Thank you to The souless ones, Dalonega Noquisi, Guest (erm… is that good or bad?), HT118, Gurl5678 (you may have to wait a while for the wedding, sorry), bellatrixD and Marine Astriella.
Well. Enjoy this chapter too. I had lots of positive feedback from the last one; I hope this one has as much good reception. Fluff… Lots and lots and lots and lots of fluff. Go and check out my spin-off story 'The Life And Times Of Selene Malfoy', which is a series of drabbles all linked to this one.
Please review!
"I can take your problems away, with a nod and a wave of my hand, 'cause that's just the kind of boy that I am." - Thriller by Fall Out Boy
Chapter 54: I Will Guide You
"And you said yes!" Hermione squealed, jumping up to hug Selene around her shoulders. "Oh, this is just… beautiful! Do you know when it's happening?"
"Not for a while Hermione." Selene insisted, laughing a little. "We don't want to rush things. Mrs Weasley was all for this summer, but we're happy waiting until life's calmed down, and I'm settled with a job and the joke shop has been going a while."
Ginny shrugged. "Let me see it!" She demanded, picking up Selene 's left hand to get a better look at the engagement ring. "Wow, it's…"
"Beautiful…" Selene echoed, looking down at her own hand. The ring was purple, with a single amethyst, but not overly extravagant.
"It belonged to Uncle Fabian." Fred explained, laughing at the look on his fiancée's face. "Yes, he had a girlfriend. Wouldn't have thought it, would you?"
She was glad for the simplicity, as her mother would have gone for something dressy and overlarge. A sharp pang sounded in her stomach as she thought of her family – what would they think of her now? Selene sighed, he mother's parting words still hung heavy over her, and Draco's attempt to patch things up meant more to her than words could say.
"What did Sirius say?" Hermione asked quickly, sensing that Selene's thoughts were going too less pleasant territories. "He's not going to be pleased, surely."
Selene blinked, and grimaced. "Uh…" She said, looking around. "I haven't told him yet." She admitted. "He's just going to think Fred got me pregnant or something."
"You aren't!" Ginny said sharply, elaborating when Selene looked at her curiously. "Pregnant, I mean."
Going bright red, Selene shook her head furiously. "No, no way." She said adamantly. "No!" She continued to protest, as Ginny and Hermione shared a look. "He's just going to think that, I mean. Nothing more."
"And Ted?" Ginny reminded, watching smugly as Selene went pink again. "He's probably going to jump to the wrong conclusion as well."
"How many people have you told?" Hermione queried slowly.
Selene thought for a few moments. "Um…" She said slowly, not really looking at either girl. "You two, George, and Mrs Weasley."
There was a long silence. "Okay." Ginny said slowly. "But seriously, something like this… you can't really just keep it under wraps."
"I'm not planning on it becoming common knowledge." Selene admitted, shaking her head. "Umbridge is out to get me as it is, she has too much ammunition against me anyway."
"Fred's gonna die…" Ginny sang, getting up and walking to the door. "Promise this now – I will be bridesmaid."
Selene smiled, and nodded. "Of course." She said quickly, looking down at her hand like she could barely believe the ring herself. "And I'm sure Sirius won't… actively… kill Fred…"
Somehow, that didn't seem very likely.
"Um… Sirius?" Selene said carefully, knocking on the door to Buckbeak's room, which once belonged to her great-aunt Walpurga. The man in question looked up and grinned, walking away from Buckbeak and pushing them both out of the room.
"You didn't come home until gone two in the morning last night." He said sternly, but Selene could see a twinkle in his eye. "Oh, come off it Selene, I was young once too. What's the matter?"
Selene smiled nervously, shoving her left hand into her pocket. "I… need to tell you something." She said quickly.
Sirius's smile waned immediately. "Oh, here it is." He said. "What's the matter? Has Fred hurt you?"
"NO!" Selene blurted, blinking at the urgent tone of her voice. "No! The opposite, in fact." She gave her cousin an anxious look, before continuing. "Um.. Sirius, me and Fred are…"
"No." Sirius said quickly. He looked terribly, incredibly angry. "Selene, where is he?"
