Chapter 5
When the sun threatened to peek over the London skyline, Fred took a pillow from behind him and tossed it to the foot of the bed to make a higher wall so Rebecca could sleep on. Something, though he wasn't sure what, had woken him up earlier than usual and he was using the opportunity to marvel at Rebecca.
"She's so damn busy when she's awake. Never still, never quiet, never resting." Fred brushed his hand against her face, down her chee, across her forehead. Tracing her eyebrow to the notch the Ministry had left, he couldn't help but wonder just how much perfection someone was allowed to have.
A smile crossed Rebecca's face and, although she kept her eyes closed, Fred froze. "What are you doing?" He hadn't meant to wake her though he hadn't been able to keep his hands to himself.
"Nothing." Fred's hand returned to himself and he blushed. "I'm sorry, I wanted you to sleep longer."
"No, I'm alright." Rebecca stretched and sat up against the back of the bed, rubbing her eyes. "Bloody good thing no one came to wake us though."
Fred glanced down at her in her bra and pants and grinned. "Why? Those aren't your usual pajamas?" He reached over and pulled her sideways, hugging her tightly. "You slept okay?"
"Deeply." Rebecca looked up at him, a little worry showing behind her eyes. "I didn't keep you up, did I?"
"You didn't say a word." Fred raised an eyebrow. "Now, you did nearly kick me off the bed but I just had to-"
"Fred!" Rebecca cried out as he began to tickle her. "I-I didn't mean to!"
"Are you sure?"
"Yes!"
Fred paused and let her catch her breath, but he kept his arms around her waist and settled against her so that his head was against her middle. Rebecca played with his hair as the sun continued to rise; both felt ready for whatever was ahead of them that day and beyond.
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A week after her sleep at Grimmauld, it was time for school shopping.
"This isn't Diagon Alley!" Ron looked around carefully. The Leaky Cauldron was behind them, but the rest of the alley was grey and lifeless. Ginny tried to think of something to say, anything, to brighten Molly's crestfallen face. The mother had really thought that with all of them together, the darkened atmosphere of the shopping district wouldn't have been as noticable.
"Where to first?" Rebecca asked, jumping ahead so that she was besides Molly.
"Flourish and Blotts first." Molly looked over her list, appreciating the effort she sensed. "Then, as I'm sure I will dearly pay without, a brief stop at the shop, then home."
The mentioning of the shop threw the kids into eager chatter, especially when Rebecca teased that the newest bunch of products would be out.
Inside the bookstore, Molly divvied up the tasks for efficiency. The three sixth years--Harry with them while Hermione was not--were off to get their own while Molly stayed with Ginny to find the two newly required books they didn't have yet.
Rebecca looked over O.W.L.s scores and thought about the classes she would be taking that year in preparation for her N.E.W.T.s. "Charms, Defence Against the Dark Arts, Potions, Transfiguration...sure am glad E's can continue with Magical Creatures..."
Rebecca went through the list of books she and Ron had through Fred and George, making sure she wasn't grabbing any duplicates. In front of the Potions text, Rebecca found herself stuck. There was a nagging, a snag in her thoughts that she couldn't place or explain.
Harry noticed what Rebecca was looking at, how she was drumming her fingers onto two of them with a faraway look in her eyes. "Rebecca?"
Just like that, the feeling was gone. "Sorry." Rebecca grabbed the one book and averted her eyes in case Harry wanted to pretend he had never seen the subject.
"Don't be. There'll be something else for me." Harry heard the false tones in his own voice, but carried on so it couldn't be mentioned. "Got all your books? Good, me too." Harry found a true chuckle bubble up through him. "I don't see why you're taking extra courses. You've spent too much time with Hermione, I guess."
Rebecca laughed and ducked away from his arm reaching for her. "I'm making sure my options are open! Besides, I'm not taking a single class I'm not interested in."
"You're such a nerd!"
Flourish and Blotts was finished in no time and, upon entering the shop, it became very clear that Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes had miraculously been spared any effects of Diagon Alley's frightening changes.
The inside of the prank shop was busy as ever and their success brought a happiness to Molly that was unrivalled. Fred kissed Rebecca's cheek as he met them at the entrance, immediately pointing down to the newly filled shelves Harry and Ron were looking around for madly.
Molly left next, wrapping her arms around Fred before going off to find George and Cedric. One--she wasn't certain who--had owled with a question about spreading jam and she had to make sure neither boy had hit their head.
"Good shopping?" Fred asked, taking a lap around the store with Rebecca by his side. She nodded, but that was all. It was nice to hear Fred talk to her about his days. "It feels different without you here every day, but I've taken a trick from your book and helped the littler ones."
