Safe With Me ~ Fred Weasley

Seventeen

I pulled on a dark blue tank top and scanned over my reflection once more in the mirror of Fred's bedroom. Our bedroom, he insisted. It still didn't sound real. It wasn't unusual for Fred to be up before me these days. I supposed he'd grown used to it over the school year, both of the twins working all hours of the day until they had finally found some help for the shop.

But today was different. George was working solo today, which meant that any other morning, Fred would still be in bed, blinds shut, darkness enveloping the both of us until we caved and crawled to the kitchen for breakfast. Today, Fred was purposely giving me space, although I wasn't sure if it was more for me or him.

I pulled the door shut behind me, stepping towards the small kitchen where Fred was spreading cream cheese over a bagel, turning when he heard me approach and holding out the plate to me with a small smile.

"Morning." I took my breakfast from him, watching as he bit into the remaining half of his own. "Why didn't you sleep in? It's your day off."

"Couldn't sleep." He shrugged, stepping forward and pressing his lips against my hairline. "Happy Birthday."

"Thank you." I smiled up to him with another bite of my bagel. "Why are you nervous?"

"You know why."

"Not really." I shrugged, hopping up to the counter and reaching out to catch the cup from the open cupboard which flew towards my hand with a lazy flick of my wand. "It can't happen like last time, she probably doesn't even know where he's buried." I tried to swallow down the bitter taste in my mouth with a sip of my juice.

"Oh, well that's comforting. She probably doesn't even know." Fred shot me a smirk, slipping his shoes on near the door as I downed the rest of my juice, dropping my dishes gently into the sink.

"What happened to 'I want to see her, I want to start taking them out like they've been doing to us-" I trailed off at his glare, my smile stuck to my lips.

"I meant more of George and I seeing her, you far far away." He replied, shutting the door behind us and starting down the stairs to the shop.

"How's it going down here?" I called, glancing around at the unusually empty store.

"Lively, I think I saw a bird shit on the pavement outside an hour ago." George answered, leaning against the counter lazily.

"You're really going to miss us, eh?" Fred joked.

"It'll pick up. You two will get back and I'll be drowning."

"Per usual." Fred grinned, and George scoffed.

"Right. Which one of us locked themselves out of the register for half an hour yesterday?" He bit back.

"You jinxed it. You did something, it was faulty!" Fred yelled, his voice ringing along the empty aisles.

"Right, yet it's working fine now!" George shrugged, crossing over towards us. "Be careful." He breathed, pulling me into a tight hug.

"We will." I set my chin on his shoulder for a second.

"Oh!" He called again as Fred and I pushed through the doorway. "And Happy 17th!"

"Thanks Georgie." I smiled, walking backwards into the alley.

"It's about time, honestly." He shot me a wink as I let the door fall back into place, the tune of the bell hanging overtop drowned out through the protective enchantments around the shop.

"Apparating yourself?" Fred questioned, watching me carefully, gold dancing in his brown eyes in the sun.

I considered it. I wasn't bad at apparating, but eventually decided it wouldn't be very fun to spend the rest of my birthday splinched. "One more time."