"We should also find a way to make it so the bruise can't be removed." Fred added eagerly.
"Or, better yet, how about the only way to remove the bruise is using the Bruise Remover paste we made?" Anna suggested, lounging back on the couch in the drawing room. "That way they'd have to buy two of your products."
"Brilliant!" the twins exclaimed, Fred quickly jotting down another note on his parchment.
"I wish we had one of these when we were in Astronomy class." George sighed wistfully. "Give Kenneth Towler a good knock in the nose."
Anna snorted, shaking her head in amusement. It was the last day of holidays, and they were currently discussing a possible new product for the shop, a Boxing Telescope.
"Anna?"
Annabelle looked over the back of the couch to find her mother entering the drawing room. Wren was holding Aslan in a way so that he was basically sitting on her forearm and leaning back into her chest.
"Hey, Mum. What's up?" she asked, sitting up and leaning her back against the arm of the couch.
"Could you watch Aslan for a bit?"
"Sure." Anna answered slowly. "If you don't mind my asking, where's Dad and why can't he?" she asked curiously, holding her hands out for her brother.
Wren sighed, gently passing Aslan to Anna over the back of the couch. "Professor Snape's here to talk to Harry about something, and Sirius insisted on being there. You know how he is about Snape."
"Yeah, well, I can't blame him." Anna muttered, setting Aslan on her lap and turning him sideways so he could lean back against the back of the couch.
"Yes, well,…I want to be there, too. We're Harry's guardians, for one. And, you know, just in case I need to stop a fight from breaking out. Anyway, someone will come get you all when dinner's ready."
With that, Wren turned and hurried out of the drawing room and down the stairs. Anna watched her leave for several moments before looking down at her brother. She smiled at him when he turned to look up at her, and he gave her a gummy smile in return. Some drool spilled out of his open mouth, and Anna used the bottom of his little shirt to wipe it up. Molly said he was probably drooling so much because his first tooth would be coming in soon.
"You guys want to eavesdrop on them?" Fred asked curiously.
"You guys can, if you want. I'd rather stay here. Besides, Aslan wouldn't be quiet enough to eavesdrop." Anna admitted, letting Aslan grab her index finger in his tight grip.
"I'm just going to check." Fred decided, getting up and pulling an Extendable Ear from his pocket. He hurried from the room, leaving Anna and George behind.
George sighed, getting up from his spot on the floor and plopping down on the couch near Anna's feet. He smiled at Aslan, reaching over and tickling the baby's tummy.
"Hi Baby Padfoot." he whispered.
"If he's 'Baby Padfoot', what am I?" Anna asked curiously, a teasing smile tugging at her lips.
George tilted his head, his eyes surveying her for a moment. "Padfootette?"
Anna laughed, wanting to reach over and swat him, but she couldn't risk hitting Aslan by accident. Instead, she settled for saying, "You're a dolt."
Fred came back in a moment later, looking mildly disappointed. "They put up an Imperturbable Charm." he admitted, plopping down on the couch by George.
"Oh well. It's not like it's Order stuff." Anna told him.
"But what would Snape want with Harry? He hates him." George asked curiously.
"No idea. Now, how do we make a fist pop out of the telescopes?" Anna asked, wanting to get their minds back on track.
It was about five minutes before they heard pounding footsteps. They looked up just as Ginny stuck her head in the doorway.
"Dad's back! He's here! Come on!" she shouted excitedly before hurrying away again.
Anna and the twins exchanged excited looks before the twins got up and bolted from the room. Anna picked Aslan up and hurried after them as fast as she dared while carrying her baby brother.
They reached the ground floor just as the door opened and Arthur walked in followed closely by Molly. He was dressed in a mackintosh over striped pajamas.
"Dad!" the twins shouted excitedly just as Ginny hugged him. The twins hurried forward and hugged Arthur before Ginny could escape, sandwiching her against their dad. Anna laughed, shaking her head at the family.
"How are you feeling?" Anna asked Arthur when the three siblings pulled away.
"Never better." Arthur assured her with a smile as Ron hurried down the stairs and hugged him next.
"Now, kids, let's stop tackling your father." Molly told them sternly, though she was smiling. "Let's head down to the kitchen to start on dinner."
Anna wondered briefly if she should tell them the kitchen was being used for a meeting, but then decided not to. After all, Molly did need to start on dinner, and maybe they could catch a glimpse of what was being said.
