Except For You ~ {Fred Weasley}

Chapter 11

I climb through the tunnel. Waves of heads tilt up to look at me, confusion and shock written all over their faces. I step between everyone until I get to Mr Trouble. I sit down next to him. I nudge his arm and he lifts it. I hug him. He seems shocked, but I hug him tighter. I let go of him and then walk to Harry and Ronald. I hand them the piece of paper and walk back to Mr Trouble, sitting down and leaning my head against his arm.
“How’d you find the common room?”
“The paintings are super gullible.” I whisper softly. He laughs hollowly. Harry and Ronald get up, and I suppose everyone felt bad for the Weasleys that nobody even tried to stop them. Nobody tried to stop me when I entered. I sit there for a while, nobody talked, or moved even. It was like everyone was dead. Someone finally speaks up.
“You're not supposed to be here.” I turn and look at Mr Trouble’s older brother. He’s slightly shorter, with horn-rimmed glasses and a shiny prefect’s badge. I smile softly.
“You're not allowed in the Ravenclaw common room either.”
Percy flushes. “I've never been in there!”
"That's because you've never been able to answer the questions correctly." He fumes and I smirk. “Just because your girlfriend is petrified that doesn’t mean you can be stuck up.” I whisper. I turn back around, and Mr Trouble is shaking his head in disbelief.
“Girlfriend?”
“Yeah? Oh my- you don’t know?” He shakes his head. I laugh lightly. “That prefect, Penelope Clearwater, the one who got attacked?” He laughs and shakes his head. He laughs.
“Perc has a girlfriend?” I nod. He looks back on Percy, who’s fuming, and smirks. “That picks my mood up a little bit.” I check my watch. I feel like my eyes do that cartoon thing where they pop out of my head.
“I, need to go. Professor Flitwick said we needed to pack, and I haven’t yet, and it’s really late now, so…” I stand up and wave, stepping through the sea of students. I rush out of the tunnel and light my wand. I rush back to my common room and I’m met by a wave of arms hugging my neck and anxious squealing. The girls from my dorm release me and Amelia shakes her head. She's scowling.
“We told you.”
“I know.”
“You can’t do that!”
“I know.”
“It doesn’t matter, you’re safe.”
“I know.” I look at them all. “I need to pack.” I rush up to my dorm and close the door quietly. I sit down on my bed and choke on tears. Del’s not going to be on the train tomorrow. I won’t know if she’s safe or not. I guess my siblings were right. Boarding school sucked.

Professor Flitwick enters the common room a couple hours later, beaming. “Ginny Weasley has been rescued by Harry Potter and Ronald Weasley! There will be a feast in the Great Hall shortly!” His squeaky voice announced. He left again and everyone started celebrating. I sat down and read my book. Well, I tried to at least. The girls in my dorm wouldn’t stop hugging me.
“Why are you hugging me?” I shout finally, exasperated.
“Your friend! She’s going to be okay! You’ll see her tonight probably!” Grace exclaims, hugging me again. I smile. Knowing Del was safe made me feel so much better. After about five minutes everyone was called down to the Great Hall and everyone left in such a rush that I felt quite disorientated. I ran all the way down to the Great Hall. My eyes skim the Gryffindor table and I quickly find Mr Trouble. I run over to him and hug him again before he sits down. He grins.
“Who are you, and what have you done to Miss Salty?” He exclaims. I grin and shake my head. "No, seriously."
“Well, your sister just got saved and the thing I was angry at you for turned out to not be your fault.” He laughs.
“So I’ve made it up to you then?”
“Not even close Mr Trouble.” I wink and dash down the tables to sit at my own. I sit next to Amelia and serve myself some food.
Someone taps me on the shoulder. “Er, excuse me?” I turn around and see Harry and Ronald blushing furiously.
“Yeah?”
“We wanted to thank you.” Ronald mumbles.
“What for?” I ask, shocked.
“That piece of paper was a clue. The monster in the chamber was a basilisk, so it really helped us defeat it.” Harry explains.
“Helped you defeat it.” Ronald corrects.
“I didn’t know. I didn’t read it. It felt wrong.” I turn to Ronald. “I’m glad you were able to save your sister. Is she okay?”
“Yeah, she’s just a bit tired.” He answers. I smile and they leave.

The massive doors open and I look to see who opened them. Everyone who was petrified had been restored. I stand up and shout to Del.
“Oi! I thought I told you to not get petrified!” She turns and grins. We run to each other and hug. “I’m glad you’re okay.” She laughs once, then she connects my arm in hers.
“I’m always okay when I’m with you.” She laughs again. “You know what? I had this strange dream of you telling me, that Snape told you, that he knows about that internship.” It’s my turn to laugh.
“I actually did say that! I knew you heard me! I'll tell you all about it later, let’s just eat, I'm starving!"
"Yes! I know I've been petrified, but I haven't eaten in weeks!" I laugh.
"I ate only biscuits the day you got petrified."
"Really? You poor thing."
"Hey, we brought you lasagna!" Amelia calls out. Del looks at me, jokingly offended.
"Have you been trying to replace me?"
"Never!"
"Who are they then?"
"Girls from my dorm you idiot. That's Amelia, Alice, Grace and Lilly." I respond, pointing at them and they wave. Del waves back. I see Penelope blushing furiously. I look at the Gryffindor table and see Percy flushing with his brothers teasing him. I grin and turn to Penelope. "You should go say hi." I whisper.
"Oh no, I can't do that."
"Come on, everyone knows you two are dating by now!"
"Oh alright!" She smiles and rushes over to Percy, saying hi. He blushes even harder. Penelope kisses him on the cheek and rushes back over to us. She's giggling hard. Fred and George are spitting jokes out, left right and centre. I hide my own grin and sit down with Del, stuffing food in my mouth.
"It feels good having you back." I whisper to Del, nudging her.
"It feels good to be back." She whispers back. I smile. For the first time in a while, I didn't feel like complete shit at this school.

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OH MY WORD I AM SO INCONSISTENT I AM SO SORRYYY!!!
We're finally finished with COS!!! (Well, on the reader's side at least)
Honestly, Fred is going to be getting a lot of his own thoughts soon and it won't just be a repeat of the reader's pov. I'm doing this because I've been re-reading the fic and I'm dyingggg from how little of his own emotion there is.
Anywaysss, enjoy like a bunch of chapters being thrown in your face!! <3