I have started writing this story again because i wasn't pleased with it. I am sorry if its rubbish!

I am only going to say this once ... Anything you recognize in the entire story is not mine.

The story is set at the same time as The Half Blood Prince (My favourite book)!

Please review!

Annabelle Marcus was walking down a busy London street, her curly blonde hair falling past her shoulders and her striking green eyes scanning the shop windows. She really shouldn't have left all her Christmas shopping till the last minute but she simply forgot how hard it was picking out the perfect gift. The streets where dripping with multicoloured lights and shop windows looked like the perfect winter wonderland, each one more magical than the last. Annie shivered as she dragged herself towards the next row of shops, her red jumper and jeans didn't really keep the cold out and her fur lined boots where starting to get soggy. Sighing to herself as she left another shop without buying her mother or her father a gift, but carrying a brand new tan jacket for herself, she muttered under her breathe.

"Next year I will start shopping in October."

Hurrying down the snow covered street, she had no idea what she was actually looking for and wondered if she could get her older sister to add her name to whatever gift she had bought, which was bound to be better than anything Annie herself picked out. Her sister was perfect from the roots of her straight blonde hair to the tips of her designer shoe clad toes, she worked hard to be perfect and Annie just couldn't be bothered to work hard at all. The biting cold attacked her face as she excited yet another shop and she decided that if she couldn't find anything in the soon she would simply go home and use the internet, like she should have done in the first place. Pushing past a herd of last minute shoppers she nearly slipped in the snow, she was forever slipping and falling into things, it was just her clumsy nature. Continuing down the cold street she walked past a Santa's Grotto, smiling slightly at all the excited faces and gazing at the twinkling lights. She could remember a lot of memories of Grottos not so different from this, being pulled along by her excited older sister who adored sitting on Santa's lap and listing of in full detail what she wanted for Christmas. Her mother would practically run to keep up with the two of them a worried expression on her kind face and her father would just smile and watch his daughters proudly as they spoke in a polite manner to everybody and where often the only ones brave enough to have a lengthy discussion with Father Christmas himself. Annie was brought abruptly back to the present when a young boy with a pinched face ran into her,

"Sorry miss! We are off to see Santa!" He breathed with a face shining with excitement. She laughed quietly as he started to run again closely followed by a worried mother and a smiling father. She wouldn't mind going to see Santa herself, Christmas was her favourite time of year and she simply adored the whole thing. But of course eighteen was much too old to be rushing around after short people in green hats and a large man with a beard. Sighing wistfully as she walked past the sounds of laughter she decided to get the presents then get home as soon as possible, there was bound to be a Christmas film she could watch. A likely shop caught her eye, it smelled of vanilla and all different spices; it was selling candles of every shape and size which was the perfect gift for her candle obsessed mother. Pulling her purple hat more securely around her frozen ears she made her way over to it, just as she got to the door the manager put the closed sign up. Stamping her fluffy boot clad foot she gave a frustrated scream before heading toward the station, giving up after five hours of looking. Five hours!

Annie was always leaving things to the last minute, not that she meant it, she simply lost track of time. Especially at Christmas when there was so many better things to be doing instead of being pushed around by agitated shoppers, being constantly under attack from the many different bags people would throw around and also getting a near headache from the neon coloured decorations that managers think will entice people into their shop. Last time she checked the Christmas colours where red, green and silver maybe she missed the news the day they announced bright luminous yellow, pink and orange where declared festive and not nauseating. Just as she walked towards the station a group of girls wearing different coloured tutus walked past her, shrieking at giggling. Tutus! Was she the only person who could see the snow on the ground and feel her face going bright red with the cold? Clearly these girls didn't, they were like a walking parade, loud and bright, like a firework, you can see it and hear it from a mile away. Suddenly realising how depressing these thoughts had been and how much they had brought down her already cloudy mood Annie shook herself mentally and tried to cheer herself up by thinking about the two days left before Christmas Eve.

