Bad Decisions | Fred Weasley

Nineteen: High Fidelity

Sylvia wrote Fred a note on the back of a postcard she had picked up in Hogsmeade that said "I got hammered at the Hogshead!" over the animated head of a mounted boar that drank a butterbeer in one gulp before going crosseyed and sporting little spinning squiggles that danced around its ears. She thought it was funny and hadn't planned on actually sending it to anyone, but it was all she had on hand.

Fred, she wrote on the back, I'm really sorry to hear about your dad, I hope he's recovering well. Best, Sylvia.

She wanted to write more, to apologize for the night of the party and the scene with Quentin, for writing the thing in the girls' bathroom and the flyers. Without knowing why, she felt like she had to express some sort of regret, to Fred in particular. She didn't know where to address it, so she just wrote his name in neat, uppercase letters and hoped her owl could figure it out. He was small and usually needed assistance in heavy or long-distance mail, so she hoped he'd maybe run into Errol. She had never thought about how owls knew where to go and was suddenly worried about it now.

That night Sylvia dreamt that her wardrobe was filled with ants and every drawer looked like it was filled with a swarming darkness, so she had to go to class in her pajamas. She told the others about it at breakfast as a meaningless comment to fill the silence that had settled since the twins went home. It wasn't a hit, receiving various "oh weird"s and "huh"s. They only had another day of classes until the winter holidays but no one was in a good mood. No one had said anything about Fred and Sylvia at the party last weekend and it didn't seem like anyone cared really, or they weren't planning on bringing it up anytime soon.

A card was dropped onto her breakfast the next morning, on the last day of classes. She picked it up gingerly and turned it over, avoiding the greasy spots where it had landed in her potatoes. Her little burrowing owl hopped down onto the table and she let him peck at her toast.

Angelina reached across the table and scratched his head, "What's his name?"

Sylvia was preoccupied staring at the name in the corner of the envelope, right above the return address. She blinked, "Uh, Pigeon. His name is Pigeon."

Angelina and Alicia giggled while Lee raised an eyebrow and shook his head, but Sylvie didn't have the attention span to react. She put the letter in her bag and looked back up, smiling as Pigeon closed his eyes happily under Angie's finger.

She read the letter that night in bed. Once she was sure the other girls were asleep, she pulled the curtains of her bed closed tight and lit the end of her wand with a quiet "lumos".  Her eyes scanned over the address at least four times before she finally tore the envelope open.

Sylvie,
Thank you. It was actually very nice of you to send that card. Dad's doing alright but it's weird. There's a lot of tension going around. But get this, I saw your literary idol in St. Mungo's the other day. Gilderoy Lockhart in a straitjacket has to be both the most upsetting and hysterical thing I've seen in years, and I've seen a lot.

She caught herself smiling then and began chewing on her thumb nail.

I hope you have a good Christmas. I miss you.
-Fred

She read the card twice over before folding it back up and slipping it into its envelope. Her heart stung delightfully in her chest and she didn't sleep that night.

She played Uno with Alicia on the train ride home. They were the only two who knew the game and Fiona watched attentively while Angelina and Lee bought candy from the trolley lady and talked about their respective Christmas traditions. Alicia beat Sylvia in Uno four times in a row and she eventually asked Fiona if she wanted to take her place, who ended up being pretty good at it for a first-timer. Andrew Saxby and Kenneth Towler came in at one point to say their goodbyes, even going so far as to make eye contact with Sylvie and say "see ya". She smiled back and watched Fiona and Alicia's hands fan out their Uno cards and their mouths twist and pucker in thought and she listened to Angie and Lee's voices and she felt happy.