"What makes you so sure it's Fred's?" Terry asked. "Weren't you guys having, like, threesomes every night just a few days ago?" 

After having hyperventilated in the senior Gryffindor boys' bathroom for ten minutes, Terry was leading me into the common room by my hand. I sniffled. 

"Because - well... he never let George..." I mumbled. Terry tilted his head at me. "He... George -" 

"What is it, Daisy?" Terry stopped at the door, leaning in closer with a faint smirk. 

"He..." I hesitated, cringing. "Fred never let... let George - er - come inside me..." I said finally in a mortified whisper. 

Terry burst out laughing. "Ah, okay! Well, just because George didn't shoot his spunk in you -" 

I cringed again, heavily, and wrinkled my nose as Terry went off in a fit of cackles. 

"- Doesn't mean the baby's not his. You know you can still get pregnant even if a guy doesn't come in you, right?" 

"Seriously?" I face-palmed. "So it could be George's?" 

"I mean, it's way more likely to be Fred's." Terry said. "But yeah, there's a small chance it could be George's." 

"Great." I said. "Just fantastic. I can't imagine how Fred's going to react when he finds out." 

"Weren't you practising safe sex, you dumb girl?" My best friend grinned at me as we resumed picking our way across the common room. "I thought you were using that spell I told you every time." 

"I think we forgot once." I said, aware that my cheeks were probably bright pink. "The first time. We just sorta fell asleep right after Fred -" 

I stopped talking, and Terry smirked at me. We finally reached the twins, who were laughing raucously at something Harry and Ron said, and I tapped them both on the shoulder. Fred and George turned around, still laughing, but their grinning faces died down after seeing my expression. 

"What is it?" George said in concern. 

Terry and I lead them back towards where we came from as Fred said, "Is it Floppy? Where is he, I'll kill him -" 

"No, it's definitely not Floppy." I said quietly, my cheeks burning. I hurried forward, pushing the door to the dorms open yet again and collapsing dramatically onto one of the steps on the spiral staircase. Most of Gryffindor House was either in classes or in the common room, due to this being a free period for us older students (Ginny having ditched class due to her period), so we were safe from being disturbed. 

"Softpaw, seriously, what's wrong -" 

"I'm pregnant!" I burst out. 

There was a stunned silence in the stairwell. I buried my face in my hands. I felt someone sit down beside me, and their arms surround me. 

"Daisy... look at me." 

I looked up into Fred's eyes, right in front of mine. His arms squeezed around me. 

"It's okay. We can get through this." He took a deep breath. "Do... do you want to keep it?" 

I sniffled, leaning into him. "Of course I'd love to have your baby, Freddie... but..." 

"Remember what we talked about." Terry muttered, and the twins turned to him. 

"Er -" I said fearfully. "Well - Terry says it could be George's." 

"What?" Fred's head whipped around to George. "What?! How?" 

"Well, if you didn't use Tergeo, George's, uh, pre-com-" 

"Right." I said, my cheeks burning. "George could have accidentally left some fluid in me, we get it, Terry. The point is, it could be yours, George, but it's most likely Fred's. And... well... how do you feel, Fred?" I finished quietly, looking up at him through my lashes. 

Fred looked pained. He took in a deep, shaky breath. "I would love to have a baby with you, princess." 

"Okay, it's decided then." I said, my voice shaking as bad as his. "I'm having the baby." 

"Not so fast." Fred said quickly. "I'd love to have a baby with you... but I'd much prefer it if we were out of school, working, married... I'd prefer you to not have as many stressors on you, I'd prefer Voldemort to be out of the way and you to be safe. I'd prefer it if we were both happy and stable and SAFE, Daisy... but I'll support you no matter what you choose." 

"M-married?" I breathed. I gazed up at the redhead as he immediately went bright pink, stammering. 

"Er - I-I-I mean - well - of c-course, in the f-future... um - right, well," Fred stood up, running his hands through his hair nervously, "I think we'd better do a paternity test on this baby before we decide what to do, I swear to Godric if you've gotten my girlfriend pregnant, George -" 

"No, it's fine." I said, standing up too as George shrank back. "I'd love to have your babies, Fred, but it's not the best thing for us right now, to be parents right after we've been chucked out into the real world. Especially not with Riddle after us." 

"Yeah, who knows what he'd do to the baby once it's born." George said with a shudder. 

Fred, Terry, and I stared at him. A shock of fear went through me and my knees buckled, a wave of nausea crashing over me. I turned and ran for the bathrooms, a hand over my stomach. 

