Hello everyone! Sorry for the delay. I hope you like this one!
Marianne x
wildest dreams
VOLUME II
CHAPTER TWENTY
With December came the cold. I had never been a huge fan of winter – and this one was bitterly cold, so we stayed inside most of the time. Without Quidditch, and with my weekly visits to Umbridge's office, I couldn't wait for Christmas to arrive – even more with the prospect of our visit to Diagon Alley.
Everybody seemed to be in a foul mood – the twins, especially, for having to spend so much time inside, and Angelina, who had focused her energy on finding replacements for Fred, George and Harry. Alicia, whose relationship with Ethan kept moving forward, seemed to be the only one of us in a good mood. Even Lee's constant optimism was starting to wear off as the end of the semester drew close.
The weeks passed slowly – and then it was time for our last D.A. meeting of the year. I was walking to the Room of Requirement with the twins when we met Angelina, Alicia, Katie and Lee – they were coming back from the Pitch, where they had held selections to replace Fred, George and Harry.
"So?" I asked.
Angelina sighed, removing her gloves.
"Well, we filled the three spots."
"You found a Seeker?" said Fred, eyebrows raised.
"Yeah. Your sister."
Fred stared back at Angelina.
"Ginny?"
"Well, unless you have another sister…"
"I knew it!" I smiled. "I told you she was good."
"She's brilliant," said Lee.
"What about Beaters?" asked George.
"Andrew Kirke and Jack Sloper."
Fred and George made faces.
"I know," I sighed Angelina. "But they were the best out of the whole bunch. You can imagine. Of course, none of this would be necessary if you two had had the decency of –"
"Oh, no, no," interrupted Alicia. "We are not doing this again."
Angelina shot the twins a very dark look, but didn't insist.
The hour passed quickly – and soon we were getting back to the Common Room, talking about the prospect of maybe trying out the Patronus Charm after the Christmas Holidays. The discussion lasted throughout the whole evening and we all went to bed quite late.
I woke up a little late the next morning – it was the last day of term, after all. After getting dressed, me, Angelina and Alicia lazily went downstairs, only to find Lee prancing around the Common Room, looking distressed.
"Finally!" he exclaimed when he saw us.
"Happy to see you too," said Alicia suspiciously.
"Something happened," he barked, ignoring Alicia.
We all stared at him.
"Fred and George, they're gone."
My breath caught in my throat.
"What?!" I cried out.
"What do you mean, they're gone?" said Angelina faintly.
"They're gone!" repeated Lee. "Last night, around midnight, someone came in our dorm to get them, go to Dumbledore's office –"
"Why?" I asked.
"I don't know," he shrugged. "I didn't question it too much, and fell back asleep – it was really late – but then this morning, they weren't there, and all their stuff was gone, too!"
I had never seen Lee so anxious. He was usually laid-back, always smiling – but there was not even the hint of a smile on his face that morning. My heart pounding in my chest, I looked at Lee.
"What did you do?"
"I went to see McGo," he answered. "She said they were gone because of a 'family emergency', that they wouldn't come back before the end of the semester. She wouldn't tell me anything else."
"A family emergency?" Angelina repeated. "You don't think something happened to their parents, do you?"
I felt the blood drain out of my face as I thought of the possibility that something might have happened to Molly or Arthur – or anyone in the family. My mouth felt dry.
"Let's not panic," Angelina added quietly after silence followed her words. "Surely McGonagall would have told you if something really bad had happened. I'm sure everyone's fine."
But I couldn't shake off the anxiety that had taken over me. Angelina, Alicia and Lee went to get breakfast – but I didn't feel hungry at all, and decided to stay in the Common Room, to wait for news. I didn't have to wait very long – a few minutes after they were gone, Hermione came in.
"Hermione!" I cried out.
She looked up at me, looking calm but slightly pale.
"I need to talk to you," I said breathlessly. "Have you –"
"Yeah, I know. Harry, Ron and Ginny are gone too."
"Harry?" I repeated, dumbfounded.
She nodded, then hesitated, looking around. Fortunately, the room was empty – everyone was either in class or eating breakfast.
"It's Mr. Weasley," she said simply.
"What happened?" I asked, trying not to panic.
"He was attacked at the Ministry last night."