But as she walked carefully up the icy pavement she saw a familiar face that made her freeze. Short brown hair and big blue eyes, there was no mistaking Blair Cowlings, the stupid guy had been stalking her after all. They had dated but Annie had no patientence for possessiveness and jealousy so she ended it fairly quickly, though it took some time for him to get the message. He had tried to sneak away her phone so he could read the messages and then shouted about her cheating on him with some guy called Steven.

"You told him you loved him!" He had shouted making everyone in the crowded school hall turn and stare at them, ears straining for the next juicy piece of gossip. Maybe Annie apologising and bursting into tears or Blair storming out of school to find the mysterious Steven? Unfortunately Annie had flushed with anger and grabbed her phone from his hand.

"Steven is my cousin you idiot! He stays in America and I only see him ever two years!"

Turning away and storming out the school by herself, she had been sure the message was clear but it obviously wasn't. He phoned her house in the middle of the night, he followed her around the school shouting at any male person she spoke to, he even turned up to a family party telling people he was her date. Annie went as far as screaming "Stay away from me! We're finished! Your dumped!" in his face but he didn't stop until her older cousins Conner and Roger and her best friend Kyle had cornered him and told him to leave her alone. It was good timing on their part because she was refusing to leave the house certain he was going to be there, the whole experience really shook her up. It took two months for her to stop feeling like she was being watched all the time and start to relax.

Not wanting to even look at him for longer than was necessary, Annie slipped into the first door she came to and found herself in a small pub with very few customers. It was dark and gloomy and the air was so thick with tension it sent shivers down her spine. She did not like the look of the place but it was warm and if she hadn't been in such a hurry to get away from Blair she never would have found it. In fact she had no recollection of ever noticing this place before; ignoring the looks she got from the other customers she sat herself down next to a door that she took to be the toilets. Setting her little white over the shoulder bag on the table and pretending to rummage through it, just for something to do.

Annie spent a while looking at the other customers, a little woman wearing strange robes was drinking honey coloured liquid at the bar, a scruffy black haired man who kept looking around shiftily and a pair of suspicious looking men who were clearly glaring at her. Shifting slightly under the looks from the other customers, Annie couldn't help but notice the atmosphere in the small place and it was almost hard to breathe because the air felt so heavy. They stared as if she was something they had never seen before and the woman at the bar kept throwing her weird looks, as is she felt sorry for her.

A small bald barman with few teeth didn't even move towards her, as if he was scared to be near her. Flipping her hair over her shoulder she took out her mobile, why were these people staring at her so strangely?

Hey, where are you? She texted Kyle, mainly for something to do.

In your house, where are you? Your mum wants you to know that Jack Frost is coming on in about an hour if you want to watch it.

Kyle and Annie had been best friends since their first day in the Jelly Bean Nursery, well his first day because his mother had slept in and didn't bring him in on the actual first day. Anyway, they had been friends since then so Kyle felt perfectly comfortable in her house. He was mainly round at the holidays because he spent Christmas with them, ever since his mum left anyway.

Of course I want to watch Jack Frost! Watching films was one of the best parts of Christmas. Especially Jack Frost!

Okay. Where are you?

Some creepy little pub just down from the station.

Creepy?

The people keep staring at me funny; if I don't text back I have been murdered and hidden under the floorboards.

After sending that text a sudden feeling hit, telling her that she didn't want to be in this place for much longer. The feeling was so string and so sudden that she just sat in shock for a moment before snapping into gear. Throwing a worried look around at the other customers Annie put her hair up in a top knot before starting to get up, the scrapping noise from her chair was cut off and after a loud bashing sound Annie found herself on the ground. The little woman in the corner giggled and downed another glass of honey coloured liquid before getting up to leave, completely ignoring everything else. Gasping from the pain of her knees that had slammed hard into the solid floor Annie turned to glare at the person who knocked her over. He had vivid red hair that was a bit of a mess and quite a few freckles, he wasn't tall but he wasn't short either and he clearly played a sport that allowed him to get those muscles. He looked tired, maybe the stress of Christmas shopping wasn't only getting to her. He was looking down at her with a completely perplexed look on his face.