"Oh, look what you've done, Bushy." 

~~~ 

The next week was awful. Madam Pomfrey gave me another anti-fetus potion, and Fred, George, and Terry sat by my side as I suffered and bled. And after that, I cut out the pills completely, so the rest of the week was spent in the hospital wing, shivering and sweating and vomiting. Fred, George, Terry, Harry, and Sirius were by my side the whole time; their hands were probably bruised by how hard I would squeeze them as I whimpered and cried in pain as my system got used to being without the drugs. 

But I came out the other end alive. I returned to Snape's class the next week, my hair no longer limp and lifeless and my skin shining with a healthy glow again. Setting my items down beside me, I stood beside the door to the DADA classroom and charged for admittance. 

"That'll be two Knuts." I informed a sniggering Seamus, and he paid me. I stepped back, letting him into the classroom, then turned to Suzanne. "Two Knuts, please." 

"Okay." Suzanne said, dropping the Knuts into my outstretched hand. "Nice kitchen, by the way." 

"Thanks." I grinned. "That's two Knuts." 

"Can I PayPal you it?" Shannon asked, and I nodded. Unfortunately at this moment, Snape swept out of the classroom to see why his students were entering in ones and so slowly. 

"Miss Potter, enough with your nonsense. This is a sixth year class. Get into the classroom now and we will have no more ridiculous behaviour." 

I smirked as I picked up my kid's kitchen playset and gift for Snape, and followed him into the room. I set up the playset next to my desk, pretending to cook with the mini pots and pans and little plastic vegetables. 

"Miss Potter, put that away." 

"I actually have a gift for you, sir." I said, abandoning the playset and striding up to the front of the classroom. I handed Snape the shittily-wrapped present and beamed. Snape stared at me, slowly unwrapping it, and the class gasped as he dropped the wrappings to reveal a haircare gift set. 

"Back to your seat." Snape said coldly, and I spun on my heel cheerfully, winking at a snickering Ron on the way back. 

"Sir, I'll give you a gold star if you're nice to Neville this one class." Terry said, his hand in the air. Snape ignored him, and Neville turned to Terry, mouthing, 'Thanks, anyway,' to him. 

I slipped under the Invisibility Cloak and sneaked up to the front of the class as Snape turned to the blackboard, grabbing the pile of freshly marked essays on his desk and tipping them into the bin. Sniggering, I crept right up behind him and said, "Fuck." 

Snape whirled around, but obviously he couldn't see anyone. Crying with mirth silently, I hurried back to my seat and slid onto it, slipping the Cloak off and stuffing it back into my pocket. 

"Who just said that?" Snape said, his black eyes moving about the class. 

"Sir, shut up." I said casually. 

"How dare you speak to me like that, Miss Potter." Snape practically spat, scowling, as the class gasped again, giggling. "That's a week's worth of detention for you." 

"Don't be such a wanker." I scoffed. The class gasped again, and a wave of laughter went through them. 

"Two week's. Keep it up, Miss Potter, and you'll earn yourself a month." 

"Sir, do you need a friend?" I pouted at him. "I'll always be here for you. I'll take you out to the Three Broomsticks if you need any company." 

Someone wolf-whistled. The classroom was full of the sounds of giggles and shocked whispers. Snape stared me down. 

"A month's worth of detention, it is." He said quietly. 

I shrugged, tilting my chair back on two legs. "Here, Professor - what do you say to a fourway with you, me, and the Weasley twins?"

Another collective gasp from the class. Snape gritted his teeth. 

"That's it, Miss Potter. I'm sending you to the Headmaster." 

And so I spent ten minutes in Dumbledore's office, although most of it was waiting outside while Ginny was getting told off before me. 

When I returned, I winked at Snape when I caught his eye. I then started dividing my classmates into factions from Divergent. 

"So Fred, George, Terry, and I are all Dauntless." I said, and everyone around me nodded. "Harry, Kylie, you too. Ron, you're Amity. Hermione, you're Erudite. Draco... I'd say you're Dauntless too, you like a bit of danger, don't you?" I smirked at Terry, and the two boys blushed. "Floppy, Ash, Spieler, and Rudd are all Candor, I'd say, they're very open and honest about what assholes they are -" 

"Add another detention onto your tally, Miss Potter. Now, where's your homework?" 

I grinned, handing him my essay which had been written on pink, perfumed paper, the background covered in scribbled little love-hearts. Snape's eyes closed briefly. 

I decided to use one of my Grace powers that I knew wasn't going to cause harm to anyone, playing music from my untraceable source. 

"My girl look like Wednesday Addams, 

Eyes go black when she orgasms..." 

"Where is that coming from?" Snape demanded, whirling around. "Whoever that is, turn that off right now!" 

"Matching pyjama birthday suits, 

Her spit tastes just like Juicy Fruit..." 

