A/N: When Fred is Banned from the Quidditch team, how will his reaction effect his future? After a vision and a conversation With George how will Elodie handle all her relationships being open for everyone to see?
Music used to inspire this chapter:
Be My Mistake - The 1975
Be Alright - Jada Facer
Skinny Love - Bon Iver
~Fred's POV~
"Well?" Elodie said repeating herself after she was met by silence.
"You didn't hear what he said about you," Harry said, answering her. "About the Weasley's, about-"
"Everyone heard what they were singing Harry," She said as she moved further into the room, scolding him. "How could you be so thick? You can't do that-"
"You didn't hear what he was saying about you!" Harry yelled at her sending a wave of shock through all of us, McGonagall included.
"I don't need you to take care of me!" She yelled back not missing a beat. "Any of you! And I definitely don't need you to start a cage match in front of the entire castle!"
"So, you think I should let people talk about you the way he was? About my mum? Just going on and on-" Harry said. Didn't he mean their mum? I'd never seen them argue like this before, I didn't know if I should say anything. Though if I did, I may risk putting myself into the same line of fire.
"If it keeps you out of trouble, then yes Harry! That's exactly what I want! You think I don't know what people say about me? Godric's sake, it's only Draco Malfoy. Detention with McGonagall serves you right! The lot of you," She said.
"And a lifelong ban? Does that sound reasonable?" Harry asked sarcastically.
She looked at McGonagall as if to ask for approval, only to receive a nod. "Banned? Can she do that?" Elodie asked only to be handed a piece of parchment. "Under the new educational decree, of course she went crying straight to the Minister. God awful woman," Elodie said.
"What's done is done," McGonagall said, taking a seat. "Off to bed, you three. Elodie, you stay. I believe a word is in order."
I left the room without so much as another word, still too infuriated to say anything. When we got back to the common room Angelina nearly flipped a table from how mad she was to lose three players from her team all in one go. I slumped on a couch not wanting to hear about it anymore, yet there they were. Going on and on as I drowned myself in as much Fire whisky, I could get my hands on.
Twenty-Four hours ago, everything was better. Everything was damn near perfect. And in one second everything was all mixed up. In another, everything was balls up. I knew I wouldn't find the solution to any of it drinking like a pirate, but it didn't seem like a bad place to start. The more they went on, the more I drank, the more everything went hazy and the more things seemed to not seem so bad. Is this what feeling numb was like? If it was, it was terrible. The way all worries, and inhibitions were dropped so easily. I'd stop after tonight. But I just needed tonight. It wasn't long before people started going off to bed, and I leaned over, prepared to sleep there if I had to.
"What are you doing to yourself Weasley?" Angelina said, taking a seat next to me.
I held the bottle in my hand and gestured it to her. "Getting ready to knit a scarf. What's it look like I'm doing Johnson?" I said to her sarcastically.
"That won't solve anything," She said fiddling with a strand of her hair.
"Well either join me or leave me because from where I'm sitting, it's helping," I told her as I took another drink. I usually hated when girls would twirl their hair the way she was. But something about the way her hair twisted and turned between her fingers looked mesmerizing as it formed figure eights.
"Seeing as I just lost three quidditch players, I think I'll join you," She said and reached forward for the bottle.
"I'm sure your boyfriends' team will be happy," I told her, taking the bottle back.
"Who Adrian? He's just a friend. Not all of us can so easily jump between relations like you used to," She said, raising an eyebrow to me.
"That's not me anymore," I said confidently, poisoning myself further.
"You were some of the best players we've ever had you know," She said.
"Don't I know it. Where was this when you were having us run drills like we'd never played before?" I asked her with a bit of a laugh in my voice.
"Just getting a bit of revenge on that brother of yours," She said. "Would you like to help me further?" She said before grabbing my face to kiss my lips. I didn't move, but as I raised my hands to her shoulders, I realized I must have been more piss drunk than I thought, seeing as I didn't have the strength to push her away. Instead she leaned further into me, pulling me towards her till I was in an awkward half seated, half lying position. For a moment, it seemed familiar, reminding me of how easy it was years around when we fooled around. That all went away when I felt my stomach turn like if I had a flu and had just ridden on a broom upside down.
"I'm going to throw up," I said and moved to the nearest trash can as she pulled away.
"Don't worry, I'm sure your perfect girlfriend will take care of this too," She said as I heard footsteps walk around the room.
