Chéri || Fred Weasley

xvi

When Harry and I stepped into the common room we were greeted with people celebrating. 'What the fuck are they throwing a party for' I thought as I walked past the crowd, heading directly to the drinks table. I poured myself a cup of fire whiskey and downed in a matter of seconds. Everyone in the Gryffindor common room was asking Harry how he had managed to get through Dumbledore's age line and his response was the same to every question. "I didn't. I don't know how it happened". I felt awfully terrible for him, he didn't want this, he didn't ask for this, but it seemed like normal and Harry Potter didn't even belong in the same sentence together. After half an hour, Harry had managed to retreat into his dorm, but agreed to meet me after everyone else was gone. 

I was sitting with my friends, drinking and talking about what had happened, they all seemed excited to have a Gryffindor champion but all I could think about was Harry's wellbeing. I was sipping on my fourth glass of fire whiskey, staring blankly into the fireplace when I felt a poke on my arm. "What?" I snapped, but my eyes softened when I saw Fred. "Don't you think you've had too much?" he said pointing to the almost empty glass I has holding. "Believe me, it takes much more than this to get me drunk" I said.

"What's wrong? Why were you with Harry?" he asked putting his empty glass on the floor. "I'm fine, I just feel bad for Harry. He doesn't deserve this, I'll explain everything to you once I talk to him" I sighed.

"Alright then, nice burn with Nate by the way. It was brilliant" he said getting up and walking the stairs to the boys' dormitories.

Nate. That was another issue. God, I hated him so much but I just couldn't stay away from him. One look, that's all it took for me to fall into his arms like a pathetic damsel in distress. Those blue ocean eyes knew how to make me cry like no other. I hadn't loved him for a very long time, I had learned that the hard way. We could never work. We were both way too fucked up in our own way, but maybe that's what pulled us into this mess in the first place. But those damn blue eyes were intoxicating. I also wondered how my siblings would react if they ever found out about our rendez-vous. They would choose him over me any day of the week.

My thoughts were suddenly interrupted by  Harry, who sat next to me on the couch and stared deep into the fireplace. "Why did you do that?" He asked looking into my eyes. "Do what?" I answered. "Volunteer to take my place, you didn't have to do that" he sighed.

"Well, I kind of had to you know. This is going to sound mental, but you and I Harry, we are family" I smiled. "F-family? But I don't have any family" he said. "We're not related by blood if that's what you think, but we are god-siblings".

"Maddie if this is a joke I swear to Merlin–".

"My mum's maiden name is Black, and no she is not Sirius' sister, they're actually first cousins. I didn't even know he was your godfather too until this summer but I'm here now" I said taking his hand lovingly into mine.

"Do you mean that?" he whispered "Of course I do Harry, you are my brother and I will never leave you alright, that's a promise", he wrapped his arms around me and hugged me tightly. I hugged him back and he started to cry quietly. "I'm sorry, I usually don't cry in front of others but it's all too much" he mumbled.

"Let it out Harry, I learned until recently that it's not good to bottle things up" I joked trying to lighten up the mood. I was never good handling crying people, I could sometimes come as 'insensitive'.

"I'm scared Maddie, I really am. I don't wanna be a champion, I don't want to be Harry Potter, I just want to be normal" his voice cracked.

"Why be ordinary when you can be extraordinary? That's something that my dad used to tell me. I know that it's absolute shit and that it's not fair, believe me when I tell you that I would rather be the one competing instead of you, but you heard what they said. So this is what we're going to do okay, we will figure this out and we will take it one day at the time Harry and I will help you get through the Tournament, I'll come up with the plans and I'll be here with you every step of the way, deal?".