Serpentine ; Fred Weasley

Forty-seven

The day after, I went down to Diagon Alley with Kwan.

He wanted to introduce me to his fiancé so we were meeting her at her work. She worked at a cafe in Diagon Alley.

Apparently her and Kwan didn't live together yet but they were talking about her moving in with him.

"It's just for a few days." I told him as we walked down the streets. "I'll figure something out. I don't want to be any trouble."

"I've told you already, you can stay as long as you'd like." Kwan told me with a soft smile. "It'll give us a chance to get to know each other again."

I hummed in response, pushing my hands into the pockets of my jacket.

"How come you don't use your actual name?" He asked me. "Kai isn't anywhere near Kyung-Hu."

A small smile crept onto my face as I shrugged.

"When I started Hogwarts, I wanted people to be able to pronounce my name and I wanted to now be bullied because my name wasn't an English one, so dad asked McGonagall to just call me Kai. Kai is a name I chose because I read this book back then with a character named Kai."

"So you chose your name from a book." Kwan chuckled. "Fair enough. I'm guessing you still like to read?"

"I do." I nodded. "And you? I remember you always had your nose stuck in a book."

Kwan laughed.

"I do very much indeed. I own a publishing agency here in London." He told me.

"You do?" I asked in surprise. "Out in the muggle world?"

"Yes." He smiled. "They aren't very different from us, you know. Some of them are lovely people, actually."

I looked down at my feet as I accidentally kicked a rock and then I looked back up, exhaling.

"I don't think I've met many muggles if I have to be honest." I said. "I've met a few obviously. That's not something you can avoid, but I wouldn't say I've met a lot."

Someone stumbled backwards, almost into me and Kwan held out an arm to steady the person.

"Mate, careful... don't want to fall and get hurt." He said but as the person turned around and his eyes landed on me, I let out a breath.

Freddie.

He stared down at me for a second, then looked at Kwan in confusion, ripping his arm from his grip.

"Who's this?" he asked, gesturing towards my brother with his jaw clenched.

Kwan looked at me in confusion, realising that we knew each other, and then held his hand out towards Fred.

"Lee Kwan." He introduced himself.

My mum's maiden name is Lee so Kwan got that name seeing as he doesn't know his dad.

Though Kwan grew up with Korean. Mum taught him but Carter, Maya and I can't speak it. We were never taught.

I know that Kwan has always been very interested in the Korean culture and language and yesterday during dinner, he told me how he spent a few years in South Korea, living with our grandparents.

"Uh— his name is Kwan." I hurried to explain to Fred. "In Korea you often introduce yourself with your family name followed by given name."

"...okay." Fred frowned. "Still doesn't explain who he is or what you're doing with him."

My eyes widened slightly.

"I'm guessing this is your current boyfriend." Kwan said. "Fred, is it?"

Fred just looked him up and down and my brother laughed as he pushed his hands into the denim jacket he was wearing.

"Fred, this is my brother." I said and Fred's eyes landed on me, his eyebrows raising in question.

"Your brother? Kai, I've met your brother."

"My other brother." I sighed. "Half-brother technically. We've got the same mum."

"Oh..." Fred then looked at Kwan. "...I'm sorry. I didn't know she had another one."

Kwan shrugged.

"It's fine, mate." He said before he turned to me. "Kyung-Hu, think it would be a good idea for you to talk to him about the thing with mum, yeah? I'll wait down at the cafe. It's just around the corner down here."

I nodded and he offered me a soft smile before nodding at Fred as he walked past and turned around the corner.

"What's going on with your mum?" Fred asked curiously, looking down at me. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah." I chuckled nervously. "Mum kicked me out."

Fred's eyes scanned my face before he let out a breath. "What?"

"Felix sent her that photo of me. He must've duplicated it. I tore it up and threw it out but he managed to send one to her and she hates me now. She called me a whore and she also hates you because Felix has planted this idea in her head that you're manipulating me and ruining my mind."

Telling Fred what had happened was a big relief, but at the same time I knew he was going to worry and I didn't want him to.

"Kai..." he sighed. "...why didn't you come to me?"

I shrugged.

"I didn't want to bother you. It's fine, really. I'm staying with Kwan for now."

Fred ran a hand to my jaw and pressed a kiss to my forehead before pulling me in for a hug.

"You could've come and stayed with us at the Burrow." He whispered in which I immediately shook my head.

"My first time meeting your parents shouldn't be when my mum kicked me out for being a whore."

Fred only hugged me tighter and I slowly slipped my arms around his back, burying my face in his chest.

"What did your dad have to say to all of this?" He asked, rubbing his hand up and down my back, and I let out a sigh.

"He wasn't home when it happened. I don't know what his reaction was when he came home from work to see that mum kicked me out, but I can't imagine he was happy."

Fred pulled his head back a few inches to look at my face, our arms still wrapped around each other.

"Okay." He said softly. "You don't want to go home and see him?"

I shook my head.

"I can't look my mum in the eye right now." I breathed. "She thinks I'm a whore. Felix thinks I'm a whore."

"You are not a whore."

"You've called me a whore." I said. "And now I'm starting to question if you meant it and I just thought you were degrading me for the sake of sex."

"Hey—" Fred grappled my jaw and forced me to look up at him, his thumb brushing over my bottom lip. "...I called you my whore because you liked it. I in no way meant it as an insult, okay?"

I nodded slowly, then shrugged and I felt my eyes sting as I teared up.

"I don't think I want to be called that anymore."

Fred cracked a small smile before kissing my lips, then bringing me in for another hug.

"Okay." He told me. "Then we'll drop it."