Essential Hope

Strong hands grabbed your shoulders and held you to your place. You were trying to scream, but your throat was choked up in terror.

No, no, no! HeCAN’T get me here! I mean, everyone’s watching, right? Someone would stop him, right…? RIGHT?

But the seconds ticked past without anyone rushing to your rescue.

“Don’t you know you could get hurt wandering around unprotected, Kelso?”

Wait. What?

Kelso? Did Draco just call me KELSO? Only Fred and George- no. No way. I swear to God..

You shook of the strong hands easily now, and spun around. A grinning, six-foot-two red head was holding his sides and laughing as you tried to make sense of this.

“What the hell Fred?!” You cried, smacking his chest. As you tried to push past him, he grabbed you and pulled you into a hug.

“Sorry, Kels, but that was irresistible!”

“Well, resist next time! You gave me a heart attack!”

“Oh, you lived, didn’t you?”

You rolled your eyes and wiggled out of Fred’s hug, then made your way to your seat. He followed you and dropped down into the chair next to yours.

“Hey, the professor wont like it if you sit in during class,” you told him, trying to shove him
away. He just moved closer and said,

“I switched into Astronomy this morning,” He gave you a grin. “Can’t have you all alone in here, can we?”

“Fred-“ You began, but the lesson had begun and the professor shushed you from the front of the class.

“Yeah, shush,” Fred whispered in your ear. His breath warmed your ear and sent a shiver down your spine.

As the class was dismissed, you headed to the door. Fred was right behind you, joking about how you’d mixed up a pair of constellations, when you opened the door and saw Harry waiting for you.

“Hey!” You said excitedly, rushing forward and hugging him tightly. He wrapped his arms
around you, and lifted his head to look over your shoulder at Fred.

“Hey, uh, Fred…” Harry said, seeming pretty surprised about seeing him here.

“Hey, Harry,” Fred said, walking forward and slinging his arm around you.

“You’re in this class now?” Harry asked, securing his arm around your waist. He subtly pulled you out of Fred’s hold, and led you down the stairs. Fred was right next to you though, and he said,

“Yeah. I figured since I didn’t have a sixth period, I could make myself useful and keep an eye on Kelso.” He reached out and ruffled your hair.

“Oi!” You said, pushing his hand away. But you couldn’t help laughing a little.

“Well, er, thanks, I guess…” Harry said awkwardly. You hadn’t realized how far you had walked, but suddenly you all were outside the common room.

“Lemon toffey,” Fred said, and the portrait swung open. Harry made a move to hold the portrait open for you, but Fred beat him to it. He bowed down dramatically, his shaggy red hair nearly touching the floor.

“After you, m’lady,” He said in a thick accent. You giggled and let Harry push you through. Harry dropped down onto the couch, and he yanked you down onto his lap. You fell onto him, and he smiled.

“Hi there,” he whispered, sitting up to get closer to you. You smiled and pressed your lips against his softly. He kissed you more passionately, and just as he began to slide his arm around you, you pulled back. He groaned and flopped back against the arm of the couch. You laughed softly and then looked up as Fred walked past you.

“Hey, Where’re you going?” He glanced back over his shoulder. You actually gasped
softly at the look on his face. His eyes were softer than you’d ever seen them; they just barely glistened with the start of tears. His mouth was a tight line of white, and his whole face seemed to have lost its cheerful glow.

“Fred, are you-“

“See you at dinner.” His voice was soft and almost inaudible. He took the stairs three at a time and quickly disappeared.

“Now, where were we…” Harry said, completely oblivious to your pained look. He pulled you back down to him, but you resisted a kiss.

“Something’s wrong with Fred,” You said, pulling back away from Harry to just sit on his lap. He sat up too, and wrapped his arms around you.

“I’m sure he’s tired or something,” He said, pressing his face into your hair.

“Yeah.. Maybe.” You said quietly. Harry found your lips again, and kissed you gently. He laid you back onto the couch, and picked up where you left off.

“And over here, we have the Snoggers of Hogwarts,” A familiar voice exclaimed over the couch. You jumped so fiercely you knocked Harry to the ground.

“Jeeze, George! Don’t do that!” You smacked his arm and struggled to sit up. Harry stood quickly and helped you to your feet. George, Angelina, Hermione and Ron were standing at the portrait, grinning up at you. Ginny wasn’t with them, but you figured she was off with Dean.

“Well, after an intense, er, workout session,” Ron said, grinning at Harry. “I’m sure you guys are hungry.” You laughed self consciously, and said,

“Yeah, I guess we’ll put up with you guys tonight.”

As you all walked down to the Great Hall, George asked,

“So, since tomorrow is the start of Thanksgiving Break, are you gonna join us at the Burrow?”

“Oh yeah!” You exclaimed, jumping a little from excitement. “Actually, I’m going to my brothers’ house for a few days, and I figured I could use floo powder to join you guys later.”

