Year 7: Waking up
***
Athena winces, pain flooding through her body as she shuffles through her bed. Another wince escapes her lips when a sharp pain comes through her back, every part of her body feeling like it was in pain- her head heavy.
Her eyes flutter open, her vision slightly foggy as her eyes had felt like they'd been sewn shut.
"Where am I?" She asks, finding herself becoming embarrassed at how groggy and scratchy her voice sounded. "Athena!" Harry exclaims, running towards his sister with a wide smile on his face, his sudden reaction causing Fred and Molly- who'd also both been sitting in the girl's room to turn their heads to her, smiling at her once they realized she was awake.
Athena smiles back, looking around at all three of them, and her heart sinks when her eyes meet Fred's. She can't help but feel guilty looking at him, he looked extremely tired. His face was dull, eyebags darker- showing that he hadn't slept properly in what looked like a few weeks, and his hair was messy and unkempt.
"You're in Grimmuald Palace, dear." Molly says, bringing Athena back into reality, "You went unconscious after getting hit with the stupefy spell, it's been two weeks." She continues, making Athena whip her head around, "TWO WEEKS?!" She exclaims, how could a spell knock her out for that long?
The girl quickly shoots out of her seat, but Molly immediately makes her sit back in it, "You will not get out of bed, young lady!" She says sternly, "But yes, it's been two weeks. On the bright side, Sirius Black is officially a free man."
A wide grin forms on Athena's face at the news, "Really?" She exclaims happily.
"Yes, after you saved him, it was obviously no longer a secret that Sirius was in London, instead of Tibet- which was what Kingsley had been telling the Ministry all along. They took him to trial- gave him Vertiserum, and it proved his innocence."
"All thanks to you," Harry chimes in, his face seemed happier than it had been in a long time.
A happy sigh comes out of the girl, thankful that Sirius was finally starting to get the justice he'd deserved all along. But her joy from the good news was quickly cut off when she looked at Fred once again, who hadn't spoken to her at all since she'd woken up, he hadn't even looked her in the eye, which left Athena wondering what the boy was truly feeling right now.
Athena quickly looks at Molly and Harry, "Erm, can I have a word with Fred." The two nod, "...Alone?" She continues, making the two of them take the hint fast and scurry out of the room, leaving Athena and Fred alone.
***
"I should have been there," Fred says, breaking the silence.
"What?" Athena says softly.
"I should have been there, with you." He says, not making eye contact with the girl. "There was always part of me that didn't want to leave Hogwarts, and I knew it was because if anything happened to you I'd feel guilty." He continues, his words angry- although Fred was angrier with himself than Athena.
Athena puts her hand over Fred's, "But nothing happened to me, Freddie." She says calmly.
He scoffs, "Nothing happened? Athena, you've been knocked out for two weeks, you could have died!" Fred shouts out, "Do you know what I would have done if you'd grabbed Sirius and the two of you would have fallen through the vail instead?!"
Athena stays silent, she never thought much of how Fred was feeling with all of this, "You could have died, Athena and I'm scared- no I'm fucking terrified at the idea of losing you. Do you know how I felt hearing you were risking your life-fighting death eaters- while I was at the joke shop having the time of my life?" He says, his eyes on the brink of tears.
"I'd never forgiven myself if you didn't make it."
The girl looks at Fred, who still wasn't looking at her. She wasn't sure what to say, she didn't know how to help, "But I did make it," She says, attempting to make him feel better.
"THAT'S NOT THE POINT!" He shouts, finally making eye contact with Athena for the first time since the two had begun speaking.
A lump raised in Athena's throat, Fred had never yelled at her before.
His face was flustered- all red from anger, tears were welling up in his eyes but Athena wasn't sure what they meant, jaw clenched and eyes deep.
"What's going on?" A voice says from behind the two of them, making the pair turn around. "Remus," Athena breathes out, looking at her godfather who was landing against the door frame.
