Safe With Me ~ Fred Weasley

The Order

"Are you nervous?" I asked, pointlessly. I rarely saw either of the twins unsure of themselves, and this day had been one they had been talking about for months now.

"Not a bit." George answered at once, the three of us following Arthur down what had to be the 8th block so far.

"It's about time." Fred grumbled, a smile still on his face.

"So you had to wait a bit longer because of the Tri-Wizard..." Arthur trailed off at the mention of the tournament. "Extra time to study."

"And it'll all be worth it in a few short hours." Fred smiled wistfully at the fluffy clouds rolling above our heads.

"Are we nearly there yet, Dad? You said it was a 'quick one.'" George said.

"It would have been really good practice letting us apparate to our test." Fred shrugged, as if it were that simple.

"Your mother would have my head on the wall next to those elves." Arthur chuckled. "No matter, here we are!" He pointed ahead of us at a semi-busy street for this time of day. I pulled Fred's arm over to my face to glance at his watch. We had left Sirius's nearly half an hour ago at 10:00 and the twins exam was scheduled for 11:00.

"We've got plenty of time." Fred chuckled, yanking his hand back from my grip.

We fell into groups of two to fit through the busy sidewalk, watching muggles and wizards alike pass us by, telling the difference only by the subtle differences in their wardrobe. I glanced around, paying less attention to the people and more to the lack of buildings the size of which I believed could fit the great Ministry of Magic. Then again, it was magic, and I had seen what the inside of their tents looked like. Any one of these buildings could be hiding ten stories crowded with wizards.

But Mr. Weasley wasn't looking at the buildings. In fact, we had passed many of them already in our never slowing trek before he stopped in front of a slightly rusty looking red phone booth with crumpled doors that looked as though they might be stuck in place.

"Dad, leave it." George warned, a smirk rising to his face at his father's obsession for all things muggle related.

"George, have a bit of faith in your old man?" Arthur grinned, prying the door open easily and huddling closer to us. "We won't all fit. We'll go two at a time. It's easy, just shut the door behind you and dial 6 - 2 - 4 - 4 - 2. Then reply to the prompts."

"Mr. Weasley, it looks like it's not quite working. Maybe we should use another phone?" I clutched my bag closer to my side, already feeling the weight of it against my shoulder.

"That's the idea, Cassidy." He smiled, obviously thrilled at the ingenuity of it all. "Alright, Georgie? Come on in."

Fred and I stood in line, watching Arthur pull the door shut, the two tall wizards crammed into the small box as Arthur began dialing the phone.

"Would you please let me carry that, I know it's heavy!" Fred shot me a look when I shook my head. "I could magic it lighter-"

"No you could not in front of all of these muggles." I replied softly.

We stood in silence for a few minutes, ears trained for any words escaping from the phone booth before Arthur and George dropped from sight faster than I could blink.

"Oh, no." I muttered. "It's like a roller coaster?"

"A what?" Fred asked, looking at me as if I was speaking gibberish.

"Oh, never mind." I pulled the door free once more and stepped inside, the space filling up at once, Fred pressed up against me as he shut the door.

"So how does this work?" He asked, inching to the side in an attempt to get to the phone.