Chapter 3
"Time to wake up, dear." Molly said softly, so to not wake up the other girls just yet in the room Hermione, Rebecca, and Ginny shared. "Rebecca? You don't want to be late." Molly continued to sort through the blankets on Rebecca's bed until she found the messy-haired, sleep-slow girl. Confident that she wouldn't go back to sleep, Molly left to get Harry up next.
Rebecca rolled out of her bed groggily, still tired. All she had done was toss and turn all night, dark dreams following her when she managed to get that far asleep. Molly had laid out both Rebecca and Harry's outfits for the day, Harry in a brown and tan suit and Rebecca in a dark blue, plain dress. Brushing her teeth and washing her face, Rebecca's nerves woke her up entirely.
"Maybe you should pin it up." Hermione said, entering the bathroom the girls shared with her towel in hand. "Makes you look younger, you know." Hermione had laid in bed debating whether or not Rebecca would prefer being alone that morning or to get ready together like any other day.
"Is looking younger a good thing?" Rebecca asked.
Hermione nodded. "I think it would make you look more innocent, but that's just my thoughts."
Rebecca rifled through one of the drawers and found two pins, doing as Hermione thought and looking to Hermione for approval. If Hermione thought a course of action was better than another, Rebecca knew which she was likely to follow.
"You look great." Hermione said, looking as if she wanted to say something else but was interrupted by Molly's call up the stairs for those leaving to hurry. "Just remember to stay calm, watch your mouth, and-"
"And to not do anything you wouldn't?" Rebecca finished, backing out of the bathroom with a real smile crossing her face.
"That would be best." Hermione called after her, glad to know that her friend could at least keep her high spirits. Unless, it occured to Hermione, Rebecca was pretending to keep the rest of them from worrying--that wouldn't have been outside of Rebecca's sphere of caring for them.
Fred was working in the kitchen with Molly when Rebecca entered the kitchen, fussing over details and hopping from one thing to another. "Take this and go sit down!" Molly eventually said, her tone daring him to argue.
"Eat." Fred told Rebecca, sinking into the seat next to her with a hint of bags under his eyes. "It's good for a nervous stomach."
Rebecca eyed the plate he set in front of her with wide eyes. "If I eat all of this, I'm not going to feel anything!" Fred stared at her, only blinking when she took up her fork and began to eat. "I wish you wouldn't worry like this." She said softly.
Fred's mouth turned, she was right. If he really wanted her to go off the best she could, she couldn't be worrying about him. Fred couldn't be the reason that she left headquarters anything but prepared. "Hmph."
Rebecca's mouth dropped. "Hmph?" She repeated, grinning as Fred took a bite from the heaping amount of food. "I see. Fine."
"You see what?" Fred asked, his mouth comically full.
"Did you get a haircut?" Arthur asked, sitting down at the end of the table and looking at Fred over the edge of the paper.
"Oh no." Fred answered seriously. "It's been like this for ages."
Rebecca turned the plate between them, changing what was directly in front of them. "I think it looks nice." She couldn't even believe how much she loved his shorter haircut on him. When it was longer, Rebecca hadn't known how much it covered his face, nor did she know that she was missing out on Fred running his fingers through it.
"Yeah?" Fred asked with a cheeky raise of his eyebrow.
"Oh shut it." Rebecca sighed. The two of them ate until the plate was far emptier, until Molly called that those who were going to be going needed to get a move on.
Arthur folded his paper and set it back onto the table for whomever wanted it next, smoothing his shirt. "Shall we?" He asked. The others had formed a line down the hallway to the front door and hugged, kissed, or shook hands with Harry and Rebecca as the twins followed Arthur into the first direct sunlight they had felt in over a week. "We're taking the Muggle way today." Arthur looked around to make sure no one was close enough to hear him. "Making sure no one knows where we're coming from and all."
