My eyes fluttered open the next morning as the light from the rising sun woke me up. It was early; I must have only had about two hours sleep.
I tried to sit up, but found Fred's arm, which was snaked around my waist, preventing me.
I grinned foolishly at his cute sleeping face. Last night had been perfect, better than I could have ever imagined. I sighed happily and flopped back down. There was no way I was getting out of his heavy dead weight arm.
But then I remembered that the Weasley's always got up pretty early. I didn't think that Mrs Weasley would react too kindly when finding her daughters best friend naked in her son's bed.
I tried to peal Fred's arm away, but it just seemed to get heavier and heavier, pulling me closer to him. He was definitely awake. I stopped struggle and stared at him. He broke in just a few seconds, a small smile playing on his lips.
"Can you let go please?" I asked him.
"No," he said simply, before grabbing me with his other arm and pulling me back down. His eyes remained tightly shut, as though he was still asleep.
"Will you just open your eyes please?" I said.
"No, because I don't want this dream to end," he said wistfully. I pulled his off me and stared at him improbably.
"Seriously, is that the best you can do? That was a cheap shot."
He smiled and finally opened his eyes. "Yeah it was, wasn't it?"
I kissed him sweetly on the lips before getting out of his bed and putting on my clothes that were lying around the room. My top had ended up on the lamp shade; I didn't even want to know how it got there.
"Where are you going?" he asked, getting out of bed and putting his arms around me.
"Downstairs, if anyone finds out how we spent - Oh My God, Fred!" I said excitedly.
"What, what's wrong?" he asked with a worried expression.
"It's Christmas," I squealed. He looked down at me with a bored expression.
"Is that all?"
"Its Christmas. That means presents and food and singing songs. Why isn't anyone awake?"
"Because you apparated in here at 1am with an injured Neville. They didn't actually get to bed to after two. And we were a lot later," he grinned down at me mischievously.
"Do you wish you had an early night?" I asked, patronisingly. He laughed slightly and leaned down, pushing his lips lightly to mine. I could really get used to this.
"Where is everyone?" Sirius' voice called from downstairs. We pulled apart and stared at each other with panicked expressions. "Fred, George!" he called, his footsteps thundering on the stairs. "It's Christmas."
Fred dived under the covers just in time. Sirius swung into the room looked very energetic and excited. He looked quite well. His hair was actually tamed for once, and his cheeks held a healthy glow.
"Sirius!" I squealed, hugging him tightly. "I feel like i haven't spoken to you in months."
"That's because I haven't," he complained. "You really need to learn how to do a Double-Changer charm."
I could see over his shoulder that Fred was nodding in agreement. I stuck my tongue out at him, an action Sirius didn't miss.
"What's going on here?" he narrowed his eyes at us.
"What do you mean?" Fred asked. He tried to sound normal, but there was a nervous tone to his voice.
"Why are you here?" Sirius asked, turning to face me.
"It's Christmas," I said for what seemed like the thousandth time. "And all those boring sods are still asleep." I sounded pretty believable, but Sirius didn't totally buy it, I could tell. Thankfully though, he did drop it.
"Ok, well wake everyone up. Remus and Tonks will be here any minute. You need to see her Ally, she's huge!" As he led me out the room, he shot a glare at Fred.
"What is she, four months?" I asked.
"No, she's five. She's really milking it too. And bless little Remus' heart; he's constantly running around after her," he let out a hearty laugh.
"You're living with them, right?" he nodded. "I bet that makes things so much more fun."
His impish grin widened when we got to Charlie's door.
"Now, how shall we wake him up?" Sirius asked me.
"I'm thinking Levicorpus," I smiled. He scoffed.
"Come on Al, use your imagination. That's the oldest one in the book."
"It's a classic. It never fails." He had to agree with me there.
We spent the next ten minutes waking up the Weasley's. It was a fun experience (for me and Sirius anyway.) Once everyone was awake, except Neville, we went downstairs. It didn't really feel like Christmas. None of the Weasleys were as jolly or happy as they usually were. The whole house seemed kind of glum.
I, though, was absolutely ecstatic about Fred and I. I just wanted it to be kept quiet for a few days. When everyone found out, it would be chaos. George, Sirius and Ginny would be cracking jokes, Mrs Weasley would start planning a wedding, Mr Weasley would be on watch for any funny business; it would ruin us. I told Fred this when he pulled me into the kitchen to 'make a cup of tea.'
