Chapter 23
"Are you still in pain?"
"No." Rebecca tilted her head and had an inkling of a feeling that she would irritate Madam Pomfrey. "Well, not a lot."
"None at all would be preferable." Madam Pomfrey sighed. "What about your headaches? Anything to report?" Rebecca shook her head. Miraculously, after the resting draught had let her rest uninterrupted, she really only felt a lagging tiredness. "I take it you have heard the pestering whispers, then? Do you feel like you can manage it?"
Rebecca took a moment to think, which Madam Pomfrey appreciated. It showed that the girl was doing just that--thinking. The schools within the castle were growing impatient, eager to get on to the end-of-tournament feast and the beginning of summer holidays. "I don't think lying in bed anymore is going to help anything. I'm good to go, if you think so too."
Across the Hospital Wing, since privacy had been called for during Madam Pomfrey's checking, Arthur took a moment to speak to Fred. "I wanted to tell you-"
"I know it was shameful." Fred said quickly, looking to the ground. "I know I was. I-I don't know what it is, dad. When I think about losing her, I just lose it and I don't-"
"Clearly, son." Arthur chuckled and grew serious as Fred did not join his laughter. Wrapping his arms around Fred tightly, Arthur laid his head onto of his son's. "It's love, Fred. That's what happens when you love someone and their hurt or in danger." Arthur cleared his throat. "What I wanted to tell you before you interrupted was that...that I'm proud of you."
Fred looked up at his dad and furrowed his brow, confused. "Really?"
"Really." Arthur sighed. "I've said it before, I'll say it again: Weasley's feel deeply. It's in our nature, especially when our hearts are brought into question."
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"As we sit in this hall today, our celebration is plagued with solemnity and grave circumstance." Dumbledore's voice echoed out into the Great Hall as every ear was turned with the utmost of attention. Whispers followed Harry, Rebecca, and Cedric. Whispers and stares. Fred had yet to leave Rebecca's side for longer than it took her to change, and he held her hand tighter as Dumbledore continued on. "Three days ago, during the final event, two of our champions were taken from our grounds--tricked by Lord Voldemort and his accomplices."
The older students gasped. They were old enough to have been told about the horror and darkness of Voldemort's previous regime, and the younger students looked around fearfully as the mood of the room plummeted. Eyes around Harry and Cedric grew wary, accusatory.
"The Ministry of Magic does not wish me to tell you this." Dumbledore shook his head softly. "But to not do so would be an insult to you all, an insult to your intelligence and your ability to cope with frightening news."
Harry looked to his side as a hand crept into his, Hermione the culprit. She managed a smile for him, trying to remind him that he wasn't as alone as he was making himself feel. He returned a grimace, but kept his hand in hers.
"The unthinkable was managed yesterday," Dumbledore raised his arm and gestured to Harry and Cedric in turn. "Two of our champions witnessed the return of Lord Voldemort and are still with us today. This fair fortune will not last." Dumbledore raised his voice and his tone, changing his pace. "But, as we sit in this room from different lands, speaking different tongues, our hearts beat as one. In light of these recent events, the friendships forged this year will be more important than ever."
Fleur held Gabrielle tighter against her side and kissed her forehead, Cedric's mates on either side of him scooted closer.
Dumbledore tapped his wand to his podium and the trophy appeared in front of him. "Now, as both Harry and Cedric made it back at the same time, with the same amount of points, the judges and I faced quite a predicament. We deliberated for many hours on who was to be claimed the final champion, but the decision was made for us by Mr Diggory himself."
Cedric caught Harry's eyes from the Hufflepuff table and nodded before catching Rebecca's and finding himself completely overrun with emotion. He would have given it up in a heartbeat, ironically, if it meant that he could have more life. With the opportunity he had been given, there was no question as to what would happen with the tournament's outcome.
"The Triwizard Tournament champion of champion's is," Dumbledore paused for dramatic effect, ever the lover of it. "Harry Potter!"
Rebecca was the first student to clap and the first to rise to her feet as Harry made his way to the cup, applause growing from a soft thunder to a roar. She felt someone looking at her and glanced up at Fred, not expecting him to be on the verge of tears. "Darling?"
The pet name pushed him over the edge and he buried his face in the crook of her neck, holding her until he felt strong enough to stand on his own again. "Sorry, love. I just-"
"Don't be stupid." Rebecca waved her hand at him. "No apologies until they're needed." Fred went to say something else, probably a retort that wouldn't have made sense entirely, but found his mouth otherwise occupied as Rebecca kissed him deeply.