"Littler ones?" Rebecca echoed with a laugh. "I miss it too."
Fred heard the sadness in her voice and scolded himself, realising that was exactly what he shouldn't have talked about--missing her and missing her at the shop. "You'll owl as soon as you get the Hogsmeade dates, right?"
"Yes, though..." Rebecca took his hand and held it tightly. "I don't think it's smart to floo back on those days to work."
Fred sighed in relief. He really hadn't been sure how he was going to bring up the subject. "I could always just apparate to you. We'll stick to Hogsmeade." They were towards the front of the store again, near the largest of their windows. "It feels different out there, and not in a good way."
Rebecca took her hand from his and put her arm around his waist, holding him closely. They both looked out at the nearly-empty street for a long time.
When Ron appeared behind them, it was only to tell Rebecca that Molly had run into another mum. "Who knows how long we'll have to wait now." He complained.
Fred excused himself to check the counter was running smoothly, kissing her once more.
Harry appeared with Hermione beside him, motioning for Rebecca and Ron to follow him. Rebecca lingered near the shelves, wanting nothing more than to poke around the store. "It'll be a nice walk, at least."
With Hermione joining them, Rebecca conceded to leaving without an argument. They trodded down the steps and towards the door, pausing as a group came in the store. Rebecca rolled her eyes as she saw Lavender camped out by the love potions.
"Of course that's where she bloody is." Rebecca muttered to Hermione.
"Bye Ron!" Lavender cooed, narrowing her eyes slightly at Hermione before looking away entirely as Rebecca stepped into her sight.
Harry and Ron pushed ahead and stayed out of hearing-range once out of the shop. "What the hell was that?" Rebecca asked of Lavender's farewell to Ron. "What's got her knickers pointed at him?"
Hermione looked at her a long moment. "Normally I'd say something about your semantics. But this time? I agree entirely."
Rebecca smirked as they followed Ron and Harry into the abandoned and rundown Ollivander's. "I knew this would happen one day, Granger."
Hermione rolled her eyes. "And just like that it's gone."
Ron looked back to make sure the girls weren't too far behind before pointing behind them. "Look! Seems like Draco and mummy don't want to be followed."
Instantly, Harry and Ron were moving to follow them. Rebecca argued against it, claiming that they might night have been up to anything nefarious, but her excuses fell on deaf ears when the two Malfoys were noticeably acting shifty.
Harry stepped out of Ollivander's and approached the road Draco and his mother had turned down carefully. It was a dark alley that led to an even darker side of Diagon Alley, but Harry went to continue anyway.
"Maybe she's right." Ron whispered, reaching for Harry's shoulder so that they could discuss more. Harry shrugged Ron off though and walked faster, never letting the back of Draco's head out of his sight but far enough back that they could duck behind a corner if he were to turn around.
The alley they took spat them out into the very edge of Knockturn Alley, not technically inside but also not out of its reaches. Harry pulled them around the side of an adjacent building to keep an eye on Borgin and Burke's, the store Draco had followed his mother into.
"No!" Harry whispered, watching them climb the stairs to the illuminated upper level. "We're not going to be-Brilliant!"
Rebecca was turned and looking at the small distance between the ground and the roof of the building they were beside, just because she wondered why it reached so low. Before there was time to even question how smart this was, Harry was scrambling up the roof and then all four of them were stomach to shingle, peering into the store of dark and antiquated goods.
A long line of dark-robed wizards and witches entered the room. Rebecca was watching the profile of the man nearest to the window, trying to figure out why he seemed so familiar.
"Duck!"
Rebecca's head was forced down by Harry even though she was listening to his warning and lowering herself further. In the last glimpse she had, Rebecca realised why she knew that man's profile--she had studied it intensely. At the beginning of summer, before Harry had gotten to Sirius and Remus', she had gone over for the afternoon. Sirius had mentioned something about a "fucking greyback" with the insinuation towards Remus' lycanthropy.
Rebecca had learned all that she could through old copies of the Prophet and any historical book around the Burrow about Fenrir Greyback--the man werewolf who liked to inflict his illness on young children, including the young Remus Lupin.
"That's the man who hurt Rems." She hardly breathed to Harry.
Harry glanced down to his arm where she was holding onto him so tightly it hurt, but found himself alighted at the information. Rebecca's grip lessened as someone else was so enraged on Remus' behalf, but there was still something dangerous that seemed to be teasing behind her eyes and Harry had to make sure it wouldn't be acted on. "We can't do anything right now, not if we're going to see this evening."
When a long enough pause had passed that they felt they could look over again, the shades were drawn and their view was eliminated.