Rebecca wished she had taken the time to look around, to fully absorb the massiveness of London, but they were taking the underground train before she even realised it. The escalator excited Arthur immensely as he'd only ever seen one other before, but the turnstiles were an obstacle all on their own.
Harry gasped and darted his hand out to catch Rebecca's arm, yanking her back onto the ground beside him. She had laid her hands on the posts to hop right over without paying for a fare. "What are you-No!" He dug around in his wallet, thankful he still had his metrocard from long before Hogwarts and even more thankful that he had enough to cover three fares on it. "We don't need to hop them, is all I mean." Harry spoke softer and without any trace of the edge from before--Rebecca's crestfallen face made him be sure of it.
The tube was busy; a weekday morning in London busy. When Arthur heard the stop he had been listening for called, he lead Harry and Rebecca out the train, back up the escalators, and back onto street level. "Here we are!" Arthur called excitedly over his shoulder, opening the telephone box door quickly. "I've never used the visitor's entrance before."
Rebecca and Harry glanced at each other nervously, but stepped into the confined space with Arthur without question.
"Let me get my Muggle money..." Arthur murmured, searching in his handful of knuts and sickles for pence. He dumped an assortment of coins into the slot and looked down to the children with a smile as the box jerked roughly once and began to descend like an elevator. When the bell dinged to signal their arrival, Arthur reached in front of them and opened the door to the Ministry of Magic.
Witches and wizards alike were on their way to offices in the many departments of the Ministry. Countless new sounds, words, and sights were in front of Harry and Rebecca and Arthur had to motion for them to follow along twice when one of them had gotten distracted. It hadn't helped, of course, that the guest entrance opened up to the floo entrance. Both sides of the hall to the side were lined with fireplaces and, at the exit of the floo hallway into the main lobby where Arthur, Rebecca, and Harry were traversing through, was a Daily Prophet salesman.
"Dumbledore: Daft or Dangerous?" The man cried out, waving a copy above his head. "Five sickles, five sickles only!"
Rebecca eyed the large hanging picture of Fudge in the atrium they entered at the end of the first hall, though her attention was caught by the large, golden statues and fountains they passed.
Arthur lead them into another elevator, this time one of a more conventional design. "Morning, Arthur!" One of the men already inside greeted Arthur warmly, entirely calm at the fact that the box in his arms was smoking.
"Morning, Bob!" Arthur glanced down at Rebecca and Harry, wanting to make sure they were okay. They were both looking up at the paper airplanes zipping into the elevator with them curiously. "Interdepartmental memos. We tried owls." Arthur winced and shook his head. "The mess was unbelievable."
Just as the elevator's doors began to close, Kingsley squeezed in and pulled Arthur to the back with him, speaking into his ear softly.
"Merlin's beard." Arthur breathed. "Thank you, Kingsley." Arthur excused himself through the people he had just been pulled through and laid a hand on Rebecca's shoulder, checking his watch. "They've changed the time for the hearing."
"When is it now?"
Arthur shook his head, disbelief coating his mouth. "In five minutes."
The elevator jerked backwards at first and moved side to side as well as up and down before eventually shuddering to a final stop after everyone else had gotten off. A woman's voice called out, "Department of Mysteries" as the doors opened.
Arthur rushed Harry and Rebecca out of the elevator and to the left down a long hallway. Rebecca's feet caught on one another at the sight waiting for them at the very far end: Lucius Malfoy talking to Cornelius Fudge.
"Bloody hell." She whispered.
Arthur nudged her back into motion. Though the sight worried him too, he tried to put her at ease. "Let's not worry before we have reason to." He stopped Harry and Rebecca before the large, black double doors. "Remember, only speak when spoken to. Stay calm, neither of you have done anything wrong." Arthur pulled them into a tight hug, one Potter for each arm. "I'm not allowed in, I'm afraid. But I will be right here the second you are finished. Okay?"
Harry and Rebecca nodded solemnly, knowing that they were about to face the room of adults that would decide whether or not their futures had any magic in it or not.