Selene blinked owlishly, looking around as if Fred might jump out from somewhere. "I don't know, Sirius, I haven't even told you yet-"
Before Selene could finish what she was about to say, Sirius ran down the stairs like a hoard of Dementors were following him at the speed of a Thestral. "This is it." He muttered, almost knocking over Remus, who had gone to find out exactly what Sirius was up to with Buckbeak.
"Sirius?" Remus said slowly, his eyes then flicking upward to see Selene on the top landing, staring down at Sirius, who was making his way to the kitchen. "Selene, do you know what Sirius is doing?"
Selene swallowed, half-knowing, half-confused. "I think…" She said slowly, but then the door to the kitchen swung open, banging against the wall and Sirius's voice cut through the entire house, clear as day.
"WHAT WERE YOU THINKING?"
The curtains on Mrs Black's portrait swung open, and Selene apperated down to the landing to heave them shut with the help of Remus. But Sirius's yells were enough to re-open them, so Remus stayed behind to hold them shut as Selene moved down the hall.
"SIRIUS!" Mrs Weasley yelled back. "KEEP YOUR VOICE DOWN! What is the matter?"
Selene almost threw herself into the doorway, getting there just in time to see Fred looking absolutely terrified, with Sirius standing over him like a tyrant. Mrs Weasley looked furious, her hand on her hip with a saucepan in her hand.
"YOUR SON!" Sirius screamed, and Selene shared a quick look with George. Harry and Hermione, the other two in the room apart from the Weasleys, carefully stepped to one side, wisely choosing to let the matter blow over before anyone got seriously hurt.
"What have I done?" Fred said quickly, attempting a grin. "Geez Sirius, what's the matter?"
"WHAT'S THE MATTER?" Sirius yelled, and somewhere Mrs Black started to scream again. Hermione ran out to help Remus, which left the rest of them staring at Sirius's less-than-silent stand-off with Fred. "MOLLY, DO YOU KNOW WHAT FRED HAS DONE TO MY BABY COUSIN?"
"What do you mean?" Selene spun around to see Lily standing next to Harry. "Sirius, Fred, Mrs Weasley?" She clapped her hands together, like she had realised something. "Yes, as I said it would, the zombie apocalypse has finally begun!"
Sirius laughed dryly, keeping one eye on Fred as he spoke to Lily. "I wish." He said, glaring at Fred. "SHE'S BARELY OF AGE! GOD, YOU'RE BOTH STILL IN SCHOOL!"
"Oh…" Fred said, smacking his palm to his forehead. "Oh, that. Well, it's not happening anytime soon-"
"BUT IT WILL DO!" Sirius screeched, and Mrs Weasley began to raise her voice. "WHAT IS IT – NINE MONTHS?"
The whole room fell silent. Sirius looked around him at the rest of the group, his brow furrowing when he saw several clearly confused faces. Then George began to laugh.
"This is one for the photo album!" He said, through his peals. "Oh, look at his face!"
"What?" Sirius began, his jaw dropping open, before turning to Selene. "Selene, you mean, you're not?"
Selene fought the urge to face-palm, and instead settled on shaking her head vigorously. "NO." She said clearly, casting a pointed look at Ginny, who was looking triumphant. "Sirius, no, I am not… um…" He face went very red. "…Pregnant… okay?"
"Oh." Sirius moved away from Fred, who looked extremely relieved. "What were you trying to tell me then?"
"Yeah, what is it?" Harry asked, having recovered from the shock of having Sirius burst in and begin shouting obscenities at Fred.
Selene looked at Fred, who smiled and nodded encouragingly at her. "Yeah… um, well." She began, trying to find the right words to convey what she needed to say. "Yeah. Well, um…"
"Selene?" Selene looked up to see Fred standing next to her, his lips right up to her ear. "You're rambling again love."
"Oh, for the love of Godric." George blurted, looking incredibly bored at having to stand through another flirtation exchange between his twin and his soon to-be sister-in-law. "Everyone, my dear twin brother is getting married."