"Is he all right?"
She shrugged slightly, sighing.
"He's still alive. I don't know much."
I nodded – at least, Arthur was alive. But then I frowned.
"What was he doing at the Ministry so late?"
"Well, I guess he was… doing something, you know, for the… for the Order" she said quietly.
"I see," I muttered. "Who told you all about this?"
"Dumbledore. I'm just coming back from his office."
I nodded again, still feeling anxious – despite knowing that Arthur was all right, I wanted to see him, and all the others. Hug them tight.
"How are you going to get to London?" I finally asked Hermione.
"What do you mean?" she frowned.
"Well we have to go – we can't just –"
"Dumbledore said I had to wait until the end of term."
"But it's the last day, who cares about –"
"I know, Addy. I want to leave, too, but we can't. We have to wait until tonight."
I sighed, annoyed. It made sense – Dumbledore couldn't break the rules for everyone. Fred, George, Harry, Ron and Ginny leaving before the end of term was an exception in itself.
"I was thinking of getting the Knight Bus in Hogsmeade, we can go together if you want."
"Yeah, good idea. Meet here after last period?"
"All right. See you later, Addy."
"Thanks, Hermione."
We exchanged smiles, and I gave her a quick hug before running downstairs to tell the others. There wasn't much to be done after that, except being patient.
But patience was never my cup of tea – I was restless for the rest of the day, prancing around the castle, unable to focus during class. When the day finally ended, I met Hermione in the Common Room, my suitcase ready, and we quickly made our way to Hogsmeade to catch the Knight Bus. I had only taken it twice before – and nearly fell on Hermione when the driver had to break to let someone cross the street. Feeling anxious, cold and tired, we finally arrived at Grimmald Square around six o'clock.
Even from outside we could hear Mrs Black's screams after we rang the doorbell – Sirius let us inside, obviously happy to get more company. I quickly thanked him, and not even bothering to take off my coat, ran upstairs to the twins' room, and entered, almost kicking down the door.
"Oi!" said two voices.
But I didn't bother answering, and only jumped in their arms to hug them tight, nearly kicking the cauldron they had been working over.
"Told you she would get here tonight," said George in an amused tone.
"Yeah, well, you're strangling us, Adds."
Smiling in relief, I let them go, and took a good look at them – they hadn't changed, despite maybe looking a little tired.
"I was so worried!" I cried out, sitting on the nearest bed. "I nearly had a heart attack when Lee told us you were gone."
"Sorry about that. We didn't really have time to leave a note," said Fred.
"Of course. But you should have seen Lee, the state he was in –"
"Really?" said George, arching an eyebrow. "Well – he was half asleep when they came to get us in our dormitory, so I guess he must have had quite a shock to find our beds empty this morning."
"Yeah" I sighed. "This is mad."
There was a short silence. I nervously bit my lip.
"How's your Dad?"
Both their faces turned grim.
"He's… fine, I guess. He was in a pretty bad shape, though."
"Yeah, it was weird to see him like this. In the hospital and all."
"I'm so sorry," I said, shaking my head. "It's awful."
"Yeah, it's pretty bad. He should be up for Christmas, though."
"Good."
The cauldron made a weird burping noise, but none of us paid it any attention. All of this hadn't felt real until now – now that I saw the looks on Fred and George's faces, their tired eyes, their serious expressions.
"Hermione said he was attacked," I said softly. "How did it happen?"
The twins exchanged a look.
"You don't have to tell me if you don't want to," I quickly added.
"It's not that," said George, shaking his head. "It's just – well…"
"It's weird. What happened."
I frowned, and slid from the bed to sit down on the floor next to them. They then told me everything – about how Harry had had a vision, and about the giant snake that had attacked Arthur – it all sounded like a nightmare. I couldn't imagine everything they had went through that night, just waiting for news. It reminded me of our fourth year, when they had learned about Ginny and the Chamber of Secrets – and how we had held hands, sitting all night in the Common Room, in front of the dying fire, praying for the best.
When we went downstairs for dinner, I hugged Molly tightly – she looked so tired. I helped her serve dinner, and everyone made efforts not to be too grim – Fred and George cracked a few jokes, and helped lighten the mood.