"Watch it!" Making her voice as annoyed as possible she glared at the rather cute stranger and used the table to pull herself up, of course instead of helping her up, with a loud scraping sound, the table fell over sending the contents of her bag everywhere and almost made her slam back into the hard stone floor. Two hands had grabbed hold of her arms and stopped her second tumble. As she struggled to get back her balance, even though the stranger was the reason she fell in the first place Annie had been brought up with good manners and her mother would be affronted if she knew someone had stopped her from falling and she hadn't said Thank You. Turning her head to say thanks to him she was suddenly struck dumb by a pair or liquid chocolate eyes that had an undeniable mischievous twinkle in them. The words got stuck in her throat as she tried to remember how to breathe properly and fight the fiery red blush that seemed determined to turn her head into a ripe tomato. Thankfully he seemed to drag his eyes upwards and stare at something over her head.

As soon as the eye contact ended Annie realised she had been flat out staring at this stranger and quickly stepped out of this arms, his eyes flashed back to her but she turned round quickly and started searching for her phone. As she was about to crawl under the table in a attempt to find it a hand appeared in front of her nose holding a white touch screen phone with a large crack down the front. A message from Kyle was flashing on the screen but it was impossible to open it.

"Oh no!" Groaning as she took her phone, she paid no attention to the stranger and spent a full two minutes mourning the broken screen. Suddenly someone grabbed her upper arms and pulled her to her feet, gasping a little in surprise and fighting so that for once in her life she could keep her balance. Annie found herself in front of the stranger who kept glancing to some place at the other side of the bar.

"You have your mobeele, use it to get someone to come and get you." He said in an urgent voice as he pushed the phone towards her. He turned to look at her and she could have sworn she saw a spark of fear in the depths of those delicious chocolate brown eyes.

"The screens broke, it won't work." Raising her eyebrows as he mispronounced the word. "Who are you anyway?"

He glanced at her quickly before answering, "I'm Fred. Now I need you to trust me." He said the last part slowly staring right into her eyes. Annie could practically feel her insides melting away and at that time Fred could have asked her to jump of a bridge and she would have seriously considered it.

Annie felt her own green eyes widen as Fred leaned down and grabbed her bag before stuffing it in her arms.

"Get out of here." He said simply.

He gave her a small push towards the door but to his frustration she didn't move. Instead she turned at glared right at him, not looking directly into his eyes encase she be rendered incoherent.

"What do you think you're doing?" She snapped at him with green eyes that flashed with anger. Fred tried to say something but was cut off before he could get a single word out.

"Listen. I have known guys who try to order girls around before and I stopped listening to those guys a long time ago. You have known me less than ten minutes and you think you can tell me what to do? Well you can't!" Annie was reaching out in an attempt to get to the chair behind him when he suddenly bent down and wrapped his arms around her in a tight hug. "If you want to get out of here alive I suggest you do what I said." He whispered sending pleasant shivers down her spine.

"Is that a threat?" Annie breathed trying to sound angry and failing.

"No! It's just- Damn it! Too late!"

Suddenly he grabbed her wrists and practically threw her over the table next to them, just as something exploded above her head. She screamed as she went over and was left lying on the ground gasping in pain as she fell on top of her arm, the full pub was filled with bangs and she could hear the strange barman screaming. She didn't move for a while in shock but had to move quickly as the table she was hiding behind, somehow went flying. Jumping behind another table she let out a scream as the wall behind her half fell in on top of her. Dragging rubble off her legs she tried to think about what the hell was going on. Bombings? Shoot Out? Old fashioned bar fight? No. She had still to see a bar fight where a wall had caved in on its own.

Leaning back against a chair leg in pain as she tried to move her leg, she groaned when she noticed the red stain spreading over her jeans from her thigh.

"This isn't happening. This isn't happening. It's just a bad dream, just a dream."

