𝚜𝚝𝚘𝚕𝚎𝚗 𝚍𝚊𝚗𝚌𝚎. fred weasley

𝚡𝚡𝚡𝚟𝚒𝚡. 𝚏𝚘𝚛 𝚊 𝚑𝚞𝚏𝚏𝚕𝚎𝚙𝚞𝚏𝚏

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     Fred takes it like Cress thought he might. He glances at her sadly, but doesn't argue with her the way she was expecting. And he says, "Are you sure?" like he can't really believe it. Like it might be some kind of sick joke that he's not in on.

     Cress nods, her eyes wet. She stares at him resolutely, biting her lip to try and stop them from trembling.

     "I'm sorry," she tells him, her voice wavering. "I'm just--I can't be who you need right now. I can't--I'm not--you have to know that I didn't--"

     "You don't have to explain yourself to me, Crescent," he replies, smiling at her despite the fact that she's breaking her heart and perhaps his, too. "I get it. Or I will. I'm just. I'm sorry."

     And he gets up, taking his bowl to the sinks where the elves are waiting for something to do. Cress watches with dazed eyes, something thick and tar like in the pit of her stomach bubbling up until she chokes on it. Her lips are throbbing from the pressure she's got on them, but she won't let herself crack until Fred leaves. Until he's gone, and she's left to wallow in her poor life choices.

     When he gets to the door, he shakes his head, turns his head back for a moment, asks, "Friends?"

     "Forever." Cress grins, but it's watery, wobbly and uncertain, and Fred smiles back, but he looks just as gutted as Cress feels.

     The opening closes behind his retreating back, and Cress throws her head into her hands and cries, her sobs echoing through the warm kitchen. It's like everything inside her is shattered, like everything before had just cracked her, had weakened her system, and now it was broken, completely and utterly demolished.

     Elves bustle around her, some coming over to give her looks while they whisper to themselves. She pays them no mind because she can't stop wondering if she's made the right decision. Was she too hasty? Couldn't she have just given him -- given them -- a chance to mend the broken parts of their relationship? Why did she send him away when he was one of the only people who tried to be there for her?

     But she knows, deep down, that she had to. She isn't--can't be in a relationship right now. She couldn't be the person that Fred needed, and he couldn't give her what she needed right now. Cress knows this, knows that deep down it would have happened sooner or later.

     It doesn't make the ache in her heart lessen any. They had only been dating for a short time, but Cress cherished every moment spent with him. Before and after. Until that night. She hopes he knows that, hopes he knows how much she likes him--how much she will always like him.

     When she goes back to the Hospital Wing, she is hollow from the inside-out. Her whole body feels numb, like she's been in the cold for too long. Her cries don't stop, and her body heaves, her stomach flipping, turning, bringing the clam chowder up and into a toilet before Cress can even question what's happening.