He said it so fast that it didn't initially sink in with anyone. It took Harry's jaw drop and Lily's squeal to make it settle in with the others who weren't previously in the know.
"You owe me ten sickles." Charlie said to Bill, who glowered but handed over the money. "Oh yes." He grinned at Fred, stepping forward to ruffle his hair and winked at Selene. "Congratulations you two. Looking forward to getting another Weasley in the fold."
"She said I could be bridesmaid." Ginny cut in quickly, before anyone could say anything to the contrary.
"Wouldn't have it any other way sister of mine." Fred said pompously, nodding formally at Ginny, who giggled. "Although…"
Sirius sighed. "Okay." He said, with a resigned air. "Fred, Selene, just… Fred, come with me."
He grabbed Fred by the arm and towed him into the hall, closely followed by Hermione, Ted, Ginny and Lily. "Right." Sirius growled, looking sternly at the boy in front of him. "I have some things to tell you Frederick Weasley."
Fred gulped, but nodded. "One." Sirius began. "Selene is pure-" Ginny coughed something under her breath here, something that Lily evidently agreed wholeheartedly with. "-And lovely. You will not defile her."
"Yes sir." It was clear that Fred had next to no idea what Sirius was on about, but he knew that to say so would be suicide. "Um… clear as crystal sir."
"Two." Sirius rolled his eyes, but his stern look didn't wane. "You are not allowed to have children until you are at least twenty-one, is that clear?"
It looked like Fred was almost going to oppose this one, but then he nodded.
"Three." Sirius counted on his fingers. "If you hurt her, at any time, you will pay. I will personally make sure that I do go back into Azkaban."
Fred gulped again, as Ginny piped up. "And I will hex you until your brain comes out of your ears and you turn inside out." She said pleasantly.
"I will hit you over the head again and again with Hogwarts: A History." Hermione added, looking at Ginny, who nodded approvingly.
"And I will cut your toes off, stick them in your mouth and cut your throat as you slowly bleed to death…" Lily drew out, smiling slightly rabidly. "Ah… Sweet revenge…"
"I'll just make you wish you were never born." Ted said simply, but something in his voice made Fred stand up and practically run from the hall.
"Are you okay?" Selene asked concernedly, as Fred walked up to her with a worried expression on his face.
"Your family are stark-raving bananas."
It was always calm, the roof of Grimmauld Place, especially at night. It had become a kind of meeting place for them, just a place where Sirius wasn't yelling at them every five minutes to stand at least six inches apart and Harry not trusting them in a room on there own.
But as far as they knew, Sirius was the only one who knew that there was a door to the roof, and he had the decency to at least leave them alone when they were 'up there' (as George like to refer to it).
"Do you ever wonder what it must be like out there?" Selene asked, shifting slightly so her legs wouldn't go numb.
Fred looked towards where she was pointing, and shrugged. "Out there as in the rest of London or out there as in…" He gestured with the hand that wasn't running though her hair towards the distant horizon.
"I mean as in out there, really out there." Selene sighed, resting her head on his leg. "Being there, working to stop Voldemort while we're just… here."
"Sometimes." Fred said simply, his eyes flicking back down to Selene. "Hogwarts tomorrow?"
"Hogwarts tomorrow." Selene agreed, her eyes looking up through her eyelashes to meet Fred's gaze. "I really missed them."
"So did I." Fred's hand stilled. "Have you decided who you want to tell at school yet?"
Selene nodded slowly, feeling his leg twitch beneath her head. "Angelina, Alicia, Katie, Lee, Neville and Cho."
Fred made a small grunt of approval after each name, except for the last. "Really?" He said, slightly annoyed. "Cho?"
"Fred, she deserves to know this at least." Selene shifted, trying to sit up. "I trust her an awful lot."
"Okay."
Selene blinked. She had expected a lot more protest from him about this matter. "So, it's okay?" She hazarded, stopping her attempts to sit up and coping with just moving her head so she was facing him. "Me, telling Cho, is okay?"
"What?" Fred said sarcastically. "Do we argue enough that I'm not allowed to agree with my beautiful fiancée?"
