Chéri || Fred Weasley

lxxvi

On May 1st, Lee had joined them all in Muriel's house just to spend the day with the three of his best friends. Throughout the whole day, Madeleine had the nonstop cold shiver running down her spine and she knew that something bad was definitely on its way. Lee and Fred had done a small segment of Potterwatch, along George in which they addressed the news that Harry, Ron and Hermione had broke into Gringotts and escaped on a dragon which truly was as comical as it sounded.

"They broke into bloody Gringotts!" Fred's laughter boomed after they were finished broadcasting.

"I tell them to stay safe, keep low and they immediately think "Hey, let's break into a Gringotts and escape on a bloody dragon," that surely is equal to keeping your head down," she chuckled and snuggled next to Fred who sat down next to her on the couch.

Ginny, Lee and George were playing exploding snap on the floor when Fred felt Maddie tense up next to him. "What's wrong love?" he whispered.

"The feeling is back," she said lowly.

"That's never good," he took her hands into his, feeling how her body temperature had dropped significantly.

"I know, that's why I'm worried," she took a deep breath and hid her face on the crook of his neck.

"Lightning has struck, I repeat! Lightning has struck!" a muffled voice said from the radio as Ginny took out of her pocket the fake galleon that was incredibly hot.
They all looked at each other and got to their feet as quickly as they could. Lightning had struck, and Harry was at Hogwarts, meaning that it was the time for the real fight they all had been waiting for,

"It's time," she whispered, holding his hand tightly in hers.

"The feeling is never wrong, isn't it?" Fred asked and she shook her head as they both mentally prepared to what would come next.

"Apparate straight into the Hog's Head, we'll get into Hogwarts from there," Ginny said and clung onto George's arm before vanishing into thin air.

"See you there love birds," Lee said and apparated as well.

"Hold on tight love," Fred grinned and Maddie took a hold of his arm as they apparated a second later into the dirty old pub they used to buy fire whiskey from while they were at school.

"Hey Abe," Fred shook the man's hand.

"The other three who came went already through the hole, hurry now you two," Aberforth grumbled.

"Thank you for doing this Mr Dumbledore," Maddie smiled and stepped inside the hole while still holding Fred's hand. The two of them climbed in silence, and soon after they met with Lee, George and Ginny halfway through. She was sure that her heart was beating so hard that it would come out of her ribcage but his warm familiar touch was enough to calm down her anxiety, at least a bit.

When the five of them finally reached the other end of the tunnel, they climbed out of the hole in the wall and were received with cheerful greetings. Maddie looked up and smiled at Harry but he could tell that his eyes were only settled in Ginny.

"Aberforth's getting a bit annoyed," Fred said and raised his free hand in answer to several cries of greeting. "He wants a kip, and his bar's turned into a railway station."

Right after Lee came in, followed Cho Chang, both Fred and Maddie noticing Harry freeze at the sight of her. They snickered, remembering the time when they saw Harry and Cho's terrible date on Valentine's Day two years back.

"Well, being here brings memories and those memories get me in the mood to smoke and this might as well be the last one I ever have," Maddie shrugged and took out a cigarette from the case inside her pocket.