindors, have you?" Fred smirked. I rolled my eyes at him and the others burst out laughing.
"It was his passion for Quidditch, I guess" I replied sarcastically.
"Nothing to do with the fact he was bloody gorgeous then?" Hermione choked out through her own laughter. Everyone stopped and stared at her for a moment, never having heard her talk about boys like that. Her face began glowing bright red and everyone laughed again.
"Bugger off! Who was your's then George?" Hermione huffed, turning his own question on him.
"McGonagall, of course" he joked.
"Even in cat form?" Fred asked, nudging his brother.
"Oh especially in cat form"
"Eww!" we all cried in unison and fell about laughing again.
"What about you then Fred, who tickled your fancy in first year?" George turned to look at his brother, who was seated next to him.
"Don't say it like that!" Fred groaned, hitting him lightly on the arm, "Hmm...Penelope Clearwater"
We all looked at him in confusion.
"The Ravenclaw that Percy dated?" George laughed.
"Yeah, well they weren't together when we were in first year and she was a bit older. Very smart too" Fred explained.
"That's weird mate" Ron laughed at his brother. To Fred's dismay we all found his strange choice extremely funny and it was clear he wanted to get off the subject.
"Okay okay you've had your fun, come on let's go sit in the living room or something" Fred groaned, getting up from the table and motioning us all to follow him.
We nestled onto the sofas and Ginny played music over the gramophone. Fred had managed to squeeze himself between me and Hermione on the sofa and rested his arm casually behind me along the back. While everyone else chatted amongst themselves and card games were brought back out, Fred began speaking quietly, only to me. His words were jumbled and breathy from the beers but I was just happy to speaking with him again.
"Oliver Wood?" he said quietly, "You fancied Wood when I was on the Quidditch Team too, I'm hurt, Reading"
"I'm sorry, but the question was about our first crush at Hogwarts, I fancied you long before Hogwarts" I joked, prodding him in his side.
"That's more like it" he smirked, moving his hand from the back of the sofa to rest on the back of my neck.
We continued to chat quietly about all the crushes we'd had over the years and poked fun at all the weird ones, until my drink was empty. I excused myself and got up to fetch another beer from the kitchen.
I was alone for a moment as I hunted for my bag and the new pack of a beers I'd brought with me. I found them and began pulling the packaging open when a firm hand snaked around my waist, making me jump.
"Fred!" I yelped, trying to keep my voice down so the others wouldn't hear. His hand skimmed across my waist and I felt the front of his body press against my back slightly.
"Carry on, it's fine" he whispered, ducking down so he was close to my ear "Can I have another one?"
I picked out two beers and span around to face him. We were a breath away from each other and I felt myself tense as he kept his hand on my waist. He smiled drunkenly down at me and my heart swelled.
"I've missed you" he whispered, "I haven't stopped thinking about you after Christmas, when nearly...you know"
"I've missed you too, Freddie, but your siblings are only round there" I whispered back.
"They don't mind. They know how much I've missed you, I've been talking George's ear off about it for weeks. I can't believe I ruined this, Celeste"
I felt overwhelmed with joy that Fred was admitting all of this. I'd had an inkling that we'd been feeling the same way but he was never good at putting the jokes or his own ego aside to tell me. But my stomach suddenly lurched when I remembered that I had to tell him about Draco. My chest grew tight and my smile suddenly dropped from my face. I couldn't let him think he was the only reason we'd ended.
"What is it?" Fred asked quietly, suddenly seeing my change in demeanour.
I almost fainted thinking about Draco. Thoughts of his last words to me before the school holiday repeated in my mind, "You better behave over Christmas".
"I have to tell you something," I whispered and Fred's face twisted in concern, "you and Alicia, that wasn't the only reason I thought it would be best that we stayed friends"
"What does that mean?" Fred asked, dropping his hand from my side.
"I was upset, of course, but I had no right to be. Me and Draco, things had had happened between us since the start of term too and I-"
"Are you serious?" Fred's voice became a little louder than a whisper and I could tell he'd been angered by what I said.
"Yes but-"
"But what? You let me think it was all my fault, that I had betrayed you, while you were running around with Malfoy!" his voice rose even more in volume and I felt tears begin to sting my eyes. He was clearly more intoxicated than I had originally realised and my timing was less than perfect.
"Fred, it wasn't like that. He just kept-"
"Have you slept with him?" Fred cut me off
"Yes, but only after we ended whatever this was, I would never have done that while we were figuring out what we were" I whimpered. I had never seen him so angry before, maybe when he'd been given a bad mark on an exam or arguing with Flint on the pitch but it had never been aimed at me.
"I just thought that maybe we weren't ready, that we'd just hurt each other and I didn't want it to ruin our friendship" I tried my best to explain.
"But if you had just told me, we could have worked it out! I would have wanted to work on it with you but clearly you couldn't be bothered," Fred shouted, slamming his beer onto the counter. He didn't know his own strength and the bottle smashed as it hit the wood, splitting off into tiny pieces.
I stared wide eyed at his hand, as beads of fresh blood began to form and drip down on to the worktop. Beer trickled down the cabinet making a complete mess.
"Bloody hell!" I cried and grabbed a cloth to compress his hand, but he snatched it from me before I could hold it to his skin.
"Shut it you two!" Ginny shouted, suddenly standing in the doorway. Her eyes fixed to Fred's hand and the blood stained cloth.
"What on earth have you done? George get in here!" Ginny called. George ducked his head into the room and ran over to his brother as soon as he saw the blood.
"What did you do, you idiot?" George laughed, pulling the cloth aside to get a better look at his hand.
"He slammed his bottle on the counter" I explained, wiping tears from my eyes.
"She's been sleeping with Malfoy" Fred slurred out. George snapped his head round to look at me in shock.
"I haven't been sleeping with him. It was just once" I tried to explain. Everyone had now gathered to watch and they all looked on with judgmental expressions when they heard me admit to it.
"We need to make sure all the glass is out of your hand" Hermione huffed, stepping forward towards Fred. Everybody began crowding round Fred as they had him sit down at the table and examine his hand.
I stepped backwards away from them all, I felt so ashamed. I knew how Malfoy had treated all of them in the past and he hadn't been particularly nice to me either, what must they have thought of me for sleeping with him.
"I think you all better go home, we better clean up in here and sort him out" George said, before looking over at me, "You too, Celeste"
My heart almost broke entirely thinking that they wanted me to leave. I collected my bag from the floor and prepared myself to go home, deciding to walk through the meadows to clear my head. I turned my back, opening the door before I heard Fred call out in his drunken state.
"You really are a Slytherin aren't you"
Added a song to the beginning, I was listening to this while I wrote and imagined this is what Ginny played over the gramophone, I'm not sure why but enjoy <3 Open to any feedback about this chapter & what you're thinking so far