"No, I just thought you didn't like Cho."
Fred shifted again, and his hand began to run through Selene's hair. "It's for a good reason." He admitted, smiling down at her. "Have I ever said how beautiful you are in moonlight?"
"I don't think so…" Selene trailed off, going rather red. "Are we telling any teachers then?"
"Well." Fred thought for a moment, before scoffing. "Nah. The only one I'd be half-way to telling was McGonagall, and I doubt she'd care."
"Dumbledore probably already knows." Selene pointed out, to which Fred nodded.
They were silent again for a quite a long time, Selene silently listening to Fred's breathing. Then she flinched.
"Are you okay?" Fred said urgently, gripping her hand. "Selene, are you okay?"
Selene inhaled sharply, looking at Fred with fearful eyes. His face began to swim in front of her vision, and it felt like someone was punching her in the stomach. "V-Voldemort." She whispered, knowing the symptoms for what it really was now. She quickly grabbed the collar of Fred's shirt and pulled him to her, feeling the dizziness stop somewhat once they were kissing.
It still felt like someone was trying to get at her, but the attempts grew fainter and fainter with time. Selene tangled her hands in Fred's hair, absent-mindedly biting his lip.
When nothing more happened to her, Selene pulled away, pressing one hand to her bruised lips and breathing heavily. "We…" Fred panted. "We should… really do that again sometime…"
"He just… left." Selene said curiously. "Why was that?"
"Maybe olde Voldie's a prude like George." Fred suggested. It wasn't a funny joke, but Selene giggled at it. "What do you think he was trying to see? Do you know what memories he was trying to get at?"
Selene thought for a moment. "I think…" She said hesitantly. "I think he was trying to see where I was."
"Thank Godric you stopped him then." Fred sighed in relief, grinning again as the two of them settled back down to their original position. "Oh, did I say? I haven't actually given you your Christmas present yet."
Selene blinked, looking down at the ring on her hand. "Uh… I think you did." She corrected, holding the hand up to him. "Unless I've been dreaming for the last few days."
"No, it's all real." Fred stood up, pulling Selene up with one hand. "It didn't take us days to sort out just me proposing to you. Close your eyes."
"Why?" Selene asked, raising one eyebrow when Fred didn't give her a response. "Fred, come on."
"Just do it." Fred pouted. Selene giggled, closing her eyes as she was told to do. She stood there, feeling a little silly, for a few moments, before feeling Fred's fingers brush the skin of her neck. She shivered, and felt Fred chuckle from behind her. "Cold much love?"
"No." Selene insisted. She began to open her eyes, but Fred pushed them closed again.
"Is it me then?" Fred whispered, chuckling again. "You can open your eyes now."
Selene's eyes fluttered open, to see two arms hooked around her neck. Her eyes flicked down, regarding a small pendant-type charm hung on a simple chain. She held it in one hand. "What's this?" She asked curiously, the metal of the bracelet Dora had bought her clinking against the chain of the necklace.
"It's called a compass." Fred explained, moving his arms and walking around to face her. "Hermione told me about it once. It's a Muggle thing, used for finding where you are. This one-" He tapped the charm, making a hollow ringing noise. "Has a charm on it. If you tap it with your wand and say Invenire, then it will always point to where I am."
Selene took out her wand, which she had taken to carrying with her at all times (on the whim of Mad-Eye and Remus), and tapped the compass, whispering the charm under her breath. Just like he said that it would, the red hand of the compass swung around until it was pointing to Fred. "This is amazing…" She murmured, turning the pendant around in her hands. "Really, amazingly remarkable magic!"
"I do like to pride myself on my skills." Fred grinned, as Selene let the compass drop back around her neck. "I think it goes well with the bracelet."
"Dora got it, everything will go well with it." Selene pointed out. "You know you said the ring belonged to your uncle?"
Fred shrugged, and nodded. "My grandfather gave it to me." He explained. "He's the one that married your great-great aunt or something. Grandpa keeps all of the little trinkets our family have, and even Mum's taken to giving him little bits and bobs in his old age."