I half-expected the few days leading up to Christmas to be a bit gloomy, due to circumstances, but it happened to be quite the contrary. We spent our time decorating the house, and playing games – I even tried to beat Ron at chess – but of course, failed – and everyone was in a pretty good mood, especially Sirius, who looked more alive than ever. One afternoon, I helped him decorate the Christmas tree with live fairies, and then he spent two hours telling me stories about his time at Hogwarts, smiling and laughing loudly.
On Christmas morning, after unwrapping my presents – I had notably gotten the traditional jumper, a stack of candy from Fred and George and a thick book on Muggle law from Hermione – I went downstairs to make tea, and found Molly crying in the dining room.
"Molly?"
I approached her, putting my hand on her arm – she was holding a blue jumper, pressing it against her chest. She glanced at me, her eyes red and filled with tears.
"Oh, Addy, darling, I am sorry, I – I –"
I glanced at the jumper – and saw the golden 'P'. Percy.
"Oh, Molly, I'm sorry."
I took her into my arms, holding her for a bit. She hugged me tightly, stroking my back.
"Addy – thank you – you are such – such a sweetheart…."
I smiled softly – and from the corner of my eyes, saw Fred and George enter the dining room, each of them sporting their new purple jumpers.
"Mum?" said Fred.
Molly then removed herself from my arms, taking a deep breath.
"Oh, darlings! I'm so sorry – happy Christmas…"
"Why are you crying?"
"Oh – it's nothing, it's silly, don't worry… I'll make you some tea…"
She hurried out of the room. Both Fred and George looked at me intently.
"It's Percy," I said. "He sent her back his jumper."
"He what?" exclaimed Fred.
"What a pretentious prat," said George, gritting his teeth. "I wish I could show him –"
He stopped, as Molly re-entered the room with three cups and a teapot – her eyes were red, but she had stopped crying.
"There you go…" she said, sniffling. "I'll make some porridge later, if you want…"
"Mum, we're sorry. Percy's a git."
"Yeah. He's nothing more than a humongous pile of rat droppings, he doesn't even deserve a gift from you."
Molly smiled softly, but didn't reply. Then Lupin entered the kitchen, wishing us all Happy Christmas. Fred and George went back upstairs – but I didn't want to leave Molly, and so helped her making breakfast, making sure to first, take Percy's jumper and throw it in the fireplace.
We went to visit Arthur later that day – he looked a little worried, but nevertheless his physical appearance was better than I had imagined. Me and the twins spent the day after Christmas preparing the next day's visit to Diagon Alley – Bill had insisted on accompanying us there, just to make sure we were safe – and so on the 27th, after eating a nice breakfast of scrambled eggs, beans and toast, we set off for Diagon Alley.
We apparated just outside Ollivander's – the space to rent was just a few steps away according to the man who had placed the ad. Bill told us he would be sticking around, but left us to go visit the place by ourselves. Fred and George could barely contain their excitement – I was myself feeling a little nervous, and squeezed George's hand hard.
The place was indeed only a few steps away, standing tall directly on the spot where the Alley diverged slightly to the right. From the outside, it didn't look like much – I probably wouldn't even have seen it if I hadn't been paying attention. The building was dark, with an impressive amount of windows on its front – but most of them were broken or sealed off. Despite its ominous appearance, the building itself wasn't in a bad shape. It easily could be renovated.
Smirking, we walked to the front door, where a small man with a long, navy coat was waiting. When he saw us, his eyebrows raised and disappeared under his hat.
"Misters Weasley, I presume?"
"That's us."
"Very nice to finally meet you, I'm Gideon Perkins."
He shook hands with the twins, a warm smile on his lips, before his eyes turned to me.
"And who is this lovely lady?"
"This is our friend Addy," said Fred.
"Nice to meet you, Mr. Perkins," I smiled, shaking his hand.
"Likewise, likewise. Now, how about we go in?"
"Absolutely" said George with his grin as wide as his face.
As Mr. Perkins unlocked the door with shaky hands, he started talking about the place – how he had been trying to rent it for a while, how nice its location was, and how, with a little bit of love, it could become the perfect place to set shop. I listened to him as we entered, and felt my jaw drop a little bit.