The group headed down the stairs into the kitchen and opened the door.
"Cured!" Arthur proclaimed joyously. "Completely cured!"
Everyone froze when they saw the scene they'd walked in on. Sirius and Snape were both looking towards the door, but their wands were pointed in each other's faces. Harry was between them, a hand pressed to each of their chests to push them back, and Wren had one hand on Sirius's shoulder and another hand on his wand hand.
"Merlin's beard," Arthur finally broke the silence, his smile having vanished. "what's going on here?"
Sirius and Snape slowly lowered their wands, but they were still eyeing each other with disdain. Snape pocketed his wand, turned on his heel, and marched across the kitchen with his robes billowing behind him. Anna stepped to the side to allow him room to pass without him touching her. He passed them silently, but at the door he looked back.
"Six o'clock Monday evening, Potter."
With that, Snape vanished up the stairs and out the front door.
Anna hesitantly approached her parents, her father glaring after Snape with his wand still at his side.
"But what's been going on?" Arthur asked worriedly.
"Nothing, Arthur." Sirius assured him, breathing heavily. "Just a friendly little chat between two old school friends…" Anna seriously doubted that. Taking a deep breath, her father forced a smile. "So,…you're cured? That's great news, really great…"
"Yes, isn't it?" Molly agreed, leading her husband to a chair while Anna silently passed Aslan to her mother. "Healer Smethwyck worked his magic in the end, found an antidote to whatever that snake's got in its fangs, and Arthur's learned his lesson about dabbling in Muggle medicine, haven't you, dear?" she asked menacingly.
"Yes, Molly dear." Arthur answered meekly.
Anna smothered an amused smile. Fred passed closely behind her and whispered near her ear, "You really want to end up like that?" He was clearly referring to her comment in St. Mungo's about wanting to end up like his parents.
"Yep." she whispered, turning and kissing his cheek.
"Sirius, can you hold Aslan while I help Molly with dinner?" Wren asked.
"Of course." Sirius answered, taking the baby from his wife and sitting next to Arthur.
Anna and Ginny went to the cupboard to get dishes so they could set the table. As Anna made her way around the table, placing plates at every spot, she glanced up at her father. His bad mood from earlier had completely vanished from his expression. His eyes were bright and his smile cheerful as he bounced his son. It was a nice change from a minute ago.
XXX
The next day, all the kids going back to school had the unfortunate experience of riding the Knight Bus with Tonks and Remus. Anna had always been curious about riding it before, but it was not a pleasant experience. At least one person threw up, and Anna had felt close to doing the same.
Monday, their first day of classes, was relatively slow, and Anna noticed lots of D.A. members kept approaching Harry, and sometimes her and the twins, asking if there would be a meeting that evening. All Anna knew was that they couldn't because Harry had to meet with Snape. He kept telling people he had to take Remedial Potions, but Anna highly doubted Snape would waste his time with that.
That same day, Anna and the twins started selling their newest completed product: Headless Hats. They were a complete success, as Anna predicted.
The lighthearted atmosphere, however, evaporated the next morning. The Daily Prophet arrived at breakfast with the headline:
MASS BREAKOUT FROM AZKABAN
"Anna," Harry hurried over to her seat at the breakfast table, squeezing into the space between her and Fred. Hermione and Ron hurried over to join them, Hermione sitting across from them with George while Ron sat on Fred's other side, "have you read this?"
"No, but I've heard." she answered worriedly.
"You need to read it, there's something important." Harry insisted, shoving the paper at her. Anna glanced worriedly at him before looking at the actual article. She scanned the photos of the ten escaped Death Eaters, recognizing some of the names, and even a couple faces, like her father's cousin Bellatrix Lestrange. When she got to the actual paragraph, she quickly read it through before stopping short.
"They're questioning my father?" she almost shouted.
"What?" Fred and George repeated, horrified.
"It says 'The Ministry may have a lead as to who's behind this breakout and are questioning Sirius Black, the only wizard in history to successfully break out of Azkaban.' What the bloody hell are they thinking? He was proven innocent!"
"Well, they didn't really say he's a suspect." Ron pointed out tentatively. "Maybe they just want his opinion on how they might have gotten out."
Everyone gave him a doubtful look.
