Petrified (Fred Weasley Love Story)

Chapter 6 - The Owlery

Chapter 6

"An entire month of Umbridge being High Inquisitor has me going batshit Char, I can't do this anymore!" Ryan cried, leaning heavily on Damien's shoulder and pretending to cry. Damien shrugged him off, causing Ryan's face to fall on the table.

"Ow," he complained, rubbing his nose. Fred, Damien and I laughed at him. He glared at the table and crossed his arms over his chest, pouting, making me want to laugh more.

That is, until the lady herself walked through the door. Oh god. "Speak of the devil, and she shall appear" I whispered to Fred, nodding towards her. They all looked to see Umbridge waltzing in, in her little pink getup and high heels.

"Here we go, she's been doing this to every teacher since she's been High Inquisitor. I can't stand these classes; all the questions and the quizzing. Why don't they do it when we don't have class? I mean, all we do is sit there and watch for the entire period and wait till it's over." Damien grumbled, pouting like Ryan.

He wasn't wrong though, over the past month, she'd almost made it through the entire staff, questioning and testing their teachings and abilities. It got boring after the first time.

"Poor Trelawney" Ryan mumbled.

"Could you please, predict something for me?" Umbridge asked. My eyebrows rose at this, looking to Trelawney. She looked horrified.

I would too if someone just randomly asked me to predict the future on the spot. I'd never much given divination the time of day but I know Professor Trelawney does have a gift, but it's hers. It also doesn't just manifest when asked.

"I'm sorry?" the professor asked, bewildered.

"One tiny little prophecy?" Umbridge asked in a completely condescending tone. Oh, I wish I could just give her boils all over.

Trelawney looked around, trying to pull something out of thin air. We watched and it hurt my heart to do so. The poor professor was trying so hard.

Umbridge just tutted and turned to write on her stupid little clipboard. "Pity" was all she said.

"No, wait! Wait, no! I think I do see something. Yes, I do. Something dark. You are in grave danger" Trelawney sputter, elongating her final word and holding her hand out to Umbridge.

As we all watching Umbridge, my heart breaking for Trelawney, she just wrote on her little clipboard and muttered, "lovely" with her snide smile on her too pink lips, and she walked out.

We all stared out after her.

Class ended pretty quickly after that. Divination is the last class of the day and as we were let out early, no one else was out of class yet so Fred, Damien, Ryan and I went and sat under one of the biggest trees on the ground and mucked around telling jokes and talking.

I hadn't ever really appreciated how Fred's eyes light up when he tells a joke, especially one that he knows will get a good laugh from everyone. It was a really nice sight to see because I know humour brings Fred happiness and seeing his eyes light up like that, makes my stomach fly.

Fred was currently in a heated discussion with Damien about a practical joke Fred and George had pulled in second year, so he wasn't looking at me but for some reason, I couldn't stop looking at him. My eyes were drawn to the way he smiled and when he laughed, the world was a brighter place for those few seconds.

He looked over at me finally, smiling wider when he saw I was looking. I laughed a rolled my eyes, shoving at his shoulder.

He wasn't fazed and just kept laughing. When it was finally time all the classes were let out, I stood up. "Alright, I'm going to go check on Alura. Any of you want to come?" I asked.

"I'll come," Fred told me, getting up too.

"I am not walking all those steps. Count me out" Ryan said, his face all screwed up.

"Yeah, me too" Damien agreed.

I shrugged and looked at Fred, "let's go then."

We walked all the way up to the owlery, puffing when we reached the top as the air thinned and got colder as we climbed higher.

As soon as I walked through the door though, Alura came and perched on my arm.

"Hey girl" I smiled, stroking her head. She pushed into my finger, obviously enjoying the attention.

I pulled out the letter in my back pocket and attached it to the collar around Alura's neck.

"Who's that for?" Fred asked, his eyebrows drawn.

"It's to Reginald. He asked me to write a report on a cold case and he's going to mark me on how well I do" I explained. Once the letter was attached, I told Alura where to go and she took off.

"It Tuesday, you'll see him Thursday. Why not give it to him then?" Fred asked curiously.

"I want it back by then, see how I went" I shrugged, and he nodded.

"So that's going well then, you're enjoying your internship?" he asked me, leaning lazily asked a wall.

I nodded. "It's been pretty great. Signor has taught me so much in just over a month."

"Well, you see each other once a week and owl each other every other day. I'd hope you'd be learning something" Fred shrugged, a tinge of something in his voice.

"Is that jealousy I hear in your voice, Fred Weasley?" I asked jokingly. Fred rolled his eyes at me and looked out at the lake below us. There was a hint of red on his cheeks but that must've been from the cold.

"Come on, let's get out of here before we freeze," I said, nodding towards the door. It was much too cold up here in the towers to stay. Fred and I turned for the door, only to find Dexter Smith standing in the doorway.

"Hey Char, miss me over the summer?" he smirked, his sinister green eyes raking my body guiltlessly. I'd done a good job avoiding him since we'd gotten back, but now here he was, the asshole.

"Not even a little bit, Dexter. If you'd be so kind to move" I told him, trying to push him out of the way. He didn't budge.

"Move your ass, Slytherin" Fred growled, anger radiating through his tone. Dexter ignored Fred and smoothed his deep brown hair back with his fingers. A move he must think is sexy.

"No need to bite Freddy. She's not your girl? I wanna have a little fun is all." Dexter made a small moaning noise, causing bile to rise in my throat as he looked at me. "I could definitely have some fun with that."

I turned around and pushed Fred back, already expecting him to try and take a swing at Dexter so I didn't let him have the chance to start a fight and get in trouble.

"Fred, don't" I pleaded, looking up into his eyes in the hopes of calming him down. "Look at me, ignore him. He's just stirring you up. You know I wouldn't go near that" I sneered back at the pig in question. His smirk turned into a slight frown at my comment.

Fred looked at me, his eyes cooling off and I could feel the tension leaving his body.

"What, you'll let little Nick feel you up, but not an experienced man like myself, baby?" Dexter called. The Nick rumour had all but died since Nick and I had sorted that out, so I knew he was only mentioning it now to get a rise out of Fred, knowing it would work.

I whipped around and glared at the jerk with force. "That's a joke, calling yourself a man. You're nothing but a little boy with desperate needs because you know nothing with a heartbeat would want anything to do with you."

"You bitch!" Dexter called, stepping towards me with his hands pulled into fists. Before I could even react though, Fred pushed around me and swung his fist right into Dexter's nose. I gasped, my own hands covering my mouth as blood sprayed like a broken hose from Dexter's now mangled nose as he fell to the ground with a thud.

"Fred!" I yelled.

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