Isn't He Lovely • A Fred Weasley Story

n e w b e g i n n i n g s

The following morning, I'm quickly woken up by someone patting both my cheeks and giggling.

"Hermione, please..." I start, but then open my eyes to see Ginny grinning down at me. "Hey!"

She laughs as I sit up quickly, embracing her. "Got back late last night, you two were already sawing logs."

I smile. "I missed you tons."

"Well, I'm here now, and it's time to get going!" She says, jumping up from my bed and heading towards my suitcase. She quickly unzips it and starts throwing bras, underwear, and random shirts at me. "Get up! Get up! Get up!"

I snort and fight the flying clothes coming at me as the bedroom door opens and Hermione pokes her head in. "Oh good, you're up Elle. Best if you start-"

"Yeah, yeah, I'm going," I yawn, pushing myself out of bed and walking over to my suitcase.

Hermione dips back out to the hallway and I hear her yelling at Ron on the next floor to get up. I laugh to myself at her sternness, knowing I'll have to fall back into that routine of her scolding Ron for another year.

Once I get up, everything starts to move quickly. I rapidly throw on a baggy sweater and pair of jeans while Ginny does the same around me, clothes flying everywhere and Ginny shoving her things into bags. Once I'm dressed, I lug my suitcase out of the room and bump into George.

"Whoah there, Eloise," he chuckles, looking down at my suitcase, "here, I can grab that for you, love."

I smile with appreciation. "Oh, thanks Georgie, you're a lifesaver."

He grins and bends down to grab the handle, picking it up much easier than I could. I watch as he carries it down and brush my hair out of my face, letting out a breath. I can hear the chaos happening around me; Harry yelling at Ron to hurry up in the bathroom, Hermione giving Ginny a verbal checklist of her things, Molly dishing out slices of toast for us to grab as we run around... it's strange to see everything so crazy this morning when we were so at peace last night. But, that's just how it goes every year that we leave. 

I peek into Ginny's bedroom and grab Lola in with her cage, looking one last time to see if I've forgotten anything, and head downstairs to greet Molly.

Fred is already sitting at the table, biting into an apple while leaning over a quidditch magazine. I place Lola's cage next to my bags and Molly smiles and hands me a slice of toast along with a couple pieces of bacon. I thank her while sitting down at the table across from Fred.

"Everything packed already, Frederick?" I ask, taking a bite of my bacon.

"Oh yeah," he mumbles, not taking his eyes off of the magazine. "I'm always the first one ready."

I nod and sip my orange juice, continuing to watch him as he flips through the pictures. The side of his head is resting in his hand as he turns the apple over and over in his palm, his hair somehow both neat and messy at the same time, a sort of bedhead type appearance. He looks effortlessly perfect, as always.

"Oh hey, I was thinking about you last night!" he says suddenly, lifting his gaze to meet mine.

I gulp and feel that stomach jolt again. "What... what for?"

He leans back in his chair, taking another bite out of his apple and tossing the magazine onto the table. "Well, you said you wanted to be a chaser. I bet if you asked Ginny, she could give you a few pointers before tryouts."

I release a breath before looking down at my toast again, nodding. "Definitely."

Once everyone is finally ready, we all gather by the front door with an abundance of suitcases. We're all chatting excitedly as Molly rushes around the house to check for any last belongings, finally coming to the front where we are and standing with her hands on her hips.