Fairly hidden underneath the continued applause, Fred blushed deeply when she let go of him. "If that's what I get for being stupid, I will be every second of every day."
Albus shook Harry's hand and conversed with the winner as the crowd in front of them clapped on. "The cup, you'll find, will be put on display in the trophy room and the galleons are awaiting instruction as to where to be dispersed."
"The galleons?" Harry asked, having long forgot about the monetary prize included in the winnings.
"One thousand of them, all yours."
"I don't want them, sir." Harry wondered if there were Wizarding donation houses. "I don't need them."
Dumbledore smiled and glanced over to where Harry's friends sat. "Perhaps you know a cause that does. Though, I am afraid I must ask you to pass on that the Puking Pastilles are fairly flavourless. They need more work."
Harry grinned up at the headmaster, unable to even imagine why he would eat one of the first prank sweets making their way out of George, Fred, and Rebecca's hands. "Voldemort. His return. Are we safe this summer? Is she going to be safe?"
The applause began to wind down and Dumbledore answered Harry's questions softly before directing him back to his seat. "For now, yes. I think you'll be pleased to hear that you two shall spend the first half of the summer with your aunt and uncle and the second half with the Weasleys."
"Really?" Harry's smile returned and grew larger. "Thank you, sir."
"I only wrote a letter, Harry." Dumbledore waved Harry away, though the boy knew better. As Harry walked back to his seat, grinning at the sight waiting for him--Rebecca had Ron under the crook of her elbow, miming that she was choking him while Hermione scolded them ferociously and tried to get them to pay attention again. "And yet, we'll find that no matter the terrors, no matter the troubles we face, we are there for each other. I have said plenty tonight, though I must thank both Mr Karkaroff and Madam Maxine for spending the year with us, as well as the students of Durmstrang and Beauxbatons. This year, while trying, was made all the better by your company and your presence. Now," Dumbledore clapped his hands. "Let's eat!"
Ron pulled himself from Rebecca the second the food appeared, spooning supper of his usual proportions onto his plate and digging in. Hermione, still not through scolding for the evening, harped on Ron's manners while Ginny joined in, copying Hermione word for word until Hermione turned onto her. Harry laughed with their friends, enjoying the happiness that quickly took hold of the Great Hall as the final dinner of the year went well underway.
"Love," Fred said to Rebecca as they began to eat, his voice quiet enough to not include the others. "We had a conversation while you were in the Hospital Wing; when you were...a little confused."
Rebecca face reddened as he brought it up. "Yes, I remember. Why on earth would you bring a cloud over the feast?"
"I don't think it's a cloud." Fred argued, a small frown growing across his lips. "I know you said you remember what you had said, but I wasn't sure if you remembered what I had said."
"I'm pretty sure I remember?" Rebecca said and asked at the same time, sliding closer to him on the bench to scare away his frown. "Why? What're you thinking about?"
Fred entwined his fingers through hers, holding her hand on top of her leg. "Well, first I said how much I love you and agreeing that it can be scare how much I love you and how certain I am that I am never going anywhere without telling you that you don't ever need to worry about that again."
Rebecca pecked his cheek. "Heard and remembered. Was that all?"
Fred continued on like Rebecca hadn't asked if he was through, unable to stop the flood of words coming out of him even if he wanted to. "But I'm not just in love with you, I'm in love with everything about you--as much as I fought against it. I love the small things like how you chew your lip while you're thinking or before you say something someone doesn't want to hear. I love how your curls pop back up as they dry." Fred squeezed her hand. "And I also love the big things. I love how you defend anyone from anything, no matter what will come back at you. With that, I also love that you do everything you can when someone needs help. I just have to become a better person to do the same thing."
"You are already the best person, Fred." Rebecca looked up at him. "I can't remember how I said it when Madam Pomfrey poisoned me, but I made my choice. I choose you, I choose Harry, I choose our friends, I choose our family...But I will always choose to save, too."
Fred nodded and brought the back of her hand to his lips. "And I love all of that, too. One day my heart will be as good as yours, just wait and see."
"Your heart is perfect as it is." Rebecca leaned forward to kiss him. "It has to be."
"Why?"
Rebecca blushed, pulling a card from Fred's deck and being the romantic fool. "Because my heart is yours, just as you said before."
Harry noticed how George eyed the romantic exchange of those across from them with a morose look on his face, George's fork busy pushing his food around instead of eating it. "Hey, George?" Harry asked, knowing exactly how it felt to be the third-wheel twin.
"Hmm?" George grunted.
"I've got something for you." Harry spoke quietly, not wanting the others to hear him. "Something for you, Fred, and Rebecca really. You can tell them now or later, it's up to you."
