stars || fred weasley

✰ chapter nine ✰

944 words
I met Cedric back at the pitch wearing his massive hoodie, matched with a pair of black muggle leggings. He sat on the floor with two brooms and a locked box, wearing a matching jumper.

"Come on lazy. We've got some Quidditch to play." He turned and faced me, laughing at my eagerness. He stood up and opened the box revealing three balls, pulling out a large red one.

"This is the quaffle, it's just like a normal ball." He threw it at me and my uncoordinated ass missed, and the ball hit my face.

"The quaffle, right. Is it the one Angelina, Alicia and Katie use?"

"Yeah, they're called chasers, they score."

"What about those two. I know Fred and George hit them, and they attacked Harry in the fourth year. Will it attack me?"

"No, those were rouge bludgers. Fred and George are the beaters, they make it hit the other team." Cedric however didn't take these out of the case, and I was quite grateful.

"What about the snitch. I know what that is. And you're the seeker right?" He nodded pulling out a small golden ball that had tiny wings fluttering.

"Do you want to play with the quaffle? See if you can score a goal." He got on his broom and flew up over ten feet from the ground.

"Um, Cedric. I don't know how to fly," I yelled up to him. He threw his head back and laughed out loud, coming back down to the ground.

"Lyra, how do you not know how to fly? We learnt in the first year."

"Don't you remember? I feel like two meters up fell off and broke my arm."

"I forgot about that. I guess we'll just have to teach you." We mounted our brooms side by side, and we kicked off the ground in unison. In seconds, I spun upside down and fell off my broom, making Cedric race to catch me, slinging me on the back of his.

"I suck at this."

"Why don't we just go really close to the ground." I mounted my broom again and hovered over the ground shaking and wobbling until I finally fell off, hitting the ground once more.

"Maybe Quidditch just isn't for me." Cedric put the quaffle back into the box and locked it closed. He sat on the pitch beside me, wrapping an arm around my waist.

"I still expect you to be in the stands in all of my matches. Thank you for coming with me to Hogsmeade today, Lyra."

"I had a wonderful time, Cedric. Maybe we could do it again?"

"I can't wait." We didn't stay outside long, seeing as it was freezing, and the floor was blanketed with snow. After dinner, I was exhausted and headed straight up to bed.

----

I woke up with a start. The overwhelming feeling that something bad was about to happen was extremely strong. I looked around the darkroom where all the other girls were sleeping when I noticed something in the corner. I squinted my eyes, staring for a moment, suddenly I realised what it was.

A figure.

"Dad?" The second I said it, the figure shot out of the door. I sat there horrified by what had just happened, frozen on the spot. Screams woke the entire dorm, and everybody shot out of their beds and into the common room. I joined Fred, George and Lee and felt Fred intertwine our hands together. Once everybody was gathered in the common room, McGonagall began speaking.

"That's preposterous, Weasley. How could Sirius black possibly have got through the portrait hole?"

"I don't know how he got in! I was a bit busy dodging his knife!" I watched as Crookshanks slid between Ron's legs. "And this bloody cat ate my rat!"

"That's a lie!" Hermione shouted at him. McGonagall silenced them before turning to Sir Cadogan the knight who replaced the Fat Lady.

"Sir Cadogan. Is it possible that you let a mysterious man enter Gryffindor tower tonight?"

"Certainly good lady, he had the password. In fact, he had the whole weeks, on a bit of paper."

"Which abysmally foolish person write down the passwords and then proceeded to lose them?" Everyone turned to Neville who I was shooting daggers at making him cower away. "While we know Sirius black is gone tonight, I think you can safely assume he will, at some future time, attempt to return. Let me be clear. You are not to move about the castle alone. And you are not to write down the password! Understood! " Once the majority of the students went to bed, I joined the trio, Fred and George, on the couch.

"I could have killed him," Harry said, staring out the window. "He was right there. Close enough to touch. I could have killed him." Fred, still holding my hand, squeezed me so that I wouldn't snap at Harry and yell at him.

"Harry," Hermione trailed off.

"I'm going to bed," Harry said, walking back up the staircase with Ron in tow. George and Hermione went to bed about five minutes after them, and Fred and I stayed on the couch.

"I saw him."

"Saw who?"

"My dad, he was in my dorm. Except he didn't do anything. Just watch me, almost as if he was checking on me."

"I think we better sleep, Lyra. We have class tomorrow and I don't want you to fall asleep."

"Can I stay with you, Fred?"

"Of course you can, love," he guided me back up to his dorm where I slept with my head against his chest and his arms around my waist.