Safe With Me ~ Fred Weasley

Birthday Gifts

Everyone in the school knew the twins birthday was coming up, partially due to their constant reminders and non-stop planning for their party which they were throwing themselves. It was on April Fools Day, which seemed like a joke God had insisted on himself to send the twins to Mrs. Weasley on the day of pranks.

Every time I left home in September I always dug all of my cash out of the floorboard beneath my bed and stuck it in a ripped seam at the bottom of my trunk where it usually stayed untouched the entire school year. I had been saving for my own place for what felt like my entire life, and last summer my cash had more than doubled.

It must have been a few days before Tommy, but I didn't notice until weeks after. I had no idea he knew where I kept my cash, or if maybe he just got lucky somehow in finding it, but when I went to pack my things to head back to school this year, I found the small hiding space crammed to the top with cash. Not just tens and fives like my stash always consisted of, but fifties and a few hundreds and piles of galleons lining the bottom.

I didn't cry, somehow. I sat there with the floorboard off next to me staring at the pile for what must have been hours until I heard my father call me for dinner. I couldn't believe that he had that much saved, or that he had put it away for me. And as much as I appreciated it, it hurt even more thinking of how pre-meditated his death had been. How much he had planned out, but that I hadn't gotten a goodbye or a chance to change his mind.

I hadn't touched the main stack of cash for the entire school year except to add to it the past few weeks. I had been writing some papers for some of our housemates, some homework here and there in exchange for wizarding money which I was always short on. Exchanging the muggle money was such a chore, although one I knew I would eventually have to do, especially now that I was planning to stay in this world for good.

Today was the last Hogsmeade trip before the twins birthday, which meant I was up extra early and dragging Bri out of her bed since she had been the only one kind enough to say yes when I asked my friends last night. I bundled in my thickest sweatshirt and a scarf, throwing my hair into an easy bun and was already pulling my coat and boots on when Bri had finally emerged from the shower.

I waited patiently, just thankful that I had someone to accompany me, since I wasn't sure I would have had the courage to get to the village on my own, much less make it up to the trap door at the end of the tunnel.

When she was finally ready to go, we scurried down the stairs and up the stairs to the bustling hallway. Valentine's Day was Monday and almost everyone was using today as an excuse for a date away from the school.

"I can't believe Fred didn't ask you to Hogsmeade for Valentines Day-" Bri started and giggled when I slapped her arm to shut her up. First of all, Fred would never ask me on a date, we were just friends and second of all, the Weasley's were probably friends with 90% of the students around us right now.

"We're just friends, Bri." I replied, softly as we broke off from the crowds and headed to the one eyed witch statue.

"A friend we're sneaking to Hogsmeade for to buy him a very expensive birthday gift." She teased, trailing off and watching in awe as I tapped the statue to open the passageway.

"Bloody Hell," She peered into the darkness before I lowered myself down first and nodded for her to follow.

We heard the door slide shut behind us as we began walking but stopped near the first curve of the path when we heard the rock scraping the floor again.

"Oh, we're so fucked aren't we?" She muttered as we saw the light from the hallway above shine down and reveal the dark haired boy starting down the tunnel after us.