Brontide

Soon enough, it was back to business as usual and I felt okay enough to start working down in the shop again. The shop was getting busier and busier as the new school year edged closer and the twins, Rae and I were working our arses off. We spent our nights staying up late, helping Fred and George test out some new products. We were sprouting horns, becoming covered in hissing boils and turning into capuchin monkeys, which were only a few of the things we partook in. It was actually quite fun, to be honest, and it took my mind off of the horrors I'd seen at the concert.

I'd watched as people crumpled in front of me, devoid of any life when they hadn't done anything wrong apart from being in the wrong place at the wrong time. I thought perhaps I could've done more to help. I could've fought harder, and I could've aimed straighter instead of panicking and making my wand hand quiver. Instead, life went on and I tried to move on too, telling myself I'd do better next time.

However, it seemed Fred and George didn't think there would be a next time for me and Rae. They'd stopped telling us when Order meetings would be, and when we found out anyway they tried their hardest to keep us at the flat. It'd become quite bothersome to say the least; as a member of the Order I didn't like feeling excluded, and I knew Rae didn't appreciate George trying to dissuade her from fighting in the war. They were just going to have to understand that we were in this – all of us were in this – until the end.

Mrs. Weasley and the crew all came to visit one particularly hot day near the end of August. They were all immensely impressed at the small empire the twins had created, as they were quickly becoming the wealthiest members of the family. One thing in particular that Ginny had said stuck out to me, making me laugh.

"We've been hearing explosions out of their room for ages, but we never thought they were actually making things," Ginny said wondrously, gazing around the shop, "we thought they just liked the noise."

"I think they do like the noise," I muttered to her, "we wake up to it every morning like clockwork."

After spending many days working endless hours, business began to die down once September rolled around. I had to admit, it was very strange not going to King's Cross Station to catch the scarlet steam engine that would take us to Hogwarts. I felt like I'd forgotten to do something very important, and I spent a few days after the First of September nursing an empty feeling in my stomach as well as a few hangovers. Rae was feeling it too, as she and I shared a few bottles of Firewhiskey consecutively after work. I eventually accepted the fact that I wasn't going back to Hogwarts, though it was hard because every time I thought I was over it something else would remind me, and there I was again, longing to be spending my time up in Gryffindor Tower or pondering life decisions next to the Black Lake. I didn't like change but I pushed through it, welcoming September and the gradual slowing down of business at the shop.

After Sirius Black's death back in June I'd taken to reading the obituaries in both muggle and wizarding newspapers, checking with a looming sense of dread to make sure no one I knew had died. Amelia Bones stood out to me, being the Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement at the Ministry. I remembered being at school with a Hufflepuff girl by the name of Susan Bones, wondering if the two of them were related.

Another one, Emmeline Vance, caught my attention. She'd been a member of the Order of the Phoenix in both wizarding wars and I'd met her once or twice during meetings. She was very kind and talented from what I'd heard, and I knew her death was meant to be a blow to the Order. I was most concerned with my parents, Devon and the people I'd become very close with. My flatmates and I agreed to never travel alone for the sake of safety, always at least partnering up before going anywhere outside the flat.

I'd gotten a number that I could reach Devon at from my parents, and one day in September Rae and I went through the wall of Diagon Alley to Charing Cross Road. There wasn't a phone at the flat so I'd gathered whatever muggle change I had and the two of us walked to the nearest pay phone, despite the fact that it was pouring rain.

I closed myself in the phone booth and put in a few coins, hesitantly starting to dial the number my mum had written down. I stuffed my hands in my coat pockets, leaning the phone against my shoulder and listening to the rain that beat down on the phone booth. Rae had closed up her umbrella and joined me inside, the two of us waiting as the phone rang and rang. The phone rang for so long I thought he was never going to pick up, and I almost put the phone back on the hook when I heard his voice cracking through the receiver.

"Hello? Who is this?" He sounded older from the last time we'd talked, as he was twenty-one at the time. I held the phone to my ear, glancing over at Rae who was looking back at me encouragingly. I cleared my throat.

"Devon, hi, it – it's Cassie," I stuttered, feeling a bit nervous. I couldn't really say that Devon and I had been on bad terms but our relationship could've definitely been better.

There was a silence that lasted for about a whole minute and I had to put another coin in the machine. "Cass? Wow, it's been awhile." He sounded surprised. "H-How are you?"

"I've been alright," I said lightly, smiling a little. "I don't have a phone so I'm standing in a phone booth with Rae right now. I dunno if you can tell but it's pouring outside."

"Hi, Devon!" Rae called into the phone.

