Chapter 46
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Everyone had dispersed after lunch, Harry took Hermione, Ron and Ginny upstairs while I sat with the twins and Draco, the latter was sitting rather uncomfortably, around a firepit, sitting on logs. The adults were sitting at the table in the garden. The twins were trying to start a fire in the pit in the middle of the garden.
"So, what have you two been doing all summer?" I asked as the twins tried to make fire with rocks.
"Not much." Fred shrugged as he clanged the stones together and frowned when nothing happened. "Been working on more products."
"And practicing quidditch, very important." Then they turned to me, the stones still in their hands. "And missing you." They said with such a serious face, I couldn't help but snort, just like Draco.
"Wow, that was really cheesy." I laughed and the twins gave me a lopsided smile that made my stomach flip. "Are you done trying to make fire like cavemen?" I grinned. I looked over their shoulders to the table. "Uncle Moony, do you have matches? Or a Zippo?"
But it wasn't Moony that came over. Sirius Black had tossed his chair to the ground as he jumped up. He stumbled towards us with less grace than a cross-legged donkey. He handed over a black zippo with trembling hands.
"Thanks." I murmured turning my attention to the firepit. I felt Draco shift closer to me.
"It was my brother's, Regulus. He died a long time ago." I looked up as I heard the sadness in his voice.
"I'm sorry." I whispered as I clicked the zippo open and set a few of the smaller branches on fire. The twins leaned forward in interest. They were both nearly in the fire when the others joined.
"So, Malfoy." Fred started looking at the young Slytherin. "Who would've thought you would be in the same place as Harry, voluntarily." He snickered.
Draco looked up with large eyes, surprised someone talked to him directly beside his mother, me or Remus. "I sure didn't."
"Having a hard time not jinxing him?" George laughed and Harry yelled. "Oi!"
"Getting harder by the minute, Weasley." Draco said with a straight face, but the corners of his lips twitched up. The twins barked out a laugh, and I smiled. I know Gryffindors and Slytherin don't get along, even worse with Weasleys and the Malfoys, but I was happy that the twins tried. "What you do for family." A real smile crept up as he nudged me softly.
Again, I felt several eyes on me. Narcissa watched us with a warm smile, just like Remus. Sirius' gaze was intense, but I couldn't make it out. Harry too, had a look I couldn't really decipher.
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"Did you hear? Dad got us tickets for the World Cup!" Fred said excitedly about twenty minutes later.
"Ron wanted to invite Harry and Hermione, but Harry said Sirius already got him tickets." George continued.
"That's great!" I said in a happy voice. "Then you can all go. I'm guessing you're going to have a lot of fun." I smiled broadly, happy to see their excited faces. I turned to Draco. "Are you going?"
He nodded as he accepted a stick from Remus with a frown. "Mum and I have tickets. We had to get separate ones, because father already got tickets last year. He was making it difficult for mother to precure them."
"But I did it. Your father can't take this away from us." Narcissa smiled and I nudged Draco with a grin. He was still looking funny at the stick in his hands, but so did the most around the campfire. Only Harry, Hermione, Remus, Sirius and I knew for what it was. Just as I was about to explain, Fred asked.
"Aren't you going?" He asked, looking between me and Remus. "It's in two days."
"You surely know how to ruin a surprise, Weasley." Black grumbled.
I furrowed my eyebrows as I looked to him. Fred went red in the face and looked down at the fire, twiddling the stick between his fingers. Black pulled out two small dark red envelopes and handed one to me and one to Remus. He rubbed his neck nervously.
"I - I wanted to surprise you both. I've got a tent and everything, more than enough room for the four of us."
Remus and I shared a glance. "I don't know. I'm not a big quidditch fan."
"What?!" Was shouted by several around the fire. A reaction I knew was going to come.
"But you come to all of our matches." George said in disbelief.
"That's different. I come to see you." I pushed my finger against his chest. His ears turned red. "I come to see my friends and family."
"Come on, we're all going." Harry whined. As I looked around all eyes were on me. The twins and Harry looked at me with pleading puppy eyes. Draco just had a raised eyebrow. My eyes found Remus who was sitting next to Sirius. And just from that look, I knew what to say.
"Alright, alright. I'll go."
The twins cheered and Harry smiled as he leaned back, placing a hand on the ground behind Hermione. My eyes flickered over Sirius, and he had an excited and happy twinkle in his eyes. I quickly looked away.
"Can someone please tell me why I'm holding a stick?" Draco huffed waving it in the air. I tossed a marshmallow at his head with a laugh.
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Since Black and Harry only lived just around the corner, we and the Malfoys decided to go together. Much to the dismay of Draco, who didn't want to be spotted with Harry within ten metres of each other. But like always he followed me and Narcissa without another complaint. Harry and Black were already waiting outside the house with their bags packed. Unlike the Weasleys, we were going to apparate as there were as many adults as kids.
