Semper - Fred Weasley

Chapter XIV

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When we stepped out the fireplace at Sirius‘, he and Remus had already made tea for all of us. Sirius stormed straight to Harry, dragged him into the kitchen and forced him to sit down.

Remus engulfed me in a fatherly hug, the smell of chocolate always present on him.
„Harry, can you tell us exactly what you saw?“ Sirius asked his godson.

Harry retold the dream again. What worried me the most was the fact that Harry saw himself as the snake, as the one who attacked Arthur, and it seemed as if the two eldest men were worried about that too.

The Weasley siblings, as expected, were all upset. Ginny, sitting between her identical brothers, with her head on George’s shoulder and holding Fred’s hand.
Ron sat across from them, his head buried in his hands.
I sat on Fred’s other side. And I could feel his tension, his right leg bobbing up and down nervously, his jaw clenched and playing with the ring on his right index finger.

I put my hand on his leg and looked up at him, he returned my gaze and I smiled at him. I knew there wasn’t much I could do for him at that moment, but I wanted to show him that I was there for him.

„I’m not going to sit here and wait, Sirius, you have to take us to St Mungo’s,“ Fred said.

„That doesn’t work. You can’t show up there before your mother is informed.“, Sirius, who now had an arm around Harry, replied.

„I don’t care, our father might die!“, George now spoke.

„Your father knew what he was getting into, and he won’t thank you for messing things up for the Order!“ said Sirius angrily.
„This is how it is – this is why you’re not in the Order – you don’t understand – there are things worth dying for!“, Sirius snapped at them.

„Easy for you to say, you sit safely here in your house while others risk their lives.“ Fred leaned forward on the table.

„Freddie ..“ I tried to get his attention, but he pulled his hand out of mine.

„That’s enough!“ Sirius stood up abruptly and slammed his hand on the table, which made Ginny cry even louder.

Just as Fred was about to get up, Remus intervened.

„We’re all calming down now,“ he said calmly and put a hand on Sirius‘ shoulder, the latter responded immediately by placing his own hand on Remus‘.

„Fred, George, I know this is hard for you, but please be sensible. If you show up there, there will be no explanation of how you know about the attack. We’ll have to wait for Molly to answer. And I’m sure , then you can visit your father immediately.“, he continued.

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We were all barely asleep when Mrs. Weasley’s patronus reached us. The Weasley siblings were now at St Mungo’s, visiting their father.

I was sitting in my room when there was a knock on the door and Remus entered.

„McGonagall left a letter for you, it arrived at Hogwarts.“ He sat down next to me. I looked skeptically at the envelope my godfather was holding in his hand.

The only mail I got was from Remus and Sirius, and since they were in the same house as me, that was out of the question.
I frowned at my name on the envelope, in an unfamiliar handwriting.

„Do you have any idea who this is from?“, I asked Remus, who was also looking at the writing.

„I have a guess to be honest, but it would be too dangerous for him to contact you.“, Remus replied and I knew immediately who he was talking about. The excitement rose at the thought of getting a letter from my father. I removed the seal and tore open the envelope.

Penelope,                                                                there is only one woman for him.                        I’m watching you. With one snap of my finger, your whole world will crumble down

My hands trembled as I read the lines. No name, not signed.

Was that a threat? But who should threaten me and for whom is there only one woman?

Remus took the letter from me and read it again.

„I have no idea,“ he muttered.

A knock on the door frame made us look up, Sirius was standing in the door.

„The others are … - what happened?“, he asked, looking from me to Remus, both of us with the same worried look on our faces.

Remus wordlessly handed the letter to his partner, who took it with furrowed eyebrows. Sirius‘ expression matched ours as he read it.

„This is a sick joke, right? Who would wrote something like this ?“, he asked, handing the letter back to Remus.

I shrugged my shoulders.

„Is there anyone who is jealous of you and Fred?“, Remus asked.

„What? No, why should someone be jealous? There is no reason, Fred and I are friends.“, I looked at the two of them.

The two men exchanged a look.

„Yeah, sure.“ Sirius rolled his eyes and Remus slapped his arm lightly.

„Not the time, Padfoot. Penny, seriously, could it be someone from school?“ Remus asked, still looking worried. I thought about it for a moment, but I had no idea. I just couldn’t imagine who would write me such a letter, so I shook my head.

„Maybe it’s just a stupid prank.“ I shrugged my shoulders and tried to shake off my tension.