"Hey!" he chuckled. He sounded happier than I'd heard in a long time. "You two are still running around causing havoc, then? How about the trouble twins?"

I grinned. "I'm sharing a flat with the lot of them, in fact. It's been interesting, to say the least. How about you? What's all this about you living in America now?"

He cleared his throat. "Well, I wanted to get out of the country so me and a few of my mates saved up and decided to take a trip to America. We've gone all over the country, and I've got a bunch of pictures to show you and Mum and Dad when I see you all next. Are, um...are they still in hiding?" His voice had gone from cheerful to something a bit more serious.

I nodded but realized he couldn't see it, saying, "Yeah, they're still in hiding. It's probably for the best...things have been getting worse over here by the day, you know. I wanted them to leave the country too, but they refused to leave me here alone."

He didn't say anything for about a minute. "Right, so it's probably best I stay right where I am, then?"

"Yeah," I said quietly, putting another coin in the machine, "I think that's the best thing you could do right now. But as soon as this is all over, we can be a family again," I said hopefully.

We made small talk for a little while longer, telling each other the going-ons of our lives. Devon had been seeing a girl for the past year and they'd recently moved in together, sharing a small place in New York. We wished each other happy belated birthdays, talked about our jobs and our friends. It was really nice talking to him again, but I'd begun to run out of coins.

"Listen, Cass," he said seriously, "if you see Mum and Dad, tell them I miss them and give Mum a hug from me. I know she could use it."

"Okay," I smiled, "it's been really nice hearing from you, Devon."

"You too, sis, and hopefully I'll see you all soon. Goodbye Rae!" he called from the other end of the phone.

"Bye, dweeb!" she called back with a grin.

"Take care, be safe," I said with a laugh.

"You too – oh! One more thing before I go, I need you to promise me something," he instructed.

"I'm listening."

"It's very important," he said seriously.

"What is it?" I asked impatiently.

"I need you to promise me...that you won't marry either of the Weasley twins before I get back to Britain. I don't wanna miss that wedding." I could hear a grin in his voice.

I felt my eyes go wide and Rae erupted into a fit of laughter from beside me. I sputtered out words. "Wha – what are you – Devon!" I yelled, glaring at the phone when I realized he'd hung up. I hung it back on the hook and squeezed past Rae to open the phone booth door, pulling my hood over my head and ignoring my best friend as she cackled from behind me.

***

Tonks came to visit the store one evening mid-September. At the news of Emmeline Vance's death, she seemed to be acting similarly to how she's reacted to Sirius' death. Her hair was rather mousy and her skin appeared almost sallow, tinged nearly paper white. I could only assume the two of them had been friends as well as members of the Order, but on top of that, I knew something else had been eating at her. No matter how many times I told her not to worry about what'd happened to me, she refused to drop it.

"For Merlin's sake, Tonks, it happened over a month ago." I was ringing up customers, talking to her while she leaned against the till. "Please stop worrying about it, Rae and I ended up okay."

"I can't just stop worrying about it," she sighed with frustration, "I could've gotten both of you killed, and I should've just apparated us out of there the moment they barged through that door. I shouldn't have even brought you in the first place."

I glanced at her from the corner of my eye, inwardly sighing. I turned back to the two teenagers in front of me and mentally counted how much they owed.

"That'll be eleven galleons, four sickles, and two knuts," I counted off on my fingers, bagging up their merchandise, taking their money and sending them on their way. There were only a few more customers left wandering around the store, as it was nearing closing time.

We continued our conversation. "I know I'm an Auror and part of the Order and everything, and I need to come to terms with the fact that some of the people I work with won't...survive." Tonks' voice was hushed, her face white at the thought of losing anyone else. "But I don't like thinking about these things, especially if I could've prevented it."

"But you did prevent it," I insisted, "You got Rae and me out of there, we'd done the best we could to try and get a hold of the situation without getting ourselves killed. I just don't want you beating yourself up over this anymore; what's done is done."

"What's done?" Fred had wandered over to the counter, leaning on the other side of it.

Tonks and I exchanged wary glances. I didn't want to start an argument between Fred and Tonks over my safety so I swiftly changed subjects. "I was just giving Tonks my condolences about Emmeline Vance. They were friends, after all."

Fred turned to Tonks, shaking his head sadly. "I heard about that, right awful, wasn't it? I'm really sorry that happened," he said sincerely.

Tonks' face was now grave and instantly I felt bad for making her think about losing her friend again. "Thank you," she said quietly. She excused herself from the conversation to look around the store a bit longer, leaving soon after.

I stood behind the counter awkwardly. Fred hadn't said anything else but he was still there, making large, brightly colored bubbles stream from his wand.