"Good luck." Arthur said softly as Rebecca stepped forward, Harry close behind her.
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Harry and Rebecca were guided by the massive doorwatcher to two tall, narrow chairs at the bottom of the room. The seats that the Wizengamot's peering eyes filled were leveled so that Rebecca felt as if she were at the bottom of a bowl.
"Disciplinary hearing of the 12th of August into offences committed by Harry James Potter and Rebecca Jane Potter Weasley. Interrogators, Cornelius Oswald Fudge-"
"Witness for defence!" Dumbledore shouted, storming into the room with a bang. "Albus Percival Wulfric Brian...Dumbledore."
Rebecca and Harry turned in their seats to watch as their headmaster entered the fenced in area their seats were in. Dumbledore surveyed the Wizengamot carefully before pausing between Harry and Rebecca and Fudge. Rebecca saw a familiar face behind Fudge and stared at it as Dumbledore stared at Fudge, but Percy ignored her gaze blatantly.
"You got our message that the time and place of the trial had changed, did you?" Fudge asked Dumbledore, a trace of bitterness in his voice.
"No, must have missed it. But, by happy mistake, I arrived three hours early." Fudge went silent after Dumbledore's words, unsure if the man was joking or not. Prompted forward by the silence, Dumbledore continued. "Charges?"
"The charges against the accused are as follows: they did knowingly and in full awareness of the illegality of doing so produce a Patronus charm, though one failed to reach corporeal status, in the presence of a Muggle." Rebecca tried to keep her face blank, to not show her anger that they announced the non-corporeal status of her patronus. The Wizengamot might not have known that it was her, but she did and her sense of shortcoming grew. "Do you deny producing patronuses as described?" Fudge asked the two of them.
"No, but-" Harry tried to explain.
"And you were aware that you were forbidden to use magic outside of school while under the age of seventeen?" Fudge asked further.
"Yes, we were, but-" Rebecca took a turn trying to explain.
"Witches and wizards of the Wizengamot," Fudge said loudly, turning to address the court.
"We only did it because of the dementors!" Rebecca said, interrupting the Minister.
"Dementors? In Little Whinging?" A witch asked confused. Not unkindly, just confused.
Fudge wagged his finger, realising that these children were trickier than he thought. "That's quite clever. Muggles can't see dementors, can they now? Highly convenient!"
"We're not lying." Harry assured. "There were two of them and if we hadn't-"
"Enough!" Fudge shouted, raising his hand to silence Harry. "I'm sorry to interrupt the beginning of whatever story you have already fed to your sister, but since you can produce no witness of the event-"
"Pardon me, Minister." Dumbledore said. "But as it happens, we can."
Harry and Rebecca's chairs slid themselves to the side of the room, an empty chair moving forward and taking their spot. Mrs Figg entered the courtroom and took her seat. Fudge refused to speak, fuming in his seat. The witch from before, who had asked about dementors in Little Whinging and who Rebecca had decided would be the one person she saved if the room caught on fire, prompted Mrs Figg's testimony on. "Please describe the attack for us. What did they look like?"
"Well," Mrs Figg said as she thought a moment. "One of them was rather large and then they two are both quite skinny. One's got the curly hair and is short while-"
"Not the children." Fudge sighed. "The dementors."
"Oh, right, right. Erm...big, cloaked." Mrs Figg continued. "Everything went cold, as though all the happiness had gone from world."
Fudge snorted condescendingly. Clearly the story had been fed to her as well. "Now look, dementors don't just wander into a Muggle suburb and happen upon magic-folk. The odds are astronomical!"
"Oh, I don't think anyone would believe the dementors were there by coincidence, Minister." Dumbledore said, crossing the floor.
A high-pitched cough rang out, a toad-like witch clearing her throat twice before speaking in an equally high-pitched voice. "I must have misunderstood you, Professor. Dementors are, after all, under the control of the Ministry of Magic. Silly of me, I know, but it sounded for a moment as though you were suggesting that the Ministry had ordered the attack on these children."