„Let’s hope so, at least for now. But stay vigilant and come to us or Professor McGonagall right away if that happens again.“ Remus squeezed my hand and smiled at me before standing up.

„Then let’s go downstairs, the others are definitely hungry.“ Sirius also got up and followed his boyfriend out of the room. I sat there a moment and stared at the letter.

Could someone really be jealous? I sighed and hid the letter under my pillow and went down to the others.

-----
Arthur was fine, given the circumstances. But he had to stay a few more days so that the wounds could heal completely.

I sat on my bed with the letter in my hands. I read it over and over again. Was it just a joke or did I have to worry? But who should be joking about something like that? I have no enemies. Or could someone be jealous of me and Fred after all?

A loud pop startled me and I grabbed my wand.

When I turned around, Fred held his hands up.

„Whoa, take it easy, it’s just me,“ he said.

I lowered my wand and made room for Fred on the bed. Before I could hide the letter under my pillow again, he saw it.

„What do you have there?“, He wanted to reach for the letter, but I held it behind my back.

„Penny, what are you hiding there?“, he asked again.

„Nothing.“ But he wasn’t satisfied with that. Fred reached around me and grabbed the letter. I wanted to take the letter away from him but he held me back with one arm. His eyes widened and he looked at me in shock.

„Who is this from?“

„I have no idea. Maybe just a prank.“, I tore the letter from his hand and put it in the drawer. Fred raised an eyebrow.

„This is a bad joke. Let a prankster tell you that.“

And suddenly I had a guess.

„What about Angelina?“ I asked.

„What?“, he looked at me and laughed.
"That’s ridiculous. Why should she do that?“

I folded my arms across my chest.

„You tell me.“

„Come on, don’t be silly, she has no reason.“ It hit me like a slap that Fred reacted like that.

„No? Aren’t I the reason you told her you couldn’t be together?“ I asked provocatively.

„But she wouldn’t write something like that.“, he insisted on his opinion.

„And you can be sure of that?“ I huffed angrily.

„Yes! She’s not a bad person and wouldn’t harm you.“, he narrowed his eyes.

„But it could have been her anyway, even if she wasn’t serious!“ I practically yelled at him, and if it weren’t for the permanent silence charm that was on my room, the rest of the house would have heard us too.

„If that’s what you think“ he rolled his eyes and that was it for me. I got up, went to the door and opened it.

„Leave!“ I looked at him.

„What? No!“, he got up.

„Yes! This is my room and I’m telling you to leave!“, I was so angry that I didn’t care who heard us.

Fred slowly came up to me, he hovered above me and looked down. We both stared at each other. His hand found the doorknob and he slowly closed the door.

“What are you doing?” I asked through gritted teeth. He took a step closer and I took one back. My back touched the door.

I looked up at him, our eyes met and I swore I saw a twinkle in them. I didn’t even notice that the hand he used to close the door was now holding my wrist.

„Leave now!“ I said again. My heart was pounding in my chest.

„No.“, he replied in a low voice.

I kept eye contact, the tension now clearly palpable. I saw his honey colored eyes let go of mine and fall to my lips.
Fred swallowed and I saw his Adam’s apple move up and down. Involuntarily, I bit my lower lip.

And that was it for Fred.
He intertwined our fingers, lifted my hand above my head and pressed himself against my body, then his lips found mine.
I was startled.

But then I returned the kiss, our lips molded together perfectly , they hugged each other like Yin and Yang.
Fireworks exploded inside my body. That was a lot more than our first kiss. The atmosphere around us changed.
There was a crackle in the air and the room heated up with every touch of our lips.

Fred’s tongue ran over my lower lip and I opened my mouth to let him in. The caterpillars in my stomach turned into beautiful butterflies.
The familiar smell of gunpowder surrounded and enveloped me. Fred let go of my wrist and slowly stroked down my arm until his hand reached my face.

He took his other hand and held my face between both his hands. My own went up his back and slightly tugged on his hair. That was it. It felt like home. He was all I needed. And I’d never let go of him.

Our tongues danced together as if they had never done anything else. I pulled a little harder on his hair and he moaned softly.
The sound traveled through my whole body and fed the butterflies. The sense of time was completely gone. Fred pulled away and looked at me. His eyes full of affection and a huge smile on his freckled face.

„No matter who it was, I’ll take care of you,“ he said quietly.