Safe With Me ~ Fred Weasley

Christmas at the Burrow

I stepped out from the cool brush of emerald flames, stepping at once into a solid body, arms wrapping around my back as I breathed in Fred's familiar cologne, blinking the smoke from the fire from my eyes in a rush to see him, his face buried in my hair.

"We have to move, Harry's going to knock us over!" I laughed into his chest, pulling him to the side of the fireplace where he finally released me, holding me back and looking me up and down as if to check if I was real.

"That's enough, lover-boy. You just saw her." George muttered, partially under his breath, shooting his brother a smirk as he pounced on me now, pulling me into a short hug before grinning down at me. "Alright, Cass? Not learning too much, are you?"

"Without you two? All I have to do is study." I grinned back, earning myself an eye-roll from the younger twin as Harry and Ginny finally appeared in the living room behind us.

"Oh!" Molly was grinning, yet her eyes were glazed over, seeming practically on the verge of tears as she hurried from Ron to me, Ginny and Harry, enveloping each of us into equally massive hugs. "Thank Godric you're home."

"I don't think You-Know-Who was going to be waiting to ambush them in the soot, Mum." George snickered, his smile falling at once as Molly shot him a familiar look.

"I've almost got lunch ready, I'm sure you're starved." Molly went on, fleeing back to the kitchen, clearly under the impression that none of us got fed at Hogwarts. "Come on!" Her voice carried from the kitchen, Ron leading the way at once.

Fred slung an arm around my waist, walking slowly towards the kitchen after his family, a smile stretched along his lips.

"What?" I asked, looking up at him, feeling a smile pull at my cheeks as well.

"Two whole weeks with you." He smirked, pressing a kiss to my forehead and pulling the chair out beside George as Molly hurried towards each of us, spooning food into bowls which had flown ahead of her with one flick of her wand.

"Ginny, how's school?" Bill asked the youngest Weasley, nodding thanks to his mother and kicking the chair out beside him for her to finally sit down.

"School's a bitc-" She stuttered, glancing quickly to Molly before looking back at Bill. "Bit much. I'm in like four study groups."

"You'll do fine, Gin." I shot her a firm smile. The Gryffindor girl had been getting good marks since I had met her, and I had yet to see a challenge she had backed down from.

"And Quidditch?" Bill looked to Ron and Harry now as well, Fred and George's attention pulled at once.

"Oi, that's right! I forgot, Harry's captain!" George piped in.

"Team must be fearsome now, two Weasley's again, must be like we never left." Fred joked, wiping a fake tear from beneath his eye.

"Honestly, I bet they don't even miss us." George replied.

"Bet they don't even chuck bludgers at each other to pass the time."

"Alright, enough, I'd like to hear from anyone but you two for a minute." Bill shoved George's arm lightly, everyone's attention turning back to the Gryffindors.

Harry only had time for the start of a shrug before Ron was off, ranting about the teams, the practices, the matches so far, their odds of winning the cup, as he saw it anyway. I leaned back in my spot, watching as Ginny tried to get a single word in, Harry's eyes lingering on her every few seconds before flicking back to his plate with a quick shake of his head.

The Weasley's, Harry and I had spent an exceptionally cozy day huddled near the fireplace, Harry and Ron both losing to Ginny at chess before Molly had called them in to start on dinner, the kitchen still warm from the endless batches of cookies Ginny and I had made. The two of us were now sat beside the twins, attempting to quickly frost through as many tree, star and present cut-outs as we could before Fred and George could mess them up, which in their minds gave them permission to eat them.