my best friends brother - fred weasley

xxi. helping

 The common room was back to normal, the couches were put back, the tables cleaned off and the fire was back to its usual flickering. There was no trace of the party left, except for a few 7th years sleeping on the stairs. Hermione was still curled up on the small couch I left her on, Ron was no where to be seen. Fred continued to basically carry me, placing me on the couch in front of the fire. I drop my head onto the back of the couch, closing my eyes and listening to the fire. The room still seems to spin even though my eyes are shut.  The couch dips next to me as Fred sits on it, he lets out a tired sigh. I pull my knees up and rest my head on them, turning to look at him. He has his feet resting on the table, his right arm resting on the back of the couch. He rolls his head over to look back to me. 

"You don't have to stare." He says, looking back at the fire after a moment of eye contact.

"I'm not staring." I say shyly, biting my bottom lip. "I'm just looking."

"Looking at what?"

"Oh just the invisible television that's in front of me." I respond dryly. "I'm looking at you, dummy." 

"I'm so flattered." He fans his face, pretending to blush. 

"Piss off." I hit his arm, and look back up at the ceiling, closing my eyes again.

"It sounds like someone's still a bit tipsy. You had what? 2 drinks?" 

"Excuse me? I am only a small person." I defend myself. 

"I guess. You can take the win on that one." He laughs. We both sit in silence, our breaths matching rhythm. I slowly start to drift off to sleep, my head dropping to one side. Fred notices and helps me lay down, resting my head on the arm of the chair. His right arm rests over my side, protectively, tracing patterns on my back, where my jacket has risen up. I set my eyes on the fire, watching it flicker for a while, before taking a few shaky, deep breaths and finally falling into a deep, well deserved sleep. 

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"What the bloody hell is going on here?" I slowly sit up, rubbing my eyes to wake up.

"What? Why can't I sleep in peace." I open my eyes to see George leaning against the wall, smirking at me. I look down to where my head was resting, and realise sometime during the night I ended up sleeping with my head on Fred's lap.

"Good morning, sunshine." George continues to smirk. My head pounds as I stand up, I can barely open my eyes due to the sunlight coming through the windows.

"Why are you screaming?" 

"Big night, eh? How'd it end?"

"That's none of your business, George." I make my way to the stairs, using the wall to balance. As I get into my dormitory, I drop onto the bed, trying my hardest to fall back asleep.

"Clover!" Hermione's voice booms into my ears. I sit up, frustrated and in pain. 

"What!" I whine back, staring straight into her eyes, I see her smiling. 

"Are you just going to ignore what I witnessed?" She sits next to me.

"What? What did you witness?"

"You and Fred? You two were... cuddling." She whispers, nudging my arm.

"We were not! I was sleeping and... he just happened to be there as well." I defend myself. She rolls her eyes.

"Sure, if you want to pretend that that is all, then I'll pretend with you." She laughs, standing up. "On another topic, you look like you've been hit by a train."