Falling For

It was three weeks until Christmas by the time the boys had finally decided to shut the shop. Business was not going as well as it used to, even if it as the holidays – no one wanted to be seen around the streets. It was just too dangerous to venture outside anymore.

We were still to be living up above it, keeping a quick eye on the place as 99% of Diagon Alley had shut down and dark, dangerous folk had been wandering around. The boys, clearly upset about their dream being shut down so quickly, were moping around the bottom level, picking up stock and staring at it like it was the last time they were to see it.

However, it was only a day ago a small girl came in and asked about the mail order service. Of course, the Twins connected that night, mail order. That was also the night we gained an extra five owls, all shrieking in their own little owlery that was once my linen closet.

Potterwatch had made its home at Lee Jordan’s apartment somewhere in Ireland. Fred was often off in the great green country making broadcast announcements for all of Great Britain to hear the feats of the Chosen One. It was a shining beacon of hope in the darkness that had shrouded England for such a long time.

Clomping down the stairs in my socks, I slid into the shop with a smile on my face.

“I made breakfast!” I told them, leaning on the counter. The two young entrepreneurs leant against their respective shelves and sighed in sync, making my face fall. “Hey, boys, trust me, when this war is finished we can open this place back up and everything will get back on track.”

“Why don’t you ever wear pants?” Fred mumbled smoothing down his button up. “I’m not exactly complaining but it seems to be snowing outside.”

“I’m not expecting any visitors, Fred.” I huffed at him. “Besides, everything is in the wash right now, and that’s going to take some time considering that we have an industrial back up due to owl droppings all over our nice towels.”

He sheepishly grinned.

“Right.”

George straightened himself to his full height, stretching up and yawning (tapping a low hanging ceiling light with the tip of his fist). “Mmm… What’s for breakfast then?”

The doorbell jingled as I opened my mouth to speak, hiding away from the person who had just walked in the door. No one really wanted to see me in my underwear at that time of the morning.

“We’re closed, mate. Sorry.” Fred piped up. “We’ll be doing mail orders, though, so don’t fret!”

“Yeah, closing for the holidays.” George added cheerfully. “Okay, mate, wands down, we’ll be back soon...”

A curse rebounded off the sneakoscope that sat on a shelf above the counter, causing it to start whirring and shrieking, vibrating itself off its place on the shelf and hitting the floor loudly, shattering into small pieces on the shops floor. Jumping back into the stairs, I watched as the twins threw spells at the man at the doorway who was blocking them. More people began to barge through the doorway, the lights of red and green shooting around the room in a spectacular, though dangerous, light show.

I sent a stunning spell at the most recent man, sending him to the ground. George whipped around to look at me, his eyes alight and urging me to leave.

My mind geared into overdrive and I was up the stairs, flinging things around from Fred’s room such as clothes, books and other important things he had gathered along the way. Snapping open the trunk at the end of George and I’s bed, I piled all of his stuff into there, quickly turning to our drawers that burst open with shirts, dresses and pants. I didn’t care how messy our things were, just continuing to pile everything into a small mass of muddle in the bottom of George’s old Hogwarts trunk.

I cleared the bedside table of photo frames, my old camera, George’s Christmas present from my mother and whatever else I could find. All I was worried about was the boys downstairs, but I knew if we left without anything we would regret it. I picked up the trunk, dumping it in the middle of the lounge room and ran back towards the stairs, only to be met by a large man in a black cloak.

My spell hit him straight in the chest, my wail much louder than his actual contact with the floor, leaving me shaking in the middle of the room. The arrival of these cloaked figures scared me so much I could have just sat down and waited for them to kill me. I didn’t know what to do.

Hearing a yell from Fred down below, I snapped out of my little mental breakdown and threw myself down the stairs, avoiding the man collapsed at the bottom. George was up against a wall with a wand in his face, Fred stunned at the foot of the counter. The men, cloaked and angry, turned to look at me.

Taking my appearance as his chance, George stunned the man who was holding him up, swooping over to Fred and apparating somewhere upstairs. He appeared right next to me, bursting three men into a shelf of love potions. Another three men replaced them, the whole shop suddenly occupied with what I assumed to be Death Eaters.

