The next two days passed quickly. Fred had spent most of it avoiding me, walking out of a room while I walked in, ignoring me while I spoke, sitting at the other end of the table during dinnertime. But I had George for company, and Alice and Ginny when they were feeling like it. George showed me around the fields the Burrow resided on, letting me into their 'boy's only' tree house Bill had built when he was fifteen for the rest of them, showing me various different projects he and Fred were working on.
But then on the third day, Fred resumed to his fucking antics. It was Sunday, in the afternoon, and apparently Bill was supposed to arrive before dinnertime. I was helping Molly and my mom in the kitchen as they made dinner, and George was keeping us company, telling Molly about some prank he and Fred had pulled successfully on Snape. Molly was laughing about it, making my mom laugh about it, even though she kept asking stupid questions and not really listening to what George was saying. The exchange was kind of bothering me, but like, in the way only your mom could bother you. So I was already a little irritated when Fred sauntered in, hands in his pockets, crew neck sweater looking a little sooty and singed at the bottom. George paused in his story to greet his brother, who simply nodded back and sat down at the table heavily.
I paused in what I was doing. It was the first time Fred and I had been in the same room besides sitting at the table for meals, and I glanced at him, wondering what he could possibly be up to. He met my eye this time, and I felt my face grow hot under the expressionless look he gave me. My mood soured even more than it had been, and I glared at him before going back to chopping carrots.
"What's for dinner?" Fred asked the room.
"Chicken and veggies with rice- it's Diana's mom's recipe." Molly said brightly. Fred snorted, which made my blood boil.
"I'm not eating that." He said rudely. Molly paused to look at her son incredulously.
"Excuse me?" She said in a low tone, and Fred shrugged nonchalantly. I could see from the corner of my eye that he was still looking at me as he spoke.
"I'm not eating anything that slut makes."
"Okay, what the fuck." I finally exclaimed, slamming the knife down and rounding on him. "Are you fucking serious? You're going to insult your own mother's- hell, my fucking mom's cooking- because you're angry about some drunken mistake? Are you fucking serious?" I felt angry tears coming on, but they disappeared when my mom moved to smack the back of my head lightly.
"Language, nox." She chided, before resting a hand on my shoulder and turning to look at Molly, who seemed just as shocked as I was by my outburst. The woman looked between the two of us, Fred having leaned back in his chair, arms crossed and keeping his face carefully still. George had ducked so that his hair hid his face, leaning close to the table and scrolling through his phone, his leg bouncing quickly. I felt hot and embarrassed about letting my emotions control me, and shrugged off my mom's hand, gesturing to the carrots.
"Sorry I- I think I'm going to go upstairs for a second." I muttered, and my mom nodded, rubbing my back a little before gesturing for me to leave the kitchen. I could hear someone get up from the table behind me as I rushed to Bill's bedroom. Assuming it was George, I left the door open as I stormed into the room, starting to pace as I heard him bounding up the stairs behind me. I didn't even look up as he shut the door behind him, wringing my hands and tugging at my hair.
"He's such a fucking dick!" I cried, without waiting for George to say anything, "He's so fucking annoying! I just don't get it like- I know he's angry but how is it fair that he can take it out on me. I mean, how does he even know he likes me- he doesn't even know me! If he knew me, he'd know that that's how I react to things like I make stupid mistakes that's what I'm like I always get scared when people try to get close to me and I lash out it's what I do, okay? Like that's who I am and if he's going to behave like this anytime I do that then he needs to know that i'm not who he thinks he is and I-" I took a deep breath, finally spinning to look at the person who'd followed me.
At first, I still thought it was George, but the furrowed expression made me pause. My eyes bounced from his nose, to his ear, to his eyes.
"Uh." I said lamely.
Fred.
My anger dwindled in response to the shock, feeling my face burn and my palms go sweaty. He just stood there quietly, and it made me anxious. I moved to scratch at the back of my head, looking at the floor.
"I thought you were George." I admitted softly after the quiet moment went on for a beat longer than comfortable.