This would have suited her fine had she not known it was defiantly not a dream. The pain in her arm was mounting and the cut on her leg from where the wall fell on it was now spilling blood on the floor. Annie groaned in pain as she tried to stop the bleeding. All she had wanted was some Christmas presents!

Yells and swearing very close to where she was made Annie glance round the table, Fred was standing in front of it and in front of him was the two men who had been glaring at her earlier, they where all waving things that she couldn't see and blasts of colour where everywhere, as she watched the man who had been looking shifty earlier made a run for the door, only to be hit with something green half way there. He fell like a puppet that had had its strings cut. Annie screamed as the man hit the floor with a dull thud. She should help him but she wasn't a nurse and she could barely move herself. She pushed more of the rubble out the way before crawling back round the table; suddenly the flashes of green light near Fred seemed much closer and burned themselves into the back of her eyelids. Straining to see what was happening and willing Fred not to get hit by whatever kind of gun the other men were carrying, one of the men turned to her.

She should have moved. Ran. Anything but sit and stare at the dark haired leery mouthed man.

"Crucio!" She barely had time to think of what the hell they were talking about when she was set on fire, or that's what it felt like. She could barely hear her own screams over the pain. It was as if her blood was boiling as it shot through her body, tears streamed down her face as she stained to make the pain stop. She kicked and screamed but that seemed to make it worse. She saw everyone, her parents, her sister, Kyle and her friends, all blurring away against her eyelids as more tears leaked out. She thought of all the things she wanted to say but couldn't because in the depths of her mind she could feel the pain pushing her into insanity, could feel her brain wanting to completely shut down against it. In one last ditch attempt she opened her mouth and let out a huge last scream.

It stopped as suddenly as it started and she could hear a faint bang over her own heavy breathing. She rolled onto her side, her small frame shaking with sobs.

"Are you okay?" A voice near her head asked. Did she look like she was okay? Somehow she didn't think so.

"Hey, don't cry. Err ... Why did the blind chicken cross the road? Huh?"

Was he being serious?

"To get to the Birds Eye shop! Get it? Come on that's one of my best ones!"

Annie let out a watery chuckle and after making sure the pain was fully gone she managed to lift herself up shakily, flinching as is the slightest movement would start to again.

"What ... what was ... that?" Trying to control herself as Fred pushed her hair out of her eyes. Gazing into his chocolate ones made her already confused brain even more muddled. He put his arm around her shoulders and she started sobbing on his shoulder, all he could do was make soothing sounds and try to calm her down. Even though she was hysterical she still noticed the trashed bar, tables over turned, drinks were pouring for smashed bottles and barrels, the chair where she had first been sitting was blackened and smoking slightly and the back wall was completely caved in with bricks and rubble scattering across the floor.

"Well, you certainly made a mess of this place."

A watery splutter erupted for her mouth as she stared up at him with widened eyes.

"Me!"

His loud laugh filled the room, looking around he suddenly turned back and stared into her eyes with a serious expression.

"Trust me?"

It wasn't like she had much choice but he was here and he had protected her. She nodded her head slowly and tried to get up again, only to be pulled up by Fred holding her arms. Probably good idea seeing her balance was already abysmal in normal situations and, Annie reminded herself, walking into a bar then witnessing the place being blown up was not normal. He had to keep a hold of her to stop her falling to the ground. A noise made him snap his head around, while Annie snapped her eyes shut and clutched onto Fred's soft jumper almost waiting for the pain to return.

Suddenly Fred was turning away from her; she tightened her grip on his jumper and gasped as the unpleasant sensation of being dragged through a small tube took over her, her lungs were squeezed so tight she couldn't breathe and just when she thought she would suffocate a cold burst of air filled her lungs. Her feet had barely touched the leaf covered ground before she fell forwards hitting the ground hard and gasping for breath, forcing Fred to lift her up and physically carry her over to a fallen tree close by.

A fallen tree? She thought to herself, how the hell did we get here!

