Safe With Me ~ Fred Weasley

Hufflepuff vs Gryffindor

My classes seemed never ending the Friday I was supposed to meet the twins. Even Defense Against the Dark Arts dragged on, despite how nervous I had been to return to it after last week. Today, no boggarts were to be found. Lupin instead spoke of spells that are safe for animals you need to get away from but not harm.

When he finally released us and set us our first homework assignment of the term, I rushed to the staircase and climbed one flight until I was where the twins said to meet. I leaned against the wall for a few minutes until I heard the double doors burst open and Fred walked over to me alone.

"Sorry, Sorry. George got held up. Sorry I'm late."

"You're fine, Fred. I've been here barely five minutes."

Fred's face twisted into an almost guilty expression for making me wait and then nodded down the hallway where three stone statues, chipped and weathered stood along the wall.

"Alright, so, you know George and I have a knack for... well-"

"Mischief?" I smirked, earning a grin back from the ginger.

"You could say. Well anyways, over the years, we've become a bit obsessed with finding these... Well... I'll just show you."

Fred reached into his robe and pulled his wand out, tapping a particularly unpleasant looking statue of a witch with one eye on the head.

"Dissendium."

Before I could question what he was doing, the statue slid to the right, exposing a small crevice only a very skinny person could slip through. Lucky for the twins and myself, as well as Harry who I assumed they had shown this too as well, we all fit that description.

"That's wild!" I whispered excitedly, looking up and down the hall nervously.

"Come in, i'll show you. Don't want to be caught out here though."

He was right. He stepped in and I watched him drop about a foot or so before landing on a dirt path and reaching up for my hands. I hesitated shyly but decided being down there was better than getting caught breaking the rules, and at this point the walls.

I took Fred's hands and let him pull me down next to him, trying to keep my face steady and not allowing myself to blush. His hands were warm which felt nice after standing in the cool hallway and now dropping into the freezing tunnel.

The statue slid shut, plunging us into near darkness and I unconsciously stepped nearer to Fred.

"Lumos." He whispered, his wand shining down the tunnel. "No worries, it gets lighter as you walk too. The tunnel's a straight shot to the sweet shop in Hogsmeade, there's just one turn near the end but it's all boarded up. This is the only tunnel left that leads out to town, the rest have all caved in, or there's a few Filch patrols. Too risky. He'll never find this one though, seeing as you need magic and all."

"How do you get out?" I asked, looking back to the wall we came through which was now sealed shut.

"Oh, one sec." He pulled a crumpled piece of parchment from his pocket and tapped it with his lit wand, muttering something under his breath. "Okay, coast looks clear."

"What do you mean 'coast looks clear,' how would you know?" I asked, trying to steal a glance at what now looked like a map.

"Mind your business, Olsen." He teased, walking to the wall and repeating the spell from earlier.
He grabbed the leg of the statue and pulled himself out, looking both ways before pulling me up to join him.

The witch slid closed once again and I turned back to Fred.

"So this is what you showed Harry, too?" I asked, thinking that if I did decide to attend the tunnel, Harry and I could walk together.