AN: Hey guys! Your favourite author is now a sixth form/College graduate. I'm so sorry for this story basically being ditched. After kinda growing out of my second harry Potter phase and becoming a single author after writing within my friend for so long, it was hard and a real downer . However!! I'm back. I'm not promising anything, but this should hopefully be a continuing story once again. This chapter is pretty short, but its better than nothing. The more love this gets, the more motivation I'll have, so please comment!! Vote!! Like!!!! It makes me very happy.
Song recommendation- 'I Bet On Losing Dogs' by Mitski.
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The screams had soon quieted, after the ringing of angry voices had been echoing down the corridors for what seemed like hours.
It seemed as if the only things the children at Hogwarts knew how to do anymore was argue and mourn, all magic and education being discarded. Nobody really knew how to carry on after the disaster they had faced, and with the return of the dark lord, learning pointless herbology seemed futile. Lessons would resume in a week, giving the children a little break before they resumed lessons like normal.
Although this was what Dumbledore deemed best, a little time away from the school for the children, most of the ones closest to Cedric couldn't bear to leave.
The friends were falling apart, the group was fraying and everyone was sick and tired of each other, and themselves. Fred and Saffron had never had big problems with each other until this year. Saffron has always liked Fred, despite the fact that the two friends were never that close, they almost admired each other from afar, while being part of the same group. They were mainly linked by friends, however, they had some good memories together...
This was not one of them.
The pair had been yelling for a while now, as the rest of the group sat and observed, cringing at what their friendship had come to. Ellie stood in the middle of them, embarrassment and insecurity scribbled on her features as she witnessed her friends argue, mainly over her, yet again. She hated being the cause of such controversy, but she didn't even mean to.
"You promised me you were going to help this mess, okay?! Why are we waiting? Can't we just go now?! "Saffron had walked away from the group swiftly, ending the screaming match that tore her apart from the inside out.
'We're going to help Saffron, we're going to get Card back. But don't for a second think it's for your benefit!'
"I never claimed it was, you pretentious fuck! Am I not allowed to miss him? I have to stand here and act brave when he's not beside me."
The ginger laughed coldly, staring her down like a hungry wolf. The two hot headed ones of the group were finally meeting their match, huh? Fred Weasley is not one to back down. "Just because he isn't here with you doesn't mean he can order us around like slaves. Get the fuck out of here before you scream at us one more time! Do you even want us to help?!"
Fred's words swirled around her brain, the brutality of them impaling her brain like a spear, sharp and swift. Her demanding cries were getting too much for the group, day and night of planning out this getaway, the constant mourning of Cedric and Saff's outbursts in public? It was all getting too much.
She had no idea where it came from, maybe the jealousy that she still had her love, while she was frozen and stuck with solitary. But that wasn't fair, Ellie's situation was less than desirable, even before this disaster. The younger headed out of the tower, the vast walls and wide halls feeling nothing short of suffocating, stealing the air inside of her lungs and she felt the brocks cave in, closing around her. The girl picked up her speed, marching towards the tree; their tree.
Where he had almost asked her to be his... Where she said no.
'Fuck-' Saffron mumbled at the memory '-what a dumbass,' she thought as she began to settle by the tree, her back slumped against its heavy base.
That was her biggest regret.
Not shouting at Fred, insulting Ellie, or even betraying Cho. No, it was saying no.
But saying no.
It felt right at the time, the timing for them had been off. There was too much stress, they had bigger fish to fry as it were, with the state of affairs between the tournament and their friends. However, bad timing was better than the lack of time they now had together. And that hurt.
She thought of all the plans he made, the hours of deciding whether to ask, the fear he must have felt, the confidence he would have had to work up.
She just knows he would have written up a pros and cons list for it, in his special, brown leather jotter, with all his other lists. Because that's who he was.
The thought makes her giggle, but her heart is hurting at the thought.
The thought of him doing things, Him living.
She really had fucked it up. What had happened in that maze was not her fault, but her boy dying alone, with no one to call his, well that was.
----
The next day had been their first official meeting as a group in order to make their trp back in time. However, with all of the issues, it had been postponed. There were still almost two weeks before school would properly begin again, so they decided that they had enough time to try to get into the right headspace before they attempted to try something so risky.
Hermoine for one thought that some group bonding would be the most appropriate way to get things moving, yet Harry thought the idea was preposterous.
"Really Hermione? I know you are, allegedly, the smartest witch of the generation and all, but to bring them together, that'd just cause more arguments!" Harry exclaimed to the girl sitting across from him in the Three broomsticks.
Hermoine looks back, offended, with a slight foam mustache from her butterbeer.
"Oh be quiet Harry, they need to spend time together. Right, Ronald?" Hermione questions, looking to her right.
"No, Ron would obviously agree with me, he at least has half a brain!"
"Harry for goodness sak-"
The echoes of bickering run through Ron's brain as he looks between the pair comically, a flustered look on his face. Hermione or Harry?
"Oh bloody hell, I don't know!" Ron shouts, a little too loudly for the room, causing the litters of locals to give him a sharp look.
"Sorry," The boy whispers, "I-I just, I feel... guilty." Ron mutters, and the pair at the table both quieten down, staring at the boy in shock.
Ron talking about his feelings? This was rarer than a compliment from Saff.
