Monday November 15
"Oh this is going to be amazing," George whispered. "What d'you reckon they've got?"
"Knowing them? Could be anything," Fred snorted. He stretched his neck up, trying to get a different angle to make out any details that would explain what was inside the boxes that most of Harry's friends held, but there weren't any clues on the outside that he could make out.
It didn't help that the bloody crowd for the DADA Club was somehow even bigger than it was last meeting. Fred kind of doubted that all the students attended just to learn defense. If someone believed that, then he had an invisible house in Ireland to sell them.
Fred's theory that most people only showed up to ogle Harry and witness his magic was further proven when Harry came in through the teachers entrance and the buzzing conversations of the crowd reached a new level.
Fred counted down mentally in his head as Harry surveyed the crowd and his eyes flashed with irritation.
3...
2...
"BE QUIET!"
Aah. He was a bit off the mark, but still close.
The crowd quieted down immediately, nobody brave enough to purposefully irritate that absolute wonderful genius.
"I changed my mind about this club," Harry told everyone. "I kept thinking, why am I trying to teach you spells that are useful in a fight and might show up on a test? I'm not some teacher trying to show you things to be graded on, am I?" He looked over his shoulder and smirked at Theo for a second before adding, "I'm not even a bloody prefect anymore."
Which Fred thought was hilarious when he found out that Harry gave Theo his badge. Especially since he had no idea who in their right mind would make Harry prefect to start with.
"So here's the deal- if you want to practice spells that are gonna be on your tests, move to this table over here," Harry nodded towards the staff table behind him and his friends. "Mione and Theo are willing to help you with that and I'll show you any spells they don't know. And if you want to do something tonight that might save your life and get rid of an enemy, stay where you are."
A few people shifted uneasily, but only a couple of fifth and seventh years moved to the table. Not surprising really, since they had OWL's and NEWT's coming up. Fred personally didn't give a damn about his NEWT's, he already had his future mapped out and test scores didn't change it at all.
"Brill." Harry looked out at everyone, his eyes gleaming and his lips twisted up in a smirk. "I spent days trying to think of a spell to teach tonight, didn't I? Trying to think of something, anything, that could give you lot some sort of advantage in a fight. And I couldn't think of a single thing that isn't already taught by the teachers, and I don't wanna be a teacher."
There were a few quick whispers, people wondering what Harry was going to show them, and an overall sense of rising expectations within the crowd. If it wasn't a standard spell, what would it be? Knowing Harry it could literally be anything.
Everyone watched as Harry slowly, Merlin Fred loved it when he was dramatic, held his right arm out to the side and released his wand in to his hand.
No.
Not his wand.
A silver handled dagger.
"A knife was my first weapon, and it's still one of my best." Harry twirled the weapon around between his fingers, looking so casual and so at ease that Fred was going to lose his mind.
"Learning to use one could save your life, if-"
"Seriously? That's what you're teaching us?"
Fred and George exchanged a gleeful look as Harry's speech was interrupted by an especially rude third year Ravenclaw boy. George might not (thankfully) think of Harry in the same way Fred does, but they both loved it when Harry tore someone down in public.
Harry didn't even stop twirling the knife in his hand. "What's your name?"
"Xander," the boy said. "And I'm not learning about muggle weapons. I heard you fought death eaters last year, eh? I bet you didn't use a knife to fight them."
"Nope. I used a sword." Harry smiled sharply. "But if you think it's a useless skill, feel free to fu- leave," he corrected himself.
Fred assumed that Harry was told not to openly curse while he was leading the club, because he usually didn't have a problem with it.
"I didn't say it was useless," the moron argued with the stubbornness worthy of a lion. "I just don't see how a knife can be used against magic. Wouldn't it be better to learn something like expelliarmus?"
Harry laughed, and it was one of Fred's favorite laughs of his. A mocking laugh that made you wonder what terrible thing was about to come out of his mouth.
"Come up here and you can help me demonstrate," Harry offered with an innocent smile and a sweet tone to his voice.
Apparently the kid really was more intelligent than he was brave because he shrunk back and shook his head quickly. "Nevermind," he mumbled.
"No?" Harry looked around the crowd slowly. "Someone want to come help me show Xander why I'm teaching this tonight?"
"Don't do it," George whispered.
Too late.
Fred's hand shot up in the air.
"I'll help you," he grinned.
Harry's eyes met his own, and he tilted his head just a bit before shrugging. "'Kay. Clear off guys," he told his friends.