"I heard shouting, is everything alright?" He asks, his voice concerned. "Everything is alright, I have to go talk to George anyways," Fred says quietly, quickly wiping away a tear that fell from his eye, and with that, he walked out the door with his head hanging down low.
Remus comes inside Athena's room after Fred left, taking a seat on the edge of her bed while she stared at the wall with a blankless expression on her face, she wasn't sure what she had just witnessed. "What was that about?" Remus asks the girl, "I've never seen you two like that before," He continues.
"Me too," She mutters back.
"It's just, he was so angry." She says, "But he wasn't mad at me? It was like he was mad at himself." She tells Remus, sounding confused with their situation. Lupin chuckles, "Well, put yourself in his situation, Athena. You made a huge decision, one that could have gone a completely different way, and we would've ended up losing both you and Sirius." He says, "Take something as big as that, and the fact that he's probably upset he wasn't able to protect you, and then you were out cold for two weeks- which didn't make him feel any better, he was in here every night."
Athena's heartaches imaging Fred inside this room every day for two weeks, looking at his girlfriend completely unconscious while there was nothing he could say or do about it, if she was in his position- she'd probably be acting the same way.
But at the same time, Athena was offended, she felt like nobody understood that she would have done that for anybody in that room at the time.
"I can make my own decisions," Athena responds sharply, feeling offended that Fred felt the need to watch over her every move.
Remus laughs slightly at his strongly opinionated god-daughter, "No one's doubting that, Athena." He teases, earning a joking glare from the girl. "But he's in love with you, everyone can see that. You mean the world to him- and he just feels guilty, that's all. You won't understand it until you're put in his position."
***
A couple of hours had passed since Athena woke up, and the house did a good job of keeping her busy. It was now nighttime, and Athena swore she was so full she doubted she'd be able to go up the stairs tonight.
Molly had made a wonderful meal- as always, and considering that Athena hadn't eaten in a while, she was more than happy to dig into the mother's cooking.
The girl was currently sitting with George and Ginny, the trio playing an intense game of Exploding Snaps when Fred comes over to them, the three were playing so intensely he almost didn't want to interrupt them, but it was too late, George had already noticed him. "Hey Freddie, want to join us?" He asks looking at his twin brother.
Fred scratches his neck sheepishly, "Erm- I was actually wondering if we could talk, Athena?"
Athena gives a smile to Fred before turning back to George and Ginny, "This is not over, I better still be winning when I come back," She threatens, before turning back to her boyfriend, "Sure, Freddie." She says, grabbing his hand and leading the two outside.
"I'm sorry for raising my voice," He blurts out the second the two-step outside.
Athena chuckles slightly, "It's okay," She says, giving him a warm smile.
"No it's not okay," He tells her, "Look, Athena, truth be told- a war's coming up, there's no point in denying it, and I'm fucking terrified to lose you." He says, his voice cracking up slightly as he speaks.
The Weasley looks down to the ground- afraid to make eye contact with the girl, Athena lifts up his face by his chin, "Hey, hey, hey, you won't lose me, okay?" She assures him, looking at the boy with full sincerity. He takes a deep breath, his eyes watering slightly before pulling the girl into a tight hug.
"I love you, so much." He tells her.
"I love you too Fred, and nothing is going to happen to us," She says, looking up at the boy she'd fallen in love with many years ago. She goes up on her toes, pressing a kiss against his lips and allowing her arms to wrap around his neck as he wrapped his arms around her waist.
However, the two are forced to pull apart- much to their dismay, when they hear Ron and Sirius calling out for them, "Oi love birds! Quit snogging, Hermione's showing us muggle movies!" Ron says excitedly, Sirius motioning the two to come over quickly, as he seemed just as eager to see the muggle films as the latter.
Athena giggles slightly, intertwining her hands with Fred's- giving him a bright smile as the two walks back into the house.
***
A/N: I like this chapter tbh! How are you guys liking the story so far? Please interact with it if you can, cause it really helps me a lot to know whether you guys like it or not.
Hope you're all staying safe and see you next chapter :)