"We need to talk," he said, almost immediately. My face paled.
"You're not breaking up with me, are you?"
"No, no, of course not. I was just thinking of the best way to tell them that we're dating."
I grinned happily when he said that. I really need to stop being so giddy around him.
"I don't think we should tell them just yet." I admitted. I went on to tell him my three points of why we should keep it a secret. He nodded along when I spoke, I was glad we were on the same wavelength.
"And once they know, they'll be watching us like hawks," I added. "There will be no more of this..." I tip toed up and kissed him lightly. "Or this..." I trailed along his jawline. "Or th-"
He cut me off with his lips and began to kiss me fiercely. My hands seemed to wind around his neck as he hugged my waist tightly. He backed me up, slamming me against the pantry door.
"Can you put a cup on for me too?" Mr Weasley called from the living room.
Fred pulled away and sighed heavily. "Even when we're dating," he muttered. "Yeah, sure Dad! You better go inside, they'll get suspicious."
I smiled at him before skipping off into the living. Everyone was sitting there not opening presents.
"Seriously, who died? Oh, sorry that was tactless off me. What I'm trying to say is that it's Christmas, why are you all so gloomy?"
"That's what I've been saying!" Sirius said.
"No you haven't," Ginny commented, giving him a confused glance.
"Well, I've been thinking it," he said matter of factly. I grinned and sat down beside him. I never actually realised how much I missed Sirius. You kind of take him for granted. When he's around he's kind and fun and I never actually appreciated his company until I was stuck in hell with a bunch of Death Eater ordering me about.
"Merry Christmas," Remus said, coming into the cramped room. He looked so happy and glowing, it was as though he was pregnant, Although, he had no bump. Tonks definitely had a bump. It wasn't a bump though, it was a mountain. She was huge.
"Are you sure there's only one in there?" I asked. She laughed.
"Oh god, I'm really worried, I still have four more months. I'm not going to be able to fit in here soon."
"You don't fit now," I said, looking around the squished room. How the Weasleys accommodated so many people each Christmas I never know.
When Fred finally came back into the room, we were allowed to open our presents.
Remus and Tonks really liked mine. It was a baby grow, which was blue. It turned out; they didn't know the sex of the baby yet. I felt like a complete idiot, but they assured me that they were happy to know.
I was kind of upset that Fred didn't get me anything but when everyone was preoccupied, he winked at me and mouthed 'later.'
Once I was dressed in my Weasley jumper, Mrs Weasley sent George and I out to the garden to collect some mint. There's was a weird sense of Deja vu in the air. Exactly a year earlier, I was on my way to a make out session with his twin.
That was the reason it was awkward for me, but I didn't know why George was acting strange.
"Are you ok?" I asked after five minutes of silence. "You're really, really quite."
"It's nothing," he mumbled. He looked down and seemed to regain himself. He looked at me and smiled nervously. "Well Ally, it's just, I kind of like you. And I know you like Fred and everything but, he's obviously not going to make a move."
I stared at him in disbelief. Why the hell was he saying these things, would George really betray his own twin?
"I've got to go," I muttered before running back up to the house. I ignored the excitement filled living room and bolted up the stairs to Ginny's room. Unfortunately, I met Fred on the landing.
"What's wrong?" he asked immediately, spinning me around.
"I'm fine," I said, not meeting his eyes. "Nothing's wrong." He gave me a sceptical look. "Ok fine. It's no big deal but, George kind of came on to me; just a little bit."
"What?" he almost shouted.
"It's nothing, I probably just read the signs wrong."
"Well what did he say," Fred asked.
"I kind of like you," I cringed. I grabbed the back of Fred's top tightly to stop him from going downstairs.
"Please, you can't. He only did it because he thinks we aren't together. Maybe we should just come clean and-"
I was interrupted by laughter from downstairs. I held my finger to my lips before listening intently.
"She completely freaked out," George laughed. "She just ran up to the house. I wasn't happy about this at first, but now I see we're going to have some fun. I just can't believe Fred didn't tell me."
"We know, you've told us a thousand times," Ginny's voice rang out. "We're all hurt, blah, blah, blah. That's what revenge is for."
