Into Forever

“So what are we calling this radio show?” Lee asked us the first week of October. He’d disappeared a few days after he agreed to help us, and he’d shown up last night announcing the radio station was good to go.

I was draped on the couch, one hand on my belly, the other holding up the current book I was reading. Lee and Fred were sitting at the table, old copies of The Daily Prophet scattered around them. George was still asleep; I could hear him snoring even with his door shut and a pillow over his face.

“I have no idea,” Fred sighed, rubbing his eyes. He and Lee had stayed up the entire night planning the first radio show. “I came up with the original idea, so someone else gets to think of a name.”

“How about Truth Talk?” I suggested, glancing up from my book. Lee and Fred were both staring at me like I’d suggested we become Death Eaters.

“It was just a suggestion, yeesh,” I muttered, turning back to my book.

“Well, it was a bad one,” Fred replied, giving me a sour look.

“I’m pregnant, it’s my job to have the mood swings,” I pointed out, frowning at him.

“And you’re doing a fine job, trust me.”

“Anyways,” Lee interrupted, cutting off my rather nasty reply. “Kelsey’s on the right path. We need a good name that really stands out, you know? One that totally pisses off You-Know-Who and his groupies.”

“How about “Moldy Voldy?” I suggested again, setting the book down to get up and grab a snack.

“Stop trying,” Fred sighed, running a hand through his hair.

“Okay, someone’s ready for his nappy time,” I said, giving Fred a stern flick upside the head. He irritably batted me away as he let out a yawn. As I went to walk around the table and open the fridge, my stomach accidentally bumped into Lee’s chair, and I took a startled step back.

“Oh, sorry Lee,” I chuckled, rubbing my belly. “Still getting used to the larger version of myself.”

Lee laughed too as he scooted in a bit.

“How far along are you?”

“If you could just scoot in a bit more, I can reach the fridge,” I told him. This time Fred laughed too.

“No, Kelso, he meant how far along is your pregnancy, not your food raid.”

“Oh, right,” I giggled, giving Lee a sheepish smile. “Twenty weeks.”

My stomach was actually more pregnant looking now. It had a cute rounded shape that stuck out farther than I was used too. Lee’s chair wasn’t the first thing I bumped into, or knocked over, or rolled over on…

Lee yawned as he scooted in his chair, saying,

“How about we think of some inventive names later? I’m pretty bushed, mate.”

“Agreed. I think the bed missed me last night,” Fred mumbled, getting wearily to his feet.

“That made one of us,” I said dryly, shooting Fred a meaningful look.

“I’ll sort you out later,” he half-threatened, blinking drowsily as he stumbled to our room. Lee shuffled over to the couch and grabbed the pillow and blanket I’d lent him last night. We only had two rooms, and though George had offered to let Lee share his room, Lee had politely turned him down. I’m still not sure how Angie had managed to put up with his vicious snoring all those years.

As I opened the fridge, I let out a sigh. I’d forgotten about the shopping list I’d made yesterday. There wasn’t even enough stuff to make a respectable sandwich. Shutting the fridge, I made my way to the bedroom and said,

“I’m running to the store, do you need anything?” But Fred was out cold. So, shutting the door softly, I scribbled a note to the guys and then slipped my shoes on, pulling my hoodie on as I shut the door. George would be up soon to open the joke shop, so he could handle things until I got back.

It was actually pretty chilly outside, colder than I had been expecting. Walking to the store would take longer, but I was too nervous to try and apparate while I was five months pregnant.

Most of the people were either inside from the cold, or had stopped walking the streets of diagon alley several weeks ago, ever since Voldemort’s army had begun to gain strength. Half an hour later, I came to the only small convenience store in the entire alley. There was one shopkeeper at the counter; he looked up at me, examining my face as I stepped through the door. When he saw my face, he let out a relieved sigh and gave me a weak smile.

