#[ more like @ tonks settle yourself ]

[isaacarellanesismyhusband]

i like it best when it’s pink

pair: Fred Weasley x reader requested by anonymous

Hi, if you're accepting requests could you possibly do one about Fred Weasley x reader where reader is Nymphadora Tonks younger sister and she's also a metamorphmagus and this makes Fred really interested in her

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You sat in the corner of the Gryffindor common room, messing with your hair. It shifted from bright pink to teal, then to orange, as you giggled at the ridiculous colors. Being a Metamorphmagus had its perks, and sometimes it was just fun to play around with it. Your older sister, Tonks, had taught you a few tricks, but you were more about having fun with it than anything else.

Across the room, Fred Weasley was trying his best not to stare—but failing miserably. He’d always found you interesting, ever since the first time he saw you change your appearance with just a thought. But lately, it wasn’t just curiosity that pulled his attention toward you. There was something more, something he couldn't quite put his finger on.

"Fred, you're doing it again," George teased, nudging his twin as they sat on the couch. Fred snapped out of his daze, blinking rapidly.

"Doing what?" he said, trying to play it cool.

"Staring at Y/N like she's a particularly interesting Quidditch play," George replied with a smirk.

Fred rolled his eyes but couldn't help but glance back at you. The way you laughed to yourself, completely carefree, made his heart do a weird little flip. He couldn't get enough of that sound.

As if feeling his gaze, you looked up and met his eyes. For a second, you froze, not expecting to catch him staring. But then, you smiled—a playful grin that sent warmth rushing through him.

“Like what you see, Weasley?” you called out, teasing.

Fred’s ears turned pink, but he quickly shot back, “Depends. Can you do something better with that hair of yours? I’ve seen better colors on a garden gnome!”

You pretended to gasp in offense, then narrowed your eyes. “Oh, really? How about this, then?”

In an instant, your hair morphed into a Weasley red, an exact match to Fred’s. You even gave yourself a few of his freckles for good measure. The common room burst into laughter, and Fred grinned, shaking his head.

“Alright, alright. I’ll give you that one,” he said, standing up and walking over to where you sat. “But I bet you can’t pull off my devilish good looks.”

You raised an eyebrow, standing up to face him. Without saying a word, you concentrated for a moment, and suddenly, you were an exact replica of Fred Weasley—red hair, freckles, and all. The room went wild, and Fred’s jaw dropped.

“That’s... that’s terrifying,” he said, staring at his doppelganger. “But I’ve gotta admit, you look good.”

“Always do,” you replied with a wink, before shifting back into your normal form. “But seriously, you’ve got a good look going on. It’s a shame you only have one face.”

Fred laughed, feeling more at ease now. “You’re not half bad yourself, you know. I mean, when you’re not trying to be me.”

You smiled at him, something soft in your expression now. “Thanks, Fred.”

There was a moment of silence, and then, in a rare show of boldness, Fred reached out and gently tugged a lock of your hair. “I like it best when it’s pink, though,” he said, almost shyly.

Your heart did a little flip of its own, and you felt your cheeks warm. Without a word, you let your hair shift back into the soft pink that you knew he liked.

“Better?” you asked, your voice quieter now.

“Yeah,” Fred said, his own grin softening. “Much better.”

The rest of the room faded away as the two of you stood there, smiling at each other, a warm and happy feeling settling between you.

[asnarkyandironicusername]

Day 31 of @remadoramicrofics - Make it Spooky

While Remus was washing up from Dinner, he heard the tale-tell snap of apparition. He wasn’t expecting any visitors; very few knew he owned this cabin and even fewer knew its location. Really, there were only two other people…well, he supposed now there was only one other person. Remus grabbed his wand, never straying far from it as of late, and approached the front door. One of the only…well, not advantages, but one of the only effects of his Lycanthropy that he didn’t consider a negative were his heightened senses.

Now, though, he couldn't hear anyone on the front stoop. Wand at the ready, he eased the door open but was put off by the empty mat that greeted him. His stomach twisted with unease. If it was Nymphadora, she would have immediately knocked or, more likely, walked in and announced her presence. 

He clutched his wand tighter as he closed the door and stood in the foyer for a moment, calculating his next move. He could sweep the house, just to be safe, but the intruder may expect that, giving them the upper hand. He settled on returning to the kitchen under the guise of dismissing the noise but kept his wand firmly in his hand.

As he turned around, he damn near jumped out of his skin. There, in the archway between the living room and the kitchen, Nymphadroa Tonks stood with a smirk. “Wotcher, Remus.”

Before he could process the visage before him or his own actions, he had her pinned to the wall, wand under her chin. “What did Nymphadora say to me outside the Yaxley manor?”

“That Sirius was charming,” she said easily. Her mouth ticked up in a half-smirk he’d become familiar with before adding, “and that you’d know perfectly well who I’ve fallen for, if you weren’t too busy feeling sorry for yourself to notice.”

He quickly withdrew his wand. “So sorry, I heard the –”

“Did I spook you?” She asked excitedly.

“W-what?”

“Was it a little spooky?” she asked. “Hearing the noise but not finding anyone?”

“I suppose, you know, there is a war going on and –” she cut him off with a quick kiss pressed to his lips and he remembered just how close they were. He let one hand caress her cheek while the other settled on her hip, holding her firmly in place.

“I told Moody," she gasped as they parted, "that I’d never managed to get the drop on you, no matter how stealthy I was. He said I needed to block my pheromones and create a diversion. Said it’d still be an uphill battle, but that he’d buy lunch if I managed to do it.” She grinned up at him. “I’d say I did, how about you?”

“You went through all that trouble to…spook me?” he asked curious, finally stepping back and heading for the kitchen.

“I just wanted to prove I could do it,” she explained as she followed him, stumbling over the table leg as she sat at the small dining nook. “And see what you looked like spooked,” she added, a more devious grin on her face.

“Well, how did I look?” he asked with his own grin as he leaned against the counter and dried the dishes.

“Well, when you had me pinned up against the wall, you looked rather hot.” Remus felt his ears burn at her words. 

Remus cleared his throat. “And to what do I owe the pleasure?”

“Well, first, I had to prove I could do it,” she said, “but more importantly, I’m off tomorrow and I know that you don't have any Order Obligations, so…”

He looked at her as he rounded the table. “So, now that you’ve done it, what is your plan?” he asked lowly.

She stood up, pressing into his space, and grinned up at him. “Figure you might need a cuddle after that spook. Settle your nerves, you know?”

He laughed as he wrapped her in his arms. “Might need a cuddle?” he repeated.

“It probably got your heart racing,” she said with a resolute nod. She pressed a hand to his chest before reaching up on her tiptoes and pressing her lips to his pulse point.

He sighed and let his head tip back. She pressed up the column of his throat, nipping gently. Remus waited until she pulled him into a deep kiss before he suddenly grabbed her around the waist, hefting her up. She gasped as she wrapped her legs around his waist. Remus drew back and whispered, “Did I spook you?”

She smirked at him as she threaded her fingers into his hair and pressed their foreheads together. “Never,” she said defiantly.

[a-rum-of-ones-own]

You’re one of my favorite authors in the fandom and I love how many different ships and characters you’ve created for us. Thank you!

Most of your stories are heavily character focused and I’d love to know your approach and tips for writing this way. How you develop characters so beautifully?

Thank you SO much! I'm always so glad when people like my character writing. It's why I really enjoy writing fanfic - with fanfic, the characters are what's drawing people in, so you just get to indulge in all these meandering explorations that could never fly in original work.

Honestly, the best tip for writing characters I ever got was to keep in mind that they're characters, not people. To read as 'real', they have to interact with their constructed worlds in ways that aren't necessarily like how actual, real people do it.

Almost everything I write (including the little bits of original work I dabble in) is centred around one or two overarching themes. Like, Cosmology is very much about forgiveness and isolation and The Ghosts of Familial HistoryTM, Books of the Netherworld is about facing all your great, unknown potentials (for love, for violence) and seeing that they won't cause the world (or yourself) to go full-on Egyptian 'trial of the dead' on you and devour you for your sins. Méduse is about pride and its limits, adulthood, and the sacrifices you make for those you recognise as 'yours', Tromp as Writ is about womanhood and power and all that.

I think that in the end, for your characters to seem coherent and believable in the world you're creating, they have to fit in with these themes and motifs in ways real people obviously seldom do. That's why the Draco in Cosmology notices so many details about the Manor, Andromeda's cottage, or other houses - houses are metaphorical for histories and families in that work, and he's obviously interacting with family history throughout the entire story. Fleur in Méduse had to have a friendship with an older adult (I actually considered making her buddies with Minerva for a bit before I settled on Mad-Eye) for that theme of 'who's in adult, who's a child, and who is an adult/child in relation to whom' to work. And obviously, all these things are maybe not 100% fully realistic to real people - few people are that into houses, or have as thematically appropriate jobs as the Hermione in Books of the Netherworld - but I always feel like that's what makes the characters seem 'of their world', which makes them feel more realistic even (and especially) if that world is fantastical. I just always try to make the character interact with a main motif in some way throughout every important scene, and if I notice that a scene is devoid of interaction with the motif, I ask myself whether and why I feel like that needs to be in the story, and how it can be rewritten.

Also, I'm a firm believer in that characters should keep some secrets from the reader. At their most minimalistic, you really only need to give them a personality, and use that personality as a means of relating to the themes of the story - the reader can flesh out from there. One of my personal favourite little people I've ever written is the Mad-Eye in Méduse, and he's really just such a rough sketch. You just get these glimpses into him: That 'you're all so fucking young'-line at the table with Fleur, him taking a curse for Tonks, his horror at his birthday, him calling Fleur/Tonks/Bill/etc 'the youngsters' , him having been the one to debrief Andromeda after she ran off and obviously having some kind of relationship to Tonks' parents.... And it all ties in with that motif of adulthood and the sacrifices adulthood demands, so of course, he has to die in the end, because he is that motif. But beyond the motif, we know almost nothing, and we kind of just don't need to - anything more would just detract from his position in the world of that particular story.

Anyway, I could ramble about this all day, because I'm a sucker for thematically stringent, but otherwise meandering writing- I hope it helps somewhat!

[circusgoth-dotcom]

Bar Bully

Ship: Salem Nickle Newman x Anton Chigurh

Word Count: 1691

Summary: This might be a disjointed mess honestly, I just wanted to write a fic utilizing a mechanical bull. CWs for food mentions, violence, suggestive ending.

Tag List: @futurewife @canongf

I don’t care if it rains or freezes, ‘long as I got my plastic Jesus, sittin’ on the dashboard of my car...

The radio played at a respectable volume as a breeze whistled through the latest car Anton Chigurh and his partner, Salem Newman, had stolen; a black 1972 Ford Ranchero. While Chigurh usually preferred taking cars with no particularly distinguishing features, this Ford, unfortunately, had a busted front plate.

 Salem insisted it wouldn’t be that big of a deal, especially as they were currently driving in the middle of nowhere under the cover of the dark prairie sky, deep in the heart of Texas. In fact, they were on their way to their next hit, having been trailing the bounty for two days, now. They knew where their target was heading, the trouble was catching him in advance, for there was no telling where he’d disappear to after his proposed final destination.

“Anton, can I see your watch?” Salem suddenly prompted, sitting up straight in his seat. Anton silently removed his hand from the wheel and offered his large wrist to his partner, keeping his eyes on the road as they examined the time. “Baby, you don’t think there’s somethin’ open at this hour, do you?”

Anton arched an eyebrow. “Meaning?”

“I’m starving. We skipped dinner, remember?”

Anton returned his hand to the wheel. “We didn’t skip anything, we don’t have much of a routine, Salem.”

“Well, you know what I meant.” He folded his arms, “honestly, I don’t know how you’ve trained yourself like this. You’re like a camel.”

The smallest of smirks teased Anton’s features. “I suppose we could find something, but don’t get your hopes up. You can buy something from the vending machine if we reach a motel before then.”

“Oh, thank you for giving me permission to do that much,” Salem spoke sarcastically before chuckling and settling back into the passenger seat, looking up at the pitch-black sky, dotted with gleaming stars. Anton responded with the quietest of grunts, now actively keeping his gaze peeled for signs indicating places where the two of them could find sustenance.

Two miles passed before a sign appeared at the side of the road, advertising an “open late” honky-tonk bar. Taking it as an indication, Anton made his way to the appropriate exit.

“There is a God,” Salem quipped as they pulled into the parking lot of Tennessee Rose’s BBQ.

“They should be open for about four more hours,” Anton noted as they exited the Ford and entered the restaurant, pushing his new stetson lower on his head in an attempt to conceal his identity. “Let’s make it fast, Salem.”

“As if it’s going to take me four hours to eat some bar food. Anton, you’re buggin’ out, I really think you ought to sleep in tomorrow.” Salem squeezed his partner’s arm in concern before leading the way to the bar. He took a seat and happily ordered while Anton remained standing, glancing around the restaurant. It was like any other dive bar in Texas, with sticky floors and tacky decoration; its one unique offering was a mechanical bull ride, situated at the opposite end of the room. Party lights danced on its faux hide, the absence of a rider giving the device an unintentionally eerie atmosphere. There were three other customers, two at the bar and one situated in a booth, chuffing away on a cigar.

“It’s going to be a minute,” Salem announced to Anton, turning around on his stool and observing the scene for himself. As he grazed over the mechanical bull, his eyes lit up slightly. “Anton, can I have your wallet?”

Anton fixed his partner with a hard stare but ultimately gave it up. Hopping off the stool, Salem made a beeline for the hazardous entertainment, only to knock shoulders with a fourth customer coming out of the restroom.

“Hey, watch it!”

“Sorry, I didn’t see you in my peripheral,” Salem shrugged, rubbing his arm slightly. The man rolled his eyes in annoyance, then paused, seemingly captured by Salem’s appearance.

“Do I know you…?”

They pursed their lips and folded their arms. “I get around. Maybe we’ve crossed paths.”

“You got a name, partner?”

Salem glanced toward Anton. While most would assume he was simply leaning against the bar and waiting, Salem knew he was intently watching this interaction go down. “Strictly for those I do business with, I do. Now, if you’d excuse me, I’d like to get a little fun in before my meal’s served up.”

They resumed their path, opening Anton’s thick wallet and handing the manager of the machine five dollars before eagerly entering the pen. The customer watched him climb onto the bull, then joined the man with the cigar in the booth. Saddling up, Salem looked across the bar at Anton and grinned before waving playfully and blowing him a kiss.

“Hold on tight,” the operator instructed before flicking a switch. The bull began to rock slowly and Salem tensed his thighs against its sides, keeping low to the bull’s back as the speed increased. He was determined to get his money’s worth and expertly timed his movements with the flow of the machine, concentrating so hard on keeping on the metal animal that he became practically completely unaware of his surroundings.

BANG-BANG-BANG!

“Holy shit!” Salem pressed his whole body against the bull as it was accidentally set to max speed. The operator had been shot twice, body slumping against the control panel, and the third bullet had just whizzed over Salem’s head. The bartender and other patrons had collapsed in an effort to not be the next victim, but Anton and the two men in the booth remained standing; the one that had bumped into Salem was the one who had fired the shots. The was momentarily bar filled with the sounds of a shoot-out before silence fell once more.

“You’re going to have to jump off!” Anton shouted over the whirring of the bull.

“You mean to tell me there’s no emergency shut off on this damn thing?!” Salem yelled back.

“The key’s jammed, damn it!”

With a groan, Salem threw himself off of the machine and rolled toward the edge of the pen, pulling himself over it and examining what had happened. The adversaries lay slumped against the booth seating, bleeding from deep holes in their arms and torsos, while Anton remained unscathed, his pistol smoking in his hand.

“You brought that in??” Salem asked, eying the weapon and suddenly feeling very naked without his own. “Who are these creeps?”

“Rival hitmen.” Anton stalked forward, nudging the initial shooter with his boot. The man was barely clinging to life. “Who do you work for?”

“I. Ain’t. Tellin’. You. Shit,” the man gargled, “Chigurh.”

Anton sighed in annoyance. He wanted to ask why he shot at Salem first, but what was the point? He handed the gun to his partner. “You want to do the honours?”

“Gladly.” Salem pressed the barrel between the man’s eyebrows. “Fuckin’ prick.” As he pulled the trigger, Anton had already begun to make his way out of the bar to retrieve his bolt stunner. When he returned, the other two patrons and the bartender had risen to their feet, shaking and disturbed.

“I want you all to line up,” Anton instructed. “The three of you are going to each have a chance to flip a coin. This will be the most meaningful act in your entire life.”

When they didn’t move, Salem clapped his hands loudly. “You heard my partner, line up.”

Hesitantly, the three men did as they were told. Salem produced a quarter from his pocket and stood in front of the first man, flipping it, catching it, and covering it on the back of his hand.

“Call it.”

The unlucky patron licked his lips anxiously. “H-heads.”

Salem removed his hand. Heads. “Lucky man. You’re free to go.”

“And we trust you’ll have the sense not to tell anyone about this, at least not more than is needed. Comprende?”

The patron nodded and swiftly exited. Salem stepped in front of the second man, repeating the process.

“Call it,” Anton echoed.

“Heads,” the patron spat out, unable to look either of them in the eye.

Salem uncovered the coin. Tails. Salem turned away as Anton brought the nozzle of the stunner up to the man’s head. He heard a whimper of fear, a hiss, and the thud of the body on the dirty floor.

“That leaves you, bartender,” Salem spoke coolly. “Which sucks, because I haven’t gotten my food yet.”

“Would you just hang on until we get to the hotel?” Anton chided. “Darlin’, you know absolutely nothing’s going to be open now.”

“Yeah, alright.” He flipped the coin.

“Call it, sir, and we’ll be out of your hair.”

The bartender’s eyes flashed between them. “I-I won’t…”

“You have to. Life’s full of choices. Call it.”

“Kill me now, then, that’s my choice, if I can’t get you to leave.”

“That’s not how this works,” Salem piped up. “We don’t take prisoners, mister.” A pause. “Call it or I’m gonna kick you in the balls, old man!”

The bartender flinched and Anton gave his partner a warning glance.

“Alright, alright--! Tails, then!”

And tails it was. A great exhale of relief left the bartender as he sunk to his knees.

“Goodnight, sir.” Anton twitched the brim of his hat, picked up the air pressure tank, and led Salem back into the parking lot.

“This sucked. Why did we pull over??” Salem asked rhetorically as he slid back into the Ford, opening the glove compartment and grabbing a pack of baby wipes in an attempt to wipe off the few flecks of blood that had gotten on him in the thrall. “Jesus Christ I’m gonna be sore tomorrow.”

“And not even for a good reason.” Anton retorted, starting up the vehicle. Salem’s face burned.

“You jealous, Foghorn?~”

“Are you offering to ‘drive?’” Anton cupped his partner’s chin with his fingers, widening his seated stance slightly, his other hand resting on his belt.

“Don’t tempt me.”

“Oh, I’m not trying to.”

“... Fuck.”

[devox2564]

In Your Heart

Jake Kizka x fem reader

Chapter 2: The Meeting

You roll over in the bed expecting to find David sleeping, but instead a ray of sun hits your eyes and you flinch back away from it. Checking your phone, it's a little after noon. David left for work hours ago. His career couldn't be any more different from yours, but you manage to make it work. Sales. That was his business. He worked selling insurance policies to large corporations. He'd approached you at a bar in town two years ago and the rest is history.

Yawning, you starfish out on the mattress stretching your limbs and sinking back into the covers. David would be back around 5. Until then you have the condo to yourself.

