The space in-between

Notes:

I hope you had a good week! Here’s another chapter. I hope you enjoy.

————-

“We all have our time time machines, don’t we? Those that take us back are memories… and those that carry us forward, are dreams.”

- H.G. Wells, The Time Machine

Stepping in hogsmeade made me instantly feel 100 times better than I have this whole week. I knew this place like the back of my hand. Maddie made a quick stop at tomes and scrolls. We spent some time shopping around some other shops. After a while I broke away from the group and made my way to honeydukes. As soon as my mom saw me she swept me up into a hug.

“Oh Audrey, I already miss you so much.”

“Me too mom.” I hugged her tighter. She pulled back. Dad had sandy blonde hair, I got the pale white blonde hair from my mom.they both had brown eyes so I got that trait from both of them. The rest of my features were my dads. I got my mom’s personality.

“Your dad told me everything.” She said, looking at me sternly.

“I doubt that.” I said back.

“Want to tell me what really happened to your hand.” She had placed her hands on her hips. “And while you're at it, start from the beginning and tell me what actually happened with that prank.”
I looked around the shop. It was pretty slow for a Sunday but then again it was still super early into the school year.
“Actually tell me at home I’ll take my break now.” She ran off leaving me standing alone.

The second we stepped outside she demanded I start telling her the story.

“I was waiting for Maddie after we all got off the carriages. I heard some people laughing and screaming. I was ignoring them because it’s annoying. When I heard someone say ‘how about we send Audrey home early?’ Then I was falling into a conjured swamp.” She sat me at our kitchen table. Tea started pouring itself.

“I was so angry I slapped one of them. Dad walked up at the same time. I stormed out feeling completely humiliated. We all got detention for it. I feel like I shouldn't have, but I still hit another student or whatever.”

I left out the part about me getting them back. She would just tell me to let it go. That is not worth it. I’m too petty to let anything go.

She pulled me into a hug.

“Oh Audrey, I’m so sorry that happened to you. Have you thought that maybe it was an accident that you landed into the swamp?” She started making us a sandwich.

“Sure, if it was an accident why not help me out and apologize? Why continue to laugh at me?” She handed me a slice.

“That I don’t know, maybe try to talk to them.” She bit into her sandwich. I ate mine in silence just listening to talk about what’s been happening in town while I’ve been away. Could I really go up to Fred and just talk to him about this? It sounded way too strange. He still hates me. I thought about what he said about never giving anyone a chance. Maybe I could just talk to him.

I walked my mother back to honeydukes. She pulled me into another hug. She smelled sugar and parchment. I grew up with that smell, so it was home to me.

“Because your dads not here I’ll do his part. I love you till the ends of the earth. For every star in the sky.”

“And all the space inbetween.” I finished. She let me go and entered the shop.

—

Ever since I was a child we’ve said that to each other. It started one day when my father was studying a globe in a muggle museum in London. He turned to my mom and said ‘I love you till the ends of the earth”.

She laughed and responded back, “the earth has no ends.”

He smiled and said, “That's the point, my love for you is infinite.”

She shook her head, “well then I love you for every star in the sky. Which is infinitely bigger.” He laughed. I had wanted to be included so i interrupted them.

“I love you more than that mummy and daddy, you want to know how?” I asked.
My mom pulled one of my braids lightly.
“Of course, how? my sweets.”

“because I love you for the space inbetween it all.” It probably came out whistled as I was missing some teeth. They both laughed.
My dad pulled me up into his arms. He said “now that’s a lot of love! How did I get so lucky to have such love?”

I shook out of the memory smiling to myself. I made my way down to the three broomsticks.

I found my friends easily. They had a butterbeer waiting for me. After we finished our first round of butterbeers I got up to get us more. It was starting to get busy so it took the bartender a minute to get our drinks. I was tapping my nails on the table when someone whispered in my ear.

“Penny for your thoughts?” I turned my head and there he was, Fred Weasley. Looming over me. He had on a simple t-shirt. He had a half smile on his lips. He leaned down and rested his arm on the bar.

“What do you want from me?” I gripped the bar. He lost the grin.

“What makes you think I want anything?”

“You have never said more than a few words to me now I can’t seem to get rid of you.” I leaned forward a little bit.

“Maybe I just want to get to know you. Or maybe I’m planning something. Or maybe we just happen to be in a lot of the same places recently.” He shrugged. I narrowed my eyes.

“That's not really an answer you know.”
His eyes flashed and He smiled down at me in a sarcastic manner. “I wasn’t really giving one.”

That feeling of wanting to punch him came back full force. This is why I couldn’t just talk to him. He was unbearably frustrating.
“Well you can go give non answers to someone else.” I snapped at him. His smile grew a little bit.

