fifteen ~ heather

She had hit her head when she landed that day, her now spending her third day in the hospital wing. She had been changed into some pyjamas, a bandage was wrapped around her head, hiding some of her now greasy hair and her lips were no longer coated with her cherry lip balm, instead they were slightly chapped and dry.

Elodie blinked, her vision blurry as a groan emitted from her lips. She lifted her arms, her hands rubbing her eyes as she glanced down to the side of her bed, there sat Fred Weasley, head on the side of her as he laid fast asleep, his bum perched on an uncomfortable chair.

"Fred?" She whispered before raising her voice slightly, "Freddie?"

"Huh?" He grumbled, stirring in his sleep and blinking rapidly before sitting up straight and wiping his mouth with the back of his hand in case he had drooled during his sleep. "You're up! How are you feeling?"

His voice was extremely deep having just woke up and Elodie bit down on her lower lip at the sound of it, his hair was dishevelled and his lips were slightly puffy from his sleep and she couldn't deny how attracted she was to him.

"Ellie?"

"Huh? Oh um I'm okay," she muttered out, attempting to sit up but a strong pain hit the right side of her leg making her wince out in pain.

Fred rushed to her side, calling Madam Pomfrey over to the girl and she quickly walked over, a bottle of Skele-gro in hand. "Oh dear you're up! How are you feeling?"

"Sore." She croaked out, pushing a smile onto her face as Fred reached out to hold her hand, giving her a soft smile.

"Yes well you will be dear, imma need you to drink this. All of it." She handed the bottle to the girl who slowly sat up, wincing as she did so and Fred didn't let go of her hand, his thumb softly running over the back of her hand as she went to drink the liquid.

Her face crinkled up at the taste but she quickly swallowed it down, occasionally coughing out at the grim liquid before slamming the bottle down on the bedside table.

"Gosh that's awful." Elodie spitted out, sticking her tongue out in disgust making Fred chuckle.

"At least you drunk it." Madam Pomfrey stated, glancing down at the girls misshaped leg. "Hmm, it'll take eight to ten hours for it to fully heal, for now you need rest. And now that she's finally up you can go Mr. Weasley, you're taking up space."

The pair watched her walk off and Fred rolled his eyes, "how long have you been here?" Elodie asked as the boy awkwardly scratched the back of his neck.

"Uh.. not long." He said and stood to his feet. "I better go, I'll send the others in okay?"

She nodded, squeezing his hand one last time. "Thank you Freddie."

He smiled before letting go of her hand and walking away. Within minutes more of the girls friends rushed in, practically smothering her with hugs until they realised she was wincing in pain.

"Sorry!" Cedric exclaimed, pulling away first as Finley and Billie followed suit.

"How are you feeling chick?" Billie asked, stroking the girls shoulder soothingly as Elodie smiled up at her.

"I'm okay, healing which is good."

They smiled sadly at her, "you know I can't believe Fred has only just left." Finley lightened the mood, sitting down in the chair in which Fred was once sleeping in.

"What do you mean?" The girl asked.

"Elle, he's been here since you got here. He refused to leave."

She smiled at this, a warm feeling growing in the inside of her stomach as her bottom lip rolled in between her teeth at the thought of him staying with her.

Soon enough, her friends had left, she was then visited by George and Lee who expressed their worry for the girl and told her that Hufflepuff had won the match, informing her she missed the celebration.

-

After spending a final night in the hospital wing, Elodie was more than happy to leave the cold room and have a shower before changing into her uniform.

She surprisingly had missed going to classes and couldn't wait to see what she needed to catch up on, she ended up skipping breakfast, despite not eating properly for the last few days and instead told herself she'd have a bigger lunch so she quickly made her way down the hall to her first class of the day, Charms.

Elodie was excited for this class, mainly because she was sat besides Fred but she refused to admit that to herself, so when she entered the class, her being a couple of minutes late Flitwick still smiled at the girl, thankful that she was now okay.

"Elodie, how nice to see you again." He said to her, pausing his lesson as everyone turned their attention to the door.

"You too professor." She said shyly, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear before turning to look at her table besides Fred, her smile dropping as she saw a blonde head of hair besides him.

Heather smirked at the girl, moving her chair closer to Fred as the girl stilled, her eyes darting around the classroom to find a spare seat and she was thankful when she saw George smiling, waving her over to his table which had a spare seat.

She took the seat, ignoring Fred's eyes that were on her as her jaw clenched along with her fists. She was jealous, it was evident to see and she couldn't help but tightly bite on her lower lip as she heard Heather's soft giggle's at something Fred had said.

"If it's any consolation, I think she's a bitch." George muttered to her, leaning closer.

Elodie gave him a soft smile. "Why is she sat there anyway?"

"As soon as you were in the hospital wing she went to talk to Flitwick, claiming that she could help Fred Excell in these lessons due to her grades—"

"But I'm top of the class?" Elodie cut him off in confusion.

"Ah but she told him that you still need to heal and she'd be happy to take the pressure off of you, hence the changing of seats."

