The Wonderful Undead Life of Fred Weasley
Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter
Chapter 4: It's Potter Luck
George woke up and he started to sit up slowly but doing so made him let out a groan he was sore.
After that realization, his first thoughts were what just happened?
"Oh, good you're awake," The younger redhead's eyes widened as his pounding head swung over to see the person speaking, "now before you faint again yes I'm alive well sort of… so don't freak out." He tried for a friendly smile, but it just left his human nephew gapping at him.
"Okay then… long story short I'm a vampire, vampiric laws state that I have no connection with humans including family… however since one of my nephews is now a vampire I can show myself to him and well you too because-" His rambling was cut short by George, "You've seen Fred? Where is he? How is he?"
Gideon nods and gestures to a plate of food sitting beside the bed the human had awoken on, "Yes I've seen him and he's doing well, currently he's being fed like you should have been."
George though tired, sore, and hungry has too many questions to worry about that at the moment. "Fred's… being fed, you mean blood? He knows what he is… how is he taking it?"
"Yes, he is and once you start eating I'll answer your other questions." George nearly protests but seeing a familiar look, one that reminds him entirely too much of his mother he swings his legs over the side of the bed and is instantly dizzy but gets his bearings a second later.
"Are you alright?" George nods but stops suddenly when that causes the dizziness to return full force.
"You need to eat, then you'll get clean up and rest." The younger man who was reaching out to grab the sandwich in front of him pauses, "What about Fred?" The vampire sighs and runs a hand through his hair, honestly these two were more of a handful then he recalls them being as babies.
"He's probably finished feeding and is likely sleeping it off, once you get some rest I'll see what I can do about letting you two speak to each other." The calmer twin frowns, "Speak to each other not see?" He questions but the other doesn't answer he just eyes the untouched sandwich and chips, the younger of the two notices and grabs the sandwich taking a bite.
Looking into the vampire's face and chewing he swallows with a 'see I'm eating' the older redhead chuckles but replies to the question, "Yes I'm afraid that it'll be sometime before you can be in the same area as him due to his bloodlust, how long I can't be sure everyone is different and has various levels of control."
George takes another bite and chews thoughtfully before swallowing, "Well then what about just changing me now, we could do the whole bloodlust thing together then right?"
The older man sighs again, "It's not that easy… you see even though they've ruled in favor of Fred's case we have to go through the proper channels to have you turned and that will take some time."
"And let me guess you don't know how long that'll take either?" He asked slightly annoyed, "No. Normally a request for turning someone is submitted, processed, and either accepted or rejected within three to four months…" George's eyes widen, "That long!?" The older man's eyes light up with laughter, "That's hardly a blink of an eye to us but yes that is the general time frame."
"General… normally, what does that mean? Do I have to wait longer for some reason?" The redheaded vampire frowns and appears to think for a moment while the human chooses to use this time to finish off the half of the sandwich that he was still holding.
"Maybe but I think it's even more likely that they'll rush through the process not wanting a human staying in their territory for even that amount of time. It's unheard of for them to do that but it's also unheard of for you to even be here but then given who brought you here…" He trails off with a slightly worried look before quickly pulling himself out of it.
"My best estimate is it'll be at least a month before they or should I say I change you since you're under my custody as of this moment." George frowns, "You're custody? But I'm of age though." Gideon laughs, "Fred said something similar and wasn't all too happy to be told that he's basically a toddler again in a vampire's eyes."
"Yeah, I can imagine not… we just graduated, we're adults… we have, or I guess it's had now isn't it? Our own business." George tone wasn't very cheerful thinking of what else was lost to them, it wasn't just their family which he hadn't really had time to process but also all of his friends and the business both Fred and he had worked so hard for and wanted for so long.
In the end though as long as Fred was alive… well as alive as a vampire could get it was worth it hopefully Fred saw it that way as well.
Gideon was silent for a time as George slowly started to much on the chips, as seconds passed the only sound that could be heard was the crunching of chips until George's appetite was fully snuffed out the more he dwelled on his and Fred's losses.
He pushed the plate away. That seemed to be the key his uncle had been waiting for to start speaking again, "I know this is hard and it's not going to get any easier for a while, but I will be here to help the both of you."
George doesn't reply.
Gideon then reminds him that he should get cleaned up and that he has a change of clothes for him as well.
In fact he should've gotten the dried blood off of him before now, between the lack of drink and food and general uncleanliness it was no wonder his nephew wasn't in the best of health. Vampires really had no idea how to properly take care of humans, the faster he changed him the better his mind supplied.
After being shown to the shower which was a very nice shower especially after how few and far in between he was getting them lately but still he couldn't bring himself to enjoy it, even though it was all worth it to save his brother he couldn't help but feel down.
Maybe he could bend a few rules eventually and at least tell his family that he and Fred were alive… surely with the two of them putting their heads together they could use their brilliance and come up with something, after all, they were the Weasley twins and nothing could stop them once they set their mind to it certainly not a bunch of stuffy old vampires with a ton of outdated laws.
Fred came back to his senses and he found that he was once again laying down in bed, "Welcome back to the land of the consciousness." It was Regulus speaking to him the Weasley twin realized but well he couldn't help himself even when things were rough or maybe especially when they were he needed to joke.
"Nice to see you too Sirius." Fred winked as he sat up, the dark-haired man frowns and crosses his arms it was kinda funny to see a fully-grown man sulking the redhead thought.
"Keep that up and Gideon will have one less nephew to worry about." The younger vampire laughs before his smile fades, "So this is real then... the vampire thing it's not a joke." He'd been hoping but no from what he could recall he really drank blood and he'd like it, worse yet he wanted more.