Fred bound up to the stage to Harry, wondering if Harry remembered their ridiculous 'duel' back in Lockhart's dueling club.
"You trust me?" Harry asked him quietly.
Fred didn't even have to think about it. "Yes."
Harry's responding smile was more joyful than the sharp thing he showed to the others. "'Kay so stand here-" Harry pointed him to the far end of the platform, in front of the wall. "And all you're gonna do is disarm me, got it?"
"And what are you going to do?" Fred asked wryly.
Harry held the dagger up and smirked. "I'm gonna show them how knives can sometimes beat magic. Ready?"
Fred didn't exactly trust the sharp dagger in Harry's hand, the one he brought back covered in Snape's blood at the end of the tournament, but he did trust Harry. He backed up to the other end of the platform and raised his wand.
"When I've died will someone make sure my mum puts 'the better twin' on my tombstone?" he called out to the crowd, drawing a laugh from the eager students.
"I'm having her put 'the dumb twin' obviously," George called back.
Fred ignored his brother and gave Harry a lopsided smile. "Ready when you are."
"This is gonna hurt for a minute," Harry warned him. He held his wand in his left hand, his knife in his right. "Go."
Never let it be known that Fred wasn't a Gryffindor— even if that just meant he occasionally had more courage than brains.
"Expelliarmus!" he cried. He knew Harry was letting himself be disarmed, but it was still heartening to actually catch his wand and hold it up.
"Oh nooo, he has my wand, what will I do?" Harry drawled in a bored tone. "Oh. I know."
Fred knew Harry was going to throw his knife at him, but it didn't stop a low groan from escaping his mouth when Harry's knife landed in his left forearm, causing him to drop Harry's wand.
"Accio wand."
There were cheers as Harry caught his wand and then easily disarmed Fred while Fred was distracted by the knife lodged in his arm.
"This is gonna hurt again," Harry said quietly after he jogged over to him. "Deep breath."
Fred didn't even have a chance to breathe in before Harry yanked the knife out and immediately placed his hand on the deep cut.
"Heal," Harry murmured. Fred victoriously raised his left arm to cheers from the others.
"I've been healed!" he laughed.
His arm still hurt like mad, but there wasn't an injury anymore.
Harry twirled his wrist a bit and cleaned the blood off Fred and the floor before he turned back to the crowd of students.
"Anyone still think a knife can't help you in a fight?" He quirked one of his brows up as everyone silently shook their heads.
The Ravenclaw boys face was bright red- properly embarrassed Fred hoped.
"So everyone get a knife from one of these boxes, then line up in the middle, facing the Gryffindor table."
Harry waited until his friends hopped down from the platform to begin rearranging students and handing out knives before he gave Fred another small grin. "Here," he handed him his wand back. "Thanks for doing that."
"Anything for you," Fred winked then immediately turned away from Harry to join the others.
He didn't have to look back to know that Harry was confused, which was part of the plan. Another bloody good one in his opinion.
Step One: Make sure Harry knows that he wants to be friends if nothing else.
Step Two: Flirt with him at every given opportunity until he realizes Fred wants to be more than friends if he does. Which, if the bruise on Kaleb's face was any indicator, he does.
Step Three: Give Harry the chance to pursue him. He didn't want Harry to feel pressured to get back together, so he was planning on letting Harry decide when and how they did.
Fred could be patient sometimes. If the reward was worth it.
And Harry was.
The rest of the meeting went brilliantly.
Harry conjured up a whole ton of cushions and stuck them to the wall behind where the Gryffindor table usually was. He stood in the center of the room and let everyone watch as he threw his knife, sticking it right to the cushion, before summoning it back.
"Like that," Harry said. "I'm gonna put up a shield so nobody gets stabbed by anyone on accident, yeah? If you do get hurt, tell me. Don't be a snitch."
Fred, George, and most of the muggleborns and half-bloods snickered at the confusion on the pureblooded students' faces at Harry's request.
Fred stared hard at the cushion stuck to the wall across from him, trying to mimic Harry's stance while everyone else began enthusiastically throwing their knives.
He pulled the knife back and inhaled, then exhaled as he threw it forward with as much force as he could.
"YES!" Fred threw a fist in the air as his knife stuck to the cushion. It wasn't the exact spot he had been aiming for, but it still hit!
"Good one Fred." Fred turned a joyful face around just in time to see Harry wink, then smirk and walk away.
