Chapter 20

Ashley had left the Burrow a few hours after her and George's argument, causing a lot questioning between the Weasleys, Harry and Hermione.
'So, does anyone have any idea about where she could have gone?' Charlie asked
'No idea' Ron said, sitting on the sofa with his arm around Hermione 'Last thing she said to me was "Bye, Ronniekins. Make sure George is okay" then she ran off crying and I haven't seen her since'
'And you didn't think to go after her?!' Ginny asked, standing up slightly before Harry pulled her back down
'Good going there, little brother' Charlie said, rolling his eyes
'Well what was I supposed to say?!' Ron exclaimed
'Perhaps "Don't go, there's a Death Eater after you that will kill you as soon as he finds out you're alone"?! That would have sufficed!' Ginny said, a flash of anger in her eyes, causing Ron to give a "Help Me" look towards Harry,
'Well, it's not like that would have stopped her' Harry said 'She's too stubborn to listen to anyone'
'We need to find her' Ginny said 'If she gets killed …'
'George will be even worse' Charlie said
'But how are we meant to find her?' Harry added in,
'I have no idea' Charlie said
'Surely she told someone where she was going?' Hermione said
'She mighta told mum' Ron said
'Well, where's mum?' Ginny said
'She's in the house somewhere' Charlie said,
'Well, when she turns up, any of us can ask her about it' Ginny said, 'We can't not find her, or else anything could happen'
'Let's not think about that' Hermione said 'I'm sure she'll be fine. Rookwood's probably given up on her now anyway … right?'
'Death Eaters never give up, Hermione' Ron said, 'And if he had, he wouldn't have taken her'
'They didn't give up when Voldemort was around. He's obviously not now' Ginny said
'But they still do weird stuff' Charlie said, 'I mean, they still want to kill people who aren't pureblooded or who are blood traitors, she's a half blood and she's classed as a blood traitor to them. So what's to stop them going after her and trying to kill her? They want to carry on Voldemort's work, just because he's dead it won't stop them.'
'Well … nothing can stop them … and I suppose you're right' Hermione said, frowning
'So, the best we can do is find out where she is, then convince her to come back.' Charlie said 'Or at the very least convince her to go back to her parents'
'Definitely' Ginny said, 'And if that doesn't work-'
'Then we stay there' Ron said, 'she can't kick us out'
'Exactly' Ginny said
'So, I wonder who'll ruin this plan' Charlie said.

