Chapter 14
Fred slept in Rebecca's bed that night, though she would have asked him to stay even if he hadn't been under her blankets after her shower. Rebecca thought she would fall asleep quickly, but as the house turned to dreams around them, she lie perfectly awake.
Fred too, it would seem, was plagued with waking thoughts. Rebecca's collection of misshapen and turned blankets kept them warm even as the wind howled against the windows, but sleep did not come with it.
Fred pressed his lips against Rebecca's forehead and tried to turn his thoughts towards rest. He moved himself lower on the bed, ignoring the fact that it made his feet hand off the end, so that he could put his head under her arm.
"Go to sleep." Rebecca whispered, a smile playing across her lips.
"Why aren't you?" Fred whispered back, looking up at her.
"I am."
Fred nestled his head farther under her arm, tickling her.
"Fred!"
"I'm sorry. I can't stop thinking." Fred stilled and put an arm across Rebecca's stomach. No matter how close he was to her, it didn't feel like enough. Fred couldn't help but fear he would wake up and she would be out of his reach once again.
"What are you thinking about?" Rebecca ran her fingers through his hair, gently combing it off his forehead. "Maybe if you get it out of your head you'll sleep."
Fred stared at her a moment before closing his eyes and pulling her closer. "You. I can't stop thinking about you." His fingers grazed against her arm and he traced meaningless shapes softly onto her skin.
"Sleep." Rebecca continued to comb his hair. "You can only be sweet during normal waking hours." Fred turned his head back and let out a fake snore, drawing a laugh out of Rebecca. "I heard Harry and Ron earlier, something about sledding."
"I did too."
"Then go to sleep so that you're not grumpy for it!" Fred shook his head and Rebecca grabbed his pillow from where he had pushed it to the side and held it to his face. Rebecca lifted it a few seconds later. "Are you tired now?"
"Murdered, more like." Fred sighed and closed his eyes before talking softly. "You really should go to sleep. Don't know why you're keeping me up like this."
Rebecca started an objection far too loud for the hour before stopping to peer across the room to make sure Ginny was still sleeping.
"Love, why're you looking? You know as well as I that you couldn't see a hippogriff that far without your specs."
"I'd be able to see if she was marching over here to kill us both for waking her." Rebecca laid her head back on her pillow. "Sleepy yet?"
Fred tried to say no, but he yawned. "A little."
Rebecca kissed the top of his head and closed her eyes once more. They were both asleep in minutes.
While inching her way out of Fred's grip had been an interesting start to the day, nothing had prepared her for the pandemonium of downstairs. People were moving in and out of rooms, weaving past other members of the Order with brief, hushed words in passing.
Ignoring the fact that Rebecca was still in her pajamas and sleep still heavy in her eyes, Molly pointed down the hall the second Rebecca's feet hit the floor. "Table. Now."
The sheer seriousness of the words startled Rebecca right awake and following after Molly with questions all the while. "What's wrong? Something happen? Sirius and Remus? It's not da-Oh."
"Sit." Arthur pointed at the only open chair next to Harry.
Order members spread around the table with Harry at the near-center. Spread across the surface were the books she'd nicked from the library: histories with bits about the Wollstone's Wood, Centaurion prophecies and traditions, and the atlas of Hogwarts' surrounding lands.
Harry offered Rebecca a grimace as Molly took her seat and folded her hands in front of her. "Explain. This had better be good, young lady."
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"Yes, that's it." Rebecca rolled her neck. She was sore after such a strenuous interrogation.
Arthur kept circling back to anything Wilhomena had said so that he could scratch notes down to try and research what he could when able to slip away in the Ministry.
Sirius and Remus were enthralled by the translating sweets. Neither man could get over the fact that she just 'whipped them up,' in their words.
Molly had remained largely silent, though her brow furrowed as the details of the prophecy were relayed to them all.
Harry, as Rebecca had pieced together, had accidentally left one of the books downstairs the night before after bringing it down to ask Sirius a question. One thing led to another and Harry had been ambushed exactly as Rebecca had when he went down the stairs.
"But it's not a big deal." Rebecca was the first to speak in the silence that grew after the explanation. The prophecy's dooming end had become a fact Rebecca was well-acquainted with--she had come to terms with it and knew that Molly needed to see that she wasn't afraid. Not unafraid because the prophecy didn't apply to her, Rebecca was certain it did.
No, Rebecca thought that if Molly believed Rebecca was unconcerned; that Rebecca didn't know the prophecy was about her, life would be a little easier for the time being.
