Unbreakable - Fred Weasley

A New Discovery

She had not been excited for her detention with Snape, Professor Vector simply had her help with marking, but going down to the dungeons was not a prospect that she held in high regard. Sighing, she gathered her things and pulled her back over her shoulder,
"Detention with Snape, right?" Cho asked, putting more food on her plate. Olivia nodded,
"Yeah, I'd best get going. I don't want to get another detention just for being late." She scanned the Great Hall and saw Cedric. She quickly looked away and pursed her lips- they still had not been on speaking terms and it had been nearly a week. Cho gave her a weak smile, and she walked out of the hall and down the corridors to the dungeons. She heard a clattering of footsteps behind her, she looked up and saw a red headed boy smiling at her.
"Hello love!" George chimed, putting his arm around her shoulders. She smiled at him,
"What are you doing here?"
"Well someone had to keep you company in detention!"
"You mean to tell me that you've gone and gotten yourself in detention just so I wouldn't be alone?" She asked, eyes widening. George nodded enthusiastically,
"It was really Freddie's idea! But he had some business to take care of tonight- so it was me that was tasked with keeping you company." She liked George, but still felt her heart tug knowing that Fred was too busy to see her.
"How gentlemanly of you Georgie," she gushed, clasping her hands together, "my hero."
"Of course, my sweet Olive." He gushed back, both of them laughed at the same time, unable to keep straight faces.
"What's all this then?" A sharp voice said, catching both students of guard. Olivia looked up to see Snape with a very stern look on his face.
"Nothing Professor." She said coolly, looking at him straight in the eyes with an innocent smile. He scowled and led them into the potions room. Pointing to the stack of cauldrons he said,
"These will need to be cleaned. See to it that they're all done before you leave. With no magic." He flourished his cloak and strode out of the room.
"How do you reckon he does that?" Olivia asked George, swishing her cloak around herself. He watched her feeble attempts and laughed,
"Perhaps you have to be sour and dead inside to flourish your cloak like that."
Olivia smiled and sat down in front of all the cauldrons, grabbing one and a rag. She started to polish it, and felt George sit beside her and do the same.
"What uhm, what business did Fred have to take care of tonight?" She asked as nonchalantly as she could muster, a small smile tugged at the edges of George's mouth,
"Some debt collecting." He said, his voice sounding bored. She nodded slowly to herself.
"Debt collecting? From who?"
"Doesn't matter love." George muttered, grabbing a new cauldron. Olivia quietly grabbed a new cauldron as well and started to clean it silently. They worked tirelessly and wordlessly for hours, the cauldron heap not getting any smaller.
"We have to do all of them?" She asked, looking at George for the first time in a while. It was nearly midnight by this time, and she had trouble keeping her eyes open.
"Yeah, or we'll get another detention." George scowled. She yawned and continued cleaning, wishing she could be anywhere but here. A short time later, George heard a light clang and looked over to see that she had fallen asleep sitting down and the cauldron had slipped from her hands and onto the floor. Her head was slung carelessly to the side, resting partly in the air and partly on her shoulder. Soot covered her robes, hands, and face and he chuckled to himself before noticing red markings on her right arm. Curiously he crept over to her, as silent as possible, and lifted the part of her robes covering her arm. From her thumb, up to her elbow there were red loops, burned into her skin. It looked as if someone had taken a ribbon and wrapped it around her arm, only to set it on fire against her skin. He crouched over her, puzzled at what could have caused it, and remembered how red her arm looked after she'd taken that love potion and kissed him. Surely Madame Pomfrey would have healed her arm, he thought. He grabbed the cauldron from her lap and pulled her sleeve and robe back over her arm. He finished cleaning the last of the cauldrons and picking her up gently he carried her to the Gryffindor common room and laid her down on the couch. He sat beside her and stared into the fire, falling asleep while wondering what the burns meant.
———
Fred woke up and rolled over, slinging his arm over the girl in his bed. She mumbled drowsily and rolled closer to him. He and Alicia had been fooling around every so often when they were bored- nothing serious, and only on occasion. He nuzzled into her neck, and she swatted him away jokingly. He hadn't noticed that George never quite made it into bed last night, nor did he notice the wide-eyed Ravenclaw girl with long brown hair and piercing blue eyes standing at the door until she spoke.
