Phobic

Author's Note: sniff this is the final chapter of 'Phobic'…it feels sad because I doubt that I'll continue to get reviews once I stop posting chapters! But I have plot bunnies running around for either a Draco/Hermione fiction or a Draco/Cho fiction…we'll have to see. Which pairing do you guys like better? REVIEW, REVIEW, REVIEW! :o)

Disclaimer: You know the drill…I don't own diddly…

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Chapter three: I won't let you sink

All through Potions, Angelina felt a nagging urge to slice and dice again. The overwhelming ache threatened to consume her. She had never allowed anyone to see her hurting, no less cutting her pain away, and now she had opened herself and let a liar see everything.

'I hate you, Fred Weasley. You've made me die inside.' Angelina traced her cuts with her fingertips, longing to see them tear open again. It was amazing how quickly she became addicted to her little habit. Fred still ignored her, shying away from eye contact and busied himself with joking around with his friends, just like he always had, only usually Angelina was one of the people he was joking around with. Now it was as though she never existed and every reminiscence of her laughter, her tears, her blood had been erased from his memory.

In the corridors between classes, Angelina could feel the shame mounting inside her. She wasn't entirely sure, but she thought that everyone was looking at her…differently. Like something cheap, like the whore she felt she was. Had Fred told people about his sexual exploitations?

"Angelina, please try to pay attention to the lesson. I've been calling your name three times now. Can you tell me exactly how one can grow Fiching Fruit without a fertilization period of more than 3 months?" Madame Sprout asked Angelina, her patience surprisingly waning.

"'Erm, I, well, I…I don't know. Can I please be excused, I don't feel well, Madame Sprout." As the Herbology professor nodded her consent, Angelina assembled her things and left the greenhouse. She had nearly reached her dormitory when she heard laboured breathing behind her.

"Angelina, hold up, I've been meaning to talk to you, I've chased you all the way up from the greenhouse, please listen to me." Fred spoke in fragments, trying to breath and explain the world to her in fifteen seconds. The latter failed to work.

"No, Fred. I listened to you and I gave myself to you, and what do I get? I get trampled. I get shamed, I get hurt. No, Fred. You can't explain away your manipulation of my heart. My body. My soul. I have had far too much of your bullshit to handle." On that note Angelina turned to face the portrait of the Fat Lady, mumbled "Fructus Formulae" and walked through the Gryffindor common room. With a little more bumbling, Fred hastily followed. He trailed her up the stairs into the girls' dormitory and knocked on her clearly barricaded door.

"Please, please, please Angelina. I have an explanation as to why I've ignored you today. I couldn't look at you. I knew that if I looked at you my heart would explode. I couldn't bear to see your pain, and I took the coward's way out by looking right through you. I've spent the whole day trying to find the perfect way to tell you everything I'm feeling right now." Fred then slipped a piece of parchment under Angelina's door:

'Phobic

I watched you stand alone
I watched you cry your eyes out
Now tell me what you've done

Is it so bad that
I would shut you out
And leave you here alone

Yes, I saw what you did
I was right there with you
I won't let you sink
No, I forgive you

Phobic
Don't be
Grace needs a little more freedom
Phobic
Don't be
Love needs room to breathe

I have watched you grow
And I've stood in your shadow
I've never walked away

I hung the stars and
I hold your heart
So, don't ever be afraid

Yes, I know when you breathe
And I feel when you need
I won't let you sink
No, I forgive you

You can be healed
You can be free
You can know peace
Never be afraid again

Never be afraid
Never be afraid
I'm here'

Silently begging for Angelina to let him hold her again, Fred waited for her response. Slowly, cautiously, the door unlatched and creaked open.

"Don't ever let me sink again." Were the only words that Angelina said to him as she pulled him into her bedroom and closed the door.