The days that followed were drenched in misery and uncertainty. After the match, Draco had been swiftly fixed up in the infirmary and was able to leave later the same day. I dreaded to think how he was feeling, but if I knew Draco, it was going to be anger.
Following George's warning, I had made sure not to have any interaction with Draco since his return but rumours around the common room were that the Inquistorial Squad were already back in action, more determined than ever.
It pained me, but I had also stayed away from Fred and George. I'd never seen them so furious and I was still unsure what Draco had even said to ignite such a reaction from the twins. There had been whispers, but every time somebody claimed to know, it was a different story.
Though my curiously got the best of me; I finally had to spend some time with Ginny to find out how they were doing. She was somewhat cold with me at first, but I understood why when she told me that Umbridge had taken the twins off the Quidditch team for their behaviour. Ginny was probably more upset about losing two of their best players than anything else.
Exhausted from it all, I spent every evening after classes in my dorm, trying to avoid bringing any further attention to myself following the events of the match. Once again, I was in awe at this school's infatuation with gossip. I'd heard ghastly rumours about what the boys might have argued about. Aside from one rather humorous tale that is was a lover's spat between Draco and George. It had certainly lightened my morning, when I heard a group of second year Hufflepuffs discussing it over breakfast.
Like most nights, I was sat up in bed working through practice exams, when Daphne burst into the room, completely out of breath.
"Celeste! They've caught them" she wheezed, clutching at her chest.
"What are you talking about?" I asked, rushing to her side to sit her down on the bed.
"Sorry I ran here as fast as I could, the Inquistorial Squad just came into the common room, gloating about it, they've got them!" Daphne explained, still breathless. I couldn't make sense of anything she was saying, but her panic left me feeling uneasy.
"They've got who?"
"All of them, they said a group of students from all the other houses have been caught setting up some kind of army" she explained, "Fred was there, I thought you would have known?"
My head span and I planted my feet firmly on the ground to keep my balance. What was she talking about? Fred hadn't told me anything about this.
"Where- where were they?" I asked, my voice shaking uncontrollably.
"They found them in the Room of Requirements, I've never heard of it but apparently it's on the seventh floor" Daphne explained.
Thinking it through, I slowly began to piece it together. The twins had been acting strange when I saw them that night on the seventh floor, I should have trusted my instincts. Fred's sudden interest in extracurricular activists began to make sense too.
I sat silently, staring through Daphne as thoughts swirled in my head. Why hadn't he told me? I wasn't quite sure why I was so angry but that's all I could feel coursing through my veins.
"Where are they now?" I asked, the tension building within me.
"What? I don't know they said they'll be getting a detention or something"
"Yes but where?" I snapped. Almost instantaneously, I regretted being short with Daphne but I wasn't thinking straight.
"I don't know! Go ask them yourself" Daphne huffed, getting up and going to the bathroom.
"Bloody hell" I muttered under my breath.
Instincts took over, I stormed out and hurried down to the common room. The Inquistorial Squad sprawled proudly across both sofas, basking in their victory. Of course, Draco was sat in the middle, with Pansy Parkinson swooning by his side, as he recounted the story of how they found the Room of Requirements and broke in.
"Proud of yourself, Malfoy?" I shouted, halting beside one of the plush, green sofas. I never called him 'Malfoy', it felt so impersonal and others treated it like a swear word. As though it were an insult they'd hurl at him, but in the moment, it spilled out of my mouth so naturally.
"Excuse me?" Draco stammered. He looked around at his friends and round of 'ooo's echoed. His face twisted into a sickly sneer and prepared himself for my rebuttal.
"Leave it Draco, don't waste your time on this blood traitor" Pansy crooned, her eyes flicking between me and him. We both ignored her warning, neither of us even turning to look in her direction.
"Got your revenge, hmm? Pathetic" I spat. I felt myself losing a grip on my emotions and I was certainly embarrassing myself but that fear was long gone.