George was entirely interested. He set his utensil down and listened as Harry explained how the the 1000 galleons would be put into an account for the three of them as soon as he went to Diagon Alley next.
"It's for your shop, for your ingredients." Harry had been one of the few souls Rebecca had told about Weasley's Wizard Wheezes when Fred and George had first introduced the idea to her. "It's for being there for her all year when I couldn't.
George hugged Harry tightly, whispering how family takes care of family, how they would all take care of the Potters as if they were both their own. When George was done, he ate with a renewed vigour and decided to wait to tell the two of them later.
"That was sweet." Hermione said, knowing everything as per usual.
"It was the right thing to do." Harry said, taking a massive piece of treacle tart from the desserts that had appeared. "The right thing and the deserved thing."
Hermione smiled, though her smile faded when Harry told her about what Dumbledore had said when he was at the front of the Great Hall. "Have you told her yet?"
Harry shook his head. "No, not yet. I figured I would wait until we're packing tonight. YOu know she's always the first done and makes her rounds to help." Harry and Hermione both glanced at Fred and Rebecca when they began to laugh loudly, trying to eat with opposite hands than usual so that they didn't have to take their arm from around the other. "I don't want their evening ruined."
Ron joined their conversation teasingly, poking his fork at the two of them. "It could stand a little saddening. They're disgusting."
Fred and Rebecca heard the youngest Weasley boy and studied him, looking him over top to bottom before turning back to each other. "Jealous, right?" Fred asked.
"So, so very jealous." Rebecca agreed. "You think he'll get a girlfriend?"
"No, I don't." Fred said certainly. "Can he really love someone that will eat his food?"
Ron scowled and told them off, launching into a discussion about public displays of affection. Harry sat back in his bench and finished his dessert, the tart failing to taste as sweets as normalcy did.
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"Are you sure you want to-"
"Yes, Hermione." Rebecca interrupted, already knowing exactly where the question was going to go. Rebecca's friends had taken Madam Pomfrey's advisement to 'take it easy' to their hearts and had already colluded to not letting her pack her trunk on her own, nor lift or carry anything heavy. "I'll walk down the stairs one at a time before crossing the common room, slowly walking up the boys' stairs, and seeing if any of them want any help organising their trunks, maybe they'll let me fold their briefs or-"
"I get it!" Hermione shouted from the other side of their room. "You better not exert yourself being so cheeky!"
"Exert?" Rebecca laughed at the door and shook her head. "It's all natural." Though she had been teasing, Rebecca did do exactly as she had said. She was feeling almost back to normal, just hints of the night days before following her. Knocking on the door to Ron and Harry's dorm, she announced the arrival of help. "Anyone want someone to take a look?"
"I'd love you to!" Neville said quickly, taking out the plant he wasn't sure was packed safe enough. "Professor Sprout gave me this plant and I can't-Oh," Neville blushed. "You weren't talking to me, were you?" He apologised quickly.
"Don't be sorry!" Rebecca lowered herself to the ground next to Neville, drawing concerned looks from Harry and Ron that she didn't notice. "It'll give those two a chance to actually start. Say," Rebecca looked at the plant in Neville's arms carefully. "What is this? I would have guessed Roaring Rhododendron, but it's not the right colour, is it?"
Neville was overjoyed and started talking about how it was actually a Welsh Chromium Daisy. They ended up rearranging a corner of his trunk to stack books around the pot and fill in the gaps with loose clothes for cushioning, talking all the while. "This is perfect!" Neville said, fitting his other belongings into the empty spots left. "Thank you!"
Rebecca laughed and ruffled his hair as she stood up, eyeing the state of Ron's trunk with a face. "Are those clean, Ron?" Ron's crinkle of his nose answered her long before his words could have. "Nope. Dirty clothes are past the line. You are absolutely foul."
Ron scoffed. "They're mostly clean."
"Harry, do you need any help?" Rebecca asked, turning away from Ron's mess. Harry shook his head. "Well, I'm hiding in here then. George said he was waiting for me to help him 'get started' and that really just means he's not starting until I'm there."
Harry moved from his desk chair to his bed, sitting beside Rebecca and putting his back to the headboard like she was. "I actually had something to bring up...to you..."
"Yeah?" Rebecca asked, laying her head against his shoulder. "You alright?"
Harry hesitated. "I have to tell you-You know, maybe we should talk about this."
"Talk about what?" Rebecca asked, confused as to why his tone changed so suddenly. "Harry?"
"This thing you do with your face!" Harry frowned. "It's not fair."
"My face?"