"Can I help you?" I asked uncertainly. He looked up from his wand as though just realizing I was there. He'd been thinking about something. "Fred, what's been going on with you?"

He drummed his fingers on the counter, looking to a spot on the wall behind me and not quite looking me in the eye. "Why do you wanna know so badly?" he asked defensively.

I furrowed my brows at him, my lips slightly pursed. "Oh, I dunno, maybe because I care about your wellbeing? Did you ever consider that?"

He stood up straight, a blazing look in his eyes that I wasn't sure I'd ever seen before. His hair, having grown in a bit over the past few months, hung in his face unkempt. I hadn't really gotten a good look at him in awhile and was surprised to find slight bags under his eyes, as though he'd had a hard time sleeping recently.

"I'm –" His words seemed stuck in his throat, and I looked at him expectantly with an eyebrow raised. "I think I've had some sort of epiphany," he finally said slowly.

He had been acting strange for about a month at that point. As my best friend, he was bound to be overprotective and worried about my safety, but it'd come to an entirely different level. "Oh really? And what sparked this sudden epiphany?" I asked, a note of sarcasm in my voice to hide the nervousness I felt in the pit of my stomach.

However, Fred wasn't joking around. In fact, he looked completely and utterly serious, and that scared me a little. "I think it all started about a month ago –" I felt my heart rate speed up slightly, "– when you came back from that show all bloodied up and I –" He visibly gulped, pinching the bridge of his nose. I felt my heart pounding in my ribcage, looking around the store frantically.

I wanted to look at anyone, anything, as long as it wasn't Fred Weasley. Serious conversations with him made me feel uncomfortable and caused my palms to get all sweaty. I saw Rae organizing stacks of Skiving Snackboxes and I really wished I could be in her place at that moment. "Cassie," he continued, his eyes fixated on the counter, "I was never so scared in my entire life."

I couldn't form words; they seemed to be stuck in a bundle at the back of my throat. He sensed that I wasn't going to say anything so he pressed on. "I know we don't normally talk about serious things, but you're right. I haven't been myself, and I feel it's only right to tell you why. You see, that night I realized something. I think it might've been dormant for the past eight years, or maybe it just suddenly formed, I dunno. But whatever the case, I need to tell you that I –"

Fred had stopped mid-sentence, seeming to rethink his decision to share whatever it was with me. I'd been hanging onto every word, my heartbeat becoming almost thunderous and my lip trembling. I was waiting for him to continue. "– Never mind, no, I can't do it," he said quietly, rubbing his face in his hands.

I stood completely frozen, right where I was. "What do you mean?" I inquired, "Can't do what?"

Fred shook his head and turned around, white-faced, striding across the floorboards and walking to the front door. I gripped the edge of the counter.

"What are you talking about? Fred?" I called after him. The front door opened with a tinkling of the bell. "Fred Weasley, come back here!" I yelled after him, stomping my foot on the floor when the door swung closed behind him.

Everyone left in the store had turned to see what all of the ruckus was about, and I felt my face turning red. "Carry on, nothing to see here."

Rae and George had come over at this point, both of them looking very confused.

"What the bloody hell was all that about?" George asked, "Where's Fred gone to?"

I retold the story of what'd just happened, and by the time I was done Rae and George wore matching expressions of shock and a little bit of excitement.

"I dunno where he went off to," I sighed, my eyes fixated on the door. "Seriously, could one of you kindly explain to me what the fuck all of that was?"

The two of them exchanged quick glances. "I'm gonna go find Fred. It's getting late and I don't trust Diagon Alley at night," George said quickly, walking away and leaving through the front door.

I then looked to Rae for help, who seemed a little nervous. "Well?" I asked impatiently.

"I need to keep restocking," she said hurriedly, running past the till and going into the storeroom.

"Damn, you guys!" I groaned, throwing up my hands.

I spent the next hour ringing up customers and locking up the door once it was seven o'clock, sending the broom and mop to start the cleaning. Rae and I restocked the shop with everything it needed, Rae acting completely normal the whole time. Once the store looked to be in order we shut off the lights, locked up the till and made our way up the spiraling staircase to the flat.

I hadn't seen Fred and George come back from wherever they'd gone off to, however when we opened the flat door they were both in the kitchen, a large cauldron on the kitchen table between them with something stewing in it. They'd apparated back to the flat. We pulled our work robes over our heads and left them on one of the sofas, Rae following me into the kitchen. Whatever conversation Fred and George had been having was abruptly stopped at my presence, the two of them staring at us when we entered the room. I had my arms folded over my chest.

"Hello," Fred said, a small smirk appearing on his face. I, however, was not smirking. I was glaring.

