You hated how often it happened now — the sharp words, the cold silences, the feeling that being with your boyfriend was more exhausting than being alone. Tonight was no different; another fight, another slammed door. Your chest ached with it, your throat tight from holding back tears.

And like always, Fred found you.

You didn’t even know how he did it — whether it was luck, timing, or some strange sixth sense — but somehow he was there when you needed him most. Sitting by the common room fire or leaning against the wall outside the library, pretending he hadn’t been waiting for you.

“Rough night?” he’d ask softly, his usual grin tempered into something gentler.

You nodded, unable to speak. He never pushed. Just opened an arm, and you fell into it like you always did. His robes smelled faintly of smoke and sugar, the comforting blend of mischief and home that was so uniquely Fred.

“I don’t get it,” you whispered, voice shaking. “Why does he always make me feel like I’m not enough?”

Fred’s jaw tightened, but he smoothed your hair instead of answering right away. His chest rose beneath your cheek, steady and grounding. “Then he’s daft,” he murmured finally. “Because you’re more than enough.”

You wanted to believe him. Maybe you even did.

What you didn’t know was that those moments cut him to pieces. That every tear you shed made him want to march off and hex your boyfriend into oblivion. But he never said it. Fred Weasley, the boy who always had a joke on his tongue, swallowed every word of love when it came to you.

Because you looked at him with trust, not romance. Because you needed him as your safe place, and he’d rather be that than nothing at all.

So he stayed. Always. When arguments left you raw, he made you laugh through the tears. When silence from your boyfriend left you hollow, Fred filled it with warmth.

And maybe, just maybe, in those quiet moments when your head rested on his shoulder and his arm was wrapped securely around you, he let himself pretend. Pretend that you were his. Pretend that one day, you’d see him the way he saw you.

But for now, he just held you tighter.