Dumbledore nodded. "That would be disturbing indeed, Madam Undersecretary. That is why I am sure the Ministry will be mounting a full-scale enquiry into why the two dementors were so very far from Azkaban and why they mounted an attack without authorisation."
Fudge narrowed his eyes at Dumbledore, feeling the cold beginning of loss creep over him.
"Of course," Dumbledore continued. "There is someone who might be behind the attack." Dumbledore stepped forward to the Minister's podium and lowered his voice. "Cornelius, I implore you to see reason. The evidence that the Dark Lord is back is incontrovertible."
Fudge's face wrinkled into a snarling scowl and Harry's hand shot out to grab Rebecca's as he feared the worst to come from the now-angered Minister's mouth. "He's not back." Dumbledore looked up at the Minister a moment longer before sighing and turning away, abandoning hope of the Minister seeing sense. Dumbledore spoke when he stood by Harry and Rebecca. "In the matter of the Potter twins, the law clearly states that magic may be used before muggles in the case of life-threatening situations."
"Laws can be changed if necessary, Dumbledore!" Fudge said loudly.
"Clearly, if it's now become practise to hold a full criminal trial to deal with a simple matter of underage magic." The Wizengamot began to stir, hearing the sense in Dumbledore's words.
The witch Rebecca liked, the kind one, spoke in the silence that formed after Dumbledore finished speaking. "Those in favour of conviction." Rebecca held her breath as Fudge, the toad-woman, and a few other hands were raised.
"Those in favour of clearing the accused of all charges." Many, many more hands were raised. Rebecca let out a breath, looking to Harry happily. Mrs Figg raised her own hand in the witness chair, but put it down quickly after realising she wasn't given a vote.
Fudge grimaced. "Cleared of all charges." He banged his gavel and stood up, leaving the courtroom quickly with Percy trailing close behind. Rebecca and Harry stood quickly as the Wizengamot began to file out, hugging each other quickly.
"Professor?" Harry called after Dumbledore's quickly receding figure. Dumbledore walked on like he hadn't heard him. "Professor?" Harry took a few steps towards the disappearing man while Rebecca walked to Mrs Figg.
"Thank you, Mrs Figg." Rebecca took the hug Mrs Figg offered immediately. "You've saved us again."
"I never saved you a first time dear." Mrs Figg spoke softly with her arms around the little girl she could hardly see in the young woman in front of her. "You did that all on your own. Though, I am glad I could help now."
Harry abandoned hope of finding wherever Dumbledore had gone off to and returned to Mrs Figg and Rebecca, holding the door open for the two as they exited. Arthur stopped pacing in the hallway and rushed towards them. "So?" He asked quickly, the happiness on all of their faces a good sign but not definitive. "All cleared?"
Harry nodded and was shocked at the speed in which Arthur had his arms around he and Rebecca for a tight hug. "Wonderful, wonderful news!" Arthur said before letting them go and introducing himself to Mrs Figg, offering her his elbow to walk back to the elevator.
"What do I always say, Harry?" Rebecca asked, bumping him with her elbow as they walked behind a ways.
"Oh, I don't know." Harry grinned. "'Fred, whatever would I-'"
"No, not that. Something about endings, perhaps?" Rebecca hinted.
Harry pursed his lips. "Nothing like an epilogue?"
Rebecca looked at him sternly. "All's well that ends well, you arse."
Harry smiled. "I knew that's what you wanted to hear, no need for names."
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Number 12 Grimmauld Place was filled to the brim with tension the morning of the trial. Molly insisted that the cleaning go on to finish the last few rooms, if anything to keep them from sitting around worrying. Fred cleaned with intention, dusting, mopping, shaking out old linens and rugs without complaint. George and Ginny stayed at his side and helped with every task, not saying a word despite their concern for their brother.
