I apologize for the wait and this chapter is kinda shit but um- yeah, enjoy
THE NEXT FEW DAYS WENT BY IN A BLUR FOR MADDIE. She would wake up with dried tear stained cheeks, skip breakfast and head to her first class, skip lunch and read in the library instead. She might've shown up to dinner if Hermione drags her but she's mostly in her room under the covers, thinking about what she could've done wrong to hurt Fred.
She hadn't been bothered by Malfoy in a bit, just the simple scowl and glare from time to time. George came to her room a few times and brought some food up and left it by the door after she didn't respond when he would knock.
Hermione told everyone that she wanted space, which she was grateful for, but Fred was feeling terribly guilty. He had never seen her hurt this much to the point where she didn't even want to talk to Harry. Fred decided it was probably best to give her space and stay away from her for a bit, he knew he would probably think of Cedric and hurt her again.
He didn't sit with the golden trio at meals anymore, for the small chance she might show up, and tried to avoid them in the halls as much as possible. Madelyn was hurt even more that he was avoiding her. Did she really hurt him that much?
She often thought about what Fred had said with the whole Cedric thing. Why would she ask Cedric? She didn't ever see them talking so she doubted he had told him anything. Maybe he didn't like Cedric but what would that matter? He was helping her with her classes, Fred couldn't be that selfish to not want her to do well in school.
Madelyn had Hermione cancel her study session with Cedric for the night before because she didn't really want to get out of bed. It was now Friday and Hermione wouldn't stop talking about the Sytherin party that she was going to drag Maddie to.
"Please, Mads? You need to get out of this bed anyway and there'll be drinks!" Hermione pleaded to the back of Maddie who was turned on her side in her bed. Madelyn shook her head and Hermione sighed, leaving the room before soon returning with George.
"Alright, love. Come on, we need to get you up." He walked around the bed when Maddie groaned and crouched down so he was level to her face. She opened one eye and looked at him before pulling the blanket up over her head. "You doin okay?" He asked and she nodded her head through the blanket.
George sat criss-crossed on the floor in front of her bed, glancing towards Hermione who was leaving the room. George picked up the blanket slowly to reveal Madelyn and her red puffy eyes.
"Oh, darling." George got on the bed with her, wrapped his arms around her so she was laying on his chest. "Please tell me what's wrong. We're all worried about you." Maddie clutched George's chest as a lump caught in her throat. She didn't want to cry, she had already cried too much. "Was it what happened at the first task?"
She nodded her head then paused and shook it.
"Yes? No?" She shook it again. "Yes and no?" She nodded her head and George thought for a moment. "You know Fred feels really bad for yelling at you. I don't know what's going on with you two but I do know that he cares for you so much and I know he is worried about you as much as the rest of us if not more."
"No he doesn't."
"What makes you say that?" George tilted his head towards the girl, confused. By being by Fred for his whole life he at least knew one thing; he was in love with Madelyn Willows. Of course he cared.
"He's mad at me. But I don't know what I did." She sat up and her eyes started tearing up again. "He k-keeps saying things a-about Cedric. B-but I don't even know w-what's wrong with Cedric. He's just h-helping me study." She sniffled as she cried and George rubbed an encouraging hand over her arm.
"I don't know what his deal is with Cedric but he's not mad at you, I promise. Have you tried asking him?" She got angry at his words and he held up his arms in surrender, "Okay, okay. I was just asking. Maybe - and this is just a suggestion - maybe you should try asking him not in front of people."
She thought about it for a moment. Maybe if she tried to talk to him when there wasn't anybody around, like Cedric, he might be more open and share how he truly felt. George pulled her hair away from her face and started braiding is as she calmed down and her breathing soon turned to normal.
"Maybe I could talk to him at the astronomy tower." She suggested and George nodded, tying off her braid with a rubber band he found on her night stand.
"You could." He pulled her towards him again and placed a kiss to her forehead. "Are you okay?" She nodded, giving him a smile. "Alright, time for a party!" He patted her on the back and stood up, walking over to her and Hermione's closet. "We gotta pick out something incredibly sexy for you to wear tonight."
+
A few hours later, after George took time in picking out her outfit and doing her hair and her makeup, the two were finally making their way down to the crowd that had come about in the Gryffindor common room. Hermione, Ron, Harry and a few others were waiting for the two to head down to the Slytherin common room.
How Hermione even got invited was a mystery to Madelyn. She wondered if Fred would be going. She suddenly grew anxious and rubbed her hands over her bare arms that were shown in the dress that George picked out. It was simple and black, reached about mid thigh and had a v-neck top. He paired it with matching black heels which Maddie knew were going to come off by the end of the night.
Hermione was dressed in a beautiful green dress, something way out of her comfort zone and Maddie wondered if there was a certain someone she was trying to impress. The boys were dressed up nicely, well nicely for Harry and Ron. They still weren't on speaking terms and Madelyn was really starting to get annoyed with the two.
She could tell Hermione was too.
"Oh, Madelyn! You look amazing." Hermione turned and ran over to Maddie, pulling her into a hug as she giggled. "C'mon, they're all waiting for us." Hermione grabbed Maddie's wrist and pulled her towards the enterance to the common room, the boys following quickly after.
