Episkey (Fred Weasley Story)

Sinking

Staying at Weasley's I thought I will be spending time with Fred, but I guess it was only in my head. He was always busy and spending time at the barn behind the house with George. I on the other hand turned out to be the Muggle encyclopedia for Mr. Weasley, not that I minded. It was fun to see how surprised he was by some of our inventions. Molly was kind to me as always and Ginny got "Dean fever", as I called it. It was fun to listen about her crush and how he sent her love letters. Funny how my crush never did something like that. We even slept in different rooms. It all became so distant, that I began to wonder why was I even there.

Slowly, I returned to the books and studies that Fred tried to pull me away from. Ginny noticed how I started to feel not in place while we were having dinners, but never bothered me with questions. Was it all a game? Were we playing catch the mouse? And when he finally got me, suddenly became bored. Just like a cat who has managed to catch the ball of yarn and suddenly it is no more of interest to the animal. I began to compare him to Cedric and how he would never ignore me the way Fred was, which made me feel horrible. I was repeating the moment me and Cedric shared at the courtyard and suddenly felt anger towards the fact I didn't say anything. Could I've change something, if I told him how I felt? I knew he was dating Cho and I was with Fred, but what if I could somehow stop him from attending? All sort of silly questions bothered me. And a ball of guilt started to form in my stomach, because I was thinking of another one and on top of that wishing to change the past. I felt like a ship lost at sea. And the waves of guilt, anger, loneliness were coldly hitting me, and I began to fear that soon I will sink deep, deep down in the debts of the sea.

I was eating my dinner quietly, chuckling from time to time at the goofiness of Ron, when suddenly Fred said something that stunned me.

"I invited Angelina for a week, she will come tomorrow." He said it so casually, so simple.

I stared at the food in my plate and didn't dare to look up, fearing someone will notice how shocked I was. He doesn't have time for me, yet he invited her.

"Where will she stay Fred? She can't be in one room with Ron. And Ginny is sharing her room with Paige. Don't you think you had to ask us first?" His mother spoke in a kind manner.

"George can stay in one room with Ron." His words stabbed me and this time I dropped my fork in the plate, unable to control my reaction.

I looked at Ginny, who looked as surprised as me. I felt how I hit the bottom of the sea in that moment.

"Excuse me." I whispered and got up from my seat and took the stairs, on my way up a hand grabbed mine and turned me around. The blurry vision from the tears in my eyes focused slowly to make sure it was Fred, not George. "Why?" The question broke from the core of my heart and hardly came out thru the ball that was in my throat.

"Paige, she's just a friend, you know how close we are." You bet I know how close you two are! I wanted to shout these words in his face, but fear stopped me.

"Why will she sleep in your room?" He kept quiet for a minute staring in my eyes, as if he was asking himself the same question.

"Because we will be practicing quidditch and discuss about new tactics, plus you enjoy being in one room with Ginny, so I thought why to bother you with moving your luggage when you like the room you are in?" He said it with a smile, making it sound like he was right.

"Why would I prefer being in one room with the sister of my boyfriend, than with him?" My question wasn't answered, he only raised his shoulders and pecked my forehead.

"Don't worry, love." And with that he returned back in the kitchen.

I stayed in the staircase for a while, fighting with myself if I should go down and argue with him or just go and take a shower to relax. But the fear of confronting someone took over me and I didn't follow him.

I was laying in the old bathtub and thinking of what just happened. It bothered me so much that even the warm water couldn't relax my body. I closed my eyes and exhaled loudly, focusing on the sounds surrounding me. I could hear Ginny's screams towards Ronald and the twins being yelled by their mother for experimenting some of their new toys in the kitchen, while Arthur was trying to fix the radio sound. The noise was getting too loud, so I just slid under the water fully and kept my air. I could still hear them all talking, but it was less disturbing and I relaxed. I started to imagine things that made me happy in the past. I remembered how kind Cedric was saying my name. Paige, Paige, Paige... It rang so many times in my ears, until some loud thuds made me pull my head out and take a sharp breath, completely forgetting that I had to breath.

"Paige!" I heard the knock on the door and realized it was Ginny.

"Yes, Ginny?"

"How long will you stay in there, I want to shower too." I guess Ron annoyed her a lot, from the way she spoke to me.

"Give me two minutes." I answered, while pulling myself up.

I apologized when I entered the room and she seemed to calm down, realizing it wasn't my fault that Ron was such a git sometimes. She told me to wait for her and not fall asleep, but I wasn't in the mood for talks, especially since I knew she would bring the Angelina subject which I wanted to forget. So I turned around, facing the wall and pretend to be asleep when she came back. I fooled her that I was asleep, but not myself. I spent the whole night tossing and turning, because thought of Fred and Angelina, sleeping in one room, bothered me, until I became so tired that I didn't have the strength to stay awake.