The whole class was giggling and sniggering as Snape strode around the room, fuming. 

"Me and your girlfriend playin' dress up at my house, 

I gave your girlfriend cunnilingus on my couch..." 

There was nothing for Snape to do but to wait it out. At last the song came to an end as Terry, Fred, George, Kylie, and I sang it loudly. 

"She cute, kawaii, hentai boobies, that excites me, 

I think she really likes me, asked politely, can I (ooh, woo-hoo), 

Slumber party!" 

"Sir, can you sing us a lullaby?" I called out, to Dean and Seamus's loud snorts in front of me. 

The class was dismissed half an hour early. 

Over the next week, the Insurgents owled Snape long and detailed accounts of our summer holidays, told Rita Skeeter that Snape was a vampire and had it published in the Daily Prophet, and one day, after one of his third-year classes, dragged a hose up, cornered him, and sprayed him down with it. We dropped the hose after about ten seconds and ran, pealing with laughter, down the corridor. 

However, all four of us were called into his office an hour later and given another month's worth of detention. 

Another notable event was Harry's brilliant idea of taking a bit of the Felix Felicis and using it to get the memory out of Slughorn. We went down to Hagrid's to support him after his giant spider died, and came across Slughorn on the way. We brought him with us, and him and Hagrid ended up getting incredibly drunk, and Harry and I wrangled the memory off him then. We immediately brought it up to Dumbledore, who invited us into the memory with him; Slughorn had told Riddle what a Horcrux was and how to make them, and Riddle had indicated he wanted to make six of them. 

A Horcrux was, apparently, a torn piece of soul made by murder. And Dumbledore thought Riddle had six of those lying around. He said the diary that I had destroyed in second year was one, and the ring on his finger was another. He said that Slytherin's locket and Hufflepuff's cup were likely another two, and that Riddle had most likely wanted something of Gryffindor's and Ravenclaw's as well - but the only object of Gryffindor's was the sword, and it wasn't a Horcrux, so the remaining one was something of Ravenclaw's. Dumbledore also said that Riddle's snake, Nagini, was also probably a Horcrux. 

Harry and I had to sit in the Owlery for an hour after that, discussing everything and processing it all. Dumbledore really liked to lay it on thick sometimes. 

The next Hogsmeade weekend rolled around. The twins, Terry, and I messed around down the town as the older ones in our year went for their Apparition test (Terry and I not being seventeen before April). When night came, back up at the castle, I slipped into a pastel pink skater dress, low-cut and short, but floaty and light. I fluffed out my hair, spritzing on a bit of perfume, before slipping into the little kitten heels Lavender was letting me borrow. 

"You look so hot and pretty!" Lavender squealed as Ginny fanned herself and Parvati danced on the spot. Hermione looked to be restraining herself from rolling her eyes, but her eyes lingered on my body. 

"Go get your hot boy, Daze!" Parvati exclaimed, and I was shoved out of the door of the sixth year girls' dorm. I giggled to myself as I descended the staircase, meeting Fred at the bottom of the stairs. 

"Woah." I said. 

"Holy fuck." Fred said. 

Fred was in a mint-green shirt, the first several buttons undone, showing a lot of his toned chest. He had a black blazer slung casually over his shoulders, and his hands were in the pockets of his fitted dress trousers. His fiery hair was slicked back with gel, tousled just enough to look casually messy but still sexy. A faint scent of a masculine cologne drifted towards me as Fred leaned closer, his eyes roaming my body as his jaw dropped. 

"Daisy, baby girl... do you know what you fuckin' do to me?" Fred said in my ear, his voice rough. 

I giggled, shivering as his lips made contact with my ear. "I do, yeah. C'mon, haven't we got somewhere to be?" 

"Right, right..." Fred straightened up reluctantly, his eyes still on my chest and his bottom lip in between his teeth. He took my hand, leading me through the common room towards the portrait hole. 

Several wolf-whistles rose up through the crowd of Gryffindors (seriously, what is it with the wolf-whistles lately?) and Fred pulled a rude hand gesture at them all, making a round of snickers go through the room. 

Fred took me through a secret passageway down to Hogsmeade, sweeping me up into his arms bridal-style as I complained about my feet in the heels. He carried me up through the Honeydukes' cellar, sneaking us out of the sweet shop and into the empty street beyond. 

"Where are we going?" I purred, gazing up into Fred's face as I held on around the back of his neck. Fred's hands shifted under my neck and legs as he nodded in front of us. 

"Here." He grinned, and I looked around to see the Three Broomsticks. 

"But isn't it going to be crowded, we'd be seen -" I began, but Fred was already backing into the pub. 

