Chapter 11
When the door opened and Madam Pomfrey came in. She came over to Fred and held out a glass to him.
"What is it?" he asked looking at the potion.
"Something I'm hoping will help you."
"Help me what?"
"Dance upside down on the ceiling," Madam Pomfrey replied sharply, "Heal you, of course, what else would it do?"
Fred forced the drink back into her hand, "I don't want it."
"Trust me, it'll help."
"You don't know that for sure."
"If you don't drink it now, I'll have to force you too," she said holding out the drink, "Don't you want to be healed?"
"Yes, I do, but I'm not a guinea pig, you can't just test out random potions on me and hope that they work."
"Please just drink it."
Fred paused, "Are you sure it'll help?"
"I'm not sure of anything, I can only hope."
"Just drink it, Fred," George said from across the room, "She's trying to help."
Fred glared at him as Madam Pomfrey said, "I have a glass for you too. Perhaps you'll be more willing to drink it than your brother is," she handed him the glass and George drank it in one go. "Any better?" she asked, taking the glass back from him. George shook his head.
"I feel exactly the same as I did before, if not worse."
Madam Pomfrey pursed her lips and muttering annoyedly to herself, she left the room holding the two glasses.
Fred looked at his brother who was smirking, "Did it actually make you any worse?" he asked him, already knowing the answer.
"Of course not, I just wanted to get her to leave."
"What did it actually do?"
"Nothing at all."
They laughed and sat up. "I want to get out of here," Fred said, "Tonight."
"Why not now?" George asked.
"Because mum said that she was going to find a way to get Molly and Kat to come over and I want to speak to them. I also don't want them to worry when I go off for a while."
"Where will you go?"
"I think I'll start off by back to the island and see if I can find anything there."
"I'm coming too," George said.
"You're joking, right? I'm not letting you come with me! I'd hate myself forever if something happened to you!"
"Something already has happened, Fred. Besides, what if something happens to you? Who'll be there to help?"
With a bang as the door flew open, Lee burst into the room, "Where are you going?" he demanded.
"Lee, it's nothing," Fred replied quickly, rather taken aback by the sudden appearance of his friend. "We just want some fresh air, that's all."
"You're going back to that weird island, aren't you?"
Neither Fred or George replied. Lee looked appalled, "You can't!" he cried. "You could be killed!"
"Come with us, Lee," George said suddenly, "It'll be so much better, the three of us together."
"I really don't think you should go at all," Lee said, "it's too dangerous."
"Lee, we have to. We think that island holds the key to stopping the Vow."
"At least wait for the holidays to finish. You said you wanted to see Molly off to school."
"You think we're going to stay here and let our mother boss us around and allow Madam Pomfrey to force us to take ridiculous potions while we sit back, listening to everyone else talk about what's going to happen? The only way we find out anything is by listening in to private conversations and pretending to be asleep! It's torture, Lee! We want to be doing something helpful!"
Lee put his head in his hands and stared at the floor. "I suppose, it'll be fun. All three of us back together after twenty years," he looked up, smiling.
"We're planning on leaving tonight once I've had the chance to talk to Molly and Kat," Fred explained, "It'll have to be quite late when everyone's in bed so we can sneak out without anyone hearing us."
"I'll come down when I know everyone's gone to bed," Lee proposed.
"Where are you staying?"
"In Bill's room. Him, Fleur, Victoire, Dominique and Louis are all going back to Shell Cottage after dinner so I was going to sleep there. I think Charlie's going back to Romania tonight as well, he said he'd missed too much work as it was and needed to go back."
"We're going to have to be really quick, and really quiet if we want to make sure no one hears us getting up and leaving," George said, "And we'll have to walk a little while away from the Burrow before we disapparate so nobody hears the crack."
"Unless we time it to a thunder clap," Fred suggested.
"You're joking, right? That'd be way too difficult. If we were even half a second ahead or behind, it wouldn't sound real. It would be better to walk for a while and then disapparate," George replied.
Before they could discuss their plans for the next morning any further, Madam Pomfrey as hurried in, and told Lee to leave.
"See you later," George said, rolling his eyes.
"Bye, Lee," Fred sighed, exasperated as his friend left the room. He looked at his brother, "I wish she'd let people stay in here for more than thirty seconds," he said, "I'm getting bored of having to talk to you all the time."
"Thanks very much."
"After twenty years without seeing any of you, I was so excited to finally be reunited with everyone again, but I never expected to be kept inside all day. She doesn't seem to realise that we can still move around!"
"I don't know, Fred. I think I've forgotten how to move my little finger," George said sarcastically. "I can't wait for this afternoon to end so we can get out of here."
"Agreed."
Crack.
Fred and George shot to their feet and, as quickly as they could, they sped out the room and into the kitchen where Angelina was standing, squinting out the window and through the rain.
"What was that?" Fred asked.
The kitchen door burst open and Mrs. Weasley walked in, swiftly followed by Molly, Kat and Willow the puppy. Mrs. Weasley, with a disapproving look at her sons, left the room. The second she saw her husband, Kat ran up to Fred and wrapped him in a hug and Willow yapped excitedly.
"I was so worried," Kat breathed in his ear, "I didn't hear from you in over a day- no texts, no calls, nothing. I almost went to the police."
"I'm so sorry," he whispered back, suddenly noticing that he hadn't seen his phone in at least a day. Releasing her from the embrace but still holding her at arm's length, not wanting to let her go. Her blue eyes met his chocolate brown ones, before drooping down to the cut on his chest and she bit her lip as if trying to hold back tears.
"Can they be healed?" she asked, looking at the similar gash on George's head.
"We don't know," Fred replied solemnly, turning his head away from his wife. He smiled at Molly whose grin had faded slightly into a look of horror at her dad's injury. "I'm fine, Mol," Fred told her, "Honestly, I am."
Although she didn't look convinced, Molly forced a smile.
"Have you got all your school stuff?" he asked her.
She placed a hand in her pocket and removed a small, purple bag from it. "Grandma gave it to me to borrow. She said it's Auntie Hermione's but I could use it to bring everything here quickly. It's brilliant!" she said happily.
"I want both of you to stay here with everyone else."
"Where are you going?" Kat asked him suspiciously.
"George, Lee and I are going away for a day or two. I promise we won't be away long, it's just to get out of the house for a while."
Kat, Angelina and Molly looked very uncomfortable at the idea of the boys leaving but none of them said anything. The five of them and Willow headed out into the tent in the back garden where they stayed for the rest of day, ignoring Madam Pomfrey who pestered them constantly and the irritated glances from their mother.
