Ethereal ✭Fred Weasley✭

51.

"Never have I seen such behaviour!" Madam Hooch cried at the state of the bloodied boys. Her eyes narrowed in on both George and Harry who stood panting from anger and their small fight with the Slytherin on the floor. "Go to your Head of House's office at once!"

Sophia watched as Harry and George walked off without a word towards the castle in the distance, Malfoy being helped up from the floor by his team mates. Madam Hooch looked at Fred for a moment as he would usually be involved in the same situations as George and it was almost like she was going to send him away too. But the woman looked away and marched off with her robe flying behind her, leaving the two teams on the pitch in a strange silence.

---

"Banned?!"

Angelina was pacing the length of the Gryffindor common room while continuously yelling at anyone that was in her line of sight. Harry sat in one of the arm chairs with a depressed look and a darkened eye socket while George sat at the wooden table in a slouched position. The two boys had returned from Professor McGonagall's office saying that Professor Umbridge had showed up and banned Harry, George and even Fred as a punishment for the fist fight.

"That's ridiculous! No Beaters and no Seeker! Gryffindor is finished!" Angelina dramatically hung her head. The room was silent other than the Quidditch Captain's shouts and the crackling from the fireplace.

Sophia sat on the far right of the sofa with Fred's head in her lap, his long body stretching out over the rest of the cushions. As soon as he heard that he had also been banned because of his association with George and Umbridge claiming that he might as well be banned too, Fred's face slacked into a deep frown and has been quiet ever since. He had only moved to lie down on the sofa when he saw Sophia was sitting there and looked aimlessly into the fireplace with dark, lifeless eyes.

"Crabbe only got lines for hitting Harry with the bludger," Ginny, who sat at the table with George, only added to Angelina's fury. Sophia bit her lip while running her finger tips through Fred's short hair and silently wishing he'd say something. She had learnt that whenever Fred was angry, sad or was feeling any emotion that wasn't cheeky or happiness, he'd stay silent and bottle up any sign of vulnerability. It must have something to do with his constant act of always appearing masculine and macho. That was one of the only differences between him and George, as the latter was always much more sensitive and hesitant when it came to important decisions. Fred would just act and then think about it afterwards when he got into trouble.

Sophia was just glad that she was able to hold him back long enough before Madam Hooch had come and seen George and Harry beating Malfoy to a pulp. It was proof that he was able to be stopped when in his state of fury and that she was able to get through to him much like he could do to her. Sophia now had an idea on where she stood with Fred when it came to vulnerability, considering he had seen her cry quite a few times now.

"How you feelin' Freddie?" she softly cooed and turned her gaze to watch the side of his face she could see. He had his cheek against her thighs and was secretly enjoying the feeling of her fingers threading through his ginger locks.

"Sad," he voice was monotone but had a hint of a child-like whine. "My life is basically over."

"Dramatic much?" Sophia joked with a cautious smile. She hoped he would still have his usual sense of humour even when in the state he was in, and beamed fully when Fred turned his head look up at her with the side of his lips hitched up into his lop-sided smile.

"I think I'm being just the right amount of dramatic actually," Fred jutted out his bottom lip as if he was pouting. "I mean my Quidditch dreams have just been completely crushed."