shattered | f.w, d.m

twenty eight

Keziah.

April, 1998.

—

Dying seemed pretty good to her right now.

She stood miserably in the foyer of The Burrow, having just arrived by apparition with Fred in the evening.

She did not want to meet his parents. She did not want to spend a day here. She did not want to be near his siblings. She did not want to deal with them.

She did not want to fucking be here.

Fred placed their trunks on the side before they got out of their coats and shoes. She stood there, waiting for him since she had no idea what the fuck to do.

She didn't want to be here.

"Come," he murmured into her ear, and placed a soft hand on the small of her back.

It took effort for him to get her to move her feet and walk into the kitchen. Chatter came from the kitchen—a female and male—and there were light movements upstairs.

"Hey," Fred said loudly as they got into the kitchen. "Mum, Dad... this is Keziah."

"Hi, Mr. and Mrs. Weasley." Keziah wanted to slam her head against the fucking table until spots danced in her vision, though she kept that to herself.

"Keziah," Arthur Weasley beamed from the head of the table, where he drank a mug of tea. "It is great to meet you. Fred speaks highly of you."

"Oh, really?" She made a sound of surprise. "There's not much to speak highly of, so that's rather odd. He was probably lying."

Fred inhaled a breath from behind her. "She's kidding. She's actually great," he announced as he forced her to step closer to the kitchen table. "Mum... you said you, uh, wanted to meet her. She's here."

Molly Weasley turned from the sink, where she was doing dishes. "Keziah," she said slowly, appraising the girl. "You cheated on Fred, did you?"

"Mum—"

"Yeah, I did," Keziah said plainly, hands buried in her sweater pockets.

A muscle in Molly's face twitched as her eyes darted to Fred's face, who was giving her a pleading look. Her eyes veered back to the girl. "It's nice to finally meet you," she said sharply, but an attempt at sincerely. "Fred adores you."

"I know he does," Keziah replied calmly as she nodded.

The lady's face tightened in a scowl and her mouth opened, but Fred interrupted. "I'll show her to the room she's staying in. We'll be back," he said quickly before steering Keziah out of the kitchen.

"Damn it, Kez," he hissed, and went to grab their trunks in the foyer. "You couldn't just try to be nice? Seriously?"

"I thought that was nice." She blinked at him as he picked up their trunks.

His jaws clenched tightly and his eyes pierced hers. "All you had to do was greet them properly," he said in a whisper.

She scoffed in derision. "I didn't fucking ask to be here, Fred," she shot back. "You just persuaded me with a lot of very good head, so I agreed I'd come for one night. You wanted me here, so I'm here. You take it or I'm leaving."

His expression was hard, but he forced his jaws to unclench. "You're right," he said quietly, evenly. "I'm sorry."

"Good."

He exhaled a chest-heavy sigh and nodded his head towards the stairs. "Come," he said softly, and walked off.

She followed him up the stairs and down a tight hall. He set down his trunk outside of the door and opened it, stepping aside for her.