Eleanor & Fred

The next couple of days passed by quicker than I had expected and soon it was Christmas Eve. Everyone from the Order had been invited to dine with us, but only Remus and Tonks decided to show.

“Hello,” Tonks greeted me cheerfully as she took her seat beside me. “How’ve you been?”

“Wonderful, actually. It’s hard not to be around this lot.” I gestured toward the group of redheads sitting near us. Fred was sitting to my left, George to his, Ginny across from Tonks, and Ron across from me. Hermione was seated to Ron’s left with Harry on her left. The adults were all seated at the other end of the table. “How about you?”

“I’ve been better,” she sighed, “but I won’t complain. It’s nice to have another girl around here.”

“Definitely,” Ginny chimed in, Crookshanks seated on her lap until Mrs. Weasley shooed it away.

“It’s time to eat,” She stated before beginning to levitate all of the dishes of our Christmas Eve supper and placing them onto the table.

“It looks lovely,” I stated, earning a warm smile from Mrs. Weasley.

“Thank you, dear.”

Beneath the table, Fred grabbed my hand, gaining my attention.

“You know,” he said quietly, “I wouldn’t be surprised if Mum was already planning our wedding with the way she adores you. Of course, she can’t adore you as much as I do.” I felt me cheeks grow warm and stuck my tongue out at him in response, not knowing what to say.

At the end of the table, Mr. Weasley, still injured from an accident at the Ministry, was the first to have food dished out onto his plate by Mrs. Weasley. He was followed by Sirius and Remus, and then the rest of us.

While eating, it caught my attention that, much like Fred and I, Tonks and Remus were holding hands under the table. When I caught her eye and glanced down at their entwined hands, she quickly let go of his and shot me a “You weren’t supposed to see that,” look. When she let go of Remus’ hand, he glanced over to see why and noticed the silent conversation I was having with Tonks as well, looking slightly embarrassed. They both seemed pleased when Mrs. Weasley announced that it was time for dessert, giving them excuses to seem busy as they began eating their pudding and tarts.

Once we were finished eating everyone gathered in the living room. A few last minute presents were placed under the tree, Christmas songs were sung, and the adults drank. Any darkness brought on by whatever the Order was up to was, for the night, absent. I was just about to ask Tonks if I could speak to her alone in an attempt to find out what was going on between her and Remus when Fred sat down beside me and placed a kiss upon my cheek.

“Hello, love.”

“Hi,” I grinned, meeting his gaze. As I stared into his eyes I realized how quickly our relationship had gotten serious. We had only been dating four months and it felt like it had been a year. This boy had my heart wholly and completely and it appeared as if I had his. It caught me off guard when he leaned over and murmured into my ear.

“Can I give you your present tonight?” I nodded in response, butterflies filling my stomach. What had he gotten me?

I felt his hand grab mine and we stood off the couch. No one asked us where we were going as he led me out of the room and up the stairs. We passed the room where I was staying and headed to the room he shared with George. “It’s in here,” he mumbled, pulling me into the room and closing the door behind us. He walked over to his dresser and pulled something out from his top drawer.

“I see you hid it so well,” I stated sarcastically, grinning.

“Shush,” he grinned back before handing me the gift.

It was a small box-shaped packaged wrapped in silver paper with black and red ribbon tied into a bow on top. I shot a glance at Fred before tearing at the paper. Once unwrapped, the box I held in my hands was black with nothing on it. I found myself nervous about opening it. I already had a pretty good idea of what it could be and, after taking a shaky breath, I opened it to discover I was right.

My breath caught as I stared at the jewelry inside the box. It was a necklace with a matching pair of earrings, extremely beautiful. They were both made of silver. The earrings were simple, sapphire gems, while the necklace was a little more decorated. In the center was one sapphire and on each side of it were smaller sapphires patterned every-other-one with small diamonds.

I found myself speechless as I looked up at Fred. He seemed unsure of what to say as well, and eventually the prolonged silence caused us both to giggle at the awkwardness. “I love it,” I finally whispered. “I love you.”

“I love you too,” he replied, pulling me into a hug. I shut my eyes, smiling, until suddenly I began to panic.

“Oh no,” I groaned, pulling away from him. I walked over and sat on the edge of his bed, him following right behind me.

“What is it?”

I sighed deeply before stating, “Fred…you gave me something so…wonderful. The present I got for you can’t even begin to compete with this. I feel awful now.” Fred chuckled, only deepening my frown. “I’m serious.”

“Ell, I don’t care,” he replied. “I really don’t.” He took my gift out of my hands and placed it on the bedside table so he could grab both of my hands in his. “I could not ask for anything more than I already have.” I felt myself relax at his words. “You are so beautiful,” he leaned forward and placed a quick kiss on my neck, “Intelligent,” he placed a kiss on the other side of my neck, “Funny,” he placed a kiss on my forehead, “And all around amazing.”