"Professor McGonagall said that this prophecy has belonged to more witches and wizards than any other, including, erm...Regulus." Rebecca winced at how quickly Sirius turned his head to her. "I-I found his diaries. They were tucked away in a Slytherin closet, I was helping Professor Slughorn and-he-"
"It's okay." Remus assured, looking to Sirius. He leaned over and spoke softly at Sirius' ear a moment.
"Go on." Sirius managed through the tightening of his throat.
"He brought back a Muggle woman like I can." Rebecca looked down at her hands on the table. "She was the one he had to kill to be initiated. He didn't want to be a Death Eater, not in the end."
Sirius held onto Remus roughly, needing to still the trembling of his hands and needing to tether himself to something real. "I hated him. I've cursed him and his weakness, his-" Remus stood and led Sirius from the room to piece himself together in the hall.
"Continue, Rebecca." Arthur prompted tiredly. It was always something.
"I've got nothing else."
Harry cleared his throat, but didn't speak until Rebecca gave him a look. "Malfoy."
Rebecca's look only soured further. "You can speak too, you know."
The weight of Molly's gaze focusing on Harry forced the explanation from him. Harry rushed towards the end of his haphazard telling, stumbling as every eye on the room stared at him as they had Rebecca. Remus and Sirius returned halfway through, both able to listen once more.
Remus, it turns out, was the only one to speak after Harry. "You're saying Voldemort has chosen Draco Malfoy for a mission? Has it occured to you that Snape, as you have accused as being involved, was pretending to help Draco to figure out what he was up to?"
"That's not what it sounded like." Rebecca stepped in, remembering the way Snape had spoken to Draco in the hall during the Slug Club Christmas party.
"Perhaps they're right, Remus." Tonks defended. She had been adamant that the last thing Harry and Rebecca needed was a full blown investigation to start their first morning of holiday. "To make an Unbreakable Vow, it's-"
"It comes down to whether or not you trust Dumbledore's judgement." Remus rolled his eyes; he couldn't believe they were even considering this. "Dumbledore trusts Snape, therefore I do."
Rebecca raised a question, uncomfortable with the idea that trust could be passed through affiliation so freely. "Shouldn't we make our judgements for ourselves?"
"And Dumbledore's made mistakes; he's said so himself!" Harry argued, not liking the blind belief that anyone could be good--Snape included.
"You're both blinded by hatred!" Remus shouted, losing his patience.
Sirius stood and let go of Remus' hand, shaking his head slowly before the argument could be raised any higher. "James trusted Peter with his whole heart and look where that got him." Sirius had to clear his throat of the thickness that came alongside James or Lily's names. "We can only trust a handful of people, if we start fighting amongst ourselves, we're doomed."
Remus nodded, settling back into his chair in an achy pile. The full moon was nearing at the end of the week.
Sirius laid a hand on Harry and Rebecca's shoulders, seemingly in comfort. But he let the end of his finger brush against Rebecca's collarbone. "But suspicions must be met with investigation, condoned or not."
Rebecca nodded, agreeing with the unspoken and spoken message. For a moment, everything seemed to have been dealt with.
"What's going on in here? Party and I wasn't invited?" Fred appeared in the hallway, smiling. He wasn't aware of any of the shadowed tone of the room.
Molly stood up abruptly and grabbed Fred by the ear, ignoring his crying out as she left the room with him trailing over her shoulder.
"Clearly, that will be all." Arthur stood up much calmer and dismissed the impromptu meeting. "Thank you for sharing what you have learned."
Rebecca squeezed past Tonks and the wall, jumping out into the hall behind the quickly-following Arthur. "What's happening with them? I don't understand."
"Rebecca, that was a lot of information that should have been conveyed to your acting guardians!" Arthur ran a hand through his hair, lowering his voice and trying to wrangle his worries. "He hasn't said a word, not a single word."
Rebecca frowned. "McGonagall probably just thought with the post as it is-"
"There's no excuse for this." Molly spoke from the kitchen. Fred stood behind her and rubbed his ear poutily. "Criminally negligent, that's what this was." Molly's anger disappeared as soon as Harry stood beside Rebecca, and they were both scooped into her arms so that Molly could feel like she was able to protect them even for a few moments. "I'm so sorry, my sweets."
"Don't be sorry, we're fine." Harry tried to sound sure of himself, but his fears ran too deep to hide completely.
"Perfectly fine." Rebecca added, standing taller to kiss Molly's cheek.
Molly sighed and let them go after a long second to just hold them. "Let's get some food going. Breakfast will smooth everything over."
"Says who?" Fred grumbled.
Molly turned on him and his tune changed.
"Says me!" Fred corrected quickly.