It wasn't really a question but Regulus answers anyway, "It's very real and now that you've experienced some bloodlust you must understand why you can't be around your human brother right now." Fred sighs and looks down at his lap, "Yeah… I get it, but I can still talk to him, right?"
"Gideon's with him now and will let me know when something's been set up in regard to that in the meantime though there's something important I have to discuss with you. Something Gideon thinks should wait... but I disagree." Fred raises an eyebrow, "What is it?" Why wouldn't his uncle want to tell him about it, maybe trying to keep him from becoming overwhelmed well too late for that.
"…Seymour's interest in you and your brother concerns me, not just me but Gideon as well." Regulus tells him while eyeing the door as if suspicious of eavesdroppers.
Fred looks to the door as well before looking back to his uncle's mate, "Seymour who's that?" Regulus's eyes meet Fred's own, "He's the reason you're a vampire… it wasn't an accident. It wasn't a rogue vampire that bit you."
The redhead stays quiet and waits for his next words, "He has an obsession with magical twins… you need to be careful especially if no when they turn George." Fred's eyes widen, "Why would they turn George?" The older vampire looks slightly surprised, "Because he agreed to it… Seymour more or less tricked him using you as a barging chip, he tried this once before with your uncles only last time it didn't work."
Fred was confused, "I don't understand any of this, what does he want with magical twins, how did he trick George, what happened before, why-" Regulus holds up his hand, "There's a lot to talk about but first things first nothing that's said on this matter will be brought up around any other vampire aside from myself and Gideon… trust no one."
"What about George?" He didn't like not telling his twin about this, "We'll do our best to keep him away from the other vampires for now, but no a vampire could easily find out whatever we tell him so, for now, say nothing." Fred still really didn't like this but nodded, "Alright tell me everything."
"First I have to explain what really happened with Gideon and Fabian." Fred cuts in, "It was a Death Eater attack everyone knows that… right?" Regulus sighs before rolling up his sleeve causing the other to jump, "You're a Death Eater?"
"I was…" Fred looks at him with less trust than before, seeing the redhead eyeing his tattoo still the once Death Eater rolls back down his sleeve before continuing, "what I'm about to tell you is going to change everything you think you know."
And it did once Regulus finished Fred wished he was still in the dark about it and was slightly envious of his twin's lack of knowledge.
Fred Weasley had just been dragged out of one war only to land smack dab into the middle of another one… the famed Potter luck must be catching.
Things were not going well for Hermione and her two friends, in fact, things weren't going at all, they'd been at a standstill for far too long at this point and it was wearing on all of them but none more strongly than one Ronald Weasley who despite them choosing to have him wear the Horcrux necklace less than both Harry and herself his frustration and anger were ever raising.
Currently, Harry was wearing the horrid thing, but the witch knew he was reaching his limit too, she was warry about wearing it again so when Ron pointed out that he'd not worn it in a week and the two of them needed a break despite her better judgment she agreed.
"Are you sure Ron?" Hermione asked, "I've had enough of a break I can take it." That was a lie she was exhausted mentally and physically. It didn't help that the thing gave her nightmares keeping her awake, even with the last two nights without it the bushy-haired girl barely slept a wink as it was.
"I'm sure, the two of you need a break so hand it here Harry." Harry didn't argue he just didn't have the strength to do so. "Thanks, Ron." He told his best friend while handing it to him the redhead just nodded.
Three days later found the trio listening to Potterwatch and wishing they had not given the Horcrux to Ron to wear because it caused a massive blow out between the three eventually resulting in Ron leaving, apparently 'Rapier' and his brother were labeled as missing after a brief run in with snatchers three weeks previously.
Meaning Fred who was known as 'Rapier' and most likely George were missing and by now presumed dead.
This upset all of them in separate ways, they were Ron's goofy older brothers and they had possibly been captured or even killed and he blamed Harry for it. Ron told him if they had been killed it was because his family was being targeted because of Harry because he was The-Boy-Who-Lived and they were known to be close to him. Hermione tried to make him see reason, but he was too far gone at that point.
Harry looked up to the two pranksters, they were his friends and hearing Ron tell him that whatever happened to them was his fault was like Ron taking a knife to his gut and twisting it. He argued against that being the case and saying that they and all of the Weasleys were like his family and that they didn't know if the twins were dead, that didn't go over well with Ron who reminded him that Harry had no family, that they were all dead so he couldn't possibly understand.
It came to blows after that was said.
While Hermione couldn't claim to know either of the Weasley twins all that well having only had a few interactions with them and mostly it was when she was telling them off on their pranks but the whole fiasco with Umbridge in the twin's final year did make her more appreciative towards their inventions even if she never told them how brilliant she found them then. Other than that, they were Ron's brothers meaning she automatically didn't want any harm to have befallen them as she cared about him and his family.
But trying to make her choose between him and Harry before he left… how could he?
Harry was her family too just as much perhaps even more than the Weasleys, she could never abandon him.
Ron though didn't have this issue.
It was an all-around awful time and Hermione didn't think she could ever truly forgive Ron even if his actions had been spurred on by the necklace.
Hermione was angry with herself over the tears she wept that night for Ron leaving when so many others probably... no most definitely deserved them more than he did.
Another restless night was in store for the muggleborn witch and while she tossed and turned she thought of two other redheads hoping and praying that they were alive and well.
Thanks for reading drop a review if you'd like. I'd planned on having Fred and George talk in this chapter but it got pushed back until the next chapter, the plot thickens a lot of things are going on right now and as of now I plan for Hermine and Fred to meet again by chapter 8. Also, some canon events involving the golden trio tracking down the Horcruxes have already happened, will not happen, will happen differently, and/or will happen out of order just a heads up for those parts of the story.