Fred tried again, knocking on Oshun's door.
But as he expected, no answer. No answer just like the last few days he'd been coming up at the same time and knocking on her door.
He sort of had a feeling she wouldn't answer, but he kept coming up and knocking just in case she decided to open the door.
He hadn't seen Oshun in a good two weeks.
During those two weeks, he nearly killed Draco Malfoy. In fact, Draco had been sent to the Hospital Wing three times during those two weeks.
Oshun's friends were angry with Draco. Most of Gryffindor house was angry with him. Fred himself was angry with Draco.
Draco just took it though. Didn't even fight back. He took the punches and the kicks and the harsh hits. Fred even remembered when Draco told his own mates to leave it—to let him get beaten.
Fred didn't understand how anyone could feel the need to hurt someone as precious and innocent as Oshun. She never did anything except mind her own business.
Actually, she tried to make sure she was as invisible as possible at Hogwarts.
Now, Fred sighed in defeat and headed down the girls' dormitory stairs. He jogged down the steps and made his way to the Great Hall.
Fred had been doing good lately—despite his worry for Oshun—because he was free. He didn't have a controlling girlfriend by his side, twenty-four-seven.
He didn't feel trapped and small anymore.
He had told his siblings and Harry about Hermione—what she did to him. He told Harry after his siblings because he wasn't quite sure if he wanted Harry to know.
But Harry was like another brother to him since he was at The Burrow so often and was best friend's with Ron. So Fred ended up opening up to him as well. Despite Harry being the one Hermione cheated with, they'd gotten past that.
Furious was an understatement. Disgusted and enraged were more like what his siblings felt after he was able to finally tell them.
Fred made sure to tell them not to do anything to Hermione because he wanted to stay away from her and be rid of her once and for all. He wanted nothing to do with her, which also meant doing the best he could to erase her from his mind and life.
Harry was unaware of what she did. He only knew what Hermione cheated on Fred with himself.
After being told what happened, Harry had been begging Dumbledore to give him a new spouse—anyone but Hermione. So far, no luck.
Hermione had other friends, so she had people to hang out with. But it was evident she didn't enjoy being with them as much as her former friends.
Fred hadn't told his parents. He told his siblings and Harry first. But he'd much rather tell his parents in person than over a letter, so he would wait to tell them during the summer holiday. Something like this shouldn't be talked about through letters.
Fred wasn't lying when he said he didn't have self-control when he got all that attention from the girls. The moment people found out he was single, plenty of girls were flirting with him.
The attention he got from all the girls was refreshing because when he was stuck with Hermione, no girl looked his way since Hermione was so hostile and possessive. Not very friendly.
Fred had drowned into the attention from all the girls because he had seen it as freedom, an escape, since he was trapped in a controlling relationship with the person who raped him for so long.
He made out with random girls left and right—all behind Oshun's back—because of his lack of self-control and because it was so refreshing for him. It was like a fresh breath of air after being isolated in a box.
The fresh air didn't last long though. It went from feeling fresh and free to hot and guilt. The guilt of doing all of this behind Oshun's back made his palms clammy and beads of sweat ball on his temples.
It made it feel as though the air had been sucked out of the room and the temperature rose extremely.
It also didn't help that he thought about Oshun an unhealthy amount of times, so the guilt tensed his shoulders. It was pathetic though, because it took a few make-outs with girls to realize that he didn't even want them.
He wanted Oshun. Radiant, sweet Oshun.
Other girls had wanted to go further with him, but he didn't have any trust with them to go further. He'd close up and inhale so much tension that it made him feel trapped.
The only person he had sex with since he got raped was Oshun, and though the trust she had in him was gone, he still trusted her more than anything.
He actually never got reassurance from anybody, romantically. She was the first person who gave him straight-up reassurance. It felt good. It made him feel heard and safe and okay.
He coped in so many ways and he put his own health on the line during his coping. He didn't want to feel anything after how grisly he felt when he was sexually assaulted by Hermione.
He did absolutely everything and anything to feel nothing.