"They may not have flat out said he's a suspect," George said, taking the paper from Anna to read himself, "but they're making it sound like he is, anyway."
"I can't believe they're blaming my father for their mistake." Anna snapped, crossing her arms. "I mean, Dumbledore warned them from the start that Voldemort would rally the dementors, but did Fudge listen?" Anna's stomach suddenly felt sick with worry. "You don't think they'll send my dad back to Azkaban, do you?"
"Nah, they couldn't." Fred answered, sounding sure of his answer. "They've got no proof he did anything. He hasn't committed any crimes."
"You really think that matters to Fudge?" Hermione asked doubtfully.
"Well, Dumbledore won't let them put Sirius away." George added.
"Worst case scenario, he can go into hiding again." Fred pointed out.
"Yeah, cooped up in that hell of a house. I'm sure he'll be just fine." Anna agreed sarcastically. Her day was officially ruined.
"Why does no one else seem worried about this?" Harry asked, looking around at the other tables. Sure enough, nearly all the students looked like it was just another day.
"Probably because most kids don't read the paper everyday like our young Hermione here." George decided, playfully tossing his arm over Hermione's shoulder. She scowled up at him, snatching the paper from him to read the articles inside.
"The teachers look worried." Fred pointed out, nodding his head toward the staff table. Dumbledore and McGonagall had their heads bent together, conversing worriedly. Professor Sprout had the paper propped up on a bottle of ketchup to read while she ate, though she was doing more reading than eating. Umbridge, on the other hand, was eating her food as if it had personally insulted her, her squished eyes glancing angrily up the table once in a while at Dumbledore and McGonagall.
"What d'you think Umbridge's more angry about?" Anna asked jokingly. "The breakout? Or the fact that it was a Ministry screw up?"
XXX
Umbridge must have gotten sick of students asking their teachers about the mass breakout, because the next day there was a new Educational Decree posted on the bulletin boards, banning teachers from giving students information that's not related to the subjects they're paid to teach. This decree got endless amounts of ridicule.
Sitting in Defense Against the Dark Arts about a week after the breakout, George turned around in his seat so him and Fred could start a game of Exploding Snap. Anna thought this was daring and slightly stupid, but she just sat and watched them in a daze. Everyone else in the class was reading, or pretending to read, the next chapter in their book, but Anna didn't even feel like pretending. She was too worried about Hagrid to focus.
Hagrid was on probation due to his less than stellar performance when Umbridge sat in on his class, and she now had to sit in on all of his classes, which made him nervous. Because of this, Anna and Hermione had pleaded with him not to teach about any scary or dangerous creatures until they finally convinced him. Anna had even been using some of her very minimal spare time helping him plan some of his lessons. It was pretty simple, really. She just remembered the creatures she'd learned about over the years and avoided a lot of her favorites.
Anna jumped involuntarily when the twins' cards exploded loudly. Everyone turned to look at them, including Umbridge, who didn't look pleased.
"I think you two should put those silly cards away and get back to reading." Umbridge told them sweetly. "You're disrupting the other students. And if you continue, I'll have to put you in detention."
"You can't tell them off for that, Professor!" Lee called from his seat next to George. "Exploding Snap's got nothing to do with Defense Against the Dark Arts! That's not information relating to your subject!"
Several people in the class sniggered, and even Anna had to cover her mouth as she looked up at Umbridge. The stubby woman remained in her seat, and while her expression was rather calm, her cheeks turned slightly pink.
"I'm afraid I'll be seeing you in detention, Mr. Jordan. This evening at seven o'clock. Don't be late."
When she went back to sitting and watching the other students, Lee turned and smirked at George, Anna, and Fred, rolling his eyes. Detention didn't exactly scare any of them.
XXX
Anna glanced briefly at the open page of her Care of Magical Creatures textbook before adding a couple sentences to her essay on Porlocks.
"Looks like Lee's back from detention." George noted, glancing up from where he was writing notes on another new product idea with Fred as his side. Anna looked over her shoulder, seeing Lee enter through the portrait hole. Her eyes zeroed in on his hand as Harry approached him. Lee's hand was wrapped in a red and white cloth.
Harry was talking to Lee for a few moments before they both nodded and went their separate ways. Harry returned to his friends, and Lee headed for Anna and the twins.
"What happened to your hand?" Anna demanded as he sat on the couch with them.
