It's Better If You Do

The petite brunette hurriedly wound her way through the customers in the store, hoping that Fred wouldn’t have gotten too far and that he wasn’t too out of sorts with himself over what had happened. She pushed open the door roughly, nearly taking out a child in the process, but continued on without a look behind her. She took wide steps down Diagon Alley before realizing that she hadn’t the slightest clue where Fred might’ve been. Stopping abruptly, she gripped the roots of her hair as she glanced around, racking her brain for any hint as to where Fred would have gone.

Perhaps, she thought, he’d be in the same place I had run off too. So, heaving a great sigh, she started off quickly toward Flourish and Blotts to try and find Fred. However, when she perused the shelves full of books and hidden corners she saw no sign of Fred or that he had even been there. She quickly left the bookstore and stood on the sidewalk, trying to mentally eliminate where Fred wouldn’t be.

She hoped beyond anything that the rest of the days she spent at the shop did not turn out like this one had. She had woken up with a massive hangover on the roof, been taunted and outwitted by two children who made her look like a giant bird, and now she had to deal with the after affects of the hate potion. Bellamy knew that Rose should have known better than to brew a hate potion without taking the proper precautions. It was a very volatile potion, even just to smell it. The effects of smelling or tasting it, were far worse that those of love potions in Bellamy’s opinion. Yes, both of them made consumers act in ways they normally wouldn’t, but hate potions could cause people to become violent and hurt others.

Before Bellamy knew it, she was passing in front of Gringott’s bank, peering through the doors. She saw a flash of red hair go through one of the doors and she abruptly stopped. Her feet quickly carried her into the large, yet precarious looking structure and she soon found herself surrounded by a gaggle of goblins. At the far end of the room, she saw another flash of red hair turn the corner and she followed as quickly as she could without running through the crowded building. She wove her way around the goblins, keeping her eyes in the direction she had spotted the flash of vibrant red hair. As much as she stood out amongst the goblins and few wizards in the bank, they didn’t pay her much attention. It wasn’t until she rounded a corner to a far less busy corridor that she noticed Fred wasn’t alone. He was speaking frantically with another redhead that looked similar enough to him to be one of his siblings. Bellamy stopped dead in her tracks and stared at the two of them, her mouth slightly ajar.

She watched as the currently unnamed brother nodded, his brow wrinkled with thought, and as Fred shook his head before running his hand over his face. Bellamy felt sorry for Fred, because he, just like Rose, felt like he should place the entirety of the blame upon himself. She saw it as both their faults, really. Rose shouldn’t have been so careless in making such a risky potion and Fred, despite the fact he was under the influence of a small whiff of a hate potion, shouldn’t have hurt her. Neither Fred nor the other redhead he was talking to noticed that she was standing there.

“You aren’t supposed to be back here!” A reedy, yet frightened voice said behind Bellamy, causing her to jump and turn around suddenly, noticing a rather menacing looking goblin glowering up at her. She drew in a deep breath of air, biting her bottom lip.

“I just needed to talk with one of the gentlemen back there,” she said softly, motioning over her shoulder to where Fred and the other man would be. The goblin looked up at her with scrutinizing, beady black eyes. It looked as though he was thinking over things before he slowly shook his head.

“If you needed to talk to him, and visa versa, I’m sure he’d be in touch,” the goblin said with a wicked grin. Bellamy felt her patience growing thin despite how menacing the goblin was and she grit her teeth before plastering on a strained smile.

“What if he doesn’t know I need to talk with him?” She asked in a sickly sweet sounding voice that didn’t match the look in her eyes and tried to keep her voice down as to not draw any attention to herself. Before the goblin had a chance to sneer his reply, a soft voice cut in,

“It’s alright, Bogrod. She can be back here.” Bellamy turned as saw that both Fred and his brother were standing there. Fred had his eyes lowered, as if he expected her to go off on him for hurting her sister. She was mad at him, but she knew he hadn’t intended to hurt her. The goblin skulked off, murmuring nasty things under his breath as he returned to work. Neither the unnamed brother nor Fred said anything for a while before the brother nudged Fred’s arm. “I believe an introduction is in order,” he said softly, glancing from Fred to Bellamy.

“This is Bellamy,” Fred said, motioning to the girl without actually looking at her or the brother, “She’s Rose’s older sister.” Bellamy gave a sigh before turning and looking from Fred to the other redhead with a small smile. “Bellamy, this is Bill, my older brother,” he said, lifting his eyes to her for a moment before dropping them back immediately to the floor.

“Pleasure to meet you,” Bellamy said, extending her hand forward for Bill to shake. He looked a bit surprised when she spoke, but firmly shook her hand all the same.

