WILLA, FRED AND GEORGE SAT TOGETHER ON THE TRAIN.
"You know you will get Gryffindor." Willa giggled, pointing at each twin. "There's not a Weasley who isn't." She shrugged and scratched Sebastian's head, who laid sleepily in her lap.
Fred examined his friend. "Your mum was Gryffindor?" Willa nodded. "And your dad?"
"I don't have a dad." Willa said quietly. The twins and she had never really discussed her father. They didn't pry.
"You have to have a dad!" George replied. "Do you know where babies com-"
"Yes, George. I know where babies come from." Willa chuckled, shaking her head. "All I know, is my dad must not be much. Never came 'round my whole life."
"His loss." The twins said in unison, before all three shared a laugh.
•
"Hmm... very peculiar." The hat whispered atop Willa's head. She tried to think any thoughts, for fear it would announce them across the entire Great Hall. "I see leadership. Courage. Ambition. Very difficult. Very difficult indeed."
Some of the professors shared a look as the hat took longer and longer to sort the young girl. She bit her lip nervously. Why was this taking so long? "It's taking so long because you are a very difficult girl. I see Slytherin and Gryffindor... but which overpowers the other?"
Willa closed her eyes tightly, not hoping for one house or the other. She just wanted to get sorted. "SLYTHERIN!!!"
Fred and George's mouth fell open.
"Slytherin?" Willa whispered, she walked over to the Slytherin table, terrified because she was being separated from her best friends. The Weasley twins waved solemnly as she disappeared into a crowd of green.
•
Something changed in Willa after she was sorted. Fred and George hardly talked to her anymore. She was always hanging out with her Slytherin friends; granted, they were always hanging out with people in Gryffindor. But, something was different about Willa now. She was cold, rigid. She wasn't the same bouncy young girl they had known before. Willa had taken on every trait of a Slytherin; good and bad.
"I can't hardly stand her anymore." Fred rolled his eyes as Willa entered the great hall, blonde girls bouncing overtop of her Slytherin uniform. George chuckled, but agreed. Willa acted as if she didn't know the twins anymore. She hardly ever came to the Burrow on holidays. Last Christmas, she went home with her friend, Raven.
Raven was the reason Willa was the way she was. They were the "mean" girls of Hogwarts. They were the most popular, all the boys drooled over them. They wore their uniforms a little shorter. Willa never behaved this way until she became friends with Raven.
The twins watched as Willa and Raven walked to the Slytherin table, cold, mysterious looks on their faces. Willa wore a short Slytherin skirt, a blazer with the Slytherin emblem and her blonde hair the longest it had ever been. Fred couldn't deny that she has blossomed into a beautiful girl, but her attitude was ugly. She was not the same sweet Willa that used to run around the Burrow with them. He couldn't stand her anymore; he couldn't stand what she had become.
"She's definitely not Willa anymore." George agreed.
•
Quidditch matches between Gryffindor and Slytherin were always heated. Tempers flared between the two houses usually, but got even hotter during a good quidditch match.
Willa sat at the ready with her bat. She was one of the beaters for Slytherin and was very good at it. No bludger ever got past her.
She whacked the incoming bludger with full force, knocking it back to one of her former best friends: Fred Weasley. Willa hadn't spoke to him all year. They occasionally had spoken the beginning of their fifth year, but he hadn't even looked her way since she ditched Christmas at the Burrow and went home with Raven.
Willa did feel guilty for going with Raven, but she had spent every Christmas since she had been born at the Burrow - she figured it didn't hurt to miss one.
Fred knocked the bludger back with a grunt. He was the hot-headed twin, he aimed the bludger directly at Willa.
Willa scoffed, noticing what Fred was doing. George looked at his twin, noticing that he was targeting Willa. George was upset too; but not as upset as Fred. Fred tended to show his emotions more than George and that included actively trying to knock Willa off her broom.
