The common room was empty when you slipped inside, chilled despite the warmth of the fire. Your sleeve was tugged low over your hand, but it still burned beneath the fabric. You weren’t crying. You refused to. But your eyes stung, and your jaw ached from how tightly you were clenching it.

You barely made it to the couch before sinking into it, curling into yourself, trying to breathe past the raw ache crawling under your skin. ‘I must not defy authority’. Again and again. Carved into your hand like you were some misbehaving child, not someone who simply tried to defend another student.

"Hey."

Your heart jumped. You looked up.

Fred was standing at the bottom of the stairs, dressed for bed, hair a mess and expression sharp with confusion. But it faded the moment he saw your face.

“What happened?” he asked, already moving toward you.

Your mouth was dry. “Umbridge,” you said quietly, eyes dropping as you began tugging your sleeve up.

His breath caught the moment he saw it. The raw, angry letters carved into your skin.

He sat down beside you and gently took your hand, cradling it in his. His thumb hovered near the cut skin but never touched it.

“That’s not punishment,” he said quietly, his voice low and dark. “That’s—” He bit the word off. Shook his head. “She doesn’t get to do this to you.”

You said nothing. You didn’t have to. He shifted closer and wrapped both arms around you, pulling you firmly into his chest.

You didn’t realize how badly you needed that until it happened.

His hand came up to cradle the back of your head as he held you. You let your face press into his chest, feeling the warmth. The sound of his heartbeat. The familiar scent of him. He rubbed slow, soothing circles into your back with one hand, the other curled around you protectively like he was shielding you from the rest of the world.

“I hate that I wasn’t there,” he murmured after a while. “I would’ve hexed her teeth out.”

“Then you’d have detention too.” you said quietly, not lifting your head.

“Worth it.”

There was a pause. Then, suddenly, he pulled back just enough to meet your eyes. “You know what this calls for?”

You blinked at him.

“An illegal amount of Honeydukes chocolate and a dramatic reenactment of me pushing that toad-faced woman into a vat of portable-swamp goo.”

You smiled in spite of yourself.

Fred saw it instantly.

“There she is,” he said, and the grin that spread across his face was like a sunrise after a storm. Like he’d been holding his breath and could finally let it out. “Godric, I missed that smile.”

Then he kissed your forehead, tucked your head under his chin, and held you tighter.

“You’re safe now,” he whispered. “And I’m not going anywhere.”