the muggle next door | f.w. golden trio era

↳ 4.23

at last

April 23rd, 1996

FRED COULDN'T WAIT until the sun's up to see Daisy. He tried to, per his mother's suggestion, since the deep dinner talk stretched on until nearing three o'clock. But after tossing his stuff onto his bed, he stood still, thinking, then said to his twin, "I'm gonna head over to Daisy's real quick."

George yawned, "You sure? She's probably asleep, Freddie."

"I'll just drop in and say hi," Fred shrugged.

He closed his eyes and focused his mind on his desired destination. He remembered Grimmauld Place as clearly as if he just left the premise yesterday, and he remembered Daisy —his true destination— as if she had been with him in person all along. Just like that, followed by the feeling of being pressed from all sides, he arrived in its very dark hallway.

He tiptoed towards Daisy's room and knocked lightly.

"Daisy? Are you asleep?" Fred whispered. Of course, there was no reply.

Slowly and quietly, he pushed the door open.

She definitely had marked this room as her own, he thought, noting some familiar things placed neatly all over. He had only been in her Muggle room back in Devon once, when he was nine (after which he was forbidden to by his concerned parents), so he could only vaguely recall the purple teddy bear, but he remembered that brown, checkered duffel bag she used to carry her clothes whenever she slept over at the Burrow. And the cute sundress she wore to King's Cross three years ago was hanging on the cupboard. The nightlight was turned on, illuminating a number of quills and books arranged alphabetically on her desk, as well as her empty bed.

Huh, Fred tilted his head a bit. She wasn't asleep after all.

Where would she be?

When he turned around, though, a tall man was blocking the door with his wand dangerously pointing at him.

"GAH!" Fred shouted, jumping backwards.

"...sneaking around now?" The man croaked, like the scene before murders happen in horror movies.

"Sirius!" Fred said shrilly, like a deer caught in headlights, "What are you doing up at three in the morning?"

"Sirius?" The man stepped forward into the dim lighting and the horror image immediately disappeared. It was Remus, clad in matching striped pajamas, rubbing his eyes sleepily. "Shouldn't I be asking you that question, Fred?"

"Oh, Remus, sir. Sorry, it was too dark to see you."

"Why aren't you at school?"

"Er..." Fred's eyes darted sideways, "George and I dropped out. Yeah."

"I'd ask about it, but I'm too tired to. If Daisy's not here, she's probably in the attic."

"Ah, well, thank you!"

"Refrain from coming in the middle of the night without prior notice, please. This place is still the Order's headquarter, and sleep... is a rare privilege," Remus turned around and walked sleepily back to the guest bedroom, "Loverboy."

Fred waited until his former professor disappeared from view before grinning ecstatically and climbed the long sets of stairs, two or three steps at a time, and barged into the only properly lit room in the whole house.

Honestly, he couldn't say he wasn't distracted for a short moment by the weird apparatus sitting around the attic —the huge bird cage with cords leading towards the window, four long tubes with buttons and holes aligned on their longitudes, mathematical equations scribbled over the wall, pliers and electrical wires and everything— but then he met Daisy's bright blue eyes and everything just faded away.