Except For You ~ {Fred Weasley}

Chapter 2

It's been almost three years since those twins ruined my homework, and Professor Snape still thinks it's somehow my fault and won't ever give me full marks. "Come on Professor, I even did the extra-credit assignment! This deserves full marks! Ask any teacher!"
"I'm the Potions professor, am I not? If I believe that your homework does not deserve full marks, then it doesn't. You are dismissed." I grab my homework off his desk and storm out of the classroom.
"What happened?" Del asks, running after me.
"I did the extra-credit! I didn't even need to! I did twice as much as I needed to, made it as interesting as possible, did everything required and I still didn't get full marks! Those twins have made my life a living hell," I grumble, stuffing my work into my bag.
"Are you sure it was the twins?"
"Of course! Not to be snooty or anything, but I'm very patient, I don't ask stupid questions, I usually do everything correctly and I do the homework the night it's assigned. There's nothing to put against me, but that one homework project has ruined my life!"
"Yeah, but you don't need a good Potions score to do your dream job."
"And? I still need a good letter of recommendation, and getting one from Professor Snape is amazing, and sure to secure my place at that internship."
"Why not Professor Flitwick?"
"Too easy. Too emotional. I love him, but no."
"Professor Sprout?"
"Like she would give me one when she knows I pleaded with the Sorting Hat not to put me in Hufflepuff."
"Okay, Professor McGonagall."
"She-" I stop dead in my tracks. "Del you're a genius!" I exclaim, hugging her.
"I know, it's my job. Opening a small business requires a lot of hard work and brains."
"I know, we're opening one together after our internships." I roll my eyes. "Come on, I have milo stashed in the Kitchen."
"Ooh, yum!" We run to the fruit bowl painting and I tickle the pear. We climb into Kitchen, to the delight of the house-elves.

"Ah, Miss Mathias!" They exclaim. "Hot or cold?" One asks. I hold up a two and they immediately grab the tin of milo and start making us cups.
"Who is Miss Mathias's friend?"

"Oh! Right! They've never met you before." I whisper to Del, who looks very confused. "This is Del, Del Aadil." They all grin and start grabbing food.
"No, no, that's okay, no need." Their smiles fade and they look at me.
"Um, do you have any paprika?" One rushes to a cabinet and presents it to Del. Take it! I mouth. She grabs it warily and puts it in her bag.
"Er, thanks?" It seems to satisfy them and they hand us disposable cups full of milo. I summon the packet of tim tams.
"Thank you!"
"Come again soon!"
"Of course!" I call.
"Bring Miss Aadil!"
"You bet on it!" Del exclaims behind her. "Well, if only I knew about this in year one. How come you know about it?"
I shrug. "I found this piece of paper tucked behind the painting in first year, it said 'tickle the pear'. So I did, and I've been going ever since."
"You jerk!" She jokes, slapping my arm.
"What? At least I got them to start making Asian food so our taste buds didn't start hating us." I say, pointing a finger at her.
She chuckles. "Am I supposed to thanks?"
"You're welcome." We laugh. "I missed food from home." I whisper, gulping down the milo, throwing the empty cup into a nearby bin and ripping open the tim tams. I hand her one and we walk to our spot. Our spot only.

It's a secluded corner in the library surrounded by couches, cushions, blankets and tons of books we left piled there. Almost no one knows about it because, well, it's hard to get to. It's so tightly backed into the corner because Madam Pince puts all the duplicates of books there. Either she's never realised we had turned that space into our spot, or she had, and didn't care. We didn't care, she hadn't made us move anything.

We sit down, pick up the latest books we were reading, and start reading. We always did this. Eat, read, repeat. Sometimes, when elves noticed we were staying up late, they would bring us tea. We never questioned it. We still don't, they just like doing it for us. We had made a particularly big blanket hang over us like a roof, and placed lanterns around us. Somehow, Filch never knew we stayed past curfew in the library. The only time we got caught was when we were trying to sneak back to our dorms. We never did that again. Our roommates never paid attention to us, so they never worried where we were for so many hours on so many nights. Even house prefects didn't care. It's a sad reality but we were used to it.