Sitting her down gently he put a hand either side of her on the tree and looked straight into her eyes, making her feel unnerved. She had no idea who this guy was or what he was, looking around to see a slightly damp forest floor with tall trees and a creepy fog hanging over it she began to feel more worried. What if this was a bad idea. She just wanted to go home. To watch Jack Frost and throw random sweets at Kyle when he complained that it was a totally unrealistic movie. To get told off for making a mess of the carpet by her mother when she brought them through some hot chocolate and to watch her sister raise one of her perfectly plucked eyebrows when she admitted she didn't have a present for her parents.

Hot tears pooled from her eye.

"Look at me." He said it so softly that her eyes immediately snapped back to his, no matter what her mind said she knew deep down she could trust Fred even if she didn't know him. Which was weird because she wasn't a trusting person? There was something about him, inside him that just screamed

"I'm a good guy!"

"I will have to take you somewhere in a while, but before we go it would be best to get some questions answered. So ask."

He sounded defeated and tired and it was that moment that Annie noticed the large cut on his arm that was bleeding nonstop turning his cream jumper a grizzly red.

"Your arm?" She whispered, reaching for it but he moved it out of her reach, looking surprised.

"That was not what I expected you to ask. Its fine anyway my mum will fix it in a second."

Annie's eyebrows pulled together, it was a rather deep cut and no way would it be fixed in a second but she had other things on her mind.

The question was already ready in her mind and she blurted it out without thinking.

"What are you?" His low chuckle made her suspect he was expecting that.

"I'm Fred Weasley, eighteen years old with-"

"Not who are you. What are you?" he flashed a small smile that was almost apologetic.

"I am a wizard."

Annie's curls bounced a little as she nodded slowly, to which Fred raised an eyebrow.

"You took that better than expected."

"Of course you're a wizard. In fact I'm a fairy princess in hiding." Her world was numb, she couldn't think straight. All she knew was he was lying, just telling another joke. Right?

"Okaaaaaaay?" He looked worried and freaked at the same time.

Ignoring him, a new question popped into her head.

"Why where those guys fighting you?"

He looked a little uncomfortable when he answered. Putting a hand to her forehead to see if she had a temperature.

"Well ... It was because of you."

"Me?" Who would fight over me? My only boyfriend turned out to be a nutcase.

"Yes."

"Why?"

"There are some bad wizards out there as well as good, one of them is gaining power every day and he has a total hatred for muggles. He wants them all dead, thinks wizards should rule the world." He finished with a snort but his eyes never moved from Annie's as she thought this over she asked another question.

"What's a muggle?"

"A person who isn't a wizard."

"Oh. Of course. That makes sense" she whispered almost to herself

Fred moved to sit next to her and put an arm around her only to raise his eyebrows when she winced.

"What's wrong?" She blinked a little at the concern in his voice but he ignored it.

"I hurt my side when I went over that table."

His face went hard and he got up, picking her up in his arms and ignoring her complaints.

"I just need to rest for a bit!"

"Sorry. You need to see my mother so she can check you over."

He nearly dropped her as she burst out laughing. Tear ran from her eyes as she whooped with laughter, a crazed look in her face.

"Wizards! Muggles! It's so weird. Hahahahahahaha! Your names not really Fred is it? Nope it's Merlin!"

She gave a cry of laughter but the tears leaking from her eyes were no longer happy,

"You're lying ... Right?" She felt like her whole world was depending on this one answer.

"Nope and I am not Merlin! It is actually Fred." He frowned down at her big scared eyes.

"Don't leave me ..." She whispered so low he had to strain to hear it, he bent his head down and whispered into her ear, sending shivers down her spine. "Don't worry we don't bite, although Crookshanks is a bad tempered little idiot."

He smiled down at her just as another thought popped into her head.

"My name is Annie. Thanks for asking."

"Well Annie, lucky for you my mum has a potion for shock." He muttered under his breath.

He turned on the spot and in a second all that was left was the last echoes of his laughter.