"Don't act like you don't know." Harry scoffed and rolled his eyes. "As soon as you think bad news is coming, boom! You've put some sort of shield up. The only reason I know you're worried is because you don't look worried!"
Rebecca tried to understand him, but failed. "I don't-"
"Of course you don't." Harry's irritation faded into amusement and he couldn't help a smile. "I'm only changing the subject anyway, I guess. I have to tell you something...Dumbledore heard back from the Dursleys."
Rebecca's mask was gone at that, gone into a scowl. "Those dirty, no-good, bastards! I'm sor-"
"They agreed to have you, so long as we both leave the second half of summer." Harry tucked away the look on Rebecca's face as she froze in her insults and apologies. "You'll spend the first half of the summer with me and from there we'll go to the-we'll go to yours."
Rebecca blinked. "Molly and Arthur know this already?"
"It was only decided in the last few days." Harry furrowed his brow. "I would imagine Dumbledore told them."
Rebecca still hadn't moved, though Harry could see the wheels in her brain turning faster and faster. "So-"
"Wait," Ron spoke from the foot of his bed, nearly done cramming his things into his trunk. "Going with you tomorrow as in tomorrow-tomorrow?"
"Don't worry, Ron!" Rebecca said, her face set in a smile. "It's great news! This is what I was aiming for, to spend time with you over there." She sat up and swung her legs off the bed, her voice losing some of its plasticity as her thoughts carried further. "Fred and George don't happen to know, do they?"
Harry shook his head. "I didn't know how you would want to tell him-I mean them. I figured I'd let you know first."
Rebecca paused at the door and turned back to Harry Ron as she realised she was leaving without saying anything at all. "I'm going to go...do that...now."
Harry sighed and turned to Ron who was now laying on his side with his hand propped under his head. "Nice job, mate." Ron congratulated.
"Stuff it!" Harry said, swinging the pillow Rebecca had just freed at his face.
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Rebecca thumped her hands along the wall to Fred and George's room, drumming along the door frame as she entered and caught both of their attention. "What's that? A storm? Nope." She slid into the spot beside Fred on his bed, laying her head against his arm. "Just me."
"There's no 'just' about you." Fred said softly, kissing the top of her head while George rolled his eyes. "Except for 'just beautiful' or 'just perfect' or 'just-"
"We get it!" George cried out, falling to the floor with his hand on his chest. "Oh Merlin, this is it. He's done it now. This is the end!"
"Are you ready to go home?" Fred asked, his excitement not passing onto Rebecca as a shadow crossed her face. "I already asked mum--she said that we can go to Diagon Alley every Thursday when the new ingredients go on sale. We've got to start collecting or else we aren't going to be able to keep up with the summer orders and stock up for fall. Plus, we have to-"
"No!" George jumped to his feet, miraculously revived. "Not another word, fair lady and...Fred!"
Fred scrunched his nose. "Why am I not a fair lady?"
"We will not be scavenging the clearance!" George proclaimed, ignoring Fred's protest. "Nor will we be looking through bins or any other plot you two manage to talk me into."
"Why?" Rebecca prodded George along as his dramatic pause extended too long.
"We have received a generous gift." George said at last, lowering his arms to his sides and giving them a theatrical bow. "A gift generous enough to afford supplies and-"
"Supplies!" Fred said loudly, cutting George off in the middle of his sentence.
George was frustrated for a moment. Frustrated with being the third wheel, though he would never hold it against Fred or Rebecca as they both meant so much to him. Frustration that made him continue speaking even though he felt a flash of regret when he was finish. "I'm done waiting to say something!" George snapped. "You're taking too long, we need her input. Rebecca," George sat down on his bed, his knees bumping against Fred and Rebecca's. "We want to move farther with Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes. We want to look into opening a shop when we're done with school."
Rebecca had thought that was always the plan, so Fred's now-shown reluctance to tell her had her very confused. But, pushing that to the back of her mind for a moment, Rebecca blurted out a confession of her own. "I just learned I'm going with Harry for the first half of summer!"
"What?" Fred and George asked in unison."
"I figured since we were all sharing things..." Rebecca's voice trailed off as Fred's hand found hers again.
"The first half?" Fred repeated incredulously, his mind still reeling. "The first...half? The first five weeks?"
"I asked Dumbledore to intervene ages ago, to see if the Dursleys would take me for a little bit." She didn't want to reveal anything about Harry he wouldn't want them to know, but she couldn't help a minor justification. "Harry always seems so...I don't know. I had no idea about everything that would happen when I asked." Rebecca looked to George and tried to change the subject so Fred would remember to breathe. "But a shop? That's brilliant!"