“I like baiting you, it's funny.” I had to hang onto the bar just a little bit harder.

“What if I set your hair on fire? Do you think it would be the same color as it is now?” He clenched his jaw. I could tell that that comment kinda irritated him. He was about to say something else when the bartender handed me my order. While at the same time Lucian pulled me away from Fred. Lucian looked pissed.

“Leave her the fuck alone Weasley.” He spat. Fred stood up to his full height. Man was he tall. His expression turned completely cold.

“Don’t you fucking dare talk to me.” He looked him up and down.

The bartender pointed his wand at them. “I would suggest you two calm down or take it outside.” The bartender snapped.

“I’m perfectly fine it’s him with the problem.” Fred used his chin to point at Lucian. His demeanor was completely different to the boy I was talking to minutes ago. He was cold and closed off. Lucian opened his mouth to reply. I put my hand on his chest. That didn’t go unnoticed by Fred; his eyes seemed to darken further.

“Don’t Lucian, help me carry these butterbeers.” I said. I looked around. Everyone was looking at us. I could see George standing up next to their table. I could tell Ginny had a hold of his shirt. I turned from them and walked over to our table. I noticed Maddie and Noah were in the same position as Ginny and George. Maddie had a hold of Noah’s shirt. She let go as soon as she saw us heading back.

“Now what the fuck was that?” Noah said as soon as we sat down. I shook my head.

“Weasley thinks it’s funny to get under people’s skin.” I said.

“Yeah, emphasis on the weasel.” Lucian said, still fuming. “I can’t wait to go up against them in quidditch this year.”

I sat back just letting the words wash over me. I stared at my cup while taking a drink every so often. It wasn’t until I saw a flash of red before I looked back up. They were leaving. I couldn’t help it, I watched him leave. At the door he looked back at me. He had a pained expression as he looked back at me. Then he was gone. All I felt was angry and confused.

—

October came and rolled through. Everyone freaked out when the other schools showed up for the triwizard tournament. Then freaked out even more when Harry Potter's name was pulled for the tournament as well. Fred stayed far away from me and I him. I avoided him like the plague. By the middle of November I had completely gotten used to the other schools being there. It felt like Hogwarts again. My thoughts would flicker to him when I saw the couches in the common room as I passed. I would occasionally catch him looking at me. But he seemed to get the hint that I didn’t want to interact with him.

It was cold but I still sat outside with Maddie watching the slytherin team and ravenclaw team play quidditch. Dumbledore canceled quidditch due to the triwizard tournament but they liked to play on the weekends. It kept them in practice. I liked to watch them play. It was fun to watch. Maddie on the other hand she got way to into it. She would practically coach the team. She was constantly screaming at them. At their mistakes or when they were doing something right. She was using her wand as a megaphone. Currently she was standing yelling at one of the keepers. I couldn’t tell which team she was yelling at.

The wind picked up and I shivered. my thin jacket wasn’t going to be enough. I went to grab my wand to cast a warming charm when I realized I forgot it in my room.

“Oh shit I forgot my wand. I’ll be back.” I stood up. Maddie just waved me away and started yelling at the teams some more. I started towards my room.

I sped through the castle with my head down deep in thought. I was about half way there when someone grabbed my arm. I stopped and looked behind me. Fred stood there looking down at me. He looked slightly irritated. I blinked up at him.

“What?”

“I know you heard me calling your name.” He said in a clipped tone. I started pulling out of his grip my lip curling. His grip only tightened so I gave up.

“Actually I didn’t hear you.” I paused,” I’m so sorry sir, please forgive me?” I said as sarcastically as possible. I could tell a couple thoughts ran through his head. Things he thought about saying but decided against.

“Why have you been avoiding me?” Was what he settled on.

“You chased me through the halls and are giving me a pissy attitude to, ask me why I’ve be avoiding you?” I looked at him with disbelief.

“I do not have a pissy attitude, you do. But yes I have.” He looked almost like he was in pain.

“You're unbelievable! Yes you have a pissy attitude, I'm just matching your energy.” I sighed as he gave me a look. “Oh don’t know! I kind of thought that we were avoiding each other. Mutual avoidance.” I looked down at his hand that was still gripping my arm. He had big hands with long fingers. They easily wrapped around my arm. He had scars on his knuckles mixed with freckles. He was probably covered head to toe with those.

“I haven’t been avoiding you. That’s been all you. It’s kind of hard to talk to you when you are always with your friends. I haven’t even seen you leave the common room.” His voice softened. I looked back up into his eyes. His eyebrows were slightly scrunched together. My eyes flickered to his lips. They were slightly wide and full. It made me realize just how close we were. I could feel the heat radiating off of him. That confusion came back full force.