-oOo-

Ashley sighed as she sat down on the bed that took up most of the space in her small room, she had considered going back to her parents for a while, but thought that it would put them in danger, so had decided against it. She now took residence in a room above the Leaky Cauldron, at least until she could find somewhere else to go. The only person who she had actually told where she was going was Mrs Weasley, as she wouldn't let her go anywhere until she knew, Ashley hoped she wouldn't tell anyone where she was – especially George.
'Well, I guess this is home for now' she said to herself, before laying back on the bed and staring at the cracked ceiling above, she resorted to counting the amount there was due to sheer boredom.
'Leaving there was the stupidest mistake you ever could have made, love' a voice sneered from the opposite corner of the room. Ashley quickly sat up to see Rookwood standing in the shadows in the corner of her room, he walked forwards into the light and pulled his wand out
'Oh shit' Ashley said, before running to the door and pulling the handle, desperately hoping that it would open. It wouldn't. Suddenly, Rookwood blew up the dresser that was an inch away from her, causing her to jump back and hit the wall,
'Time to go, sweetheart' he said, before grabbing her and apparating. She found herself standing in a medium-sized room that contained a sofa, armchair and a fireplace that looked as if it hadn't been used for years. It seemed – on first glance, a lot like Malfoy Manor, but she very much doubted that was where she was. She knew that after the whole thing about Voldemort coming back and Lucius being found out as a Death Eater, the ministry had been to Malfoy Manor and made Lucius give up all the Dark Magic items he owned, and had taken him to Azkaban shortly after, however, that wouldn't have stopped Rookwood from coming here.
'Where are we?' she asked the empty room, getting no answer 'Well, that's rather helpful' she said to herself, before walking around. She realised at this point that it wasn't Malfoy Manor, but in fact the first house she had lived in. She remembered she had met Fred and George for the first time in this very room
'Ashley, this is Mr and Mrs Weasley, and their children' Mr Redford said to a 5 year old Ashley, who was currently sitting down with a massive book spread over her lap. Ashley simply looked up, scanned the room, her eyes then darted back down towards the book, at this Mrs Redford shook her head at her daughter
'Are you not going to say anything to them, dear?' she asked
'What do I need to say?' Ashley replied, looking up at her mother 'None of them look my age, so what do you expect me to say? "Hello I'm Ashley and we'll probably never speak again"? Because that would be rather pointless now, wouldn't it, mummy?'
'She's five?!' Mrs Weasley exclaimed
'Yes, she's got her fathers brains though' Mrs Redford said, giving a slightly forced smile 'I suppose considering her abominable personality she needed something to fall back on, we've already made the decision that she'll probably be a Ravenclaw, like her father.'
'What house were you in, in your Hogwarts days?' Mrs Weasley asked,
'I was a Slytherin, although the hat did say I could have been Ravenclaw, I guess I always saw myself as more ambitious than intelligent, you know? Although a lot of the other Slytherins weren't pleased with a muggleborn being in their house, so I spent a lot of my time with Hufflepuffs and a handful of Ravenclaws'
'Yes, of course' Mrs Weasley said, giving a slight smile 'Me and Arthur were Gryffindors, and our eldest – Bill, he was sorted into Gryffindor last year when he started, Charlie's starting this year, then obviously Percy in four years'
'Yes – one of Ashley's cousins started a few years ago, she was sorted into Hufflepuff, at least I think she was'
'Oooh, well Ashley's got a lot of options for her house then, hasn't she?' Mrs Weasley asked, smiling slightly 'Ravenclaw father, Slytherin mother, Hufflepuff cousin'
'Yes, we're guessing she's not going to be a Gryffindor, considering none of our family have any of the traits of the house'
'Well, you never know' Mr Weasley said, pushing his glasses up 'What house does she want to be in?' he asked quietly
'She's convinced on Ravenclaw, although she doesn't necessarily know about the other hou-'
'I do know about the other houses' Ashley said, looking at her mother again 'Ravenclaw are about intelligence and wit, Slytherin are about ambition and cunning, Hufflepuff are about patience and loyalty and Gryffindor are about bravery and nerve. I'm not cunning, I'm not patient and I wouldn't really say that I'm brave – so I suppose the only option left is Ravenclaw.'
'Well, you certainly have the brains for it' Mrs Weasley smiled
'Hopefully her ideas will change' Mrs Redford muttered 'I don't really want her to be a Ravenclaw, they seemed rather stuck-up when I went to Hogwarts'
'Well – I suppose we'll find out in six years' Mrs Weasley smiled 'Hopefully you don't end up in the same house as Fred and George though, and if you do good luck to you'
'Oh, so they're the same age, are they?' Mrs Redford asked, looking at the twin boys
'They are indeed, then a few years after them Ron goes up, then Ginny of course'
'Of course' Mrs Redford smiled 'Anyway, I suppose you want to speak to Ashley's father? Enough of the talk about houses' she smiled, then led the Weasley's into the kitchen. Well, all the of the Weasley's apart from the two identical red-heads.
'Why are you still doing here?' Ashley asked, looking at the book again
'What're you doin'?' one of the twins asked, ignoring what she had said
'Reading' Ashley stated, flicking over the page
'What're you doin' that for?' the other asked, causing her to look up from her book and frown at the two boys
'Because I want too' she said, rolling her eyes
'Well that's stupid' the first twin said 'Aren't you meant to be smart, cause you're Ravenclaw?'
'I'm not actually a Ravenclaw, so that makes you stupid really, doesn't it? Ashley said in response, making the twins laugh
'What's your name?' the second twin asked
'My mum said it about 10 times, weren't you listening?' she said, the two boys shook their heads in a no 'It's Ashley, what about you?'
'I'm Fred' the second twin stated, 'That's George' he said, pointing towards the boy standing next to him
'You're lying' Ashley said, then turned towards the second twin 'you're George, he's Fred'
'How did you know?!' Fred said, his mouth dropping open in surprise
'Because I'm not stupid. I can tell when people lie'
'Well, I'm George' the second twin said. Ashley then stood up, and walked around him in a circle, before leaning in so that her face was inches away from his 'What're you doin'?' George asked, frowning at her
'I'm looking if there's any difference, so I can tell between the two of you'
'You're too smart' Fred said 'We won't be able to prank her, Forge!'
'Shut up, Gred!' George said,
'You have blue eyes, Fred has green … and George has more freckles' Ashley said, before plopping herself back down in a seated position
'See, too smart!' Fred said, 'We can't be friends with a smart person! There's no point being friends with someone you can't trick!'
'She could help with tricks' George said,
'Oh … '
'See!' George said, sitting next to Ashley 'Do you like to prank people?'
'I pranked my dad before … and my cousin. They weren't very happy about it'
'What did you do?' Fred asked sitting on her other side, seemingly curious
'I put itching powder in my dads clothes. I sneaked my cousin some Hiccough Sweets, then threw a dungbomb in her room'
'Wicked' Fred and George said simultaneously, before standing up, walking to the corner of the room and discussing something with their heads bowed together.
'What do you think, Forge?'
'I think she's nice. She can prank too'
'You like her!'
'Do not!'
'Do too!'
'You know I can hear you?' Ashley spoke up, causing the two boys to look at her and blush, before bowing their heads together and talking quietly, before returning back to where Ashley was sitting a few minutes later.
'We've decided-' Fred began
'That you can be our friend' George continued
'And why would I want that?'
'Because we're awesome' Fred said, 'Who wouldn't want to be friends with us?!'
'I think I already know which twin is the nicer one' Ashley said, smiling at George
'Ha! The pretty girl prefers me!' George joked, blushing slightly 'Oh and we don't think your personality is abonimble … abomnaible … abomnabie … you know what we mean'
'Yeah' Ashley smiled, 'Thanks' she added, hugging George and Fred in turn.

'Having fun, darlin'?' Rookwood asked, making Ashley shudder
'What do you want?'
'Do you not listen?' he began, sounding irritated 'I want to kill you!'
'Of course I listen, you cretin' she muttered, glaring slightly 'But I just figured you'd have some extravagant plan, instead of just saying "I want to kill you", that's not exactly inventive, is it?'
'Well, what would just killing you do? I like this whole game'
'You're a weird dude. Can't you just kill me and get it over with?'
'Not quite yet, love' Rookwood said. 'Like you said, I need a good plan first.'
'Bloody hell, it's not really that much of a difficult task to perform, it's two simple words, Merlin, can't you just get it over with already? It's taking far too long for you to get an easy task done'
'And now you want to die … I might wait a little longer' he said, before disappearing again.
'I can't believe I thought I'd be a Ravenclaw' she muttered to herself,

So..yeah, another chapter.
I'm pretty sure in an earlier chapter I said Ashley's mum was a muggle, but I meant Muggleborn (hence the Slytherin thing)
and I like writing flashbacks, so hence flashback.

Erm...yeah, please review and tell me what you think :)