"Never underestimate Fred Weasley of Weasley's Wizard Wheezes, Daisy." Fred said proudly, setting me down on my feet. I looked around me, and it was my turn for my jaw to drop. 

The pub was cleared of all but one table and two chairs, set right in the middle of the floor. Yellow fairy lights hung low around the room, giving a golden glow to the place. Real live fairies floated around the room, giving off tiny little multicoloured lights. Something that smelled very like what I smelled in Amortentia was drifting around us, though I knew it wasn't the love potion: marshmallows and gunpowder. The fireplace was lit, and even though it was across the room we could both feel the welcoming heat off it. Soft music was playing somewhere, and several candles were floating in midair around the singular table. 

There was a vase of red roses in the middle of the table, dotted with little daisies. The table was set for a meal, and two champagne glasses were ready for us, filled and bubbling. Fred pulled a chair out for me, waggling his eyebrows; I took a seat, beaming up at him. 

"How the fuck did you manage to do all this?" I said, amazed. "This pub's usually thriving at this time of night." 

"I paid Madam Rosmerta a pretty penny." Fred said casually, though I could tell he was trying hard to leave the boastfulness out of his tone. "Well over three times what she'd usually make on a regular night. But it's no sweat, the business is really flourishing." 

"Still," I breathed, gazing at him as he leaned back in his chair, smirking at me, "you paid so much money..." 

"Seriously, Daze." Fred said, a hint of cockiness coming through in his voice. "Money is literally no object to me anymore. Anyway... what do you want to eat? Anything you want, and it'll appear on your plate..." 

"For real?" I said, looking down. "Er - I want a three-cheese pizza with a nice crispy sourdough crust." 

And with a pop, a perfectly round cheese pizza appeared beneath me. 

I looked back up at Fred, beaming wider. "Oh my Godric, I love you!" 

Fred's smirk faltered, and he turned a faint shade of pink. 

And so we spent the evening eating all the most delicious food we could think of, getting into deep conversation, and flirting heavily once the champagne had been refilled twice. Our hands kept touching across the table, and I felt myself getting lost in Fred's sparkling chocolate eyes as he smiled so handsomely at me. The low lighting lit up his face in a way that made my heart flutter every time I looked at him. 

"You mentioned earlier that you would prefer us to be married before having kids." I said as we finished off our desserts, both of us having chosen melting chocolate chip cookies with strawberry ice cream. "And you said you definitely wanted to have kids with me." 

Fred went pink again. He chewed his last bite of cookie, glancing towards the fireplace. Then he tilted his head back in my direction, biting his lip. 

"Well, yeah, Daze... I wouldn't be dating you if I didn't have the intention to marry you one day." 

My heart swooped. I rested my chin on my hand, gazing at my boyfriend across the table. I felt like my eyes had turned into heart-shapes, what with the way my skin was tingling and my stomach was doing backflips. 

"C'mon, princess... let's dance." 

Fred stood up, taking my hand. I let him lead me to the fireplace, where the music was slightly louder, and a slow, romantic ballad came on just as Fred's hands slid to my waist, his eyes boring into mine. I slid my hands around his shoulders, swaying with him to the music as I felt his warm body pressed up against mine. My heart was doing cartwheels. I'd never felt this way about anyone before; the love potion was the closest I'd ever come to feeling like this, but this was real, so real. 

And with a jolt, I realised that I didn't poke my finger into the champagne to test it, not once. I'd been doing it with every single drink I had since Christmas, without exception, except for tonight. It turns out that I trusted Fred completely. 

Fred rocked us around on the carpet before the hearth, and I raised my head from his shoulder to gaze into his eyes. 

"You... you don't care that you're in more danger than ever now that you're with me?" I said quietly. "You don't care that you could be a target because I love you? The amount of risk you're taking..." 

Fred chuckled softly. "No. I don't care. I'd do anything to be with you, baby. Nothing can keep me from you, not even Riddle. You know that, right? No amount of risk will ever keep me from you." 

We gazed into each other's eyes as we waltzed slowly, the golden light from the fairy lights reflecting in our eyes and making our faces glow softly. I leaned up and kissed him, gently, slowly. 

"I love you, Fred Weasley." 

I said it quite seriously. I meant it, with everything I had. And Fred replied by kissing me back, almost hungrily. His lips moved with mine passionately, and as the song ended, Fred scooped me up into his arms, his mouth against mine. 

"Let me show you just how much I love you, Daisy Potter..." 

And so Fred carried me off to a bedroom in the inn, where he was true to his word and showed me love like I'd never felt it before.