When you roll over intending to go back to sleep, your phone buzzes. Groaning, you sit up fully and check your phone. An unfamiliar number lights up the screen and you answer. Your voice is heavy and you croak out a "Hello?"

"(Y/n)?" A low voice asks.

"Jake?" How did he get your number?

"Yes, I'm glad I caught you. I've got a friend at the studio that heard you play last night and wants to meet you." He says quickly and you hear other voices on his end.

"Like a personal friend or an important friend?" You can't keep the interest out of your voice.

"It's a good opportunity for you, we'll just say that. Be here at 4:30. Don't be late." He said and hung up.

You toss your phone back down onto the covers. Mind racing, you cross to the closet. After a few minutes it's painfully obvious you don't have anything remotely appropriate for an important meeting. Aren't you supposed to wear nice clothes to these kinds of things? Everything in your closet is intended to be honky tonk appropriate. Grumbling at your lacking wardrobe, you decide to shower and then figure out what to wear.

The hot water washes away the bewilderment you feel and leaves behind excitement. You wouldn't ask a friend for a favor in the industry, you have definitely always wanted to find your own way. But if someone can facilitate an in? There's no harm in that right? But no, you aren't going to get your hopes up yet. Chances are you'll be back in that bar tomorrow night getting ready for the same show. Just breathe.

You see that Josh (whose number you did already have) has texted you an address. You like the message and toss the phone back on the bed. By the time you've figured out what to wear it's 4pm. You've settled on a high neck knit dress in a dark grey. It's not ideal but it'll do. You know you can play in it if need be, and it goes with your most comfortable pair of boots. By the time the outfit is on, the hair and the face are done, and the Uber is ordered, you only have 5 minutes to get there.

Luckily, it's not far and your Uber driver is traveling at breakneck speed. As you screech to a halt, you realize what this building is. RCA Studio. It shouldn't be a surprise to you. Josh has mentioned before that they record here but it didn't even cross your mind when he sent the address. The facade is unremarkable, but some of the best music in the world has been produced here. Next to them is the man they were with at the bar the night before. As you step into the foyer Josh pulls you in for a tight hug and Jake smiles easily at you.

"Y/n, this is Toby Danzig. He's the exec in charge of A/R for the label." Jake says gesturing towards the man.

"Very nice to meet you Toby. I saw you at my set last night." You say politely as you shake the man's hand. His grip is firm and his icy blue eyes are studying you closely. 

"Come on in and we'll talk about what I need from you." Toby said with a friendly sort of authority.

....

You can't believe that you're having possibly the biggest meeting of your music career thus far inside of RCA Studio B. The lights are dim and the large room is littered with instruments, mics, and other equipment. Toby plops down into a dark wooden chair and gestures for you to sit down across from him. The twins settle in at the piano and resume whatever work they must've been doing before you arrived. 

"I'm A/R for the studio here. Jake over there recommended you to me when I went to him looking for a guitarist. An all female folk rock group called 'Wolfsbane' is getting off the ground and needs a decent guitarist. I agreed to sign them on if I could replace their guitarist." He speaks so fast you barely comprehend what he's saying. 

You? They want you to sign on as a lead guitarist? This is what you've always dreamed of but its almost so outlandish you can't believe it. This is what everyone in Nashville wants and its fallen into your lap. 

"Wait, what?" you stutter, "You mean to tell me that A) You want me?  and B) This group is just letting you replace their guitarist?"

He nods in ascent, "Exactly. The girl's got a serious drug problem and needs rehab. They were looking for a good way to push her out and I make a good villain." 

"I'm not trying to talk you out of this but-"

"No buts. These two over here say you're the best in town. I don't do less than the best." The boys are moving over toward the two of you.

"What have you decided?" Jake asks straddling one of the chairs and resting his chin on his hands. His eyes scan your face, reading the shock plastered all over it. 

With a flourish, his brother approaches and says "Yess it's time you follow us into fame and fortune. Both of us hail from the same humble beginnings after all." 

A troubling thought crosses your mind.

"So there's not going to be any bad blood between me and the rest of the band?" you ask apprehensively.

"Trust me, I know there won't be." Toby's voice has a slightly mischievous quality now. Like he knows something you don't. But this opportunity is just too good to pass up.  

"You know what. Fuck it. I'll do it." you say, not even comprehending how much your life is about to change.

.

.

.

.

.

You've just finished the second chapter! Thank you to anyone who's reading! There's going to be a little bit of a time jump, and that's when we'll get into the meat of the story!

-E

[libellule-ao3]

Summary: A lesson in skating turns out to be much more instructive and valuable than expected.

General Audiences/Completed/995 words

Warning: Y6/C18 Spoiler Alert

Characters : Penny Haywood, Rowan Khanna, Jae Kim, MC (Annie), Nymphadora Tonks, Charlie Weasley, Tulip Karasu.

A/N: A fun little slice of winter life with a bittersweet ending.

***

Overnight, frost fell on Hogwarts Lake, turning its calm waters into a giant ice rink. Inspired by the clear, dry weather, Penny suggested braving the cold for an afternoon of skating with friends.

Sitting on the dock with Rowan, who has abandoned her books to inaugurate her camera, Annie watches Jae, Andre, Barnaby, Chiara, and Tulip dance nimbly on the ice. As for Tonks, she stumbles painfully, helped by Charlie, to a rock emerging from the thick ice. Annie smiles and waves her wand to equip her shoes with glittering blades through a spell.

“Can you skate?” asks Penny, freeing her blond hair from her Hufflepuff house scarf.

“Not really.”

“Don’t worry, it’s like rollerblading,”

The witch exchanges a knowing look with Rowan, the only one aware of her problem. Annie has never been on rollerblades. Feeling a little silly, she refrains from saying so. In fact, she’s more the type to twirl in the air on a broom or frantically wave her wand in a no-holds-barred duel.

She glides from the platform to the frozen surface. As soon as her feet hit the ice, the witch staggers and clings to the pier.

“It’s not as easy as it looks!”

Annie takes a step along the dock, then two, trying to find her balance, photographed by her best friend who follows them as they walk along the pier. At her side, Penny delivers valuable advice.

“One step, slide, one step, slide... Lean a bit! Okay, let go of the pier.”

“Not yet,” says Annie, her teeth clenched.

When they reach the end, Penny offers her a helping hand. The witch hesitates, looks at her comrades who are having a fun time on the ice, and grabs it.

“If I end up with all four irons in the air...” Annie scolds in a threatening voice.

“Don’t worry! In ice skating, the hardest part isn’t necessarily the fall,” Jae exclaims as he zigzags past them before dashing after Andre, who’s running down the ice faster than a Golden Snitch.

Annie settles for an unwelcoming grunt, not knowing what to make of this information.

“It’s ok, I’m here!” reassures Penny, who supports her as best she can by skating backwards in front of Annie.

When Annie has gained enough ease, Penny releases one hand, then the other, and moves away to give her some space. Unbalanced, Annie rocks right and left and her knees shake as she continues to slide, carried away by her momentum. She panics, wobbles for five - endless! - seconds before regaining control of her movements. Phew! Something akin to pride swells in her chest as Penny compliments her.

More confident, Annie is intoxicated by the sensation of speed, the bite of the wind on her face, the soft glint of ice shimmering in the sun. Next to her, her friends swirl around like a flock of starlings, laughing and joking. Their skates raise a fine dust of ice which, when it falls, leaves fine arabesques on the frozen lake.

In her contemplation, Annie does not hear Penny’s warning. She stumbles over an outcropping of rock and runs straight into one of her comrades, who is strolling on the ice. She lets out a shrill cry.

“Jae!”

With a nimble little jump, he pivots and slides backwards as Annie collapses to her knees, girding his waist with all her might. And they say quidditch is a dangerous sport! The fools!

“Are you okay?” asks Jae once they are still.

Though her pride denies this vigorously, Annie is more scared than hurt, so she nods. “Thank me. I fell on purpose to give you a chance to be a hero and be proud of yourself!”

She underlines her words with a broad, hypocritical smile, lifting her face to her friend, solid on his feet. Jae’s eyes twinkle. Of course! He is too smart not to understand that she is trying to save face. She takes a deep breath and tries to raise her body and her dignity. Both are on their knees.

“It’s true that if I haven’t saved a damsel in distress during the day, on top of all my chores in detention, Pitts comes to haunt me at night. Good thing you’re here!”

Annie ties her arms around Jae’s neck, hoping her feet will follow the example of her finally stabilised torso. “Do I look that distressed?”

Jae steps back slightly to remind her he is her only bulwark against falling, and she holds on tighter, helpless against his mischief. He sneers as she stifles an expletive in his coat. Then Annie cautiously steps back from her friend, who offers her two helping hands to cling to, thus supporting this new, timid try at skating.

“Thanks... Earlier, you implied that the hardest part of skating is getting back up, weren’t you?”

Jae nods, concentrating on her feet.

“But just like in life, you’ll always find friends to help you,” Penny interjects, grabbing one of her hands.

“And others to never let you forget the embarrassing moments!” shout Tonks and Tulip, pointing at Rowan and Charlie with the camera, hilarious.

***

Alone in her dormitory, Annie looks at the memories that adorn the wall behind her bed. Her gaze wanders to a rather comical photo where she is clinging to Jae like a niffler to its galleon, her buttocks look like they are going in the opposite direction to her head, and her feet are out of control. She lingers on Penny’s worried expression, on Jae’s beaming amusement, or the smiles of her friends in the background. How carefree they were in those days! A wave of nostalgia washes over her. The witch takes down the photo and turns it over to admire the familiar handwriting of her late best friend. With emotion, she follows the elegant line of a capital letter with her finger.

"First lesson from the future youngest teacher at Hogwarts:

Never forget that life is like that trip to the ice rink!

Rowan."

[sarahfeliciam]

The Ultimatum Ch 46

Chapter 46

It had been two days since the events of the Shrieking Shack.

Remus had not moved from his spot at her bedside and Emeline had not yet awoken completely. However, her nightmares were coming less and less and her vitals were remarkably stable. Her fever had broken already, which even surprised Jones. 

But she’d still not opened her eyes, and it was driving Remus to madness.

On the late afternoon of the second day, there was a soft knock at her door and Remus looked up as it creaked open.

“May we come in?”

He smiled wearily and nodded.

“Yes, Arthur, please. I… George?” Remus stood now, greeting them both with a grateful glisten in his eyes.

“Dumbledore pulled the twins this morning so George could come by.” Arthur responded, moving to hug Remus. 

George took his turn after, but his eyes were well past Remus and only fixated on Emeline. 

He had a small bouquet of wildflowers clutched in a white fist.

“Is she?”

“Awake? Not yet.” Remus shook his head softly. “Go on; have a seat. We can step out.” He motioned to the chair he’d been sitting in and George nodded slowly as they left. 

Remus shut the door quietly behind him and ran a hand through his hair as he sighed.

“I’m so sorry, Remus. I can’t imagine how terrifying this has been. We feel horribly for Emeline.”

“Thank you,” he started quietly. “It’s been awful.” Remus did not want to cry again, man to man, but he also knew he was in the presence of someone who could truly understand. 

His tears fell quickly then.

“It’s been my worst nightmare.”

Arthur’s own eyes were hazy and he hugged Remus quickly before continuing.

“She will be alright and she’ll be stronger for it, you know that? You saved her life; that’s not something every parent gets to do. Take it easy on yourself. I think Molly would like to pop in later on and I’ve agreed to take your guard duty shift this evening so you have nothing to worry about, alright?”

Remus groaned and nodded with a grateful smile.

“I completely forgot. Thank you, Arthur. It means a great deal.”

“No matter, I’m happy to help. Just focus on your girl. George asked if he could stay until the order comes back to retrieve him. I believe they were coming in about half an hour, is that alright?”

“Yes, ofcourse. I’ll go grab some tea and give him time.” He glanced back at the door, nervous but understanding.

“Thank you, Remus. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

•

George could not bring himself to touch her.

The room was cold and uncomfortable to him, and he didn’t do well with sickness. 

Despite Fred and his outwardly tough exteriors, the weight of this type of pain was incredibly crippling; he wanted nothing more than to be anywhere except this room.

But she kept him there.

She looked so peaceful and just as beautiful as she always was. Her chest was rising and falling rhythmically which calmed his own heart down. She had a bit more color than his father had tried to warn him about her lacking and, aside from a few hospital wires and the ambiance, she appeared to George to be just napping.

“How the hell did this happen?” Was all he could manage as a single tear rolled down his cheek. “I need you to wake up, E.”

He spent most of his time in silence, staring at her. 

He’d set her flowers at the foot of her bed and glanced at the clock every so often. He felt like a terrible person for wanting to have a reason to go. 

He loved her.

But this was torture.

Toward the end of his time spent, he packed up the courage to graze her fingers with his own. 

Despite having no response, his stomach settled slightly at the touch, and he spent the rest of the visit hand in hand.

•

Remus settled back into his chair and cracked open a novel Sirius had sent with Tonks when she popped back in. 

Molly had already been by with a warm plate of supper for him and a small knitted blanket for Emeline. She draped it over her legs with teary eyes before giving Remus a kiss and leaving with Tonks. 

As his eyes fell to the pages, hopeful to clear his mind for a moment, he found himself beginning to read aloud to her, the way he’d always dreamed of when she was a baby. 

He wasn’t sure how much time had lapsed that evening, but he was completely immersed in the story and hadn’t faltered reading it to her in the dim light. 

When he paused to finally take a sip of tea, he propped the book upside down atop his knee that was crossed over his other leg, and surely so cramped that he felt he would never move from the position. 

“W-why did you stop?” Her voice was quiet and hoarse; her eyes still closed.

Remus had no response to the pain as he jumped up from where he was aching moments ago. 

He set the mug down as his book fell to the floor and a relieved laugh escaped his lips.

“My girl.” He whispered, leaning over her to stroke her hair softly. 

She fought for a moment to open her eyes, and as her icy blue met his, he filled with tears once more.

He covered her in a hug then, collapsing more weight over her than he probably should have. Her chuckle was dry and quiet as he pulled back, fixing her blanket and staring at her.

“Do you need anything? Thirsty? I have tea.”

“Not yours?” She asked tiredly, extremely disoriented, still, but trying to grasp her surroundings.

“No, not mine.” He smiled. “The hospital makes it terribly.”

Her cracked lips broke into a smile too and she shook her head.

“Not worth it, then.”

He moved the chair closer to her bed and sat back down as he grabbed her hand.

“Do you know why we’re here?” He asked hesitantly. 

His stomach lurched as she nodded.

“I remember.” She whispered, looking at him with her eyes slit in exhaustion.

“You really scared me.” He held her hand tightly between his two and pulled her fingers to his lips. “It took a long time to know you were going to be alright.”

“I’m sorry.” She murmured. “It still hurts.” Her mind wandered to the aching in her sides. 

“I’m sure it will for a bit, pup. They should have potions to ease that.”

“How long did it hurt for you?”

Remus furrowed his eyebrows in confusion for a moment, and then it dawned on him and his face paled.

“Emeline, you weren’t bitten.”

“What?” Her eyes widened slightly, her brows crinkled in confusion. 

“Greyback, he didn’t bite you. It was daybreak before he could.”

“This was all for nothing?” The desperation in her voice ripped his heart in two. 

He sensed her fear again for the first time in a long time. 

“Emma, he didn’t bite you, but you…” he searched what little he could see of her eyes. He felt crushed under this weight. How could he say this to her? “You needed blood; you needed a transfusion and-“

“-you gave it?” She finished flatly. For the first time, he didn’t see emotion in her eyes. 

“Well, yes. Ofcourse. You could’ve died. I would’ve done anything t-“

“-I tried to stop this.” She whispered. 

“What?” He asked quietly, standing over her again.

“I tried to keep it from being you; I thought you wouldn’t be able to bear it and,” she took a shaky breath and closed her eyes. “You still had to.”

“Tried to stop…” Remus looked frantic now and his eyes narrowed as both his and Emeline’s welled up with tears. “Tell me you didn’t.”

She shook her head slightly as he knelt beside the bed, eye level with his daughter. 

“You knew he would come.” His face was void of all color now and his heart was racing. 

“I did it for you.” She whispered, tears streaming down her cheeks.

He wiped them away with the back of his hand and moved close to her face. Her eyes locked on his and he shook his head gently.

“Emeline, I don’t know where you got this wrong but you need to get it right. I am the parent, not you. Your job is not to protect me, it is quite the opposite. I would lay down my life without question if that’s what you needed, do you understand me?”

She had never seen this resolve from him before. 

She nodded as she squinted her eyes closed again, attempting to clear the tears. 

He rested his hand on her shoulder and offered her a warm smile through his own teary eyes. 

“Tell me you understand.” He said quietly. “Tell me you’ll never compromise yourself again for me.” 

“Dad, I -“

“-Emeline,” he was all but begging now. He leaned down to hold her as she reached her arm out to him. “Promise me, please.” 

“I promise.” She cried into his chest. 

He rubbed the back of her head as she cried, reminding her to breathe and calling for Jones when her pain became too much.

•

Once the healers had looked her over and given her a potion to help, she was able to rest much more comfortably again aside from needing another wound re-dressing due to bleeding.

“How bad is it?” She asked Remus, sitting up now with the aid of the pain relief. 

“It’s fine.” He shrugged with a smile that was a bit too reassuring. 

“You won’t look at it, will you?”

He shook his head lamely. “Guilty as charged.”

“How did… how did we get here?” 

“I brought you.” He replied simply, setting down the fresh cup of tea he’d gone to grab while the healers were in.

“You had such a hard night. How?”

“You’re doing it again, darling. I managed fine.”

She stared into his eyes, able to watch the entire memory as it replayed in his mind. 

She swallowed thickly. 

“You saved my life, dad.” She whispered. 

He gave her a curious glance, taking a seat on the chair next to her once more and crossing his leg. 

“You sound surprised.” He responded with a twinkle in his eyes.

She chuckled and shook her head, closing her eyes once more. “Tired.”

She was slipping in and out of consciousness then, once more. A response to the pain management, he was sure.

“Get some sleep, pup.”

He slid his chair back slightly, the noise was normal to him, but Emeline grimaced at the scrape against the floor.

“What’s wrong?”

“So loud.” She complained quietly. 

“Darling, it wasn’t lo-“

Remus crossed his arms curiously before moving to pull out his wand and casting lumos quietly. 

Emeline turned her head away from his wand despite her eyes being closed.

“I understand.” He spoke softly, reaching out his hand to grab hers. 

She turned her fingers up to his before he was even touching her.

“What?” She groaned, desperate for sleep.

“Your senses being heightened are normal. I’m used to it by now, but I forgot it would feel a little unusual to you at first.”

She looked at him tiredly, her eyes heavy and slightly black underneath. 

“It’s a werewolf thing?”

He laughed lightly and squeezed her hand.

“Yes. A werewolf thing. Our thing. Get some sleep, darling.” 

She nodded with a smile and her eyes fluttered shut once more. 

•

It was around two-thirty in the morning when Remus was shaken awake by Tonks, tears staining her cheeks and her wand illuminating the room.

“Remus, wake up.” She cried, clutching his shoulder.

He jumped to his feet, ignoring the shockwave of pain from his spine to legs and the spinning of the room as he steadied himself. 

He turned quickly to Emeline as he squinted his eyes against the light.

“Emm-“

“-it isn’t Emeline,” she lowered her voice. “It’s Arthur. He’s been attacked and they’re bringing him here. Remus, they don’t think he’s going to make it.”

