Disclaimer: Not Mine. Of Course it's not. Don't be silly.

I've been away a while. It's due to my laptop spacking out, and school, and being ill, and a million other things. You'll not want stupid excuses though, you'd rather read my apology chapters, wouldn't you?

Please review. I do love you guys.

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Katie .

I wanted to scream, though it was neither jubilation nor fear that was making me so excitable. It was a mixture between hesitation, alcohol and adoration.

He was asking me this... now?

"Fred..." I looked over my shoulder, scanned the empty orchard and then back at him. His lips were turned down ever-so-slightly and his eyes were dark, they looked almost dangerous as he gripped my wrist and nearly begged me. "I have to think. I can't just... up and leave my parent-" Though they weren't coming back for two years. The war could be over by then. "You'd really want me?" He let out a short, mirthless laugh, as though I was ridiculous for questioning it.

"Katie, I don't want to let you out of my sight. You're my..." He weighed up his words for a second, "My muggleborn. I'm not leaving you through this." He released my wrist almost immediately and brought his fingers up to touch and caress my cheek, lightly, running the tips down my burning skin, leaving his fingerprints there as though I was the murder weapon, and they would take me away, process me.

"No." I let my lips linger over the word, "No, you're not." I breathed out and he dropped his hand and pulled me up against him, hugging me tight as a smile lit his face. "Are Ange and Alicia part of this?" If they were, I might change my mind. I loved them, but honestly, if I had to put up with Alicia complaining about her hair or Angelina trying it on with Lee, then I'd kill them, or myself. I still hadn't made that decision, and it'd been going on for about five years now.

"Merlin, no! George has hidden them better than our Potions grade from mum." He winked and slung his arm around my shoulder, I felt myself sinking into the grass on the floor as he leaned his weight on me. Damned high-heels. "I couldn't cope with them for Merlin-Knows-How-Long..."

"At least I'm not alone on that one." I glanced up at him, seeing his face from the diagonal. He had shaved that morning, and he was wearing a smart suit, but honestly, from this angle, all I could see was the perfect plumpness of his lips and the strong line of his jaw. I swallowed and looked down at my feet as I felt him squeeze my shoulder, release me and slide his arm around my waist, poking me lightly so I squirmed into his side.

Silently, I both damned and adored him for a few seconds, until my lack of concentration made me trip on a carefully-placed tree root and made me growl furiously. Fred's loud guffaw made me look around. I had, apparently, totally ignored him when he'd told me to stop walking, and continued into a patch of roots which, if I moved an inch now, would probably break my heels and my ankle.

"Help me?" I offered weakly and he grinned widely, stepping easily over the tangled weeds and roots and lifted me up, bridal style. I nearly yelled at him. "What the hell?" My voice was barely a whisper; it was all I could muster.

"You'd be a total hindrance if you had a broken ankle." He laughed lightly as he put me down and jabbed me in the ribs again. I squealed and went to punch him, but was rudely interrupted by the loud crashing through the orchard behind us. It sounded like someone was blasting trees down, and Fred grabbed my wrist as we both turned towards the sound. Almost violently, he flung me behind him; I stumbled and landed on my backside, drawing my wand from my thigh holster as I scrambled back to my feet.

"You alright?" He barely glanced at me, but from his tone, I knew he was scared. We couldn't see the people making the noise – we were hidden behind a hedge at the back of the Orchard, but we knew they were coming our way.

"I'll live." I grinned and dropped my hand from my elbow. There was a scrape on it, and it was oozing blood, but I'd sort it out later. I wiped my hand on my dress, pulling a face as the blue satin was immediately stained by the crimson blood. "You?"

We glanced at each other. The response was natural, but he just stared at me, his eyes wide. I tried to smile but his sad gaze was telling me that it wasn't the time. He twisted his face into a sort-of-smile and then looked away, down to the floor, and I felt a little sick at the thought. We had left his family to talk about the future, we had left the wedding and we didn't know what was going to happen, and now this.

I stepped closer to him and dropped my hand to my side, knocking it slightly against his knuckles. He would never have asked me to hold his hand, to take his, but I could tell he didn't want to do this alone. His fingers closed around mine as he glanced down and I felt the warmth from his fingers flow into my hand. I swallowed and smiled as he squeezed my hand tight and his lips tightened into a straight line. Concentration. A look you didn't see on his face very often.

I swallowed and looked over at him as he tugged me up against him, our hands still locked together but his wand raised and his eyes levelled at the far end of the hedge.