Hermione and Ron stayed at each other's side as well, talking only when necessary and keeping it brief so they could retreat back into their worry. Molly flitted about along with them, doing her best to exude an air of confidence despite her own thoughts. Without the usual playing around and laughter, they were done long before Arthur, Harry, and Rebecca could possibly return.
"How about a cake?" Molly asked. "We should bake a cake!"
Ron looked to his mum confused. "Why wouldn't you just magic it?"
That was it, Ron had decided it all for them. Molly put her hands on her hips and pointed down the stairs. They were going to bake a cake without magic. "What kind? What are we feeling?" Molly asked over her shoulder, opening the cupboards and taking out the ingredients they would need.
George, Ginny, Hermione, and Ron all looked to Fred, letting him be the decider. "She-" Fred stopped and cleared his throat, finding a lump therein he couldn't speak around. "They would both like chocolate."
"Chocolate it is then." Molly nodded and began to give orders. Hermione was sent to pick the largest eggs from the counter, Ginny to get the scale for the flour and other dry ingredients. Molly blew the dust off an old box at the back of a bottom drawer and smiled up to Fred who was following her around in need of a job. "What do you think about these?"
Fred looked away with a smile growing across his face, the first any of them had seen since the trial-goers had left. "I think that's a brilliant idea."
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Arthur brought the relieved Harry and Rebecca up to his office before they left the Ministry, excusing himself inside to collect a few things he needed to finish some assignments. "Guess our letters are due any day now then." Harry said with a smile. "Better late than never, but you relate to that a lot."
Rebecca scoffed, but let it go. It felt far better to have the Harry who didn't just pout than it would be to start a row. "Did you hear Ron and Hermione made prefect?"
"No, I hadn't! How do you know?" Harry said shocked.
"Molly mentioned it while we were having a cup a few days ago." Rebecca looked around the empty hallway. "Hermione and Ron didn't want to tell us with the trial and all. I'm so glad this is over."
"Yeah, me too." Harry looked to Rebecca with a look on his face. "You don't think Hermione's going to give us detention, do you?"
"Oh yeah." Rebecca answered instantly. "She definitely will."
Arthur exited his office with the bag at his side filled with rolls of parchment. "Onwards!" He closed the door behind him and was greeted with offers to help him carry his things. "No, no. I'm sure I'll manage. We've got to get home, I'm certain they are anxiously awaiting the results."
'Anxiously awaiting' was one way to describe the utter pandemonium that had broken out in the kitchen. Fred and George had chocolate smeared across their cheeks from 'trying' the batter while Ginny and Ron were exchanging insults over how much icing they would need.
"I'm tell you that's not enough!" Ron shouted, pointing at the bowl Ginny was stirring.
"It's exactly how much mum said!" Ginny shouted back.
Molly left Hermione in charge of saving as much of the batter as she could by getting it away from Fred and George while she hurried across the kitchen to survey the icing argument. "That's plenty, Ron!" Molly scolded, racing back across the kitchen as the bowl of batter slipped from George's hand and went flying towards the floor. Molly caught it with magic and smacked Fred and George up the head as the passed them. "You two are-"
"Woah." Rebecca said, Arthur and Harry behind her staring at the mess.
Molly whirled around at Rebecca's voice, looking at Arthur and knowing his smile only meant one thing. "Cleared?"
"Cleared of all charges!" Arthur called as the kitchen dissolved into cheers. Harry and Rebecca found themselves in the middle of everyone's relief while Arthur weaved through the children to kiss Molly.
"Erm, Fred?" Rebecca asked, leaning away as he bent down to kiss her. "What is all over your face?"
Fred reached up and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. "Cake batter." He answered matter-of-factly.
"And it's all over you because..." Rebecca asked, still not understanding.
"Because I was eating it." Fred answered cheekily, bending down for a chocolatey kiss that could have lasted forever and not been long enough. "Obviously."