"Um, about that…" Lee looked down at his hand, which it turns out was wrapped with a white, bloodstained cloth. "We should probably avoid getting detention with Umbridge from now on."
"Why?" Fred laughed. "Since when has detention ever scared us?"
"Since that psycho arrived." Lee retorted. "Do any of you have Murtlap Essence?"
"Wait, wait, rewind-" Anna sat up straight, "What do you mean? What'd she do to you in your detention?"
Lee sighed, carefully peeling the cloth back a bit so he could look down at the back of his hand. After a moment, he held it out so they could see his hand. Their mouths fell open.
The back of Lee's hand was marred with the words 'I will not talk back' carved into his skin.
"She did that?" Anna nearly shrieked, horrified.
"Not exactly." Lee shrugged as if it were no big deal. "She has this quill…She makes you write lines with it and it writes with your blood while carving the words out of your hand."
Nausea swirled in Anna's stomach, her hand covering her mouth in horror. "That's…" she trailed off, unable to find a single word to describe it. Horrible? Despicable? Disgusting?
"It's messed up." Lee agreed with a nod. "So, as much as I hate to say it, we should probably be careful about getting detentions with her."
"We just won't get caught." Fred agreed.
"So, why do you need Murtlap?" George asked, referring to what Lee had asked for earlier.
"Uh, Harry suggested it a few minutes ago." Lee shrugged. "Said it helps with the pain and healing."
Anna nodded slowly. "Well, I think I've got some in my Potion ingredients. I can go-" Anna froze, her mind finally catching up to what was being said. Harry had detention with Umbridge on at least a few occasions…
Without another word to Lee or the twins, Anna got up and hurried across the common room to where Harry was sitting with Ron and Hermione.
"Let me see your hands." she demanded quietly.
"What?" Harry asked nervously, his hands instinctively going behind his back.
"Hands. Now." she ordered. "I just saw what that horrible woman did to Lee, don't expect me to believe she'd be less cruel to you."
Harry sighed in defeat before pulling his hands out and showing her his right one. Anna looked closely at the back of it. The words 'I must not tell lies' were written in pale white lines of scar tissue.
"And you didn't think to tell anyone about this?" she whispered harshly, her eyes moving back to his. "Even when you spent Christmas holiday surrounded by people who could help?"
"I can't get anyone involved." Harry insisted. "The Ministry's just looking for a reason to get rid of Dumbledore, if he confronts Umbridge it'll give her a reason to go to Fudge."
Anna sighed, running a hand through her hair. As much as she hated it, she could see where he was coming from. She could relate. After all, she hadn't wanted to tell anyone when Flint attacked her just a few years ago.
"Alright, fine, just…quit getting detentions with her, please?" she sighed.
Harry nodded. "Don't worry, I'll try not to."
"Does Lee need any Murtlap?" Hermione asked.
"No, I think I've got some in my Potions ingredients. Though, you might need to tell me how to prepare it to help." Anna admitted.
"Sure. Come on."
XXX
Anna bounced on the spot, her hand as high in the air as she could reach. Of course, there was no need for her to overreact, no one else in the class was raising their hands. This was partially because there was only a handful of other students in the class.
Hagrid chuckled slightly. "Alrigh', then, Anna, come on up. Slowly, though."
Anna failed to smother her smile as she slowly approached Hagrid and another gentlemen in Hagrid's front yard. The other gentleman was named Mr. Scamander, the son of the author of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find them. He was holding in one arm an ape-like creature with long, silky, white hair and large, black eyes. The creature, which was a Demiguise, had been invisible when class had first started, but his handler had made the creature feel safe enough to show himself.
Anna ignored the disapproving scowl Umbridge was making as she slowly approached the two men. When she reached them, she glanced between the Demiguise and the man holding it. He smiled at her before handing her a piece of lettuce. Anna held it and watched as the Demiguise sniffed her. Then, slowly, he reached one long arm over to grab Anna's shoulder before pulling himself into her arm. Once he was settled comfortably in her one arm against her side, he reached over and took the lettuce from her fingers so he could nibble on it.
"This is brilliant." Anna whispered in amazement, her wide eyes glancing up at Hagrid and Mr. Scamander. They smiled at her, though Hagrid never really lost the nervous expression he always seemed to have, thanks to Umbridge.
