If You've Got the Nerve

“So what did they say?” Fred was leaning over my shoulder. I had no doubt that he could read every word of the letter that I held in my hands.

We were both in the abandoned classroom that we had spent so many days in. There were books piled around us, scattered open on the floor, or just tossed to the side. One particularly tall pile had tumbled to the floor in a recent race between the two of us to get back to the bookshelf where we were both making fast process in our race. Great gaps were staring down from that bookshelf as marks of our determination.

It was late in the afternoon; the setting sun cast its final light in through the windows across the pages of the book that was open in front of me. It was out third day coming here, our first one being when I had come to return a book to its place and found Fred sprawled on the floor, reading a complicated spell with great interest. He’d told me that it was actually a great way to get ideas for the shop. Determined to get any information I could on their recent whispers, I offered to stay with him for the rest of the day.

I had almost finished the second chapter of the same book Fred was reading when I had walked in when a familiar owl had started pecking at the large glass windows to my left. Fred, who had agreed without complaint to stay the rest of the day in the empty room, made his way over to allow Nexus entrance. My owl had dropped a letter in my lap then took off for the Owlery where his new friend would be waiting. I had unfolded the paper and begun reading my parents’ response, Fred waiting quietly for me to explain their words.

“The usual,” I shrugged in answer to his question, folding the parchment back up and sticking it inside the envelope it had arrived in.

“What was the bit about Divination?” Fred stepped away from me to take his place back on the floor behind me, his back just barely touching mine. I shrugged again, not surprised in the least that he had picked out certain words. It was what he usually did when I received a letter and I did the same whenever he was sent mail.

“They say that they’re not surprised about me taking an interest, something about it coming from my mother’s side, and I’m to meet with a relative over the summer if I’m still interested.”

“What? Are they going to train you to be a seer or something?”

“Maybe,” I mused with a smile.

“You’re not going to turn into another Trelawny, are you?” I laughed at the desperate tone in his voice.

“Not if it means you’d ignore me,” I leaned back against him, my eyes traveling to the view outside rather than returning to the pages in front of me.

“So these summer plans of yours…you’re still visiting us, aren’t you?”

“I always do,”

“Just making sure,”

Fred had turned a few more pages and I was dozing off before either of us spoke up again.
“Who’s this relative anyway?”

“Grandmother on my mum’s side,” I answered drowsily.

“You’ve never met her before?”

“Nope,”

The sun was getting lower and lower, the sky shifting colors from pink and blue to red and orange. The sky was a few minutes from turning black by the time I spoke. I was sluggish, barely aware of the words leaving my mouth. “Hey, Fred?”

“Yeah?” his voice was hushed as if trying not to wake someone.

“I’m sorry for acting like I did last weekend,” For a moment, I thought I hadn't been clear enough. Then I heard a quiet snap signaling that he had closed the book that he was currently working on finishing, giving his full attention to me. I felt him shift behind me. I was about to sit up properly so I didn’t fall when he moved away, but before I could I felt his arms wrap around me and pull me back so that my head rested comfortably on his chest.

“You had every right. I realized after you left how I must have made you feel. George was furious; called me a git,” I wanted to say I was sorry for making them fight, but a fog of sleep was already settling over my mind and I wasn’t in control of my own words.

“No, it was my fault. You guys are thinking of better things. I’m still just a kid; my only interests are messing around in a sweets shop.”

“That’s not true,” he protested, sounding surprised at my words, “Do you really think George or I would pass up a chance to waste time in a shop full of candy and jokes? Besides, you’re not that much younger than us.”

“Fred, you’ll both be of age next year and then you’ll be off to start that joke shop you keep talking about – ”

“Come off it, Nox,” he sounded exasperated, “That’s not even real right now; it’s just an outrageous dream.” He sounded bitter. My mind went back to the image of my best friends fighting in the Great Hall. I shook my head.

"I know you’ll do it. You’ve both been talking about it since I first met you.”

There was a pause between us. It was a comfortable silence. I don’t think either of us had the energy or desire to continue the argument. I didn’t want to think about Lee, George, and Fred all being gone next year and he knew he couldn’t push my train of thought to agree with his own. He never really could. So instead, I decided on stating aloud the only thing that could sum up what I was thinking.

“I’ll miss you,” I whispered quietly. I could feel his throat vibrating with soft laugher.

“I’m not going anywhere,” he reminded me.

“I know you're not.”