As easy as it may have been going down, it was terrible coming back up. It burned my throat and made my eyes water. My skin felt hot and my stomach felt like it was clenching every ten seconds.
"What the hell?" my favorite voice said, approaching me on the floor. "Freddie..." She asked as she placed a cold hand to my forehead. It didn't give me the usual warmth that I usually felt every time our skin touched. No, this time her touch made my head spin as I watched what I had just done.
"Where were you?" I asked her, worried she'd seen what just happened and wouldn't believe that I didn't want it.
"With Minerva's. Come on, up to bed," She said without hesitation helping me up to my feet.
She sat me on my bed and helped me undress as I stayed silent the whole time. Her comforting smell of sweet berries and vanilla made it easier to breathe. Definitely better than the smell of whiskey and regret reverberating off of me. The way her hands were gliding over my body assured me I didn't want anyone else. It was always her. It would always be her. She laid me back and threw a quilt over me.
"I'm going to go get you some Pepperup, and we can talk about this in the morning," She told me calmly.
"Ellie," I said, taking her hand. "It was Angelina."
"Was it?" She asked me unmoved.
"She grabbed me, please..." I said to her softly as I felt myself falling asleep.
"Shhh..."
~Elodie's POV~
I'd stayed in the boy's room after Fred told me. Though I didn't sleep. I didn't even go near Fred's bed. But it seemed like a better option than going to my own room and plucking Angelina's eyes out in her sleep. Instead I stayed at the window looking at the rain pour all night. Cat came in and kept my feet warm, but I couldn't bring myself to fall asleep. Not even when I shut my eyes for an extended period of time.
"Are you planning on getting any sleep tonight?" George asked me as he sat up in my bed.
"Does anyone ever plan on sleep? Or is it just another part of the day?" I asked him. I didn't particularly want to speak to him. Though things had been so fucked up between us lately I felt like he was the only person I should be speaking to. "Why did you do it?"
"I know how it looks, but you have to believe that I didn't take your things," He told me as he came to sit below me.
"Yet you had them," I said bluntly. "Tucked away under your bed. How do you suppose that looks? You know, I haven't cried since the day before the funeral. I thought I'd pushed it aside, that I was over it. Yet seeing it all there, after you haven't spoken to me. And now Fred and Angelina," I said and looked away from him not wanting to coax tears into my eyes.
"Please, believe me," He whispered so low I almost didn't hear it.
"Why have you been pushing me away? Hmm? Was it cause you wanted to prove to Angelina that there was nothing going on between us?" I asked him.
"It broke my heart, having to choose between the two of you. I think if it were anyone else it would have been easy. But I never thought she would have asked me to choose," He told me.
"Then why did you choose me?" I asked not understanding why he had done what he did. "Why couldn't you just be with her?"
"Because choosing her would mean never speaking to you again. And knowing Fred the way I do, that would mean someday, I wouldn't speak to him either," he said confidently.
"George, you're...you're not..." I tried to ask him but couldn't bring myself to say the words.
"I'm not in love with you if that's what you're getting at. Sorry Potter, but as great as you are, you'll have to settle for just being my friend," He said, making me laugh a bit, which made him laugh in return. "Hopefully, if I haven't mucked things up so bad, you'll still be my best friend? Second to Fred," he asked.
"Always," I answered him. "I'm far too forgiving for my own good. Though I would appreciate it if you didn't hide anymore of my belongings under your bed. Especially not ones so important."
"Do you think..." He said softly as the gears in his mind turned loudly.
"She wouldn't be that cruel, would she?" I asked him. It couldn't have all been Angelina. Could it? And if she did what was her reasoning? Everything that happened so far was of no doing of my own.
"Take it from someone that's been with her, she knows where to hit you where it hurts. And for you, even a fool can see that you've only ever had a soft spot for Harry, Cedric, and Fred," He told me.
"And now she's soiled all of it," I whispered, turning back out to look out the window. George stayed up with me for a few more hours before going to the washroom. Part of me thought that he slammed the door on purpose on his way out so Fred would wake up. Serves him right.
"You stayed?" He asked me in a groggy voice. I turned to look at him and floated the glass of Pepperup his way. He'd probably have a migraine, and me waving all the curtains open wouldn't help.