But Fred had stopped doing drugs a year after he got raped because the drugs stopped making him numb. Instead of making him numb, it almost killed him due to an overdose. George had found him and Fred played it off afterwards since he couldn't tell his brother why he was actually doing so much drugs.
There was nothing strong enough that was being sold at Hogwarts that could numb him even more, so he stopped. He stopped in both fear and defeat. Fear that he'd accidentally overdose again and he couldn't leave his twin by himself. He just couldn't.
No matter how awful and ghastly he felt after Hermione, he just couldn't leave George. George was his other half. The other half of his soul.
George was Fred's beyond.
Fred tried to hide it all—it wasn't easy, but he tried—from everyone. The dangerous amounts of alcohol and weed. Especially after his first overdose, his siblings made sure he wasn't doing any drugs anymore.
Which, he wasn't. He only drank and smoked alone when he snuck out of his shared dorm. He just found places around the castle to numb himself at.
His dorm wasn't really his favourite place, but there wasn't much he could do about that. He couldn't just ask for a new dorm. Not unless he had privileges and loads amount of money.
He had actually rearranged all the furniture in the dorm because he couldn't my stand to see it the way it appeared when he was raped.
No words could explain how much better he had been doing since the new marriage law. Hermione sucked the life out of him during their time together and he feared that he wouldn't be able to be himself again.
He still wasn't the same person he was before Hermione raped him, but he had a light in his heart again. Opening up about it with the people he trusted only made him feel lighter and it made him feel a lot better that he wasn't alone anymore.
He wasn't alone.
He was a survivor.
Everyone had different ways of coping. Fred did everything he could to be numb—that was his way. Nearly killed himself in the process.
But then he used Oshun as a coping mechanism, just focusing all his attention on her. He started using her in his third year. It worked because she made him feel at peace even though they never spoke.
With the way she was so disconnected from everything and mostly everyone at Hogwarts, it somehow made him feel that way as well since he paid attention to her only.
She still managed to make him feel peace without words being exchanged. Now that they were speaking and familiar with one another, she made him feel safe and cared for and wanted. Made him feel grounded.
He latched onto that because it felt so good and so real. So, so real.
He never wanted to let her go or fuck up what he had with her because for the first time in so long, it felt real.
It wasn't phony affection and dating like it was for a while with Hermione after she sexually assaulted him.
With Oshun Takahashi, it was real.
He feared that he would never feel something like this again, but he did. He was feeling it again—with her.
Perhaps it was something that was helping him cope now too—what he and Oshun had. The reality of it. The sweet, sweet reality of it.
Now, Fred sat down with his other half and their only other friend; Lee Jordan.
Fred and George were friends with Ron's friends, but they had their own friend. And that was Lee Jordan. They kept their group small because it was just the three of them that had the same interests and hobbies.
"Freddie, Lee thinks that we made a bad choice on picking the disappearing pumpkin juice gadget over the exploding ink jars for our grand opening when we get our own shop," George said, shovelling some pudding into his mouth.
"It was a bad choice," Lee countered with a dry scoff. "You'd rather use disappearing pumpkin juice to show in front of everyone rather than ink jars that explode and disappear within moments?"
"But we'll still have both products. We'll just be using the pumpkin juice one for the grand opening," Fred said easily, shrugging his broad shoulders.
"Oh, shit," Lee hissed, and scrambled from his seat. "I forgot I was supposed to talk to Lupin about changing my grade."
"What—" Fred began, but Lee was already running out of the Great Hall.
"You checked again, didn't you?" George didn't look at his brother as he spoke.
"Yeah. So?" Fred folded his forearms over the edge of the table.
"Give her time, Fred. She's not only being bullied, but she's being fucking harassed," George said in a low tone of voice. "It's not something you can just shrug off."
"I wish I could do something, but I don't know what." Fred blew out an exasperated sigh, head hanging low. "Everyone knows that the shit professors in this school couldn't care less about bullying."
"Fucking Greengrass is the one who started these rumours about Oshun," George said irritably as he stabbed the eggs on his plate. "Joaquin told me that Forest said Oshun doesn't even talk. Not even to Forest."