"Oh yes, obviously." Rebecca stepped away from him at a sound from the front door they had hardly walked through--the clanging of letters arriving. Sorting through them slowly, Rebecca hadn't realised that Fred had followed her until he scared her into dropping the mail she hadn't even finished sorting through. "Fred!"
Fred laughed and bent to one knee to help pick up the mess he had helped make. "Yes, love?"
Rebecca peered up at him over the rim of her glasses, trying not to smile at how adorable he looked with trouble and chocolate on his face all at once. "You're a hot mess." She brought her thumb up to his cheek and found that the chocolate had dried on.
"Hot?" Fred clarified with a little smirk. "Woah, got those already?" Fred said, gesturing to the Hogwarts letters addressed to her and Harry.
"Dumbledore apparently wasn't wasting any time!" Rebecca tore the envelope open excitedly, put at ease at the fact that the words inside most certainly did state her enrollment.
Fred lifted the bottom of his shirt up and wiped at the rest of the chocolate on his face, noting how Rebecca glanced between her letter and his exposed skin. "Like what you see?" He asked, dancing goofily with his shirt going higher and higher until she slapped his hands back down. Fred felt his heartbeat go a little faster at how deeply Rebecca was blushing at being caught.
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"Happy birthday HarryandRebecca,
Happy birthday to you!"
Sirius clapped loudly, banging the table. "For they're two jolly good fellows, for they're two jolly good...No? No one? How boring of you all!"
Harry and Rebecca had both been surprised by the bringing out of a 'birthday' cake for them. In all honesty, they were surprised that any of them had remembered their birthday. Nearly two weeks before, when they were still at the Dursleys, Harry and Rebecca had exchanged somber happy birthday's and left it at that.
"Now, you've got to make your wishes!" Molly called, holding up a camera and taking a picture of the Potter twins leaning closer to their cake with their eyes shut.
"I wish that...I wish that everyone stays safe this year." Rebecca thought, knowing that that would always be what she truly wanted.
"I mean," Harry couldn't believe how hard it was for him to think of something to wish for. "I wish for Voldemort to die, but that's not really a birthday wish...I guess, I wish that-I just want things to calm down for a while, for everyone to be happy--including me." Harry took a breath and prepared to blow out the candles with Rebecca. "And a girlfriend. A girlfriend would be nice."
Rebecca jerked to the side just as a hand moved forward to push the back of her head. Fred froze, literally caught red-handed by Molly who dragged both he and George to the other side of the table. "Where did I go wrong with those two..." Molly muttered, only dropping it when she stood behind Harry and Rebecca's chairs. She smoothed their hair before kissing the top of their heads in turn. "Fifteen. I can hardly believe it!"
Rebecca and Harry watched Remus and Sirius slowly make their way behind Fred and George, the two men exacting the very trick they had just tried to pull on Harry and Rebecca. George jumped back up in his chair, wiping his face and declaring loudly that he'd know they were going to do that. Fred took a different approach, sitting pu slowly and chewing the bite he had taken when his face was in his cake.
"Not a believer in forks anyway." Fred said with a cheek grin to Rebecca. Then, he bent down and took another bite straight off the plate.
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Bill came back from work days later with a letter addressed to Rebecca. "My new colleague says that she knows you, asked me to bring this." Bill rummaged through his bag, still looking for the envelope. "Don't worry, it hasn't been cursed. I cleared it myself."
Rebecca laughed, thinking he was joking. "You work with Fleur?" Rebecca turned the letter back over and opening it. "When did that happen?"
Bill's cheeks reddened slightly. "She's taken a job in Gringotts."
Rebecca nodded, knowing that already from Fleur's compact cursive. "And you've been helping her with her English?"
"She told you that?" Bill asked quickly.
Rebecca put the letter back into its envelope to finish reading it later, heading towards the stairs. "So this is how you lot saw between Fred and I? Strange to see it myself."
"It's not like that!" Bill sputtered, running up the stairs after her.