Merlin.
He loves that mad man.
By the time the hour was almost up, a little over half of the students were hitting the cushions every time thanks to Harry's help.
"Good job everyone," Harry said after summoning and packing up the knives. "We'll meet again on the 29th, and the 13th. Then not again until January 10th. Night."
Fred was ready to head up to the Gryffindor Tower with George, preparing to taunt Lee for joining the other Gryffindors in 'Dumbledore's Army'. Did they get to throw knives at a wall for their meeting? Probably not. He was about to leave the hall when Harry called out to him.
"Hey, Fred. Are you busy?"
George stopped when Fred did, until Fred nudged him with his shoulder. George shook his head with a grin, but carried on without him.
"Not too much, what's up?" Fred tried to smile at Harry like he would any of his other friends.
He ignored the many, many, memories that wanted to remind him that Harry was much more than just a friend.
"I- er- d'you wanna go for a walk with me?"
Fred didn't want to seem too eager, so he just shrugged. "Sure."
Some of the tension in Harry's body relaxed, almost as if he had expected Fred to say no.
"Brill," Harry said. "C'mon, they never lock the front doors."
Fred followed beside Harry as he edged around the other lingering students and carefully slipped right out the front doors.
It was a bit ridiculous that they weren't locked, but since it only helped Fred right now he wasn't going to complain.
Harry didn't seem to want to say anything as they slowly made their way across the grounds. Fred waited until they were nearly to the lake before he broke the silence between them.
"You did great tonight," he said truthfully. "Anyone can teach kids spells that might work, but teaching over half the castle to throw a knife at their opponent? Genius."
Harry looked up at him as he walked and grinned, a mischievous twinkle in his eye. "Don't tell them, but I don't think half those kids can do magic worth a damn, and definitely not enough to fight off a death eater, yeah? So I was thinking maybe if they had a backup weapon that they'd surprise anyone dueling them, don't you think?"
Fred laughed and leaned against the tree that Harry stopped by. The same tree they'd once had an argument beside because Fred was teasing some birds from Beauxbatons. "I think if a death eater attacks any of those kids, they're going to be shocked as hell when a real knife comes flying at their chest."
"That's the plan," Harry quipped. He looked out across the lake, the black water rippling slightly with the gentle breeze. The same breeze that kept a constant ruffle going in his thick black hair.
"I never told you sorry, and I probably should, so... I apologize," Harry said quietly after a moment.
Harry didn't seem inclined to say anything else, or look at Fred, so Fred just stared out at the lake with him. "For what?" he asked, speaking just as softly as Harry did.
"Loads of stuff I guess." Harry glanced over at Fred for a split-second before slowly sinking down to the ground and sitting cross-legged in the grass. "For lying about why I wanted to break up, for punching your friend," Harry sneered the word 'friend' which made Fred smile, "for giving you detention just because I was jealous, and- and for that one night."
Fred sifted through Harry's list of things he wanted to apologize for carefully before he sat down next to him and replied. "I mean, the detention was a bit of a lark, and Kaleb isn't my friend, he was just the only bloke dumb enough to help me make you jealous."
Harry scowled across the water at that, drawing another grin from Fred.
"You don't need to apologize for what happened that night," Fred said gently, not wanting to upset Harry for bringing it up when they were finally talking about it. "But I do accept your apology for lying about why you wanted to break up."
Harry nodded slowly and didn't say anything.
They sat there like that for a while, both of them probably thinking over the same rocky history they had together.
Fred loved Harry. Had probably loved Harry from the moment they dueled together in the Slytherin common room back in his fourth year. He definitely loved Harry when they went to the Yule Ball together, dancing and laughing up to the end. He loved Harry when Harry was making decisions about a war Fred didn't want him involved in. And he loved Harry when he left him with questions and regrets.
But he also loved Harry enough to wait. And let him decide if being with Fred was worth the work he'd have to do. Because Fred had been talking with Lupin, who really wasn't a bad bloke at all, and Lupin said something that made a lot of sense. He said that some people avoid relationships because the work and sacrifice they would have to make to make the relationship work was overwhelming and sometimes terrifying.
"Are we still friends?" Harry eventually asked, when the moon was high enough above the forest to reflect on the water.
"Course we are," Fred assured him. And they would be. It would hurt, worse than any other pain before, if Harry decided Fred wasn't worth the work he'd have to do for their relationship. But Fred would still want to be his friend.