After Care of Magical Creatures, Anna hurried off to the evening D.A. meeting, carefully avoiding Umbridge when she also left the class.
In the couple weeks since the Azkaban breakout, everyone had been working extra hard in their D.A. meetings, probably because this all seemed more real than ever before. And shockingly, Neville had been making more improvement then anyone else, though Anna kept it to herself that she'd noticed the names Frank and Alice Longbottom mentioned in Bellatrix Lestrange's mug shot in the paper. It wasn't hard to guess they were his parents, and it would make sense that the release of his parents' tormenter would encourage Neville to get better at defending himself and others.
Anna also got a letter recently from her family assuring her that the investigation into her father had ended, and the Ministry had decided he might not have had anything to do with the breakout.
XXX
January soon turned to February, which brought slightly warmer weather and less free time for Anna. She was trying to dedicate at least an hour a day to studying for her coming NEWTs, which the twins frequently tried to interrupt. Angelina was also pushing for more practices, since their next match was coming at the end of February.
The next Hogsmeade weekend happened to be on Valentine's Day. Anna didn't think much of it, since Angelina insisted on having a full day of training with the whole team on February 14th. Anna was jealous of Lee, George, and Fred because they got to go to Hogsmeade while Anna had to practice.
The practice lasted most of the day, meaning the team missed lunch and were hungry as well as sweaty, tired, and sore by the time they headed to the locker-room to change. Anna also took a hot shower for a good half-hour and ended up being the last person to leave the locker-room.
She wasn't expecting someone to be waiting for her when she stepped out the door.
Fred was leaning casually against the wall, dressed in his winter cloak. He smiled when he saw her and stood up straight.
"Hey." he greeted her.
"Hi." she smiled curiously as she stood in front of him. "What are you doing here?"
"What? Can't I walk my beautiful, probably-exhausted girlfriend to the castle on Valentine's Day?" Fred asked charmingly, holding both hands behind his back.
Anna eyed him suspiciously, but a smile played at her lips. "Yes, you can." she answered slowly. "Where, exactly, do you plan to take me, though?"
"Hm, I was thinking on a date? Since it's Valentine's Day and all?" Fred answered innocently.
"Oh really?" Anna asked playfully, though she was pleasantly surprised. They hadn't done anything couple-like last Valentine's Day, and she hadn't expected anything this year since she had practice.
"Yes, really. And I'm hoping this-" he pulled a bouquet of flowers from behind his back with a flourish, "will convince you to come with me."
Anna smiled widely as she accepted the flowers from him. It was an assortment of oriental lilies and tulips in varying shades of pink and white. "Fred, they're beautiful."
"I wasn't sure what kinds of flowers you like, since we never talked about it, and I probably should have gotten you flowers before this, but-"
"No, Fred, it's fine. I'm not normally a flower-kind of girl, but these are beautiful." she assured him, before adding in a more teasing tone, "However, I'm not a fan of pink, so-"
"Yeah, yeah, shut it." Fred laughed, rolling his eyes. "I figured I'd go with the pink since it's Valentine's Day, but next time I'll pick different colors."
Anna grinned. "At least you didn't get me roses."
"No way, roses are way too overdone, especially on Valentine's. Now, off to our date." He took one of Anna's hands and lead her toward the castle, the flowers in her other hand. They walked through the castle, avoiding the Great Hall where everyone else was starting dinner, and headed all the way up to the Gryffindor common room. Then, Fred lead Anna all the way up to the seventh year boys dormitory. When they stepped inside, Anna's eyes went to Fred's bed.
There were a few candles floating in the air around the bed, which was the only real source of light in the room. And on the bed were two paper bags, one with the Three Broomsticks logo and another with the Honeydukes logo.
Fred helped Anna out of her winter cloak like a gentleman before tossing both her cloak and his onto his trunk at the end of his bed. They both slipped their shoes off and Anna carefully climbed onto Fred's bed, sitting back against his pillows.
"Here." Fred gently took the flowers from her and placed them in a vase already filled with water on his bedside table. "You can take those to your dormitory with you later tonight."
"You just thought of everything, didn't you?" Anna teased lightly as he sat on the bed next to her.
"Of course." Fred smirked, grabbing the nearest bag. "I got some warm butterbeer, since you missed out because of practice," he started, pulling out a bottle of the drink and handing it to her, "and I got some dinner. Hope you're in the mood for fish and chips."
