Left Behind 3: Curses

Fred and Felix

12 hours ago (8:00 Pm)

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Fred jumped out the window and landed like a cat.

That was fun, he thought to himself and smiled wiping his hands together to knock off the dirt.

 He ran out into the yard like it was no one's business and enjoyed a nice sprint to the tree line. His legs felt really good and at the same time they acted like he hadn't used them in weeks. The muscle burn was surprisingly pleasant. 

A pull of eyes at his back made him want to turn and look behind, yet he couldn't bring himself to look back and wave goodbye to Hermione. 

Leaving her here was hard enough without saying goodbye twice.

You're doing this for her, he reminded himself.

And for Malfoy, another part of his mind added.

Fred shook his head inwardly. Who would have imagined he would ever be trying to rescue Draco Malfoy?

No one.

Then again, no one would have bet on Draco turning into a decent human being.

The tree line swallowed him up and Fred began navigating the woods as quickly as he could without breaking an ankle.

The crunch of the underbrush felt deafeningly loud in his ears.

You're being about as quiet as an elephant on bubble wrap, Fred told himself, wishing that he had a wand to silence his movements at least a little.

A wand with the Malfoy wards would have meant sure capture.

Better to be a loud trudging 'muggle' accidentally wandering around, than a wizard on the prowl. Still, the sound of his own footsteps was giving him some serious anxiety which felt like it kept getting swept away by a gentle current each time it tried to surface.

Someone is going to see you and hear you and come kill you, the little voice inside his head said gruffly.

We'll be fine, he told it back.

It was just shortly after eight and the sun was setting painting the sky pretty shades of pink.

If I weren't running for my life I think I would enjoy watching that, mused Fred as he pushed through the trees. He wanted to at least get close to that cliff that Draco had mentioned before it went fully dark.

Malfoy said you would have about 24 hours with the Felix, best not use it on sleep, he told himself. He might have a cat nap sometime tomorrow. For now he knew he needed to keep moving. 

Friday was only four days away and he needed to make sure he got to his family and the order with enough time for them to plan out the rescue.

You have to keep going and make it out of here. For yourself, your family, and them...

Fred trudged on through the twilight and made it to the cliff almost an hour later just as the light vanished from the sky. 

His eyes adjusted slowly to the dark. 

Without warning Fred's foot slipped and he tripped over a rogue stone and fell backwards just in time to see the light from wands of Death eaters patrolling coming out towards the cliff where he had been standing before he started his free-fall.

Fred tumbled head over heels down the side of the cliff and landed with near silent thump on a decidedly thick and luscious patch of moss.

Blinking up at the stars, he lay, stunned and frozen. Looking up at the side of the cliff Fred calculated that he had just dropped a good forty feet and was still alive. He wiggled his fingers and toes...nothing worse for the fall.