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"Harry?" Sirius called up the stairs. "You have a visitor!" Sirius had already been excused from Remus' packing masterclass, not helping in the slightest but sneaking in as many sweets and treats as he could into Harry's trunk.
Harry knew he could have done his packing himself, he had done so since he had ever started school--save any assistance Rebecca had offered--but Remus insisted. It was growing more and more clear to Harry that he had an insistence on order that bordered on neurotic.
"No, those can't go there!" Remus sighed, taking out what Harry had tried to add. "Your books have to go on the bottom, largest to smallest so you don't crease any covers." Harry retreated to the edge of his bed, watching happily. Being pampered, taken care of like this, felt nice. Strange and new, but nice. "You go on and see who's here, I'll finish up here." Remus patted Harry's back before he could leave and continued to order away.
Harry wasn't sure he even had a guess as to who could be there for him. He was certain it wasn't Rebecca--she would never leave the Burrow on her last night at home. Granted he had no idea, but as Harry descended the stairs Fred was hovering outside her window to whisk her away for a final adventure.
"Professor?" Harry was mostly correct, the person at the door was definitely not Rebecca. Instead, it was Albus Dumbledore.
"The tale is thrilling, if I say so myself." Dumbledore murmured to Sirius, the man's attention wholly on the headmaster's blackened digits on one hand. "But now is not the time to tell it."
"Of course not." Sirius breathed, burning with curiosity.
"Everything okay?" Remus asked from the top of the stairs.
Dumbledore nodded and looked from Remus to Sirius briefly. "Shortly, gentlemen."
Sirius looked up to Remus to see if this was okay, Harry being brought out so late, but Remus only grit his teeth. How could they argue, really, when the only reason Harry was able to be with them at all was Dumbledore's vouching for their character?
"Take my arm, Harry." Harry didn't do as he was told at first, looking to Sirius and Remus unsure. "Do as I say." Dumbledore prodded kindly, still holding his arm in the air.
Harry laid his hand on top of Dumbledore's and felt himself slip into the tube-like vacuum of apparating. They reappeared on the ground in a forest near a lake, two pairs of shoes abandoned on the stony shore. "Where are we?" Harry asked, maintaining control over the nausea that rolled through him dangerously. He still got sick, but Rebecca had only the first time Fred apparated her somewhere.
"Successful landing! Most people vomit, particularly when young." Dumbledore raised his uninjured hand to his mouth and let out a loud whistle. A shape--a broom, Harry realised--froze in its meandering across the water.
Across the silence of the night, the hushed conversation could be heard on the shore. "RJ, what-"
"I haven't done anything!" Rebecca defended instantly. "Bloody fucking hell, if I've been expelled..." She turned her head up to Fred, his eyes clouded with worry. "Well, I guess I'd have more time to work in the shop."
Fred avoided Harry's accusatory, questioning gaze as they landed while Dumbledore only chuckled. "No one is being expelled, not today anyway."
"Where-"
"If you please," Dumbledore interrupted Fred. "I would hate to cut short any farewells left to happen before morn."
Rebecca's cheeks burnt as she took Dumbledore's side, ignoring the look Harry turned on her. Not wanting to insult him, the only reaction she had to his withered hand was a momentary widening of her eyes--Rebecca took his hand without delay.
Dumbledore apparated all three of them, something Rebecca hadn't even known was possible and something she hoped Fred wouldn't try anytime soon. As soon as they reappeared on the outside of a quiet, sleeping neighbourhood, Dumbledore walked off in one direction while Harry put his hands on his knees.
Rebecca crouched by his side, rubbing his back.
"I'm alright." Harry managed, staying as he was for a while longer. When he stood up, he took a slow, deep breath. "I'm fine, better now. Now, what were you doing out?"
Rebecca, at first, offered him only a shrug. "Tradition?"
Harry stared at her as she hurried them along to follow after the retreating back of Dumbledore.
"We've been doing this thing, if you have to know." Rebecca wished she was more put off by Harry's prying, but she really just wanted whatever they were doing to hurry up so she could get back. "We have a little adventure every year before school starts. First it was to end summer on a high note, then it was distract Fred. He gets rather homesick. But now..." She smiled. "Now it's tradition."
Harry rolled his eyes. "Gross."
"Wow, really nice you-"
Dumbledore gave them both a look over his shoulder, silencing their bickering before it could really take off. "Welcome to the charming village of Budleigh Babberton. I would imagine, by now, you're both wondering why I brought you here. Would I be correct?"
"Yes, quite." Rebecca answered as politely as she could manage. "How ironic I want so badly to get back to water."
