CHRYSALIS - FRED WEASLEY

CHAPTER 5

Hi babies!! I'm so sorry I've been gone, and I hope this chapter makes up for it. I am super excited about it, and I hope you love it! Please remember to vote and comment, it really helps this story get more readers. xoxo

Intramural Quidditch is a big deal at Hogwarts. Depending on the matchup, it could sometimes be even more competitive--and more dangerous--than normal quidditch. Once a month, a house hosts a secret game. At nine PM, every fourth, fifth, sixth, and seventh year gather in the common room of one of the four houses. The names of every eligible player are put in a bag, chosen at random, and assigned a team. There are two teams of seven random players from all four houses. The student body proceeds to get absolutely wasted, sneak to the pitch, and cheer for their favorite players. (Dumbledore secretly thinks it encourages house unity, so the faculty are instructed to let it slide.)

Tonight is Gryffindor's turn to host, which means they are reffing, as well as throwing the afterparty. Lillie and her roommates Jackie, Ella, and Penelope all make their way to the Quidditch pitch in a gaggle, surrounded by other Hufflepuff upperclassmen.

"I heard Malfoy and Potter are playing on the same team tonight," Ella says after taking a swig of the firewhisky that's enveloped in a brown paper bag.

"Oh shit," Jackie says, laughing, "that's gonna be interesting. I wonder who's going to be playing seeker, then?"

"Potter better be, if his team has any brains," Ella replies, passing Lillie the whisky. Lillie takes a bigger chug than she normally would; she has a feeling she'll need it, tonight.

"But Malfoy is so hot," Jackie says, putting on a dreamy voice.

"He's a fifth year, pervert," Penelope says. Her voice sounds bored, and she's using her wand to make little paper birds fly overhead. Lillie laughs, but not wholeheartedly. Her mind is somewhere else, and her friends can tell. All Lillie can think about these days is her fight with Fred, and how they haven't spoken since. She knows she'll run into him tonight, and when she does, she wants to be heavily intoxicated.

The Quidditch game itself is entirely uneventful. Lillie doesn't know much about Quidditch, so for all she knows it may have been the match of the century. At any rate, the shortened one-hour game gives her ample time to get absolutely trashed in the stands, surrounded by students in varying house colors and levels of intoxication. The group staggers back to the castle, celebrating Harry Potter's team's win. They file into the Gryffindor common room in a steady stream, filling the place nearly to capacity. The room has been magiced to be a bit bigger, and the furniture has been stowed away in some hidden room, protected from the throngs of partygoers.

As Lillie draws nearer to the common room with her friends, she feels her insides squirming. As hard as she tried, the alcohol running through her veins can't fully mask the sheer terror she feels at the prospect of seeing, and possibly speaking to, Fred. Her pace slows infinitesimally and her eyebrows knit together. Suddenly, she feels a hand slip into hers, and she looks down to find Penelope folding their fingers together.

"You'll be fine. I'll let you know if he's around."

"He called me a bitch, Pen."

"Go make him regret it, then."

Lillie gives her a thankful look, and they walk through the portrait hole together, hand in hand.

***

Fred, George, and Lee Jordan are leaning against the back wall of the Gryffindor common room, observing as the party grows larger and larger as more people stream in. Fred has a firewhisky mixed with a muggle drink called "Coke", which he thinks tastes pretty good. He's always had a sweet tooth, and all his friends call him a pouf when he opts for a sweet drink over something more "manly". However, he can barely force himself to drink; his stomach is riotous, sloshing with nerves and anxiety at the thought of seeing Lillie tonight. He honestly doesn't even think he can get the drink down without being nauseous. He mentally curses himself and his bad stomach, because now he is too nervous to get drunk, but being drunk is the only thing he can think of to calm himself. He stands in between Lee and George, who are bickering about who the hottest teacher in the school is.