Despite the odd smell, and the incredible amount of dust lying around, I already knew the place was perfect. It was not wide, but it was very high – the shelves seemed to go up indefinitely, with spiral staircases joining the few floors. The wood seemed mostly in good condition, despite being broken there and there. There was work to be done, that was for sure, but it seemed to me like the twins could turn this place into something incredible. I glanced at them – they were looking around, wide-eyed, carefully listening to what Mr. Perkins was saying.
"What was this place before?" I asked, curious.
"Apothecary. The owner had had his establishment for many years, but he fell very ill and died about a year ago. He had no children, so the building fell into my hands."
"Wow," I muttered, feeling a little bit sad at the idea of this lonely, sick old man.
Mr. Perkins showed us the back room, where there was enough space for storage and even an office. We then climbed the stairs to see the different floors – there were four in total. The place felt a little bit like a labyrinth – I could imagine it back in the day, with its shelves stocked with potions and ingredients, and with the old man at the counter who knew exactly where everything was. I felt myself smiling as we looked around.
We went back on the first floor, and I noticed a door in the back that we hadn't yet explored.
"Where does that lead?"
Mr. Perkins smiled mysteriously.
"Good eye, Miss. I wanted to keep this part of the tour for the end. I think it will finish convincing you."
I exchanged looks with the twins, who looked like they were going to burst out of excitement. But they acted more professional than I had ever seen them – they were taking this seriously.
We followed the small man to the door, who opened it with a little key. Behind the door was a staircase, which lead to another door. All of this was very mysterious. I could feel my heart pounding in my chest as Mr. Perkins unlocked the second door. We quietly followed him upstairs.
We finally entered a wide empty room. The odd smell was weaker here, and there was also less dust. At the other end of the room stood an enormous window, that gave a splendid view of Diagon Alley. I looked around, feeling a smile spread on my lips. To our right was a small kitchen – to our left, three doors.
"You didn't tell me there was a flat!" I exclaimed, turning to the twins.
They were smiling – obviously they had wanted this to be a surprise.
"This is amazing!"
"Isn't it? I didn't think it would be that big" said Fred, looking around.
"And that view, too!" added George.
"You have two bedrooms, one bathroom, a kitchen and a closet right there" explained Mr. Perkins. "And plenty of space in the living room."
He showed us all the rooms, giving us time to explore them thouroughly. Soon the conversation diverged into what was included in the rent, and how the lease would work – I took that time to walk to the window, taking in the view.
Would this truly be a home for Fred and George? It seemed so odd to imagine them living in any other place than Hogwarts or the Burrow. They would have their own place – their own shop. On Diagon Alley. For so many years that prospect had been one of the far future – one we dreamed of. But now it was real – more real than ever. It was so much to take in, and yet it all made sense. I breathed in, suddenly having the urge to laugh.
The twins appeared on each side of me.
"Where's Mr. Perkins?"
"He's gone to fetch the papers."
"So you're taking it?"
"We're taking it," said George, grinning.
I took both of their hands, squeezing them tight.
"This is unbelievable."
"We know," they replied in unison.
We stood there for a few seconds, staring at the distance. The world seemed to be ours, only ours. Hogwarts seemed so far away now – and yet it was a part of us.
"I want to show you something," said George in my ear, leading me away.
I followed him to the room closest to the door. There was a small closet on our right, and another window right in front of us. I felt him squeeze my hand.
"What do you think?" he asked.
"What?"
"For us."
I felt my heart skip a beat, and quickly breathed in, scared that my lungs had stopped working. My heart pounded in my chest in a rhythmic manner, as if it was dancing.
"For us?" I repeated slowly.
"Yeah," he said softly. "Our bed would be there…"
He pointed right under the window.
"We would each have a bedside table, and a lamp. There would be photographs, here. And maybe a plant. We could have a plant."
"It would probably die," I laughed.
"Yeah, you're right," he muttered.
I looked up at him, taking in his smile, and the way his hair stuck up on his head, and the small wrinkle in his left cheek. I took in the softness of his hand in mine, the color of his jacket. I listened to his breathing, imagining it next to me for the rest of our lives.
"I love it," I said, softly.
He looked down at me, and I lost myself in his eyes, until I couldn't take it anymore – I kissed him tenderly, feeling his hand slide around my waist. The world was indeed ours now.
