The Unbreakable Vow: wisps of Black | Fred Weasley [1] ✔

8: FRED

The school talked of nothing but Sirius Black and how he could possibly have entered the school to try and gain access through the Fat Lady's portrait. He picked a good day, Halloween, while the students had been in the Great Hall.

Although Fred loved hearing all of the talk as it had been rather exciting to him, he wondered about Beth, wondered how she was taking it and if people were bothering her about it. He almost chuckled to himself as he imagined what her face would look like and how she would retaliate to all the talk.

"Invisibility cloak, definitely," said George , as Lee and Fred sat with him in the Great Hall. "There's no way he can turn into a flowering shrub. Harry's got one and it's . . . well, you know."

"Or he's like Dumbledore, which I'm not going to bother doubting the possibility because Beth Black is clearly incredibly smart, probably runs in the family you know, and he probably has, like, really advanced magic. All this knowledge only someone Dumbledore's age can know," said Lee, very quickly. He turned to Fred, right as the redhead was reaching over for a piece of toast. "You all right there, Fred? You've been oddly quiet. No theories for us today?"

Fred opened his mouth to speak, but his twin beat him to it. "Oh, he's just thinking about his lady."

Fred felt his ears turn red. "I was not. And she's not my lady, thank you very much. She's proven time and again that she is an independent woman who doesn't need or want anyone around her."

George and Lee both laughed, but it slowly died out at the sight of Beth Black entering the room, not walking with her head high as usual, not having her typical braid all neat and tidy. She looked grumpier than usual, which only confirmed that people had provoked her about the Sirius Black situation, and she looked paler.

She walked in looking like she was reluctantly preparing herself for more hate thrown her way, questions she had no answers to, glares and snickers, perhaps. Fred thought of all this as he stared at her clumsily making her way toward the Slytherin table.

Everybody was staring at her. Conversations died out. But then they started again, but only in tiny whispers. Fred heard her name mentioned more than once, and so did she, because she moved her icy stare all across the room. Before she got the chance to sit down, a boy from Ravenclaw, probably in his seventh year, spoke up.

"Having some daddy issues, Black? Clearly he couldn't find his way to the right common room and had to take it out on the Fat Lady when he realised you weren't there," he snickered, looking around to see if anyone would laugh. A boy next to him only laughed when nobody else made a sound. Beth's pale complexity paled even further. "After fifteen years he finally wants to be in your life then, huh? Well, judging by the look and attitude I can understand why."

This, a few people snickered at. Others looked too frightened of Beth (the fear had surely come from knowing who she was) and kept their heads down.

"You know nothing, you imbecile," Beth growled, her bag strap sliding down her shoulder but she clearly didn't care. "And I'll have you know, Sirius Black is not —"

"Yes he is, we all know it," the boy from Ravenclaw scoffed again, a look of contempt on his face. "Your mother has been alone for a really long time, the same amount of time that Sirius Black —"

"Would you just shut up!" Beth shouted. Malfoy and his friends were the only ones brave enough to have snickered at her. Soon the commotion would attract the attention of teachers, and that Fred did not want. "Just shut up. You don't know anything. What makes you think you know anything about my family? All you know is what you read, idiot boy, and they're all lies."