George agreed entirely. "We've got enough money now to finish the Skiving Snackboxes and get quite a stock built up before term starts again!"
"Four weeks." Fred repeated quietly, his eyes still stuck on Rebecca.
"Fred, it won't be that-"
"That will be the longest we have ever been apart in the entire time we've been-we've known each other."
Rebecca quickly thought through the years that they had known each other and realised he was shockingly right. "That true, but this is really important. Harry shouldn't be off on his own so soon after the end of this year anyway."
Fred's tone turned nearly desperate. "They have starved him!" He tried to soften his tone, to keep from sounding as if he could possibly angry with her and not the universe for both making her so good and making the circumstances of Harry's home so bad. "They have put bars on his windows and tried to keep him from school! Not to mention," Fred's voice cracked. "They made him live in a bloody cupboard!"
George's head shot up from where he had turned and rummaged through his trunk, not knowing that before. Rebecca had only told Fred that in confidence after Harry had told her and it filled her with a hurt she couldn't fix on her own.
"He has a room now." Rebecca said gently, bringing her hand to his arm and turning her body so she faced him. "Besides, if anything like that happens, I know exactly who is going to show up and save the day." George smiled and made it so he was farther away, giving them a little more privacy as they laid down on Fred's bed so they faced each other. Not too much more privacy, mind you. "We'll have Hedwig, too. Harry's not the most frequent writer so we'll be able to write all the time. Plus! Plus, we can call too!"
Fred kissed her softly. "Can't stick that on an owl or send it through the felly-fun, though."
Rebecca smiled. "I know, darling. I know."
George had given them plenty of pseudo-privacy and was feeling incredibly neglected. He jumped onto Fred's bed so that he lay on top of Fred and Rebecca at the same time. "Boo hoo! Now what about what I said?"
Rebecca and Fred groaned as George wiggled excitedly. "Your news is brilliant, George!" Rebecca cried out, laughing all the while.
"Get off!" Fred groaned. "You're going to leave us lopsided!"
"Too late." Rebecca teased as George scooched off of them and lay behind Fred, leaning his head up over his brothers so that he looked at Rebecca. "I'm only playing, George. Of course, I'm going to miss you."
"I knew you were joking." George reassured. "But a shop though...Can you imagine?"
Imagine they could. The three of them started to brainstorm what order Fred and George should take when making the treats outlined in their idea book.
"Don't work too hard though!" Rebecca said quickly. "I don't want to get back and end up tying ribbons for five weeks."
"Isn't she bossy, Fred?" George asked, rolling backwards and hopping off of Fred's bed before resuming his packing.
Fred grinned and nodded before kissing Rebecca again, now needing to fit half-a-summer's worth into ont evening.
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George had brought his pajamas into the bathroom with him later in the evening, a while after Fred and Rebecca's conversation had dwindled and he savoured the feeling of her sleeping body beside him. After yawning one too many times, Fred insisted that she rest if tired. Rebecca tried to argue against wasting the hours they had before they would be apart, but Fred only smiled and arranged himself so that her head lay on his chest and he could play with her hair.
Down the hall, Harry jumped to his feet and stood beside his trunk as a guest joined he and Ron in their room. Dumbledore reached down and latched Ron's trunk for him, making it so Ron didn't have to lay across the top any longer. "It may help to fold the clothes next time." Dumbledore remarked, glancing up at the curtains beside Harry's head. "You know, I never did like these curtains. Set them on fire my fourth year--by accident, of course."
Harry grinned, thinking about how Ron had more than once considered lighting the curtains on fire.
"I put you in terrible danger this year, Harry." Dumbledore lowered his voice so that the conversation was only between he and Harry. "I'm sorry."
"Rebecca too." Harry said immediately. "She was in danger just as I was." There would be no apology, no remark about the year and its hardships that Harry would accept unless she was lumped in beside him.
"Yes." Dumbledore's eyes twinkled. "I owe her the same apology. I'm headed down the hall next."
Harry's smile returned, albeit dimmer than before, at the thought of she and Fred comforting each other before their separation. Harry found the perfect opportunity to ask Dumbledore something that had been bothering him and took it. "Professor, when I was in the graveyard, there was a moment when..." It was hard for him to willingly bring the topic back up. "...when my wand and Voldemort's wand connected. Our parents came out the end, along with Cedric."
"Priori Incantatem." Dumbledore said matter-of-factly. "For all magic time, there's never been a spell to resurrect the dead, not entirely. What Rebecca does...it's unexplainable. It's unimaginable! But your parents are gone." Dumbledore frowned. "Dark and difficult times lie ahead."
