The Chaser : A Fred Weasley Fan Fic

Eleven: Fears

The next morning I woke up feeling positively sick to my stomach. Fred had kissed me and it wasn't for a game or a bet or a joke. I didn't know how I was going to face him, or anybody else for that matter.

I dragged myself to sit up in bed, Hermione was already gone and I decided my only solution was to go to breakfast early to try and avoid the twins.

Fred and George were inseparable, you never saw one without the other and I suspected they didn't keep much from each other either. George was sure to know by now.

But my plan failed when I entered the Great Hall to see the rest of the team had all decided to rise early today too. I sunk into the seat next to Katie, filling my bowl with cereal and milk and keeping my eyes fixed on the table. There was a strange uncomfortable tension as soon as I'd sat down and my heart began to thump faster, wondering if Fred had already told everyone.

"Alright this morning you two?" Oliver asked, waving his spoon between me and Fred across the table.

I thought my throat had closed up and all I could stammer out was a short "What?"

"You were quite furious at each other yesterday, did you manage to sort it out?" Oliver furrowed his brow at me, wondering how I could have forgotten about the nasty argument Fred and I had in front of everyone yesterday. I breathed a deep sigh of relief, realising that they didn't know.

"Yes, I suppose you could say that" I muttered, looking back down at my breakfast. I daren't look in Fred's direction but I could see his smirk gleaming from the corner of my eye. I eased a little in my seat knowing he hadn't come in boasting to everyone.

Fred seemed to be steering clear of me too. If our first lesson hadn't of been Defense Against the Dark Arts maybe I'd have been able to ignore him for the whole day but when we had to sit side by side for over an hour, it was unavoidable.

I still couldn't set aside my anger. Fred thought I was easy, it was the only logical reason why he'd kissed me.

I made my way to our shared desk, with Fred trailing behind me and he began trying to speak with me about what happened. There was no way I could put up with an hour of this. I braced myself for his continued blithering, but before we even had time to sit down, Professor Lupin discarded all the tables and chairs to the side with a flick of his wand.

An old rattling cabinet stood where Lupin's desk would usually be at the head of the classroom and he ordered us all to line up a few paces in front of it. As we queued before the mysterious piece of furniture, Fred was preoccupied, still whispering in my ear. I thought he'd be excited or at least distracted by whatever this thing was.

"Stop it, Fred" I hissed, turning around to look at him sharply.

"What did I do wrong, why did you run away?" he whispered and I shook my head at him.

"Fred up here!" George called from a spot nearer the front of the queue, beckoning his twin to join him. Fred sighed deeply and went to stand next to George and I was finally given a moment of silence.

Professor Lupin explained loudly to the class that a Boggart was inside the cabinet and it shook violently, as if it recognised its own name. He described how it would present itself as whatever we feared the most and the way to combat it was with the simple spell 'Riddikulus'. My breath hitched, I didn't even know what I feared above all else and I was a little intrigued to see what it might come up with.

The line descended slowly and finally the twins stepped before it. They went together, as they always did and the boggart whirled around in place. It finally settled to form a dark cloaked figure with glowing red eyes that peered from its hood. I didn't quite know what it was meant to be but everybody in the room gasped.