Before you (Fred Weasley)

CHAPTER 49

I spent the next month immersed in studies. Draco had missed many lessons as he made daily trips to the Room of Requirement without anyone's knowledge. Katie Bell had returned and Harry had tried to interrogate her but she didn't remember anything that had happened to her.

Draco had told me earlier about his newest plan to kill Dumbledore, to poison him with mead. He had imperiused Madame Rosmerta, who had poured poison into the mead and had told Slughorn to give it to Dumbledore. I don't think Slughorn had actually gotten around to doing it yet.

Today was Valentine's day. Everyone was getting ready to go on dates but I stayed back.

I was very proud of myself for making Dean talk to Seamus, they were very happy with each other. And they were the cutest couple ever. Harry and Ginny got along very well. Ginny had had a crush on Harry forever, to finally see her in a healthy relationship made me very happy.

Ron and Lavender..well..I wasn't exactly sure if Ron was happy or not. Lavender definitely was. 'Won-Won' had become her nickname for him. Their relationship was mostly physical, or at least Ron thought so.

Hermione was not in a very good mood and I didn't blame her. Ron was either stupid or completely oblivious. Everyone except for Ron and Hermione knew that the two of them were meant for each other. But they were just stubborn.

Since I wasn't planning on going out today, I decided to wrap some gifts I had bought for Harry, Hermione, Ernie, Padma and The Weasleys. I hadn't given them anything on Christmas. Besides, it was the perfect opportunity to tell the Weasleys how sorry I was for abandoning them on Christmas.

For Ginny, I had bought a broom servicing kit. For Mr. Weasley, some muggle car interior decorations that I had bought from London a long time ago. For Mrs. Weasley, a new knitting kit and some yarn. I bought Ron loads of chocolate and a variety of trick quills for George.

For Fred, what I had bought was more a token of a funny memory than a proper gift. It was chocolates laced with a potion that turned the drinker's hair blue. I thought back to Valentine's day last year,

I was working on my homework in The Great Hall when an owl dropped a howler in front of me. Who on earth was this from? I picked it up to see that it had come from the Gryffindor Common Room. I opened it slowly,

'Alice Aster Malvolio, aside from being sexy, what do you do for a living? Come to the Quidditch pitch so I can tell you the uh..things..you can..do..for a living" Fred's voice emerged from the howler.

Everyone who heard looked at me as if I was naked.

Fuck you Fred.

Although, I had to admit, the dirty joke was inventive.

I shook my head as I walked towards the Quidditch pitch, seeing Fred standing there with a box in his hands, looking quite pleased with himself.

"You had to send that in front of everyone didn't you?" I said, trying to look stern although I couldn't help but smile when I saw Fred's face,

"Everyone should know how amazing you really are" he said in a cheesy manner, causing my smile to grow bigger.

"Here" he handed me the box of chocolates.

"Thank you Fred" I was going to put it in my bag but he stopped me.

"No, you have to eat one now and tell me how it is" he said.

"Okayyy" I took a piece from the box and popped it into my mouth.

As I chewed, Fred's grin grew wider.

"What is it?" I asked.

"Nothing" he tried to suppress a laugh.

I saw Hermione approaching from the opposite side, gawking at me.

"Alice what did you do to yourself?" She asked.

"What? I didn't do anything"

Hermione picked up a rock from the ground and transfigured it into a small compact mirror.

I took it from her and looked into it. My hair had turned blue. Completely. I looked at Fred, clenching the mirror in my fists.

"I'm going. To fucking. Kill you" I said.

"No you won't" he pecked me on the cheek and then started to walk away.

"Get ready, I'm taking you out on a date, make sure to wear something blue" He called out, laughing to himself before disappearing from the pitch.

These chocolates would surely teach Fred a lesson. Once I was done wrapping all the gifts, I made my way to the owlery. On the way, I came across Ron and Harry. Harry was holding Ron by the arm, as if Ron was going to fall any minute. He had a dazed look on his face.

"Is he drunk?" I asked.

"No, he accidentally swallowed some love potion, I'm taking him to Slughorn's to see if he can help" said Harry.

"Oh, best of luck" I laughed, continuing my walk to the owlery. It took me a long time to get the owls in order so that they could each carry a gift or two.

Once I had finally sent the owls on their way, I started walking to The Great Hall but immediately bumped into Lavender who was looking as if someone had died.

"What's wrong?" I asked her.

"It's Ron, he has been poisoned" she said, running towards the Hospital Wing.

"How?" I asked her.

"At Slughorn's. Apparently there was something in the mead or at least that's what I heard"

Oh fuck.

I bolted to the Slytherin Table to see that Draco was sitting there. I asked him to follow me, taking him to a quieter place.

"Your plan has failed" I said to him.

"What plan?"

"The mead"

"What? How?" Draco said, his eyes widened.

"Because Ron drank it before it could reach Dumbledore"

"That git. Good for nothing piece of shit" Draco said, smacking his forehead.

"It's not his fault! Your plan just wasn't carried out well enough!" I shot back.

He looked at me, his expressions twisting into that of anger.

"Do you know how hard it is to plot a murder? It's really fucking hard Alice. I'm trying to prove myself but nothing I do has worked till now. And you're of no fucking help!" Draco yelled before storming away.

Fuck him.

I made my way back to my dorm and lied down on my bed. I felt terrible that I couldn't do anything to help Draco. In reality, I didn't even want to help him.

I lay in the dark for hours, thoughts racing through my mind. Ron could have been killed today. Killed for nothing. What the fuck were we doing?

Draco was beginning to lose his patience.

We had to find the Vanishing Cabinet soon, otherwise I don't know what Voldemort would do once he found out that we had failed his mission.

Suddenly, I heard a tapping noise on my window. It was a small owl. I let it in and took the small note from it.

'I'm going. To fucking. Kill you' is what it said in Fred's messy scrawl. He must have eaten the chocolates.

I smiled to myself, it distracted me from my train of thought. I clutched the note closer to myself and shut my eyes, finally falling asleep.

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