———
Olivia opened her eyes and sat up, yawning. Taking in the sweet aroma of the Gryffindor common room, and smiling at the warmth she felt around the fire. She looked over and saw George sitting, head hung back over the backrest of the couch and mouth open- breathing in loudly with his eyes sealed shut. So sweet, she thought, he had let her lie down and sleep with his lap as her pillow rather than leave her alone in the common room.
"Georgie," she whispered, gliding her finger from his forehead to the tip of his nose lightly with a tap to wake him up. He began to stir, "c'mon Georgie, let's get you to bed." He nodded and yawned, keeping his eyes shut. She helped him up and slung one of his arms over her shoulder, half carrying the drowsy boy to his room. She opened the door expecting to find three boys fast asleep, but was surprised to find a copper-skinned girl nestled in Fred's bed with his lips on her neck. He had the sweetest smile on his face, and Olivia felt her face turn vermilion as she dug her nails into her palms.
"Oh-I, er, I'm sorry to intrude. Just George..." she stuttered, looking around the room at anything but Fred and the girl. She tried to shrug George off of her, but seeing as he was mostly asleep still he staggered forward and fell on top of her. She fell with a loud thud, waking all the occupants in the room. Fred felt his face go pale, looking to Alicia who looked equally embarrassed she pulled his covers over her head, as if trying to disappear. Olivia struggled under George, trying to push him off of her, he was fully awake now and very confused as to how he ended up on the floor until he scanned the room and saw Fred and Alicia. Lee had woken up and stared incredulously at the scuffle until Olivia shoved George off of her and rolled around, hopping to her feet. By this time, Fred had gotten himself out of bed, and offered his hand to help her up. She looked up, disheveled and red-faced, and felt her heart sink at the sight of him in only boxers and the girl still in his bed fiddling with a bra.
"S-sorry." She turned and ran out of the room as quick as she could, leaving George on the floor, Lee in shock, and Fred in misery.
———
She did not know where to go, but found herself taking the familiar route to the Hufflepuff common room. She knew it was early but she had to talk to Cedric. She sat outside the common room until someone left, letting her inside. She walked to Cedric's room and crawled into bed with him. He opened his eyes and furrowed his eyebrows.
"I thought we weren't speaking." He sighed, a small smile creeping over his face.
"Yeah, yeah, whatever. I'm sorry, okay? I just need you to be here for me, please. I need my best friend again." She cuddled into him, her ear just over his heart. He pulled away and looked at her face,
"What's wrong?" He looked concerned.
"Not sure... but," she lowered her voice so that no one would be able to overhear, "I know we're done with all this business, but I just stumbled upon Fred Weasley in bed with a girl." She couldn't help her voice cracking at the end of her sentence. Cedric looked at her knowingly and pulled her close. "I know I shouldn't care, of course he is. He's single, and popular. But, it was still... I just didn't think..."
"Those two like being the centre of attention Liv." Cedric said plainly. She sighed and let herself fully realize the truth of Cedric's sentence. Those two don't do anything unless there's a crowd. Business, George had told her, she scowled at the memory. She wasn't upset that he was shagging someone, but she couldn't help but feel her heart pull when she remembered the goofy smile on his face as he nuzzled the girls neck, and wishing that it had been her. Perhaps it was good though, solidified the fact that they were only ever going to be friends. If anything.
———
She walked with Cedric to the Great Hall for breakfast, no hand-holding this morning, but they stood in the closest proximity. He had brought her mood up again and she skipped along, Cedric laughed as he jogged to catch up. She took extra effort not to look in the direction of the Gryffindor table and sat with Cedric at the Hufflepuff table with her back to them.
Fred watched sombrely as she talked animatedly to Cedric and his friends, her melodic laugh echoed through the hall.
"For the millionth time mate, I'm sorry! I didn't know you and Alicia had made plans last night." George shook Fred my the shoulders, he had spent the better half of the morning apologizing as Fred lied in his bed and stared up blankly at the ceiling.
"S'okay." Fred mumbled grimly. He knew it wasn't George's fault. He had been half asleep when Olivia dragged him into their dormitory. He remembered the way her face fell when she saw him, and how she stared at his hand when he offered it to her.
"You're an idiot." Angelina said haughtily, "that poor girl had to see that first thing in the morning. And after detention with Snape! Really Fred, I thought you fancied her."