"I couldn't live with myself if you choked in the middle of the night and it wasn't from my doing," I told him as he sat up in bed and threw a shirt on. Even I had to admit, that was rather petty to say, but I was tired and irritated. "I didn't mean to pry, but when I helped you up last night, I saw what happened," I told him, letting him know that I'd invaded his mind without meaning to.
"Is that what that feeling was?" He asked me as he made his way to crouch in front of me. "You saw then, that she did it?"
"I saw you not pushing her away," I told him coldly.
"I tried, but I was piss drunk out of my mind, El! I barely made it to the trash can," He explained.
"But you put yourself in that situation," I said and grabbed a little pillow to cover my face so I could scream. "With Angelina!" I yelled into the pillow and threw it at him. "Why? The last four years you've always said you could barely stand her."
"She literally just sat down and started drinking with me. Why are you mad about this? I told you the truth," He asked with a furrow between his brows.
"Because it's Angelina! And you kissed her, not even a full twenty-four hours after you shagged me," I told him as I felt my anger beginning to boil.
"And you're back to wearing his necklace not even a full twenty-four hours after shagging me. Am I going to have to look at that every time I'm with you?" He spat back leaving me wide eyed.
"No, I'll make it easy for you. Don't look at me anymore," I told him and began walking to the door.
"No, no!" He said and jumped in front of me to cover the door. "No, you can't do that! You can't always run away every time we have a problem." He told me as he towered over me.
"Alright fine. Why did you try to fight Draco? In front of the entire castle." I asked him to start with the first point that came to mind.
"We told you, he was talking about my family, your family and you. He was basically calling you slut in front of the entire school. How are you even friends with that slimy little git?" Fred said. His ears were turning red, meaning I wasn't the only one that was angry. I tried to cast a silencing charm but couldn't focus. Instead I reached for my wand and cast it.
"Muffliato" I said.
"Oh, that's great, yeah silence the room, God forbid anyone knows we're fighting," He said as he pinched the bridge of his nose.
"It's no one else's business what we do, that's why. And maybe I'm friends with him because he lets me fight my own battles, he lets me stand up for myself. Because he doesn't treat me like I'm made of glass—"
"Well forgive me for wanting to help you move on from the loss of someone you cared about. Do you know what it was like to listen to you cry that night? To listen to you in pure agony?" He said taking another step towards me as I took a step back.
"And when you look at me that is all you see," I said with a finger pointed at him. "I am sorry that my pain was an inconvenience for you—"
"Oh, don't do that—" he said cutting me off as he shook his head.
"I'm sorry that the peace wearing his necklace gives me, serves as a reminder to you that there was someone before you. I'm sorry that I can't be an easy girl for you to have a relationship with—" I said, taking a step in his direction.
"No! That's not even—"
"And I'm sorry that you felt the need to drown your sorrows like a bloody pirate and snog Angelina!" I yelled at him as I tried to tower over him, though I was nowhere close.
"She kissed me! Don't you think I'd rather have been kissing you?" He said as he took a step back. I turned around to sit back at the window as he just stood there. He let out a sigh and rubbed his hand down his face. "That's what she wanted, she wanted us to fight like this. T-To hurt, the way she thinks we've hurt her."
Keep him safe...
"It wasn't that hard if that's all it took to bring this all out," I said and wiped my finger under my nose, hiding a sniffle. "We shouldn't have done this," I said as I closed my eyes preparing myself.
"Who knows, maybe it's what we needed—" He began to say before I cut him off.
"I mean any of it. The whole relationship thing," I said firmly. "You know me, you know that all the romantic notions freak me out. We can be friends and never walk this thin line, never fight—" I said trying to reason with him.
"Well maybe I want to keep fighting," He said, moving directly in front of me.
"Well I don't," I said and moved to be closer to the door.
"So what? Now you're never going to feel anything? You're going to act as if these months meant nothing to you? How do you suppose we do that?" He asked firmly with his hands in his pockets as he called my bluff.
"We'll figure it out. But it's better now, before things get too deep," I said as I stared back into his golden-brown eyes that held the earth. "You should be with a nice girl, who deserves to be loved by you, and won't mess everything up."
He looked at me only now I couldn't tell what he was thinking. I couldn't read his eyes, he just looked hard as stone. "I Can't," He said softly.
"Why not?" I asked looking down at his feet.
"Because I'm in love with you," He said, clear as day. With absolutely no hesitation in his voice. I grabbed a pillow off of someone's bed and moved toward him to start hitting his torso with it trying to make him hate me. "It's been obvious for years," He said, taking the blows.
