tw: talks about ed
when i said that the last chapter was sad, i lied
some shit like starts happening... anywayyyy
also, i just wanna say that i fucking love fred weasley
THE STUDENTS HAD ALL MADE IT BACK TO HOGWARTS AND WERE GETTING BACK INTO THEIR ROUTINES OF GOING TO CLASSES. Maddie was definitely not excited to be going to class, Hermione on the other hand was more than happy to be taking notes with her listening ears open. Maddie didn't know how she did it, she didn't know how she could even stay awake for the whole class period.
McGonagall's voice droned on and on while Maddie's eyes slightly shut and she rested her chin on her hand. She felt herself getting very tired often. Her sweater hug her body tightly, she often found herself getting cold as well. She had a hard time falling asleep but she didn't want to bother anyone about it, they already did so much for her.
Harry lightly pushed the girl and her head shot up just as Professor McGonagall turned to her. "Oh, Miss Willows, perhaps you could tell us the effects of crinus muto." Maddie gulped and looked towards Harry for help.
"Um," her face heated up and she could feel everyone's eyes on her. Her palms started sweating as her heart sped up, "I- um," she rubbed her palms on her skirt, she didn't like speaking in class. "I don't know." She spoke quietly and McGonagall moved onto Hermione who was raising her hand eagerly.
Maddie cursed herself and picked at the skin on the side of her fingers. Why couldn't she answer a stupid question? She felt like everyone thought she was stupid and was laughing at her or talking about her. She sunk in her chair, just ready for this day to be over already.
The class ended shortly and Maddie left the classroom faster than you could say Quidditch. She gripped her books tightly to her chest as she walked fast to the common room, desperate to just lay in bed and take a nap.
She placed her books on her desk and tore her shoes off, pulling back her covers and jumping in bed. She sighed when her head hit the pillow, pulling the covers back over her freezing body and closing her eyes as sleep began to overcome her.
Fred has tried to look for the girl as soon as class ended and made his way to her last class, finding all of her friends but her. He looked to Harry with a worried look, "Where's Maddie?"
"I don't know, I think she went to bed. She almost fell asleep in class." Harry explained.
"She got embarrassed, McGonagall asked a question and she didn't know it." Hermione added, feeling bad for the girl. She knew how draining school was for her, being her roommate she saw how much time she spent trying to figure out what the hell was going on.
Fred walked past the group and pushed his way through the crowd to get to his girl. He was scared she was going to do something that she would regret later and he wanted to stop it if he could. He made it to her dorm as soon as he could, bursting it to find her sleeping with her hands pulled up on the side of her face between her head and the pillow.
She was curled up in a ball and he could tell she was freezing. He grabbed an extra blanket from Hermione's bed and pulled it over her before getting in bed with her and wrapping his arms around her waist. He rested his head on her shoulder, digging his head into her neck and relishing in the feeling over lying next to her.
"Freddie?" She asked, quietly. He looked up as she turned her body around to face him.
"Yes, love." He intertwined his fingers with hers before pulling away quickly, "Merlin, you're freezing, Madelyn." He pulled her dainty hands towards his jumper and pulled them under, placing them against his warm chest. He didn't care if they felt really cold on his skin. "Are you feeling alright?" He placed his free hand on her forehead, checking her temperature.
"Mhm, just tired." She cuddled closer into his chest and he sighed. He made the decision to talk to his mum before he left and she told him that Maddie would come to him when she was comfortable but if he felt like it was getting dangerous, he should bring it up to her and maybe even talk to the headmaster.
He hated that it had gotten this bad.
"Maddie, sweetheart, did you eat anything today?" He asked quietly and a soft silence came over the room. Maddie felt her heart drop to her stomach at the next words that came out of his mouth. "Do," he paused, "do you think you might have a problem with food?"
She felt her heart start to beat rapidly in her chest and she felt as if she couldn't breathe. Like someone was constricting her airways to the point where she couldn't get even the tiniest bit of breath out. Her hands were shaky as she pulled them out of Fred's sweater to clasp over her chest. Her head was spinning, she didn't know what was happening.
She didn't know what happened next but soon she was sat up in between Fred's legs with her back bent down and his hand pressed on her back. He was telling her to breath but she couldn't register his words, they just sounded like background noise. He was holding his hand on her chest, trying to get her to find a rhythm to follow and she didn't even know when the tears started falling but when she finally started breathing again, she could feel the wetness on her cheeks.
They kept falling as she coughed, staggering for breaths. Fred rubbed his hand on her back saying things like 'that's it,' 'good girl,' or 'just breath for me.' She closed her eyes and leaned back, being pulled into Fred's chest as he leaned against the headboard. His hands played with her hair as she silently cried and took deep breaths.
Once he knew she was okay, he started speaking again. "I know that it's hard to admit, but it's hurting you, baby. It's hurting you badly and you need help." He said and let silence fill the room as he awaited her response. It took a few minutes for her to speak and she found herself playing with the ring he gave her as she spoke.
"Sometimes, I just really hate the way I look and I don't know why I don't look like other girls and why I can't fix it. I think that if I skip a meal or two, I might lose a few pounds and I'll be pretty and everyone will like me then." Maddie's eyes filled up with tears as she spoke slowly, her voice breaking every so often.