"Apparently Aunty Andy got the bracelet from her old family vault before she left my mother and Aunt… Aunt Bella." Selene shuddered, the face of her aunt whirling through her head. The almost-kind woman that she knew as a child, to the madwoman in Azkaban. "It's supposed to give you luck, whenever you need it the most."
"Aw, you know, that is really cheesy." Fred whined. "Cheesier than Charlie's feet."
"And the compass charm isn't?" Selene teased lightly, placing her hands on his shoulders. "It's beautiful Fred. You really didn't have to get me anything at all."
"What did I get for you last year?" Fred's brow furrowed, like he was thinking hard. "Nothing, because I technically didn't like you then."
"A year can change a lot of things." Selene pointed out, laughing under her breath. "And you did get me something last year Freddie."
"What?"
"Hope."
Everyone lined up in the drawing room, in front of the fireplace. "Right." Mrs Weasley said sternly, raising her voice above Ginny's argument with Ron. "Everyone, listen up. Dumbledore's let your Heads of Houses know that you'll be coming through. It's easier to go by Floo Powder, so that Umbridge woman can't corner you and ask where you've been."
Harry flinched at the name of the DADA teacher, but shrugged after Selene smiled at him encouragingly. "Fred, George." Mrs Weasley said, after a sigh. "Keep out of trouble."
"That's like telling Ron to stay away from bacon." Ginny piped up, ignoring Hermione's eye-roll. "Or Hermione to stay away from the library!"
"Ooh, I could never do that…" Hermione trailed off, sounding and looking stricken. "Imaging how loud the common room would get all the time! I would never be able to think!"
"And we'd probably try to stab you." Lily smiled at the disapproving glare Mrs Weasley shot her. "What Mrs W? It's true!"
Mrs Weasley ignored her, and made her way down the line of people. "Harry, dear." She said kindly, stopping next to the boy in question. "Do let Arthur and I know if you need anything."
"Thanks Mrs Weasley." Harry said, smiling gratefully at Mrs Weasley, who patted his shoulder.
"And let us know if the Occulmency lessons are going alright." She continued, looking at Selene to include her in this statement. "I'm glad the link has waned though Selene dear."
Fred turned around momentarily to give Selene a wink that made her go tomato-red, but she hid her face in her hands to give her time for it to wane. "We're both so pleased!" Mr Weasley, who had not said anything as of yet, as he had been talking to Sirius, cut in, smiling and giving Selene a pat on the shoulder. "We let Professor Dumbledore know, of course, but we've left it up to you two to decide who else you tell."
"Um… Thank you Mr Weasley." Selene said slowly, managing a weak smile. Even though she had got over the shock fairly quickly, the mention or talk of her and Fred actually marrying was still surreal to her. "I think we've figured it out."
"Good luck with your N.E.W.T.s." Mrs Weasley said, before scooping Selene up in a huge hug that shocked the breath out of her. "Keep an eye on Fred and George for us. Goodness knows what they get up to nowadays…"
"Selene!" Someone called, and Selene whirled around to see Sirius standing a few feet behind her. "Come over here."
Selene looked around, but Mr and Mrs Weasley were now talking to Ginny and Hermione. "I'll miss you Sirius." She said, giving Sirius a huge hug. He seemed surprised at first, but eventually reciprocated it.
"I'll miss you too Sellie." Sirius grinned widely as Selene raised an eyebrow. "But that's not what I wanted to talk to you about. You're getting married."
Selene smiled. "Yeah." She said, looking behind her instinctively to glance at Fred. "I think I am."
"I know you think I have a problem with Fred." Sirius continued, running a hand through his shaggy black hair. "I don't, okay? He's much better than anyone I thought you might go for." He paused for a moment, nodding at Mrs Weasley, who looked like she was about to start berating him for holding them up. "It's just… You know I love you like you were my own daughter, and I definitely treat you like one, so would you mind if…?"
He stopped here, looking unsure of what to say. "Sirius?" Selene said quietly. "Considering that my father and my brother are unlikely to agree to me marrying Fred, please would you give me away?"