He was a younger man, maybe in his late twenties, with dark brown curly hair and dark brown eyes. He’d told me a while ago that his name was Raja. He was a nice man, and had helped me several times when I needed assistance carrying things home. He gave me a nod as I grabbed a cart and began to make my way down the aisles, grabbing things off my list.

Once I’d grabbed everything, I pushed the cart up to the counter, and Raja struck up casual conversation as he rang up my items.

“Are you planning on doing anything this weekend?” I asked him, flipping through the magazine as I listened to the methodic beeps. Suddenly, the beeps came to a stop, and I glanced up at Raja to see why.

He was frowning down at me, his expression a mixture of suspicion and fear.

“Why do you ask?”

“I was just making conversation,” I told him bewildered at his sudden mood change.

Raja slowly sat the can of soup down on the register as he stared at me.

“Are you spying on me?”

“What? No, don’t be crazy Raja!” I exclaimed, blinking in shock. “Why would I spy on you?”

“Think I haven’t been reading the Prophet?” he demanded, reaching under the counter and grabbing a copy of today’s paper. “Think I don’t know You-Know-Who has been recruiting spies everywhere?!”

“Raja, calm down,” I said softly, beginning to grow alarmed at Raja’s paranoia. “I’m not here to spy on you. I just need food.”

Raja just shook his head, knocking the can of soup to the ground as he turned to point out the window.

“They come by, every day. Men in black cloaks, their wands drawn, trying to take me. I won’t let them. I won’t let them take me!”

“Please, Raja, it’s okay, I’m not a spy,” I urged, kneeling down to grab the can of soup. As I stood back up and reached to set the soup down, Raja snapped his hand out and grabbed a hold of my wrist, pulling me roughly towards the counter.

“Let go!” I gasped, trying to jerk back. He tightened his grip as he flipped my arm up and shoved the sleeve of my hoodie back. He was met with the sight of my blank arm. I knew exactly what he was looking for. I met Raja’s wild, glinting eyes calmly and said,

“I’m not one of them Raja. I’m your friend.”

But the wild gleam in his eyes never faltered. With a shake of his head, he tossed my arm back and began to back up.

“Don’t come back here, Ms. Werner. You aren’t welcome anymore.” I watched sadly as Raja backed up through the swinging door; he never came back out. With a heavy heart, I gathered up my food, left more than enough money on the counter, and headed back out into the cold.

“Well, we’ve got to find a new place to get groceries,” I sighed, struggling in through the door and dropping the bags. George was the only one who heard me, since both Lee and Fred were still asleep.

“Why?” he asked, hurrying forward to grab the groceries for me. Wriggling out of my hoodie and kicking off my shoes, I said,

“Raja, the guy at the convenience store, he’s lost his mind. He was convinced I was a Death Eater. The Daily Prophet has managed to warp his thoughts.”

“He didn’t hurt you, did he?” George asked, looking me up and down. I shook my head.

“No, it’s just… I dunno, it’s a little scary, seeing how crazed people are becoming.”

“I know. But I think that’s what Fred’s plan is all about, George mused, restocking the fridge as I sat things in the pantry. “We’re trying to restore the sanity of those that Voldemort has gotten his hold on.”

“Good point,” I agreed, stepping back and sighing. George gave me a sympathetic look as he turned and headed down to open the shop.

When Lee and Fred awoke several hours later, I was in the process of making lunch. A pair of warm arms wrapped themselves around me, and soft lips pressed themselves against my neck. Giving an overly sweet giggle, I snuggled into the hold and whispered,

“Careful, Lee, Fred could wake up any minute and catch us!”

Immediately, Fred’s hands withdrew from me, and I turned to smirk at him. The wild look in his eyes settled as he saw my face, and he narrowed his eyes into a glare.

“That’s not funny.”

“Serves you right for being a prick,” I told him, turning back to the grilled cheese sandwiches. Fred sighed and returned to hugging me as he said,

“Sorry babe. I was tired.”