"Oh I forgot to tell you two," Sirius said. "Earlier, Fred mouthed 'later' to Ally and then they started having eye sex, it was quite sickening." I blushed. "Anyway, we have to stop them from being together. Make up excuses and stuff."
"They're upstairs now!" Ginny said. There was rustling before her footsteps pounded on the stairs.
"Quickly," I whispered. I grabbed Fred's arm before apparating us to the barn. He was clearly not ready for it. When we landed, he swayed slightly before flopping down onto the floor with a dizzy expression.
"Sweet land, oh I thought I would never see you again," he panted dramatically. "Would you mind telling me why you, without warning, apparated me down here?"
"They know about us. Sirius, George and Ginny. George was trying to catch me out early. I can't believe they would be so sneaky. This is just like Friends," I said quickly. "We need to get revenge."
Fred groaned. "I hate revenge; I'm more of a pranking kind of guy. Can't we just give up?"
I stared at him in disbelief. His eyes widened in shock, realising what he had just said. "I'm so sorry I just said that. It was the sickness from apparating. Of course we're not giving in."
I grinned at him mischievously. "So what do you have in mind?"
:-:
I didn't like Fred's plan. In my opinion, he got off way to easily. All he had to do was talk to Sirius and Ginny. I had to respond to George...
What kind of guy makes his girlfriend come onto his brother? If I wasn't so in love with him, we would have been over as soon as he suggested it.
I was extremely sulky for the rest of the day. We should have just surrendered; it would have involved much less humiliation.
After dinner, George went upstairs to check on Neville. I followed him up; I had only seen Neville once since our adventure the night before and I felt quite bad.
Neville was lying in the bed Harry used to occupy looking quite awake. His arm was in a sling, but other than that, he looked fine.
"How are you feeling?" I asked, running over to his side.
"A lot better," he smiled slightly. "Mrs Weasley said I should be able to go home tonight. Did you tell my gran?"
"Yes, and Hannah."
His smile faded as he looked at me solemnly. "Nothing off Luna?"
"No, sorry. I do wish we could help her, but it's impossible. But I wouldn't worry, we don't give her enough credit, Luna's made of strong stuff," I said.
"Well, I'm glad you're better Neville," George cut in, once he had changed his bandages. "It's almost healed. You'll be able to go home in an hour or two."
He nodded at the two of us before leaving to go downstairs.
"Mind if I pop out?" I didn't even wait for a response. I ran out of the room after George. I thankfully caught him on the landing.
"George can I talk to you a second?"
He looked a little unsure and scared. I rolled my eyes and led us into his and Fred's room.
"Listen, about what you said before. I'm sorry I ran away and dealt with your feelings so delicately. I suppose it's because I kind of like you too."
"W-What?" he asked his eyes going wide. I smiled at him sweetly before leaning in.
But as I got closer, it became weird. It was George! He and Fred may look similar, but they were not the same. Fred was more caring, but also had a meaner, gruffer side. Fred was secretly quite smart, and only failed his OWLs because George did. Fred also had less freckles, except for a large one he had on his chin. Fred also sharper mouth and stronger jaw, His face was slightly stonier than the ever happy George.
"I can't do this!" I said, simultaneously with George. He jumped away and paced the room.
"We know about you and Fred," he said.
"We know about you guys knowing about us. Fred put me up to this," I admitted. George stared at me in shock.
"He did what? As if he put you up to this, the little -"
"George! George!" Sirius and Ginny's voice came from the stairs. Their footsteps pounded on the wooden floor before the door swung open. "George, abort the plan, we were wrong."
George smiled at them slightly. "You were right, I got her to crack."
"I got you to crack too, let's not forget that part," I said. Fred's disbelieving head popped up behind Sirius and Ginny.
"What? You cracked?" he asked.
"I'm sorry, I would just like a plan when I don't have to play a whore," I moaned. Ginny said something which Sirius sniggered. I glared at her angrily. I knew very well what she had said.
"So what's going on?" Sirius asked. "After Fred's very convincing performance of 'What, We're Not Dating,' I'm very confused."
I stared at Fred expectantly.
"Fine, we're dating," he muttered. "But don't get mad, we've only been together for eight hours or something."
"You're serious counting?" I asked sceptically.
"It's part of my back up speech, I had to think of one in case you failed. And you didn't disappoint," He complained.