Fred poked his head off the stair top. He had thought he'd heard Rebecca but hadn't expected to see Bill, too. "What's not like what?"
Rebecca shook her head, going to answer. "We were just talking about-"
"Nothing!" Bill cut her off. "We were talking about work."
Fred squinted down at them. "Were you talking about nothing or were you talking about work?" Fred's shoulders jumped as George shouted for him to hurry up. "Never mind. RJ, we've been summoned."
Rebecca turned and gave Bill a quick hug. "I wouldn't have said anything anyway." She whispered over his shoulder.
"I know." Bill looked at her nervously. "But you still wear every lie on your face."
Rebecca gave him a look and hurried to Fred and George's room, Fred's smile at her arrival wiping away any irritation from before. "You're going to like this!" Fred warned excitedly.
"Ta da!" George said, waving his hands as he revealed a finished logo prototype. "Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes, now in colour!"
There were two W's side by side, orange inside with a bright purple lining. Within the barriers of each letter were their names in flowy script. "Fred...Rebecca...George" Fred picked up the drawing and held it closer to the light, studying it carefully as Rebecca hugged George as excited as he had hoped she would be.
"You've got to be bloody kidding me, George!" Fred said loudly.
"What? What's the matter?" George turned to where Fred was shaking his head in disappointment. "Is it the purple and orange? You liked it--called it 'just the right amount of whimsical!'"
Fred put the paper back down and pointed a finger at the cursive. "You spelt my name wrong! It's only four letters!"
Rebecca looked closer. George had, in fact, accidentally misspelled Fred's name.
"Who's 'Ferd?'" Rebecca teased. "Do you have another twin we don't know about, George?"
George grabbed a new piece of parchment and ignored their jokes. "I don't write in cursive for a reason. Stupid cursive, with your floopy floops and letters that all look the same."
"Ferd," Rebecca called, pulling out their supplies. "Shall we whip something up for the stocks while the artist arts?"
"Yes." Fred grumbled before hugging George as he walked by. "The most magnificent artist, you mean."
"Silly me." Rebecca laid the cauldron and box of ingredients open in the floor between their beds, crossing her legs and sitting. "Blistering Bon-Bons? Seems to be what we have the least of."
"Bon-Bons it is!" Fred clapped his hands and began to flip through their prized recipe book, the pages slowly filling with their finished and in-progress ideas.
"I don't need it." Rebecca said quickly. "I've been borrowing it to read over at night."
Fred gave her a strange look. "You've been studying our recipes?"
Rebecca looked at him blankly, feeling the wall pop up immediately. "You two already have them all memorised and I feel like a first year having to take the book out every time."
"You look like one, too." George remarked, spinning in his seat. "What's up with clipping your hair like this?"
Fred put the book down and spun George back around, hitting him as he did. "Shut it, illiterate idiot." Fred sat down and watched how Rebecca laid out the ingredients by step, not an error in sight. He caught her wrist and held her hand a moment, making her pause. "I think it looks brilliant."
Rebecca blushed, but didn't say anything. George, however, did. "I can hear you! What do you think I am? Deaf?"
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"I want your lists!" Molly shouted up the stairs two days before they were all set to go back to school. "Bring me your lists!"
The kids clambered down the stairs noisily, getting Sirius' attention from where he sat at the table with the day's paper. "Did you raise a herd of elephants, Molly?"
Molly looked at Sirius and walked towards him, deciding it might be easier to lay out their lists by year instead of flipping through them while she compiled. "Have you never noticed that you walk just like them? You all sound as if you've got lead in your shoes!"
Sirius shook his head. "I would never. I'm Padfoot, not Stonefoot. I'm stealthy like a bloody samurai."
Molly rolled her eyes and let the subject drop, the first of the children entering the room. "I'm off to Diagon Alley this morning."
The kids smiles faded as they realised that they wouldn't be going with her. "Only you?" Ron asked.