“Oh I suppose I still love you,” I teased, turning a bit to give Fred a kiss.

“I prefer my grilled cheese without a side of mushy romance,” Lee teased, plopping down at the table. “Gotten any ideas for a name yet, Fred?”

“Well, not for the actual show, but I’ve been thinking we should come up with code names to use on the show,” Fred said, plopping down beside Lee. “We don’t want to use our real names, right?”

“Good idea. Okay, so any ideas for code names?”

“Well, okay, no. But at least I thought of something.”

Rolling my eyes at the boys, I flipped the sandwiches onto plates and began to pass them out.

“They should all start with the same letter,” Lee decided, munching thoughtfully.

“Might as well,” I said with a shrug. “That’d be kind of cool.”

“Okay, what letter?”

“We’ve at least narrowed it down to twenty six choices,” I joked, and Fred gave me a sour look.

“Your sense of humor, or lack thereof, frightens me.”

“Oh what ever,” I mumbled, as Lee said,

“Let’s write all the letters on scraps of paper, then pick one out of a bowl or something.”

“Sounds good to me,” I said with a shrug, getting up to get some parchment and a working quill. Returning to the table, I tore up the parchment and quickly wrote out all the letters, then dumped them into Lee’s hat and shook it up.

“Okay, rock paper scissors to see who gets to draw the letter,” I announced to Fred and Lee. They both turned to one another, and began to play.

Half an hour later, we still didn’t have a winner. As Lee and Fred did it one more time, and both presented scissors, I threw my hands up in the air and exclaimed,

“Okay, that’s it, I’m drawing it!”

Before either of them could object, I plunged my hand into the hat and pulled a slip of paper out.

R

“Well that was anti-climactic,” Fred muttered, staring down at the paper on the table.

“Anyways, let’s come up with some good names,” Lee said, rubbing his hands together. “I want to be River.”

“Why River?” I asked him, frowning.

“Why not?” Lee shot back, giving me a wicked smile. I just laughed, grabbed another piece of parchment to scribble the names on, and said,

“Okay, River it is. What about me?”

Fred reached over, patted my stomach, and said,

“I dub thee ‘Roundie’!” I narrowed my eyes at Fred as Lee burst out laughing and said,

“That’s perfect!”

“I was really hoping we’d get the letter ‘P’ so I could call you Preggers,” Fred laughed, grinning at me.

“If I’m Roundie, then Fred has to be Rodent!” I exclaimed.

“No way! I wanna be Rapier!”

“You want to rape her?” Lee asked, staring at Fred. “The job’s already done, mate.”

I threw my fork at Lee.

“Not rape her, Rapier, like the sword!”

“That’s not much better,” I sniggered, exchanging a humored glance with Lee. “Why do you want to be a sword?”

“Why does Lee get to be River if I can’t be Rapier?” Fred pouted; I rolled my eyes and wrote his name down.

“Okay, okay, Fred is rape-her.”

“Rapier!”

“That’s what I said,” I snickered. Fred glowered at me.

“What’s George’s code name?”

“He gets to be Rodent,” Fred decided, standing up and taking our empty plates. “Since he’s not here we get to chose for him.”

“Okay, so we’re all River, Roundie, Rapier, and Rodent. You know, that does sound cool, having all our names start with the same letters!”

“Great, we’ve got code names, now we just need the station name. Any ideas?” Fred asked, coming up behind me and leaning down to rest his chin on my shoulder.

“Well, kind of,” I said, chewing on my lip as I thought. Before Fred could intercept me from suggesting another lame name, I said,

“It should have something to do with Harry.”

Lee and Fred were both silent; Fred began to nod in agreement on my shoulder.

“You said we should come up with a name that would really bother Voldy, so what better than Harry?”

“I’ve got it,” I said excitedly, leaning forward and grinning at Lee. “Let’s call it PotterWatch.”