"I really fucking hate the people in this school." Fred shook his head, jaws clenching in frustration. "Hogwarts is brilliant, but the people—fucking shit."
As George changed the subject, Fred came up with an idea. It may or may not have been a shot in the dark, but it was worth the shot.
_____
"She must give really good head."
"I bet she's tight."
"I agree, because I've never seen her hook up with anyone else before."
"Do you think she'd let me fuck her? I mean, she must not have that much self-respect if she let Malfoy hit after he spoke badly on her."
"Yeah, but Malfoy always gets what he wants."
"Greengrass said Malfoy said she's an easy fuck though."
"I mean, if she's easy, might as well give it a shot, right?"
"My thoughts exactly."
"She's quiet though, Takahashi. So surely she's into the freaky shit, right?"
"I wonder what she did in bed with Malfoy to get him in bed. Malfoy hates anything that's not pure."
"Probably seduced him or something, but then again, Malfoy fucks everyone."
"He does it so easily. I wonder how."
"What, get girls in bed?"
"Yeah. He uses girls for sex and pleasure, but they still are okay with it."
"Like Takahashi. She fucked him after he called her out for her filthy blood."
"Fuck. I'm getting horny just thinking about her in bed."
Fred's jaw visibly clenched as he lifted his gaze and flicked it over his shoulder to see Cormac and some other Ravenclaw talking loudly about Oshun.
They were by the grand doors of the Great Hall during lunch, where Fred was doing last-minute work at the end of the table.
They were just words. Just simple words, but strung nastily together and tumbling from the boys' mouths as though they were nothing but syllables.
Words were never just words.
Blood boiling beneath his skin, Fred rose from his seat, dropping his pen onto the table.
"Fred, no," Lee quickly blurted from the table, but didn't make an effort to stand up.
Fred strode to the two boys. A malicious smile. "Mm, what are we talking about?" he asked curiously, folding his arms across his chest.
Cormac's eyes met with his. "We—"
"Weasley, is Takahashi good in bed?" the Ravenclaw asked with genuine curiosity and a nasty grin. "Is she a top or bottom?"
"I reckon she'd be a good top," Cormac added, nodding along with his answer. "Imagine how good her tits would look while—"
Fred barked a harsh and loud laugh as he cracked his knuckles. His vision sheened with crimson. The anger was molten lava as it spilled within him.
His jaw set hard as he clutched Cormac's shirt and yanked him in closer to swing a hard right hook across his head. Cormac flew to the ground—knocked out—and the Ravenclaw gasped, fearfully looking up at Fred.
The redhead's expression was downright murderous. He wrapped his hand around the Ravenclaw's throat and pulled him in closer.
The Ravenclaw was clawing at his large hand as he got lifted from the ground by only the throat.
"You speak one more fucking word about Oshun Takahashi," Fred growled in a dangerously low voice, "And I'll become your worst fucking nightmare. Do I make myself clear?"
The Ravenclaw was wheezing and everyone in the Great Hall was looking at them, but no one moved to help breath them apart. "Yes," he rasped out.
Fred's features pinched sharply and he shoved the Ravenclaw to the ground on top of Cormac's limp body. The Ravenclaw was gasping for air, touching his neck.
Fred left the Great Hall to blow off some steam. He left Cormac on the floor and the Ravenclaw too.
"Mister Weasley!"
The voice caused Fred's eyes to roll. He exhaled a pent-up breath of air in an attempt to keep himself composed. He whirled around. "Yes, Professor?" His tone was an attempt at calm.
"You can not do that." McGonagall's eyes were wide as she wagged a finger at him.
His face screwed up in disbelief. "But—"
"As a Professor, I can not let you go on without consequences for assaulting two students," she lectured.
"It was hardly an assault." Fred scoffed wryly and put his hands on his hips. "We just had a chat."
"You knocked McLaggen out," she spoke sternly, still wide-eyed. "You choked that Ravenclaw boy."
"But—"
"Detention," McGonagall cut him off firmly. "After classes with me. That's it."
A muscle in his cheek spasmed. "Fine."
