Okay, so this story is an eventual Fred Weasley/OC love story that will have time travelling, I plan for it to be in two parts, Marauders era, and from prisoner of Azkaban upwards. It will also feature a little next generation. Okay, so now that's done I hope you enjoy the story.
James Sirius Potter walked into the bedroom of his youngest sibling and only sister. A bucket of freezing cold water in hand. He saw the bright ginger hair pocking out of the white fluffy duvet, the colour of the hair and bedcover contrasting greatly. However James's attention wasn't on his younger sister. It was on the girl in the other bed in the room, a light blue duvet with light purple hair resting on the matching pillow case. Smirking his mischievous smirk inherited from his namesake, he poured the water onto the head of the teenager girl who instantly shot up, hair turning white from shock, she then proceeded to fall of the bed due to sitting up to quickly. With a glare she looked up to see her best friend doubled over in laughter with his younger sister watching from her bed with a smile, having been woken up by the commotion. After a second the glare turned into a grin and her hair lightened to her usual purple colour "Guess I deserved that" she chuckled.
Yesterday, when asked to wake up her best friend, she did so via waiting at the door and throwing water bombs at him. Her aim was excellent and her throws strong. Probably helped that the past three years of school she had been the Gryffindor beater. "Yeah. Anyway, mum says get dressed we're leaving in an hour" James said to both of the girls.
Francesca De' Mortem got up from the floor, smiling at Lily Luna Potter and stretched as she grabbed some clothes and walked into the bathroom and changing. With another yawn she walked down the stairs and into the open plan living room and dining room. Sat at the counter that was like a small divider for the two rooms was Harry Potter, with his wife Ginny Potter nee Weasley buttering toast in the background. James walked in, still in pyjamas with his hair messy like usual and Albus Potter was sat on the sofa in the living room reading a book. "Morning Uncle Harry, Aunt Ginny" She grinned at the two adults who both smiled softly at her and returned the greeting "Alright Al? What chapter you on?" She asked the boy three years younger than her as she grinned at Ginny when handed a plate with two pieces of toast, with just a little bit of melted butter in the middle and the edges burnt black, just the way she liked it.
"I'm on chapter twenty three now. Your right, it is a good read" Albus said to the girl who had become as close a sister to him as his real one, only she was the one protective over him rather than the other way round like it was with Lily. James scoffed from where he was eating strawberry jam lathered toast.
"God Chess, your making him into an even bigger geek" He teased both of them, using the nickname assigned to the girl by himself and there other best friend Fred Weasley.
"Leave your brother and Frankie alone, I think it's good they enjoy reading" Ginny said.
"Besides, it's a book based on a famous muggle serial killer turned into a slightly over the top murder mystery with a twist. Not that educational" Frankie grinned whist Harry shot her an amused look and Ginny rolled her eyes "For the record, I learnt about Jack the ripper when I was seven, and made to study his methods to learn how mundane they were" she pointed out to the group.
"Yeah well, your parents are twats" James scoffed, making the purple haired girl laugh whilst Harry sent him a disapproving gaze and Ginny told him off. It was true though, in fact the truth was much harsher. The De' Mortem family were well known very dark wizards. Some of Voldemort's closest followers and most trusted death eaters were De' Mortem's in both the first and second wizarding war and even when Voldemort was defeated by Harry Potter almost two decades ago the family continues to be major supports, believing everything he stood for to be right. All but one, a young metamorphmagus who questioned why it was her parents thought muggles were so bad, or how come muggle born witches and wizards are beneath that of pureblood. Each question earned punishment and the De' Mortem family showed how evil they truly were by performing the cruciatus curse on a six year old girl for every question they disapproved of and every time she changed the colour of her hair.
Francesca, or Frankie as she goes by, learned to keep quiet, to keep her thoughts to herself but she knew that her family were wrong and they were evil. When she got her letter to Hogwarts she knew she didn't want to follow in her families footsteps. She sat in a compartment by herself on the journey there, and when her name was called for sorting she received many dirty looks from all houses other than Slytherin who looked at the girl with pride, including Francesca's very own older brother Terence De' Mortem. That was until the whole hall was stunned into silence by her almost immediately being pronounced Gryffindor, but not before the hat considered Ravenclaw to be an option.
James Potter was the first to talk to her, commenting how his dads godfather had come from an all Slytherin family and was a Gryffindor. Soon they were sharing banter on quidditch, Fred Weasley joining in when the discussion turned to pranks, un-bashfully bragging about the joke store his father owned. From that moment on they were inseparable. Frankie had been invited into the lives of the Weasley and Potter family. Each becoming like her aunts and uncles with Molly and Arthur Weasley becoming like her adopted parents. She went from one house to another during the holidays, especially after getting disowned by her own family, as well as being beaten rather badly by them. However Frankie couldn't help but think it was the best thing that had ever happened to her, because it meant she was free from them.