“Oh, right right,” George said, nodding. “Well, Angie is coming over as well, so we’ll look forward to your guest appearance.” You laughed, and said,

“Well, I was gonna see if you all wanted to come over for a night to meet Carson and Lakey.”

George raised an eyebrow at Ron, and Ron shrugged.

“Sounds good to me. I’m sure Ginny and Fred wont mind.”

“Wont mind what?” Fred asked, walking up behind you guys. He squeezed in between you and George, and slung an arm over the both of you. And, just like that, all the depressive fog that had surrounded Fred

“Wanna come to my brothers house for a night for Thanksgiving?” Fred grinned and said,

“Of course! Who else is going?”

“Well, George, Ron, you, hopefully Ginny,” You craned around Fred and smiled at Angelina. “Angie, if she wants to.” She smiled and nodded at you.

“And Harry of course,” You added, looking up at him. He smiled at you and said,

“Definitely.”

You were in a great mood as you sat down for dinner. You ate quickly, and then headed back to the common room with Harry and Fred. The others wanted to hang back and eat a bit more, but you wanted to pack.

You kissed Harry goodbye as you entered the common room, and you were pulled into a surprise hug by Fred. Then, you disappeared up to your room. You wasted no time throwing things together. After you finished, you took a quick shower and then packed your bathroom things away. You changed into your pajamas, pulled your damp hair into a bun and then jogged down the stairs.

Harry and Fred still weren’t down, so you jogged back up, grabbed your homework, and then went back down. You got comfortable on the couch, and opened up your notebook. You were having trouble writing the equations on your Calculus homework when you heard someone come down the stairs. You glanced up and smiled.

“Yo.”

“Yo,” Fred said, dropping down onto the couch. He slid up closer to you and looked down over your shoulder.

“Complicated,” he said. “For a sixth year.” You shrugged and said,

“I’m smart. But, hey, do you get this?” You shoved your notebook toward him. It was resting on your knee, and Fred placed his hand innocently on your thigh as he read over the equation. You tried to shift away, but you couldn’t easily do that, so you just sighed and ignored it.

“Hmm. Yeah, okay, I get this. And you’re doing it wrong.”

You frowned and said,

“Okay, prove it.” You shoved a pencil into his hand and crossed your arm. He laughed and then leaned over to work. He was resting up against you, one arm propped and writing, the other draped across your lap.

“Look, see, you got the two numbers mixed up here, and you forgot the negative sign,” You frowned as you concentrated on what he was saying. Man, how you hated calculus.

“Oh..” You muttered, shaking your head.

“There, it should be right.”

“Thank you, oh great Calculus wizard!” You slung an arm around him and he wrapped an arm around you. He gave you a long hug, and then said,

“I’m always here to help you.”

You pulled back and stared at him. His eyes had softened and lost their mischievous gleam. His hand lingered on your waist, and he had somehow moved closer to you. You gave him a nervous smile, and said,

“Uh, thanks for the help…”

Fred gave you a small smile, but before you could say anything else, you heard someone clear their throat. You glanced up, startled by the sudden appearance of someone else.

“Oh, hey Harry!”

Harry walked down the steps, frowning at you and Fred. You glanced back at where Fred had his hands, and you quickly pushed him off.

“Fred was just helping me with Calculus. We were waiting for you.” Harry gave you a small smile and said,

“Sorry I took so long, love. Feel like going for a walk?”

You smiled and stood up, managing to untangle yourself from Fred. Harry wrapped an arm around your waist and gave you a kiss on the cheek. You looked back and began to smile at Fred, but you froze at the look he had. His eyes were cold and hard, and his lips were a tight white line. He had a slight crease between his eyebrows, and he was looking right at Harry.

“Er, see you tomorrow Fred…” You said quietly as Harry towed you away. He seemed completely oblivious to the cold glare pointed in his direction.

“Yeah. See ya.” And then he stood up and retreated up the stairs, stomping extra loud.

“I’m sorry, did I miss something?” you asked, frowning at Harry.

“Not that I know of. Why?”

“Uh, you’re saying you didn’t notice the hateful glare Fred was giving you?”

“If he has a problem with me, he can tell me to my face. If he wants to be immature about things, I don’t want to deal with him.”

“Is it something I did?”

“No, Kels. Nothing about you,” Harry said, kissing the top of your head. “Fred just has something shoved up his ass again.”

You sighed, but decided to let it go.

You and Harry took a quick walk around the school, and then returned to the common room to go to sleep. You were leaving for Carson’s early in the morning, and you couldn’t wait to get to tomorrow.

As you were falling asleep, you couldn’t help but worry about Fred and Harry. Hopefully you were just imagining the hostility between the two, and you prayed that the day at your brothers’ house would be exciting.