“You didn’t tell me they were French sisters,” Bill said with a small smile as he turned to Fred, who merely shot a look at Bill that clearly told him that now was not the time. Bill, realizing the rotten mood his brother was in, turned to Bellamy with a look that begged her to help him out. Bellamy nodded once to him and turned to Fred with a determined look on her face.

“You listen to me right now, Fred Weasley,” she said in a stern voice that made him look back up at her with a half-bashful, half-scared expression. “You hurting my sister was not your fault,” she continued firmly, staring him directly in the eyes. Fred drew in a deep breath of air and shook his head.

“But it is my fault, Bella-” Bellamy held up her hand and Fred immediately fell silent as she stared directly at him. Bill, who was vaguely aware of the situation, was surprised at how obedient Fred was being around the petite woman. He was impressed to say the least, since it was a feat their mother rarely accomplished.

“The potion is the only thing to blame for this, Fred,” she said in just a stubborn voice as before. “My sister, however, added too much hellebore to it, which caused the both of you to have such a violent reaction to it. Regardless of that, you would have merely argued had she not made that mistake.” Fred still didn’t look convinced and Bellamy let out a heavy sigh. “She’s not blaming you, nor do I blame you,” she added in a much soft voice than before. Fred’s mouth was still tense as she spoke, believing without a doubt that it was all his fault.

“She didn’t hurt me though. I twisted her wrist until it almost snapped,” he said in a small voice. “Hell, it could have snapped for all I know. I didn’t stick around long enough to find out. I couldn’t. She just looked so…” He shook his head and looked to the ground, not finishing his sentence.

“She’s inconsolable at the moment because she thinks she drove you to it,” Bellamy stated. “You both said things that you didn’t mean to and it was not on your own accord. Hate potions are mainly used so that a person can forget someone that…” Her voice died off as she stared harshly at the ground in front of her, blinking rapidly to keep the tears at bay. “So…that someone can find reasons to not love someone that doesn’t love them back,” she finished in a weak voice, shaking her head. Bill glanced between the two of them, rather confused at the turn the conversation had taken. Bellamy steeled herself for the sake of getting Fred out of his self-blaming mood and looked back at him. “So, you either could stay here and try to shoulder all the blame all day…or you can go and catch up with Rose and exchange apologies for something that neither of you could help,” she stated in a newly strengthened voice.

Fred exchanged a look with Bill before looking back to Bellamy, who was looking at him expectantly with her hands on her hips. “I suppose I could go and try to make things up to her,” he said softly, to which Bellamy gave a small, encouraging smile, “and at least see if she needs anything for her wrist.”

“Or you could accompany her while she pays a visit to Monsieur Ollivander to make sure that her wand is functioning properly,” Bellamy suggested, continuing to smile. Fred merely gave a short nod and turned to Bill.

“Sorry for bothering you while you’re working,” he murmured darkly. Bill merely gave a shrug and shook his head, clasping Fred on the shoulder in a brotherly manner.

“It’s not a problem, Fred,” Bill replied with a reassuring smile, “I don’t mind a break from work at all.” He spared a glance to Bellamy before turning back to Fred. “You being here reminds me that I need to pay a visit to your shop. Perhaps I could convince Fleur to tag along.” Bellamy’s eyes widened as she looked from Bill to Fred, who was wearing a wide smile despite himself and chuckling. “She may know Bellamy and this Rose you speak of from Beauxbatons,” Bill said, glancing back to Bellamy, who forced a rather shaky smile on her lips despite the fact she looked thoroughly repulsed at the idea of running into Fleur.

“Sounds lovely,” she said in a thin voice that only caused Fred to snicker even louder. It went unnoticed by Bill, who was approached by a goblin with armfuls of paperwork. “Well….Fred and I should be on our way,” she continued in a loud, ringing voice and a poignant look to Fred, who was still laughing to himself over the idea of Fleur and Bellamy meeting up at the shop. “It was nice meeting you, Bill,” she said as Fred slowly began to step from his brother as Bill gathered the papers from the goblin.

“Nice meeting you too, Bellamy,” Bill said with a nod. “See you later, Fred. Hope everything patches itself up.” The second to oldest Weasley child then turned and was off, presumably to work on the outstanding load of paperwork he had just been delivered. Bellamy and Fred fell in stride with each other, Bellamy taking two steps for every one step he took.

“So…how do you feel about Fleur coming to visit the shop?” He asked the brunette. She stared resolutely ahead as Fred pushed open a set of doors that led out of Gringott’s. He expected her to scoff and spew some disgusted, albeit witty, remark about the egocentric, blonde veela that his brother was so ensnared with. Instead, a small grin curled the corners of her lips and she sent a sidelong glance to Fred as they exited the last set of doors.

“I have a feeling I’m going to catch a terrible case of Dragon Pox in the near future,” she said in a lofty voice.