"Yeah, I assumed." He said in a low, even voice. I glanced at him, and he was still pretty still, but a faint pink had colored his cheeks. "So, you knew. When you kissed Cedric. You'd already known."
I blinked in surprise.
"Oh. I mean. I figured George would've told you."
Fred shook his head, moving to fidget with something on the dresser beside him.
"I haven't really talked to George much recently."
"You've been ignoring him, you mean." I said pointedly. Fred simply shrugged, continuing to keep his eyes on whatever was in his hand. "-Also, wait, how do you know that I kissed Cedric? How do you know it wasn't the other way around?"
He muttered something under his breath, and I stepped toward him slightly.
"What?" I asked roughly.
"I said, Cedric wouldn't do that to me." He looked at me sharply as he raised his voice, and I felt the anger return.
"Wouldn't do that to you? And, what, I did that to you? You think that I purposely hurt you."
"Well, yeah, if you already knew, then you did it on purpose."
I let out a harsh laugh as his voice rose slightly.
"I did it on purpose- you think I wanted to hurt you. You think that that was all I was thinking about?"
"If you already knew that I liked you, and then kissed my friend directly afterwards, then yeah, I think you did it on purpose."
"Hasn't it occurred to you that maybe you weren't even on my mind at that moment? That I was just doing something because it felt right? Has it occurred to you that maybe I like Cedric?"
He froze, which made me freeze. We were shouting, and I was a little embarrassed, but I was also seething. I mean, he was being so fucking selfish. What if I did like Cedric? The guy was nice to me, at least. Fred hadn't done anything so much as get me a drink at a couple parties. Cedric would walk me to class, would help me with homework, would make me laugh when I was feeling upset. I mean, hell, Cedric had been actually there for me when Fred was what, pining from afar?
"Do you?" His voice was quiet again, but it was smaller. It wasn't angry anymore. He sounded almost- hurt.
"Do I what?" I hissed.
"Do you like him?" Fred had lowered his gaze, glaring at my feet. I could hear someone had arrived downstairs, and there were people shuffling and talking loudly beneath us.
"God, Fred, I don't know." I exclaimed, quieter this time, voice cracking a little as I threw my hands up in exasperation. "I don't know! I don't know- just, I know Cedric better than you, you know? Hell, you've talked to my friends more than you've talked to me. Don't you think that's like, a little weird?"
He shrugged.
"I was nervous."
"Nervous?" I said in an incredulous tone. He simply nodded and I let out a great sigh, rolling my eyes. "Fred, you can't really be mad at someone because they make you nervous."
"I'm not mad at you because of that, I'm mad because you kissed my friend."
"So if it'd been anyone else, you wouldn't have behaved this way."
"Yes!" Fred suddenly roared, and I jumped, "Yes! Are you fucking kidding me? If it had been anyone else! I see Cedric fucking Diggory all the time. Fuck- my fucking mom likes Cedric more than she likes me-"
"I don't think," I started, but Fred went on.
" -he's always here, and he's always going to be here. I see him for every goddamn holiday, for every Quidditch even, for every fucking birthday party he and his perfect fucking hair are fucking here and I just-" He pushed a hand through his hair angrily, and he was still glaring at my feet, and I suddenly felt a softness wash over me. I felt bad for him, actually. Like, genuinely. He stopped talking then, and just sort of slumped. We were quiet for a moment, and then I was overcome with the desire to hug him- to tuck his head into my neck and assure him that his mom did not like Cedric more than him- that that's a ridiculous thing to think.
I took a step forward, and he looked up at me then, and I was surprised to find tears in his eyes. He wiped at his face angrily, and I couldn't help it. I reached out and grabbed his shirt, pulling him into a tight hug.
Fred froze for a moment, not moving. He was so tall that my face only got up to his chest, so I wrapped my arms around his torso and squeezed, hearing his heart hammering under my ear. And with that he melted, tucking his face into my hair, hands grasping at the back of my head, tangling his fingers there. We stood like that for a beat, and then he was tugging slightly so I tiled my face to look up at him.
And Fred kissed me.