Everything About You | Fred Weasley

12- And you still love me... Whatever will we do?

As soon as they reached the common room, Josie flopped back onto the big, squashy sofa and began to giggle. She might be very drunk, that much was true, but she felt so damn powerful about how she just handled the situation. Funnily enough, she didn't feel sad, rather like a huge weight had been lifted. It would be fair to say that she probably didn't like Theo as much as she thought she initially did, and that her sadness and anxieties were from having to confront the situation more than anything.

"Where the bloody hell have you two been all day?!" George's voice rang out as he, Fred and Lee entered the common room to find Josie laying flat on her back and Angie sitting cross-legged on the floor beside her.

"Did you two actually skip? And didn't tell us?" Lee gasped.

Fred approached where Josie lay with a cautious expression, a relieved smile spreading across his face when he saw her happy and relaxed face.

"I must say I'm impressed," Fred announced, lifting Josie's legs to sit down, resting them back on his lap once he was settled.

She lifted herself up onto her elbows to see him, a cheesy grin etched onto her face.

"Right? How cool was that? My god, I wish I could have seen it!" she babbled, her elbows falling out from underneath her so she flopped back down.

"You were there, you idiot!" Angie called from somewhere next to her, her voice muffled by a giggle. "You did see it!".

The weeks that followed were nothing short or awkward. Josie would spend the majority of her time between lessons hiding herself between Fred and George to avoid Theo, who seemed persistent in approaching Josie every opportunity he got to apologise. The thought of the Slytherin boy now turned her stomach, and her eyes were opened to how her friends just have felt about him all along.

"Why didn't any of you tell me he was such a git?" she scolded them teasingly as they sat down for lunch one day. She could feel his eyes burning into her from his spot at the Slytherin table and it made her skin prickle.

Fred, who was sitting next to Josie, had to practically bite down on his tongue to stop from screaming out his frustrations. How he knew right from the very beginning that Josie could have done so much better than him, how she deserved somebody who treated her like their top priority from the outset. He didn't feel that would be appropriate in this circumstance, though, so he opted for a different tactic. Instead, he lifted his gaze slightly to where the moping boy sat across the hall, smirking slightly as he edged a fraction closer to Josie.

"He looks like he might actually want to kill me right now," Fred's voice had dipped to a low whisper, making Josie's neck tingle as he spoke.

She also looked over and, with a small laugh, turned her head to look at Fred. "I can't imagine why, after what he did." Their faces were rather close together, and if their topic of conversation weren't her ex-boyfriend, it may have looked a little cosy to the outside eye.

"I'm really sorry he hurt you," Fred murmured. Josie didn't like the way his smile dropped to a sympathetic frown. It didn't seem right.

"Enough of that," she said, reaching out to poke him in the side. "I'm fine, I'm glad it happened really!".

"Me too," Fred muttered under his breath. "Are we still on for Hogsmeade this weekend?".

"Of course we are!" Josie beamed, not quite aware of the effect that her newfound freedom and happiness was having in Fred. "I can't wait. I'm dying to buy a new hat, I'm pretty sure the moths have eaten mine!".

That afternoon, Josie found herself bored beyond relief in potions. It was a double lesson, and so far, Snape had drawled on for forty-five minutes about an incredibly difficult potion that they would be working on in assigned partners. It would form the basis of their lessons over the next few weeks, and Josie hoped that meant less Snape time.

"How long do you suppose we can survive this?" Fred, who was sitting in front of Josie, whispered as he leaned back in his chair.

Josie chuckled quietly and gave Fred a gentle tap on the back of his head to shut him up. It really wasn't worth getting into trouble with Snape. After Fred had turned briefly to send her a dashing grin, Josie felt somebody's eyes on her from the other side of the room, and turned to find Theo staring at her and Fred like they'd killed his entire family. She rolled her eyes, subtly shook her head at him and turned her attention back to Snape, who was still talking.

Surprisingly, it seemed luck was in Josie's favour on this particular day as Snape had paired her up with Fred. He'd let out a particularly obnoxious whoop which almost caused Snape to change his mind, but relented when Josie assured him it really was the best course of action. She could keep Fred in check. Before she'd even finished batting her eyelashes, Fred scooped up both their bags and grabbed her hand, dragging her out of the dingy classroom and into the corridor.

"Fuck me, that was dull," he groaned, dropping their bags onto the floor and loosening the tie round his neck whilst somehow also managing to unfasten the top two buttons of his shirt with one hand. Josie's eyes were drawn to his fingers as he scruffed up his uniform, a flicker of a rather odd sensation stirring in the pit of her stomach.

"So... Library?" she asked, ignoring that odd feeling and putting it down to hunger pangs.

Fred raised a brow at her and smiled condescendingly. "Oh, Joey, my love..." he began, shaking his head. "You must be rather naive if you think I'll willingly spend my time in there. No... I think we'll be much more comfortable in my dorm."

Josie sighed. She should have known. Actually working on something with Fred evidently wasn't going to prove an easy feat.

"Fine," she agreed. "But Freddie, we've got to at least think about the project, alright?".

Fred positively beamed. It was a wonder that light didn't start pouring out of his ears at the way he was grinning. "Of course, whatever you say boss!". He gave her a mock salute before scooping up their bags once again and starting off down the corridor.

As soon as they'd reached the door to Fred's dorm, he burst in through the doors and launched himself onto his bed. He kicked off his shoes and nestled, head-first, into the squishy depths of his duvet.

"Heavenly," he sighed blissfully. "C'mon Joey, settle in!". He rolled over, shuffling up slightly so his back now rested against the headboard and nodded his head to the other end of his bed.

Josie faltered for a moment. She wasn't sure why. She'd been in this room hundreds of times before, sat, even laid, on his bed on countless occasions. She gingerly kicked off her own shoes, reaching down to grab a notebook and quill from her bag before sitting on the edge of Fred's bed.

"So, what are we doing?" he asked, attention piqued and appearing to genuinely be curious.

She turned to look at him, bringing one leg up onto the bed to balance her notebook. A soft smile and a bubble of laughter snuck up on her as she observed Fred's newly mussed-up hair from nestling into his mattress.

"You have a bed head," she told him. "You look funny."

"Oh yeah?" he grinned. He lifted his hand as though he was about to fix his hair, but instead lurched forward and ruffled her hair instead. "Now you do, too!" he declared.

"Oh you're the worst, Fred Weasley!" she whined, swatting him away.

"And yet you still love me... Whatever will we do?"

Whatever weird tension Josie was feeling was broken by Fred's goofy antics and she immediately felt more comfortable. She lifted her other leg up and crossed them, now fully facing Fred on his bed. They simply looked at each other for a moment before they both chuckled quietly.

"Okay, veritaserum," Josie affirmed. "That's what we're studying."