"Watch your mouth with me, Reading" Draco snarled, getting to his feet. He sauntered forward and towered over me, purposely attempting to make me squirm, but I squared up to him further.
"Where are they?" I asked. He looked coldly down at me, but his smirk stayed etched into his pale face.
"Oh what, Dumbledore's Army?"
"Dumbledore's what?" I asked, in a hushed tone.
"Seems there's some things your filthy Weasley has been keeping from you" he laughed and bellowing laughter broke out amongst his friends too.
Heat blazed under my skin, I knew I'd turned bright red, unsure whether it was from embarrassment or rage.
"Where are they?" I repeated.
"Great Hall, they've got a mass detention but I reckon they deserve a bit more than that" Draco said, another evil chuckle followed his words.
My eyes rolled carelessly, and turned away from them. I was able to get as far as the exit to the common room, until the sound of his brogues tapping against the cold floor emitted. He'd followed me and as always, I had no patience for it.
"Where are you manners, Celeste? How dare you walk away from me when I'm talking to you" Draco growled, moving expertly to block my path.
"Draco, I don't have time for this" I muttered, making a feeble attempt to push past him.
"So it's Draco now is it?" he said, narrowing his eyes menacingly at me, leaning down to bring his face dangerously close to mine, "Call me whatever you like, as long as you say it in that intoxicating way you did when you were bent over Trelwaney's desk"
My eyes grew wide with his words and I cursed the tension that threatened to rise between my legs. Pull yourself together Celeste, I thought to myself.
"You make me sick" I muttered, lifting my head defiantly away from him.
"From what I remember, I can make you feel a lot of things. That's exactly what I told your little mate"
"What are you talking about?" I seethed.
Threateningly, I brought myself to press against his body. As though automatic, his eyes ran up and down me, his smirk setting in deeper than before. I realised that he must have liked the feeling and eased my pressure on him.
"On the pitch, that's exactly what I told him. How you screamed my name, what a little slut you were for me that night" Draco explained, "The brute just couldn't control his temper, but that's what you get for letting ruffians into Hogwarts I suppose"
"That's what you said to him?"
"Yes, only the truth, darling" he teased. His slick, taunting words churned my insides and all I wanted was to finish what George had started. No wonder he had nearly killed him, I wanted to see his demise for speaking that way about me.
I couldn't bare to be near him any longer and mustered all the strength I had to barge past him to leave the common room.
The corridors whirled around me as I ran as fast I could to the Great Hall, all I could hear was my pulse thumping deafeningly in my ears. Never stopping until I was outside the grand doors. They were ajar ever so slightly and I could see them all sitting in neat rows, writing lines.
I recognised the quills they used, I'd heard they did awful things to your hands, leaving carvings of whatever you'd written on the parchment. My heart ached at the thought of Fred in pain.
It felt like forever but I waited patiently outside for them to be let go. It had allowed some time for the storm that brewed inside of me to disperse and all I felt was hurt, I just wanted to know why he hadn't told me, I thought we told each other everything.
They were finally freed and we locked eyes as soon as he was out of the hall. Fred gave me a small, somber smile and came over to greet me.
"What happened?" I asked. While I'd waited, plans of everything I want to question or say were prominent but now he was here in front of me, looking as broken as ever, the words didn't come out.
"You've probably heard already" Fred said quietly, placing a hand on my shoulder. It felt so friendly, like an adult explaining something to a child that they wouldn't understand. I shrugged off his arm, feeling my anger rise again.
"But I want to hear it from you. You haven't told me about any of this" I snapped. A small group of other DA members were gathered nearby, mostly comprised of our friends and our conversation had clearly caught their attention.
"Please Celeste, not now. As you can imagine, I'm not feeling my best, I just want to go back to my dorm" Fred said, firmly, holding out his hand to show me the markings. I felt a pang in my heart again and my temper momentarily simmered.
"Oh Freddie, look what she's done to you" I whimpered, holding his hand to get a better look. He snatched his hand away and put it back into the pocket of his robe. Tears stung my eyes and I fought them back in an attempt to hide how much this had effected me.