“Fuck,” George almost growled beside me, blocking the spell, which was aimed directly for me. “Fuck, fuck, fuck, PROTEGO.”

My mind scrambled for Fleur’s books, grabbing onto anything I could actually remember. “Stupefy! Tarantallegra! Flipendo! Uh, oh Merlin, George!”

“Go upstairs! Wake up Fred and go home! I’ll get there as soon as I can!” He blocked another spell as we pushed them back into the main floor of the store.

“George!” I hissed at him. His look was enough to tell me otherwise and I staggered in my place. “Avis!” A large bang erupted and I ran up the stairs, away from the shrieking birds and into our flat, basically crawling across the floor. “Fred!” I whispered, shaking him. “Come on, you insolent mess, wake up!”

He lay there and I whimpered in exhaustion but shook him all the same.

“What’s the spell?! What’s the spell?!” I flexed my fingers, aiming my wand at his chest. “Um. Ah. Oh!” My brain burst in realisation. “Rennervate!”

He sat up.

“Merlin’s beard, what the bloody hell is going on!”

“George said to go to the Burrow. He said he’d be there as soon as we can.”

His face fell stony grey and he grabbed my forearm, feeling around for the trunk and soon we were sucked back onto the snowy fields that lay around his childhood home. He crawled up to the invisible barrier that hid the looming house, forcing me through with his open palm and blasting the trunk into the front yard, its contents spilling out all over the dirt path that lead to the kitchen.

“I’ll be back!” He told me and was gone. I sat there alone for a moment, shocked at the simplicity of the statement.

“Fred!” I suddenly called. “No, Fred, you can’t do this to me!” I jumped up. “No, for fuck’s sake, FRED WEASLEY, COME BACK HERE!”

The kitchen door burst open and I tried to apparate back to the store but something stopped me. Sweat beaded from my hairline and my hand began to hurt, something along the lines of flash backs to my last apparition making me gag.

“Don’t do this to me, you stupid shell of a body! Let me go, let me go!” I stamped my foot, heavily breathing as I realised I was going nowhere. My seemingly rational fear of apparition was ruining my life.

“Mignon! What are you doing here?!” Molly, Arthur, Ginny and what appeared to be an old Hogwarts professor raced into the front yard. I threw my arms and legs around in a fit of unconscious freaking out, a wildly confused dance taking place right in front of them. Snapping out of my ordeal for only a second, I was able to force out a jumbled sentence.

“George,” I forced out “Fred. The shop! There’s Death Eaters everywhere!!”

“What were the family and I having the day you met us?” Arthur Weasley stopped in front of me, making me gape and frown, thinking back to my first Grimmauld place visit purely for the sake of my recognition.

“Um, a ‘summer vacation.’” I spoke. Arthur and the other man apparated instantly, leaving the two redheads and I fretting in the front yard.

“I need to get back there.” I told her, forcing her off of me. “Merlin, Molly, please help! I can’t apparate! My body wont let me!”

“Stay!” She barked at me, her voice strained. “Stay here. Arthur and Remus will get the boys and bring them back here.”

I sat down in the snow and placed my head in my hands, the slushed ice cold on my thighs while I began to sob dryly, my adrenaline slowing down and the uncertainty of the situation settling in. Ginny crouched down to my height, arm around my shoulder, trying to coax me out of the snow. Molly stood behind us, her hands over her mouth as she watched the distance for any sign of anything.

There was a large crack seconds later, four men appearing, two of which were somewhat bloodied. I jumped back up, pacing backwards as they wandered into the yard, chewing my lip with an untamed rage.

“Fred Weasley, I will kill you.” I stalked towards him, prodding him in the chest with my finger. “You do not just leave me like that, regardless of the situation. George said to stay here and why don’t you listen?! Idiot! Daft, inconsiderate idiot!”

He stood there and watched me as I took out all my anger on him, prodding him harshly every time I had to make a point. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw George snickering behind his palm, causing me to swing around in all my seething intensity and let it loose on him.

“And you! YOU!” I approached him and he took me into his arms, letting me vent in the pocket of his shirt. “Don’t you ever do that to me again!” I curled my hands into the cotton. “You idiot.”

