Unbreakable - Fred Weasley

Dazed and Confused

"Of course I love you." He said earnestly.
She was soaring, her heart had stopped. He was the sun, and she was Icarus, recklessly flying towards it with wings made of wax. She felt a wave of relief fall over her, he loved her. He loved her. And for a moment she forgot all about Cedric, all about the vow, and all about the burns that littered her arm— not caring to notice the state of them at the moment, nor the severity of her situation. She smiled and let herself feel everything, everything in her body was reaching for him, every feeling pulled her towards the red-headed boy that stood before her. She took a step towards him and wobbled slightly; frowning, she looked up at him. He looked petrified, his face growing very pale- and she wondered why. She felt her vision growing cloudy and tried to blink it away, she looked down at her arm, her sleeve was red. But that wasn't right, she was sure she wore a white dress. She wasn't too far from Fred, she knew that if she reached him she would be fine. Nausea passed over her and she stumbled again, this time falling to the ground. She felt arms wrap around her body and lift her off of the ground. She looked up and saw Fred's face staring down at her, mouthing something, but she couldn't make out the words. She lifted her hand to his face, it was red too. She frowned again and brought it down towards her body again.
"Fred," she said weakly, not able to get any more words out.
———
Fred watched mortified as Olivia's sleeve turned crimson. Wondering how in such a short amount of time she could lose so much blood. She was smiling, as if she hadn't taken notice of her predicament- or simply didn't feel her arm at all. She tried to take a step but stumbled, she frowned and looked towards him. She was still happy, but stepped again and fell to the ground. He ran towards her, picking her up and holding her limp body in his arms. She touched her hand to his face and smeared it with blood before dropping it back down onto herself. He stared down at the beautiful girl in his arm, fading. Her dress getting soaked through with red. His heart was racing, and he ran towards the school as quickly as he could.
———
George was waiting outside the hall for any sign of his brother, or Olivia when Cedric walked up towards him.
"Oi! Have you seen Olivia anywhere? You were her date, yeah? Or are you Fred...?" He asked desperately. The burns on his hand had begun to dissipate and he knew something had to be wrong, he'd been looking for Olivia for the last fifteen minutes, each minute bringing greater relief to his arm, and greater worry to himself.
"No, you're alright mate. I'm George. No, I haven't been able to find her... or Fred for that matter."
"Are they together?" Cedric asked quickly, suddenly watching him very intently.
"I dunno..." George said, they heard footsteps behind them and heard a faint call for help. Fred was cradling Olivia, whose white dress was now vermilion, in his arms. Her arm was wet with a seemingly unstoppable stream of crimson and strewn across her lap. Fred's cheek sported a bloody handprint, a distinct fingerprint running down his jaw. His dress shirt was also stained, matching Olivia's dress. Cedric took off running before George could even register what was happening.
"What did you do?" Cedric demanded, looking as if he could kill. He reached for Olivia from Fred who walked right past him, pulling her closer towards his body.
"I didn't do anything." He scowled, rushing up the steps towards the hospital wing. George stepped in just behind his brother, trying to block Cedric from him. Cedric rushed up in front of Fred and gave him a cold look,
"I'll take it from here." He reached for her again,
"No." Fred replied,
"Blimey Weasley, you're killing her!" Cedric shouted exasperated. Fred and George stopped in their tracks, turning towards him.
"How is this my fault!?" Fred bellowed,
"Her arm!" Cedric replied, "you must know. She can't keep herself from you." He added bitterly.
"Must know what?" George asked, curious.
"You don't know?" Cedric narrowed his eyebrows at the two red heads.
"Merlin, Diggory! Just get on with it!" Fred cried. They'd all seemingly forgotten that Olivia was there until she whimpered,
"Cedric, don't." Her voice was small, but pleading. They all looked towards her, and she saw the hard look on Cedric's face. Too tired to keep her eyes open she let them close, knowing what Cedric was going to do.
"We made a vow as children." Cedric lifted his robes up, Fred and George saw the— now faint —lines across his arm.
"An unbreakable vow." George stared wide-eyed as he said it, then looked towards Olivia.
"What was the vow?" Fred demanded. Cedric looked down at the ground and then back up to meet Fred's eyes.
"To love each other, to get married, to be together..." He said apologetically. Fred's entire body stiffened, "which was fine, but she met you and... it's been... well, I'm sure you can guess how it's been."
The three boys walked, quickly, to the Hospital Wing and Fred handed Olivia over to a very distressed Madame Pomfrey. Cedric watched as Madame Pomfrey did her best to heal her, then looked towards his arm. His burns had looked as if they had begun to peel off of his arm, when he looked over to hers it looked as if they'd found hers instead. As if she took his burns from him and bore the burden of them all on her own.
"She loves you." Cedric said flatly, looking forward. Fred looked at him and then back to where she lay on the hospital bed, "it's going to kill her."
"I'm in love with her."
Cedric looked over to Fred and nodded slowly,
"You have to do something about that."
"I'll never see her again." Fred vowed to himself, Cedric turned to him. "If it's costing her this much I couldn't live with myself."
"She's not going to take it well." Cedric maintained, "I told you, she can't seem to keep away from you."
"She won't know to." Fred insisted, George looked towards his brother and saw the stark determination in his eyes.
———
It was a few hours later when she came to, eyes fluttering open she gasped when she saw the state she was in. Her dress looked like it was been dipped in red paint, and the lace of her right sleeve had been cut open- thick bandages covered her arm.
"Hello love." She heard Fred say, she looked up to meet his eyes and saw a small, sad, smile on his face. He had blood on his cheek still— her handprint, she recognized.
"How long have I been here?" She asked, searching his face for an answer.