[its-vannah]

Let Her Go - Charlie Weasley x Reader

A/N: I'm so sorry this is so bad.

Word Count: 2,922

Warnings: Fluff to angst real fast

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

2014

"Uncle Charlie?" A young boy asked, sitting beside his favorite uncle on the couch, "Can I ask you a question?"

"Let me think about it." Charlie teased, elbowing his nephew with his arm, "You know you can ask me anything, Hugo."

Hugo nodded, fiddling with a stuffed dragon in his lap, not daring to meet his Uncle's eyes, "Why didn't you ever get married?"

Charlie sunk back into his seat, releasing a sigh, "You really want to know?"

"Yes."

"I almost did."

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

1986

"Charlie!" You called out, running at full force to catch up to him as he walked through the long corridors.

The ginger turned, a smile spreading across his face as he slowed to a stop, waiting for you to catch up.

Once you caught up, the two of you walked side by side, clutching piles of books to your chests.

"You won't believe what Tonks did in potions." You exclaimed, a laugh escaping your lips as you descended the stairs down to Care of Magical Creatures. It was Charlie's favorite class, the one he was most passionate about. And you had no doubt that he'd probably end up as the professor one day.

He quirked a brow, "Do I want to know?"

"That depends on how much you like Snape." You teased, nudging him with your elbow.

"Well, now I've gotta know, Y/N!"

"Alright, so I was sitting next to Tonks in potions and…"

It was moments like these, when you became so animated sharing a story that Charlie felt his heart skipped a beat. He had never exactly thought about settling down. But one look at you and he knew. He knew you were the love of his life.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

1987

"Did you hear about the Celestial Ball coming up?" Charlie asked you one day, his heart practically beating out of his chest. He knew that there was a good chance that you already had a date lined up by now, but he held out hope that you hadn't.

You nodded, "I did. Dumbledore did announce it in front of the entire cafeteria, after all."

"I suppose he did." Charlie responded, giving you a small smile, "I was just wondering if you'd gotten a date yet?"

"Oh." Your bottom lip puckered, "I just assumed that we were going together. But if you're taking someone else, it's no harm done. I won't mind."

He shook his head, "No! No, I was going to ask you. I just didn't want to ask if you already had someone lined up.

"You're the only one I'd want lined up." You say, offering a smile, your arm brushing his as you walked to Charms.

"Same for me." His face turned red at the thought of taking you to the ball, "I mean, I don't want myself lined up. I was talking about you. You're the only one I'd want lined up. Sorry, I'm not very good at this."

You laughed, gently patting his back, "Oh, Charlie, you're fine, really. I understood what you meant."

He couldn't help but admire and envy your kindness. You understood him, at times, more than he understood himself. You could unscramble anything he said, even when it didn't make sense. He had plenty of friends, being on the Quidditch team, but at the end of the day, you were the only one he wanted to see in the crowd.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

1987

You descended the stairs down to the ballroom, your deep blue robes swishing behind you, golden thread sewn into the fabric to appear as constellations. You were breathtaking.

Charlie waited for you at the bottom of the stairs, eventually abandoning the idea and running up to meet you halfway, skipping a step as he went.

"You look stunning, Y/N." He said, unable to take his eyes off of you.

You smiled in response, "Thank you, Charlie. You don't look half bad yourself."

He swallowed the bile rising in his throat, breaking out into a small sweat as the two of you reached the bottom of the staircase.

"I have a confession." He said, his head hanging low.

"What is it?" You asked, a hand resting on his shoulder for support, "You know you can tell me anything."

"I can't dance." He admitted, "I've tried a dozen times and I just… I can't. I don't remember the moves or anything. My leading is even worse."

You thought about it for a moment, "I can lead, if you'd like. It'd take some of the pressure off of you."

"And who said we had to be good at dancing? As long as we're having a good time, I don't see the harm in stepping on your toes a few times." You added, with a teasing tone.

Charlie smiled at you. You always had a solution, a way to fix problems. Not just yours, or his own, but everyone's. Nearly everyone in your year came to you when they needed help. It took a toll on you at times, but you enjoyed being there for them. It was one of the reasons you were made prefect. He wouldn't have you any other way.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

1988

"Are you nervous?" You asked, adjusting his red and gold tie, "You've dreampt about dragons for years, and now you're finally seeing one. I've got a feeling you're about to jump out of your skin."

Charlie sighed, "I've been waiting for this for fifteen years. I'm afraid I'll mess up or be engulfed in flames. But this could also be the happiest moment of my life."

"You don't think the birth of your child will be the happiest moment of your life?" You asked, "You need to sort out your priorities, Weasley."

"I'd prefer to get married before doing the whole children thing." He said as you finished fixing his tie.

You gazed up at him, "And who's going to be the lucky bride/groom/one?"

His whole time at Hogwarts had been leading up to this. If something crazy happened and he were to die at a dragon's talons, he had to say it. He had to tell you how he felt.

"I'm hoping it'll be you."

Your eyes widened, shock pulsing through your body. He was afraid he had made a mistake, jepordizing your friendship. But it needed to be done.

He turned away, "Sorry, I'll see you after class, Y/N. Hope-"

You pressed a kiss to his cheek, standing on the tips of your toes to reach his face. Then, you turned away, looking back once or twice to see him standing rigidly.

A smile spread on his face, and he stood there for a moment before walking to Care of Magical Creatures. He was on top of the world.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

1989

"Tell me, how much trouble have Fred and George gotten into so far? It's what, their fourth time in detention in a week?" You asked, "Mcgonnagal's going to hand her hands tied with those two, you know."

Charlie sighed, "At least Mum gets a break, with Bill off in Egypt and the four of us here at Hogwarts."

"How are Ron and Ginny doing?" You questioned, "With all of their siblings being off?"

"They're doing as well as they can for being nine and eight. They're still young, so they'll probably be trying to get into the attic to see the ghoul."

You stepped back, "You have a ghoul in your attic? Is it friendly?"

"More or less." He responded, "It'll bang on the pipes when the house is too quiet, though. Can't imagine the ruckus it's making without Fred and George there. Probably having a conniption fit as we speak."

"I'm sure your mum will love that." You snorted, covering your mouth with your hand in embarassement before chanigng the subject, "And how about you? How are you holding up?"

Confused, he tilt his head, "About what? The dragons?"

"No, Charlie, not about the dragons. The O.W.L.S.. Have you been studying?"

"I've barely been sleeping from all the studying. This is what will get me into that dragon program in Romania." He said eagerly, although it was a bit of a touchy subject for the two of you.

You would have been content with working for the ministry under the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures, but Charlie wanted something new, something freeing.

So the two of you had agreed not to talk about it until the end of seventh year. But as the end of sixth approached, you worried that you would lose each other. It broke your heart to think about, but you knew that once he had his mind set on something, nothing would come in his way.

"Well, if you want to get a high score, you need to get some rest." You reminded him, resting your head on his shoulder, "Studying will only get you so far, you need to get some rest, alright?"

He nodded, "Don't worry, I will."

"Good."

Charlie headed back to his room shortly after, slipping under his quilt. He turned on his side, gazing at the picture he kept of you on his nightstand. Your hair flowing rapidly in the wind. With a smile, he closed his eyes, drifting into a deep sleep.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

1989

It was a warm April day and you were laying on Charlie's lap, staring at the clouds above you when he asked you a question that had the potential to change your lives.

"Marry me."

You initially laughed it off, "Alright."

"Really?" He asked, surprised, inclining his head to face you.

You lifted yourself from his lap, raising a brow, "What are you going on about?"

"I think we should get married?"

"And when did you get that idea?"

Charlie shrugged, "Always figured it would happen, but I got the idea just now."

"So you think I'll say yes and we'll just go get married?"

"Why not?"

"Charlie." You began, "We're fifth years. We can't get married even if we wanted to."

When he didn't respond, you continued, "Besides, you'd have to propose to me first. And even after that, it takes a while to plan a wedding."

"Oh." He said, slumping in defeat. You went back to your previous position, contentedly laying your head in his lap.

But it didn't last long. He sat back up, causing you to slide off his lap, "Then I'll just propose to you."

You pushed yourself up off the grass, "Bloody hell, Charlie."

"So, what do you say, marry me?"

"Where's my ring?" You teased, crossing your arms.

Charlie merely pulled out his wand, plucked a blade of grass, and muttered a spell under his breath that turned the green blade into a ring. A nearby flower was turned into a shimmering gem that nestled itself into the center of the ring.

Your jaw dropped, "When I asked about the ring, I was joking..."

"Not joking now, are you?"

You shook your head, leaning in to get a closer look at the ring, "It's beautiful for a piece of dirt."

"Grass." He corrected, holding it out, "So, what do you say? Will you, Y/N, marry me?"

Pretending to think about it for a moment, you shrugged, "Hmm... I don't know..."

"Oh come on, woman, what do you want from me?"

"Oh, hush, Weasley." You laughed, pressing a kiss to his lips, "Yes, I'll marry you, but only if you promise to keep it between us."

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

1991

"Charlie, how is this going to work?." You said, seated across from him in the library.

His shoulders sagged, "How is what going to work?"

"Getting married."

Charlie shrugged, "I dunno, we'll figure out a way to make it work."

"But you're planning on going to Romania."

"So? You're planning on working for the Ministry."

"Which is thousands of miles away from one another."

He let out a long sigh, "I never really thought about that."

"So what are we going to do, Charlie?" You asked, "I don't want to break things off, but I want to have some idea of what my future will look like."

He thought about it for a moment, "Then don't."

"Don't what?" Confusion masked your face, "I don't understand."

"We'll hold off on getting married, stay engaged until we're both happy in our careers. I'll get to experience life in Romania, and you'll get to work here in London. Eventually one of us will get tired of our jobs and want to leave."

"Charlie, it might work temporarily, but we can't keep putting this off." You sighed, placing your head in your hands.

He pressed a kiss to your temple, "I know."

But he didn't know.

A few weeks later, you turned around one of the many corridors after Charms and found Charlie running up to you, a large smile spread across his lips.

He slowed to a stop before you, taking your hands into his, "I got it, Y/N. I got the internship."

"Internship?" You questioned, "What on earth are you talking about, Charlie?"

His heart sank. He hadn't told you.

"Y/N, I need to tell you something and it's not going to be easy, alright?" He said, lowering his voice and pulling you to the side of the corridor, "I applied for an internship at the Romanian Dragon Sanctuary a few months ago… and I got it."

You stared at him dead in the eye, "And you just weren't going to tell me?"

"No, I was going to. I didn't want to cause any trouble… I didn't even think I'd get in!"

"No, Charlie. You don't get to go around and do whatever you want behind my back and expect me to go along with it. You said we'd talk about it. And we didn't. You had every moment to tell me. Before you applied, when you applied, even a few days after. And you didn't." You hissed, turning in the other direction.

He reached for your hand, but you tugged it away, turning your head back to him, "And for the record, Charlie, I'm really proud of you. I'm really proud of you for getting the internship. But what I'm not proud of is the fact that you kept this from me."

"I'm done, Charlie. With all of this. I can't keep taking all of this back and forth. It's exhausting. I'm sorry, Charlie, I can't."

With that, you walked towards your common room without another word.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

2014

Charlie spared his nephew the details of how devastated he had been when you had called it quits, but made sure to give him the overall picture.

"Did you ever talk to her again?" Hugo asked, swinging his feet, "You must have really loved her."

He sighed, "No, I haven't spoken to her since that night in the corridor. I've sent her plenty of owls, but I've gotten no response. But I still love her, Hugo, I still do."

"So why don't you marry her?" He asked.

"It's not that easy, bud." Charlie sighed, "If it was, I would have."

Hugo frowned, "I wish I could have met her."

"Me too."

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

2019

Charlie held Hugo's hand as he walked him to the platform.

"Thanks for being here, Uncle Charlie." He smiled, "You didn't have to come."

"What are Uncles for?" Charlie quipped, "I wanted to be here."

They ran into the platform, appearing on the other side mere moments later. Ron and Hermione followed suit behind the two of them, "Are we chopped liver, Hugo?"

"No offence, mum, but Uncle Charlie works with dragons. He's way cooler."

Rose scoffed teasingly, "This is why I'm the favorite."

"Are not!" Hugo retorted angrily.

The siblings continued to bicker, but Charlie hardly noticed. He only saw you, your hands smoothing down a teenager's robes, talking sternly to him.

He could just barely make out what you were saying.

"Now, Y/N/N (your nephew's name), promise me that you'll stay out of trouble. You're in your sixth year now, there's no excuse."

"Aunt Y/N…" He groaned, rolling his head back, "I'll behave, I promise."

You brushed his h/c hair away from his face, tapping his cheek gently, "I love you, Y/N/N."

He leaned in to give you a hug, already towering over you at sixteen, "I love you, too."

With that, he turned towards the express and climbed aboard, his black and red robes flowing behind him.

Hugo approached his uncle, giving him a quick hug before skipping off to the train, climbing aboard with a smile on his face. He eagerly waved goodbye as the train started to depart.

Charlie waved back, and within moments, the train disappeared.

He looked back to where you stood, time at a standstill. Then you twist your head back, meeting his gaze.

Without even thinking, he was walking over to you. His heart was beating out of his chest with every step he took. Finally, he was standing before you, offering a small smile, "Y/N."

"Charlie."

"Saying your goodbyes?"

"More like "see you soon's", but yes." You responded, "My sister/brother passed when my nephew was an infant, so I've been raising him for the past fifteen years now."

He nodded, "Is he a hand full?"

"You know all the trouble Fred and George got into?"

"I do."

"That, but with one child instead of two."

Charlie couldn't help but laugh, "You ever have any of your own?"

"Me? No, no, I never settled down. What about you?"

"Me neither." He responded, "Y/N, I-"

But you cut him off, tugging the chain around your neck up so he could see what was on it. He inhaled sharply when he saw the ring he made you dangling from the dainty chain.

"I've worn this ever since we said goodbye all those years ago, Charlie. No one else was ever going to have my heart. It was always you."

He took a step forward, "Your picture is still on my nightstand, Y/N. The same one I had at Hogwarts."

A hint of a smile appeared on your face, "Are you free for brunch?"

"I can make time."

[thesecretwriter]

fantasy reading (remus lupin) - 1.

Disclaimer: This blog is strictly 18+, minors please do not interact as that is not something I am comfortable with. Thank you!

Pairing: Remus Lupin x female reader

Summary: You like reading every sort of genre there is to romance. From angst to smut. Remus uncovers this little secret of yours and makes a move which he has been wanting to make for a long time. Warning: Angst? – idk if it is lol, fluff – its Remus, there’s always fluff with him, smut theme – minors dni.

part two

harry potter series masterlist

“Until the next meeting, I suggest those without an assigned mission have a rest. We don’t know what to expect in this dark time and need everyone well rested and prepared if anything happens.” Dumbledore glances to everyone in the room as he concludes the meeting for the day.

The meeting was held at Grimmauld Place. Sirius had happily welcomed the order to hold meetings here as it was not known to many.

“I don’t know about you, but I wouldn’t be able to rest when chaos could happen at any moment.” Bill said nudging your shoulder, you nodded your head in agreeance.

Everyone woke up from there seats and left the room. Harry, Ron, Hermione, and the others were upstairs – Dumbledore didn’t want to concern Harry more than he already was.

As you made your way out of the room and to the livingroom, with Bill following closely behind, you failed to notice the lingering gaze of Remus.  

When your thoughts dawdle to him, you think of a very strong man who has lived a difficult life. Remus was kind, interesting and always managed to make those around him happy.

You admired him very much, and it was only Sirius who could recognize this admiration as something else. You were so oblivious to your own feelings for him that it made Sirius wonder how you were the most skilled witch he had known.

“Y/n dear, would you please help me with laying the table. It seems the children are too caught up in seeing one another.”

“Sure, no problem.” You replied kindly.

Excusing yourself from the livingroom, you walked down the narrow hallway which led to the kitchen and was about to enter when you bumped into a tall figure.

“Pardon me.” You apologized and looked up, meeting the eyes of Remus.

“My fault, it’s okay.” He said gently resting his hands on your shoulders to steady you.

You smiled at him nervously before slipping into the kitchen. You briefly looked over your shoulder and saw that he was still watching you.

A kind smile on his lips, you gave him a tight-lipped smile before going to Molly and letting her hand you the many plates to set on the table.

While it may make sense to just use a spell to set the table, you took comfort in the domesticity of small household tasks. It reminded you of home.

“Dinner is ready everyone!” Molly’s booming voice echoed in the large house.

Soon you heard the hurried footsteps of Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Ginny. Fred and George, who recently become of age to perform magic out of Hogwarts, just appeared beside a startled Molly.

“One of these fine days I’m going to be the mother of 5 children instead of 7.” She grumbled.

“I agree mum. I personally vote for Ron and Bill to be put up for adoption.” Fred said nonchalantly.

Ron sent him a glare, while Bill came in laughing at the fact that he was very much over the age to be put up for adoption.

Soon everyone was at the table. Harry sat next to Sirius, telling him all about what has been going on in his life, Ginny and Hermione were gossiping, Ron was eating, and the twins were discussing what spells they wanted to try out later.

Bill was sat beside you, speaking very lowly about Fleur and how she is so eager to meet his family, when funnily enough, they didn’t even know he was seeing her.

“I don’t know how to introduce her to them… you know how they can be.” He said with a sad smile.

You understood him, Molly had wanted him to end up with Tonks, who was too busy focusing on her own career to worry about settling down.

You, Bill, and Tonks were all the same age, 24 years old, and attended Hogwarts together.

"If you feel your relationship with her is strong, then I think you should introduce her to them. From what you tell me, Fleur seems like an amazing person.” You give him a reassuring smile.

All he could talk about was her, so he most definitely felt that their relationship was strong.

He took your hand in his and gave it a gentle squeeze as a way to thank you.

The small gesture didn’t go unnoticed by Remus. He had been watching you since dinner had begun.

Remus viewed you as a fire to be reckoned with. While you may seem like the kindest witch in the world, you wouldn’t hesitate to put someone in their place if they did anything wrong to you or someone you cared about.

He bared witness to this when you and he accompanied Mad eye and Tonks on a mission to bring Sirius to safety from dementors.

After dinner, you had helped clear the table and clean up for the night.

It was already late and the majority of everyone had gone to bed since the next day was going to be a long one.

“Do you need help with that?” Remus’ voice spoke from behind you.

You had been trying to put away a plate which was kept in a very high place.

“Yes, please.” You reply softly.

You were about to move out of the way when his hand was placed on the counter in front of you, trapping you between him and the counter. As his other hand reached up to put the plate in its place, you felt his chest briefly brush against your back.

“You know… for a witch you sure do things in a very muggle way.” His voice was soft as he spoke.

“Before becoming a witch, this was my normal. Doing things manually.” You said with a smile.

You were born to a muggle family and got the letter every 11-year-old dreamed of receiving. Your life changed after that, but not everything changed.

“… besides, we could all use a little normalcy around here.” You said turning around to face him. He took a step back, otherwise your face would literally have been pressed into his chest.

“That’s true… I’ve been meaning to ask you more about the muggle books you recommended to me-“

“Remus, you’re needed in the livingroom!!” Sirius voice called from down the hallway.

“We can talk about this later?” He asked, to which you nodded.  

You and Remus had one thing in common, you both enjoyed reading. While he may have been older than you, you two got along like a house on fire when it came to books. Which is why in between breaks from missions you two would recommend books to one another.

He would tell you about magical books, while you would tell him about muggle books.

You stood there for a moment, processing what happened. It was a normal interaction, but the body language you two had exchanged with one another made your heart speed up and your thoughts roam wildly.