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"An eventful start to the day, albeit a necessary one." Arthur and Rebecca had been the only two willing to brave the cold on the trek to his workshop. "You must excuse Remus. His condition--it takes a toll on him."
"What about you and mum? You're alright?" Rebecca trailed behind him around his piles of Muggle oddities. "Honest."
Arthur sighed and eased himself on to a stool. "We're being followed, all of us."
"By Death Eaters?"
Arthur nodded once. "Most days Molly doesn't leave the house. It's not been easy. Then the post..." He sat back slightly, trying to readjust out of the discomfort of age and cold. "As to what you said earlier, about Dumbledore traveling."
Rebecca leaned back against the table and listened carefully, something uncomfortably solemn in Arthur's tone.
"If he's traveling, that's news to the Ministry. Perhaps that's the way he wants it, I don't know. As for Draco Malfoy, I know a bit more." Arthur hesitated and waited for Rebecca to meet his eyes to preempt his knowledge with a warning. "I know you, Rebecca. At least, I like to think I do. I'm only telling you this because I know you have the heart to let your own observations influence your opinions alongside the sense to be wary and cautious."
"Thank you."
"I sent an agent to Borgin and Burkes. From what they saw and you said you lot saw in Diagon Alley, I think the object he's interested in is a vanishing cabinet."
"A vanishing cabinet?" Rebecca hadn't heard of them and couldn't piece together the use of having an invisible cabinet.
"They were all the rage when Voldemort first rose to power, you can see the appeal." Rebecca shook her head. "The Death Eaters come knocking, one only had to slip inside and disappear for an hour or two. They can transport you almost anywhere, though they're tricky contraptions. Very tempermental."
"What happened to the one at Borgin and Burkes?"
"Nothing." Arthur could see the wheels turning behind her eyes, the thoughts forming and racing to try and make sense of the world. "But that's enough depressing matters for the day, I think." Arthur stood and clasped her shoulder firmly before leading her further into his work space. "I do believe there are some sleds around that are in need of use."
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"This is cheating!" Rebecca shouted in laughter as Fred charmed the string of their sled to pull them around the garden.
"No, this is cheating." He leaned forward enough to kiss her cheek before speeding the sled faster up the hill--narrowly dodging the walking Harry and Ginny--before releasing the spell at the top. "Again?"
Rebecca held on to his legs tighter and gave him the go-ahead.
"Easily amused, aren't they?" Ginny asked Harry with a nudge at his arm.
The two of them, both still unable to use magic outside of Hogwarts, were stuck walking up the hill after each turn down.
"For prank shop owners, I think they have to be." Harry quipped. Ginny let out a laugh that danced across the snow to Harry's ears; it echoed in his head long after it had ended.
Ron trudged between them, pushing Ginny to the side roughly. "Bloody git could offer to send us up too." Ron looked over his shoulder and sent a glare to George who was watching with Cedric from the kitchen window. "George said I'd have to test ten things for him and after seeing what Rebecca's been up to, I'm not risking it."
"Smart." Harry found he was reduced to one-word answers for the rest of the conversation, cross at the interruption of a rare moment he and Ginny were alone. Harry was already mauled with indecision and internal conflict: He knew he felt things for Ginny, things more than a friendship with his best mate's sister ought to have.
And after Ron's reaction to Anthony, Harry knew it would send Ron into a fit if Harry said or acted on anything. Harry didn't want a fight, he just wanted what Rebecca and Fred flaunted unknowingly and unintentionally. He just wanted love.
"We're headed in!" Rebecca called across the distance from the door back into the house to the hill Harry and the others were still climbing. "Don't freeze!"
"Have fun?" George asked, sliding the mugs Molly had asked he and Cedric to dish out the second anyone came in. "Mum's orders."
Rebecca's mittens hung out of her pockets and her cheeks glowed a luminous red from the cold. "You two really missed out!"
Fred smiled at her and took a sip of the steaming hot chocolate Cedric had put in front of him. Her excitement and happiness was remarkable and Fred couldn't help but admire her quietly.
George noted his distraction and did as a brother would. "Ced? You were going to show me the card your mum sent, right?"
Cedric looked up confused as George took his hand and walked towards the stairs. "Didn't I show you alre-Oh! Yes, I was!" George's sharp look left Cedric stammering to correct himself. "Let's go...look."
Rebecca raised an eyebrow at Fred over the edge of her mug, her glasses fogged from the heat of the drink. "Clearing a room? Whyever would they do that?"
Fred shrugged. "I don't know what you're talking about. Why would I want to be alone with you?"
