"So, how was everybody's summer? Did you all make the most of it and do everything you planned to?" George grinned as he set down everybody's drink from the tray he was carrying.
"Lame, Weasley. Even for you." Angelina joked as she snatched her glass of mead from the tray and took a swig.
"It seemed to just fly by, hey?" Vicki grinned before she dropped her face quickly "But yeah, I agree with Ange. That was a pretty bad joke, pretending that the holidays are already over, what's wrong with you? Why would you want to even pretend that?"
It was a little less than a week since the Hogwarts Express had pulled up into Kings Cross Station, officially beginning the summer holidays for all of the Hogwarts students. It had also been just over two weeks since Cedric passed away.
For Vicki, she had gone through a whirlwind of emotions. She had cried a few times since the Leaving Feast, as it had now finally sunk in that Cedric was gone, and that he was not coming back. But she had felt searing anger a few times. She had snapped at her mother's friend who had come around for a cup of tea to gossip about other neighbours (Vicki yelled about how there were far bigger problems in the world than an unmarried couple moving in four doors down, to which Maureen quickly excused her daughter).
But her biggest source of anger was, well, she didn't know. She knew it should have been He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. He was the one who had orchestrated her best friend's murder. But to her, he was a faceless enemy. At the moment the Daily Prophet had begun to write articles about Harry Potter and Dumbledore allegedly being 'troublemaking liars'. She wasn't angry out of loyalty to either Potter or Dumbledore. She was mad because of the lack of justice for Cedric's murder.
But right now she had pushed that to the back of her mind. Tonight was the first time she had seen Fred since they said goodbye at Kings Cross Station the week before.
Vicki and Fred had written a couple of letters to each other. Fred wrote first and used Errol the Weasley family owl, but Errol was in bad shape and needed an entire day to recover before Vicki could send him back. Fearing the owl's safety she sent Fez (her own owl) alongside Errol, to make sure Errol made it back to Devon safely. Fred then sent his reply with Fez when the owl returned to Vicki, which Vicki only received that morning.
It was Angelina who had written to everybody to organise a catch up at the Leaky Cauldron now that nearly everybody in their group was now of drinking age (in the wizarding world at least). She even extended an invitation out to Vicki, who accepted in hopes that Molly Weasley would let the twins out. She was lucky as the twins were sitting at the table when she arrived mere moments ago.
"We'll be back in a sec. I haven't seen my girl in a week, we need alone time." Fred grinned mischievously as he quickly jumped up from his seat and lightly grabbed Vicki by the arm before dragging her away into a dark corner of the pub.
Nobody in the group protested, but a few did make fake sick sounds (mostly George and Lee) but stopped when Fred and Vicki were out of ear shot.
Fred pulled out a wooden chair and sat upon it. Vicki was going to go to the other side of the table but he ended up patting his knee to indicate he wanted Vicki to sit on him. She obliged as she took a seat on his lap and swung her knees around so that her legs were sticking out over the side.
"So what did you need to speak about?" Vicki asked Fred innocently as she wrapped her arms around his neck to steady herself.
"Nothing in particular. I just missed you like crazy and needed to speak to you alone for a bit before I socialise with everyone else. I'm so glad Ange invited you." Fred responded as he looked into her eyes to show his sincerity.
"Did you ask her to?" Vicki asked curiously.
"No, I didn't. She invited you of her own accord. I suppose you're one of us now." Fred joked.
"So...is it true your mum wasn't letting you and your siblings out before tonight, or was that an excuse to not see me?" Vicki asked Fred.
She was only half serious, as she very much doubted he would go out of his way to avoid her. But he had mentioned in his letters that his mother wasn't letting either the twins or the younger siblings out and instead was making them do chores around the house, preparing them for something the Weasley children did not know. This was after he had seemingly turned down Vicki's less-than-subtle hints in her letters that he should use the floo network one afternoon to visit her.