Sirius grabbed the two of us and put his arms around our necks so we were in a mini headlock.
"Aw, look at the pair of you, fighting like an old married couple. But remember what I said Fred, hurt her and I'll kill you."
I pulled out of his grasp and glared. "This is why we kept it quiet. I knew you would go all insane once you found out we're together."
"Who's together?" Mrs Weasley's voice sounded from the hall. She bustled into the room with a washing basket, making the already crowded room almost unbearable.
"Ally and Fred," Ginny said sweetly. "Pay back for Michael," she mouthed.
"That was over two years ago I can't believe -" Mrs Weasley pulled Fred and I into a less violent version of Sirius' hug.
"Oh I'm so happy. I always knew you two were perfect for each other. Ally, you're a real member of the family now. It's so nice that when someone's gone, we gain a new -"
"Mum, Mum!" Fred shouted. She silenced immediately. "It's not like we're getting married or anything."
"A wedding," Mrs Weasley awed. I began to feel slightly sick. "The other one took a lot of preparation and it didn't end very well, but I can see you two having a much quieter affair. It'll still be beautiful though. Fred what do you think?"
It was Fred's turn to grab my hand and quickly apparate away.
:-:
"Please stay," Fred whined, the morning after new year's.
"I can't. They need us there. Luna's already gone; I'm going to have to take up her responsibilities." I grimaced at the thought.
"The Death Eaters will imprison you after your escape on Christmas Eve," he said feebly.
"They can't and you know it. They got Luna when we were off guard, that won't be happening again. Besides, they can't arrest one without the other. And if anything happens to me, Neville and Ginny, the whole school will revolt."
He looked down sadly. "Please," he said softly, looking back up into my eyes.
"I'm going. But I'll sneak out to see you, I promise. It won't be easy, but anything's possible with a disillusioning charm and a few distractions. I still have plenty of your pranks left."
"I forgot to ask, did you ever read that letter?" he asked. I stared at him confused. "I'm taking your expression as a no. There was a piece of parchment that I wrote on..."
"It never changed with 'mischief managed' did it. What did it say?"
He laughed and shook his head. "I'm not telling you. You have to figure out the spell on your own."
I glared at him in mock anger. "Well I'm off. I'll see you when I see you." I gave him a small wave before going downstairs.
I don't know why I bothered. He knew I was doing reverse phycology. Fred knew me better than I knew myself. He never came back down though. I was pretty bummed that he never said one last goodbye.
Ginny and I went to the station by ourselves. We weren't really sure what was going to happen after the whole Scaboir situation. As much as I tried to convince myself, it wasn't certain that we would get away with it.
The station was even more silent and mournful than before. No one waited around anymore; the platform was virtually empty when we arrived at five to seven. However that was probably because it was so early. Another amazing idea from the stupid Carrows.
Ginny and I walked along the platform looking through the windows, in search of people we knew. The usual crowd was sitting in a compartment at the end of the train in an angry silence.
"Hey guys any room for us?" Ginny called to them. Neville said something, but we couldn't hear him.
"What?" I asked loudly. Seamus rolled his eyes and then breathed onto the glass causing it to steam up. He wrote us a message and then reversed it so we were able to read it.
They've put us under a silencing charm. As soon as you step on the train you can't speak.
I sighed menacingly. This was becoming ridiculous. First they had made us eat disgusting food, then we had our holiday cut short, and now they had taken away our right to talk. This was just downright barbaric.
"We need to reverse the spell!" I said to Ginny, frantically looking around the station. I don't actually know what I was trying to find, but I needed to do something.
"How do you suppose we do that?" Ginny asked sardonically. "I don't think getting off with a boy is going to help us here." She wasn't joking; she spoke with a serious sneer. I glared at her angrily.
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"Nothing, it's just the only thing you ever seem to do. With Scaboir, George, Fred; and those were just in the past week." she turned to go onto the train, but I grabbed onto her arm and pulled her back.
"Seriously, what's going on? You've been acting weird for days? And if it wasn't for that plan with Scaboir, we wouldn't have succeeded. I don't know why you're being so cruel. You're supposed to be my best friend." I stared at her sadly.
Ginny looked down. "I thought that too. We told each other everything. But you didn't tell me about you and Fred, the most important thing to happen to you. I had to find out from Sirius, who overheard you talking. That's not how I wanted to hear that news."