Rebecca set her mug on the counter behind him and walked closer to him, stopping when she had to look up entirely to see him looking down at her. "I'm not sure. Why would you?"
Fred glanced over Rebecca's shoulder to make sure Ginny was still outside with the boys before giving Rebecca a cheeky smile. "Do you want to listen to some records?"
"You fiend!" Rebecca kissed him quickly before skipping away towards the stairs. "Are you coming?"
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The days of the week and a half leading up to Christmas were all spent similarly with Fred and Rebecca side by side as much as possible. The shop was closed for the holidays--an idea of Fred and George to be able to spend as much time with family as possible and a suggestion from the Order in the face of another attack on Diagon Alley.
Christmas morning was a happy affair. Tonks, Remus, and Sirius apparated to the Burrow early for a breakfast of cookies before everyone piled into the living room where the tree had a small mound of brightly wrapped presents tucked under its lowest branches.
Fred and Rebecca were tucked into the chair really meant for one, though neither of them complained. Fred had his arm around her neck and resting on the arm of the chair behind her, her head comfortable against his chest.
Bill and Fleur were supposed to be joining them later for lunch, which left them all giggling at the 'and' of the description.
Molly and Arthur were next to each other on two chairs brought in from the table, situated beside the tree to hand out gifts. Sirius and Remus were on either end of the couch with Harry, Ron, and Ginny between them. Cedric and George were on the floor in front of the couch and laughed loudly as Tonks came into the room with a lit up elf hat complete with a bell that jingled with her every step.
"When I figure out which of one of you came up with Irremovable Hats, whoever it is, I will kill you." Tonks slumped onto the floor next to Molly's hat with a chorus of jingling.
"That's bloody brilliant!" Rebecca turned to Fred accusatorily, she had shared everything she'd come up with. "When did you do that?"
"I didn't." Fred looked to George and Cedric for an answer. "Lads?" Both shook their heads confused.
Sirius squeaked, unable to hold himself together for even one second longer. Laughter poured out of his mouth as Remus rolled his eyes and apologised on his behalf. "I'm so sorry, Dore. I tried to convince him not to."
Molly grabbed the first gift and Arthur followed her example before fists could be thrown. When everyone had a parcel in their lap, Arthur waved for them to open them up. In each child's hands was a Weasley Christmas jumper. Similar to their scarves from the year before, the colours of Rebecca and Fred's were inverted. But, different than the year before, so were George and Cedric's.
The cracking of apparation and the calling of 'Happy Christmas' from Bill and Fleur sent most of the children running off to the kitchen, but the adults and Fred and Rebecca stayed--the latter pair finding themselves too comfortable to move.
"There's another parcel down there, isn't there Molly?" Sirius leaned forward and pointed to a small wrapped bundle. "Right there?"
Molly picked it up and turned it over in her hands. Whatever it was was wrapped in old newspaper comics; comics involving the antics of a fat orange cat. "It's for you two." Molly glanced at Sirius and Remus before handing it to Fred and Rebecca.
"We weren't doing gifts this year." Rebecca's cheeks warmed at the shame of not having gotten Sirius and Remus anything in return. "We agreed."
Sirius raised an eyebrow cheekily. "I don't remember agreeing to anything."
Remus laid his hand on Sirius' now-bouncing leg. "Just open it, before he implodes."
Fred used the arm not around Rebecca to undo the paper the best he could while Rebecca helped on her side until two small circles landed on their laps. Turning it over, Fred looked up questioningly. "A mirror?"
"Look it in, you duffer."
Rebecca turned her mirror over and found Fred standing back at her, an equal look of shock and amazement on his face as hers. "They see each other! T-they're connected!" Fred tilted the mirror from side to side, Rebecca never leaving his view. "Can we talk through them too?"
Sirius had hardly nodded before Rebecca jumped out of the chair and threw her arms around the two men, holding them in a tight hug. Fred watched the image in his mirror turn black as it was smothered between them, but he continued to hold his mirror gingerly. Fred was terrified of anything happening to what he already knew would become a lifeline to him.
Arthur and Molly were the next to be embraced dearly by Rebecca. Sirius and Remus climbed to their feet as Fred stood in front of them both, emotions flashing across his face.
"I don't-" Fred couldn't make his mouth say anything coherent. "You just fixed everything."
Sirius grinned and pulled the tall boy down for a hug, and Remus joined at Sirius' pulling. "Found them in Grimmauld. Thought you two could get some use out of them."
Fred opened his arm a little as Rebecca laid a hand on his back and she joined their hug again. "These are brilliant." Rebecca sniffled and grabbed Sirius' hand. "There's nothing in the world that I can do to thank you enough. Not for this."