“Calm down y/n, he was just helping you with plates.” You told yourself before exiting the kitchen to join whoever was awake in the livingroom.

Bill was sat with Fred and George discussing a few things while Sirius and Remus were conversing quietly.

Remus’ eyes met yours briefly before his attention was brought back to Sirius’.

You were about to excuse yourself to go and prepare for bed before Bill noticed you and motioned you over.

“I was summoned.” You joked and sat beside him.

“Yes, I need you to convince these two to continue attending Hogwarts before wanting to join the order.”

Your eyes widened at his statement. Fred and George were still too young to be involved in such business. Even if you were just a few years older than them, you still looked to them as children.

“Your choice in wanting to join is very honorary, but it’s too dangerous right now. You just started to perform magic out of school, there’s still so much more for you to learn at Hogwarts. You can join at the right time, it’s just not right now.” You say with a sad smile.

You could understand their choice, they watched their parents work endlessly and contribute so much of effort into the order, but the last thing Arthur and Molly would want was to put any of their children in harm’s way.

They both looked upset but understood where you were coming from.

Bill, Fred, and George soon decided to go to bed as it was already late.

“I’ll be doing the same as them. Tomorrows a long day for us all. Goodnight.” You say to Sirius and Remus.

“Goodnight y/n.” Sirius waved enthusiastically. Remus lightly pinched him, which made him slightly jump.

“Goodnight.” Remus said with a smile.

You had been tossing and turning for the last hour.

Sleep seemed miles away for you at this point. You had experienced many nights where you weren’t able to sleep and instead stayed up reading, which is what you resorted to now.

You were a hopeless romantic when it came to books. Love for you always seemed like a fantasy thanks to the books you read. Remus noticed this when all the books you recommended him was romance based. Although none of them was quite like the one you were reading now.

“I think it would be better if you left.” He whispered only for her to hear.

“Why should I? Why must I deprave us both from what we both crave the most?” Tears welled up in her eyes as she watched him turn his back to her.

A chocked sob left her lips, which made him turn around and look at her.

“It’s not what you want darling-“

“How do you know what I want, or what is good for me? There isn’t anything except you that is preventing this. For the both of us.” She said on stuttered words.

His eyes watched her, he could see the tears falling down her cheeks and the sadness in her eyes. As he watched her, an emotion of realisation washed over her.

“Unless… unless you don’t want me. Oh my god, I didn’t even think of that. I’m so sorry.” She began to take steps back and away from him.

His eyes widened at her words, and he stepped forward and reached out for her.

“No, that is anything but what I feel… your life would be much better without me in it. I’ve already caused you too much pain.”

A knock at the door took your attention away from your book.

“Come in.” You called out softly.

Remus’ golden-brown eyes peered from behind your door, “I hope I’m not disturbing you. I saw your room light on while I was on my way to bed and wanted to check in.”

“You’re not disturbing anything at all, I was just reading a book since I couldn’t sleep.” You explained holding up the book.

“What book are you reading?” He said stepping into the room, he closed the door behind him.

You sat up straighter when he leaned against the door and waited for your explanation.

“Its another romance novel, about two people who can’t be together… at least that’s what I’ve collected from what I’ve read so far.” You gave him a tight-lipped smile, leaving out the fact that the book had some other scenes which you were too shy to mention.

“Seems interesting, what’s it called and who wrote it?” He asked curiously.

Oof.

“Its called ‘the ghost of you’ by Zenith.” You answer hesitantly. (haha, see what I did there?)

“I’ll add it to my book list... ” He said leaning off the door and moving to open it, “I don’t want to keep you up any longer. Goodnight.”

He stood in the doorway smiling at you.

“Goodnight, Remus.” You said back politely.

The next day was a rush. The Weasley’s were taking their children, along with Hermione and Harry to Platform 9 and 3 quarters.

After a heart felt conversation between Sirius and Harry. You and Remus went back to Grimmauld place to take care of a few things. Bill went to visit Fleur as it had been quite some time since she saw him.

“I suppose now we just do as Dumbledore said and ‘relax’.” You said taking a seat on the sofa.

“I suppose so… although I can’t exactly relax with the full moon approaching.” He said jokingly.

You smiled at his attempt of a joke but knew deep down that the next few days would be difficult for him.

“Where are you going to be during the full moon?”

“There’s a cottage not far from here that no one goes to. Dumbledore found it and said I could use it whenever I needed.” He stated.

Remus had to go through a lot of full moons alone. When you would try to say you’d accompany him, he would insist you didn’t as he didn’t want to put you in harms way.

“Are you going to be alone again? You know I have no problem keeping you company-“

“I appreciate it y/n, but like I said, I prefer to keep you safe. It’s too dangerous, he is too dangerous.” He said leaning his head on the back of the couch and looking up at the ceiling.

“I know Remus, but I don’t like you going through this alone. You have me, Sirius and so many other to help you.” You sighed.

“Everyone has bigger worries at the moment.” He turned his head slightly to look at you.

“Not me, I worry about you.” You said honestly.

A smile made its way to his lips, “That’s the thing about you, I admire how you worry about others.”

A silence embraced the two of you.

There was no one else in the house, but you and Remus. The gaze his eyes held on you was intense and had so much of emotion.

“You’ve got really pretty eyes.” He said reaching his hand over and tucking a stray lock of hair behind your ear.

Butterflies.

“So do you.” You said ever so softly.

The next day Remus had taken it upon himself to loosen up a bit, explore and be as carefree as his life would allow him to be.

He found himself at a familiar bookstore which he frequently visited at one stage. He was in search of a specific book. One that you had recently mentioned to him.

A worker at the store assisted him and found it, “Thank you so much.” He said with a smile and went to sit and read a bit of it.

Before Remus knew it, about 2 hours had passed by and he had read quite a few chapters of the book. As those 2 hours passed by, Remus grew flustered by the words that described very explicit scenes to him.

He had always known that this sort of books existed, but he never knew that you would be one to read it.

When he realised how much time had passed by, he went to purchase the book and make his way back to Grimmauld place.

As soon as he stepped in through the front door, he could hear the voices of Arthur and Sirius coming from the livingroom. He caught sight of you, Molly and Bill in the kitchen preparing some dinner.

“Remus, I was wondering where you disappeared to.” Sirius’ voice brought your attention to the hallway where you briefly made eye contact with Remus who smiled at you.

His small gesture from the previous day brought emotions you felt only when you read about romance you craved.

“I was just at a bookstore and got lost in time while reading.” You heard him explain to Sirius.

Soon he disappeared into the livingroom with Arthur and Sirius.

“Be careful, you might drool from how hungrily you’re looking at him.” Bill teased as he passed by you.

You flipped him off, which earned a chuckle from him.

“After tonight, I’m going to leave for a few days since the full moon is approaching.” Remus explained as you all sat at and ate dinner.

You perked up at his words and watched as he avoided eye contact.

“I’m coming with you this time; it’ll be like the old days.” Sirius stated.

Remus and Sirius shared a knowing smile with one another. It was no lie that Sirius, James, and Peter would help Remus with his transformations.

You unknowingly released a bit of a loud sigh, which had everyone’s eyes on you.

“Y/n dear, are you okay?” Molly asked concerned.

“Just fine, a little tired from the passed few days.” You quickly explained.

Everyone’s attention was diverted to Sirius who went on to explain some of the days he experienced at Hogwarts.

Bill, who had been sitting next to you, placed his hand on your wrist and silently asked if you were okay, you assured him that you were. Remus had watched the small interaction, feeling concerned at the unsureness in your eyes.

As soon as you were done eating, you excused yourself and made your way to your room.

You knew you should respect Remus’ wishes to not come along with him, but you couldn’t help but worry about him having to go through so much alone. Even with Sirius being there. You saw the damage that was done to him when they first reunited.

Just as you changed into your nightdress, someone knocked at your door. Having a feeling that it maybe Bill, you opened the door with saying, “I told you I’m fine Bill. I’m just tire-“

There stood Remus with his hands in his pocket.

“Hi.” He said amused.

“Hey.” You said slightly embarrassed.

“I… uh- I noticed you weren’t yourself during dinner and came to check on you.” He said matter of fact.

“I’m perfectly fine, just a bit tired.”

He looked at you suspiciously, waiting for you to explain properly because he knew you weren’t being truthful.

“Come in.” You gave in and moved a bit so he could walk inside your room.

He stood aside as you closed the door and walked past him to sit on the bed.

“I don’t want you to be upset, and I know it’s not my place but I’m not happy with you being alone during this full moon. Especially with just coming off from a tiresome mission.” You explained not meeting his eyes.

He smiled at your concern for him.

“I’m not upset. You’ve always expressed your concern, but I won’t be alone this time.” He assured you.

“I know, but I want to be there for you.” You said a bit frustratedly.

He grew silent at your words. Remus didn’t know what to say.

“Its too dangerous darling.” He said sadly.

You knew he wasn’t going to give in.

“Promise me you’ll be careful and the moment you need me, you’ll send Sirius to get me.” You said trying to negotiate.

“You have my word.” He took your hand in his and gave it a squeeze.

Wanting to make light of the situation you decided to ask him, “So, I heard you telling Sirius to a bookstore. What book did you get?”

Now this would be interesting, was the first thing that crossed Remus’ mind.

“The one you said you were reading the other night. I’m already about halfway through it.”

Your eye darted to his and you visibly grew tense, “Is that so? What do you think about it?” You tried to play it off cool, like there wasn’t a war going on in your mind.

Nobody knew you read books like that, especially the fact that you liked what you read.

“Very interesting, the details in the book are impeccable. I don’t believe I’ve come across quite such a book.”

He was smiling at you almost on the verge of laughing.

You sigh and know you must explain yourself; you were caught red handed.

“I know its not the usual book you’d think of me reading-“

“Y/n, its okay. You don’t have to explain. There’s no shame in enjoying such things.” He said turning his back to you.

“Not when you haven’t exactly experienced it.” You mutter softly, your eyes widened once you realised, he heard what you said.

He stopped in the middle of his pacing and turned his head to look at you.

“Haven’t experience it?” He questioned.

You wish the ground would open and swallow you whole. It would be much better than exposing the fact you had no sexual experience but enjoyed every moment in what you had recently been reading.

“I haven’t done it before.” You say, trying to play it off cool.

Remus was shocked at your words. To him it was shocking that no one had come along and made you feel enough love to experience such a beautiful thing.

When he saw that you had grown a bit tense from what was being said, he knew he had to ease it and not make you feel guilty about it.

“There’s nothing wrong with that, everyone takes their own time with things.” He assured you, which had you feeling slightly better.

“I know, I guess the only romance I’ve been experiencing is what I read in books.” You joke.

He could see that you were avoiding eye contact, which he didn’t like. You had beautiful eyes which he liked looking at when you spoke to him. He stepped forward and reached up so that he could make you look up at him.

“You deserve to experience a love that could only be found in books.” He said with a genuine smile.

His words brought you happiness. No one had said something like to you. You’d never been in an actual relationship before, there was no time for that when there was so much going on around you.

“You do as well Remus. You deserve a love which makes you happy about who you are. Someone who accepts you for all of you.”

The look in your eyes at that point made something snap in Remus, in that moment he knew what he felt for you was strong, and he knew you reciprocated those feelings.

Which is why he leaned down and connected your lips.

The shock of it took a second to sink in, but the moment it did, you began to kiss him back. Once you did, Remus pulled you closer to him and placed his hand around your neck.

You moaned at the feeling of his hand around your neck, which only encouraged Remus further.

His hand roamed down your body and pushed you on the bed, he then placed himself between your legs and continued to kiss you.

Remus could feel himself growing feral for you, which is why he had to pull away in order to collect his thoughts.

“What’s wrong?” You asked confused.

“I just needed a moment.” He said taking in a deep breath.

“Is something wrong?”

Your brows began to furrow, and you started to feel nervous. Remus could tell you were feeling embarrassed.

“It’s nothing wrong with you darling. With the full moon nearing, my urges become stronger than usual. Having you like this isn’t making that easy.” He chuckled.

Now you were nervous for another reason.

“Oh, I didn’t know that happened.” You said surprised.

“Yeah, besides I want you to have a good first experience, not something that just happened in the moment. You deserve more than that.” Remus said caressing your face.

[breaniebree]

SNEAK PEEK -- Chapter 343 -- The One With the News

Remus had been quite the talk over the last two weeks.  Not only was he one of the most well-liked teachers, but him bringing his newborn son in every day had definitely won some hearts.  He had a sling he kept around his chest where he cradled Teddy while he taught for an hour or so every day.  It gave Tonks the opportunity to shower and catch up on a few things before she settled back at home with the baby.  And it gave Remus the opportunity to show off his beautiful son.

And best of all, it gave Harry the chance to spend more time with Teddy.  He often spent his free periods, cradling Teddy in his arms while he watched Remus teach.  This meant that he seemed to be getting a lot more attention from the witches as of late, but he was enjoying himself too much to care.

He found his father exactly where he expected to find him and closed the door to his classroom.  Remus looked up, his hands full of parchment.

“Good morning, Harry.  What do I owe this lovely surprise?”

“I got into the academy.”

Remus stared at him for ten full seconds before his face broke out into a grin.  “Bloody hell!  Of course you did!  And Ron?”

“Yes.”

Remus pulled him into his arms for a tight hug.  “I am so proud of you.  I never had a doubt that you would get in, but my heart is just swelling with pride right now.”  He kissed the top of his head and then hugged him again.  “Gods, little Prongs, when did you grow up on me?”

“Around the time you taught me to swear.”

Remus laughed and cuffed him lightly across the head.  “You’re a brat, do you know that?”

Harry grinned.  “The boot camp starts in August so I just have to do well on my NEWTs and then I’m in.”

Remus cupped his face in his hands.  “You can do that.  You’re smart.  You just need to buckle down and study.  We both know that you’re intelligent enough to pull off top marks, Harry.  You have to focus and stop letting yourself get so distracted.”

“I’m not distracted.”

Remus gave him a knowing look.  “I know how easy it is to be distracted by a beautiful witch, Harry.  Ginny is wonderful and she makes you so happy that I can’t help but smile when I look at the two of you.  I understand why you two can’t keep your hands off of each other and as I was seventeen once, I know that you are probably hard ninety percent of the time.  I get it,” he said as Harry blushed.  “But you two need to focus on your studies and prepare for your futures.  There will be plenty of time for all of the other stuff later.”

“Are you telling me to stop having sex?”

“No,” Remus said, his lips twitching.  “Because you’d never listen and also because I would never say that; I’m simply saying, try not to let it distract you so much that you don’t focus.”

Harry grinned.  “Right.  So, I should only shag her two or three times a day.”

Remus chuckled.  “Good grief, you two are even randier than I thought!  Just focus, Harry.  Study hard and you’ll do great.”

Harry nodded and hugged his father again just as the first few students started to trickle in.  Remus kept his arms around Harry and when his class was full, he squeezed Harry’s shoulder.

“Class, I would like to share with you all that my son has just learned he’s been accepted into the Auror Academy of England and I am so bloody proud of him,” Remus exclaimed.

The group of third years clapped and Harry grinned.

“Thanks, Uncle Rem.”

Remus beamed.  “Now, get to class.”

Harry hugged his father once more and hurried out of the room, a huge smile on his face.  He and Ron were going to to be Aurors together.  It was everything he’d ever imagined and the sudden thrill of his future coming together only further reminded him of the impending doom that Voldemort was still bringing.

Now he had to wait for the other shoe to drop.

[the-al-chemist]

Artemis Hexley and the Circle of Khanna

Chapter 12: Alanza Alves

A/N: There’s a new student at school… And Artemis isn’t keen. Thankfully, she has another visitor, and this one is much more welcome. Warnings: Mentions of death and grief.

At breakfast on Sunday morning, Artemis received a message from Professor Sprout: the foreign exchange student - her new charge - would be arriving that afternoon.

“Oh, but I’m sure it will be okay,” said Penny, over the top of the Potions notes she was going over with Tonks as they ate their toast. “You never know, she might be really lovely!”

Artemis pursed her lips. She didn’t really care how lovely the new girl was, she still didn’t want to be the one to have to look after her. Still, she made her way to the entrance hall at the time Professor Sprout had requested, and found her head of house standing beside a girl in green robes.

“Ah, Artemis,” Sprout smiled and waved her over. “I was hoping that you would arrive soon. This is Alanza Alves, our new visitor from Castelobruxo.”

Alanza Alves was pretty - very pretty - with an olive complexion and brown eyes. Her hair was not quite as dark as Artemis’, though it was much neater, and her smile was broad and friendly. Artemis did not return it.

“Alanza, this is Artemis Hexley. She’s a sixth year, like yourself, and she’s one of the prefects. She very kindly has volunteered to help you to settle in.”

Artemis frowned. She hadn’t volunteered at all. Alanza Alves, however, seemed not to notice her unfriendly expression - or had maybe chosen to ignore it - for her smile widened even further, and she promptly placed her hands on Artemis’ shoulders and kissed her on both cheeks.

“It is so nice to meet you, Artemis, and very kind for you to want to help me,” she said, her voice bright in spite of Artemis’ obvious discomfort. “I am so looking forward to getting to know you.”

Artemis couldn’t say that she honestly felt the way, but was obliged to nod her head. “Yeah, sure.”

“I think it would be worth showing Alanza around the castle before dinner, so she knows where to go for her lessons,” said Professor Sprout. “As well as showing her the library, the Common Room, the Great Hall…”

“That’s probably a good idea,” Artemis agreed, and Sprout gave her a pointed look. “Oh, you want me to do it.”

“Yes, Artemis, that was the plan. I will make sure that your trunk and uniform gets to your dormitory safely, Alanza. You girls have fun.”

“Thank you, Professor Sprout,” Alanza beamed at Sprout as she walked away, before turning to Artemis expectantly. “Okay, so where do we go to first?”

“Depends. What do you want to see?”

“Everything! It is a beautiful castle, I would like very much to see it all, if you could show me.”

“Uh, right,” Artemis took a step away from Alanza, who was standing far too close to her for her liking. “Well, what subjects will you be taking? I can show you those, if you like?”

Alanza nodded ecstatically. “Herbology, Astronomy, Charms, Defence, and Creatures.”

That gave Artemis five places to show her, at least. She led Alanza through the castle and out towards the grounds, pointing out various places and things that might interest the foreign exchange student, but otherwise staying fairly quiet. Alanza did not seem to mind Artemis’ taciturn nature. She had enough enthusiasm and spoke enough to make up for the both of them, loudly admiring everything that Artemis showed her and telling her all about the similarities and differences between Hogwarts and Castelobruxo.

“You have so many towers,” Alanza sighed, looking up at the rooftops of the castle from the greenhouses. “We do not have nearly so many where I am coming from. Our school is tall but very square, and it shines like gold in the sunshine, which is very beautiful. It has a forest around it, like yours.” Alanza gazed wistfully in the direction of the Forbidden Forest. “Perhaps we can go to the forest next.”

Artemis felt her whole body tense.

“No,” she said, quickly. Too quickly, because Alanza tilted her head in curiosity. Artemis shook her head. “No, students aren’t allowed in there. Too dangerous.”

“The forest at Castelobruxo can be also very dangerous. One time, I went out looking for plants, and I became lost. I lived off ants and rainwater for two weeks before I found my way back. Do you have any interesting stories about Hogwarts?”

“Not really,” Artemis lied. “Alanza, do you want to go and meet my friends?”