“I’m gonna take her inside.” He muttered at his parents, leading me towards the house. “Oh look, you packed a trunk. Aren’t you a day-saver?” He kissed my crown and I dribbled on about my obvious hatred towards him. “And you’re still not wearing pants.”




I was lying in my makeshift bed in Ginny’s room, facing the wall with wide eyes. I couldn’t sleep, the wind whistling through the window sounding eerily like the shriek of a sneakoscope. The redheads light breathing was overcast by the sound of me picking my nails, watching the wall blindly like a doll that hadn’t been wound up in a while.

Ginny’s owl rustled in its cage and I groaned, sitting up. We had a whole cupboard full of owls at home, I realised. “Sweet Merlin…” I mumbled, pulling myself out of bed and pulling on a jumper, hobbling towards the doorway and down the musty halls of the Burrow. Up the stairs I went in search of Fred and George’s room, knowing full well that they’d probably be asleep.

Pushing open the door, I saw Fred sitting on his bed, George’s empty and unmade.

“Oh, hello.” He sat up straight. I rubbed my eyes.

“Where’s your brother?”

“Which one?” He asked gingerly and I sighed loudly, leaning on the doorframe. It was obvious that I still wasn’t very happy with the both of them, slightly peeved after the events that had unfolded during the day. “He’s talking to mum and dad in the kitchen.”

“Okay.” I mumbled. “I just came to let you know that we still have five owls in our cupboard at home. If we don’t want animal control hunting us down in the near future, we should probably look into that.” My brows rose as the realisation fell onto his face. “Night, Fred. Tell George I’ll see him in the morning.”

“Wait, Min.” His voice strained and I folded my arms. “I’m sorry about this evening. I wasn’t aiming to freak you out, I was just going back to get George. It wasn’t like I was trying to disobey him, or anything.” He leant back down on his headboard. “We’re a team. I can’t exactly abandon him at the peak of our career. In case you haven’t noticed, bad things tend to happen when we’re apart. We try not to stray far away from each other for long periods of time.”

“I’ve noticed.” I uncrossed my hands, placing them on my hips. “I’m not mad at you. I’m mad at the both of you.” I verified, a snort forcing itself from my throat. “I’m not exactly a damsel in distress. You needed support and I was there to give it. I’m sick of being carted away in situations where I can at least help.”

He pointed to George’s bed and I slunk in, taking up refuge on the mass of sheets George had probably been in ten minutes prior.

“I know that.” He argued. “But, you’re George’s girlfriend. He’s the one that wants to marry you. I’m not going to put you back in danger, against his will, just because you’ve miraculously proven yourself. No offense, Mignon, but I’m not the one to be mad at. I was listening to him.”

“But I’m my own person!” I snapped at him “George is not my sole carer, he is not my mother! You’re his twin brother, Fred, what happened if you got killed and it was my fault for not keeping you there?”

“Same goes for you.” He pointed at me with his long finger. “What if you died and it was my fault? He probably would never look at me again, let alone speak. His first and only girlfriend dead, and her blood on my hands… wow, such a good brother I am.”

My lip jutted out and I leant back, staring at him with my wide eyes.

“Really, Mignon, don’t get me wrong with this, you’re a great girl and all but when it comes to my brother he comes first. Over you, over me, over anyone. He is my other half, and seeing him upset is like getting an arm cut off, let alone seeing him distraught. You have to understand that I live for him and he lives for me.”

“What about me?” George drifted in before I could argue, making the colour drain out of my face. Watching him sit down on the bed beside me, I leant over to kiss his cheek before jumping up.

“Nothing.” I chirped, heading for the door. “Night boys, see you tomorrow.” Fred waved and George’s eyes evened, watching as I slipped into the hallway and into realisation.

There was no way it would ever be just George and I. The package deal that had been promised all those years ago would never run out of warranty. I loved Fred, sure, but the idea of never being truly alone with the man I was to marry was a little daunting. I padded down the stairs towards Ginny’s room, staring at the floorboards with a little disdain towards my situation.

I know I was being selfish. But how was I to know that those were the last few months I would ever be with Fred Weasley again?