Rapunzel sat alone on the train, gazing out the window as the landscape melted into a blur. She did her best to focus outside, trying to drift away. She didn't like the quiet, made it too easy for her mind to slip back to the unpleasant thoughts. She didn't like to remember what happened.
There was a gentle knock on the sliding compartment door, and Rapunzel's head quickly snapped towards the noise.
Fred was standing in the door, a broad grin on his face. He was flanked by George and Lee, both of them waving at her.
The door slid open, and Fred popped his head in.
"Mind if we crash this party of one?"
Rapunzel managed to muster a partially genuine smile, one of the first in a while.
Fred didn't wait for an answer, plopping down in the seat next to her while George and Lee sat across from them.
"So, Blondie, you went radio silent all summer!" Fred exclaimed. "What happened? We missed you!"
"I think Fred missed you the most out of anyone,"
Lee grinned cheekily, receiving a dirty look from Fred that went unnoticed by Rapunzel.
"Just...busy, is all." Rapunzel lied. She didn't want to tell them. How could she tell them? How would she be able to explain it? She wasn't even sure if she knew what was happening to her, what she was feeling.
"Well, stop being so busy!" Fred laughed, wrapping an arm around Rapunzel's shoulders, but he quickly dropped it when he felt her tense beneath him. He found this odd, seeing as she had once been a physically affectionate person.
That was the first sign for him that something was up.
"I'll try, but no promises."
Rapunzel was one of the last people to get off the train, telling her friends to go on ahead to get changed. She had done this so she wouldn't get caught in the crowd. She didn't like the idea of so many eyes on her, so many people close to her.
She wrapped her robes tightly around herself as the icy wind whipped at her legs, making her wish that the girls uniform required pants instead of a skirt. Maybe she would ask her dad for new pants next year, if they could afford them.
There weren't many carriages left, but Rapunzel wasn't in a hurry. As she approached, she noticed something odd that she had never seen before.
Tethered to the carriages were bizarre, horse-like creatures. Their skin was charcoal black and pulled taut over their bones. Their bones and joints were jagged and formed bizarre shapes through the skin.
They were peculiar, frightening, but beautiful in their own way. Rapunzel couldn't help but admire them.
"They're called Thestrals."
Rapunzel looked to her right to see a boy in hufflepuff colours standing beside her, gazing up at the thestrals, but he soon noticed Rapunzel gawking at him.
"Those things, they're thestrals. They pull the carriages." He clarified, smiling down at her.
"Have they always pulled the carriages? I've never seen them before." Rapunzel asked, approaching one of them to let it sniff her hand.
"Yeah, they've always been here. Apparently you can only see them if you've seen death."
Rapunzel froze, and her hand started shaking from where it rested in the air. She swallowed hard, and the image of Quirrell's disintegrating body flashed through her mind.
"Ah...I suppose that makes sense." She murmured, clearing her throat.
"Are you okay?" The boy asked, noticing her abrupt change in demeanour; glancing down at her shaking hand before she hid it in the pocket of her robes.
"Never better."
YOU ARE READING
LUCKY FLOWER||FRED WEASLEY {REWRITING/MOVED}
Fanfiction"Wait, your name is Rapunzel? Like-" "The fairytale princess, yes." Rapunzel was named after a storybook princess, and for good reason. Born with the ability to heal those with her own hair that grew very long very quickly, it's no surprise her pare...