Harry looked down, not knowing how times ahead could be any more difficult that the year coming to a finish.
"But listen to this: You have friends here. You're not alone." Dumbledore patted Harry's shoulder before standing and making his way out of their room.
"Don't worry too much, Harry." Ron said, groaning as he realised he'd packed without leaving anything out to wear the next day. "How much worse can your track-record really get for poor years at school?"
Before too much time had passed and her nap turned into a night's sleep, Fred woke Rebecca up gently. Perfectly enough, Dumbledore appeared in his doorway minutes later. "Yes, sir." Fred said quickly, sitting up in his bed as Rebecca scrambled for her glasses. "We are aware of the rules, it's just-"
"Harry has just told you about the summer's arrangement?" Dumbledore finished with a slight tease in his voice. "No rules have broken here. The boys' are not allowed up the girls' stairs. I am not here for a scolding, though. Far from it actually. May I have a moment, Rebecca?"
Fred untangled his arm underneath Rebecca's head and disappeared into the hallway, tossing over his shoulder a poor excuse. "I've got to go...get a book f-from someone. I'll leave you two."
Rebecca smiled after Fred and sat across from Dumbledore, sitting up straighter as he cleared his throat. "I just spoke with Harry and wanted to tell you the same. I put you both in danger this year and for that I apologise deeply." Dumbledore explained how there would be dark times ahead before going a step farther than he did with Harry. "There will be a time soon when we must all choose between doing what is right and what is easy."
Rebecca thought on the question proposed, but knew her answer almost immediately. "I'll choose what is right, sir. Choosing what's wrong is hard enough."
Dumbledore bowed his head, impressed with the answer. "I know you will. I have faith in your decision-making. Now, I'm afraid I must chat and run. There's a lot a headmaster has to do before he finds himself with an empty school." Pausing at the door after a thought nagged him too hard to be ignored, Dumbledore spoke once more. "Rebecca?"
Rebecca looked to him.
"Remember..." Dumbledore's eyes grew distant. "Remember that love is not constricted by any distance or time apart, but the lengths to which we would go for another."
"Thank you, sir." Rebecca waved as he left her and called out to him. "Have a happy summer!"
Fred, who had waited at the end of the hall, planned on hurrying back to his room to kiss Rebecca good night and walk her to the stairs. His plans were delayed when Dumbledore stopped to talk to him as well. "Mr Weasley? I feel it's necessary to let you know a piece of information I am privy to."
Fred nodded, confused but intrigued.
"Mr Bagman is now wanted for multiple counts of underage gambling, failing to settle past debts, among a few other, undesirable things."
Fred grinned. "Really? That's a right shame."
"Try smiling less next time you say that." Dumbledore chuckled as he made his way down the stairs and out of the common room, heading back to his office to finish the paperwork necessary to coordinate the exit of three schools.
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A massive crowd had formed in the various courtyards around the front of the castle and, for the first time that year, the reason wasn't bad. The students from all the schools that had been at Hogwarts that year gathered in their mixed groups to say goodbye to friends of new and old.
"Herm-on-inny!" Viktor called after his friend, bringing a smile to Rebecca's face from underneath Fred's arm. "This is for you." Viktor put the piece of paper he had into Hermione's hands quickly. "Write to me, promise." He walked away only when Hermione had agreed to his terms, blowing her a kiss as he backed away towards the other Durmstrang boys. Harry and Rebecca got nods in turn, but for the most part, Viktor's attention lie solely on Hermione.
"It's not like that." Hermione said as she turned back to Rebecca. "We've been working on his English."
"Mhmm." Rebecca teased, turning her face into Fred's arm to hide her smile as Hermione began to scold her.
Ron and Harry sat on the ends of their trunks, along the outskirts of their group. They were really just waiting for the dismissal to begin when Gabrielle ran in front of them with Fleur right behind. Both girls kissed Ron and Harry on the cheek before stepping back and bidding them goodbye properly. "Au revoir, mes garçons."
Ron sucked in a deep breath as Fleur and Gabrielle searched for Rebecca in the swarm of red-hair. "Something's happening there. I can feel it, mate."
Harry winced. "Sure there is."
"Rebecca?" Fleur asked, pretending she couldn't see Rebecca.
"Ha. Ha." Rebecca stepped away from Fred to wrap her arms around the older girl. "I see Ron's cheeks from here, say goodbye already?"
"You can say that." Fleur and Rebecca giggled before Fleur grew more serious. "For you, if you want to write." Fleur tapped the address on the paper. "And in case you ever find yourself in France."
