Yours, Fred | f. weasley x reader

Chapter 11: The Triwizard Tournament

The incident at the Quidditch World Cup and the casting of the Dark Mark were the main topics of conversation on the Hogwarts Express that September morning. You sat in the train compartment with the twins and Lee like you did every year while the twins ranted about being scammed out of their small fortune of winnings by Ludo Bagman, who had given them a pouch of Leprechaun gold which disappeared after a few hours, and Lee told them that his father had the same experience with the crook.

You sat quietly with the Daily Prophet on your lap, reading the reports of what had happened the night of the Quidditch Cup while you absentmindedly stroked Lyra's feathers as she perched on your knee. Fred nudged your foot with his own, making you look up at him, "you alright?" he asked you quietly while the other two rambled about how to get the twins' money from Bagman.

You nodded at him, and you meant it for once. It took you a few weeks to come to terms with what you'd seen that night, and after nightmares of flashing green light left you exhausted and shaken for about a week straight, you were finally doing better. You held up the cover of the newspaper to show him what you were reading, "I just don't understand how these people, the Death Eaters, got into the campsite. I thought it was secure?"

George tuned into the conversation then, "it was secure, that's the problem. There was a lot of security, according to Dad anyway, and that's what worries them so much. It happened right under the Ministry's noses."

Lee nodded solemnly, "and apparently they still have no idea who conjured the Dark Mark."

"One thing's for sure," Fred said as Hogwarts came into view, "this is going to be a bloody strange year."

---

You met Bea as soon as you all climbed off the train and you let Lyra loose, letting her fly off towards the castle to stretch her wings after the long journey. Bea gave you a tight hug when you met her, and when you pulled away she studied you with a serious look on her face, "how are you doing, Y/N?"

"I'm fine, Bea. I'm just ready for things to get back to normal."

She nodded and considered you thoughtfully, then thankfully she changed the subject, "did you get dress robes?"

"Yes I did! Have you any idea why we need them?"

"Not a clue, it's all very strange though, everyone seems to be so secretive. Mum and Dad seemed almost too eager for me to 'have a good time' this year," she made quotation marks with her fingers as she spoke, "I wonder what's going on?"

"Bill and Charlie were acting the same way, they basically hinted that we're going to have an interesting year but wouldn't tell us anything else, the buggers," Fred remarked as he joined you, with George and Lee walking behind him. You walked from the platform to the carriages like you did every year, but you did a double take and stopped walking suddenly which almost caused the boys to walk into you.

"Since when are there horses pulling the carriages?" You asked in surprise.

"What?" George looked down at you, puzzled. You pointed to the carriages, "the scaly looking horses pulling the carriages?"

Fred squinted over at the carriages, "Y/N, what are you on about?"

"Has everyone's eyes and ears stopped working or something?" you asked incredulously, "the carriages usually go by themselves but now they're being pulled by those things. How can you not see them? They're not exactly hard to miss."

Lee took a deep breath and stood next to you, looking at you with concern, "Y/N, there's nothing there."

You shook your head in disbelief, looking back at the creatures that were most definitely there, and then Bea spoke up as realisation dawned on her, "from what you've described, they sound like Thestrals."