"She really is a b word." Elodie mumbled, her hand now wrapping around Fred's bracelet on her wrist in an attempt to calm herself down.

They were learning the Reductor Curse today, another which Elodie could do with her wand or without, verbal or non verbal but she didn't mention anything, instead she listened to Flitwick's explanation before turning to the large rocks which they had placed in front of them.

"Right off you go!"

In the pointy hand movement, she spoke the incarnation and the rock went into tiny pieces, falling in a mist as she smiled proudly.

"Well done Elodie! Always the first one to do it." Professor Flitwick exclaimed and everyone's attention turned to her.

Elodie took the opportunity to look over at Heather who's lips were pursed as she glared at the girl, the brunette sent her a cocky smirk before turning back to face George.

Heather spent the rest of the lesson struggling to perform the incarnation, anger fuelling through her as she could not perform the spell. Only a couple of people in the class managed to, Fred being one of them thanks to Elodie's schooling outside of the classroom but it still irritated her that Elodie had done it first, not her.

"George?" Elodie said as she watched Fred chuckle at something Heather had said, she flicked her straight blonde hair over her shoulder, giving him a better view to the few buttons which were open of her uniform and he couldn't help but glance down, fuelling Elodie's jealousy even more.

"Yeah?"

"Do you think Fred likes her?"

"Who? Heather?" He asked in confusion, looking from the rock in front of him to her as she turned to face him, nodding her head shyly. "He definitely doesn't, I can tell when my brother fancies someone."

"You sure?"

"Positive, now Cmon help me with this dumb spell."

She chuckled, helping him do the spell and after a few tries he was another person to complete it, Heather still raging inside that she had not done it.

It was now the end of the lesson and Elodie walked out of the classroom first, books clutched to her chest as she attempted to leave without anyone seeing her but it definitely didn't help that she was slightly limping.

Fred walked out of the classroom, Heather hot on his tail as his eyes glanced down the busy corridor.

"So are you excited for the Yule ball?" She asked him, playing with the ends of her hair.

"Uh I guess." He shrugged, not really bothered in the conversation as he tried to look for Elodie. His eyes latched onto the back of her head, his smile growing as he muttered a goodbye to Heather before jogging up to the girl. "Ellie! Why'd you run off so quick?"

His hand touched her arm, stopping her in her steps as the students walked around them. "Oh um, I gotta get to class."

"We are in the same class, do you want to walk together?" He asked, moving his hand down from her forearm, causing goosebumps to rise, to her own hand, linking his fingers with hers which made her grin.

"I'd love to."

They walked together, a few people noticing their entwined hands as whispers began to rise, rumours spreading but the pair didn't care. Elodie swung their hands back and forth lightly, causing Fred to grin at her childish antics as her grin was at the fact they were holding hands.

"I missed you ya know." Elodie blurted out, eyes widening as she realised what she had admitted.

She glanced over at Fred who was now staring at her in awe. "I missed you."

"Why did you tell me you didn't stay long in the hospital wing?"

"What?" He asked in shock.

"Finn told me that you stayed the whole time I was in the hospital wing... why?"

They stopped in front of their DADA classroom, the class not starting for another ten minutes as he attempted to come up with what to say. "Well.. I was worried about you."

"I was in good hands Freddie." She smiled at him, giving his hand a squeeze as she leant back on the wall.

"I guess I just feel like I need to protect you. I know you can take of yourself, trust me I saw it when you took on Marigold but I don't want anyone hurting you."

"Freddie." She softly spoke to him, pulling him closer, her head tilting back as it rests on the wall behind her. He placed his free arm on the wall just besides her head, a smirk on his face as his free hand plays with a strand of her hair. "You don't need to protect me, I'm a big girl."

"Oh Ellie, from where I'm standing you're really not all that big." He spoke, his hand tugging on the strand of hair slightly making her breath hitch in the back of her throat. "All I can see is a pretty little good girl." He whispered.

"Good?"

"I know for a fact you're a good girl." His voice was low, his tongue linking the side of his lips as his eyes seem to got darker and his face got closer along with the grip on her hair making her squirm.

"Mhm." She hummed, nodding her head.

Their faces were extremely close, a few more moves and their lips would be touching but neither of them moved, instead they just stared at each other, unsure of what the next move was.

"Fred!" A high pitched voice called but the pair didn't break apart, instead Elodie just rolled her eyes back and Fred just looked to the side.

"Oh hey Heather." He smiled at her, moving his arm from the wall and Elodie's hair but kept his other hand holding hers much to the blonde's dismay.

"How comes we didn't walk together?" She asked him.

"I wanted to walk with Elodie."

"Well maybe next time we could walk all together? I mean if I'm getting close to you Fred then I need to be friends with your friends." She fluttered her lashes.

"Yeah sounds good, what do you think Ellie?" He turned to the girl who already felt uncomfortable.

Her head screamed no, begging for her to say she'd rather not but with Heather giving her a fake look of hope and Fred smiling down at her like that she put away the thoughts and said "sure."