"Are you kidding? I've been craving their fish and chips the past few weeks." Anna told him excitedly, almost snatching the to-go container he pulled from the bag.
Fred laughed. "Well, that's good to hear. But you're not stealing any of mine." he added, mockingly serious as he pulled his own serving of fish. "I also got some of our favorites from Honeyduke's for dessert."
"Aw, you're so sweet." Anna told him, partially joking.
"I know." Fred grinned smugly. "Aren't you lucky?"
Anna laughed, popping open the lid on her dinner to start eating. "So, did anything fun happen in Hogsmeade?"
"Hmm. Not particularly. I think I saw Harry in Madam Puddifoot's with Cho Chang."
Anna smirked slightly. "About time that happened."
"Yeah, but…Madam Puddifoot's?" Fred asked with a grimace. Anna laughed. "You're never going to make me take you there, are you?" Fred checked, pretending to look worried.
"Of course not!" Anna laughed, wrinkling her nose. "There's so much pink in there it burns my eyes just walking past it."
Fred joined in her laughter before taking a sip of his butterbeer.
Anna chewed her next bite slowly before swallowing. "So,…have you and George thought more on whether or not you're leaving?" she asked slowly, looking down at her food.
Fred sighed. "Yeah, we've been thinking about it. I'm pretty sure we're going to do it, but…we're putting it off for now. But we've pretty much got everything we need."
"What do you mean?" Anna asked. "You'd still have to do the owl order side of it. And you know your mum will never let you live at home after dropping out of school."
Fred smirked slightly, looking over at her. "About that…we didn't just hang out at Hogsmeade today."
"What are you talking about?" she asked suspiciously.
Fred reached into his pants pocket and pulled something out. He reached over and dropped it in her hand. It was a simple, silver key with the address '93 Diagon Alley' written on it.
"What is this?"
"I should think you'd know what a key is." Fred told her.
"But," Anna looked between the key and Fred a few times. "Diagon Alley? Did you-you didn't."
"We did." Fred nodded with a smirk. "Thanks to Harry's investment and the crazy profits we've been bringing in, we were able to make a down payment on an empty building in Diagon Alley today. Bill helped us out, but don't mention that. He doesn't want Mum to find out. But anyway, we picked out a shop that has a flat above it, so we can live above the shop. I'll have to give you the grand tour soon."
Anna laughed in surprise. "Fred, that's brilliant! Why didn't you tell me? I would've wanted to come!"
"I know, but I doubt Angelina would've been happy with you skipping practice. Believe me, I would've loved for you to come. But you can help us decorate and set the shop up or something."
Anna smiled. "I suppose I can live with that." she admitted, reaching to give him the key back.
Fred shook his head. "Keep it. That's your copy."
Anna blinked. "My copy?"
"Of course. I have one, George has one, and now you have one. So you can pop in and visit whenever you want."
Anna smiled softly, looking down at the key in her hand. Sure, they were wizards, they could just use their wands to unlock the door. But it was the symbolism behind it. Fred was giving her a key to their shop, and it meant more than she could say.
"Thanks."
When Anna finished her dinner several minutes later, she put the garbage back in the bag before reaching for the Honeyduke's bag to look through it. She pulled out a Chocolate Frog and leaned back against the headboard while pulling the little sweet from the box. As the back of her shoulder pressed against the hard wood of the bed, she winced and shifted forward in inch.
"What's wrong?" Fred asked, having noticed her wince.
"Oh, nothing." Anna waved it off, shifting a bit so she could lean more onto her right side so her left didn't have to touch the headboard. "Just a bruise from practice. I'm fine."
"How'd you get it?" Fred asked, slipping his hand behind her back and gently urging her to sit up.
"It's Quidditch, Fred. People get bruised all the time." Anna told him, though she sat up straight like he wanted.
"Can I look at it?" Fred asked gently.
Anna paused, having not expected the question. And she wasn't sure if she wanted him to see it. When she'd been changing out of her uniform earlier, Katie had been shocked when she caught a glimpse of it, and only then did Anna realize how bad it was.
"Anna?" Fred urged, leaning to look at her face when she didn't answer.
"It looks worse than it is." she told him slowly.
Fred's eyes narrowed warily. "So,…can I see it?" he asked slowly.