The quietly made it to the sytherin common room, excitement running through their veins as they tired to be quiet to not get caught by Filtch. Maddie was excited but nervous. She knew both Fred and Cedric would be there and she didn't want anything to happen. She still had no idea why Fred was mad at her for getting help from Cedric.
The group neared the syltherin common room and Hermione muttered the password she knew somehow and the doors opened. The group walked in and were suddenly met with green lights engulfing the room and the smell of booze and sweat.
There were speakers playing sensual songs that people were dancing to in the middle. People were stood near a counter that held alcohol and red solo cups were being passed around. Noise was every where from the music to people talking and it was a bit much for Maddie. The group all left in a hurry to either join in conversation with some of their friends or to get some alcohol.
Maddie was left at the front, not really knowing what to do. She didn't really do parties that often. Usually just the one at the beginning of the year and one at the end. But they were with the gryffindors who didn't really know how to have fun like the slytherins.
Besides Fred and George. Those two knew how to throw a party.
Cedric spotted Maddie from across the room and started walking towards her before Fred stopped him. Maddie saw the exchange and suddenly got nervous about what Fred was going to do. He was drunk, that much she could tell by the was he swayed while he stood.
"Hey, mate." Fred took a sip of the drink in his hand and placed his hand on Cedric's chest. Cedric laughed the gesture off and grabbed his arm to stable him. "You having fun with Madelyn, helping her study?"
"Yeah, she's great company." Cedric replied, still looking at Maddie who was anxiously rubbing her arms and stepping closer to the two.
"You know, she's still a virgin." Maddie overheard what Fred said and her cheeks reddened. Cedric removed his gaze from the girl and glared up at Fred. The height difference might be something Maddie would've laughed about but right now, she was definitely not laughing.
What the fuck was Freddie's goal?
"I know, makes it even better." She heard Cedric say quietly to Fred. Her mouth opened in a gasp, what did he mean by that? "Just need a few more study sessions to get closer. Then I'll be fucking her so hard she becomes a mess but I can't stay long, just gotta use her and then I'm done."
And just like that, Fred's hand came in contact with Cedric's cheek.
Everyone in the room was looking at them now and Maddie's hand was over her mouth to hide the gasps. Was Cedric just trying to get into her pants? Maddie stepped closer when Fred managed to get Cedric to the ground and started throwing more punches to his jaw. Cedric managed to push him on his back and now it was his turn to throw the punches.
Maddie didn't know what to do. She stood still, it was all happening so fast. George and some slytherin from their year came up and started pulling Cedric off Fred. Maddie winced at the look of Fred's face fill of blood.
"You will never fucking touch her, you hear me?" Fred yelled at Cedric when George pulled him up off the ground. All eyes turned to Maddie. She had made Fred get hurt, it was her fault. She gulped and made eye contact with Fred before fleeing and rushing out of the room.
She cried as her heels clicked against the stone floor and she tried to get to the astronomy tower without breaking down. She felt bad, she didn't want Fred to get hurt. But why did he stand up for her if he was mad at her? She was so confused and it was hurting her brain.
Once she made it to the tower, she tried to wipe her tears and took a seat up against a pillar and watched the night sky. She loved the astronomy tower. It was always so peaceful, especially when she would come up here during sunrise or sunset to read. Of course, right then it wasn't so peaceful because she was angry at herself for getting Freddie hurt.
She heard footsteps running up the tower stairs and looked to her left to see Fred coming up out of breath. She stared up at him with confusion as he pressed his hands to his thigh in attempt to try and catch his breath. His nose was dripping with blood and Maddie gasped, getting up from her seat, not caring about the tears that were falling.
She walked over to him and lifted his face up, studying his nose. "Freddie." He winced when she lightly pressed on his nose, "Sorry." She squeaked out. She grabbed her hand out of her pocket and muttered the fixing spell, praying she wouldn't mess it up and break his nose.
Thankfully, his nose went back to normal and the bleeding stopped, as well as the pain. He wiped the blood with his sleeve. "Thank you, Mads." She smiled, he didn't use her full name this time. He softly smiled back and she let go of his face before walking away from him and back to her spot by the edge.
She heard him sit down against the other wall, in front of her, and looked over to him. He looked really pretty in the moon light. He was wearing a long sleeve black shirt and some black jeans. He dangled one arm on a leg that was up while his other was laying out straight. He just stared at her.
"I'm so sorry, Mads. For everything, I'm sorry I got so mad and I'm sorry I pushed you away. There's just some things that happened and I got jealous of Cedric even though I shouldn't have, I'm sorry."
She looked down at her lap and started playing with her fingers. She could feel tears threatening to fall but she didn't want to cry in front of him so she bit her lip to choke them down. She felt Fred move in his position and soon felt fingers pulling her bottom lip out from under her top one.
"Don't do that, love." She looked up at him with pure innocent eyes and didn't realize her legs were open so that his legs could fit in between them. "Please say something."
A beat of silence before she muttered ever so softly, "I like you, Freddie."