The three witches spent the next 20 minutes working on the bedroom. It took almost a dozen cleaning spells in a row just to remove the layers of dust and grime from the carpet. Freddie had stopped to pull her hair back in a ponytail and she was sweating more than she did when she had three cauldrons going at once over high heat. It was hard work, but oddly satisfying. She only wished she had her record player to help get her through it. Music always made cleaning easier.
"I guess I should go set out refreshments for the meeting," Mrs Weasley said as it got closer to 7 o'clock. "People will start arriving soon."
"I can help with that," Tonks said immediately, abandoning the curtains she had been trying to repair. She'd spent more time talking to Freddie and Mrs Weasley than she had actually cleaning. "You coming, Freddie?"
"I'll be down in a minute. I just wanna finish this wall," she said, siphoning off yet another layer of grime with her wand. She could almost see the faded wallpaper in places now.
"Suit yourself," Tonks said with a shrug and followed Mrs Weasley out of the room.
It didn't take long for her to finish her task. When the last bit of dust came off, revealing yellowed wallpaper beneath, she pocketed her wand. She wiped her hands on her jeans, feeling very pleased with her hard work, and was about to head downstairs when the wardrobe against the wall began to shake. Frowning, Freddie drew her wand again. She knew all manner of creatures liked to hide away in uninhabited houses. She figured she could handle whatever it was herself and, with her wand raised, she threw open the door to the wardrobe.
She jumped back from the wardrobe in shock as a body fell out...then froze when she realized it was Snape's body. Her whole body froze. She couldn't move or think or even breathe. His body sprawled limp across the floor, his eyes open but unseeing, and a trickle of blood ran from his mouth. A memory flashed through her mind, of seeing the Auror her mother had killed, looking much the same way as she peeked through a crack in the cabinet she'd been hiding in. The fear she'd felt then as a child was nothing compared to the terror that gripped her now as she saw the man she loved dead on the floor in front of her.
"Severus?" said a confused voice from the doorway. Freddie couldn't even turn her head to see who it was but suddenly Lupin stepped between her and Snape. The body on the floor twisted and contorted until a glowing white orb that looked like the moon took its place.
"Ridikkulus," Lupin said calmly, flicking his wand. The moon turned into a balloon that immediately began to deflate and it flew away through the door. Freddie could only stare at Lupin, confused, when he turned to face her.
"Only a boggart," he told her warmly. "Nothing to worry about."
"A b-boggart," she repeated, her heart pounding in her ears. A boggart was a shape-shifting creature that took on the worst fear of whoever faced it. Freddie suddenly felt very foolish.
"A bloody boggart," she groaned, sinking down on the disgusting mattress without realizing.
"Are you alright, Freddie?" Lupin asked, concerned. "You look like you might faint."
"I'm an idiot," she said, shaking her head. "I should have realized..."
"They can catch you off guard sometimes," he said gently. "Especially when it turns into, well, something like that."
He gestured to the floor where the boggart-Snape had been and Freddie flushed in embarrassment. Her worst fear was that something would happen to Snape and she'd be left all alone...and now Lupin knew about it.
"I won't tell anyone," he said quickly. "I promise."
It was as if he'd read her mind. She knew he hadn't penetrated her Occlumency shield. He must have guessed.
"Thanks, Remus," she said quietly.
"Ready to go downstairs? The meeting is about to start."
Freddie's legs were still shaking slightly as she got up from the bed. By the time they made it downstairs she had regained her composure, scolding herself for getting so worked up by something as stupid as a boggart. Snape was already seated at a table with a number of other people when they entered the kitchen. His eyes narrowed slightly when he saw Freddie walk in with Lupin, but he said nothing. When Lupin pulled out a chair for her beside Tonks, Snape quickly looked away.
"You okay? You look a bit paler than usual, Freddie," Tonks commented, knocking over an empty goblet as she turned to look at her. "The cleaning get to ya?"
"I'm fine," she mumbled, not wanting to draw attention to herself.
"Hey, aren't you the Potions Princess?" said a voice down the table and a few heads turned her way. Freddie looked at the heavily-freckled, red-headed man who'd spoken and, despite a large healing burn on his cheek, she recognized him almost immediately.
