Chapter 10
Fred- or a Protector Twin- scratched the back of his neck in a bored, and slightly irritated gesture, one that he'd changed from his traditional messing of the bangs so that his friends wouldn't pick up on the distinctive movement. Then he looked at his Muggle watch. 10:58 pm flashed back at him, mocking him from his arm.
Now, for ex-Hogwarts students, particularly DA members, Fred knew both he and George would do pretty much anything. But after what he had actually counted to be 756 signatures, his hand was getting tired.
Subtly, so no one at all noticed, he shifted his wand down to press against the invisible tattoo on his forearm.
How much longer do we have to do this? The flying was fun, but I've signed more shit in the last four hours than I ever wanted to sign in my life.
Down the table, Fred saw George smirk a little, but then Harry's voice popped into both of their heads: We're done here. I'm exhausted, so you must be too.. We've gotten through pretty much everyone, so let's call it a day. Ready to go?
With that exchange that no one else heard, both twins signed one last thing and stood in identical movements, coming to stand behind Harry in a standard stance. Harry stood up from his chair and turned to the crowd, casting a quick Sonorous charm so he didn't have to shout.
"I'd like to thank everyone for coming out to support my good friends', Dean Thomas and Seamus Finnegan. If you haven't already, go and speak to them and we all sincerely hope you are happy with your purchases. Apologies to anyone who we have missed, but Jasper, Jacob and I have other engagements to attend to. Again, thank you all for coming."
After this announcement, which received a ridiculous amount of applause, all generated by Harry's general presence, Harry walked over to where Dean and Seamus were still plugging their equipment to a crowd. Both men stopped what they were doing to thank Harry and the twins for attending and embraced their old friend closely, before watching the three dark-haired men step backwards and apparate as one.
Draco greeted the three when they landed in Harry's apartment and was more than willing to take the famous wizard off the Weasley's hands. He mouthed a quick 'thankyou' at them before shoving an exhausted Harry towards the bedroom to sleep off the tiring day they had just endured.
George was a little more together than his brother so he did the apparating, landing them in their apartment's living room, from where they stumbling towards their separate beds.
"Hey! What are you doing here?"
Both twins spun around rapidly, wands drawn and all hint of fatigue gone from their features. Luckily, the two didn't fire because it was a shocked Liam who jumped back away from them.
"Liam?" George gasped out, lowering his wand and moving forward to embrace his lover, "We could've hurt you!"
Before George reached him, Liam held out his hands, "Stop! How do you know my name? And I know who you are, but what are you doing here? Where are George and Fred Weasley?"
George's whole body froze for a second, before he turned ever so slightly to look at his brother. His brother who was still glamoured as a Protector. His brother who looked about as panicked as he felt.
Never before had they revealed themselves to anyone, but in George's mind, there was no other solution except to tell Liam and hope for the best, which was never going to happen. George felt his insides crush, he was about to lose Liam. He'd even have to call Draco to wipe Liam's memories.
"Liam, don't hurt me when I do this." Then with a deep breath, George dispelled his glamour, feeling his hair shorten and his skin crawl as he watched Liam's eyes widen with shock, and perhaps fear.
"George?" Liam half-whispered, half-gasped, and then he turned to look around George at the still-glamoured Fred. "Fred?"
George nodded, and waved his hand at Fred, who immediately dispelled, returning to his familiar features, though he appeared more tired than Liam had ever seen him.
Liam huffed and let himself fall back on the Weasley's couch in a most undignified manner that would've made a Malfoy scowl. As it was, both twins watched with bated breath to see Liam's reaction.
"Wow. I didn't expect that at all…" Liam said a few seconds later. "You're the… and you're them… Woh. Actually… I can totally see it." Liam smiled up at the twins, and then two returned the expression, relief making their shoulders sag.
Fred cleared his throat from behind the other two, "You probably want to talk about it, so I'm going to bed. I can barely stand. Too much crazy flying."
George nodded, but Liam jumped up, "NO! You're the reason I'm here in the first place. Remember what you said you'd do tonight before you went off to fly and sign, which, by the way, I saw footage of, and that was amazing. But still, while I now understand, I doubt your date who you ditched will be so understanding without an explanation."