Yet he had been able to accept Angelina's invitation easy enough. Vicki was no longer jealous about Fred and Angelina's friendship and didn't suspect any lingering feelings between the two. But it still made her question on whether he was perhaps getting sick of her.
They had been in a relationship for over six months now and the honeymoon phase now seemed well and truly over. In her previous relationship with Roger it was around this mark when things had started to slowly decline. But Vicki and Fred seemed to only be going stronger to the point where Vicki was now believing he might very well be 'the one'. But she was fearful that maybe her feelings were one sided.
Normally in this situation she'd be asking Cedric for his opinion, so he could act as a voice of reason to calm her down. But obviously she couldn't do that, and she was now on her own.
"Of course it wasn't an excuse!" Fred quickly blurted out to defend himself, guilt washing over him "If you want to ditch everyone and go somewhere to be alone I'm more than happy to do so."
"Nah, but let's just chill here for a few moments before we go back to the others." Vicki responded as she felt relief flood over her.
Fred smiled at his girlfriend as he took a few moments to take a good look at her.
He didn't want to admit it to Vicki, but he had been sulky all week towards his mother for not letting him out to see her. He had even gotten into a screaming match with Molly one afternoon, which was unlike him. Normally when he or George were upset with their mother they would give her the silent treatment.
He still didn't know why his mother wasn't letting him and his other siblings out to socialise. At first he thought it was because potentially Molly wanted Vicki to have space to grieve Cedric's death alone. But she even denied Ron from going to Hermione's house for dinner one night, and Ginny from going to Diagon Alley to see her school friends. In fact, Molly only let Fred and George out tonight specifically because Vicki was going to be there.
"I missed you so, so much." Fred eventually breathed out after a few moments of basking in her beauty.
"I've missed you too." Vicki grinned as the last of her insecurities melted away.
"I still can't believe I somehow convinced you to be my girlfriend," Fred admitted as he rested his forehead against hers but then turned his voice more serious "So uh, how are you going anyway?"
Vicki pushed herself back as she wanted to read Fred's expression properly. She didn't want to sour the mood as it was the first time she had seen her boyfriend in a week. It should be a happy occasion. But the truth was that she was struggling, and Fred was the only person she felt she could speak to about it.
"I um, I feel like I'm finally coming to terms that Cedric is gone and I'll never see him again. Which is good, I guess." Vicki mumbled towards the end as she began to nervously play with the ends of her hair.
"...is it cheesy if I point out that he'll never truly be gone? And that he'll always live in both your heart and your memory?" Fred quickly blurted out, the only thing that entered his head as his girlfriend turned serious.
"Normally, yeah. But from you? That's not something I'd expect to hear you say, and it's very appreciated," Vicki lightly smiled, before something dawned on her "On the platform last week you said you had something big to tell me. What was that about?"
A big grin came over Fred's face as he remembered that he hadn't had the chance yet to tell Vicki about the good news.
"Well, George and I have come across good fortune recently. You see-" Fred began to explain, but he was cut off by his name from being called from across the pub.
Fred let out an angry sigh as he recognised the voice calling out to him.
"What?" Fred called out angrily towards the person calling out to him on the other side of the pub.
On the other side of the pub was Arthur Weasley, trying to call Fred over. Arthur had appeared next to Fred's twin in the distance and had placed a hand on his shoulder. Judging by the soured look on George's face it was clear Arthur's presence wasn't a social call, and he was there for a reason. Due to Fred's anticipation that his father was trying to call him away, Fred decided to berate his father from the other side of the room.
"Mum said we could be here! I haven't seen Vicki all week, I'm not going home, get stuffed!" Fred yelled towards his father loudly, causing a lot of patrons to look over at the scene Fred was creating.
Vicki quickly jumped off Fred's lap, partly because she was worried Fred might accidentally push her off as he was losing his cool, but also because she could also see her own father in the distance. It was weird...Arthur Weasley and her own father were in the same pub as her.