I felt really bad. I tried to butt in and apologise, but she continued to talk.
"And I'm also worried about Fred. I love you and everything Al, but your record isn't very good. I never really said anything before; it kind of seemed impossible but now..." she trailed off and stared at me expectantly.
"Ginny, you know that I love Fred. I never thought it possible that I could love someone so much." I half laughed at how giddy he made me feel. "I miss him, even though I only saw him about ten minutes ago. I could never hurt Fred."
"Aw, you're such a sweetie," Fred's voice echoed through the station. I spun around and saw him standing at the end of the platform grinning.
My face broke out into a massive smile before I ran over to him. He walked forward too and caught me in his arms when I flung myself at him.
"What are you doing here?" I asked, hugging him tightly.
"Why do you think, I came to see you off. Besides, I need to explain the present situation," he said.
"The Christmas present? I thought I had already received that," I said. He returned my grin and pulled me closer to him.
"No, no, there's another thing. It's taking longer to make than anticipated. But expect to see me soon with the delivery."
"If it's a wizarding-whoopee cushion, I don't want to know," I said, with a serious face. He sighed sadly.
"Darn, how'd you find out."
I shrugged and tip toed up to kiss him. His kiss was slow, sweet. We would be separated for a long time, I wanted to be able to remember him. His touch, his taste, the softness of his lips on mine, the roughness of his light stubble on my cheek...
Out the corner of my eye I could see to figures watching us from the front of the train. The Carrows. I reluctantly pulled back and bobbed my head toward them.
"They're watching us," I whispered. He turned around and glared, not even caring that they could easily come outside and hex him to Azkaban.
"That woman! I don't know who has more grease in their hair, her or Snape?" he asked in disgust.
"Snape, the answers always Snape."
"Yeah actually, being away for two years I'd tried to erase that awful memory from my mind. That oily mess could have easily powered The Ford Anglia," he said seriously.
The whistle on the train erupted, signalling that our time was up. I gave him a sad watery smile.
Fred grabbed me forcefully and pulled me into his arms, his hand cradling my head. I hugged his tightly, probably squeezing too hard, but he didn't care.
"I love you Ally," he whispered into my ear.
"I love you too Fred." I pulled away and headed straight for the train. I really couldn't bare to look at him.
Ginny had gotten onto the train when Fred arrived so the compartment was even more cramped. I managed to squish down opposite her, next to the window.
As the train slowly pulled out of the station, I noticed that Fred had already gone. The platform was dull and empty once again.
Ginny tapped her foot against my leg and motioned toward the window. She breathed on the glass and then wrote: Friends?, followed by a small smiling face.
I shook my head and added Best before the friends. She rolled her eyes.
She breathed on the glass some more so we had more room to write.
Corn dog.
You may be my home girl but you ain't got no right to steal my words. You dig me? I wrote.
Ginny laughed, but no sound came out. It was a very amusing, but strangely unsettling sight.
I drew a noughts and crosses grid onto the glass and stared at her expectantly. She rolled her eyes before putting a large X in the middle of the grid.
I am so sorry, I've been so long. I've been suffering from writer's block really bad. I could have made this chapter better, but it would have taken even longer. I just wanted some light hearted fluff before all the drama continues next chapter.
And now on to the big thing: DEATHLY HALLOWS PART 2. How amazing was it? I'm going to vent the amazingness so if you haven't seen it yet, don't read on because I don't want to ruin it for you. It was the Best one in the series I think. There was a lot of things missing like the whole Percy thing and where the heck was Teddy? And I did miss the bit where The Carrow spat in Professor McGonagall's face, but I did absolutely love the bit where Harry steps out the crowd. And when Voldemort hugged Draco and Neville saving the world in a cute little cardigan. The whole thing was just epic. What did you all think?
Thank you so much to everyone who reviewed the last chapter: GingerBiscuit1, DragonWand, FredAndGeorge'sAwesomeness, Sensula, Georgie Monsoon, writer. Of. The. Gods, Misa-Chan46, Magical. Melody, ChaygraceDaya, Fruityloops156, KnoX, xXxFredWeasleyForeverxXx, 2featherbraids, Spot'sGalFrom1899, BlackHaru3 and ImafrikinNinja
Thanks for reading, let me know what you think ; )