_____
"I don't really fancy another beating, Weasley. Give me a few days at least," Draco grumbled as he sat at a table in the library.
He was still rocking that black eye, but what was new were the yellow hues on the edges of the bruise. He still had a split lip as well. Nearly healed though.
"Not here to give you one." Fred crossed his strong arms over his chest. "Do you even care to try to make things right with Oshun? These rumours started because you have no fucking respect for her."
"She made it clear she wants nothing to do with me." Draco kept his stormy eyes on his book, flipping through it. His legs were stretched out, crossed by the ankles, and holding the book in his hand as his back rested upon the backrest of the chair.
"That's exactly your fucking problem, Malfoy," Fred drawled as his jaw tightened.
The other boy said nothing.
"Just because someone turns you down or says no, you lash out," Fred went on, infuriated. "This is you lashing out right now—letting those fucking rumours go around when you could be doing something about it."
Draco's pale blue eyes snapped to his golden ones in annoyance. "If you care so fucking much about Takahashi, then you do something about it." His tone was low and husky.
"I am." Fred's expression hardened. "I'm talking to you to do something about it because everyone fucking listens to you for some horrendous reason I don't and will never understand."
The blond only stared, gliding his tongue on the inside of his cheek.
Fred's patience was running low. "No one's going to listen to me—sure as hell not the entitled Purebloods since I'm known as a blood-traitor. They'll listen to you because you're just as entitled and arrogant as they are—plus you're a Malfoy," he explained, trying to keep a calm manner.
Draco seemed like he was considering it.
"And it was you who went talking shit about Oshun to the blabbermouth," the redhead pointed out with such bitterness on his tongue. "Where is your bloody girlfriend anyway?"
"Not my girlfriend." Draco's face soured and his lip lifted in a curl of distaste. "She's—"
"Feral," Fred cut him off aggressively. "She's fucking feral is what she is."
"I was going to say she's malicious, but sure. Feral works too," Draco allowed, and snapped his book shut. "What do you want me to do, Weasley?"
"Get your feral woman on a leash."
"I don't own her." Draco scoffed with no attempt at hiding the disgust scrawled on his pointed features. "The woman has a mind of her own."
"Can you at least tell her to back the fuck off?" Fred bit out firmly, brows knitted in seriousness. "What the fuck did Oshun do to her that made her so cross?"
Draco's eyes averted from the other boy's as he cleared his throat.
Fred's eyes squinted in suspicion. "What?"
The Slytherin shook his head with a little shrug. "Nothing." He calmly met the redhead's golden eyes.
Fred studied the handsome blond swiftly. "Oshun didn't do anything, did she? You fucking made Greengrass angry and Oshun is just facing the consequences," he hissed furiously.
"That's none of your fucking business," Draco snapped in a sharp whisper, jaws ticking. "Now just tell me what the fuck you want me to do."
"So you're going to do what I tell you to do because I'm telling you to and not because you'll do it out of the goodness of your cold heart?" Fred lifted a brow, drumming his fingers upon his bicep. "Does Oshun really not mean anything to you? Do you even have a heart?"
"Like you're so great at showing her how much you care about her." Draco barked a humourless laugh, the whiteness of his perfect teeth shining. "Snogging girls behind her back—that's a new one. Perhaps I should try that tactic."
"I never said I was perfect," Fred corrected evenly. "And anyway, I apologized to her. I don't lash out and act out like you do, Malfoy. That's fucking immature."
The other boy's blue eyes narrowed into slits at the taller boy. "Why the fuck are you trying to see how I feel about Takahashi anyway—when by the end of the deadline, she needs to choose between us both? Shouldn't you be trying to convince her to choose you?" He sounded dubious.
Fred huffed out a short laugh. A chortle, more like. "Don't you worry, I'm not doing you any favours," he assured mockingly. "I'm just checking to see if you care about her or want her for her body."
Draco's jaw was impossibly tight, lips pressed into a firm line. "Watch your mouth, Weasley. Now just tell me what to do," he said through gritted teeth.
So that was what Fred did. Perhaps this shot in the dark wasn't actually a shot in the dark.