"Not here, Fred. Wood will kill you." George said as he knocked a bludger that was sent from the other Slytherin beater. Fred ignored his twin as he sent another bludger barreling back to Willa.
The two went back and forth until Harry finally caught the snitch. Fred knocked one last bludger with full force to Willa, taking out his frustrations. The ball hit Willa's shoulder, causing her to spin around on her broom.
When the two landed, Willa immediately confronted Fred. "What is your problem?" She yelled, shoving Fred's chest.
"My problem? You're the one that's had a stick up your ass ever since you were sorted into Slytherin! Couldn't even come home for Christmas? Mum even made you your jumper." Fred argued, face red with anger.
A twinge of guilt hit Willa. Molly and Arthur, the whole Weasley family really, had only ever been good to Willa; the thought of Molly knitting her a jumper only for her not to show up broke her heart. But, that didn't change the fact that Fred was being a jerk. "Excuse me? You're just mad because I finally have more friends than just you and George." Willa hissed, her voice escalating.
"Who? All the boys who follow after you? They're only your friend because of how short you wear your skirt!" Fred yelled back.
"Oh, that's it." She tackled Fred and the two went down. Fred wouldn't hit a woman, but she sure was hitting him.
"Someone get her off of me!" He yelled. George laughed.
He held his hands up to protect hisself from the blows. Finally, McGonagall and Snape came over to break up the fight. "Detention. Both of you." Snape yelled as he grabbed Willa, having to physically pick her up off of Fred.
•
The two didn't talk the whole detention. They didn't talk any time after that. The term ended and they still hadn't spoken.
When Willa returned home to the same old flat she shared with her mum, she was waiting with open arms. "Willa!"
"Hi, mummy." Willa smiled. She had turned back into the warm little girl she once was as soon as she seen her mother. She didn't like the person she had become; but being in Slytherin and hanging out with Raven had changed her big time.
"Oh dear. Are you okay?" Callie asked, concerned. She hugged her daughter tightly; thanking God that she had made it another year without an encounter with her father. Callie had been especially fearful since her brother, Draco, began Hogwarts.
Callie couldn't deny the extra presence of unknown bystanders around the flat, though. It made her quite nervous. She feared Lucius was planning something. In the last week, she had seen three or four unknown men just outside of the door to her flat. She assumed they were waiting for the day that Callie came home with Willa; after all, it wasn't Callie who was the target.
Callie had asked Molly if she and Willa could stay with them this summer. She just didn't feel safe in Diagon Alley anymore. Molly had agreed, scolding Callie. She told her she knew she didn't even have to ask.
"We're going to be staying at the Burrow this summer." Callie smiled, figuring Willa would be excited for the extra time with her friends. Willa hadn't told Callie about the incident with Fred or that she and the twins didn't talk anymore.
"Oh, yay." Willa said dryly. Callie noticed her demeanor but figured it best not to pry; teenagers were complicated.
•
Upon arriving at the Burrow, it was oddly quiet. All the other children had arrived home from Hogwarts and Molly was busy in the kitchen. "Everyone's 'round back playing a game of Quidditch. Want to join, dear?" She smiled at Willa.
"No, thank you." Willa walked over to Molly and embraced her in a hug. "I'm sorry I didn't come for Christmas. My friend Raven invited me home with her." Molly smiled warmly at the young girl, knowing Fred had said something.
"Don't listen to Fred, Willa. He's a hothead." Molly smiled, kissing Willa's cheek. "I still have your jumper if you'd like it. Won't be able to wear it until fall." Willa nodded and Molly scurried off to get the unopened Christmas gift.
A bit later, the two women and Willa were in the kitchen chatting over a cup of tea. Willa was concerned how this summer was going to go, especially with the new animosity between her and Fred.
The back door opened and the children filed in. Willa stood up against the counter, sipping a cup of tea. Fred rolled his eyes when he seen the girl. "You have got to be kidding me."
"Fred!" Molly scolded.
"What? No hug?" Willa said sarcastically.