"Please Celeste, just go back to your dorm" he said, looking at the ground and no longer up at me.
"I wish you had told me. I could have helped" I whispered.
"No you couldn't have"
"Why would you say that? Of course I want to help" I pushed.
"There weren't any Slytherins" he said, finally looking up at me. The way he said it, like it was a dirty word, set my nerves on edge.
"So what? My parents were Slytherins and they were in the Order" I reminded him.
"Yes but you're too close to-"
"To Draco" I cut him off, shaking my head at him. He couldn't keep throwing that in my face.
"Well...yes, if he had known where you were going and he always seems to bloody know, we could have been caught a lot sooner" Fred snapped, inching closer to me so the others didn't hear.
"That's completely unfair" I huffed, crossing my arms over my chest.
"Celeste can we talk about this another time? I just want to go to bed" Fred said, lowly. He was doing well at controlling his emotions but I could tell he was growing frustrated with me.
"I just want to know why you didn't tell me" I pushed, again.
"Look, I don't have to tell you everything, you're not my girlfriend" Fred snapped. His face dropped as soon as the words left his mouth, he seemed shocked that he'd even said it himself. The words rang in my ears and what hurt the most was that it wasn't a lie.
A thick silence hung between us and though we were only inches away from each other, it felt like miles. A heavy pressure sunk in my chest and I decided there was nothing really left that I wanted to say.
"You're right" I said, quietly. He looked down at me, his eyes filled with worry, but it appeared he had no more to say either. I thought I would spare him the trouble and hurried off, in the direction of the dungeons, letting the tears fall freely from my eyes now I was out of sight.
Winding corridors left me feeling dizzy as I paced my way back. Suddenly, even moving my feet felt unbearable and stopped against a stone wall. My back slid down its smooth, cold surface as I let myself crumble. Tears continually streamed and my I let my body go limp as the tension poured out of me. There was only one word that I thought could describe how I was feeling and that was heartbroken.
We had been making it work, but here was another bump in the road. It felt like that's all we were being given recently, was problems. There was hardly time to breath or settle until the next one revealed itself.
I dragged myself back up, deciding a dark hallway wasn't the place to be at night on my own and walked slowly back to my bedroom.
Daphne's gentle purring snore came from her bed and I realised I had been gone longer than I thought, if she'd had time to be in such a deep sleep already. I hurled my clothes from my body and chucked them by the bed, leaving the clear up as a problem for my future self.
The sound of tapping at the door, made me jolt from my sleep. I sat upright immediately and peered over at Daphne, who continued to rest soundly. For a moment, I thought maybe I had dreamt it and somehow the sound had passed over into our world but the soft rap on the dark wood came again.
I got to my feet and swung my legs over the bed, pulling my jumper back on so I was wearing only that and my underwear. I didn't think much of it, assuming it was a girl from one of the other dorms, but opened the door to a floating head.
"Bloody hell" I gasped, staring back at Fred. He'd wrapped Harry's cloak all the way up to his neck so all I could see of him was his head and it'd given me a nasty shock.
"Sorry, sorry" he whispered, "can I come in?"
"No, Daphne's sleeping" I replied coldly, stepping out into the corridor and shutting the bedroom door behind me.
"Alright well, I'll have to make it quick, your prefects are still awake in the common room" he whispered.
"Just be quiet" I mumbled, looking down at my feet rather than at him.
"I'm leaving, tomorrow and I-"
"You're leaving? What do you mean?" I cut him off.
"If you would let me finish," Fred chuckled, "I'm leaving Hogwarts and I won't be coming back, I just had to come and see you"
"Where will you go?" I asked, swallowing my pride and looking up into his eyes. His tension softened as our irises met and I think we both felt somewhat pleased to be in each other's company again.
"I'll go home, for now but I have plans, don't you worry about me" Fred whispered, lifting a hand to touch my face, before realising what he was doing and dropped it abruptly to his side.