Anna sighed, nodded, and sat up straighter. She set her untouched frog on the bedding before hesitantly pulling the back of her jumper up her back. She wasn't sure how far she needed, or wanted, to pull it off, since she was only wearing a bra underneath. Finally, she decided to just pull it over her head so her back and shoulders were left bare, but her arms stayed in the sleeves and her chest was mostly covered. She did just that, trying not to blush. After all, the only thing Fred was really seeing was her back and the back of her bra.
She winced when his thumb brushed over the tender spot on the back of her shoulder.
"Bloody hell, Anna." Fred breathed. "What happened?"
"Um, well,…I got hit by a Bludger." Anna admitted.
"How?" Fred asked incredulously. "You're normally good at dodging Bludgers. The new Beaters aren't that good, are they?"
"Well,…" Anna trailed off, not wanting Fred to get angry. "One of the Beaters was supposed to be trying to hit us Chasers, while the other one was supposed to be defending us. And, well, they were doing…okay. Then, the one who was supposed to defend us…I think he was aiming to hit the Bludger away, but his aim was a little off and…it hit me."
Fred sighed harshly, the cool air hitting Anna's bare back and making her shiver. "Which one was it?"
"Yeah, like I'm going to tell you that." Anna scoffed. "It was an accident. I'm not going to give you a chance to hurt the poor guy."
"Then I'll ask Ginny." Fred countered.
"I already swore her to secrecy, same thing with the whole team." Anna told him smugly.
Fred groaned. "Anna, he hurt you-"
"Accidentally!"
"Either way." Fred complained, once again gently running his thumb over the bruise. Anna shivered again. His thumb barely skimmed the tender spot, miraculously not causing any pain. "Can I at least put some Bruise Remover on it?"
"I suppose you could, if you want." Anna answered.
Fred scooted off the edge of the bed, moving around to crouch at the end of his bed by his trunk. He dug around for a moment before he pulled out a small container and returned to his seat on the bed behind her. Anna used one hand to scoop her hair over one shoulder to be out of the way.
"You're okay with this, right?" he checked before he did anything else.
"Yes." she answered quietly. "I trust you."
There was a quiet scraping sound as Fred unscrewed the lid on the container. Then, a moment later, Anna felt the cool paste gently touching her tender bruise. Her back twitched slightly as Fred began to gently dab the paste over the bruised skin.
"I'm not hurting you, right?" Fred checked as he scooped more paste onto his finger.
"No. I can already feel it getting better." Anna admitted.
"Good."
They were silent for another few moments as Fred carefully covered the entire space with the yellow paste. Then his hand left her back and Anna waited silently as she heard the sound of Fred screwing the lid back on.
Suddenly, a pair of arms slipped around Anna's still-bare stomach and Fred gently pulled the right side of her back into his chest, kissing the side of her neck.
"Feel better?" he whispered gently.
Anna smiled, turning to lean the side of her head against his. "Yeah, thanks." she said genuinely, kissing his cheek. "You didn't have to do that. We've all had worse bruises than that."
"I know, but you're my girlfriend. I'm supposed to take care of you." Fred told her sweetly, partially joking but partially genuine.
"Well, you did wonderfully. Thank you." she told him before she leaned forward and pulled her jumper back on. Once her back was covered again, Fred surprised her by lying down and pulling her down with him, laying her across his chest and wrapping his arms around her. They laid there silently for several moments, just staring into the dimly-lit room, the candlelight flickering over the bed.
"So, how'd I do?" Fred asked softly, breaking the silence. "Considering this is only the third date I've planned."
Anna smiled. Turning her head, she stretched up and kissed him. When she pulled back, she smiled up at him, which he returned. "I love this."
"I thought you might." Fred told her smugly. Anna laughed, lightly smacking his chest.
XXX
Hope you all liked the chapter! Please take a few moments to review and let me know what you all thought!
Note for the reviewer Pugs for life: In answer to your questions, I update this story on Thursdays and any day that I deem significant to Harry Potter fans(Sept. 1, Oct. 31, the twins' birthday…) Yes, I swear I'm going to finish this story. I had a lot of it written out before I even posted the first chapter. I currently have about 2/3 of the Deathly Hallows written out. And Fred and Anna are probably going to get married.
Can't give away too much other than that without giving spoilers. I'm glad you like this story so much, and I really appreciated your review. Thank you so much! : )