Though they were silent, Remus and Fred each had an idea as to what their partners were silently discussing betwixt themselves.
"Life, Rebecca. Life and love. You've given me everything already, time for me to give it to you."
Rebecca laughed and turned into Fred's arms as they separated. Remus joined Arthur and Molly on their way to the kitchen to see Bill and Fleur, as well as the others, and Sirius followed shortly after. Fred kept a hand between Rebecca's shoulders and one at the back of her head as she closed her eyes and held him.
Arthur wiped at his cheek quickly in the hallway and Molly laughed lightly. "Arthur?"
Arthur looked at her and gave her a sad smile before leaning over to kiss her. "I love you."
Remus' head lifted as the smell of something being warmed in the kitchen caught his attention entirely. "Let's go, you nutter." Sirius teased. "I know how you feel about hot chocolate."
"These mirrors..." Fred said, shaking his head to try and clear the fog that came alongside the incredible relief that filled him. Rebecca grabbed his shirt tightly and brought him down into a heated kiss, making the most of their momentary privacy to have a celebration of the mirrors in their own way.
"Let's go!" George shouted from the kitchen. "Bill's got something to say!"
Fleur beamed at Rebecca once she and Fred had joined the others and Rebecca let go of Fred's hand to go to the corner cabinet in the kitchen. Rebecca had hidden a jar of French Fancies for whatever opportunity arose, and one had come.
"Bonjour! Joyeux Noel!"
"Rebecca, qu'est que tu fais?"
"Quelque chose que j'ai fait pour toi et Gabrielle, un Français Fancy! Maintenant je parle français et j'écoute français!" Listening to Rebecca speak French did something to Fred, something he wondered if Rebecca would ever stop doing to him: his breath was taken away and he couldn't get a single thought through his foggy head.
Fleur clapped her hands, the sound of her native tongue a gift in itself.
"Est-ce une nouvelle bague?"
Everyone looked from Rebecca's eyes to the ring on Fleur's hand, not needing a Fancy to understand the question.
Bill entwined Fleur's hand in his, smiling out at his family. "I've asked Fleur to marry me."
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"So, marriage." Fred said as he and Bill started the dishes from dinner. Both men could magically do away with them, but the kitchen was a welcome respite from the celebration winding down in the other rooms of the house. As much as it pained Fred to be apart from Rebecca, even just by going down the hall, he needed to speak to Bill.
"Marriage." Bill grinned, he couldn't help it. Taking the next plate from Fred, Bill could see the hesitation keeping him from speaking. "What is it? I thought she was mental too, if that's what you're trying to say. Still think she is, honestly." Bill laughed.
Fred shook his head, chuckling too. "I'm certain that she is, but that's not it." Fred turned the sink off and turned around so that his back was to the counter, his arms crossing in front of him in discomfort. "Did you ask because of everything going on?"
Bill leaned against the cabinet behind him and took a similar stance. "Yes and no. I would have liked to wait longer-" Bill looked up in alarm. "Not because I think I would change my mind or anything, I know I won't. She makes me happy and I must for her to have said yes." Bill sighed. "But, you know how things are going. If anything were to happen-"
"Which it won't."
"If anything were to happen, it's going to be as husband and wife." Fred turned back to the sink, thinking on what Bill had said. "I know what you're thinking and I think you shouldn't, not yet." Bill couldn't catch Fred's eyes as he plunged the next dirty plate into the soapy water. "Fleur's been thinking about her marriage since she was a little girl, she hasn't. You two are young still, take it slow."
"You're right." Fred said after a long pause. 'She' could only mean one person. "I just worry sometimes."
"We all do; these are worrying times." Bill put the plate he dried into the cupboard and grunted. "Wish Charlie were here. He's the perfect buffer. I'm supposed to say one thing and then he's supposed to be here to counter it with something reasonable."
Fred dried his hands and looked at Bill at last. "What do you think Charlie would say?"
Bill smiled, shaking his head. "Charlie? He'd say something like 'follow your heart, Fred. It'll guide you on your path.'"
Fred felt some of his worries ease their heaviness. "I can hear him saying that."
Bill slapped Fred's shoulder and led him back to the living room where Remus and Sirius were whispering by the record player they had conjured from Grimmauld Place. Remus, catching sight of Fred, slid the needle onto the record that crackled before playing a familiar song.
Harry looked up as the first notes of 'Lames' Song' sounded.
Fred stopped in front of Rebecca and held his hand out for her to join him, lowering his head to hide the grin spread across his face.
