Chapter 25

Fred's POV

Charlie had finally gone back to work, I was beginning to think that his holidays would never end. George and I had come to the conclusion that we couldn't really blame him for Alexis being gone. Well we could, but we couldn't hate him for it. It's not his fault he is a bit slow on the uptake. He had spent his remaining time at home wandering the streets of London hoping to catch a glimpse of her. He searched muggle streets, Diagon Alley, Hogsemede, Knockturn Alley and every other public location he could think of to no avail. George and I had visited her parents shortly after her disappearance with a bag of Galleons, we figured that we should pay Alexis her holidays and various other entitlements she was owed since she had unofficially resigned. Katie resented Charlie's very existence, although she was trying very hard to work with him in his search for her best friend. No one really spoke to Charlie after she left, unless they were inquiring as to how his search was progressing, everyone was pissed at him, even though we could all see how much it was hurting him.

Within the first week of Charlie returning to Romania we had received two owls asking if there had been any news or sightings of Alexis. It was crazy.
George and I were working on finding someone to work at the shop, but it was kind of difficult to find someone who wanted work as most people were starting to go into hiding. Lee ended up coming to work with us, he was great but it wasn't really the same as having Alexis around. Lee couldn't invent things like she did and he didn't move into the empty room in the flat but he was keen and shared our love of jokes and pranks.

Katie had been spending quite a few nights at the flat, so had Ang.

Hogwarts was in shambles, Ginny was the only one that went back, Harry, Ron and Hermione were on some final mission that Dumbledore had requested of them. Mum wasn't impressed that they were gone, we hadn't heard from them since they left and we didn't expect to, they didn't want to do anything to give away their location or plan. Bill had married Fleur, who still loved him despite the fact that he now ate raw meat and was partly werewolf. Death Eaters were causing trouble everywhere, people were murdered or reported missing every day, we took all of our products that were having a go at Voldemort off display, especially the "U-No-Poo", just in case.

After a few months, we closed the shop and went into hiding. We had a nightly broadcast on the radio, letting people know what was going on. We had code names and changed stations every night to prevent being caught, if we were caught, we'd be dead. Literally.

Alexis's POV

I had a flat a month or so after leaving the wizarding world, largely thanks to the twins. They had dropped money off to mum and dad, saying that it was my holiday and sick pay and other entitlements when in reality it was all that and more. It was only a small flat and there wasn't much furniture in it but it was mine and it was home. I listened to Fred and George's nightly broadcast, Potterwatch, whenever I could guess the code word. It was good to know that they were still alive. I didn't read the Daily Prophet as most of it was lies. I had a job at a muggle supermarket, it was mind-numbingly boring but it was a job, it was money and it was entirely Weasley free.

Months later when I tuned into Potterwatch there was no names of the dead, there were no updates as to what was going on in the war against Voldemort, there was a recorded message. A message of only two words: "Hogwarts. Tonight"

I shuddered. This was it, the final battle against Voldemort. The final chance for good to conquer evil and the world to return to some semblance of normal. I don't think I actually considered what I was doing before I acted. I penned a note to my parents, telling them my whereabouts and that I loved them, and left it on the dining room table. I grabbed my wand and apparated directly to Hogwarts. The scene was worse than the last battle. Much worse. More bodies, more blood, more screams of terror, pain and anguish. I looked around and spotted flaming red hair. Fred, Percy and Ron with Harry and Hermione. They had successfully overcome two death eaters and Fred was talking to Percy, laughing, rejoicing. A death eater across the room spotted them and raised his wand, pointing it at the wall behind the group. As his mouth began to move I realised his intent, he wasn't aiming for them, he was blowing the apart to kill them. Fred had his wand in his pocket as he hugged Percy, the others still held theirs. I cast a shield charm in Fred's direction, hoping for the best. Shield charms were never my strong point and I cringed as I saw bodies fly. I tore my eyes away from my friends and towards the death eater. He was laughing. He hadn't noticed my presence and I didn't mind. I had never cast an unforgivable curse before, never even considered it actually but I had read about them. I knew the theory. As I discovered, if you really did mean it, it wasn't hard to pull it off. The death eater fell, dead, after being hit with a green light. I turned back to where my friends had been standing and saw movement. Harry, Ron, Hermione and Percy had surfaced. No sign of Fred. They called his name and began digging in the rubble. He was gone. I turned my back on the scene, not being able to watch the recovery of my friend's body. I headed outside to join the fight.

Please review. I can't promise that the updates are going to continue to be so quick as my writing has come to a screeching halt thanks to writers block. I will endeavour to recover quickly and update as soon as possible.

Love, Princess Leasha.