"You don't," I said as I kept hitting him. "You're crazy—"
"I'm completely in love with you," He said unmoved. "Why are you so scared of that?"
"I'm not scared of anything!" I told him.
"Then why does it scare you?" He said snatching the pillow from my hand and tossing it aside. "Why do you hate to hear it? I love you; I love you; I love you. I'll keep saying it."
"Stop it! Stop saying that!" I said and tried to shove him back, but he barely moved an inch.
"It's not like I expect you to say it back. But you need to know that I love you. Even now that you're trying to break up with me, I still bloody well love you," He said.
"Well I don't!" I lied to him. "I can't," I said honestly.
"Don't do this," He said in a huffed breath. "I swear I'll never let anyone else kiss me, I-I'll stop drinking—"
"You shouldn't have to change to be with me. Cause I'm not going to change. Th-this, this constantly being honest with each other, sharing every part of our days together, all the feelings, emotions. All that stuff, that's not me," I told him running through my head to find anything I could say to push him away.
"El..." He said quietly. "You can't do this. You can't just break up with me and not let me have a say in it."
"I just did," I said and opened the door to leave. On the other side of the door waited George, Lee, Katie, Ginny, and Angelina. I wanted to punch her, the same as I had Seamus. But I was so tired, I felt weak. And I didn't want to fight anymore.
"You should probably know that your charm lasted about a minute," Katie said as she looked at me apologetically.
I walked up to Angelina and looked her square in the eye. "You win. I'm done," I said, moving around her to walk away.
"Let's see how long this single period lasts," She scoffed under her breath.
"Oh, that's fucked up," Lee said.
I stopped walking and turned around to look at her. She had a smug smile on her face and when I met her eyes, her smile gleamed bigger. Before I knew it, my fist was colliding with her jaw and I was lunging at her only to be pulled back by Georgie and Ginny.
"Let me go! Just one more!" I shouted and struggled against them. "She started this!"
"She's crazy! I loathe her, She just hit me!" Angelina shouted.
"Whatever happens now it is your fault!" I shouted as I struggled harder to get past George and Ginny
"Enough!" McGonagall shouted behind us, sending us all still. "How many muggle dules am I going to have to separate?" She shouted at us. "Detention! All of you!" She said looking over all of us. "And you, Miss," She said, staring at me like she wanted to break me in half. "My office, now," She said sternly.
"Come on," George held his arm up to create a path for me to get past Angelina without making another move to hit her again. It was a good idea, because even with McGonagall there, if I had an opening, I would have done it.
Walking into Minerva's office I felt it. I felt the hurt and pain that I'd just inflicted onto myself. The hurt and pain I'd inflicted on Fred, who I'd never wanted to hurt. Minerva didn't say a word, instead she moved to put the kettle on. This wasn't like breaking up with Cedric. This one hurt worse. Because the truth was, I did love him. I was sure of it.
"Sit," Minerva ordered as she took a seat at her recamier. I moved to sit at the fireplace, where I tried to turn it on, but it didn't work. I waved my hand and still nothing. I pulled out my wand and it finally lit. "Now I know I have given you more than a fair share of leniency, and you know I've never been one to hover, but you need to tell me what has gotten into you. Because I know for a fact that I did not raise you to behave like this."
"Why is everyone else allowed to act out? To break the rules, and I'm not," I asked her in a hard voice.
"Because you above everyone else know better," She told me sternly. "Now speak to me."
"I'm not an animal expected to bark in response. And I'm not a child Minerva," I told her.
"Then stop acting like one!" She told me and she slammed her mug on the table.
I took in a gasping breath and let a tear roll down my face. "I hit her. Because she took my letters and my necklace to try and make it look like George had stolen them from me. And then Fred and I broke up," I said wiping away the tear as it hit my chin.
"So, because he put an end to things with you, you felt the need—"
"No," I said, cutting her off. "I broke up with him because he loves me. And I'm scared. I told him I wasn't scared of anything but I am. Because I—I love him too," I said through gritted teeth and a sob.
"Now why would you do that?" She asked as she moved over to sit with me.
"Professor Snape said that the dark lord wants me alone," I told her. "That he'll do whatever it takes to get me alone. If that's true, then everyone I love is going to get hurt. I've been lying to myself thinking that I can keep everyone safe. So, I broke up with him because I love him. Because if he hates me, he'll be safe."