Discovery

56.

Everyone went to St. Mungo's after lunch to visit Mr. Weasley. I stayed behind with Sirius, insisting someone needed to keep him company.

Truthfully, I just didn't have the guts to face Fred.

When everyone left, I hurried up to the room Miranda and I had shared over the summer.

Miranda was nowhere to be found, but it was obvious she had been here. Clothes covered the floor, blankets lay askew, and my bed was hardly visible under all her junk.

"Looking for something?" Sirius's voice said from behind me.

I turned around.

"Where's my mom and my sister?" I asked.

"Order business," he said vaguely.

"Of course," I rolled my eyes.

Awkward silence persisted as we stood in front of each other, neither knowing what to say.

"I started reading some of the poems from the book you gave me," I blurted.

Sirius smiled.

"Have you? That's good..." he trailed off. "Your mother and—"

He stopped suddenly. I looked him straight in the eye. He opened his mouth as if he was going to continue, but then shut it again.

"I'd better get lunch ready for when everyone comes back," he said quickly, and hurried off without another word to me.

***

Everyone came back from St Mungo's in a much better mood. Mr. Weasley was doing well, and it looked like he would be coming home for Christmas for sure. 

The one person who didn't seem back to normal was Harry.

He didn't come to dinner that night. He didn't come down for breakfast or for lunch the next day either. I was worried about him, but he shut the door on me every time I tried to talk to him.

On top of that, Fred was avoiding me. I couldn't blame him, but I felt dreadful about it. It was all my fault, and I should've just kept my mouth shut. I had to fix things between us. I couldn't lose Fred. Not like this.

While we were decorating for Christmas, I finally cornered him.

"I want to talk," I said.

Fred tried to walk past me, decorations in hand. I blocked the doorway.

"I don't," he said shortly.

"Fred, please, at least hear me out!" I demanded desperately.

"Fine." He leaned against the wall. "Let's hear it."

"I shouldn't have yelled at you. I'm so sorry. You were worried about your dad and obviously stressed, and you had every right to be pissed at Sirius, I just got mad because— well because— I don't exactly know. Sirius is something to me, I just don't know what. I just wanted to defend him. But I shouldn't have handled it like that. I'm sorry."

I watched Fred as he processed this apology I had rambled on and on about. Slowly, a small smile spread across his face.

"I forgive you." he said.

"Thank you, Freddie!" I lept up with joy and hugged him tight. He squeezed me back and gave me a peck on the cheek.

"I missed you a lot," he said. "Being mad at you sucks,"

"Same here," I agreed. "Let's never do it again."

"Deal."

***