"Yes, only me." Molly gave them all a forced smile. "Order's orders, it's not safe enough for-"
"Then how is it safe enough for you?" George asked crossly. Not only had he planned on sneaking off to the apothecary for supplies to last until the first Hogsmeade trip, he didn't like how the Order made it seem as if Molly wasn't important.
"Are you talking to me?" Molly asked, her voice dangerous. "I know you're not talking to me, not with that tone." George didn't say anything, glaring at the table ahead silently. "That's what I thought." Molly sighed and held out her hands. "Your lists, please."
Harry, Rebecca, and Hermione slid them over and ran upstairs to collect money from their things while Molly began to transfer all of the items into one, large list. "I'll be back before supper. Make sure your rooms are tidied, the things you already have are in your trunks, and that the house is still in one piece when I return."
Sirius stood and stretched. "Don't fret, Molly. I'll be here, too."
Molly furrowed her brow, looking at them all very seriously. "One piece."
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Rebecca was woken up the middle of the night before they were leaving for Hogwarts by a hand shaking her awake gently. She opened her eyes and woke quickly, confused and still half-asleep; half in the dream that she was already forgetting details about but not how it made her heart race. "Fred?" Rebecca asked, seeing who had woken her and sitting up. She reached for her glasses clumsily, the draught from her tea still well-in-effect. "What's wrong?"
Fred smiled and raised his finger to his lips. "Night before school. Figured it was my year to take you on an adventure, yeah?"
Rebecca yawned and swung her legs out of bed, slipping into her house slippers she usually wore around the common room during term while Fred crept out of the girls' room ahead. He was exceptionally quiet as he wanted to make sure Ginny and Hermione slept on. "Where're we going?" Rebecca asked filled with curiosity, though her query was punctuated by another yawn.
Fred lead her to a door that she hadn't noticed before, at the far end of the hall of their bedrooms. He shrugged, but his eyes shown with a secret he wasn't telling her. He lead her up a set of stairs that continued on and on and on. By the time they reached the top of the round, metal spiral of stairs, Rebecca was more awake.
Fred opened the door at the very top to reveal the uppermost room of the house. It was a long, narrow room with a sloped ceiling opposite a wall of dark curtains. Fred turned the lamp just inside the door on. "George and I found this room when we were trying to hide from mum and cleaning." He chuckled, remembering the afternoon fondly. "I'm not really sure what it is exactly, but I wanted to show it to you."
Fred reached out and grabbed the tassel of the dark, light-blocking drapes that filled the room with a velvet darkness. Behind was a window the length of the house.
"Wow." Rebecca breathed, walking closer. "I see why you wanted to show it to me."
"Yeah?" Fred smiled and walked up behind her, looking out. London stretched out in the distance, a collection of innumerable twinkling lights that glittered against the night sky where the stars shined on brilliantly. Fred grabbed the blanket and laid it out before sitting down and looking up to her happily. "Beautiful, isn't it?"
Rebecca sat on the floor next to him, laying her head against his chest as he put his arm around her. "It's spectacular! I don't think I've ever seen this much of London before."
"I can't believe there are so many lights." Fred said. It was the brightest night he had ever seen before.
"I know." Rebecca shook her head in awe. "There electric bills must be-"
"That's what you're thinking about right now?" Fred asked before beginning to laugh. "Their utilities?"
Rebecca grinned cheekily, his teasing tone contagious. "What are you thinking about right now if not the sheer amount of resources being used?"
Fred looked over her face, trying to memorise each individual reflection of the stars against her eyes with the hope of imparting it with the Infunde charm once back at school. "I'm thinking about..." His eyes darted down to her lips before returning to her shockingly green eyes. "I'm thinking about you."
Rebecca brought her hand to his cheek as he leaned down and kissed her, gently at first and then with more need. When Fred finally pulled his lips from hers, it was only because they were both breathless and red-faced. She pecked his lips once more before leaning her head against his arm. The two of them looked out the window at the urban, illuminated wonderland spread out before them at happy and at peace.
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