"After all these years, sir, I've learnt to go with it." Harry said quietly as they all looked up at the dark house.
Dumbledore froze on the walk. The door ahead was off its hinges and damaged could be seen inside. "Wands out."
Harry gave Rebecca yet another look when he saw that she had hers in hand already.
"What? You never know."
Dumbledore illuminated his wand and stepped into the house. Rebecca was behind Harry, which suited her just fine. She had been planning a quiet, home-based time for the night and as such, was in her pajamas. If there were Death Eaters inside, or other death-bringing events, she could be facing eternity in shorts barely held up by a string and Fred's shirt.
The damage that had been hinted at by the sliver visible from outside was shown to have been just that--a glimpse at the wreckage inside. Claw marks were grooved into the walls, furniture was turned over, picture frames were shattered and thrown about.
"Horace?" Dumbledore whispered into the nothingness.
Harry froze in the entryway to what had once been a living room, a copy of the Prophet plastered to the floor in front of him. Rebecca glanced at it momentarily before prodding him out of his stupor and forward. When they had no idea what they were walking into, she needed Harry focused.
"Ignore it." She whispered by his ear, raising her wand higher as she inspected the damage up the walls. It had taken multiple assurances from Dumbledore for them to light their wands, but that was just for the formality of light. If there was danger, Rebecca knew she wouldn't hesitate.
Harry tried to wipe the Prophet from his thoughts, but it was sticking horribly. The news was, finally, reporting Voldemort's return. However, as the job wouldn't fully be done if there wasn't some gossip and some falsehood, the Potter twins were being saddled with the blame.
Harry looked up as blots of something red dripped in front of him, drops landing on his forehead.
Rebecca was in front of him in an instant with a hand raised to wipe it off, but Dumbledore turned back and made her wait. The headmaster dabbed his finger in it before licking it. Whatever he tasted, it made him go directly to the only unscathed piece of furniture left: a striped armchair.
Rebecca licked her finger and tried to get off the now-smeared remnants on Harry's forehead. Harry rolled his eyes and tried to lean out of her reach, but Rebecca only put her wand between her teeth and pulled him down by his collar.
"Merlin's beard!" The chair shouted. Rebecca was startled into releasing Harry and he straightened his shirt with a frown. The chair that was clearly not just a chair transfigured into a chair-like man. "There's no need to disfigure me, Albus!"
Dumbledore chuckled. "You make a very convincing armchair, Horace. Very convincing indeed."
"It's all in the upholstery. The stuffing? I come by it naturally." The man, Horace, flung his legs and then his arms out. The room was filled with the sounds of springs and tearing fabric as he turned himself back into a man. "What gave me away?"
Dumbledore raised his wand over his shoulder and pointed towards the ceiling. "Dragon's blood."
Rebecca turned to Harry with such awe his irritation with her was erased entirely. "You had dragon's blood on you!"
"Harry, Rebecca," Dumbledore turned, waving from each of them to Horace. "I'd like you to meet an old friend and colleague of mine--Horace Slughorn. Horace, you know who they are."
"Yes, yes." Horace said quickly. He couldn't seem to decide who he wanted to look at more, his eyes bounced between Harry and Rebecca. "Harry and Rebecca Potter." Horace walked to the front door and shut it, locking it for good measure.
"What's with all the theatrics, Horace?" Dumbledore asked. "You weren't, by any chance, waiting for someone else were you?"
"Someone else?' I'm sure I don't know what you mean." Horace paused in front of Dumbledore, dropping the lie. "Alright. The Death Eaters have been trying to recruit me for over a year. Do you know what that's like?" He walked to the window and peeked out carefully before closing the curtain better. "You can only say no so many times to these people; I never stay anywhere more than a week. The Muggles who own this place are in the Canary Islands!"
Harry knew it bothered Rebecca when the Weasley was ignored in her name; there were only a handful of people who she let get away with it. "At least you're not the only person in their pajamas now."
Rebecca nodded, not realising that Harry was teasing her to chance a smile from her.
"I think we should put it back in order for them, don't you?" Dumbledore waved his wand in a slow, oblong shape in front him. The glass on the floor began to tinkle, then scuttling across the floor to its places in the broken windows, broken clock fronts, broken frames and such. The chandelier raised from the ground as the piano in the corner let out an organ-like wheeze. The lights in the house turned on as more and more was repaired.
Harry and Rebecca moved from side to side, trying to stay out of the flying belongings the best they could. Rebecca directed Harry's attention to their feet where the final jewel of the chandelier was caught under his trainers and struggling to return where it belonged.
"That was fun." Dumbledore smiled. "Do you mind if I use the loo?"