Soon everybody was rounded up and the group apparated directly onto platform 9¾ where the Hogwarts Express was already waiting to be filled with students. Once on the train James and Frankie separated from Albus and were quick to get there own compartment, soon joined by Fred Weasley who was engulfed in a hug by the girl of the group. "Hey there Red" Frankie grinned, using his nickname
"Hey Chess, how you doing prongslet?" He asked James. See, the three Gryffindor's were well known around the school for being popular, good at quidditch and often pulling pranks whilst still keeping good grades. They were often told that they were like the marauders and golden trio alike and often referred to as the golden marauders. James took great pride in knowing that a Potter was in all three groups. James was the one with the invisibility cloak, Fred a notebook filled with his dads and his fathers late twins first invention ideas, some never completed along with useful spells and potions to try out, and Frankie being handed the Marauders map because Harry felt she was least likely to abuse it, but was just as much part of the family as the other two boys. The three items made pulling pranks easier, more enjoyable and left time to come up with new ideas. It also left time for the three to finish becoming illegal animagus of there own; much like the original marauders.
Francesca's animagus form was a white tiger which earned her the name chess, being black and white whilst it was also a suitable nickname that could be made from her real name. Fred was a bright red fox, and with his ginger hair colour earned himself the name Red. James was disappointed when the nickname 'ginge' was shot down. He himself was named Prongslet after his namesake, despite being an elk rather than a stag. "Hey, guess what I got from dads office" James said excitedly before rummaging around in his trunk and pulling out his 'on the spot potions kit' he had received from George Weasley, Fred's dad, for Christmas. After a letter was sent home school explaining how it had been used to create a powerful dung bomb which exploded causing a whole bathroom to collapse from the insides before fizzing foam filled up the room, the kit had been confiscated and George had received a letter about appropriate gift giving.
"No way, I thought uncle Harry had that under lock and key?" Fred grinned
"He did but you dad taught us how to pick a lock remember" James reminded. They knew several muggle tricks like that. The kit was soon set up "I got a recipe for hair growth that I found… can't remember where I found it but I wrote it down. Thinking of trying it out on Colly Hardbrit. He tried to hex Chess's hair of remember" He said whilst Frankie scoffed
"Try you say? He used the wrong spell, aimed badly and hit my arm, sure all the hair was gone but it was burnt real bad. that's what happens when your arm is set on fire though. Beside we got him back. He was bald with irremovable boils all over his body for a month, real painful once that hurt even worse when you accidentally send a stinging hex his way" Frankie replied whilst the boys grinned in remembrance before shaking there heads.
"Not the point Chess, he messed with one of us, so that means life time punishment. Or at least until we recon he's had enough" Fred said, protective of the youngest member of there group. However seeing her glare he backtracked a little "Or we do this one last thing to him before calling it quits as a welcome to the new year present" He amended
"Better" She nodded in satisfaction. "You got the ingredients?" She asked James
"No, I thought it would be fun to put the plan into action then not have all the necessary items to do it, I was hoping staring at an empty caldron would be enough" James replied with heavy sarcasm to which Frankie rolled her eyes to.
"Okay, okay. Calm down captain sarcasm. Where's the potion instructions?" She asked and James pulled them out. Frankie was the assigned potions master of the group. Each having there own specialities and weaknesses. However being raised to be Slytherin meant she was raised to be able to brew a potion perfectly, luckily for her she was extremely good in the subject and so any punishment for failure from her parents was not necessary.
Soon a silver broth type liquid was brewing away. "Okay, James you need to stir it anti-clockwise once, wait three seconds and stir again, then wait three seconds and stir clockwise once whilst I add the gudyroot, after I've put three Fred you pour the vial of water in slowly" the purple haired teenager directed clearly and they all got to work. It was all going incident free until James potter sneeze, causing extra Gudyroot along with other ingredients to fall into the caldron which turned an admittedly pretty gold colour before bubbly furiously
"Frankie…" James started "don't suppose there is anyway you can reverse this?" James asked, looking at the bubbling potion. Her hair once again going white for the second time today. The colour didn't only mean shock, but also fear or nerves. He took that as a no. "What do we do?" James asked, watching the still white haired girl grab the bubbling caldron
"I'm going to throw it out the window, rather it explode outside than in here" She explained and went to pour the liquid when it burst, half going out the window, the other half covering her. She waited in anticipation but nothing happened. "Well… that was oddly un-dramatic, would have been better if I screamed" She sighed whilst her friends chuckled. "I'm going to go wipe it of in the bathroom" She said to the two, "And get changed" she added. Like always she, Fred and James had shrunk there trunks down to pocket size rather than lug it around. The boys waited ten minutes for her return, getting changed themselves when they heard a loud- very dramatic- scream.