"Have a good summer, Fleur." Fred said before he kissed Rebecca quickly and excused himself, the exit of the guest schools beginning. The Durmstrang boys filed their way back to their boat while the Beauxbatons girls made their way back to the carriages and winged horses.
Rebecca caught sight of Harry meandering towards the now-empty courtyard and followed along at Ron's wave to join them. Rebecca looked over her shoulder to see if Fred had returned from wherever he had gone off to, but couldn't find him in the crowd waiting for the train.
Ron jumped up onto the stonewall beside Harry, sitting on the top easily. He sniggered as Rebecca tried to do the same and failed. "Do you think we'll ever have a quiet year?" Ron asked between bouts of laughter, laughter that couldn't fully end as Rebecca climbed up hilariously.
Hermione laughed and gave Rebecca the last nudge she had needed. "No, no I don't think so." Rebecca nodded her head in agreement, breathless but sitting up beside Ron.
"Probably not." Harry added.
Ron shrugged. "What's life without a few dragons?"
"Peaceful? Safe? Quiet? Probably less flammable?" Rebecca offered, forcing Ron to push her shoulder and leave her teetering backwards.
Hermione watched Ron jump off the very wall Rebecca had just managed to climb up on and felt a shadow cross her heart. "Everything's going to change now, isn't it?"
Rebecca slid down to the ground, finding herself unable to speak again. The truth was that everything was already changing, that was undeniable. But that wasn't going to comfort Hermione, which Rebecca wanted more than anything.
Harry put his arm around Hermione and lay his head on her shoulder. "Yes, it will."
Hermione nodded and put her other arm around Rebecca, holding her Potter twins closely. They were such magnets for trouble, it sometimes left Hermione's heart racing and her head light. "Promise you'll write this summer, all of you?"
Rebecca smiled. "I'll be with Harry the first bit, so you'll at least hear from him about me."
Ron shrugged, sticking his hands into his pockets with a little smile. "You know I won't." The ultimate joke, considering he and Hermione wrote more often through the summer than any other pair of their friends.
"We've really got to go." Rebecca said, finally catching sight of Fred next to George at the back of the line making its way into the Hogwarts' Express.
"Five weeks is an awfully long time." Ron said quietly, not-so-subtly hinting for Rebecca to go on.
"You're right, Ron." Hermione exacted her revenge for all the Viktor teases. "A long, long time to go without someone's 'fa-favourite to kiss.'"
Rebecca narrowed her eyes at both of them, but hurried ahead all the same. She leaned into Fred's bend-down embrace and kissed him while George pretended to ignore them.
Ron slapped Harry's back, taking his other side so Harry was between Ron and Hermione. "Good luck to you, mate. I already know Fred's going to drive us bloody bonkers."
"I think we'll be alright." Harry said, defending Rebecca unaware of some of her tendencies.
Hermione sighed. "Harry, if she talks about him just half as much to you as she does Ginny and I in our room, you're still going to need all the luck you can get."
The three of them laughed loudly, marvelling internally at how deeply the quiet, mysterious 'Lost Potter' had brought them together.
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The ride went off without a hitch, the train well on its way when the first snag was hit. George sat up from where he had let his head fall back, his eyes wide. "What about marketing?! We always get our slogans from you and-"
Rebecca raised her eyebrows at George's panic, finding it slightly flattering. "You're going to be writing and calling so often, you'll hardly notice I'm not even there." George did not look enthused with her first offer, so she sighed and relented a little. "I'll send my best when you describe whatever it is you come up with."
Fred sighed and slid off the bench onto the floor, holding his fists up towards the sky with a theatrical grimace. "It's...going to be agony!"
"It's going to be fine." Rebecca said, holding her hand out above his face until he opened his mouth and took the bean she offered.
Fred made a face. "Stop giving me the yellow ones, love!" He whinged.
"Which one was that?" Rebecca asked, shaking the box and wrinkling her nose. "Thought that one was safer than others."
"Popcorn." Fred gagged.
This launched Ron into a very detailed, very personally-taken discussion as to how popcorn was one of the best yellow flavours and how Fred ought to show it a little more respect. When the train whistle blew its final whistle and began to slow to an eventual stop, the lot stormed out of the compartment with far too much knowledge about sweets.
"Ron!" Hermione said loudly. "We get it! You really know you Bertie Bott's!"
Ron scowled and crossed his arms, sticking his tongue out at her when she had her back to him. "Fine. I'll just exist silently."
Ginny nodded. "Excellent, 'bout time." She continued her conversation with hardly any indication Ron had ever said anything.
"There." Ron said an approximate thirty seconds later. "I existed silently. I never said how long."