"No, of course." Horace directed Dumbledore to a side hall as if it really were his house. "Don't think I don't know why you're here, Albus. The answer's still no. Absolutely and unequivocally no."
"'Absolutely and unequivocally no.'" Rebecca repeated the phrase to herself. "That's a good one."
Horace seemed to have forgotten they were there until she spoke and he stared for a long moment before finding his voice. "You're very like you're father. Both of you. In the best way, of course. Except for your eyes, you have-"
"Our mother's eyes. Yeah." Harry finished.
Rebecca jabbed him with her elbow, not wanting him to be rude. It wasn't Horace Slughorn's fault that that was one of the few things anyone ever had to say to them during introductions.
"Lily. Lovely Lily." Horace sighed. "She was exceedingly bright, your mother. Even more impressive when one considers she was Muggleborn."
Rebecca instantly regretted keeping Harry from any rudeness. If this man was going to speak so callously, Harry could use all the cheek he wanted. "One of our best friends is Muggleborn. Best in our year, perhaps all of Hogwarts' history." Rebecca let an edge creep into her words and thought it perfectly warranted, especially when she thought about how hard Hermione worked.
"Please don't think I'm prejudiced. No, no, no. Your mother was one of my absolute favourites." He waved them closer to him and then to a collection of photographs. "Look, there she is. Right at the front." Rebecca stepped forward to look with Harry at her side. It was easy for them to hear tales about their father, Sirius and Remus brought him up frequently. But their mother? That was harder.
There was a sadness that welled up in their godfathers when Lily came up, a sadness that visibly ran so deeply that Harry and Rebecca went out of their way to make sure she wasn't ever mentioned needlessly although they both desperately wanted to know more about her.
But, right in front of a collection of smiling students around a much-younger Horace, was Lily Evans. "All mine. Ex-students, I mean." He listed off a few of his better-off students: editor in chief at the Daily Prophet, a Chudley Cannons player.
Harry reached forward and picked up the frame with their mother up, holding it closer so that he could see her as clearly as possible.
Rebecca reached for a different photo, one that had a boy disturbingly similar to Sirius.
"Ah, yes. Regulus Black. You, of course, know his older brother." Rebecca paled. The photo had Regulus in the midst of classmates, but he stared ahead at the camera. He couldn't have been older than she was, but he was clearly haunted. "I do believe Dumbledore mentioned something about semi-permanent housing with he and his partner for one of you."
Neither Rebecca nor Harry offered up any information about their living situations to answer Horace's lingering question. Harry leaned over and looked, the image taunting them both with the questions still dancing around their heads from the talk with Sirius and Remus two weeks earlier.
"I taught the whole Black family, except for Sirius." Horace continued eventually. As much as he would have liked some gossip, he also liked the sound of his own voice. So much so that he didn't even notice or care that neither Harry nor Rebecca was actually listening. "It's a shame. Talented boy. I got Regulus when he came along, but I'd have liked the set."
Dumbledore exited the toilet, calling for Horace. "Do you mind if I take this?" He held up a Muggle magazine.
Rebecca and Harry had a moment to converse quietly over the photos before replacing them and walking to Dumbledore without a final solution. Harry wanted to ask Dumbledore to kidnap Horace so that they could question him, Rebecca did not.
"You're not leaving, are you?" Horace asked with fear sneaking behind his voice.
"I think I know a lost cause when I see one. Regrettable. I would have considered it a great personal triumph had you consented to return to Hogwarts. Oh, well. You're like my friends here, one of a kind."
"Except there's literally two of us." Rebecca muttered, drawing a surprising laugh out of Harry he had to cover with a cough.
"Bye-bye, Horace." Dumbledore left the room with a graceful and dismissive, flourish of his robes.
Rebecca and Harry nodded their heads as their own farewells before trailing after Dumbledore to get back to what they had been doing before the surprising outing. The crescent moon was only slightly higher in the sky; Rebecca was hopeful that she and Fred would still have some time to spend together before he would insist she return to bed for sleep.
Rebecca opened her mouth to ask the question she and Harry were both itching to know--why they had come--but Dumbledore held his hand up for her to wait.
Halfway down the walk back to the road, she understood why.
Horace threw the door open and called out to them. "Alright, I'll do it. But I want Professor Merrythought's old office, not the water closet I had before. And I expect a raise!" He raised his hand for dramatic flair, a tough that Harry rolled his eyes at. "These are mad times we live in. Mad!"
Dumbledore bowed his head to Harry and Rebecca, the three of them returning to the entrance of Budleigh Babberton.
"Sir," Rebecca began. "What exactly was all that about?"