Alanza was as delighted by the prospect of meeting Artemis’ friends as she had been by everything else in and around the castle. This was just as well, for Artemis had already grown tired of talking to her, and Penny would be much better at it than she was, anyway. But somehow, Artemis managed to miss Penny and Tonks in every place she thought they would be, from the Hufflepuff Common Room to the library. In the end, she gave up looking for them. It was almost time for dinner in the Great Hall, and there was bound to be someone there who would be happy to chat with the foreign exchange student so that she wouldn’t have to.

Penny and Tonks were already in the Great Hall when they arrived, and as it turned out, several people were interested in coming over to meet Artemis’ new companion.

“Hi there,” said Diego Caplan, scooting down the bench to sit next to Alanza, “I don’t think we’ve met before. I’m Diego, it’s lovely to meet you.”

Artemis rolled her eyes as Diego held out his hand to Alanza for her to shake, and again as Alanza responded by kissing Diego on both cheeks. When Charlie, Andre, Jae and Barnaby walked over to say hello to the new girl, all three of them received the same greeting. Andre returned the gesture and complimented Alanza on her necklace, Charlie cleared his throat awkwardly, Barnaby’s cheeks turned pink and his eyes widened, and Jae smirked.

“You’re going to make yourself very popular,” he told Alanza, a look of mischief in his eyes. “If that’s how you say hello to strangers, I can only imagine what kind of treatment your friends receive.”

Tonks choked on her treacle tart, and Jae promptly received a sharp elbow in the ribs from Artemis. Further down the table, Beatrice Haywood was watching the scene whilst pouring pumpkin juice onto the table next to her glass.

“Your friends, they are so funny,” Alanza laughed, as the boys walked away, Barnaby still staring at her openly over his shoulder. “I think that we will all get on very nicely.”

“Oh, I’m sure that we will,” Penny nodded encouragingly. “Now, have you considered joining any clubs or societies at all?”

Artemis sighed, partly out of exasperation and partly relief. At least she could count on her friends to make hosting Alanza bearable. Or so she thought, until they returned to the dormitory to find Alanza’s belongings at the foot of Rowan’s empty bed.

As Artemis watched Alanza get into the bed that had until the previous month been Rowan’s, she felt a painful twisting sensation in her core, a mixture of anger and mournfulness at the sight of Alanza in a space that should have still belonged to Rowan, followed a sudden pang of guilt when she realised that this was the first time all afternoon that she had pictured her best friend’s face. She knew why she felt so awful all of a sudden: it was as if Alanza was attempting to take Rowan’s place.

And, worse still, Artemis had allowed her to do it.

By Thursday, Artemis had already had enough of Alanza Alves. It wasn’t that Alanza was unpleasant, on the contrary, she was too friendly. Not that everyone else seemed to mind that. So far, every single one of Artemis’ friends and teachers had been charmed by Alanza’s enthusiasm, bright smiles, loud voice, and wild stories. Then again, they weren’t the ones having to spend almost every minute of every single day with her.

Luckily, on Thursday lunchtime, Artemis was given the promise of some respite, when Charlie came to sit with the Hufflepuff girls at lunchtime.

“What are you doing this evening?” he asked Artemis.

“Nothing.”

“Alright,” Charlie shrugged. “That’s good, because I’ve got a surprise for you after lessons. Meet me at the Clock Tower?”

Artemis agreed, and after lessons finished for the day, left Alanza in the company of Penny and Tonks. She met Charlie at the Clock Tower as he’d suggested, and followed him in the direction of the main gates.

“We’re going to Hogsmeade?”

“McGonagall said it was okay,” said Charlie. “She thought that you could do with… Well, you’ll see.”

He continued walking until they reached the Three Broomsticks, at which point he stopped outside the main door, and turned to face Artemis.

“You want me to close my eyes, don’t you?” Artemis muttered, and Charlie hummed in response.

“Well, you don’t have to, but it is a surprise.”

Artemis looked at him blankly before closing her eyes. She heard the door to the Three Broomsticks open and swing closed again.

“Sorry, I forgot you wouldn’t be able to just follow,” Charlie’s voice told her. She felt the light pressure of a hand on her upper arm. “That’s me, by the way.”

“Thank Godric for that.”

She heard Charlie laugh gently, and as he led her forward, the air changed from being bitterly cold to warm as they entered the inn. After a few more steps they stopped.

“Alright, you can open your eyes now.”

Artemis did so, and found herself standing face-to-face with Bill Weasley. Tears pricked her eyes as he wrapped his arms around her and she buried her face in his woollen coat, her own arms around his waist.

“I’m sorry, little one,” she heard him whisper, as he stroked her hair. “I’m so sorry.”

Artemis pulled her head away and shook it. “It’s not your fault.”

“I know, but Rowan…” Bill sighed. Looking at him properly, he appeared to have lost weight, and his face was paler than Artemis had expected, considering that he had recently returned from Greece. “I can’t believe it. It’s just so crap.”

There was nothing Artemis could say to this. It was true, of course, but it was an understatement. Bill nodded his head towards a table, and approaching it, pulled out a seat for Artemis.

“How is everyone doing?” he asked her.

“Horribly. Penny keeps bursting into tears and Tonks can’t change her hair properly.”

“I see. And you?”

There was a silence, in which Artemis frowned and considered the question.

“I don’t know how I’m doing,” she told Bill, eventually. “I’m just doing, I guess.”

“How do you feel?”

“Tired, mostly.”

“And are the teachers doing stuff to help you?”

“Sort of. Sprout said we should have things to work on and take our minds off things a bit. Penny’s helping Tonks to catch up on the N.E.W.T. level potions course. They always seem less sad when they’re doing that.”

“That’s good. Really good,” Bill nodded. “What about you? What have you got to do?”

Artemis sighed. “I’m looking after Alanza.”

“Foreign exchange student,” Charlie explained, clearly having noticed the confused look on Bill’s face. “From Castelobruxo.”

“That doesn’t sound great,” Bill’s expression was growing more concerned by the second.

“She’s alright. Bit much, but-”

“I mean in general, Charlie. What made Sprout think that was a good idea?”

“Well, I don’t know,” said Charlie. “I suppose she thought that Alanza would be good company, or something.”

“I just think it’s a bloody stupid idea trying to get Artemis to look after some girl from Castelobruxo when it only takes one look at her to see that at the moment she’s hardly able to take care of herself.”

“She’s right here, you know,” Artemis scowled, and both Bill and Charlie turned to look at her. Bill’s lips twitched into a small smirk.

“So she is,” he leant over to ruffle her hair, stopping when Artemis made no effort to make him stop. He smiled sadly. “Somewhere, anyway.”

Not really sure what Bill meant by that, Artemis leant with her chin on one hand as Bill and Charlie continued their discussion, looking up when Rosmerta brought over a tray of Butterbeer and large bowl filled with chips.

“Make sure she eats those,” the landlady told the boys, her free hand still resting on the crown of Artemis’ head, before she left to serve a paying customer.

“Do you really want to be looking after this Eliza girl?” Bill asked, pushing the bowl of chips towards Artemis.

“Not really.”

“You should tell Professor Sprout.”

“I tried. But Alanza knows I’m meant to be looking after her now, so it’s too late. She’s moved into our dormitory and everything,” Artemis told Bill. She neglected to mention exactly where in the dormitory Alanza was staying, blinking hard to not have to think about it.

“Can Penny and Tonks not keep an eye on her for you? She must be with them now, right?”

“Yeah, but they’re too busy with Potions, aren’t they? It’s all they’re ever doing.”

“Okay,” Bill frowned. “Charlie, you could maybe take her off Artemis’ hands every now and then, couldn’t you?”

Charlie shrugged. “Yeah, I guess so. We’re in a lot of the same classes.”

“That settles it, then. You keep Eliza out of Artemis’ way so she can focus on… Well, whatever seems to help.”

“That sound alright with you?” Charlie asked Artemis, taking a single chip from the bowl and handing it back to her. Artemis nodded, and he smiled, pushing the bowl closer to her.

“Things will get better, Artemis. You just need to concentrate on yourself right now.”

“Thanks,” Artemis whispered, letting Bill squeeze her shoulders again. “And thanks for coming, too.”

“I couldn’t not come, not after everything that’s happened and how upset Charlie said you were. I just wish I’d come at Christmas, really.”

“How was Christmas?” Charlie asked him.

“Weird not having you there. Either of you,” Bill smiled sadly. “Ron and Ginny were okay, but everyone else was worried about you, and sad about everything. It wasn’t the best Christmas, to be honest.”

“Still gutted to have missed it.”

Bill seemed to consider Charlie’s words for a moment before tilting his head, almost smiling.

“Why don’t we give it another go?” he suggested. “I’m here, the castle’s just there. Percy, Fred, and George could do with a distraction from all this as much as we could.”

Charlie shrugged his shoulders and nodded his head, and Bill nudged Artemis with his elbow.

“Eat up, Artemis. We have to get back.”

The three of them returned to the castle with a small crate of Butterbeer from Rosmerta and some cakes from Madam Puddifoot’s, which Artemis and Bill took down to the kitchens while Charlie fetched the three younger Weasley brothers from the Gryffindor Common Room.

With a word from Artemis to the house elves, they were quickly provided with an ample supply of gammon, potatoes and vegetables, and Bill conjured reams of bunting and several multicoloured candles which hovered in the air over their table. When Charlie arrived with Percy and the twins, the kitchen was filled with the smell of hot food and a cosy glow that reflected off the boys’ five red-haired heads.

As the Weasleys gathered around the table, adding noise and movement to the scene in front of her, Artemis was filled with the strange sense of looking in on something from the outside. She backed away, towards the door of the kitchens.

“Artie, where are you going?” Charlie leaned back from the table to call across to her. “Come and join in.”

“No thanks. I’m fine,” Artemis said, and five pairs of eyes stared back at her. “This is a family thing. I’m not family.”

Charlie shrugged his shoulders in response, and Bill’s eyes became filled with a deep sympathy. The twins exchanged glances, but neither of them said a word. The only one to speak at all was Percy.

“You might as well be,” he said quietly. “Come and sit with us. You deserve a second Christmas as much as we do.”

Percy’s voice held no judgement or condescension, and his face was completely straight. He offered Artemis a small smile, which she returned as she walked back towards the brothers and joined them, the little colourful candles continuing to bob above their heads.

Artemis returned to the dormitory better fed than she had been in for a fortnight, and for the first time in almost a month, she managed to sleep through the night without the aid of a potion. The following morning, she awoke groggy and dazed, unsure of the point at which her dreams had begun and ended.

She looked around the still dark dormitory, and seeing that all beds were filled, her heart lifted. Perhaps she had been dreaming for long than she realised. But then, the dark-haired girl in the bed next to hers turned over, revealing her face. Alanza’s face. A lump formed in Artemis’ throat, and she swallowed it back hard, reaching for Fergus and burying her face into his fur so that she would no longer have to look at the girl in Rowan’s bed.

When the bell rang to mark the start of the day, Penny and Tonks soon began to stir, but Alanza was the first to actually get up and start to dress herself, chattering away with so much energy that anyone would think that she had already been down to the Great Hall for breakfast and a cup of coffee or two.

“Wotcher,” Tonks yawned, still sitting in bed with her hair - a less mousey shade of brown than it had been a week ago - in complete disarray. “You’re happy this morning.”

“Yes, I am very excited,” Alanza nodded, hurriedly tying her tie. “Today we have Creature class. It is my favourite class back at Castelobruxo, and the one I am most looking forward to at Hogwarts.”

Alanza’s high spirits did not lower all morning. If anything, by the time she and Artemis made their way down to Kettleburn’s outdoor classroom, she was practically bouncing with excitement.

“One time, I found a fire slug, and I tried to keep it in my bedroom as a pet, and it set my pillow on fire,” she told Artemis, gesturing wildly with her hands as she did so. “Oh, but when my mother found out… She has never been so angry.”

When they arrived for the lesson, they found that the paddocks had been filled with a several white horses each with a single horn on their heads and accompanied by a gold foal. Alanza clapped her hands together delightedly and grabbed hold of Artemis’ arm as she pointed with her other hand.

“Look, Artemis! Unicorns!”

Artemis pulled her arm away from Alanza’s grip and forced a smile. Alanza rushed over to talk to Barnaby, Liz, and Charlie, who were all watching the unicorns at a slight distance, just as Kettleburn limped over to the group.

“That’s right,” he smiled at Alanza. “Unicorns. Identifiable by…”

“The bloody great horns on their heads,” Merula said, rolling her eyes.

“Yes, Miss Snyde, that is their most discernible feature. But sometimes they do not have horns, can anyone tell me why?”

Ismelda Murk raised her hand, and Kettleburn nodded at her.

“Someone might’ve chopped it off,” she told him. “Like, with a big knife or something.”

“Well, yes, that is an example,” Kettleburn said, regarding Ismelda out of the corners of his narrowed eyes. “Any other, less violent, reasons? Yes, Miss…?”

“Alves. Alanza Alves,” Alanza beamed, her eyes still lit up with the sight of the unicorns. “The foals, they do not have horns yet. I think they do not get horns until they are maybe a few years old. They are not gold then, I don’t think, but silver. They turn white like these later, but their hooves stay gold even then. So, even if the horn has been cut off with a knife, you can still see that it is a unicorn and not just a white horse.”

Kettleburn smiled, clearly impressed with Alanza’s answer. He wasn’t the only one. Liz Tuttle’s eyebrows were raised almost to her hairline, and Barnaby’s mouth hung open until Charlie nudged him gently and cleared his throat.

“Stop staring, it’s rude,” Artemis thought she heard him mutter under his breath.

“Of course, at Castelobruxo your teaching in the field of Magizoology must be top drawer,” Kettleburn told Alanza. “Perhaps you would like to be the first to attempt to win the creatures’ trust, Miss Alves.”

“I would love to!”

Alanza didn’t need to be told twice. She clamoured up over the fence and into the paddock, where she started to approach the unicorns, one hand held forward.

“They do prefer females, generally, do unicorns,” said Professor Kettleburn. “Still, the younger ones do tend to be more trusting of both wizards and witches.”

“It is okay,” said Alanza, shaking her head. “All creatures like me.”

Behind Artemis, Merula made a derisive snorting noise, but Alanza had a point. One by one, each and every unicorn started to walk slowly towards her until she was giggling and attempting to pat all of them at once, while one nuzzled her neck.

“They are super great!”

As Alanza continued to ingratiate herself with the unicorns, Kettleburn started to lecture the class on poaching and husbandry. Merula leaned in and hissed in Artemis’ ear.

“So, this is your new friend, then?” she asked, her eyes narrowed at Alanza.

“Not really. Sprout told me to look after her.”

“Why are you doing what Sprout says?”

“I dunno. Just am,” Artemis muttered, and Merula made a disapproving noise. “What?”

“Well, I just didn’t think you’d want to replace Khanna so quickly, that’s all.”

Artemis’ breath caught in her throat, and though she opened her mouth to respond to Merula, she found herself unable to say anything at all.

“You alright?” Charlie asked, as the class split into their small groups. Artemis nodded, not sure she even had the ability to repeat Merula’s words. “Come on, let’s go and join Alanza.”

Each of the three groups had their own unicorn and foal to work with, though the others had difficulty dragging their unicorns away from Alanza. As Charlie and Artemis joined Alanza with the remaining unicorn, Artemis could still feel Merula’s cold stare on her back.

“That was pretty impressive,” Charlie told Alanza, feeding a carrot to the unicorn foal, its mother still eyeing him warily from behind the girls. “They seemed to take to you really quickly. The unicorns, I mean.”

“Ah, but like I say, creatures like me. My grandfather always said that I have a gift. Maybe he is right, I don’t know,” Alanza paused to kiss the unicorn on its nose before continuing. “You know, one time, I went for a walk, and I thought I stood on a piece of wood, but it was a dugbog. I fed it some biscuits from my pocket, and it followed me all the way home. It did bite my leg too, I still have the scars, see.”

With that, Alanza swung her leg up so that her foot rested on the rump of the unicorn foal, and she pulled down her sock to reveal a set of very old tooth marks on her shin. Charlie blinked twice before nodding his head slowly.

“I do see, yeah,” he said, quickly averting his gaze. He made eye contact with Artemis and pulled a face as Alanza returned her foot to the floor.

Normally, Artemis would have laughed, but after Merula’s comment, she didn’t feel like it. She hadn’t felt like it in a while, now that she thought about it.

“Alanza, I think we have the exact same timetable, actually,” Charlie said, still looking at Artemis. “I was thinking, it probably makes sense if we go to our classes together for a couple of weeks. The castle’s enormous, and it would mean you won’t need to worry about getting lost between lessons.”

“This isn’t too inconvenient for you?” Alanza asked him, and Charlie shook his head.

“Not at all.”

“That will be so nice of you! Artemis, you have such kind friends.”

“Yeah, I do,” Artemis said, and as Alanza’s back turned from her, she looked at Charlie and mouthed the words: “Thank you.”

“My older brother had a penpal from Castelobruxo,” Charlie continued, having given Artemis the faintest hint of a smile. “Sounds like a fascinating place, Magizoology-wise. He told me about the Caipora…”

“Oh, yes! They are such sweet little spirits,” Alanza sighed. “Oh, but they are very troublesome, always up to mischief. One time, they summoned every single left shoe in the school and hung them up on branches all through the forest. It took almost a week to get everybody’s shoes back. We all had to only wear one for days. Do you have any creatures that are so mischief-like at Hogwarts?”

“Just my younger brothers, really.”

Alanza placed her hand on Charlie’s forearm and laughed loudly, and he looked at her as if she might have gone mad.

“I am half-joking,” he told her, grinning a little. “But we have our fair share of creatures here, too. There’s the unicorns, of course, then we have wolves, grindylows, merpeople, Thestrals, don’t get me started on Kettleburn’s missing Chimaera…”

“Thestrals?” Alanza asked, her hair falling over one shoulder as she tilted her head. “I have heard of those, they are supposed to be fascinating. Do you think we will get to see those in Creatures class as well?”

“Uh, I’m not sure,” Charlie glanced sideways at Artemis, who had stiffened at the mention of the Thestrals. “Probably not.”

“Oh, that is a great shame,” Alanza said, wistfully. “I would very much love to see a Thestral.”

There was a moment of tense silence that seemed to stretch out into an eternity. Eventually, Charlie lowered his head to look at the ground, his voice low and steady as he said:

“No, you wouldn’t.”

There was a questioning look in Alanza’s eyes, and she frowned. Charlie looked up at her with a good-natured smile and quickly changed the subject back to the Caipora of Castelobruxo.

Artemis looked away, her vision starting to blur. But in her periphery, she could just about make out the violet eyes of Merula Snyde glaring at Alanza angrily and unwaveringly.

[comfortwriting]

Coming Clean - F.W

Masterlist, Requesting Rules, Writing Prompt Masterlist

Fred Weasley x Fem Reader

Prompt 93: “I’m in love with you, I can’t hide it anymore and I don’t want to.”

Prompt 98: Shaking out of fear, he took hold of your hand, comforting you.

About: After being injured due to an explosion during the wizarding war, you are a patient in St. Mungos for months trying to recover. One day, your best friend Fred comes to visit you after realising life is too short for secrets.

Warnings: Mention of death, blood, bombings/explosions, wounds, scars, disfigurement, swearing, blindness, weight loss, death of family member, fluff towards the end.

One moment you were duelling with a death eater, shielding your best friend Fred from harm's way, and then the blast rang out, shooting you backwards, slamming you down, and the wall in front to collapse on top of you.

Alive? Dead? Inbetween? You didn't know.