"Good." Harry released a heavy sigh and gave Fred a crooked grin. "I'll even try and not hit the next bloke you snog."
Fred blinked at him.
Then again.
And again.
Okay.
He had tried to not push his interest on Harry, he wanted Harry to pursue him this time so he knew it was what Harry really wanted. But...
But Merlin Harry was bloody oblivious.
"Harry... you know that you're the only bloke I want to snog, right?"
This time it was Harry's turn to blink. His eyes were bright even in the dark, somehow glowing with what Fred thought might be happiness.
"Everyone said that," Harry said with a small grin playing on his lips. "But I thought maybe they were just being nice, cause they knew that's what I wanted."
Fred had hoped it was what Harry wanted. He had kind of assumed so based on that right hook and detention he served. But he still felt like he accidentally set off some of his new fireworks in his stomach when Harry said it out loud.
"Yeah?" Fred asked with a dopey grin.
"Yeah," Harry's grin was really just as dopey, but probably much cuter. Until it slowly slid off his face. "Er... but... I l-like you Fred, it's just..." Harry turned back to the lake, avoiding Fred's eyes like he does when something's bothering him. "I'm broken," he finally said quietly after a few deep breaths. "Not just with the manic-depressive thing, but with the s-sex thing too. And I broke up with you cause I think you deserve better, yeah?"
"Welllll, you're wrong about three things," Fred said slowly. "First, you're not broken, not with the mind illness or the sex thing. Second, I dunno that I could ever actually find someone better than you Harry. I don't think they even exist. And third, isn't it my decision if I want to be with you or try and find someone else?"
Harry, for as brilliant as Fred knew he is, looked like he hadn't even considered that third point before.
Which is really just something else that Lupin said that Fred thought sounded like more good advice. He'd told him that it was Harry's decision to end the relationship, but it was Fred's decision to decide if he wanted to see other people or not.
Fred honestly thought about writing down some of the stuff Lupin told him. The man was a bloody genius about relationship stuff.
Harry scoffed, but he didn't actually look unhappy. "Bit rude of you to say I'm wrong," he said.
"Bit rude of you to be so wrong," Fred laughed. "C'mon now. Who wouldn't want to be with the same bloke who has now cut my face in a duel and threw a knife at my arm?"
Harry laughed now too, and Fred had missed that laugh so bloody much.
"I think it's charming." Harry leaned back, propping himself up on his forearms. "I'd probably marry the first person to beat me in a duel who isn't Snape."
Bet.
"You would," Fred teased him. "But you also got a giant snake and let it sleep in your bed, so you're a bit terrifying."
Fred had gallantly ignored the bloody deadly snake that slept at the foot of Harry's bed last summer. Harry told him he wouldn't bite him, so Fred had crossed his fingers and hoped he wasn't wrong.
If he had been wrong though Fred figured there were worse ways to die.
"I miss Stevie." Harry glowered out at the water for a moment, probably thinking about his deadly pet before peeking over at Fred. "And I missed you," he said softly.
Fred slowly, suuuuuper slowly, inched his hand over by Harry's. Harry saw the movement, and Fred gave him plenty of time to move if it wasn't what he wanted, but when he didn't move his hand, Fred linked their pinkies together lightly.
"I missed you."
That next Saturday, Fred stepped out of the floo in Moon Lodge and went straight to the little library office Lupin had set up.
"We did it!" Fred cried happily, throwing the door open with dramatic jubilation. "Harry wanted to get back together! I used that stuff you said and it actually worked!"
"Congratulations," Lupin smiled at him from his seat on the plush tan sofa. He gestured for Fred to take his usual spot on the matching sofa across from him. "Let's hear all about it then."
Fred spent his hour with Lupin going over the entire evening in as much detail as he could, even adding how Shacklebolt had found them out by the lake at two and sent them to bed with just a disapproving shake of his bald head.
"And then- the next morning I didn't know if I should go sit over at the Slytherin table like I used to or not, and Harry kind of grinned at me across the room and guess what? He'd made Susan scoot down so I could sit next to him."
Lupin was a good audience, making all the right sounds and responses in the right moments. But his face was a bit solemn at the end of their 'session' when he told Fred that 'now the real work needed to start'.
Which was mad. Because clearly Lupin hadn't listened to how much work Fred had done to even get back to this point with Harry.
But it was fine. If anyone was worth a bit of work, it was his Harry.