"You two are both talented, famous, and powerful. Everything Horace values. Professor Slughorn is going to try and collect you, especially as a pair."
"Yes." Harry glowered. "We already heard about his feelings on 'sets.'"
"You would be his crowning jewels. That's why he's returning to Hogwarts." Dumbledore looked at them carefully. "And it's crucial he should return." Losing the hardness in his eyes, Dumbledore turned his head to the stars. "I fear I may have stolen a wondrous night from you."
"It's alright." Rebecca held her hand out for him to take. "The night's young."
"While it is, I fear a spot of trouble has arisen." To Harry, Dumbledore held his arm. "You'll not be returning to Grimmauld Place."
"What about Sirius and Remus? My trunk? The-"
"All are waiting for you." Dumbledore didn't apparate them yet. "Unfortunately, they've both been called away on business. The Burrow will have to suffice."
"No!" Rebecca gasped before they popped out of existence only to appear near the Burrow again. Harry's arm shot out and grabbed Rebecca the second the world solidified around them, Dumbledore having deposited them in one of the ponds outside the leaning home. Harry was startled as it came above his waist, but it went much higher for Rebecca and left her transported back to the Triwizard Tournament's second task.
"It's alright, it's okay." Harry said in a rush as he pulled her against him, reminding her that he was right there. Harry could feel himself shivering from the cold of the night air on their now-wet bodies, but he wasn't sure that was why Rebecca was shaking. Of all the places they could have been left, in water was not one Harry ever would have chosen.
"This is so bad." Rebecca whinged as they approached the front of the house--every light inside on. She held her shirt away from her the best she could, trying to stay away from the chill and needing to hold something between her hands as tightly as she could. "He couldn't have stayed to explain, oh no..."
Harry smiled at Rebecca. "It's the last night before school, how bad can this really be?"
"I'll have you know, I had quite the evening planned."
Harry jumped forward and opened the door before he had to hear anymore.
"You two!" Molly shouted. She marched forward with Fred dragged along behind her, his ear twisted between her fingers. Fred winked at Rebecca before wincing.
Ginny was the first to breach the distance to Rebecca and Harry. "I tried to cover, but she's too damn good."
Rebecca patted Ginny's back. "Eh, good thing Harry's here then."
All of the children who resided at the Burrow knew the gentler, more easy-going mood Molly took when Harry was present.
"Bed empty? The night before school?" Molly pulled Fred lower to her to show him as an example. "And this one wandering about in the dark on a broom? What has possessed you both?"
"Ow!" Fred cried out. "Unhand me, woman!" He stood straight when Molly finally did release him, rubbing his ear childishly. It really didn't hurt that badly. "I told you, I was looking for my shoe!"
Molly held a hand to her brow.
"What are you doing here?" Rebecca asked quickly, seeing Hermione appear from behind Molly. Both Harry and Rebecca were given another hug before Ron joined and gave them both one as well. Hermione promised that they would talk later, looking to Molly who was still waiting for an explanation.
"It was Dumbledore." Harry explained. "He didn't write?" He tried to answer the questions that poured out.
"That man." Molly sighed. "What would we do without him though" Her eyes narrowed on Rebecca. "I still haven't heard anything from you, young lady!"
Rebecca wracked her mind, trying to come up with something--anything. "I...lost...my...shoe?"
"You did not just give me the exact same excuse."
"I'm feeling pressured!" Rebecca launched herself forward and hugged Molly tightly. "You're not that cross, are you? Knowing we were just trying to have a little fun like every year-"
"Every year?!" Molly looked down at herself, a Rebecca-shaped wet patch on her clothes. "And why are you wet?!"
Fred stepped forward and covered Rebecca's mouth. "Look at her, mum. Cold and wet. Must have left her mind out there. I'll bring her on up to bed and-"
"Dry pajamas." Molly sighed. "Before you catch your death."
Fred climbed the stairs before pausing once they were in private at the top. "You may not fib, but you do know how to smile your way out of trouble."
"'Smile my way out?'" Rebecca echoed. "Oh, you make me sound horrible!" Rebecca grabbed pajamas from her drawer and went down the hall to change since Fred was already lying in her bed.
Once she was gone, he sat up and stuck what he and George had been working on into her trunk for her to find when she was unpacking.
"Maybe I just like to smile. Did you consider that?" Rebecca asked as she walked back in.
"I like when you smile!" Fred raised his head from her pillow, giving her a cheeky grin. "It's a compliment!"
Rebecca laughed before jumping onto the bed and kissing him.
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George had been warned not to wait up for him, Fred had said that he might end up sleeping there. But all the same, George was worried.