Sirius practically beamed. "I'd love to." He said cheerily. "As long as you let me wear a lurid set of dress robes and sing 'Puff The Magic Dragon' through the entire ceremony."
Selene laughed, hugging him again. "Of course." She said. "But quietly. You really can't sing very well."
"Oh, that isn't the best part!" Sirius smirked. "I get to embarrass you."
"Come on Selene!" Mr Weasley called. "You'll be late!"
"I'll write." Selene said quickly, pecking Sirius's cheek before hurrying over to the fireplace, taking a handful of Floo Powder from Mrs Weasley. "Professor Flitwick's office!"
As she stepped into the fire, the last thing she saw was Sirius laughing at something Harry had just said to him before she was spat out in Professor Flitwick's office.
"Ah, Miss Malfoy!" Professor Flitwick squeaked, as Selene brushed the soot off her robes. "Professor McGonagall let me know when you would be coming through. A few other students are coming by the Floo Network, so could you…?"
Selene even surprised herself with how quickly she settled back into the routine. "Of course." She said quickly, moving to stand next to the fireplace. "How was your holiday Professor?"
"Oh, quite good thank you!" Professor Flitwick said, with a smile. "I went to see my sister's children, and her grand-children. They live in America, you see? The Wizards over there are quite fascinating!"
"Do they go to Salem academy?" Selene said, glancing up from the list of students Flitwick had passed her.
Professor Flitwick nodded. "The eldest left just a few years ago." He explained. "But they youngest has just started. The examination system is somewhat different to ours, for one they prefer the Muggle way of grading things – in fact their whole society is much more prolific in the Muggle society altogether – and they don't have a Statute of Secrecy like we do."
The fire glowed green, and Selene rushed forward to stop a small second-year from tripping over. "You okay?" She said, brushing her hair out of her face as the second-year looked up at her with a scared expression.
"Hello Miss Pringle." Professor Flitwick said kindly. "There you go – Miss Malfoy?"
Selene ticked the name off her list, watching the second-year go with the subconscious question – was I ever that small?
When she entered the Ravenclaw common room, Selene half-expected everyone to leap on her, asking where she'd been, if Mr Weasley was okay (the news probably would have spread despite the lack of press coverage), the works. Instead, she was greeted with a few smiles and glances, nothing more.
"Hey." Cho greeted, as Selene took her normal seat on the sofa in front of the fire, next to Cho. "Good Christmas?"
"Amazing." Selene said truthfully, smiling as Cho beamed. "You seem happy. Anything good happen?"
Cho's chirpy voice dropped, and she looked around shiftily, like anyone might be listening in. "Guess what?" She said mysteriously, smiling at Selene. When Selene made no attempt to guess, she rolled her eyes and leant in further. "Harry kissed me! After the last DA meeting!"
Selene blinked. Harry hadn't told her this, which was unsurprising considering that they hadn't been talking for days and Harry was often with Sirius up until they day they left, so it was a massive shock. "Really?" She said, quirking an eyebrow. "I didn't think he had the guts."
"Neither did I." Cho admitted, smiling at Selene's shock. "I know! It's so amazing! Come on, tell me one piece of amazing news that you have!"
"Um… Cho?" Selene began, suddenly very aware that they were in a room full of silent, hard-working students. "Can we go somewhere less crowded?"
When they had reached a quiet alcove some distance from Ravenclaw tower, Selene slowed, and stopped. "Okay." She continued. "Cho, something… came up over the holidays."
"What?" Cho still looked as excited as when she had told Selene that she had kissed Harry. "Come on, tell me!"
Selene smiled slightly. "I think you already know…?" She hazarded, exhaling when Cho nodded.
"He finally asked you, didn't he?" She grinned, throwing her arms around her best friend. "I knew it!"
"Selene!" Someone called, and Selene turned away from Cho, who looked somewhat shell-shocked. "Oh, I've been looking all over for you!"
Selene smiled. "Hi Astoria." She greeted, ignoring Cho's exclamation of mingled surprise and confusion. "It's nice to see you. How was your holiday?"
Astoria leant heavily on the wall for support, while she got her breath back, before straightening up. "When's the next meeting?"