"Oh, I guess." Rebecca laughed and took his hand, excusing herself from Ginny. Fred put his hand on her hip and began to spin them about with their song.
Fleur and Bill stood to the side, dancing. Even Sirius and Remus held hands by the source of the music. Molly and Arthur looked around the room filled with love and appreciation.
"Careful, heard there's wizards' mistletoe in here." Fred warned softly.
"Did you imagine life would be like this three years ago?"
"Thought? No. Wished? Yes."
Rebecca frowned. "I don't know why you'd think otherwise; you should have more faith in yourself."
Fred gave her a crooked smile, tightening his hold on her. "Why? Look where I've gotten: I'm surrounded by family, the shop's doing better than we ever could have hoped, the most beautiful person in the world is in my arms...I wouldn't have changed a thing." Rebecca blushed. "Don't do that." Fred gave her a chaste kiss, trying to wish away her embarrassment. "Don't think it's silly."
"I'm not!" Rebecca glanced at the room around them, lowering her voice. "I was thinking about...other records I wouldn't mind listening to."
Fred baulked, not expecting that at all. French and now this? Christmas had brought so many gifts to him.
"Fred?" Rebecca prompted him out of his stupor. "Kiss me, yeah?"
Fred brought his lips to her as Rebecca's hand snaked behind his neck to tangle itself in his hair.
In that moment, the world was good.
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"Are you sure you want to go?" Molly asked Sirius and Remus, as well as Tonks, as they paused at the door. "We have room, you can stay."
Tonks hoisted her weighed down bag of food. "Leftovers have got to get to the refrigerator."
"And it's time, Molly." Sirius bent down and kissed her cheek lightly. "Happy Christmas."
Remus was outside on the porch, holding himself up on the bannister.
"You know how he gets." Sirius said softly. "He'll pep up after the night is gone."
Molly nodded. She wished she could take away Remus' pain, his aches and troubles. Both Sirius and Remus had been given such hard hands, such hardships to overcome.
"Ready to go, Remu?" Sirius laid his hand on Remus' lower back and smiled as Remus put an arm around his shoulder. Part love, part help to walk without limping as his muscles and bones prepared for their monthly shifting the next night, Sirius felt like he was able to help Remus even slightly.
Back in the house, though Fleur and Bill had returned to their flat hours earlier, Rebecca and Fred hadn't yet found the privacy needed to listen to their own records. The kisses they managed to sneak as the night carried on left them satisfied and waiting and they were both wrapped in conversation with George and Cedric in the kitchen.
Harry was on the stairs nearest the front of the house, looking out at the expansive winter outside. The bottom few inches of the tall grass that surrounded the Burrow was coated in winter white, the glass of the window was cold to the touch.
He stood when someone came up from behind, but it was only Ginny in her pajamas and pink housecoat. "Has Ron gone to bed?"
"Not yet, no." Harry wasn't sure why she had asked him, especially since it's not like she was still waiting for the shower.
Ginny glanced down at the floor and saw how his shoes was untied. "Shoelace." Harry moved to tied it, but Ginny did so first. As she re-knotted his laces, Harry remembered teaching Rebecca to tie her shoes in their first year. Although in each situation there was a sister involved, Harry couldn't have imagined Ginny and Rebecca in more distinct circles. "Happy Christmas, Harry." Ginny was closer to him than he was before.
Harry gulped and struggled to speak; her closeness left his mouth overwhelmingly dry. "Happy Christmas."
A whoosh from outside and a blinding light startled Harry back towards the window. A line of fire grew from where it had been traced around the house and the snow was melted in a wobbling, oblong shape. The house was encircled with flames.
Rebecca and Fred ran down the hall to the door with their wands in hand, behind Harry who tore down the stairs and barrelled through the group near the door.
There was a figure dancing in the land facing the front of the house, and it froze and straightened before walking closer. Through the wavering mirage of the heat, Bellatrix's face became clear.
Harry's body tensed and it seemed to Rebecca as if time had slowed down. Molly's hands were clasped to her mouth, George and Cedric were shoving their way out onto the front step to see what was happening.
Harry moved. Remus reached out, but his reaction was delayed through his pains. As a wrenching spasm took over, Sirius caught Remus and kept him on his feet. "Harry, no!"
Harry was already off the porch and flying over the snow.
Tonks raced after Harry with Rebecca on her heels while George and Cedric began to try and charm enough water to keep the worst of the flames away from the house. Rebecca overtook Tonks only out of the fear that filled her if Harry were to-were to need her. Both Harry and Rebecca passed through the fire with minimal issue, but it closed behind them so that Tonks and the right-behind Fred were facing a wall of heat.