By the end of Liam's short rant, realisation dawned on Fred's face and his expression became pained.
"Cal…" he said in a pitiful tone. "I didn't remember. Where is he? I need to find him and explain."
Liam nodded, "He was at home when I left, but that was about an hour ago, so I don't know right now. Try there first?"
Fred nodded in return and looked about to apparate when George grabbed his arm, "I know you like him, but we're too tired to apparate. You can go in the morning after some sleep?"
Fred shook his head, "If our roles were reversed, you'd go too, we both know that. I'll be back later."
After watching Fred apparate off, Liam turned to George, and gave him a long-awaited kiss on the lips. Then he pulled back abruptly and hit George as hard as he could across the chest.
"Liam, oww!"
"Start explaining, George!"
Fred landed in the Lark's entranceway, and swayed on his feet before he regained his balance. Then he shuffled down the hallway, calling out as he went.
No voices answered his, so Fred moved into the living room, only to find it completely empty and dark.
"I'll have to wait here then," Fred mumbled to himself as he went over to sit down on the lounge.
Can't hurt to lie down a bit, Fred thought a few minutes later, adjusting himself so he was much more comfortable and much more horizontal.
Four hours later, Caleb flooed into his apartment. As even the most unobservant could have seen, Caleb's red nose and puffy eyes meant a few tears and not much sleep, if any at all.
Hobbling into the kitchen, he grabbed a Pepper-Up Potion and downed in it one, immediately feeling life come back to his limbs and his mind.
Feeling considerably better only a few seconds later, he headed out of the kitchen to go down the hall, but then he stopped.
Caleb turned slowly, brain not quite believing what he saw. Was that seriously Fred Weasley asleep on his couch? Not in my house, Caleb snarled mentally to himself as raised his wand.
Fred awoke with a jolt and a gasp, as violent tremors wracked his body for several seconds. Slowly, but steadily, he reached for his wand and muttered a counter-curse, biting his tongue in the process and drawing blood.
Then the tremors and pain stopped, and Fred looked up to see Caleb standing over him, looking shocked.
"How did you break out of that jinx? No, don't answer. What the fuck are you doing in my house?"
Fred held his hands up defensively, "The first answer is my job requires me to, and that's what I'm here about. I have to come clean about something. Also," Fred continued, standing up, "I'm here because last night, I broke a promise to someone I deeply care about and I want to try and rectify that. Even though I know he may not take me back, he deserves the truth."
Caleb eyed Fred suspiciously. "You have 3 minutes to tell me. Go."
Fred nodded and began speaking rapidly, at one point stopping to glamour his body as proof, before he continued speaking.
Three minutes later, Caleb looked more shocked than angry, but still unconvinced.
Three hours later, Caleb was convinced, but not overly sympathic.
"You still deserted me! For work! Is that going to be a regular occurrence?"
"No!" Fred insisted, hands waving in the air exasperatedly. "These things hardly ever happen, Harry is very good at telling us before hand normally. It was a one-off, I promise, Cal."
Caleb sighed. "Ok, well, I think I believe you. And for some stupid reason, I still like you a lot. But it hurt, Fred, it hurt when you didn't turn up."
Fred nodded and then sought out Caleb's eyes with his own. "I know, and I'm sorry. I'll make it up to you, I'll do anything to keep you in my life."
Caleb leant forward and pressed his lips to Fred's for a second in a feather-light touch, which Fred accepted joyously.
"That's a start. You can make it up to me, but no lies, please? Even about things that you think are stupid or crazy."
Fred nodded with great enthusiasm. "Definitely."
"And you have to at least tell me before you do another bloody Wronski Feint that could kill you!"
Fred nodded again, "I will."
Caleb smiled softly, "That settled then? You look like shit, Fred. You look how I feel. Go home, and we'll talk more later."
Fred laughed a little and stepped up, kissing Caleb once on the cheek and then once on the mouth softly.
And so Fred left Caleb's house smiling. Things were looking up.