You couldn't remember what happened after the blast, all you did know was that you were far away from Hogwarts, with no news or clue on the status of your family, friends, and Fred.

You felt numb, alone, scared, and in a different world - you heard small talk of the war, you heard of the casualties and injuries but you didn't know who - you felt enraged that you ended up here and not at Hogwarts, laying on the cold hard floor surrounded by those you needed now more than anything.

"Miss Y/L/N, please stop touching your face." Your nurse sighed, pouring a dark slimy potion into a cup.

Shrapnel grazed, pierced, and embedded into your left cheek, leaving a large gaping wound, another blinded you - your legs broken beyond repair and re-growth because of the collapsing wall which meant the skelegrow was no longer strong or fast enough to work on cases like yours, and your whole body covered in purple, green, blue, and yellow circular marks that made you feel like a Polka-dot fabric.

"How long have I been here?" you grumbled and winced weakly not wanting to move your mouth too fast or wide, slowly picking up the cup.

Your nurse opened the curtains with her wand, swishing it across the room, rearranging your Quibbler magazines, Daily Prophet Newspapers and 'Get Well Soon' cards which you couldn't yet read - you were too scared to find out who did and didn't make it.

"We've talked about this Y/N-"

"Just tell me!" you shrieked, cracking open the wound on your face, jolting, causing shockwaves to pulse through your body.

Your nurse swallowed hard and sat down on the bed next to you, gently cleaning the trickling blood and scabs from your cheek with a damp cloth.

"Three months," she sighed.

Your heart dropped. Three months. Three months without hearing your parents voices, Fred's voice, your little sisters-

"How long will I be here for-"

Before she could answer, a knock at the door interrupted you.

Your eye followed your nurse as she stood up, opening it narrowly and slipping out, before slipping back in.

"You've got a visitor," she smiled for the first time since you got here.

Moving out of the way, Fred walked in, stopping in his tracks at the sight of you.

Fred looked different, his eyes were lifeless and were sheltered by deep dark circles, his face was more gaunt, his hands covered in scars - possibly from deep grazes and cuts from the same explosion.

Fred didn't know what to say, the sight of you broke his heart - you were injured beyond repair - you were so badly injured and left disfigured because of him not being brave enough to step in front and take charge.

The nurse left the room, closing the door behind her, your hospital room so quiet you could hear each other's hearts pumping.

"Freddie-"

Fred walked over and sat on your right-hand side, wanting nothing more than to pull you into a tight embrace, to smell your hair, to feel your skin against his - but being too scared to cause you more pain than he already has.

"I'm so sorry," he croaked, holding your hand "Look what I've done to you."

You shook your head "It's not your fault, Freddie." you said softly "The death eaters, they-"

Fred started to cry and shake, completely coming undone "I was too scared, I allowed you to step in front, you took the blow for me-"

"Fred, please, slow down," your eye started to well up with tears, your face hurting, the lump forming and settling in your throat.

"George is dead because of me."

Your heart stopped.

George? George Weasley is dead?

"Fred! I need you to cover for me!" You yelled out, sending out more sparks to the death eater.

Fred couldn't focus, he didn't know where to look or what to do.

"Fred!" You yelled again, "George needs either you or me, please!"

The death eater closed in, holding out his wand and aiming towards George - before you could think of the next step, you pushed Fred behind you and sprinted towards George to try to protect him.

The blast, the force, the heat, the smoke, the wet blood, the darkness.

"You tried to save him, and all I did was stand there... and the wall..." Fred cried "George just... he... we thought you were dead too,"

"It isn't your fault," you cried "Please listen to me."

"Professor Lupin and his wife Tonks, they're gone, Ron's ex-girlfriend Lavender Brown, Colin Creevey, Professor Snape...  and your-" Fred paused shaking out of fear, he took hold of your hand, comforting you "your little sister."

You couldn't breathe - how could you after finding out so late? Taking one blow after the other. Losing your best friend, your mentor, the young boy you were fond of, the professor who despite being hard on others helped you, and worst of all, your innocent little sister who you pleaded not to go to war.

"I'm so sorry," Fred cried, his eyes bloodshot.

You nodded, tears streaming down your face "I'm sorry too."

The two of you cried whilst Fred told you everything, who else died and how, what his family and yours were going through, the funerals, everything but one.

Fred read the Quibbler magazines to you, stroking your hair and helping you drink down the potion, you could see out of the corner of your eye he was debating his thoughts.

"What is it?" you asked, chewing the inside of your lip nervously, preparing yourself for another blow.

Fred stayed quiet for a moment, pursing his lips before he finally looks you in the eye.

"After losing so much, it's made me realise that time is too short." he said sadly, still in deep thought before finally revealing “I’m in love with you, I can’t hide it anymore and I don’t want to.”

"Fred," you smiled softly "I've been thinking exactly the same thing."

taglist: @alwaysnforeverfangirl @horrorxweasley @inglourious-imagines @sebby-staan @lucymfer @xmalfoyweasleyx @livvysnaps @supermassiveblackhope @youralternantpersonality @snivellouss @potters-heart @onlyfreds

[drarrily-we-row-along]

Day 4: Jealousy

Draco had a jealous streak a mile wide. He always had, for as long as he could remember. His jealous streak had given him plenty of things; jealousy was an excellent motivator.

But his jealousy had never felt quite like this.

In the past, he'd been jealous of tangible things: attention, possessions, grades, etc. Lately, though, Draco had found himself becoming jealous over increasingly inexplicable things. Most (all) of those things having to do with Potter. He was jealous of the normal things, too, like people who casually touched him, or the way Weasley could make him laugh, or the attention he bestowed on Granger when she was talking about her latest campaign. In all honesty, there was nothing new about those things.

But one day, while they were in training together, Draco found himself jealous of the rain.

(More below the cut)

Jealous of the rain as he watched Potter tip his head back and spread his arms to accept it. Jealous of the way the rain was allowed to touch his skin, of the way Potter opened himself up to it and allowed himself to relax under its ministrations.

On the day they received their auror uniforms he found himself jealous of the clothes that the other man put on his body. Jealous of the way the trousers hugged his strong thighs, jealous of the way his robes stretched across his broad shoulders. Jealous of the closeness that Draco had never been afforded.

He found himself quite preoccupied one afternoon as they sat filling out paperwork, jealous of the pen that Potter kept sticking in his mouth. He was jealous of the absentminded caress of lips and tongue, of the sharp nip of his teeth.

At night he found himself jealous of not only the people whom Potter could, theoretically, be spending the night with but also of the thought of his pillows and sheets. Jealous of the way that Potter must allow himself to be completely vulnerable to them; glasses removed, face lax as he slept. Something in Draco surged with a fierce longing at imagining seeing Potter with all of his walls torn down.

He found himself jealous of the work they did. Jealous of the way it consumed Potter's attention, of the way that Potter poured everything he had, everything he was, into solving the crimes set before them.

Draco was jealous of the wind. Jealous of the way it tousled Potter's already messy hair, tugging the curls back from his face.

He'd even been jealous of Potter's own hand earlier that day. Jealous of the way Potter had folded his hands, fingers slotting between each other, as they sat across from their perpetrator. He'd ached to feel the incongruity of the tender skin between his fingers and the callouses on his fingertips and palms.

Most of all, though, Draco was jealous of the way that Potter seemed to be happy. Not because he didn't want Potter to be happy; he did want him to be happy, he deserved to be happy. But because Potter seemed to be happy without Draco and Draco wasn't sure that he would ever be happy without knowing the way that Potter tasted, knowing the way he smelled, knowing the way his muscles felt as they shifted under his palms. He didn't know if he could ever be happy without knowing what Potter looked like when his guard was down, or knowing how his voice sounded when he was completely relaxed.

"You're staring again," Weasley said, snapping Draco's attention back from where he'd been watching Potter as he fetched a round for the team of aurors who'd just wrapped up a very challenging case.

"I'm not," he protested. It was a lie and they both knew it.

Weasley narrowed his eyes at him, "You could just ask him out, you know."

"Why would I do that?"

He rolled his eyes, "So the rest of us can stop watching you pine after one another. It's distracting."

His heart clenched painfully, the way it always did when someone (usually Weasley, damn him) suggested that perhaps this wasn't as one sided as it felt like it was. Shaking his head, he replied, "He's not interested."

"How would you know?" Weasley asked. "I've been his best mate for almost our entire lives. I think I'd know better than you."

"Well, then maybe he should use a bit of the famous Gryffindor courage and ask me," he said with a haughty sniff as he took a sip of his firewhiskey.

Weasley rolled his eyes and was about to reply when Potter came over, levitating a dozen drinks in his wake.

After setting down the drinks on the table with an impressive display of control, Potter plopped down in the seat between Draco and Weasley. Draco watch jealously as Potter leaned against Weasley, pressing their shoulders together for a long moment as though he was drawing strength from the other man.

The table was loud and rowdy, nearly full of Gryffindors, and Draco wondered (not for the first time) how he'd managed to find himself almost constantly surrounded by their brash, obnoxious selves.

Potter was quiet next to him, as Draco had noticed he often was, listening to the others, laughing and sharing in their joy; quietly supporting and encouraging them to be their most authentic selves.

It always made Draco want to tell them all to shut up. To just be quiet for a minute and let Potter talk, let him be himself, because if he was being honest he wanted to know everything about Potter. He wanted to know what made him tick, what brought him joy, what made him weep, what made him laugh. He wanted to know why he chose to be an auror when he could have done anything. He wanted to know his favorite song, his favorite book, his favorite meal. He wanted to know everything.

When the desire to grasp Potter by the hand and make him tell him everything became too strong, Draco stood up (rather abruptly) and made his way out of the bar, muttering "cigarette" to the table as an excuse.

Outside, he leaned against the wall and lit up his cigarette, exhaling shakily as it caught. The warm summer breeze did him good, helped to settle his racing mind. He took a long, slow drag and held the smoke in his lungs for a moment, relishing the way it burned a bit and the way his slow inhale helped him to calm further.

Fuck Potter, fuck this, he thought sullenly. This was all getting out of hand, it was too much, even for him.

"Terrible habit."

Draco's head snapped around to see Potter leaning his shoulder against the wall a few feet from Draco, watching him intently. "You should get louder shoes," Draco commented, blowing a stream of smoke from his lips, "or a bell," he added, picturing the kind you tie around a cat's neck.

Potter laughed, free and unfettered, and Draco basked in it like sunlight. "Can I join you?" Potter asked.

Draco forced himself to take another drag of his cigarette before answering, it wouldn't do to sound too eager. "I suppose," he finally said.

"Can I bum a cigarette off you?" Potter asked next.

His eyebrows rose, "You smoke?"

The other man smiled, the soft, secret one that exposed his dimples. "Occasionally. When the company is right."

Draco handed him a cigarette but he couldn't even fully appreciate the comment when the company is right because Potter leaned in close to light his off of the tip of Draco's. He hardly dared to move, he tried not to inhale deeply enough to be noticed, but he could smell the other man. He could smell his cologne; earthy and woody, he could smell Potter's shampoo; faintly like apples, and the hint of something underneath that he couldn't quite place but made his mouth water just the same.

After a moment, Potter drew back and Draco watched as he inhaled the smoke and held it in his lungs for a moment. He had so many questions, so many things he was dying to know, instead he said, "You're always quiet."

"Sorry?" Potter asked, turning his head to look at Draco as he rested his back against the wall.

"Your friends-"

"They're your friends, too," Potter interrupted.

And oh, he was trying to be kind, trying to tell Draco that they counted him as one of them, his heart fluttered uselessly. "Fine, our friends," he conceded, "They're always so loud. And you listen to them, you know everything about them. You've kept every detail stored away in that funny little brain of yours."

"I wouldn't say every detail," Potter protested before putting his cigarette between his lips once more. It shouldn't be attractive, Draco thought to himself.

"But you're always quiet," Draco pushed. "You listen to everyone, know things about everyone, but you never talk about yourself."

Potter looked away, staring up at a lamp post for a long moment. He took another drag of his cigarette and Draco thought for a moment that he wasn't going to answer. "Who really wants to listen to me?" he murmured on an exhale.

I do! Draco wanted to scream. Instead he huffed, "Everyone does."

Potter's lips tipped up in what was supposed to be an approximation of a grin but there was no joy in it, "No they don't. They'd want to listen if I wanted to tell them about a date I'd gone on, or if I had a family to talk about, or if I'd just gotten a new crup, or if I'd done something good or brave, if I'd updated my kitchen, or taken up painting." He brought his cigarette to his mouth once more and didn't look back at Draco.

Draco waited. He was good at this, good at waiting for people to talk. Silence didn't bother him. It made him a very good interrogator.

After a moment, Potter continued, "No one wants to hear about how I can't always sleep at night. No one wants to hear about the memories, and the flashbacks, and the nightmares. No one wants to listen to me talk about all of the ways that everything that happened in the war feels meaningless when we're just dealing with the same bullshit day in and day out at the ministry. No one wants to hear me talk about how when I look at Teddy all I can think about is how he looks just like Tonks and has a mischievous streak as wide as Remus'. Everyone's moved on," he said. "Everyone has gotten on with their lives and no one wants to hear about how I am just..." he trailed off searching for a word, "trapped. In my grief, in all of the ways that I failed. No one wants to know that it feels like I'll never be able to atone for all of the hurt, for all of the death and suffering-" he broke off, his voice choked, and Draco watched as a tear tracked silently down his cheek.

"I do," Draco whispered because he had to. Because Harry had been brave and vulnerable, and Draco owed him this much. "I do," he repeated.

Harry looked over at him, and his forest green eyes laid Draco bare. "Why?"

He lifted one shoulder, "because," he paused and swallowed, "because you're not alone in feeling so many of those things," he started. "Because you deserve to feel heard, to feel seen, to feel known. Because what you have to say matters."

"To who?"

And Draco recognized this question for what it was. He understood that Harry was not really asking who but why. He was asking if what he had to say mattered because he was "the Savior" or "the Chosen One" or did what he had to say matter because he was Harry, just Harry.

"To me," Draco said finally, knowing it was tipping his hand. "What you have to say matters to me. I want to know you, Potter. Harry."

Harry was quiet for a long moment, looking at Draco, searching him and Draco very much hoped he would find whatever he was looking for.

Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, Harry said, "I want to know you, too, Draco."

Draco couldn't have stopped the grin that spread across his face if he'd tried, and he did try, so he settled for looking down at the ground to hide it.

"I like your smile," Harry said softly.

"Oh?" Draco replied.

Harry nodded, "I like a lot of things about you," he said, soft like a confession.

"I like a lot of things about you, too," Draco admitted.

"Would you maybe want to go and get some coffee?" Harry asked. "Or go somewhere quieter than here so we could talk?"

"I would like that very much," Draco replied. "There's a little muggle coffee shop a few blocks from my flat that stays open until 3:00am?" he offered.

Harry dropped the stub of his cigarette on the pavement and ground it out with his boot, "Lead the way," he said, gesturing to the sidewalk.

Draco nodded once, his stomach tumbling and bubbling like a cauldron set too hot, and he set off toward his flat.

He'd only taken a few steps when he felt Harry's fingers slide through his.

"Alright?" Harry asked softly.

Draco squeezed his fingers, "Better than," he replied, giving Harry a little smile. Grinning because he supposed, with Harry's hand in his, he had one less irrational thing to feel jealous of.

Day 3: Agility | Day 5:Possessiveness

[fandom-puff]

Temporary Arrangement

Pairing: Severus Snape x reader

Requested by: anon ‘Will you write a one shot for me where after a death eater attack your house is burned down and you have to live with sirius and severus gets really jealous bc he sees how close you have gotten with sirius?? Mayyybe with some romantic reassuring smut at the end?’

Warnings: loss of home, mentions of duelling, death, swearing, jealousy, smut

Gif creds to owner

The Order Meeting had ran long into the night, burning through many candles and many cups of coffee as they discussed feverishly. Everybody jumped as the front door to Grimmauld Place swung open, banging against the door and setting off the ghastly portrait of Mrs Black.

Sirius, Remus, Kingsley and Severus ran to the hallway, wands drawn, Kingsley yelling a quick ‘protrificus totalus’ to apprehend the intruder.

“Protego! You cried, causing the spell to ricochet around the hallway. “Fucking Hell, Kingsley!”

“Sorry. Precaution,” he said in his deep, calming voice as the rest lowered their wands. Severus pushed past them to get to you upon seeing that it was in fact his girlfriend.

“YN, my love, what happened? We’ve talked about being alone at night, it’s too dangerous with the Dark Lord on the rise,”

You let out a shrill laugh, clearly shaken. “I was in my own house,” you said. “The Death Eaters breached my wards,” A chilly silence fell across the room as you shook in Severus’s arms. “I-I think I killed someone, Sev,” you whispered. “I didn’t mean to, I didn’t use an unforgivable... I used sectumsempra, it was the first thing that came into my head. I’ve... lost everything. They burned my house to the ground,” you broke, collapsing into severus and sobbing as he shushed you. Remus and Kingsley wrestled with the curtains to shut Mrs Black up.

“What’s going on?” Mrs weasley, Mr Weasley, Tonks and Mad-Eye were now crowding around the doorway. “Oh, YN, dear...” mrs Weasley said gently. Together, she and severus guided you down into the kitchen. The meeting was quickly adjourned while Mrs weasley fixed you some hot chocolate (with a nip of whiskey in it to settle your nerves). “There we go,”

You leaned into severus as you drank your hot chocolate, telling them everything you could remember about the three death eaters who’d attacked your house. “You poor dear,” Molly said softly, reaching to pat your arm. “Sirius, is there another habitable room upstairs?”

“No, it’s okay, don’t worry, I’ll stay in Severus’s room,” you said gently.

“He doesn’t have a room,” Sirius said lowly. You pursed your lips, really not having the time or energy for their squabbling.

“Well whatever room Sev has been staying in, I’ll take that one for the time being. Sorted,”

As you and Severus went to stand up Sirius spoke up. “What, Snivellous, not gonna take her to your mouldy house on Spinner’s End?”

Severus rounded on Sirius, eyes flashing with anger. “Bit rich of you to call someone’s house mouldy, isn’t it, Black?” He deadpanned. “And I wouldn’t dream of taking YN there. There are death eaters traipsing in and out to use it as an apparation point,”

You grasped onto Sev’s hand, pulling him away, wanting nothing more than to curl up in his arms and sleep away the horrible night you had had.

***

A fortnight later you had settled into somewhat of a routine: go to work, come home, eat some wonderful food from Mrs Weasley, and set about cleaning out Grimmauld Place with the others. You were yet to be allowed back to your own home as Kingsley ensured that there were aurors patrolling the area, and Mad-Eye was sure there were some complex curses in place for anyone who got too close.

As you helped the others, you grew closer to all of them, filling Mr Weasley in on various muggle artefacts, discussing politics with Remus and even engaging in Sirius’s mischievous banter.

“Sirius, I swear to all that is sacred, you had better keep hold of the bottom of that ladder. God knows what’s in these jars and I really don’t fancy it ending up in my hair!”

Sirius grinned, wobbling the bottom of the ladder teasingly, causing you to squeal, almost dropping a jar of what looked like half-rotted eyeballs. Sirius laughed, reaching out to place a steady hand in your back as you climbed back down the ladder, jars in hand. You almost jumped out of your skin when you saw severus stood in the doorway, eyes narrowed.

“Hiya, love,” you said softly, setting the jars down and going to him, reaching to press a gentle kiss to his cheek. “Missed you,”

“Clearly,” he said tersely, making you frown as he turned to Sirius. “Black. I ask that you keep your hands to yourself,” Sirius was about to protest, but severus had turned on his heel. You hurried after him.