Fred brought his hands up to her cheeks, turning her head to look at him. "Madelyn Cherry Willows, you are drop dead fucking gorgeous, and anyone that tells you otherwise is bloody fucking blind. And I will remind you that every fucking day of my life if I have to, but you do not need to fix yourself for anyone. You're body is perfect the way it is, you are perfect the way you are and I don't know why you would ever think that about yourself. Every fucking part of you is beautiful, don't you ever forget it."
She looked down at her lap and he grabbed her jaw, forcing her to look back up at him. "Do you understand me?"
"Y-yes."
"Then what did I say?" He asked, running his free hand through her hair. She pressed her lips in a firm line. "Maddie." He spoke in a warning tone.
"That I'm beautiful." She whispered under her breath.
"Now say it like you mean it." She rolled her eyes and he sent a light smack to her ass, causing her to gasp and send him a look.
"I'm beautiful." She spoke a little bit louder. He nodded and caught her lips in his, pulling her to him by her waist.
"Every. Single. Part. Of. You." He spoke in between kisses before kissing her long and hard, tangling his hands in her hair.
Maddie honestly felt better now that she had talked to somebody about it and she was glad that now she didn't have to go through it alone. She and Fred had spent the next thirty minutes or so going over a plan of getting her back on her feet. He asked her about some of her triggers and some things that he could do to help. She just told him that being there for her was all she needed.
She was so grateful for him and he was trying to make her laugh because he knew that it was a very difficult topic for her. Soon after they were done talking, they were walking down to the Great Hall for dinner, hand in hand. Maddie was nervous because now that Fred knew, he was probably going to like force feed her.
She didn't particularly want to do that in front of everyone.
"I want you to try and eat what you can and I'm here if you need anything, okay?" He asked as they sat down on the bench and she looked up at him confused. "What?"
"You're not gonna force feed me?" She asked and he chuckled.
"Not unless you want me to." She sent him a disgusted look and he placed an encouraging hand on her thigh as her eyes scanned the assortment of foods on the table. She reached for the carrots and broccoli first, knowing those were some of her safer foods and then grabbed a few bites of chicken for some protein.
Dinner went well for Maddie that night, she managed to finish most of what she had on her plate and the praises that Fred gave her afterwords made her want to eat more. She was smiling as her and Fred made it back to his dorm. She was still having trouble sleeping and asked him if he could sleep with her that night at dinner. He obviously said of course just that he had to grab a few things from his room first.
"How are you feeling, love?" He asked as he rummaged through his drawers to find some pajamas. She shrugged her shoulders and plopped herself on his bed.
"Okay." She said and raised herself to her forearms when he started to undress himself. Her eyes ran down his toned stomach all the way to his defined v-line.
"Okay is good, right?" She nodded and he smiled as he pulled his shirt over his head before grabbing her hand. He pulled her up off his bed and they walked through the common room and back to her dorm. "Are you still tired, though?"
"Not as much as before." She said. It was her turn to get undressed. He smiled, he felt like they had already made so much progress in one night. He knew it wasn't going to be linear, but he was glad he decided to talk to her.
She climbed into bed beside him and he pulled the covers up over them as she snuggled into his chest. He wrapped his arm around her shoulder and placed a kiss to her forehead. "I love you, Freddie."
"I love you."
+
"Is she ready?" A raspy voice was heard from the head of the long table. The darkness of the room didn't allow the face of the person to be seen as he spoke with such force, the rest of the group was still.
"She will be." Another voice said. Maddie recognized his voice as her fathers. Confusion filled her face as she sat at the head of the table, opposite the face she couldn't see. Who was she?
"She better be. The fate of this whole operation lies on her, Alex." The head spoke out again. Her father bowed his head. Maddie looked around the room, she recognized Narcissa Black, Malfoy's mother sitting next to Lucius Malfoy. She saw Malfoy sitting next to her. What was Malfoy doing there?
The rest of the group listened intently, their eyes either on her fathers or the head of the table. She could tell that whatever they were talking about, whoever this 'she' was, it was important to them, to her fathers work.
"If she's not, you know the consequence."
Consequence? What type of consequence? Maddie heard a soft slithering from the other side of the room. She stiffened in her chair. There was nothing she was more afraid of than snakes.
She saw a huge python slither it's way onto the table, it's tongue fluttering out of its mouth every so often. It was coming directly at her and everyone sitting at the table finally turned their heads towards her as the snake grew closer. The snakes mouth opened, revealing its sharp teeth as it came directly at her face and a scream fell from her lips.
+
Sweat laced her forehead as she shot up in bed, waking Fred as she did so. She pulled the covers off her now too hot body and pulled her knees in close to her chest. She had so many question about what just happened.
"Mads, what happened?" Fred sat up, placing a hand on her back and she jumped, her senses still heightened from her dream. "Hey, hey, it's me, it's me. It was just a dream, you're okay." He pulled her into his chest, rubbing her arm and resting his chin on her head. "It's just a dream, sweetheart."
"It was scary." She said.
"Do you get these often?" She shook her head. She had never had a dream like that before, it all felt so real. Like she was just there, sitting in that room with everyone. She felt like she could reach out and touch them. "Okay, well, let's just try to get some sleep, you've had a long day."
She nodded her head and he pulled them back down to the bed. She cuddled up to him as close as she could, wrapping her arms around his waist and digging her head into his chest. He wrapped his arms around her body and rubbed her back to reassure her that he was there. She soon fell back asleep in Fred's arms.