"You," I said quietly, striding over to him and poking him in the chest with my pointer finger, "you are going to tell me exactly what the fuck that was about."

"Just forget about it," he said with a wave of his hand. My glare intensified.

"You can't expect me to just forget about it!" I yelled. He backed up a little, but I advanced on him again. I noticed Rae and George slip out of the room. "You're going to tell me right. Fucking. Now."

He was backed up into the table, his eyes suddenly going to the cauldron beside him. It was billowing dark grey smoke and it smelled of something rotten.

"It's not important," he said dismissively, turning around and stirring the potion within the cauldron hurriedly. My mouth set in a thin line and my foot tapped impatiently against the floorboards.

"I need to know," I insisted.

He looked at me from over his shoulder. "Why do you need to know?" he asked with a hint of a smile.

My cheeks burned a little but I pretended they didn't. "If it's important to you than it's important to me," I said pointedly, not backing down.

He went back to stirring the cauldron. "There's nothing to say."

I glared at him again, my hands clenched into fists at my sides. "You know, for a best friend you can be a real arse sometimes, Fred Weasley."

"Oh yeah? Well, you aren't always the biggest ray of sunshine either, Cassiopeia Bains," he shot back. My jaw clenched shut at the use of my full name. He knew I hated that.

"You're such a git!" I spat.

He turned around, frowning. "Bint."

"Tosser."

"Trollop."

"Pumpkin head."

"Numpty."

I let out a growl of frustration. We weren't getting anywhere. "Fuck you," I said firmly, meeting his eyes with my full-fledged anger.

"I don't know what to tell you!" he said in exasperation.

"I just want the truth! That's it, that's all I want. Just tell me the truth about what's been going on with you and I'll go on my merry little way." We were less than a foot away from each other now, staring at one another intensely. I vaguely wondered how amused Rae and George must've felt hearing all of this.

He seemed to be thinking about something very hard; his jaw was set and his eyes held a fire that matched mine. Finally, after what felt like a century, he spoke quietly but clearly. "Do you really want me to tell you?"

"Yes!" I said in exasperation. "Finally, we're getting somewhere! You can't just build up to something and then leave someone hanging like that, it's really unbecoming –"

And then, in one completely fleeting moment, Fred had closed the gap between us and took my face in his hands, silencing my rant. Our faces were a mere inch away from each other and I felt my entire body go rigid. I thought perhaps my heart had stopped working completely. I had never been that close to Fred before, nor had I ever noticed how clear his brown eyes were. I looked at all the tiny freckles scattered across his face. My breath had hitched in my throat and I wasn't sure what to do.

"What are you doing?" I finally managed to say, able to meet his eyes properly. In comparison to how I must've looked, he seemed so cool, so confident that my brain seemed to function even less.

"I must be insane," he half-laughed, his face breaking out in a grin.

"You are insane," I said quietly, "but it doesn't explain why you're mere inches away from my face."

He raised an eyebrow. "Do you mind?"

I thought my nerves were going to explode. "There's worse places I could be right now," I mumbled.

Fred looked amused. "Oh?" He moved in a little closer; his lips were now centimeters away from mine. "How about here?"

I felt seconds away from passing out. Why wasn't I pushing him away? My brain, my stupid, stupid brain had shut down. I'd let him get so close that we were centimeters away from stepping over the boundaries our friendship had created.

"I – I don't – I –" I stuttered dumbly, and I knew I would kick myself later for this, but I was a puddle in his hands. I felt his thumb trace along my jaw, tingles running down my spine.

Before I knew what was happening, a loud ringing BOOM met my ears, the whole room shaking with the force of it.

I yelped in surprise and Fred and I jumped away from each other as though we'd been electrocuted. Turning to the source of the noise, we coughed as the thick grey smoke from the cauldron filled our lungs. Whatever had been inside ended up on the ceiling, dripping down in thick, gooey droplets. I opened the kitchen window and took out my wand just as George and Rae came running in.

"What happened now?" Rae asked tiredly, as explosions were a common occurrence.

I used my wand to clean up the mess on the ceiling as best as I could, trying to act as though Fred and I hadn't completely forgotten about whatever he and George had been making.

"I dunno, he must've been stirring it the wrong way," I commented offhandedly with a cough. The smoke was beginning to clear up, but the ceiling was now stained a dark blue color.

"It's alright, we'll look like abstract artists," Fred said cheekily, looking up at the ceiling. George agreed with him.

"Very nice," he nodded, "but the argument you two were having was much better, in my opinion. Anyway, what's for dinner?" He rubbed his stomach. "I'm starved."