“Sev?” You asked gently. “Are you alright?”

“If I ever see him touch you again I will hex his filthy hands off,” you sighed, grabbing his forearms.

“You’re jealous, aren’t you? I love you, Severus, only you,” you said, staring him dead in the eye. “I’m yours,”

He stared at you for a moment before licking his lips. “Prove it,”

***

With the door slammed firmly shut and plenty of silencing charms up, you turned to your boyfriend. “Sit on the bed,” you said gently, not used to giving orders. Severus raised a brow and removed his billowing outer robe, before sitting on the edge of the bed. You smiled softly at him before yanking off your shirt and shimmying out of your jeans, licking your shoes off in the process and leaving you in your plain underwear. “What do you see?”

“A goddess,” he said plainly, his fingers already trailing up your sides. You rolled your eyes slightly, looking down shyly.

“Your goddess,” you murmured, sighing breathily as he unhooked your bra, tossing it aside. Severus smiled to himself, nuzzling his face into your chest, murmuring sweet nothings against your heart as he undid his frock coat. You smiled happily as your stroked his hair, and a few moments later, he too was down to his underwear.

“Lay back,” you murmured, pulling away. He groaned, wanting to stay where he was, but he shuffled to lay among the pillows, watching as you slid your underwear down your legs. As you crawled towards him, breasts swaying temptingly, he smirked, moving to sit upright instead. When you were close enough to him he grabbed you by your thighs to pull you to straddle him. You squealed, pouting slightly, but your frown still dissolved when you felt a familiar hardness beneath you. “I love you, severus,” you said softly, starting to rut your hips gently. “Can you feel how wet I am for you? All for you,” you moaned, feeling the ridge of his clothes cock rub against your clit.

Severus grunted, his hands on your hips, brow furrowed in pleasure. “YN, darling, I need you,” he groaned, “please,”

You nodded, reaching between you to pull his cock out of his underwear, lowly lowering yourself on him. “There you go, YN, just like that, ride my cock...” you nodded, adjusting to the tight stretch, slowly rocking your hips as severus groaned beneath you.

Severus grunted, rocking his hips up to meet your movements, threading his fingers through your hair to pull you down for a deep kiss, tongue tracing over the seal of your lips. You allowed him entrance, moaning sweetly into his mouth as you began to bounce your hips slightly.

Severus grunted, his other hand grasping your hip hard as you rocked and ground your hips, your moans dissolving into his lips. He pulled away, his blown eyes locking with yours, low groans tumbling from his lips, your name whispered like a prayer.

“I’m close, YN,” he moaned, his hips bucking up a little rougher. You nodded desperately, tipping your head back, but he groaned, grabbing your hair and tilting your head back down to look at him. “No. Look at me,” he groaned. “I want to see you fall apart on my cock, love,” his voice was strained and you knew he was close, reaching down to rub your clit hard, clenching tightly around his as he shouted your name, pumping his cock up into you, filling you with his come as you began to tumble over the edge, moaning loudly, trying your best to keep your eyes open and locked with his.

As your orgasm subsided, you collapsed into his chest panting, pressing gentle kisses just over his heart. “I love you,” you mumbled, reaching to clasp his hand. Severus smiled softly, his hand rubbing your back gently. You let out a soft whimper as you dismounted him, snuggling into his side. Severus reached for his wand to do the usual charms, but yiu grabbed his arm. “Just do the contraceptive one. I wanna feel you inside me still,” you said bashfully.

Severus arched his brows, doing as you asked, gathering you up in his arms. “You want to feel my come seep down your thighs still?” When you nodded, he smiled widely, kissing your forehead and pulling the covers up around you, cocooning you both in warmth as you settled into a hazy, peaceful sleep.

Tags: @liliputbahn @lilymurphy03 @pinkandblueblurbs @thestunningspell @wholebigboxofyikes @remus-lupin-simp @dailyalanrickman @cremedelabrulee

Remember to dm me to be on my tag list x

[messrmoonyy]

The fluff 49 with Remadora!!

I literally used to always just write from Doras thoughts yet here I am now obsessed with writing outta Remus’ head. Jealous Remus. We love to see it. Prompt from this list.

Prompt: ‘ is somebody jealous? ‘

Pairing: Remus lupin x Nymphadora Tonks

Warnings: mild language

You can find all my other writing on my masterlist and remember my ask box is always open, so drop me a request! Check my masterlist for who I write for!

Remus didn’t think he was a particularly jealous person. And he had plenty to be jealous of when he thought about it. But it just… never crossed his mind to be jealous. He was too far past having an emotion so useless, jealousy would never get him anyway. Being jealous of a man with more money than he had wouldn’t magically make a hundred galleons appear in his pocket. Being jealous of other people his age who were settled down with families wouldnt make his family return from the dead. Yet…. There he was, sat at his desk in the Grimmauld place library, practically seething.

He knew he was being ridiculous. Completely. But watching Sirius and Nymphadora laughing on the other side of the room was making his blood boil. He felt a little stupid in fact, they were related after all. But. The Blacks did have a bit of reputation for that didn’t they. And there was the matter that he’d heard Harry talking to Hermione about how he thought Nymphadora and Sirius were secretly a couple. And of course to top it all off Sirius had, and probably always would be, an absolute ladies man.

He didn’t really have a right to be jealous. Yes he and Tonks had been getting very… close, if that was even the best choice of words. He didn’t think close did justice right the several bouts of snogging he had found himself in a multitude of places around Grimmauld place. Only the previous night on the exact sofa she was pratting around on with Sirius now. Not to mention the nights Tonks snook into his room, or cornered him in the back of the library. And there was that one time he’d practically jumped her in the drawing room after a meeting. But there hadnt been any real discussion on what they were.

The only vague discussion being after their first kiss, when Remus has avoided her for a good four days after. Wracked with guilt that he’d let his self control slip. But she’d cornered him in the kitchen and forced him to confront the situation head on. He’d tried to tell her it was probably a mistake. That he wasn’t exactly the best of choices for her. But she’d told him he was ridiculous, that she didn’t care about his age. His condition. But there hadn’t been a talk on their situation since. He didn’t like to bring it up. Maybe it was simply casual for her. A late night hook up when she had stress form work to blow off. So he couldn’t be jealous could he.

But he was. Insanely so. His grip tightening on his quill as Sirius flung another awful joke at her and she threw her head back with laughter. Remus didn’t get it but she clearly did. He tried to distract his jealousy away by focusing on just how beautiful she was when she was laughing, how her eyes crinkled at the corners and her cheeks flushed pink. But it didn’t work as well as he hoped. Because if he noticed those things. Sirius must too.

“ if you two are going to continue being so noisy then would you just leave. Some of us are trying to work “ he snapped, slamming his fist to the desk for good measure. Sirius made some grumbled remark about Remus being a bore. But he didn’t care enough to pay attention.

“ ooo Tonksie that’s his professor tone “ Sirius said in a loud whisper before laughing again and nudging Tonks with his elbow “ sorry sir. Detention for talking in class? “ they both burst into laughter, Tonks steadying herself with a hand to Sirius’ shoulder. Remus sighed and tried to ignore them, his knuckles turning white around his quill. “ oh come on Re. Have a drink, lighten up “

“ I’m not in the mood. I’m trying to work “ he grumbled, purposely not looking over at she’d Sirius now had his arm slung around Tonks shoulders. He was being ridiculous. Though Tonks seemed to pick up on it.

There was then some hushed talking between the two of them, that his heightened senses would’ve allowed him to hear if he cared enough. But instead He huffed and looked back down at his mission report. There was the creek of the library door as Sirius left with another remark about how boring Remus was and then quiet. Assuming that Tonks had followed Sirius out of the room he debated on going to find her. But a few moments later her arms looped around his neck from behind him, her nose brushing against his cheek.

“ is somebody jealous? “ she said quietly, mischief evident in her tone. He’d hoped he hadn’t been so obvious. Clearly he had. Of course he had. He wasn’t exactly well practiced in the art of hiding his affections for someone. And besides, Tonks could read him like a book.

“ I’m sure I don’t know what you’re talking about “ he felt her smile against his cheek and she tightened her hold on him, bringing her chin down to rest on his shoulder.

“ he’s my cousin Remus. I might technically be a Black by name, but not by nature. Not really into the whole ‘ fuck your family members ‘ thing you know? Especially not Sirius. Merlin. It’d be like shacking up with a brother or something. Nasty. Ugh now you’ve put that imagine in my head “ she shivered at the thought and he couldn’t help but smile.

“ you said yourself he’s handsome “ he pointed out, remembering the conversation that had actually lead to their first kiss, in a much similar situation to the one they were currently in. His so thought non existent jealousy coming out to bite.

“ doesn’t mean I wanna shag him Remus “

“ you always have such a way with words “ she laughed lightly and moved around in front of him, hopping up onto the desk and folding her arms.

“ I’m quite offended actually “ Remus sat back in his chair and watched her intently. Her cheeks were flushed slightly from drinking “ I mean come. On. Remus. You’ll be saying I’m shacking up with Arthur next because I laugh at his dad jokes “ when she put it like that he guessed he had been a bit irrational with his thoughts.

“ I heard Harry talking about it with Ron and Hermione. I think most of the kids believe you and Sirius are up to something “ she scoffed at that and quirked an eyebrow.

“ so you’re listening to the theories of the most unobservant boy in the entire country? I mean I love the boy I do, but I think he needs a new pair of glasses. His clearly aren’t working well “ a small smile tugged at his face then, Harry was a bright boy but he did have a tendency to be quite…. Oblivious. To everything. Tonks was quiet for a few more moments before tilting her head to the side inquisitively, chewing lightly on her bottom lip. She looked deep in thought “ so what’s this really about then? “ Remus frowned and raised his hands as if in mock surrender.

“ nothing. I told you I heard Harry and the way you were with Sirius.. it’s nothing “ she rolled her eyes and hopped off the desk, stepping either side of his legs and wiggling to get comfortable in his lap. His hands flew to her waist, unable to stop himself as she placed her hands to his shoulders and titled her head again.

“ Remus “ her voice was slightly sterner but she was smiling at him “ you can talk to me. You know you can “ he debated telling her the truth. That he was just getting jealous because she could do far better than him. She could have whoever she wanted, whenever she wanted. And he was scared to lose her. What they had, whatever it really was, was great. Remus hadn’t been so happy in a long. Long. Time. He didn’t want to push too far and send her packing. But he didn’t want to hang too far back and have her run off to someone else. It was a constant dilemma in his head.

“ you and I “ he started, not really even sure where he was going with his speech “ it’s good. It’s. It’s marvellous “ she laughed a little and nodded with a tight lipped smile.

“ it is. Though I sense a ‘ but ‘ incoming “ he sighed and fiddled nervously with one of the beads on her shirt. They were haphazardly sewn all over it and he wondered if she’d added them herself.

“ I’m just waiting for the inevitable “ he said after another short moment of silence. Deciding now was a better time as any to tell her. She was stubborn and she had him right where she wanted him. So it was going to come out there and then whether he liked it or not really.

“ ‘ the inevitable’ being?…. “

“ finding someone better- no now before you make that face let me finish. Please “ she had sighed as soon as the words left his mouth, sitting back slightly with an eye roll.

“ Remus we’ve talked about this. Can you just get it into your head, that I fancy you. Not Sirius. Not some random ‘ someone better ‘. You “ he couldn’t lie that the words made his heart pound just that bit faster. The confirmation being all he’d really needed. But there was always going to be that worry in the back of his mind. It would never go away.

“ I know. And maybe I’m a fool to keep bringing it up. But you have to admit that I’m not exactly at the top of most peoples most eligible list “ she took his face in her hands then, making him look her in the eyes. He’d noticed she didn’t change their colour very often anymore after he’d made an offhand remark about how beautiful her natural brown eyes were. They were captivating.

“ no one else bloody matters though. You’re at the top of my list. That’s all that matters. Maybe I’m mental. Maybe I’m not. All I know, is you’re one of the only truly decent man I’ve ever met. You don’t make me morph. You’re so respectful it’s practically dripping off of you. And you’re proper fit too which is totally just a bonus “ he hoped she couldn’t feel his cheeks heating up under her hands. But her smile told him she probably could.

It was odd for him to look at her and think that some one could ever even have the nerve to make her morph for them. To fit their idea of what was perfect. He thought she was marvellous in whatever form she thought was best fitting for her each day. He’d never dream of making her change. In his eyes, there had never been a more perfect specimen of a person to walk the earth. She made him laugh. Made him feel normal. Cared for. He couldn’t believe she would ever have eyes for him. But she did. And he guessed that miracles must truly be real.

“ I’m sorry for being so jealous “ her face softened again and the backs of her fingers brushed over his cheek.

“ it’s fine. I mean. At least it shows you care? “ she laughed a little and he felt his tension melting away a little.

“ I do “ her hand crept towards the back of his neck, her fingers slipping into his hair and she shuffled a little closer again.

“ good. Now stop being a mope and realise we’re on own again “ she whispered the last part, her face inching closer so he felt her breath on his lips. And with a smirk she caught his lips in hers.

[ickle-ronniekins]

it takes two

desc: when you make a stupid mistake, you can feel a shift in your friendships with your two best mates. so what better way to take care of things than to not mention anything to either of them at all? that is, until you’re bursting at the seams and need to get the story out, one way or another.

word count: 5.6k

warning(s): mentions and consumption of alcoholic beverages

A/N: something a little different. i still hope you all enjoy :) took me freaking forever to write this oi veigh. notes: my requests are still currently closed, i am merely working through the ones in my inbox. i do not give permission for my work to be reposted on any platforms.

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“Fred! Bloody hell, can’t you let me win just once?”

The common room was vibrating with chattering students. Across the table from you sat Fred with a rather smug look painted onto his face as if to say, Won again! You huffed dramatically; you’d been trying this entire term to beat him in a game of exploding snap and had yet to do so. You sulkily sank back into the couch and folded your arms across your chest, all while Fred just sat across from you and laughed. Just then, George plopped down next to you and thrust a goblet that was filled to the brim into your hands.

“Are you giving me this because I’ve lost to your git of a brother for the millionth time this year and need some reconciling?” You lowered your voice and your eyes to the goblet, the insides of it swirling with Gryffindor-deep crimson reds and oranges, the liquid that would course through your veins like a rapid fire.

“What’re you on about?” George asked, a sly smile creeping onto his face, “that’s butterbeer.”

You knew by the colour alone and the sheer burn in the back of your throat when you swallowed that it was definitely not butterbeer. Your eyes began to water at the sting. “Mhmm,”

“To answer your question, Y/N,” Fred dragged your name out a little bit longer than you would have liked, but he just adored teasing you, didn’t he? You narrowed your eyes at him as he relaxed back into the armchair, bringing the goblet of firewhisky to his lips, “no, I can’t let you win just once, I reckon. That wouldn’t be fair.” He then took a too-big-to-handle gulp, and began to cough from the burn of the alcohol.

“Fred, I swear to Merlin, could you be any less subtle, you idiot?” George sneered at his twin, grabbing for the goblet which Fred held above his head. George just sighed. “Can’t let the prefects see I’ve snuck this in.”

You giggled and shoved him. “Oh, you mean, your brother?”

The three of you peered across the common room to see Ron, Harry, Hermione and Ginny chatting away, Ron and Hermione’s shiny Prefects badges glistening on their robes. You shoved George playfully when he began to laugh.

“What? Ron wouldn’t tell. He’s too scared of us. It’s Hermione I’m worried about.”

You clinked your goblet with his and then with Fred’s and wiggled your eyebrows at the both of them. “Well then, boys, best make sure she doesn’t see, yeah?”

The three of you threw back more gulps and you reckoned it probably wasn’t the smartest thing to do, but the buzz of the party was making you abandon all logical thoughts.

You jumped up in surprise to find yourself still in your uniform from yesterday, but somehow tucked comfortably underneath the covers in your four poster. There were two perfect seconds where everything was fine and wonderful and lovely, until the haze above you lifted and you felt the very obnoxious thumping in your head when you turned toward your window and the sunlight nearly blinded you. Groaning, you pulled the covers back over your eyes and stayed in the dark until one of your mates began to yell that you were going to be late for breakfast.

You changed into new robes and tried to tame the wild animal that was your hair, but it was really no use, so you settled for pulling it back without accentuating your migraine. Sullenly, you dragged yourself away from bed, through the portrait hole, and down the steps toward the Great Hall.

It was all coming back in fuzzy little increments, wasn’t it? Last night. You grimaced when you remembered dancing and singing and playing exploding snap and giggling like mad all evening, like a little schoolgirl. The room had been buzzing with excited students and everyone was thoroughly enjoying their Sunday evening, despite the fact that Monday morning lessons loomed in the distance. Everything seemed to be better after some firewhisky, right? Blimey. The firewhisky. No wonder you had such an awful headache! That’s the last time you’d ever listen to Fred and George and -- oi. Bloody hell. Fred and George.

You were hit not only with another sharp pain through your skill, but with the overwhelming sensation of what exactly had happened. The truth. The painful, blinding, can’t-even-pretend-it-didn’t-happen truth.

And the truth was, of course, that you’d been so overpowered by your own giddiness mixed with the alcohol that you’d promptly danced the evening straight away and fell asleep uncomfortably in the armchair next to the fire quite early in the evening. One of them, one of the twins -- and which one, you didn’t know -- had taken it upon themselves to carry you from the common room and up to your dormitory before placing you safely in bed, all before you’d been too delirious to realize that you’d pulled him forward and kissed him. KISSED him.

But who was him exactly?

Your heart jumped into your throat, eager to escape, and you stopped short right in front of the Great Hall. How could you face them now? You didn’t even bloody know which one you’d embarrassed yourself in front of! Though, surely the one had told the other, so you reckoned you’d embarrassed yourself in front of them both at this point.

And then you saw him -- he had half of his body slung over the Gryffindor table, trying desperately to grab for the last bit of bacon Ron seemed to have snatched up. He flicked his red hair out of his eyes and took the final piece of toast off of Ron’s plate in an attempt to get his brother back for stealing the bacon from under his nose. And then a bright smile split his face as he sat back down, clearly satisfied with himself, and you knew right then and there that it had been him.

You’d kissed Fred, in a drunken, delirious state.

Your stomach grumbled. You knew that you desperately needed to eat, but you turned swiftly on your heel, away from the Great Hall, away from him, away from the mess that awaited you as you ignored it all and made way for the kitchens instead.

-- -

You felt as though you were walking on eggshells. You were conscious of every grin, every flutter of your eyelashes, every wave, every movement of your own so as not to come off a certain way.

There was no way you’d be able to avoid the two of them without rising suspicion, so you told yourself you’d go on as normal and only think or speak on the entire ordeal if one of them brought it up. It was proving rather difficult though, to not think on it at least. But it had been a week and thankfully, neither of them had brought it up to you. Fred and George continuously sent you winks across classrooms and teased you mercilessly, but this was nothing new; however, each and every time they said your name with an upward inflection, a question perched on their lips, you felt your heart constrict a little.

Why was this having such an effect on you? It’s not like you fancied Fred, or either one of them, for that matter.

But the butterflies that danced around in your stomach each and every time you saw him made you question everything you thought you knew about your heart. Were you only feeling this wave of nervousness because of the kiss-that-shouldn’t-have-been, or because you were actually developing feelings for him? And if you were developing feelings for him, were they genuine, or were they only because you’d kissed him? Or perhaps, maybe the kiss meant nothing in that it was simply just a kiss, a drunken, silly mistake. OI VEIGH. You internally scolded yourself for thinking in circles.