The Prophet's list of missing witches and wizards was growing, and they only announced the -pure-blooded people. Muggleborns and half-bloods went missing two, nearly three times more.
"Let's go." Cedric sighed, sitting up from where he had accidentally dozed off besides George. He wanted to stay awake for support, but he was exhausted. That was his excuse for not going back to his parent's house, at least. He worked so hard that he was frequently exhausted and slept more nights than not in the flat above the shop.
"Where?" George asked. "To home or to sleep?"
Cedric smiled, although it was tinged with sadness. George was not supposed to be inundated with worry, he was supposed to be so happy it was contagious. "Where do you want to go?"
George bit his lip. He needed to know that everything was well at the Burrow.
Cedric stood and stretched, grabbing a jumper and tossing one to George as well. "Do you think you can apparate?" George closed his eyes and tried to focus, huffing angrily as he realised there was no way he would wrangle his thoughts into control enough. Cedric stepped forward and left a kiss on the end of George's nose, putting his hand into his. "I've got it then."
A pull and a pop later, the boys were in the bustling kitchen. "Boys!" Molly shouted happily, hugging them both. "Hungry?"
Cedric nodded. He was always hungry and well-acquainted with Molly's cooking. George stepped away from Cedric, confused as to why Harry was sitting at the table between Ron and Hermione and Fred was nowhere in sight. "Is Fred here?"
Molly sighed, still thinking about their shared excused. "Yes, upstairs. I expect he'll be staying the night."
George closed his eyes in relief. His heart slowed, his muscles unclenched, and, when he opened his eyes again, he found himself able to smile. "I could eat."
Hermione knew that Rebecca wouldn't be seen again that night, especially if her outing with Fred had been interrupted so abruptly as Harry said. Sitting with Ron and Harry around the table, she listened as Ron told Harry exactly why Remus and Sirius were called away.
"No, mate, you're not listening." Ron was getting frustrated, not seeing that Harry was only repeating his questions because he was worried for the men. "There was an attack in London. Voldemort's getting awfully daring and-"
"And the Order knows Sirius and Remus are the best to help right now." Hermione smoothed over. "Part of the reason I'm here, actually. They also wanted me to go with you lot to the train tomorrow even though...my parents-well, they weren't sure if I'd be going at all this year."
Harry scoffed. Keeping his voice as low as theirs had been so Molly and Arthur didn't know what they were talking about--to keep them from getting finicky as the adults tended to do when they discussed 'grown up matters.' "It's Hogwarts! There's nowhere safer."
"Well, you know." Hermione elaborated when Ron and Harry looked at her very obviously not knowing. "Some people think Dumbledore's gotten a bit old."
"How old is he?" Harry demanded.
Ron raised his hand and waved it from side to side. "Hundred? Hundred-fifty?"
Ginny slid into the seat next to Hermione, escaping Molly long enough to join the conversation. "Thought he just passed two-hundred?"
That was it. Ginny's remark sent all four of them laughing away the poor reasons they were together again and they found a slight sense of hope for the year ahead.
Hermione reached into her pocket and pulled out one of the two envelopes she had been carrying. "I know it's a little late, but with birthdays postponed this year and all-"
"It's perfect." Harry took his with a grateful, albeit sad, smile. He and Rebecca's birthday had passed earlier in the summer on the first night of a string of attacks around Muggle London, Death Eater attacks. Owls had been exchanged and hugs had been passed, but with everything had been tainted with a worry and fear that Harry hoped would fade to the background once at school.
"Go on then!" Hermione patted Harry's arm, wanting him to open it. "I want to know how great a job I've done!"
"Ever the humblest." Ron teased.
Harry slid his finger under the lip of the envelope, reading the slips that fell out. "'Homework help?'"
Hermione sat back in her chair. "Yes. 'Help.'"
"Oh!" Harry gasped. "You mean you'll-"
"HELP." Hermione finished so that her deceit wouldn't be actualised with words. This only sent them all laughing again, harder."
Upstairs, Rebecca was firmly tucked into Fred's side. They were done chatting; they simply enjoyed each other's company quietly. Fred was toying with her hair, picking strands up and following them through the curls or trying to pick one bit out of the inky blackness from the other.
Rebecca sighed and moved closer against him, tangling her arms in the blanket around him so that she was better hugged against him.
"Go to sleep." Fred kissed her forehead, knowing it was late and she had a long day of journeying ahead. "I'll be here in the morning."
Rebecca lifted her head from his chest. "But we're not leaving until after-"
Fred pecked her lips. "Ced and George can manage a single opening."
"But-"
Fred pecked her again, holding his lips to hers longer.
Rebecca smiled in the darkness, lying her head down again. "I didn't even have anything to say that time."