I wasn't going to let him leave on a bad note, so slipped his hand back into mine, letting my thumb stroke circles on his skin. He looked down at our hands intertwined and then back up to me.
"Who's going to help me fend off Draco?" I sighed, shaking my head at him sarcastically.
"You'll do just fine without me I'm sure and you can come visit anytime you like. I'm going to be need a lot of your help over the summer" Fred said, with a wink. I was dying to know what they were planning but decided I would wait until he was ready to divulge that information.
"I'd be happy to" I whispered.
"Celeste, I'm so sorry for what I said. Malfoy got in my head, he taunted me, saying that he 'fucked my girlfriend' and I suppose I thought if I denied it, then it wouldn't be true" Fred admitted, squeezing my hand.
"I heard, I'm sorry he said those awful things. No wonder you were you both so upset with him" I whispered.
"And just so you know, I do hope you will be soon, I know it's a bit old fashioned but I - I want to actually ask you" Fred stammered, looking down at our hands again. My brow furrowed deeply in confusion for a moment until I registered what he meant.
"I see" I whispered, fighting back a grin that threatened to spread from ear to ear.
"I better get back, me and George have a lot to sort out, I don't want to get caught my one of your prefects and be thrown out of Hogwarts either. I'm leaving on my own accord" Fred laughed.
"You're going now?" I asked.
"No no, trust me you'll know when I'm leaving, let's just say your O.W.L.s will be interesting" Fred assured me, patting my shoulder.
The thought of him not being here over the next few weeks of term was unbearable to imagine. I'd grown accustomed to having him there, knowing that if we hadn't made plans that day there was still always the possibility of bumping into him. Whenever we'd pass each other in the halls it would light up my day, he'd beam at me and call something silly, but it would always vastly improve my mood. I had been avoiding the notion that this was his last year and I would have to spend two more years of this without him there, but I thought we had a little more time.
"Come in" I whispered, opening the bedroom door behind me. Confusion flashed across Fred's face but he followed me inside.
"But Daphne is right there?" Fred whispered, taking off his cloak now he was safe from the Slytherin prefects. He was wearing his traditional stripe pyjamas again with a Gryffindor sweatshirt flung over the top and couldn't stop looking at him.
"Just get into bed with me, will you?" I asked, slipping under the covers on my side, opening out the duvet for him on the other. He shrugged and placed himself under, immediately wrapping his arms around my body.
I turned to nestle my body against his and he let out a stifled laugh when he felt my behind press against him. I wriggled in place to make him squirm just little bit more, as punishment for leaving me, before finally resting to go to sleep.
It was a strange night's sleep, one where you're not sure if you even got a wink of it. I drifted in and out, comforted by the warmth of his body radiating through me every time I lulled back in to consciousness. Until morning came and my eyes fluttered from their sleep to see he was no longer next to me.
The morning of the O.W.L.s came, not only was I nervous for the exam but from the anticipation that Fred and George had something planned for the day. All morning, I felt a pressure in my chest that wouldn't cease no matter how much thoughtful breathing I did.
We filed silently into the Great Hall, there was an unspoken sense of impending doom as we took our places and Umbridge watched over us. She had a gleeful look on her pug face, as she explained the rules, in her excruciatingly sweet voice.
A headache formed in my temple as I worked my way through the exam paper. I thought I'd revised enough but we had hardly covered any of its contents during our lessons. Feeling close to giving up entirely, my attention was caught by something far away.
A faint whizzing sound came from outside before it travelled into the room through the gap in the grand doors and met it's end with a pop over our heads. The bright colours fizzed and fell gently over us from the heavens. The room fell silent as everybody waited for some kind of reaction from Umbridge, until it was cut short by booming laughter and shouting filling the air. The doors crashed open, Fred and George flew over head, tossing fireworks between each other, that were the complete opposite to the silent ones I'd found them experimenting with. The room burst into chaos as the twins carried what they had planned.
All I could do was stand by and watch.