"Just a bit. But listen, I have to tell you something." He seemed upset, his voice wavering.
"Alright... what is it?" She asked, he clasped her hand in his.
"You're in a bind, Cedric told me."
"Cedric shouldn't have-"
"And you just keep getting hurt, because of me,"
"I don't, it's not-"
"And I love you." He finished, staring into her eyes. He'd said it for the third time to her, and she was still caught off guard.
"Fred, I-I can't say it back. Even though I feel- ah" she grimaced as her arm began throbbing, "but I can't... I don't think I can... love you." She winced at the burning sensation in her arm and clenched her teeth. She felt his hand brush against her face and she met his eyes.
"I know love, and I can keep you safe. You won't like it, but it's not up to you anymore."
"Fred, what are you talking about? What won't I like?" She tried to scooch away from him, her voice apprehensive.
"Wood, you have to listen to me." He held her face in both his hands now, he looked as if he was about to cry, "you can't know me anymore."
"I can't what? Know you? But how..." she realized what he was saying and used all of her strength to pull herself away from him, "No, no you can't! You can't!" She cried, tears spilling out of her eyes.
"I have to." He urged, lifting his wand to her. She searched frantically for her own wand but saw that he held it tightly in his other hand.
"But, I-I don't want to live without you!" Her voice broke, "I lov-" she was interrupted by his lips meeting hers desperately, she kissed him back, tasting the salt from her tears, or his tears, or both. She clung to him, willing him to change his mind with her lips. He pulled away, opened his mouth, and very reluctantly cast a spell.
"Fred, no-" she started, but it was no use. The words were already out of his mouth and she stared at him wounded. She knew the memory charm that he used, she'd read about it before.
"I'll never forgive you." She sobbed, feeling like Icarus again. She felt herself lose him, tumbling from the sky and drowning in the sea. Flying too close to the sun was dangerous. She tried to hold onto one kiss, one touch, one laugh but felt them all slip away. She struggled to keep his face in her mind, his smirk, his scent. But everything fell away.
"You won't know to." He smiled sadly at her as her eyes went from hurt to confused. He looked down at her bandaged arm, crimson seeping through again from their encounter. He stood up and walked out of the Hospital Wing, ignoring George and Cedric's calls for him. He'd asked for privacy, and George and Cedric had been waiting outside of the wing for him, hearing Olivia's shouts and then silence. George ran after his brother and Cedric stepped into the infirmary, walking over to Olivia who was bleeding through her bandages and looked to be in quite a daze.
"How did that go?" Cedric asked cautiously, Olivia's head snapped towards him,
"How did what go?" She countered, looking confused. She reached for the wand that lay in her lap, seemingly confused as to why it was there. She reached her free hand to her face and pulled it away quickly. She found her face to be wet with tears and stared at the residue on her fingers. She didn't know why she would have been crying.
"Your talk with Fred?" A pang of something ran through her at the name, but nothing came to mind.
"Who?" She asked, still staring at her wet fingers.
"Fred Weasley."
"Who's that?" She asked finally looking up at him. Cedric turned to look out the door mortified. Realizing the gravity of what Fred had done he felt his heartbeat quicken. How he even knew the spell was a wonder to Cedric, Olivia had told him that the twins had only received three O.W.L.'s each.
"No one." Cedric replied uncertainly, "I reckon I just got confused."
She eyed him suspiciously before speaking again,
"Alright... But I seem to have forgotten what it is that brought me here in the first place." She looked down towards her bandaged arm, blood-soaked again by now, puzzled.
"Well we were at the ball...?" Cedric was unsure of what memories she had and which ones she didn't have.
"Right, you went with Cho and I went with... who did I go with?"
"Just on your own." Cedric said quickly, unable to come up with anything else, "and well you fell, on your arm." He ventured, hoping she would believe it.
"Oh. That's quite daft of me." She said, "I don't know why I can't remember..." she trailed off.
"You had quite the fall, is all." Cedric smiled, running his hand through her hair. She matched his smile and he stayed by her side until she was allowed to leave.
———
"Cedric, you have to focus!" Olivia demanded in a hushed whisper. They were laying side by side on his bed. They both agreed that after her stint in the Hospital Wing, the best thing for them would be to stay close for the next while.
"Liv, please. It's midnight, let's talk about this tomorrow."
"Fine," she huffed, "but we have to figure out how you can stay underwater for an hour."
"And we will, tomorrow." He replied, yawning and stretching out. She turned to face him, they looked into each other's eyes.
"Ced, you'd tell me if anything happened to me, right?"
"Of course," he replied, "what makes you ask?"
"I can't seem to remember a lot about the past two years, or about how I figured out that mermaids had something to do with the riddle..." she trailed off, taking a breath, "it's like things are not what they really are. You know? I'm drawing complete blanks."
"Hmm..." he hummed, slightly panicking about her line of questioning, "you did take a tumble Liv. It was quite bad." He lied. She was too clever, he thought, she knew something.
"Right, but that's what I mean Cedric... I don't remember anything about the ball."
"I'm sure it'll come back to you, but don't worry about it right now."
"Alright. But you promise you'd tell me, right?"
"Of course." He was happy that she couldn't see his face at this moment, because she would have known that he was lying. He lay awake long after she fell asleep, listening to her steady breaths and vowed to find her a way out of the predicament that he bitterly blamed himself for. He turned to her, the moonlight hitting her face, and pushed her hair from in front of her eyes,
"I'll get you back to your Weasley, I swear." He whispered.
—————
You guys! 1k reads!!! Wow!! Thank you SO much!
This chapter made me super sad to write, but I hope you don't hate me.
Thanks again for your support and your votes! I'm so excited to get started on the next chapters! Leave me comments if you love or hate anything!
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