Vicki trotted over to where her new friendship circle were seated, and found her father seated with them. She shot him a quizzical look.
"Arthur and I decided to have a pint after work, and we ran into this lovely lot. Vicki, you never told me you had become friends with the Gryffindor Quidditch team." Max stated proudly.
"You never told me you had become friends with my boyfriend's father." Vicki shot back but with a grin to show she wasn't mad, as she eyed Arthur in the distance talking to another patron at the bar.
"Scary, innit? We can conspire against you!" Max grinned, earning loud chuckles from the table of youth, the loudest coming from George.
"Vicki, we absolutely love your dad." Alicia confessed.
"The Gryffindor common room has heaps of Quidditch trophies throughout the year, there's so many Hartwell ones, it's unbelievable. It's actually an honour to meet the Maxwell Hartwell, Gryffindor Quidditch captain from 1963 - 1965." Angelina stammered out.
"Aw, you're too kind. I wasn't a Quidditch prodigy though, that was my father, Andrew Hartwell. He was drafted by the Montrose Magpies whilst he was still in his final year of Hogwarts. He was destined to be one of the greatest Quidditch players of all time until his untimely death. He was basically like the James Dean of the Quidditch world." Max went on to explain.
Vicki grinned as she saw the stunned faces of the Gryffindors at the table. She didn't know whether they were puzzled because they didn't know who James Dean was, or feeling awkward because of the dark topic that Max had brought up.
Vicki went to break the ice by explaining who James Dean was, but both Fred and Arthur had come over and Arthur began to speak first.
"Don't be modest, Max. Each year just before Christmas as the Ministry is winding down for the year, they hold a Quidditch tournament between departments. I've never been much of a Quidditch player so I never compete personally, but Max's team is always the winner," Arthur stated with a clap on the back. "Max, Victoria, Fred, can I have a word?"
"Bit late to give them 'the birds and the bees talk' Dad," George snorted from the table, but his face fell when he saw both Fred and Vicki give him dirty looks "I mean because of their age, not because they've already done things."
"...can we just go to the bar and avoid this conversation?" Vicki asked her dad awkwardly, feeling mortified about George's babbling that was making things worse with each word.
"Yes. Let's." Max quickly responded.
By the time that Arthur, Max, Fred and Vicki arrived at the bar, Tom the bartender had already poured a round of butterbeers. Vicki groaned as she had only had one drink, the low alcoholic butterbeer would kill her buzz. But she didn't dare complain to her father about it.
Her father Max paid for the round with a few sickles and then both Arthur and Max turned to look at their children.
"Sorry kids. We didn't mean to crash your party, we didn't even know your group was here. We were meant to meet Amos here, actually." Max began to explain.
"Amos...Diggory?" Vicki asked her father, to which he gave a nod.
"Yes...he returned to work today," Arthur began to explain, swiftly speaking up when Vicki gasped in shock "Yes I know, it's far too soon, especially with the funeral tomorrow. Therefore Maxwell and I invited him to the pub after work. He took two steps into the pub and decided to go home."
"Is Cedric's funeral tomorrow?" Fred quickly asked in curiousity.
"...wait, you didn't know that? You're not coming to Cedric's funeral?" Vicki quickly asked.
She felt silly now, but she had automatically assumed that Fred would be attending Cedric's funeral. Whilst Fred and Cedric had gotten over their animosity only in recent times (Well, Fred had gotten over his animosity towards Cedric, it only ever went one way), Fred was in the stages of becoming friendly with Cedric. If he didn't plan to attend to mourn Cedric, she at least expected him to want to go to support her. But he wasn't.
"I wasn't invited." Fred shrugged.
"You know you don't need to be invited to attend a funeral. You just...go." Max quickly blabbed out, but shot his daughter's boyfriend a cheesy grin to show he wasn't trying to be rude.