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Across the country, in a town far, far in the north of England, the night was periodically lit up by brilliant displays of lightning spread across the sky as the rain poured down in a heavy, constant shower.
If you were there--standing out of the rain preferably--you would have seen two women in all black walking down the sidewalk. Both were of hair darker than night, but one had hair sectioned in platinum white pinned up almost-regally.
"You can't do this! He can't be trusted!" One hissed to the other with bright, mad eyes.
"The Dark Lord trusts him."
"The Dark Lord is mistaken." A child's bell ahead sent them both into the mouth of an alley. "Cissy, this isn't-"
"This isn't your decision, is it Bellatrix?" Narcissa Malfoy snapped. She turned on one pointed heel and went to the first door, knocking on the wooden frame.
Peter Pettigrew's face leered out at them from behind the foggy glass before the door was opened and their entrance announced. The rat-faced servant led them down the hall into a study where Severus Snape was reading.
"Run along, Wormtail." Severus dismissed. Wormtail delayed his exit and Snape waved his wand to slam the door shut--sending the door and the servant--roughly out to the hall.
"I-I know I ought not to be here." Narcissa explained, poising herself on the edge of the seat Severus offered. Bellatrix stayed along the outskirts of the room, poking around the books and shelves. "The Dark Lord himself forbade me to speak of this-"
"If the Dark Lord has not forbidden it, you ought not speak. Put it down, Bella." Snape chided, making Bellatrix stop shaking what she was violently. "We mustn't touch what isn't ours." Bellatrix slammed it back down. "As it so happens, I'm aware of your situation, Narcissa."
"You?" Bellatrix's incredulousness was clear. "The Dark Lord told you?"
"Your sister doubts me. Understandable." Snape's eyes revealed nothing. "Over the years I've played my part well. So well, I've deceived one of the greatest wizards of all time." Bellatrix snorted and Snape's eyes flickered to her. "Dumbledore is a great wizard, only a fool would question it."
"I don't doubt you, Severus." Narcissa tried to exude confidence, but she had had her doubts before.
Bellatrix paused her walking about the room, storming in front of her sister furious. "You should be proud, Cissy. As should Draco."
Narcissa's sheepish smile for Bellatrix's interjection took on a false sheen, a spark of anger igniting inside of her. "He's just a boy." Inside, Narcissa was reeling. "Just a boy, still a weakling. What the Dark Lord commands must be done--no matter by whom."
"I can't change the Dark Lord's mind." Severus said at once, thinking. "But, it might be possible for me to help Draco."
Narcissa stood up and walked around Bellatrix to stand in front of the Potions Master. "Severus, swear to it."
Bellatrix grinned, knowing what would finally force Severus over to their side. "Make the Unbreakable Vow." Severus' mouth opened slightly--the most emotion the man had shown in nearly sixteen years. "It's just empty words without it," Bellatrix continued. "He'll give it his best effort, but when it matters most..." Bellatrix rounded behind Snape and lay her chin on his shoulder. "He'll just slither back into his hole." She bounced off of him and trotted in front of him. "A coward."
Snape glared at Bellatrix. He had been backed into a wall and there was nowhere to turn. "Take out your wand." He intoned.
Narcissa reached her hand out, holding it under his hand and holding her wrist as he did the same above. They jerked their hands so that they were side by side, Bellatrix casting the spell as their witness.
"Will you, Severus Snape, watch over Draco Malfoy as he attempts to fulfill the Dark Lord's wishes?" Bellatrix asked.
"I will."
Bellatrix held her head against Narcissa's, still officiating the agreement. "And will you, to the best of your ability, protect him from harm?"
"I will." Snape repeated.
"And if Draco should fail..." Bellatrix whispered the last of the words. "Will you yourself carry out the deed the Dark Lord has ordered Draco perform?"
"I will."
The spell severed, Narcissa and Severus' hands were separated again.
*******************************************
Fred couldn't sleep for anything that night, not even with Hermione, Ginny, and Rebecca's even breathing filling the room with a soothing monotony of noise. His arm was still around Rebecca and he found himself calculating the lessening time he had left with her beside him as every minute passed on Ginny's clock across the room.
"Five hours, forty-three minutes." He thought, tearing his eyes away from the numbers to look down at Rebecca. She hadn't stirred once, though her head had fallen farther onto him as she drifted deeper into sleep.
Fred let his hand find its way to her face, exploring her features as if he hadn't many, many times before. Fingertips brushing across her cheek, sweeping the hair away from her face, down her lightning bolt, down her scar.
His head fell back against the pillow, but not before a final glance across the room again. "Five hours, forty-two minutes."
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