"Hi guys!" Many excited faces turn to look at me. Their smiles drop. "I know, I know, I promised to bring Del, but she's feeling sick. So, I was wondering if you could make her some tea?" They nod vigorously and get to work. I turn to where all my home food is stashed. I jump. Then I feel like blowing up. "Who the hell do you think you are?" Some jerk is eating my food. He's wearing pyjama pants and a Gryffindor hoodie. He lifts his head and looks at me. I scoff. "I should've known."
"I didn't know it was yours." He says quietly. I march over and grab my food off him, stashing it back in the cabinet. I slam it closed and point at the name written in sharpie, which he doesn't look at. I turn around and walk back to the elves.
"So, you don't like me?"
"Nope."
"Why?" He asks smally. I whip around to stare at him.
"Oh, I dunno, maybe because you ruined my Potions homework in first year and now Professor Snape hates me. Ring a bell?"
He mouths stupidly for a moment. "That was three years ago though." He whispers.
"Tell that to Snape." I growl.
"How can I make you like me?"
"Why would famous Fred Weasley want to make me like him? Oh, that's right, to make himself look better." He looks taken aback. He looks scared. He looks guilty. He should. I think harshly.
"No! I- I want to make it up to you." He stammers. I study him. He's playing with his Gryffindor hoodie sleeve. He was looking at me, for a moment, then he looked down at his fiddling hand. I look at him for another moment.
"What's my name?" I ask after a long silence.
"What?" He looks up at me, confused.
"What's. My. Name?" I repeat.
"I- I don't know."
"Exactly. The only thing you know about me is that I got fifty points taken off of your house and got you put in detention."
"That's not true!" He says. I raise my eyebrows, in the same questioning way I did that day.
"Oh really?"
"I know your in my year, you're a Ravenclaw, and used to be a year younger at your muggle school. You're really smart as well."
"But you don't know my name?" He shakes his head, still not looking at me.
"I'd be happy to learn it."
"Nah. You don't need to know." I answer, turning and grabbing the tea, heading towards the door.
"What if I guess?" He calls out. I slow to a stop.
"How would you guess?"
"Hangman?" I turn around and consider him. He sighs, probably giving up.
"Okay." He snaps his eyes up and looks at me.
"Really?" I nod. The house elves instantly grab parchment, a quill and ink. I sit down at the table directly underneath the Ravenclaw table in the Great Hall. He sits down next to me. Too close. I glare at him and he moves further away. I put a space for each letter of my name.

"A, e, i, o, u." Starting with vowels. Smart move. I fill the letters into their respective places. I don't let him look at it. "M, n." He says warily. I fill those in too. "Um, s?" He thinks. For too long. I almost lose my patience and throw the paper away. "T, h?" Finally. I think, mentally rolling my eyes. I fill them in. "L?" Wrong. I shake my head. "Er..." He drums his fingers. "R?" I fill it in. "C?" It's wrong, but close. I hold my hand in mid-air and move the sides up and down. He understands the gesture. "It's close... um... k?" I fill it in and after a while he's finally able to look at it. He smiles.
"-yn-. Maree. Mathias. It's pretty." I roll my eyes. "It really is pretty."
"I guess. Bye." I stand up, grab Del's tea and rush to our spot. I had been told my name was pretty many times before, but those were just compliments to seem nice. He meant it. I had tears stinging my eyes. Why was I going to cry? Stop. It's just stupid Fred Weasley. Stupid Mr Trouble. I say to myself. I blink back tears, but obviously my eyes are watery because Del notices something's up.
"You good?"
"What?" I ask, stunned.
"You look like you're gonna cry."
"Oh. Um, yeah, some jerk was eating my food." She puts an eyebrow up. "What? I'm really protective over my food!" She laughs. I love her laugh. I laugh too.
"Thanks for the tea." She whispers, sipping it.
"Why won't you just go to Madam Pomfrey?"
"Because I'd rather get over the flu the muggle way. I like it better. Being wrapped in blankets, drinking tea and reading. That's all I need."
"And the massive pile of tissues." I remark, pointing beside her. She laughs again.
"And the massive pile of tissues."