"I thought you already knew, and you were going as well. This is why I thought it would be best if you come home now. Your mum has a list of chores that have to be completed by next week and considering you'll be out of action tomorrow, we need all the help we can get tonight." Arthur cheerfully said to his son as he gave him a gentle pat on the shoulder.
The next morning Vicki found herself eating cereal at the kitchen bench whilst her mother was darting around getting ready for work. Maureen was pulling her dyed dark blonde hair into a bun as she rushed into the kitchen and grabbed her toast from the toaster.
Maureen's Daily Prophet subscription had arrived earlier by owl, so Vicki was reading it on the bench as she ate her cereal.
"What time is Fred getting here?" Maureen asked Vicki curiously.
"Dunno. Whenever Molly lets him leave the house." Vicki shrugged as Maureen leaned over Vicki to grab the newspaper off the bench.
"Any interesting stories today?" Maureen asked as she read the page Vicki was currently on.
Approximately two hundred miles away Fred Weasley was also having breakfast with his family. However unlike Vicki and Maureen who were having a peaceful breakfast sitting at the neat stone kitchen bench, Fred was eating breakfast amongst many people at the rickety, chipped walnut wood table.
"Good morning everyone!" Percy cheerfully called out as he arrived at the breakfast table fully dressed in his best work robes.
The only Weasleys to give Percy an audible response was both Molly and Arthur, although neither were as cheerful as he was. Ron had only grunted in response whilst Fred, George and Ginny mumbled a non enthusiastic 'morning'.
"Oof, I'm run off my feet at the ministry at the moment. Today is going to be a busy day, you see-" Percy began to explain, but he was cut off by George.
"-Percy, unless this story ends in you getting tonnes of hilarious howlers again, no one cares."
Upon George's blunt response both Ginny and Ron choked back laughter whilst eating their toast. The two youngest Weasleys were easily bored by Percy's dull anecdotes, but they never had the courage to make jokes at Percy's expense like the twins did.
"Quiet, George. I think you should be proud of your brother, working hard to prove himself after a departmental mistake. It shows Percy has heart, and he's not a quitter." Molly snapped at George.
"...by departmental mistake, you mean Percy's mistake, right? Y'know, not realising someone had been impersonating his boss for months on end?" Fred quickly interjected with a grin.
It was a fairly cold comment for Fred to make and normally he wouldn't push the envelope that far. But Percy had been getting on his nerves even more than normal. Throughout the past week he had made many quips about Fred's relationship with Vicki, as this was the first time Percy had spent proper time with Fred since he and Vicki had gotten together.
Percy didn't speak any ill about Vicki. In fact, it was the opposite. He had voiced concern for Vicki numerous times.
"She's a bright young girl I used to mentor, I hope you don't lead her astray."
"What do you two even have to talk about? She's ambitious and you only ever think about your next prank."
"Don't be surprised if she leaves you after school to focus on her career."
Fred had been brushing off Percy's criticisms about his relationship incompatibility. He tried to not take it personally - Percy's relationship breakdown with Penelope had only happened a few months ago, and Fred guessed that Percy was still upset about it and taking it out on him.
But the last comment was said to him last night and he was still bothered by it.
He was also unhappy that Percy seemed to be making a few comments showing he was believing some of the things the Daily Prophet were printing about Harry and Dumbledore, but Molly always shushed Percy before he could go into more detail.
"I'm not going to let you get me down today, Fred. Today is going to be a great day. I've actually got a meeting to discuss my future prospects," Percy beamed but sighed when he saw the look the twins were shooting him "The Senior Undersecretary to the Minister of Magic said it was good news when she called me for a meeting."
The twins only rolled their eyes and neither Fred nor George bothered to snap back a witty insult, but Fred did make a face towards Percy.
"Are you really prattling on about today being a good day? Isn't today the day they're holding Cedric Diggory's funeral?" Ginny asked innocently down the table, but sent a sly grin towards Fred when Percy wasn't looking.
