Fred's stomach dropped at her simple words, and not because of the words themselves, but the way she said them, and the way her body language gave off negative energy. Her tone alone sent shivers down his spine, and it let him know that whatever she was about to say, it was serious.
"Alright, what is it?" He asks hesitantly, sitting down on the edge of the bed. He studied Aurora's features as she bit the inside of her cheek, refusing to make eye contact with him.
Running a hand through his hair, he furrowed his brows at her, a deep crevice forming between them. He watched as she fiddled with the skin around her nails, something that she always did when she was nervous, and something that even Fred began to do because of her.
"Aurora, what is it?" He asks again, this time more firmly than the last. His voice was clear and to the point, and it made Aurora flinch.
He could tell that she was struggling to find the words by the way her eyes frantically scanned over the bedsheets. His knee began to bounce, so he stood back up to distract himself, causing Aurora's eyes to shoot up to him.
He stared down at her, and her eyes, though only lit by the small light from the bathroom, were as clear as the moon. Her brows were furrowed, and she bit her lip nervously, still picking at the skin around her fingers. He could tell that her dark eye bags had lessened since this morning, which was good, but other than that, she looked just as sick, and it was scaring him.
Her silence built a feeling inside of him that he couldn't describe, but that feeling alone was clawing at his insides. She had no right to frighten him in such a way and then sit in silence, it was unreasonable.
"You can't just go mute after that, you have to speak, Aurora!" He says, frantically, and Aurora furrows her brows at him, shaking her head.
"Fred, I'm finding the words. Don't yell at me." She whispers back, and he scoffs, running another hand through his damp hair.
He was beginning to get annoyed, which might have been an exaggerated response, but he couldn't help it. Hearing her say those four words in such a serious tone scared him, and the fact that she still hasn't said it was making his stomach turn.
We need to talk.
"You said we need to talk? Well here I am, trying to talk." He says at a lower volume, his voice shaking.
He crossed his arms over his chest, taking his bottom lip between his teeth. While he was only trying to keep himself together, he was intimidating Aurora, and pushing her further from speaking.
She already felt like she was letting him down, and she actually was, so seeing him all riled up beforehand only made her nervous. She had a speech prepared, she had her words together, but as per usual, Fred took them away.
All she had to do was look at him, just make eye contact with him, and he was the only thing she could focus on. She knew he was a wizard, but she didn't know that he would have such a magical effect on her.
"It's not something I can just blurt out. Please, just give me a second." She whispers, and he sighs in response, walking back and forth in front of the bed.
"Aurora, you're scaring me." He deadpans, and he stops pacing for a moment to look down at the broken girl on the bed.
Her thumbs had blood around the nail bed from where she picked away the skin, and the sight of her so nervous made bile rise in his throat. In a moment of true seriousness, his eyes were open to how she truly looked.
He was no longer blind to the way her skin paled, or to how it seemed to close in around her bones, making her look unhealthily thin. Her deep purple bags underneath her eyes were a clear sign of exhaustion, and he just assumed she had a cold.
Fred felt as if the breath was knocked out of him, and he took a seat in her desk chair, letting out a sigh. A wave of guilt ran over him, and he rubbed his face, his skin growing red as he became upset.
"I...I'm sorry." He whispered, and he heard her choke on a sob.
He was oblivious to what she was going to tell him, and hearing him apologize broke Aurora's heart. He was apologizing now, he was feeling guilt now, but she was the one in the wrong. She was the one who lied to him for days on end, only raising his hopes.
"I haven't been taking care of you, and here I am yelling at you while you're down." He whispered again, his knees bouncing quickly.
She couldn't bare to hear him apologize when he wasn't the issue at all. Aurora began to shake her head, her hands coming up to her ears, and tears soaked her cheeks.
"Shut up, just shut up." She repeated, and Fred's eyes darted between different points of her body.
The way her tiny wrists covered her ears. The way her chest rose and fell quickly as her breathing became rapid. The way her knees shook slightly as she cried.
She was broken, and he didn't even notice until now.
"No, Aurora, I'm being ridiculous. You've been killing yourself and you're doing it again right now. You think I don't see the blood around your nails? I'm so sorry for neglecting you, and forcing you to work through your pain. You don't have to take a job at the shop if it's torturing you this much." He rambled, the words spilling out of his mouth so quickly that Aurora almost didn't catch them.
He was turning the blame on himself before she even had the chance to speak because he was the good guy and that's what the good guys always do.
"Fred, stop it!" She yelled, smacking her hands down onto the bed beside her to get his attention.
He snapped his gaze up to her eyes, and the two of them stared at each other. The power the eye contact held was intense, and it seemed to go on forever, with the only noise being their breathing and the quiet ticking of the clock on the nightstand.
Aurora's tear stained cheeks grew cold as they dried on her skin, and she brought a hand to wipe them away, putting it right back onto the bed. Fred let out a sigh, not breaking the eye contact, as he waited for her to speak again, his heart nearly beating out of his chest.
"This isn't your fault." She whispered, and his heel began to tap the floor again.
"What isn't?" He asks, and her eyes fall down to her hands, which come together out of nervousness once more.
"Me. My health, this isn't on you." She clarifies, and she hears him stand up.