A group of adults sat around the table of number twelve Grimmauld place, all with equal looks of upset and worry. Today was the day, the day they lost one of the most important people in there lives. "James and Fred are going to be devastated" Angelina Weasley nee Johnson finally commented. "She's there sister" She sighed, thinking of how close the three are.
"She's going to be so confused the poor girl" Molly sighed. That night the group silently mourned the loss of the girl they watched die, and then waited over a decade to meet again.
Fred Weasley and James Potter spent the rest of that evening trying to find there missing best friend, even asking the teachers, most of which just answered with a sad smile and told them they didn't know, clearly lying to the two cousins. They walked up to there dorms after the feast, and sitting there on the bedside table between the two beds was a folded up piece of old parchment, and an old looking thick book decorated with aging flowers that clearly had a charm on them to make them last long due to the flowers being real, and a silver heart bauble recognisable as the one Harry and Ginny had almost forcefully demanded James got her as a birthday present last year.
Tentatively, Fred picked up the old parchment, recognising it but with was so much more aged than when eh last saw it only this morning "I solemnly swear I am up to no good" He recited and a map of Hogwarts soon filled the blank space. "Frankie had the map" he mumbled, scouring the map to see if he could place her "She's not on it" He added
"What?" James said, pulling it out of his cousins hands to take a look himself, only confirming what Fred was saying with a sinking feeling in her stomach. He reached out and picked up the thick journal type book, opening it up to see aged pages filled with neat, curvy writing he recognised as there friends, along with several photos of her, in the earliest looking exactly the same as she did this morning with a bright smile as she laid down, leaning against the large tree by the great lake with four familiar boys surrounding her, the tallest of the group, a boy with long hair had an arm thrown around her shoulders and one baring strong resemblance to James II sat playing with a snitch, his arm was also around her shoulder, another tall teenage boy sat down with her legs placed carelessly onto of his whilst he read a book and the final boy was just sat looking at the group with admiration. The picture itself was moving, so they could watch the laugh playing on there friends lips, watch the snitch get tossed up and down, watch the pages turn. The long haired boy nudge Frankie playfully just like Fred and James would do. On the back it said The marauders
In the later pages Frankie appeared many years older, looking even more beautiful all dressed up in a long, elegant but simple white dress standing in a daisy field with a flower crown on her head, her hair a dark purple rather than light, looking happier than they had ever see her with Arthur Weasley by her side, appearing to walk her down a gap made in the field, there arms linked. The picture was a muggle one, not moving yet seemed to magical. "What the…" James said confused, he turned the page and saw an old letter which had James and Fred- my brothers written on it. Slowly, they unfolded the letter and looked at the words written.
Dear James and Fred,
If your reading this, then the request I asked of Minnie- Professor McGonagall- to pass on these two objects to this very day September 1st 2019, has been fulfilled. It's odd for me to think that you two, my best friends, my brothers, my fellow golden marauders, are fifteen years old, starting out your fifth year in Hogwarts when I myself who was the youngest of us three- am writing this on my nineteenth birthday, as a married woman -I accomplished my girlish dream of marrying the love of my life- but I'm going to make sure you know about the part of my life I couldn't live with the pair of you; and believe me when I say it is a long one, in fact it could span around fifty years and yet I'm not even two decades old yet.
The reason I write this letter now, despite having collected my memories in photographs for the sole purpose of giving them to the two of you, to share my adventures, is that I sense I may not live much longer. I suppose it makes sense now, how your parents treated me with such open arms and familiarity despite being a De' Mortem. Most probably due to knowing I would one day become a member of the family for real.
The stories Harry, Ron and Hermione told us as children about there time in the second wizarding war can not compare to being here both feeling and seeing it's destruction for real. I have seen much pain during the last year especially, but I've learnt that pain, and anger and fear doesn't cancel out the good, happy memories. Several of which were down to you two.
I don't believe I ever thanked you both, just for being my friends, for accepting me. You two saved my life. I doubt I would even be alive if I hadn't met the pair of you and if I had lived, there is a part of me that believe I would have eventual scrimmaged to the evil forced upon me via my parents and allowed them to warp my view.
I doubt I will ever see the pair of you again and vice versa with you seeing me. That is the saddest part of this story I suppose. However this is my story, told in my weird way through pictures both moving and not along with words spilling from my quill to the parchment as if I don't have any control on what comes out. I hope you two can muster up some patience to read it, I know how the two of you often struggle to stay still for more than five minutes. It was an odd day, one moment on the train with the pair of you in 2019 and the next appearing in front of the great hall at Hogwarts in 1975. But despite it all. I don't think I would change a thing.
With love always, Your Chess
FDM
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