Muggle | 𝐹𝑟𝑒𝑑 𝑊𝑒𝑎𝑠𝑙𝑒𝑦

Chapter 175

***

After Bill left, everyone else soon went to their rooms to sleep. But after some while, I went back downstairs to the living room and sat on the couch in front of the fireplace.

I let my mind wonder away as I placed my chin on my palm, staring into the dancing flames as if I were in a daze.

I couldn't sleep that night, because each time I closed my eyes, I was forced to picture the battle, which was to happen in a few short weeks.

But my attention was caught when I heard footsteps coming down the stairs and approach me, so I turned to look over my shoulder, only to see Fred walking toward me.

"What are you doing up?" he asked, sitting down next to me on the couch.

"I could ask you the same thing." I said, forcing a light smile.

"Well, I asked first."

"And I asked second. So?"

He laughed. "This reminds me of the first day we met."

"What?" I raised a curious brow at him.

"You don't remember? Ouch." He waked a hurt expression, making me chuckle. "It was your first day at Hogwarts, back in my sixth year — your fourth year — and I couldn't sleep that night. So I went down to the common room, only to find you crawled up on the couch in front of the fireplace, just like now."

"Yeah, I remember now." I smiled. "You asked me why I was up and I answered you the same way I did now."

"Yeah... it was a pretty cool year, before everything went downhill near the end," said Fred. "Although you did piss me off at some point that year."

"What!?" I exclaimed. "What did I do?"

"Oh, I tell you what you did!" Fred retorted. "You accepted to go to the Ball with that Durmstrang boy right before I was going to ask you! So I had to turn his stupid big head into a pumpkin."

"You were the one who jinxed Ivan!?" I snapped loudly as my eyes widened.

"Oh, so you remember his name, do you?" Fred mumbled grumpily, folding his arms.

"Fred, you turned him into a pumpkin!"

"And what about it?" he said flatly.

"He never even dared to talk me again!"

"Of course he didn't." He scoffed. "Then what would've been the point of turning him into a pumpkin and threatening him if he continued to talk to you?"

I couldn't help but laugh. "You're an idiot, Weasley."

"Why thank you, Miss Hooper." He bowed down his head dramatically.

"For the hundredth time; it's not a compliment."

"Yes it is, and you know it." He winked at me, making me giggle.

"But you know what one of my best memories was of that year?" I said after a short pause.

"What?" he mused.

"Remember on Valentines day, we got a detention for pranking Filchykins by giving Peeves love potion?" I said and Fred nodded, laughing.

"Yeah, and then when he ran after us, George used his wand to conjure oil on the floor and made us slip down, and so Filch caught us and dragged us away by our ears to give us detention in the kitchen."

"And the house elves thought we were on a date there and served us cookies and set romantic candles." I chuckled. "I'm still convinced that George did that on purpose to get us alone, though."

"Of course he did." Fred grinned. "He had been trying to get us alone on many occasions. One of them being the first time we kissed back at the Burrow. He left to bring down a box from our room, but he never came back."

"Well, remind me to thank him later." I smiled.

"Wow..." he sighed, gazing into the fireplace. "Can you believe that in a few months it would actually be your fourth year here?"

"In a few months... right..." I muttered mostly to myself, looking away from him. Even the sound of the future seemed horrifying to me. "So, what are you doing up, anyway?" I asked, trying to change the subject.

"I couldn't sleep, so I tried to sneak off to your room, but then saw that you weren't there," he explained, grinning. "Let's just say I can't sleep without someone sleeping next to me."

I shrugged innocently. "You can always ask George."

Fred gave me a look, but then we both broke down into a small laughter. But my smile soon faded away soon as I gazed down again, my mind wondering off once more.

"What's wrong, Lex?" Fred whispered, looking at me. "You've been miserable lately, don't think I haven't noticed. And I know for a fact that it has nothing to do with the fact that you were kidnapped a few months ago."

I sighed in defeat. "It's just that... ever since I've come here, I'd done nothing but cause more trouble. Everything is messed up enough as it is, without me acting stupid and reckless."

"Well, seeing as you're Sirius's niece, it's not too far fetched that you sometimes act stupid and reckless." I chuckled at that, but it soon faded as well.

"But I didn't make any difference. People are dying every day, and I can't do anything about it. I had promised myself that I would save everyone... but look at Dobby... I did nothing..." I muttered, feeling my eyes fill up with tears.

"Didn't make any difference?" Fred repeated. "Lexi, you saved Sirius! And Moody is alive because of you! And even though my dad wasn't supposed to die anyway, you still managed to save him before he could get severely injured that he didn't even need to go to hospital! We were all so grateful, specially Mum.You made all the difference in the world."

"But what about Cedric? And how about Dobby? Or Hedwig?"

"Look, Dumbledore said it himself in the Order; if you had saved Cedric, there would've been no proof that You-Know-Who was back. If you had saved Hedwig, she wouldn't have tried to save Harry, meaning that You-Know-Who wouldn't have found out who the real Harry was and probably would've killed many others. And as for the house-elf... Bill said that if Dobby hadn't sacrificed himself, Harry and the others would've probably been dead now."

"Yeah, but still —"

"Hey, no 'but'! I didn't make that wonderful long speech so you would ruin it with a simple 'but'!" Fred said jokingly, making me smile.

      But I said nothing in return and only sighed to myself.

      "Look..." Fred started, holding my hand and looking into my eyes, "you just can't save everyone."

I glanced up at him, my lips pursed together. It hurt me each time I looked at him. But there was nothing I could do now but to wait.

But just then before I could say anything else, the door to the house opened and Fred and I jumped to our feet, only to see Lupin walking inside urgently.

"Tonks — she's had the baby — it's a boy!"