Bringing her head up, she watches as he silently crosses the room and comes to the bedside, taking a seat in his normal spot. He turns to face her, crossing his legs under him, and grabs her hands gently, taking them in his own so she doesn't pick at her nails anymore.
He felt her tense in his touch, but ignored it, deciding it's what she needed. He had been so oblivious to what she was going through, and he let her slip away right under his nose; there was no way he was going to let her go.
"You are my concern, Aurora, no matter what. I hate myself for letting you fade on my watch, and I swear it won't happen again. We can get through this together, darling, I promise." He says, saying the last part at a whisper.
He leans forward and plants a kiss on her temple and can't help but notice how she flinched when he does so. He pulled away and furrowed his brows, and Aurora did everything in her power to avoid eye contact with the boy in front of her, not able to bare looking at his sad eyes.
"Aurora...?" He says to get her attention, releasing one of her hands to tilt her chin up towards him.
He was just as nervous as he was ten minutes ago, but seeing that he already broke the girl in front of him, he found a way to manage his stress, turning it into compassion to make her feel comfortable enough to tell him whatever she was going to say.
"Fred, I..." She began, her eyes darting between his. Her breathing picked up at the thought of breaking his heart, at the thought of breaking his heart in this very moment, and her eyes filled with tears.
"You can tell me anything, sweetheart." He said sweetly, stroking the skin along her jaw with his thumb to comfort her. Little did he know...
"I don't think that's true." She says, looking out the window, the moonlight illuminating the soft smile on her cheeks.
It wasn't a happy smile, those only came from the happy moments with Fred, or with her friends. This smile was one that came out of complete and utter shock at her own actions. Aurora managed to baffle herself. She lied to the man she felt the closest to love with, and now she felt further from love than ever before.
"What do you mean?" He asked, pressing her for more information.
The anticipation of her response was killing him. The familiar butterflies Aurora usually gave him whenever she wrapped her arms around his torso, or looked at him with that beautiful smile, were replaced with wasps, and they were stinging his insides, waiting for her to speak up again.
"I-I..." She stammered, struggling to get the words out.
He leaned closer to her, tilting her face back towards his, and looked at her with a hopeless smile, his eyes switching back and forth between her own. He studied her broken features, and he analyzed the broken look she was giving him, and deep down inside, he almost knew what she was going to say without her even saying it, but he needed his own ears to hear it. The thought of Aurora not loving him wasn't even in his mind, and he would never see it coming.
"Aurora, I love you, darling, but the anticipation is killing me." He chuckled out, almost as if to break the tension. Those three words struck Aurora like a knife, and it was the final push she needed. The final push she didn't want, but needed.
"I don't love you." She spit out, her breath hitching in her throat.
Fred froze in place, the small smile on his cheeks fading. His grip loosened on Aurora's hand and chin until he let go completely, looking deep into her eyes for an answer.
He observed the girl in front of him as she let out a heavy breath, her eyes filling with tears. As tense as she was before, she seemed to relax after saying the words that Fred never expected to hear.
"W-What did you just say?" He said in barely above a whisper, his own eyes gathering tears that threatened to spill.
"I don't love you, not romantically." She repeated, her hands beginning to shake. She reached forward to grab his hand, and he yanked it back, sliding off the bed and standing up, looking down at her with disbelief.
"You don't love me?" He asks again, and Aurora can only fathom up a nod.
Fred's breathing became staggered, and his face grew hot as a few tears slipped from his eyes. The rush of emotions he was feeling were mixed with anger and sadness, nothing that he expected to be brought by Aurora.
He loved her, and he could have sworn she loved him back. She told him that she loved him.
She was a liar.
"You lied." He spit, making Aurora flinch. Her cheeks were once again soaked with tears, and she deserved it. He was right.
"Fred, please let me explain." She begged, getting up on her knees and reaching for his hand once more, but he pulled it back, giving her a look of pure anger.
"Don't you dare touch me." He said lowly, and Aurora's jaw fell open, her hand covering her mouth as she choked back a sob.
"Fred, I didn't think there was any other choice, please-" She begged, but he backed away from the bed, shaking his head.
His face screamed pure anger, but tears poured from his eyes, and it shattered Aurora. Fred was never one to cry, and seeing him do so broke her. She broke him, just like she knew she would, and it hurt.
"Get out of my house." He said lowly, and Aurora gasped, not believing what she was hearing. She froze where she was, a shaky hand outstretched towards him.
"Fred, you don't mean that..." She replied quietly, shaking her head.
"Get the fuck out of my house, you lying bitch!" He screamed through clenched teeth. He stared down at her with pure rage, and Aurora wasn't scared that he would hit her, but she was scared of him.
He didn't say another word, but Aurora knew she was no longer wanted. She slowly and shakily climbed out of bed as he stared daggers at her, and grabbed the bag she prepared for Hogwarts before running out of the room.
In the hallway, she ran into Angelina and George, who were stirred awake by the fighting. George looked confused, and Angelina had a sickening grin on her face. Aurora sobbed as she pushed by them and ran to the den, stepping into the fireplace and grabbing a hand full of floo powder.
"Leaky Cauldron." She whispered through her tears, throwing the powder down at her feet and bursting into a green flame, disappearing from her home, where she was no longer wanted.
And it was all her fault.