"C'mon, they went this way!" Lee's voice and my shoulders dropped, but my wand remained raised. Fred squeezed my hand and took two steps forward, then whistled a three-note-tune. We had agreed this as our little greeting – proof nobody had stolen our identities using Polyjuice potion, and something to make us grin as we met up, no matter how difficult the situation.

As soon as Fred's tune hit my ears, it was responded to with a four-note and the same three-note tune as Fred's. I whistled my own, just to let them know I was there. George rounded the hedge first and raised his eyebrows upon seeing our hands entwined together, but Fred refused to let me go.

"You frightened me, brother." Fred whispered, pocketing his wand and reaching his hand out to take the bag George was holding. It was marked with a small 'K', and for a second I wondered what was in there. Fred pulled it open one-handed, still clutching at my palm with the other, glanced down into the darkness, and then passed it along to me.

"Is it enough, or will you need more?" I frowned and released his hand, he stepped back toward me and I watched him for a second, half wondering whether he was going to wrap his arms around me. He just watched me back, though, staring at the blush rising in my cheeks.

I glanced into the bag as he had done, and I was stunned by the neatly ordered clothes and shoes that sat in the bag.

"Weightless spell?" I looked at George, expecting him to shake his head. He nodded and smiled at me. "Did Granger teach you?"

"Aye." He grinned and I threw the backpack over my shoulders. Fred grinned at me and took my hand again, relaxed now that he knew his twin was safe. "Listen, shit's going down at the reception-" My first instinct was to sprint back down to the Burrow, but Fred sensed my sudden shift in demeanour and squeezed my hand. I growled and he looked back at me. "So we need to go." He jerked his thumb at me and looked at Fred, "If she's not coming, then we're dropping her at the Cottage and carrying on."

"She has a name." I heard myself speak before I could stop myself. George laughed loudly and I grinned at him, "And she's coming with you." I grinned and Lee and George crossed over to the hedge, jumped and ducked down almost immediately.

"You know where we're going?" George said quickly, his gaze trained on his brother, "Shell Cottage, and then-"

"Yes." Fred replied simply. "Split up, meet back at the cottage in fifteen minutes?"

"Yep." Lee made a small noise and then apparated away, a loud crack reverberating around the copse. I looked at Fred, who gripped my arm tightly, smiled softly at me, and twisted into the darkness with me on his arm.

Only then did I really stop and think.

I had no idea where I was heading. I had no idea what kind of problems laid ahead of me, or who would be there... if anyone could help, or if we'd survive the next week and a half, let alone the whole war. But I was with Fred, and to be honest with you, there wasn't anywhere else I would rather be.

Fred

We reappeared outside Shell Cottage, on the beach, down at the bottom of the garden. Katie immediately pulled away from me and sat down on the sand, her dress riding up so it sat on her thighs as she searched through the bag I had filled two nights before. Eventually, she straightened up and looked right at me, holding a pair of trainers.

"You really did a number on my wardrobe, didn't you?" Her voice was soft, but light and mirthful, "There's everything in here." She blushed as she reached deeper into the bag, I heard the crinkle of plastic, then a large thunk and she swore loudly. "Even my shoes." As she straightened up, she sunk about six inches, her heels slipping into the sand.

"Well, I wasn't going to... you know, leave you with bare feet. That would just be cold... and then you'd probably get cold feet, and we couldn't have that, could we?" I think she let out a reluctant giggle, but I wasn't sure, because in that second, she stood up, kicked off her shoes and pulled the other pair on, brushing sand from her legs as she did so. I couldn't help but notice the height difference – if she hugged me now, she'd be able to hear my heartbeat, and I'd be able to kiss the top of her head.

She sighed and smiled at me, then closed the gap between us and stood looking up into my face.

"You alright, Fred?" My fingers clenched into a fist, trying so hard not to reach out and touch her, because right now, all I wanted to do was stand there and hold her for the rest of my life.

"Yeah." I swallowed and looked down at the sand on my shoes. "Just a bit scared. I don't know what's gonna happen now, you know?" Her lips curved up into a smile and she raised her hands, pressed them lightly into my shoulders and tried to get me to relax. Her smile was nearly infectious, but I couldn't bring myself to move those muscles. I wondered what I had done, whether I had really thought this through...

She was coming with us, now, and that put her in real danger, she could be killed in the middle of the night if our protection spells went wrong, what we were about to do could blow up in our faces... Voldemort could find us... we'd be so... fucked.

I looked down at the top of her head; she was still clinging tightly to my torso, her heart pounding against mine. My lips curved into an involuntary smile and I sighed, bending my head and kissing the top of her head as she squeezed me tight and went to pull away.