Finding Yourself : Fred Weasley

2

    My fingers feel like they are about to break off by the time we get to platform 9 3/4 from the weight of my suitcase. We stop next to the wall to get on the platform and my fingers feel a tingle of relief when I set the bag on the ground to hug my mom goodbye.
    They never go past the barrier with me. My mom wraps her arms around me tightly. "Be good and safe! Write to us every week! Eat healthily and don't do anything bad! Don't drink to take weed!" she says into my ear as we hug. I lightly chuckle to myself. 
    "I promise mom," I say while hugging back. We give each other a quick kiss on the cheek before letting go. I turn and open my arms to give Mazy a hug. She lazily wraps her arms around me. 
     "I'll miss you, Mazy," I say while tightly hugging the small child. "I"ll miss you too Charlie," She says before letting go.
     I look at the two. You can definitely tell I'm not related to them by blood. They both have long, straight, perfect golden blonde hair with clear, tan skin and perfect eyesight. Whilst I have short, messy, dark brown hair that is almost black, and pale skin with a few freckles here and there and horrible eyesight.
     I pick up my suitcase and wave before walking over to the barrier. I look at the seemingly normal brick wall then close my eyes and run, thinking "please be the right wall..." When I don't feel my face make painful contact with the wall I stop and slowly open my eyes to see the platform bustling with people. Witches and wizards. I look around with a light smile and walk back a little to get a good view of the beautiful train that will take us to Hogwarts.
     Someone hits my back. I quickly turn around while apologizing. "I am so sorry!" I say embarrassed. I look up at who I bumped into. A tall, lanky, boy wearing old hand me down clothing with long, flaming hair. I know this boy. It's one of the Weasley twins. I can usually tell them apart, but with it being so long since I've seen them I'll have to figure it out all over again.
     Both relief and more embarrassment run over me. I smile at him as I feel my face flush. "It's okay West," he says while addressing me by my last name, a smile spreading across his face. He looks around a bit. "Your family here?"
     I shake my head. "No, my mom just dropped me off," I say while switching the heavy suitcase to my other hand to ease it a little comfort. "Oh, okay. Well, I'll see you around West," He says while waving before walking off to catch up with his family. All of the boys are tall, lanky, with flaming red hair and a face full of freckles. It isn't hard to tell his family from others.
     I look around before walking over and boarding the train. I walk down the aisle looking for an empty compartment. When I finally find one I slide in and put my bag away, minus a book, and sit in the seat and watch out the window at everyone.
     I spot the family of fiery red hair saying their goodbyes. Ron, Ginny, George, and Fred Weasley. With them is Hermione Granger and Harry Potter. I've only spoken to them a few times. I've actually talked to Harry and the twins the most I think. Maybe it's because of Quidditch.
     I'll help Harry with his potions homework sometimes when Hermione is busy and can't. I'm two years older than him. Him being 14 and me bing 16. The twins are 16 as well. With me being a quiet girl who keeps to herself I find myself being the punchline of the twins jokes a little too often.
     I look over when I hear the compartment door slide open. A handsome boy with curly blonde hair and a strong jawline is standing there with a smile. I smile back. "Hello Cedric," I say kindly. He smiles a bit more. "Hello, Charlie. Do you mind if I sit with you?" He asks. "I don't mind," I answer, more than happy for him too.
     He closes the door and puts his bags away then sits across from me. I can safely say that Cedric Diggory is my best friend. He is 17, but has never treated me like I was younger. 
     "How was your summer?" I ask him while laying my feet up in the seat next to me. "It was really good actually. Dad got us tickets to the Quidditch World Cup, it was really fun until all that stuff started happening," he says with a small half-smile that could be mistaken as a smirk.
      I tilt my head a little. "What stuff?" I ask curiously. He looks surprised. "You haven't heard about it?" I lightly shake my head, completely oblivious. "Muggle family. No contact with any of you all summer."
      He digs around in his bag for a second before pulling out a newspaper and hands it out to me. The cover has a moving photo of the sky with a weird skull that I can't quite make out and it's titled "Terror at the Quidditch World Cup". I read through it.
      Once I am fished reading it I hand it back to him. It said that after the match when everyone was celebrating someone had conjured something called the Dark Mark and that it caused a lot of fear and that a muggle family was murdered.
     "I'm afraid that I still don't understand. What's the Dark Mark and why did it cause fear at a Quidditch game?" I ask feeling a little stupid. Being raised in a muggle household and not talking to very many people have caused me to feel like I'm living under a rock when it comes to this stuff.
     "The Dark Mark is the symbol for You-Know-Who's followers. It was used by his followers when someone had been murdered," Cedric explains, not a hint of humour in his expression or tone. "So it was conjured because that muggle family that was murdered? Who did it?" He shrugs. "Crouch's House Elf was found with the wand that conjured it. Which happened to be Harry Potter's wand."
     "You think Harry or the House Elf did it?" I ask doubtfully. "No, not really. Maybe they were set up or something." I lightly shrug. "What does it mean now that it's been conjured?" "I don't know if it means anything. It might have just been some drunk Irish or Bulgarian person who found the wand and accidentally did it. Or a drunk ex Death Eater who did it as a joke or something. It doesn't have to mean something bad is coming," He says seeming slightly uninterested.
      I sigh and lean down into my seat. He smiles at me. "How was your summer?" I lightly shrug. "The same. My dad wouldn't let me go anywhere or do anything because I had to study to catch up to where Von is in his schoolwork," I say a little sadly.
     "Isn't your brother around my age?" He asks, his eyebrows knitting together slightly. I nod. "He says since I am going here I need to study the other stuff twice as hard. It's exhausting." "Is your brother still giving you a hard time?" He asks sounding a little concerned.
     I lightly sigh. "Yea. Nothing has really changed." "Hopefully they will soon. On the bright side, you get to spend this next school year with me! And being away from all that!" He says with a smile that I can't help but smile back to.
     "You should try to find out who your real parents are," He suggests. I lightly laugh. "How am I supposed to do that? My mom would never tell me. And even if I did find them they might be dead, or not want to see me." He shrugs. "You should still try."
     I look over at the door when the trolly lady walks by. "Anything from the trolly dears?" "No thank you," Cedric and I say at the same time. She keeps walking. I watch out the door as a few minutes later a small group of girls walks by. One of them being Cho Chang.
      Cedric leans forward some and watches her as she walks by. "Go talk with her," I encourage. "No. I'm sitting with you," He says while giving me a smile. I Smile back. "Come on Ced. I know how you feel about her. Go talk to her." "Are you sure?" I nod. "Yes. I'm sure." "I'll be back in a bit Charlie, I promise," He says before getting up and following her. I lean back against the wall and put my feet up in the booth and open my book and start reading.