One particularly bad day, you’d been gawking. There was no other way of describing what you’d been doing. You were straight up staring, but not in an “I love you, let’s get married” type of way, but rather, “I need to look at you for a moment to see if these feelings I’m feeling are real or I’m just kidding myself” way. Of course, Fred couldn’t tell the difference, so when he caught you watching him attempt to cut bits of gurdyroot into five equal pieces, he smirked at you and asked, “Like what you see?”

You coughed in surprise on the air you were breathing and sat up a bit straighter. “Just watching your technique,” you blurted out, which didn’t sound any less pathetic, you reckoned. You just couldn’t wait to get out of the dungeons and back to the common room to stick your nose in a book and escape to someone else’s world for a bit.

But blimey, this was driving you mad. You hadn’t told anyone of this little adventure, had you? You thought about possibly consulting Ginny, though discussing the idea of you snogging one of her brothers probably wouldn’t be high on her priority list. Then you thought perhaps Hermione, who was always of a sound mind, but then you’d have to admit to the firewhisky and that wouldn’t benefit anyone. Then the possibility of Harry caught your attention, because he was always getting himself into conundrums, wasn’t he? He was probably an expert on damage control about now. Though when it came to romance, he was kind of awkward, so perhaps he wasn’t the best person to consult either.

You were nearly bursting at the seams with this story -- you just needed to get it off of your chest, you needed to be told that you weren’t crazy and that it was totally okay to be questioning these things you were feeling. But you hadn’t had enough time to find an appropriate confidant, which resulted in you spilling your guts to the absolute worst.

“I kissed him!”

In a moment of horror, your eyes widened and you brought your hands to your mouth in surprise, because you couldn’t believe you’d just said the words out loud. All it had been this whole time was a thought, right? Perhaps even a dream. Maybe you’d been imagining it the entire time. But now, saying it out loud, you realized that what had happened that evening was as real as the befuddled boy standing across from you.

Poor George arched an eyebrow and pressed his lips together to keep from laughing, you could tell. You began to shake your head and lift a finger, but he just took a step forward, his eyes softened now, as if to say, It’ll be alright, you know.  “Wait, Y/N --”

“Erm --” you were finding it really difficult to string together coherent sentences, because you weren’t exactly sure what you’d like to say. I may or may not be mad for your brother? I kissed him that one time when I was delirious and he hasn’t said anything and now I’m confused? So instead, you opted for, “Can we just -- go ahead and forget I’ve ever said anything?”

The grounds were absolutely bloody freezing -- the snow was coming down quite heavily now, everything already covered in a blanket of white, and you watched George shiver as he pulled his scarf tighter around his neck. Yet you felt as if your entire soul was on fire.

You noticed though, that he didn’t look surprised; Fred must’ve told him. You felt crimson red flush your cheeks and you so very much wanted to bury yourself underneath the covers of your bed in your dorm. Unfortunately for you, though, you had lessons soon. “Fred’s told you already, hasn’t he?”

“No, no, he didn’t,” George replied, eager to make sure you knew the truth.

“Reckon you think I’m out of my bloody mind, don’t you?”

“I thought that long before this whole debacle.”

You punched him square in the arm and he recoiled jokingly. “Ha haaaa,” you told him before dropping your head into your hands and groaning. When you finally had the courage to lift your head, you met George’s gaze and watched as the wind rustled his hair and snowflakes landed all over his robes. He peered at you sympathetically. “Can we just... please don’t tell Fred you know anything. If he hasn’t told you, I reckon he’s trying to repress it -- you know, kind of like a nightmare you don’t wish to remember!” George snorted at your attempt at making fun of yourself. “Or -- I dunno, maybe you could help me figure out how to broach the subject with him -- or maybe --”

George placed gentle hands onto your shoulders. “Oi, you really haven’t a clue what you’d like to do about this, d’you?”

You shook your head embarrassingly and started to groan again.

“Tell you what,” George said, gesturing for you two to head back inside the castle, “you think on it, and if you need any help, let me know. Once you come to a decision, I’ll help you execute a plan, and for the time being, this stays between us. Deal?”

For the first time in nearly a week, you felt somewhat better. You took a rather deep breath and let the cold, winter air fill your lungs before exhaling and letting your muscles de-tense. Your heart fluttered at his kindness, and the tenderness in his eyes as he watched you. “Thanks, George, I appreciate it.”

Then you picked up a huge wad of snow and threw it straight at him until he was pummeling you, too.

-- -

He winked at you just as you rolled your eyes and walked across the classroom and plopped yourself in the seat beside his. He smirked a bit, as if to say, Fancy meeting you here.

You glanced up toward the ceiling for no reason other than to not look directly at him for a moment. With your heart thundering dramatically in your chest, you internally sent out a plea to the universe, who apparently found it rather funny to pair you and Fred together in nearly every single lesson. What’ve I done to deserve this type of internal agony?

“Wow, together again,” Fred teased as he pulled out his spellbook from his bag. Then he threaded his brows together and thought for a moment, as if he was concentrating his hardest on a scientific discovery, “Don’t you find it kind of odd that we’ve been paired together in nearly every class? I mean, blimey, it’s as if our professors are trying to get the two of us to date or something.”

A lump appeared in your throat at the word date, and you swallowed to try and dislodge it. “Yeah,” you replied breathlessly, a nervous laugh escaping you, “odd.”

A few weeks ago, you would’ve been delighted to have been paired with Fred. Not because you were in love with him or anything, but because he was one of your best mates, wasn’t he? And now, as you inched as far away as you possibly could from him without looking suspicious, you felt a shift in your friendship -- a crack, if you will, that, as the days went on and you became more and more uncomfortable around him because of the secret you held close to you, seemed to be growing larger and the distance between you both bigger.

You had to admit, though, the two of you were pretty great together. Not in that way, but just as partners, as equals. As friends. Which is what you’d always been. Fred had this way about him that made even the most dreadful of lessons seem lighter, and you reckoned you could do far worse than having him as your partner. You wouldn’t want to be paired with a dreadful Slytherin in Potions now, would you? You made a mental note to thank the universe later and take back what you said about the agony thing.

“Right,” Fred began one afternoon as the two of you swiftly made your way up from the dungeons to the common room, “so I reckon we should probably meet sometime soon so we can get started on this dreadful assignment for Snape, so I’ll just cancel with Lee and George. What d’you say? This weekend?”

Your breath got caught in your throat when you realized that Fred wanted to cancel plans with his best mates to spend time with you, albeit, working on assignment for Snape. But it wasn’t due for a week! “Fred, you don’t have to do that --”

George appeared around the corner and waved at the two of you before making his way through the seat of students. Meanwhile, Fred just waved you off. “Nonsense. It’s no big deal. Not trying to get away from me, are you?” He smirked at you.

“Of course not,” you replied. George appeared in front of you both, immediately engaging Fred in some conversation that you were sure was centered around some type of mischief they were looking to get into, but the blood pounding in your ears seemed to drown everything out around you.

You hated this. There was no getting around it. Why had you stupidly kissed Fred? Why was your subconscious trying to make you fall in love when you had other pressing matters, like exams and things? And why had the universe caused this wedge between you and your two best friends in the entire world?

Fingers snapped in front of your eyes and everything came back into focus. George laughed breathlessly, “You alright? Zoned out there for a moment,”

“Not dreaming about working on that assignment with me, are you? Have got a few more days until then, I’m afraid.” Fred teased. You swallowed and watched as George’s eyes shifted from his brother’s to yours.

You were able to produce somewhat of a laugh and punched Fred in the arm, a little two hard, because the boys just peered from one another to you, with confused types of grins on their faces. “Hilarious, Freddie. I’ve -- I’ve just remembered that I’ve got another assignment to finish up, so I’m going to head to the library -- but I’ll see you both later!”

And before either of the twins could convince you to come with them back to the common room to take a break, you sped off toward the library, trying with all of your might to catch your breath that seemed to have been stolen away.

-- -

You vowed after that night in the library that you were not going to let Fred get to you, no matter what. You told yourself to stay calm and grounded and to push aside whatever happened. To focus on what was in front of you. There was absolutely no point in getting worked up when it had obviously meant nothing to him, for he still hadn’t mentioned it. Who knows? Perhaps you’d also apologized in your delirious state, and he played it off. You just needed to move forward. And if your feelings were true, and it was meant to be, it would happen, wouldn’t it? The two of you.

You’d done a surprisingly good job of keeping your promise to yourself.

You found yourself falling back into your old routine. Each and every time Fred teased you or sent a wink your way, you merely rolled your eyes, reminding yourself that this was his normal behaviour and that there was absolutely no reason for you to read into it. He didn’t act overly flirty, he didn’t try and hold your hand or hug you or anything -- in fact, now that you were less focused on the entire ordeal, you came to realize that he was showing no signs that anything had happened at all.

You were busy in the common room, flipping furiously through a copy of the Daily Prophet, when the twins dropped their belongings and fell onto the couch across from you.

Without looking up, you could feel them both smirking at you. “I am not engaging in any type of firewhisky-related activity with you two again,” you told them straightforwardly.

“Why,” Fred teased, “because you’re worried about doing something you’ll regret again?”

Your heart nearly stopped beating at those few words. You froze and lifted your head; Fred was peering at you as though nothing was out of the ordinary, and George was looking back and forth between the two of you, looking as though he was ready to jump in with something if you needed him too.

“W-what d’you mean?” you asked tentatively, though you weren’t sure you wanted him to answer.

This was it, you reckoned. He was going to bring it up and then it’ll be out there in the open for the three of you to mull over; you’ll become awkward and uncomfortable around them both and that’ll be the new normal. Absolutely bloody fabulous.

Fred shrugged, as if it were obvious. “Your one woman show was quite the entertainment, you know.”

Oh. That you remembered. You breathed a deep sigh of relief, but then realized as the twins began to laugh that you weren’t exactly off the hook. It wasn’t the kiss they’d been discussing, but you reckoned that singing obnoxiously in the common room was probably just as embarrassing.

“No matter,” Fred said, “We haven’t even got any on us. Now if you’d both excuse me, I’ve got to go and ask that lovely lady out on a date. She’s been rejecting me for weeks, but I know she’ll come round.” He straightened his tie as if he were off to a business meeting and stood up, sending you and George bright grins before he went off to the other end of the common room to where Angelina was sitting reading a book. “Wish me luck.”

You watched with furrowed brows as Fred waltzed over to her, looking positively chuffed and confident, his aura of confidence engulfing the room entirely. He sat down next to her and you felt your heart begin to thunder against your ribcage; you realized now that you wanted to know the answer to Fred’s proposal probably more so than he did. And when, inevitably, Angelina rolled her eyes in a teasing sort of way but nodded her head in agreement as her eyes sparkled, you were surprised at the feelings swirling in your stomach.

It wasn’t sadness, or heartbreak, or confusion at all.

What you felt, in actuality, was relief.

You knew deep down that you didn’t love him, and thank Merlin he didn’t love you, too.

When he pulled Angelina to her feet and guided her toward the portrait hole, he looked over toward you and George and sent a wink as he bit down on his bottom lip, and for the first time in weeks, the eye roll you sent him back was genuine, and you finally felt as though you had your best mate back.

Once Fred was gone and completely out of earshot, you jumped up excitedly and began to shake George by the shoulders. “Blimey, woman, what has gotten into you?” he asked through a laugh.

“George, don’t you see?” you pleaded with him. “Clearly, whatever the bloody hell came over me doesn’t matter to Fred, because he’s sought out Ange instead! And it doesn’t matter to me either -- all those feelings I thought I had were merely because I was a nervous wreck due to the mistake I’d made. It was all in my head, wasn’t it? The feelings, I mean,” you rushed to continue when you noticed George’s confused features, “or whatever they were. Reckon I can just forget about that kiss now.” You sank comfortably into the couch, feeling as though a huge weight had finally been lifted off of your shoulders after having carried it around for bloody months, and you picked up your copy of the Daily Prophet again, reading giddily.

George leaned forward in the armchair, pressing his elbows into his knees. “You’re just going to forget about the entire thing?”

“Well, I don’t see why I’ve got to harp on it anymore, you know? Besides, I’ve got so many other things to focus on,” you told him before folding up your news clipping and setting it down on the table. “Speaking of all those things I need to do, I’d like to avoid them for the evening. What d’you say we break curfew and head down to the Quidditch pitch? I’d really like to give you a run for your money, Weasley.”

You noticed the mischievous glint in his eyes, and he was up and back from the boys dormitory with his broomstick before you could second guess yourself. You felt yourself blush when he said, “Whatever makes you happy. But I’ve got to warn you, I’m absolutely going to crush you out there.”

You pulled a thick scarf around your neck and scoffed before hopping through the portrait hole. “In your dreams, mate.”

-- -

You both landed dramatically on the couch after spending far too much time out in the cold. You wondered if your nose and ears were going to turn permanently red, and you rubbed your hands together as you inched closer toward the fire.

“You may have gotten me that time,” you told George, who was slowly sipping his steaming hot tea, “but it’s only because I’ve had an off few weeks. Now that everything’s back to normal though, I’ll be able to kick your arse just like you deserve.”

“Easy there,” he replied, and though his voice was soft, it echoed throughout the desolate common room, “don’t go getting any ideas. Haven’t you heard that Fred and I are the greatest beaters Gryffindor has ever seen?”

You actually snorted. “Right, okay, sure -- whatever helps you sleep at night.”

You realized then just how tired you actually were. You sank back into the couch and closed your eyes for just a moment; if you gave yourself a few minutes, you knew that you’d be absolutely out cold and probably snoring. You giggled a bit at the thought -- it’s no wonder Fred didn’t fall in love with you!

You heard George laugh a little too, and his voice was quiet in your ears. “Come on, Y/N, it’s nearly one -- let’s get to bed.”

And then you bolted forward, just like you had the morning after drinking all of that firewhisky. Realization hit you like a ton of bricks; next to you, George froze, a bit confused by your jolt, and you just peered at him, reliving it all over again.

Come on then, let’s get you to bed, Y/N.

It was the way he said your name, both that evening and tonight, filled with such tenderness and care that you’d be able to recognize it anywhere, easily pick it out of a lineup. You wouldn’t forget it for as long as you lived.

George threaded his brows together and shook his head slightly, as if to say, Are you alright?

And before you could let yourself figure out a better way of doing this, you breathed out, “It was you.”

His features twisted from confusion to nervousness, and then to relief. His face was flushed red, but you couldn’t tell if it was from the cold air or the fact that he was remembering, and reliving it all with you.

It was George that you’d kissed that night, not Fred.

It was evident that he didn’t know what to say. He parted his lips, as if he were going to open his mouth and speak, but nothing happened. You laughed a bit at how bloody stupid you’d been, and then grinned sympathetically at him. “It was you, the whole time.”

You wondered how you’d missed it, how you’d assumed it was Fred. And then, as George tentatively inched forward and placed his hand on top of yours, that all those feelings of butterflies and nervousness and heart-stopping moments hadn’t been because of Fred at all.

Whenever Fred had said something cheeky and your heart began to race, it was only because you’d caught George peering at you first.

When you stumbled over your words that time in a lesson, when Fred had jokingly told you that he thought your professors were trying to get you two to date, it was only because your head and heart subconsciously yearned for his twin instead.

And when your heart had started to race that day on the snow-covered grounds, at the idea of telling Fred anything at all, it was actually because of the tenderness in George’s eyes as he promised to not say a word to anyone.

“Why -- why didn’t you say anything?” you asked him.

It was so odd to see him so nervous; he and Fred were the most confident people in the bloody world, weren’t they? George sucked in a breath and you felt yourself tighten the grip around his hands as he spoke his own truth. “I dunno... you were so tired that night and so I figured it was just a mistake. But then you got all weird around us and so I figured perhaps not. Then you went and thought it was Fred and confided in me that one day... I just didn’t want to scare you away. You were so upset and confused and I didn’t want to worsen it. I figured you’d come to the realization on your own -- or, I hoped you would.”

You bit down on your lip and continued to laugh; you had felt so embarrassed by the idea of telling Fred when you thought it was him, but with George, it felt okay.

“Look,” he continued, squeezing your hands, “I’m not really sure where you’re at right now -- I mean, blimey, we’ve been best mates for years, haven’t we? If you’d like to forget the entire thing and go back to normal, then I -- I can do that.” He paused for a moment to consider the look in your eyes. He sucked in another breath, as if more oxygen in his lungs would give him the courage to continue. “I just... I don’t know if I want to.”

He was lucky then, because you didn’t know if you wanted to either. Perhaps it wasn’t the firewhisky that made you abandon all rational -- perhaps it was George and the way he made you feel -- because you pushed aside all what if’s and grabbed him by the collar of his shirt and pulled him closer to you before gently brushing your lips over his. His surprise lasted about two seconds before he melted into you completely, and it was as if the feeling of his lips moving slowly against yours brought back all recognition from that night. Of course it had been him -- the faint taste of cinnamon and vanilla transported you right back.

When you broke apart, you both hovered close to one another for a moment before looking at one another and beginning to laugh at the ridiculousness of the entire ordeal. You pressed your lips together and said, “Normal’s overrated anyway, isn’t it?” He nodded and brought your hands to his lips. “Go to Hogsmeade with me.”

“What?”

“Tomorrow,” you told him straightforwardly, “I’ve been dying to head into Zonko’s. Then let’s grab lunch and a drink at the pub. No firewhisky, though." You both laughed.

He smirked at you and you watched as the fire reflected in his eyes burned brighter. “Did you just ask me out on a date?”

“That depends,” you replied, somehow feeling even more confident than before, “are you going to say yes?”

“Of course I’m going to say yes.”

You pulled him to his feet and he pulled you into an embrace; you wondered again how you’d gone on so bloody long not realizing it had been him who you’d kissed. You thought about apologizing for it, though you just squeezed your eyes shut and leaned your head against his chest, and you realized that he’d somehow be able to hear all of the unspoken words inside of you. Thank you for being so kind about all of this, you’d say. He pulled you tighter toward him and he pressed a kiss to your hair. I care about you too much not to be anything but that.

You both stepped apart. Awkwardly, you began to fumble with the strings on your sweater and George ran a hand nervously through his hair. This was going to be so strange, wasn’t it? Dating your best friend. Though as odd as the prospect seemed, you thought for a moment why you two hadn’t been doing this the entire time.

“Erm, so, tomorrow,” George stumbled a bit, walking with you toward the steps up to the girls’ dormitory. “Lunch, yeah?”

“Yeah,” you agreed, feeling overly giddy as he leaned in and pressed a kiss to your cheek. “Tomorrow.”

Just as you were both headed up to your respective dormitories, George turned and said your name and stopped you. “Yeah?” you asked.

He shook his head slightly and furrowed his brows. “You know I’m only joking, right? It was Fred that night.”

Hot, bubbly panic took you over at those words, but then the git began to laugh hysterically and so you tossed a throw pillow directly at him and it hit him square in the head. For Merlin’s sake, these two you were going to drive you bloody mad.

“In that case, I won’t be seeing you for lunch tomorrow,” you called in a sing-song type of voice before heading up the steps.

You were right at the door of your dormitory when you heard George laughing still. “Aw, come on Y/N, I know that’s not true. You find me far too irresistible. I’ll see you tomorrow, love.”

You bit down on your lip to suppress a giggle. You’d have been really bloody angry had he not been so right about the irresistible thing.

“I’ll be sure to bring Fred along, too.”

“Weasley!”