Ginny grabbed Fred's arm as he tensed to run straight through--not afraid of a little singeing to get to Rebecca--and he cursed. "Wait!" Ginny tightened her grip on Fred's arm, ignoring how Tonks was trying to wrangle the jumping flames into submission. "Now!" Fred and Ginny leapt through at the exact time Ginny wanted them to; nothing but the heat rising off the flames traced over their legs.
Then they were able to tear after the other two through the snow and grass.
"What are you thinking?" Rebecca was shouting at Harry as they ran. "This is what she wanted! You've done exactly what she wanted!!!"
Harry pumped his arms faster, trying to get to the woman who had threatened to take away his family so that he could kill her. Bellatrix was singing ahead of them, but her words passed over Harry's rage.
Rebecca's scolding lasted as long as it could, but eventually she had to stop to maintain the breakneck sprint Harry held on.
The snow crunched under their feet, the frozen tops of the tall grass whipping against their faces and arms as they passed through them. Their breath puffed up around them, more evident as their breathing turned into panting.
"You going to get me? Gonna get me Potters?" Bellatrix's voice echoed, always ahead of them. "Ickle, baby Potters?"
Fred had Ginny's hand in his, not wanting to lose her in the tall grass that reached even over his head. All they had to follow was the trail Harry and Rebecca had left, the line of footprints and disturbed grass.
Rebecca grabbed Harry's arm and pulled him to a sudden stop. She turned in a slow circle, the noises around them had gone silent. Rebecca turned them to the right slightly as a rustling came that was different than the rest. In that direction, she continued their running.
Fred and Ginny noticed the change in the path when they got to that part of the tracks, the divergence. "They didn't separate, did they?" Ginny whispered and tried to see any signs of movement around them.
"No, they wouldn't." Fred pointed towards the trail. "That way." They ran a short distance before the path disappeared entirely. Ginny looked to the right at the wet sloshing sound that caught Fred's attention too. "Rebecca?" She asked. No response. Ginny tightened the hold on her wand. "Harry?"
A man stepped out of the shadows. He was a hairy, brutish man with scars across his face with a whitish gleam--werewolf scars. Fred raised his wand and put Ginny more behind him as the man licked his lips.
Rebecca and Harry smashed into either side of Fred. Harry tried to steer Ginny back the other direction while Rebecca put herself in front of them all. "Stupefy!" A pulse shot out of her wand, a defence Fenrir Greyback blocked before apparating away.
Harry moved to force Rebecca back, but Ginny caught the back of his shirt and raised her voice. "Quiet!"
Fred and Rebecca froze, Fred holding onto her shoulder tightly. Besides the sound of the snow crunching under their shuffling feet, there was nothing for a few moments. "REBECCA!" Arthur's voice echoed. "GINNY!"
Rebecca saw a blur of movement across from them and Fred saw it too. "Stupefy!"
"Like in the D.A.!" Rebecca called, putting her back into the circle they formed as all four faced out and blocked the spells that seemed to come out of the grass itself. "Protego!"
The snow around them quickly melted into a sludge that seeped into their shoes. The heat of their spells created a puddle that was disturbed in the pause of attack by two bodies that crashed out of the grass: Sirius and Tonks.
The kids stepped out to make their circle larger as the attacks began once again. Their defence efforts increased, the next time the attack ended it was not resumed. Arthur barreled out of the grass at last, hearing the hissing of the Death Eaters still hidden around them apparating back to wherever they had come from.
An explosion rang out back at the Burrow, a fireball climbing up into the night sky as the house was engulfed in flames. "Molly!" Arthur gasped, taking off into the grass again.
George and Cedric were racing around the house, now fighting to keep the flames from growing taller instead of nearer. The inferno only seemed to grow and with it, the threat towards the very structure of their home. Ron stared up. The fire illuminated the worrying shade of white his face had taken.
Fred ran forward and joined his twin's efforts, a small dent being made in the fire. Rebecca looked down at her wand and closed her eyes, envisioning the trunk she needed. "Accio shop trunk!" Rebecca didn't even flinch as the trunk smashed out of the window of her room, and she ignored the look Remus gave her as she crouched in front of it and threw it open.
"YOU'RE SAVING YOUR BLOODY PRAN-" Remus screamed, angry to an irrational point at the idea of her being so selfish with the full moon looming in the coming days.
"Take these and start throwing!" Rebecca shoved a box at Ron and continued to dole out what she could. "Ginny? Get these buried as close to the house as you can!" Ginny took the bag of seed and did as she was told.
The sky thundered before Ginny had even planted a handful, and she continued along the side of the house as the rain began.