"Charlie Weasley," she said, unable to help the smile that crossed her face. Even though he was a Gryffindor, Freddie had always sort of liked Charlie. He and Daniel shared a love of animals and the two boys had been friends, even though Charlie was older. Both of them used to spend time with the groundskeeper Hagrid, helping him with a number of animals he tended to in the forest.
"I thought that was you," he said, coming to sit in the empty seat across from her. "Hey there, Tonks."
"Hiya Charlie," the other witch greeted. She and Charlie had been in the same year at Hogwarts.
"How've you been, Freddie?"
"Good," she said truthfully. "I work at St Mungo's now, brewing potions. How about you?"
"I've been in Romania, working with dragons," he said happily. "Glad to see you're going to be a part of our little resistance."
"Yeah, I wanted to do something to fight back, after everything that's happened... Is that from a dragon?" she asked, indicating the burn on the left side of Charlie's face. She was eager to change the subject, worried Charlie would bring up Daniel. Fortunately she knew how the older boy felt about dragons.
"Yeah!" he said enthusiastically. "We had several Hungarian Horntails hatch a couple weeks ago. One of them had a bite on her leg from one of her brothers and it was starting to get infected. I had to get close enough to treat it and when I did..." He shrugged carelessly, still grinning. "Just a hazard of the trade. I've been burned more times than I can count."
"I've got something that'll help," she said, quickly opening the bag at her side. She drew her wand and summoned a jar of burn ointment. "I mixed this up myself. It's a French recipe and it's a bit stronger than the Burn Cream we normally use. Should take care of that in a few hours."
"Wow, thanks Freddie!" he said as she slid the container across the table to him. "I'll get it back to you after the meeting."
"You can keep it. I can always make more and you'll use it more than I do," she chuckled. "So are you staying in Romania or are you back with your mum and dad? I met your mum earlier, she seems really nice."
Molly Weasley was currently bustling around the kitchen, setting out plates of various biscuits, fruits, and cheeses, while the Order members talked amongst themselves. She'd offered people wine or juice and a few people accepted.
"I'm just visiting," Charlie told her. "I try to get back as much as I can, but work keeps me pretty busy. My mates and I got to bring the dragons over for the first task in the tournament last year, that was pretty cool. Transporting four fully grown dragons across the country is no easy feat, especially nesting mothers! I tried to get time off to come back for the second and third tasks, but couldn't swing it. So I haven't been home in a while. But Dumbledore sent for me last week and asked me to come see him if I could. He wants me to try and make foreign contacts and recruit them to the cause. My brother Bill moved back so he could help out – do you remember Bill?"
The oldest Weasley brother was sitting a few seats down, chatting with Moody. Bill had long red hair and was wearing an earring in one ear that looked to be some sort of dragon fang.
"I remember him," Freddie confirmed with a nod. "Dumbledore let him come back a few times after he graduated so he could help some of the younger students with Defense Against the Dark Arts because the teacher that year was totally useless. Bill taught us how to do a Shield Charms."
"Yeah," Tonks said nodding enthusiastically. "That was a great class – it didn't even feel like a class. I didn't even recognize him...he's certainly gotten hot."
She said this late part in a whispered tone to Freddie who shook her head at Tonks, laughing slightly.
"He's been working in Egypt the last few years as a Curse-Breaker for Gringott's," Charlie told them. "He really loved it, but as soon as he heard about You-Know-Who he applied for a desk job in London so he could stay and be a part of the Order."
While Tonks was asking Charlie if Bill was seeing anyone, Freddie took the opportunity to look at all the witches and wizards seated around the table. There were a few she recognized like Charlie, Bill, and Mad Eye Moody. An older man with thinning red hair sitting next to Bill could only be his father, Arthur Weasley. Lupin had taken a seat at the end of the table farthest from Snape and was having a conversation with a sulky-looking Sirius Black. Freddie felt a flicker of annoyance when she saw Black, but quickly suppressed it and looked away. She glanced back to the other end of the table where Snape sat, a bored expression on his face. McGonagall had arrived and taken the empty seat next to him, her expression serious as she spoke quietly to Snape.
When the door opened suddenly, all conversations came to an immediate halt as Albus Dumbledore stepped into the room.