Serpentine ; Fred Weasley

Fifty-six

Fred was upset.

Not with me but with whomever had written me that letter.

He read it again just to make sure he read it right and now he was looking at me, waiting for me to say something about it, but I didn't have anything to say.

"Kai..." he sighed.

"Don't make a big deal out of it." I said, shaking my head.

He let out a laugh as he raised his eyebrows.

"This is a big deal, Kai!" He raised his voice slightly. "Someone threatening to bend you over and take you while you scream for help followed by slitting your throat, definitely is a big deal!"

I flinched at the description of it — exactly what was in that letter.

"I see why your brother worried that you were out late..."

"My brother can mind his own business. I'm eighteen. I can take care of myself!"

Fred sighed.

"Of course you can, but you can't take a threat like this lightly. You have to go to the ministry with it."

"The ministry?" I laughed. "You mean the same ministry that hired Umbridge? The system is fucked, Freddie, and I don't trust people over there to help with this."

When Fred looked down at the letter again, I reached over and grabbed it from his hand.

He looked at me with an almost defeated look.

"Doesn't your brother work at the ministry?"

I nodded.

"And my father, but that doesn't mean I want to ask for help there." I said. "What do you think they'd say? It's a harmless threat! Someone's just making a joke."

"This shit isn't a joke!" Fred raised his voice at me. "If someone sees that as a joke, they have a sick and twisted mind!"

I folded my arms over my chest.

"You can't tell anyone."

"No?" He asked. "You don't think Carter will tell your parents the second he gets the chance?"

I looked at him for a moment, realising that he was right, and then I stormed out of the door with Fred right behind me.

"Take a guess at who it is, Kai. I already know so so should you."

"What are you talking about?" I breathed, walking down the stairs to the shop.

"Your psychopath of an ex!"

I reached the end of the stairs and immediately I turned and looked up at him.

"Felix?!" I laughed. "You're hilarious."

"What's so hilarious about it?" He asked, raising his eyebrows again. "Didn't he cheat on you? Manipulate you? Get upset with you for insinuating that he was unfaithful? Didn't he lie to you throughout your entire relationship and afterwards chased you around? George told me he pushed you into a wall when you wouldn't listen to what he had to say! Who else could this possibly be?"

I took a step up the stairs to stand closer to Fred as I lowered my voice.

"Felix was my best friend for seventeen years. He may have been a fucking arsehole but he'd never throw threats around like that."

"Are you sure about that? Because that guy did a lot of things you didn't think he would've." He said. "Remember that? How you cried in my arms because you felt like you hadn't known your friends at all?"