"She'll get over it." George started, ignoring Angelina, "She and Diggory probably shag too, so it's not like you've done anything wrong." George tried to comfort Fred, but got an icy glare from his brother and shut his mouth. Perhaps they do, Fred thought, taking no comfort from that. He knew he had to speak with her, but found it nearly impossible as she ran the opposite direction every time she saw him or George over the following week.
—————
"What do you think the first task will be?" Olivia asked Cedric. It was the last Saturday before the First Task and they were on their way to Hogsmeade. Cedric shrugged his shoulders and Olivia scoffed, "you know Ced, you have to take these things seriously."
"I know," he sighed, "but I haven't the foggiest what it could be."
"I reckon you're right. We'll have to keep our ears open for any inclination." She winked and clasped his hand in hers. Smiling they both walked into the village. Olivia noticed Hermione walking by herself, but it looked as if she was talking to someone.
"Ced, I'm just going to see Hermione. I think Cho and Marietta are in the sweet shop, so I'll come find you guys after?" She had already started walking away, Cedric nodded his head and walked towards the sweet shop as Olivia walked to her friend.
"Are you talking to yourself?" She asked the girl,
"No... Harry's here. But he's under his cloak." Hermione muttered quietly, smiling at Olivia.
"Oh, I see! Well, Hello Harry. I'll leave you two to it then!" Olivia waved goodbye to Hermione, and where she imagined Harry might be, and started walking towards where she thought her friend might be, keeping her head down as it had begun to snow she walked right into a hard surface and got knocked to the ground.
"Oh bloody hell!" She hissed to herself, looking up she grabbed the hand that was extended out to her, "I'm really sorry for that! I wasn't paying any attention-" she stopped speaking when she made eye contact with Fred. "Oh... hi."
"Hey. Have you been avoiding me?" He asked quickly as she dropped his hand. She turned slightly and began to walk,
"N-no" she shrugged, "I haven't." He moved and fell in pace just behind her,
"You're doing it now." He smirked, quickly cutting her off and standing in front of her.
"No. I'm just looking for Cho and Cedric." She stated matter-of-factly, turning and walking in the other direction. He grabbed her arm this time and pulled her into an alleyway.
"What is it? Is it Alicia?" He asked, his eyes soft and searching hers for an answer.
"Who?" She asked, knowing full-well that was the girl in bed with him. She'd asked Cedric and pointed her out on numerous occasions, he knew her from Quidditch.
"Alicia." He said again. She narrowed her eyes at him and replied coldly,
"I don't see why you think I would be upset about that."
"Wood, c'mon. I know you are. But I don't see why you can be in a relationship and do that and I can't. I've been waiting for you, but I reckon it's just a waste of my time." His voice was cold as he said the last part. He didn't loosen his grip on her arm, and she was very aware of the fact that she was pinned against an alley wall with little space between the two of them.
"I don't do that!" She squeaked defensively, and then realizing what she'd said her face went red, but she kept a very stern look on it, "I-we, never have done that. And you can shag whoever you want to! I didn't ask you to wait for me!" She hadn't realized that any tears had fallen until he dried her cheek with his gloved hand.
"I'm happy if you're happy. I was just surprised, obviously. I hope you two are really... happy." She added the last word as an afterthought and looked up into his eyes. He had closed his, and she couldn't process what was happening until she felt his lips on hers. She had barely lifted her hand to his face before he had pulled away and cupped her face in his hands. She felt the wool of his mittens against her skin and breathed in the smokey-sweet smell of his.
"I'm not happy. Not without you." He whispered, she gazed at him feeling nothing but the burning of her arm,
"Fred, I-"
"Olivia?" Cedric surprised them both, jumping apart as soon as they heard his voice. She turned to him and feigned a smile.
"Yes, we were just finished actually. Fred just had a question to ask. Did you find Cho and Marietta?" She asked sincerely, looking at him as Fred shuffled his feet.
"Yea, actually. We were grabbing a butterbeer, and I thought I'd look for you. Hermione said she saw you a while ago..." Cedric trailed off, his eyebrow still raised as he looked between the Ravenclaw and Gryffindor.
"Right then, let's go." Olivia quickly walked over to Cedric and looped her arm in his, she glanced at Fred, "bye." He nodded and she and Cedric set off.
—————
Hello all!

As always, thanks for reading! :)
This is a bit of a long chapter, I don't know what you all prefer so let me know if you like!
I had fun writing the last two chapters so I hope you like them!