Harry and Rebecca smiled at each other as they exited their train and made it to the Muggle's side of King's Cross. Molly and Arthur were there, their arms wrapping around the Potter children before theirs as they had such little time to hold them.
"Only Vernon is here." Arthur whispered to them quickly. "Write frequently, call even more so. We love you both so very much."
Molly kissed each of their foreheads, cupping their cheeks a moment. "Five weeks will pass in a blink." Moving onto the required maternal reminders, Molly looked at Rebecca sternly. "Do not forget your draught, Rebecca. Do not 'not be thirsty' or-Just, just promise you'll drink it and give me some peace of mind."
Harry spoke up, hoping to ease some of Molly's worries if he could. "She'll drink it. I promise to make sure of it."
Molly pulled them both into another hug before insisting that they go on before Vernon had to wait too long and had a reason to be cross. Harry was glad that Molly didn't know he didn't need one to be angry at a Potter.
Fred watched her leave sadly, their goodbyes long said many, many times on the train.
Rebecca pushed her trolley down the platform, her and Harry's eyes peeled for Vernon carefully, before she had to stop and tell Harry she forgot something. Running back to where the other Weasley's still were near, Rebecca grinned. "Fred!" Fred turned at his name, the wind knocked out of him as Rebecca threw her arms around his neck and kissed his cheek. "There, nearly forgot that."
"You missed." Fred said with a smile, holding his arms around her for the last time in a while.
"Did I?" Rebecca looked at him in mock-surprise as he lowered her feet back to the ground.
"Yeah, yeah you did." Fred pecked her lips quickly. "Five weeks and we'll be together again, alright?"
"Alright." Rebecca hurried back down the hall, rejoining Harry as Molly put her arm around Fred's middle. It had been a fact that that would be the last time he would see her for so many weeks, he had known this fact too. But as it dawned on him that she wouldn't be home with them, he couldn't help but feel that he'd left a part of him in the station.
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"So, Rebecca." Uncle Vernon spoke as he drove them back to Surrey. "We will expect the same of you as we do the boy." Vernon began a list of rules so lengthy, Rebecca quickly forgot all but the first few and tried to make a guess as to how many hairs were in Vernon's moustache.
"Is that clear?" Vernon demanded, concerned by how long Rebecca had looked at him in the rear-view mirror.
"Crystal." Rebecca answered.
"Now, a second bed has been constructed to fit atop Harry's." Vernon felt his blood-pressure rise as he remembered how Petunia had wanted to purchase bunk beds as if he couldn't manage a simple construction job--He worked in a drill company, for God's sake! "When we say lights out, we mean lights out. Chatter will not keep the rest of the house up all night."
Rebecca nodded and raised her hand, wanting to ask a question but unable to remember if speaking without being spoken to had been a rule. Harry rolled his eyes and tried to hide his smile by looking out the window.
"What is it?" Vernon demanded.
Rebecca took a slow breath and repeated what she had been rehearsing since Hermione had come up with the idea the night before. "I was just wondering what the rule was about using the telephone? I'm..." Rebecca scrambled, losing her place in her mental script a second. "I'm a mentor at school and have a few classmates I have to call throughout the week to make sure they're doing their summer homework."
Vernon thought a moment before declaring his answer. "Petunia will give you five minutes every other week day, none on the weekend."
Rebecca opened her mouth to try and negotiate ore, but saw Harry's nearly imperceptible shake of his head. "Thank you."
Vernon drove the rest of the way in silence. Rebecca watched the outside world blur as the car ride stretched on, only slowing once they turned onto a road lined with identical houses. Vernon parked the car in the fourth house's parkway, opening his door and entering the house without another word to Rebecca or Harry.
"He always this friendly?" Rebecca joked, trying to lighten Harry's mood.
Harry only shrugged, closing himself off as he always had when he arrived back at the Dursley's. Rebecca pulled her trunk forward from where it had shifted in the boot of the car, an envelope poking out from underneath the lid. She pulled it out and smiled at how it was addressed.
"My love,"
Fred's handwriting was in the middle of the envelope and Harry watched Rebecca stick the letter into her pocket. She had to know, had to be warned. "Don't let them hear anything or see anything about him." Harry said softly.
"Why?" Rebecca asked, grunting as she and Harry worked together to lift their trunks out of the car and began to get them towards the house.
"They have a way of ruining the things you care about." Harry wouldn't say anything else on the subject.
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Author's Note:
That's it! Goblet of Fire is done! Things are starting to pick up now, fifth year is one of my favourite. The next book will be called Dark and will be up on my profile shortly!
<3