"I-well-yes, that's very sad of course. Diggory was an excellent prefect under my Head Boy tenure, and I'm sure he would have made a fine Head Boy himself before going on to a marvelous career." Percy quickly interjected as he pushed up his glasses nervously.
Both Molly and Arthur eyed the table nervously as they anticipated an exchanging of tense words to break out between their children. Molly spoke up in an attempt to defuse the situation.
"Fred, what time are you going to Victoria's house?" Molly asked Fred quickly.
"She said I could go whenever. I was going to grab my dress robes after breakfast and then grab the floo network to hers." Fred shrugged as he took the last bite out of his toast.
"Very well, you can be excused." Molly responded.
With the power of magic, Fred was able to touch down in London roughly 200 miles away mere minutes later. Hoisting his travel bag over his shoulder he exited the guest room briskly. He had been in the house before and had remembered its basic layout. The upstairs landing contained the plain guest room with the floo entrance, as well as Vicki's bedroom to the right. The downstairs area housed the small kitchen, living room as well as Maureen's bedroom (which he hadn't seen).
If he didn't know the layout of the house, he would have been able to navigate his way around based on the ruckus being caused by the occupants.
"Are you calling Cedric an idiot?" He heard Vicki yell loudly.
"Of course not! The Triwizard Tournament was a horrible mistake and I'm mad that heads aren't rolling too, Victoria." Maureen hissed.
Fred stopped in his tracks as he realised that Vicki and her mother were having an argument. He didn't mean to eavesdrop, but he felt too awkward to announce his presence in the middle of their bickering and decided he would wait for an appropriate lapse before walking in.
"If you truly believe Cedric's death was caused by simple ministry negligence and not powerful dark forces means you're saying it was a silly little mishap-" Vicki started arguing, but Maureen began speaking over her daughter.
"-You don't know what you're talking about. You were barely alive during the dark days of You-Know-Who. You don't remember how our kind lived in fear." Maureen hissed.
"You're being far too nonchalant about this for a witch who's basically common law married to a muggle, who lives in a muggle neighbourhood, who works a muggle job, who-" Vicki began to name off, but once again was angrily cut off by her mother.
"I'm not going to stand here and be lectured by a seventeen year old. I've been on this earth a lot longer than you and I'm much smarter, girl. Don't you dare try and say both my partner and I are in danger." Maureen ranted.
"Well if you believe people who have a vested interest in telling lies about He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named over Dumbledore, you are an idiot," Vicki snapped "Anyway, I think our houses speak for themselves. I'm a Ravenclaw, you were a nuffer Hufflepuff."
"I'm not putting up with this, Victoria. After you're done with the funeral you can stay with your father for a few days. I will not tolerate my daughter speaking to me that way." Maureen screeched towards Vicki, and Fred heard a few slams before a loud popping noise indicated that Maureen had apparated away.
He now found it safe to quickly make his descent down the stairs and into the kitchen area where he saw Vicki angrily using magic to wash a plate.
He made sure to make his presence known by loudly shuffling his feet and she turned around to see him. Her anger seemed to disappear as her face softened and she launched herself at her boyfriend, grabbing him into a warm embrace.
"I er, I heard you and your mother arguing." Fred awkwardly admitted.
"She believes the absolute nonsense that's written in the Daily Prophet about Harry and Dumbledore being liars and nutters. She feels there would be more going on if You-Know-Who was back so it must not be true." Vicki mumbled.
"Dad mentioned a lot of people at the ministry feel that way too." Fred responded.
"As if this day couldn't get any worse. Cedric's funeral...the day I say my final goodbyes to my best friend. This is the day she decides to be a massive bitch because I disagree with her." Vicki sighed.
"Don't jinx it, when people say 'this day couldn't get any worse' it usually means the day does get worse," Fred joked but he cleared his throat awkwardly and wrapped an arm around his girlfriend who was shooting him a dirty look "But it will be alright. We've got most of the day to spend together before we need to go to the funeral venue. Let's forget about the world for just a few hours and pretend everything is normal."