"Ok Ronald, and why is that?" The ratty haired girl, her bedhead enormous, asks , in the least condescending way she can. She doesn't mean to sound rude, or mean, but she cannot get over her shock. Things just keep getting weirder.
"Because what we did was... mean?"
"Yes Ron, talking about people behind their backs tends to be considered rather mean," Harry sasses, not in the mood for his friend's emotional epiphany, he was too busy wanting to get ahead of the plan.
"We didn't really do anything though, you were lucky Saff was there to put you in her place. Don't blame her, emotions are high and she's just been more snappy than usual. She loves Ellie."
"Saff is loving? Well that whole speech didn't sound too loving, Dumbledore looked oddly mortified, don't you think?" Ron throws out, pretty much recovered from that moment of clarity, and back to his usual unhelpful self.
"Shut up Ron!" Hermoine says, too, getting a little sick of his antics. "You know what I mean."
"I honestly think we should leave it, is it really any of our business anyway? If they aren't sorted in a week, then we can interfere. This petty issue cannot come in the way of getting Cedric back, that should be everyone's priority. Not just Saffron's." Harry rambles, and the two know now is the time to be silent and agree, the boy doesn't usually get this aggressive towards a situation, and they know he's hurting, so they just agree.
----
While the three younger years try to relax at the pub, the Weasley twins sit idly in their dorm rooms.
A sense of content filled the air, something about a bit of peace and quiet seemed great — especially due to the mass amount of drama they have ensured over the past few weeks. Oddly enough, it's like they've never seen one another these past few days. That was false (obviously), yet time has flown by far too quickly for them to catch their breath.
"Hey George?" the older mumbled, leaning back onto his bed frame.
Dark hues flicker to his brother, George now tilting his head curiously. "Yeah Fred?"
"Are you alright mate? I know we're not really the kind to talk about feelings, but I wanna make sure you're alright."
"I'll be 'right Freddie, things are tough."
"You can say that again, Georgie."
The two lay there in silence, body's facing upright as their eyes stayed put on the ceiling. The quietness seemed comfortable, however there was an urging feeling ratting inside of the younger. . . something he just needed to blurt out to his other half.
After spilling his guts to Rhianna, George had a feeling it was only time to make his coming out more prominent amongst the group. From a secret whisper between him and his closest friend, it was only time for George to confess his feeling to none other than the most important person in his life: his brother.
"I'm gay."
The words are out of his mouth before he can think. It's eaten him alive keeping a secret from his brother, his best friend, for so long. Skin could only go pale as the words fell from his brims, not even daring to look at the other due to the anxiety.
George doesn't really know why he never said anything, he just didn't. The pair were the closest siblings there were, they got on almost too well. The pranks, the jokes, family holidays, games in the garden, going to school together, sharing rooms, sharing clothes... their whole lives had been intertwined. It goes to the point that sometimes even they forgot that they were their own person, and not one big, ginger blob known as the Weasley twins.
Yet there was always one separating difference, girls.
Fred Weasley was a charmer. That much was true. He has girls on his arms since nursery. George however, never gained the ability to talk to girls. Sure, he would get on with them, maybe even more than a lot of the boys in class, but never like that. Never like Fred.
When Fred met Ellie, he may have liked her from the beginning, but that didn't stop his playboy attitude, for a long time. George always wanted an Ellie of his own, that one person who could assure that his favouring of the same sex was just a temporary thing, and that the 'perfect girl' would come his way.
Obviously that never happened, because it could never happen, and so, everyday solidified that fact in his head.
"I-I'm gay" George repeats, not sure if his brother had heard him the first time.
"I know." Fred replies quietly.
A sense of bafflement reaches over him, George resting up on the bed slightly using his hands. Suddenly, he isn't afraid to lock eyes with him again. "You know?" he replies, a little shocked that this is the way him coming out was going. He expected a big shock, tears, maybe even a dramatic hug.
Fred could only laugh, turning his body at the other's outburst. He planned this day to be far more casual. "Yeah Georgie, I know. We've been glued together since the womb, did you think I wouldn't know you?"
An airy 'O-oh' Is all the shocked wizard can muster, a pale hand running through his ginger locks. "I-is it ok?" George asks after a few seconds,the original shock slowly wearing off as he realises, Fred knows. "That i'm gay."
"Of course if is George, it was always going to be ok"
The pair sit in nice, non awkward silence after this, knowing that their feelings are mutual and their compassion for one another is shared. George could now successfully live his life knowing that the person he cared about most accepted him. It was a breath of fresh air, something he couldn't wish more for. It was now a reality. . . his brother knew his deepest darkest secret. Awesome.
"Shall we go get lunch, ay?" Fred asks, and suddenly, they are back to normal. No weird questions, no inappropriate comments. Completely and utterly normal, like it should be.
As the pair walk down to the Great Hall, George lets his mind wander.
George misses Cedric, the boy was beautiful in every sense of the way, and George did like his presence. He liked his care for Ellie, and the rest of their group. They had only spent a couple of moments alone together, but there was something in their glances that made George sure Cedric understood him, in a way not many people could say they did.
And this made him sad, almost devastated, heartbroken. Because Cedric was special, it is in the sappy, empty way people say someone is special once they are gone, the superficial way when a person pretends to care.
Cedric was special, one of a kind. He was nice, and George liked nice. And this sucked.