Sirius looked nervous between me and Remus. I knew why he was nervous around me, but Remus? I'll ask about it later. Remus put his arm around me and looked down with a warm smile. "Ready, cub?"
"Yeah, you?" I asked since the full moon was just a few days away.
"I'll be fine." He kissed the top of my head as I leaned into him.
Sirius cleared his throat and broke the stare he had on us. "We should be going." He held out his hand for Harry. I wrapped my arm around Remus's elbow and Draco took his mother's hand. With a pop, the six of us disappeared from the street.
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With a wave of his wand, Sirius put up the tent. A little further back, Narcissa did the same with their tent. Draco bluntly refused to put the tent up next to us even though the place where we were staying at was for the "richer" people and had enough room around us to put them together.
"We were supposed to set it up the muggle way, Pads." Remus said with his hands on his hips.
Harry and I looked at each other with a grin. Sirius whirled around with flair, his black hair bouncing on his shoulders. "I can take it apart, so you can set it back up the muggle way." He offered with a lopsided grin. Remus's eyes twinkled as he looked at the escaped prisoner.
"That won't be necessary." Remus smiled and looked away with a slight blush. "Why don't we set everything up inside, then the kids can go wander around."
"I-" Sirius looked at me and Harry. "Fine, be back at four."
I glanced to Remus with a raised eyebrow. "Five is fine too, enough time to get to the stadium."
"Thanks, Uncle Moony." I kissed his cheek "See you at five." And tugged Harry through the crowd.
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Harry and I were in search of the Weasley tent, but since most of the tents here looked like each other, it took a while before we found them. It was when I saw a familiar red head with glasses disappear inside, I knew we found them. But just as we reached the tent, two strong arms picked me up and twirled me around. I shrieked at the sudden action until I saw who it was. I laughed as I let my head fall in the crook of his neck.
"Hey, you." I kissed his cheek.
"Hello, gorgeous." He smiled and lowered me to the ground as throats were cleared next to us. We turned and I saw most of the Weasleys in front of the tent. "Uhm, hello." Emmett had put me down, but his arm was still around me waist. The atmosphere was tense, and Emmett withdrew his arm. "Well, I'll leave you to your... friends. Maybe I'll see you later."
"Oh, okay. Yeah." I said turning away from the Weasleys to look at him. "Draco's at plot A, if you want to see him or if Theo wants to."
"Great, we're on plot A too." He kissed my cheek. "Later." And he disappeared in the crowd.
I looked to the group in front of me. The twins were standing in the middle both with green and white face paint, The two others, also Weasleys, I only recognized from photos. They had just two-coloured streaks on their cheeks. "Well, you must be another Weasley." I smiled as I walked up to the one on the left. He had short red hair, freckles all over, and he had broad muscular shoulders, scar lines visible on his bare arms.
"That I am." He grinned. "Charles Weasley." He bowed and kissed my hand.
"Alexandra Lupin-Black." I said with a curtsy.
Recognition filled his face and he looked to the twins for a second. "Oh, so you're the famous Alec!"
"Famous?"
"Master portioner, expert dueller, wizarding as well as muggle, speaks three languages and is full of mystery." The other brother said as he held out his hand. "Bill Weasley."
"I already told them I'm not mysterious, I'm practically boring." I smiled, but my heart was thundering fast in my chest as I looked to the bashful twins. I said it! Bashful, who would have thought!
"You're a lot of things, love. But boring isn't one of them." George smiled and leaned down to kiss my cheek.
"Agree to disagree." I grinned up at him.
"I agree with George." Fred said leaning down for a kiss too.
"Shocker." I said and the other brothers laughed. "Want to go explore?"
"Hell, yes!" The twins said, already wrapping their arms around me.
"Harry!?" I called to the tent.
"He's already gone with Hermione and Ron."
"Oh." I frowned not knowing when he left.
"He left when you were hugging that boy." Charlie said pointing at the crowd Nott disappeared in.
"Emmett Nott. He's my ex, we're still good friends." I shrugged. "Ready to go, gents?" I asked the twins. "You two are welcome to join."
"That's okay. You three go ahead." Charlie waved us off as the twins wrapped their arms around my waist.
"Fred, George, try to be back in time, alright?" Bill said. "Don't try and find some quiet lonely corners." He snickered. The twins looked over their shoulders as they glared at them.
"Come on." I tugged them forward. I didn't turn around but through the crowd I could hear one of them whispering, Bill, I think.
He whispered. "This isn't going to end well."
When we were out of sight, I pulled my arms back and tried to ignore the pouting faces of the twins. Because I knew Bill was right. They probably noticed how I looked at them and knew that I could never chose between them. I could never come between brothers. I could never come between Fred and George, they meant too much to me. I needed to try and move on, that would be the best for the three of us.