Cedric abandoned his spell attempts and went to Rebecca for something that would work better. "Start throwing these!" Rebecca handed Cedric a jar of orbs. She was throwing things out of the trunk now, searching for anything that could help more.
"Top of the house, now!" Rebecca held a disk up to Sirius. He apparated onto the chimney and tossed the disk out onto the middle of the roof before apparating back. A fountain sprang out, powerful and widely spraying.
The box Ron had contained water bombs, the orbs Cedric had exploded into bouts of water like a pocket waterfall. The seeds Ginny had planted had been Rebecca's most seemingly pointless idea, who needed it to rain in seconds? But, as they had all learned, a house under attack did.
Between the efforts of all the pranks and George ending the last of the flames, the house was a smoldering, smoking mess in minutes.
"Rebecc-" Harry tried, holding his hands up as she stalked towards him.
"Don't you dare!" Rebecca shouted, bringing her hands back with her fists clenched. She whaled on him, landing punches on his arms, on his shoulders, missing his head as he took a step back. Other than that though, he didn't try to evade. "Why would you be so stupid? Why would you run after her?!"
Fred got his arms around hers and pulled her away from him. He took her to the side and spoke so softly only she could hear.
Molly and Arthur stood side by side, staring up at the remnants of their home, of the place they had raised their children from toddlers to teens. They stared up at the sheer miracle it stood at all.
The smell of smoke was strong in the air and Molly wiped her face before going to the trunk Rebecca had torn apart, picking up one of the orbs. "Pranks!" She laughed, a hint of hysteria lacing the edges. "Damned pranks!"
George looked over the house. "What'd you think we worked on all day? Rubber chickens?"
Molly held the orb up to her eye and saw how it shimmered like the sun did across the lake behind the house on a bright summer day. Rebecca listened to Fred's words and ignored Harry until she was able to be calm, exactly as she had asked him to do before.
"If there had been more..." Rebecca shook her head. "We could have put it out faster."
"Look at how much is left." Molly put her arm around Rebecca and looked up at the house. "Repairs instead of reconstruction. That's what these did."
"All which we will need light for." Sirius cleared his throat and divided them into groups the best he could. "Let's all head back tonight and we'll get an early start in the morning. I'll stay and watch as you apparate."
Tonks spoke quietly at Sirius' shoulder and they were moving in opposite directions before long. Tonks went directly to Ron, laying a hand on his shoulder and speaking slowly. Ron had yet to speak, yet to look away from what was left of the house.
Ginny took one last look up at the Burrow's charred exterior before taking Cedric's hand and popping out. George followed after making sure Molly was able to apparate herself.
Rebecca shook her head when Fred held his hand out for her to take, not ready to leave yet. This was different than any attack in Diagon Alley, this was her home. This was supposed to be the one place in the entire world that nothing bad ever touched, and there it sat burnt.
"Tomorrow." Fred tilted her chin up to him. "We can't do anything until tomorrow."
Rebecca stared at him and put her hand in his other. "You're right." Fred apparated them out.
Arthur, Sirius, and Harry were the last to be in front of the Burrow. Harry still stood where Rebecca he had been before Rebecca had been dragged away from him but his head was turned up towards the house. "I never thought she-"
"You didn't think at all!" Sirius spoke sharply, uncharacteristically sharp. "That was possibly the dumbest thing you'll ever do!"
Harry bowed his heads and his shoulders started to shake. "I wanted to get her." Arthur laid a hand on Harry's shoulder and squeezed it as the boy began to sob. "I wanted to kill her. For you, I wanted to. For trying to kill--for killing you!"
Sirius grabbed Harry's shoulders and turned him away from Arthur so that he had to look into his eyes. "Then you thought even less." Sirius pointed up at the house, what was left of it. "This is what happens when you don't think about your actions, things don't end well!"
Arthur shook his head at Sirius. If Harry had shouted back, Arthur wouldn't have said anything in his defence because he was at least defending himself. But Harry didn't. He continued to sob. "Harry,"
"I'm so sorry." Harry couldn't bring himself to look Arthur in the eye. "I'm so-"
"Harry," Arthur waited for him to stop apologising. "No one got hurt. This can all be dealt with, the important thing is that no one got hurt."
Sirius' gaze stayed on the house a moment longer. This would be the most personal attack of the war so far, the desecration of the safe-haven Molly and Arthur had kept within the Burrow's walls.
"Let's get back, okay?" Arthur spoke as softly as Fred had for Rebecca and waited for Harry to wipe his tears. "Sleep will be needed before anything else."
"I'm so sorry." Harry whispered.
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