“What do you want from me Fred?” My voice broke slightly on his name. It sounded like pleading in my mind. His hand tightened on my arm for a second.

“I don’t know, maybe I just want to get to know the girl under that tough girl exterior.” He shrugged. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. He made everything more complicated.

“Maybe there is no one else to know.” I pulled my arm out of his grip and this time he let me. I stormed away from him. I didn’t stop until I was in my room. The other girls gave me a weird look as I leaned against the door. I took a couple deep breaths before crossing the room to my bed. I grabbed my wand from its stand and headed out again.

The common room was filled. A bunch of boys were messing around in front of the way out. There was no way I was getting out without talking to them.

“Excuse me could I get past you.” I called out. They stopped and looked at me. I didn’t know any of them. I'm pretty sure they were fifth years. They stopped and looked at me. One stepped forward.
“Why should you be let out?” He tilted his head to the side. His friends let out a slight laugh. “It’s getting late, does the slytherin whore have somewhere to be?” They all snickered at me. I gripped my wand tighter.

“Just let me go.” I said with all the ice I could muster. He tsk’d at me. He grabbed me and pulled be close.

“I think it’s time you give back to your own house, slut traitor.” He had a sinister smile. I saw some of the guys behind him shift uncomfortably.

“I think you should let go of me before you regret it.” I pressed the tip of my wand to him. I saw his face change as he realized just where my wand was.

“I think the only one here who is going to be regretting anything it’s you.” He sneered. I was breathing hard but trying to hide it. Which was hard because he had me pressed against him. Before I could reply I was ripped from his arms into the arms of someone else. I felt his chest against my back. The rise and fall of it was hard. I saw their hand come up wand in hand. I noticed the freckles feathered across his skin.

“Put so mush as a single finger on her again and I’ll fucking kill you.” The voice was deadly icy. A shiver ran down my spine.
The other guy put his hands up.

“Easy there, Weasley, just a bit of fun.” He smiled but it was very fake.

“I know all about fun, jack, in fact I’m the king of fun. You try this shit again and you’ll find out what really fun looks like. Go ahead and piss off now.” His wand was still raised.

Jack just sneered, dropping the smile. One of his friends pulled him by the back of his shirt. His eyes flickered between me and Fred before leaving. As soon as he was gone Fred let go of me. I turned towards him but he already started backing away. George was staring at Fred with a weird expression on his face. He had been standing close I realized. Ginny and Lee Jordan were also standing close and all had their wands in hand. He quickly turned and went up the stairs. He looked furious and was so tense. I threw my hands up before leaving the common room.

By the time I got back to the pitch everyone was leaving. I found my friends towards the back of the crowd. Maddie was fussing at Noah about a play he did at the end.

“And where have you been?” She asked.

“Making more enemies in the gryffindor common room.” I said. I really didn’t want to mention Fred around the boys. Sense our last encounter with him. They had been on a Weasley hate train. As we walked to the great hall for dinner Maddie fell into step with me. The boys walked ahead talking quidditch strategies.

“What happened?” She asked in a whisper.
I relayed the story as quickly as I could. After I finished she pulled me into a hug.
She said, “If I could just pack up all your stuff and put it in my room I would.”

“You know I would have already done it.” We smiled at each other before heading into the great hall. They had extended it a bit to fit the other schools, yet it still felt crowded. We were sitting pretty much shoulder to shoulder.

We sat at the ravenclaw table because it was less crowded. Lucian didn’t join us tonight but waved at us from the Slytherin table.

“This feels like old times before Lucian joined our friend group last year.” Noah said while stabbing a potato with his fork.

“This is what it’s gonna be like again once he graduates.” Maddie added.

“Oh yeah I forgot he’s in seventh year.” Noah said back.

“I wish I was in seventh year, I’m ready to graduate and get out into the real world.” I say with a heavy sigh.

“Yeah me either! I can wait for us to travel the world!” Maddie said.

Maddie and I have had this pact since we were 11 that we would travel the world together once we graduate Hogwarts.

“How long is it gonna take for you to move out of your parents house?” Noah asked Maddie.

“Not even a day. I'm already thankful that I see them as little as possible.” She responded.

“Don’t even get me started. I want to throw hands any time their names are even mentioned. Fucking blood purist, abusers, pieces of shits.” I sneer.

“It’s ok, I have one more year of dealing with them then I’m done. Plus I won’t have to see them for ninety-nine percent of that time.” Maddie added.

We finished our meal with light banter leaving the topic of her parents behind. I wish I could forget them, but they live in my head. Many times Maddie has come over during the summer covered in bruises and scars. She’s not like them so she’s a disappointment. I shake my head to clear my thoughts. I focus on the conversation.