chaos ~ fred weasley

33. matchmaker

okay y'all when I saved this image of wendy williams to my notes page for this book I had an idea of what I would caption it/ what it related to in this chapter HOWEVER I don't remember so you're getting it anyway, when you finish the chapter come back and caption this photo OKAY GO:

"Guys," Allie says one morning at breakfast, as she walks over to our table where I sit beside Lee and Fred, along with Julian, Angie and George. Trailing behind her is a small person, but we can't see them because they're hiding behind the tall girl. "There's someone I want you guys to meet."

A tiny boy with a shock of red hair and bright eyes steps out from behind Allie and waves shyly to all of us. His robes are a little big for him, and his yellow Hufflepuff tie is much too long, dangling far over his shirt. "Hello," he says in a small voice. I recognize him- and his voice- immediately. It's Jupiter, Allie's younger brother and victim of abuse from their father, as revealed in Lupin's DADA class with the Boggarts. My heart hurts to think of all he went through, but I'm glad to see him safe at Hogwarts.

We all melt at his 'hello' and greet him with various kind remarks. He sees Julian, though, and instantly lights up, bounding closer and performing a complicated handshake with the older boy that ends in exploding jazz hands. I look at Julian with amazement, and he just shrugs. "Me and Ju met over the summer, and us Hufflepuff boys have to stick together."

I'm not surprised Jupiter was sorted into Hufflepuff- from what I know about him, he sounds like the ideal for the house, instead of in the fierce and brash Gryffindor house like his sister. "This is my brother, for those of you who couldn't tell," Allie explains to the table.

"We had no idea," Fred and George chorus.

Jupiter looks over at the source of the voices and immediately grins at them. "Hey, you have hair like me and Allie!" he exclaims, hopping over the table in a flash to sit on George's other side and play with his hair.

"We might even be related!" George says, gasping with mock amazement.

Jupiter's eyes widen, and then he frowns. "Nah, I'm not that gullible. I know you two are Fred and George, and that I've gotta watch out for your pranks. I also have to watch out for the other twins..." he trails off, leaning over the table to see Lee and I. He smiles. "You two!"

Jupiter gets off the bench and moves down, tapping Fred's shoulder impatiently. "Budge over... please," he says, adding the 'please' when he sees Allie's disapproving look. He sits beside me and waves. "Allie says that you two do pranks too. Allie told the story of Jules' pink hair all summer." He giggles, and then looks up at our hair. "Wow! Your hair is cool too!"

"Thanks, Jupiter," Lee replies.

The small boy reaches out to touch my hair, and then plays with Lee's. "How did you get it so curly? And so big?"

Lee winks. "It's a secret."

Jupiter eventually stops being so fascinated with our hair and sits down in between Allie and Julian, happily guzzling the pumpkin juice as we all talk. "Don't forget, guys- Gryffindor Quidditch training session this afternoon," Angie says, standing up and kissing George on the cheek. I've been missing Quidditch for so long, even though I played a few games with Ginny over the summer. "I have to go meet with Moody before our first lesson about Merlin knows what. I'll see you all later!"

After saying goodbye to Angie, Jupiter seems very interested in Quidditch. "Allie told me that you're the Quidditch commentator," Jupiter says to Lee. "I think I wanna do that too!"

"You totally should," Lee says, grinning. He leans over to Jupiter conspiratorially. "I particularly enjoy making fun of the Slytherins."

Jupiter smiles. "I like that."