Marooned - Fred Weasley

Chapter 21: A Future

"Off you go, now, come on," said Arthur, getting them one by one inside the chimney, disappearing into emerald green flames. Arthur went in first, then Fred, George, and Sarah, leaving Ron for last.

"No, no wait!" she heard shouting as she fell into the chimney, falling on what seemed like Fred's foot, George tried to move and hit her arm with his elbow, "George, stop moving, please!" and he got pushed against a wall by Arthur when he tried to get out his wand.

"What are we doing? Don't they have a chimney?" she grunted, getting panicked over the small space, she didn't know what was happening. She banged on the wall, "Harry! Can you hear us?"

"Sarah? Can you hear me?" she heard Harry's voice on the other side and they all started talking at the same time. Arthur shushed them.

"The fireplace has been blocked up. You won't be able to go through here," said Harry and Sarah scoffed, "Really? You think?"

"Damn!" yelled Arthur, "What on earth did they block the fireplace for?"

"They've got an electric fire," explained Harry.

"Really?" said Arthur, sounding extremely interested, "Eclectic you say? With a plug? Gracious, I must see that. Now, let me think..." and then they heard Ron falling too, they all yelped in pain when he fell on them, and he kicked Sarah's jaw with his boot, "Ron, stop, set your feet on the ground."

She moved her head to the side and ended up with her cheek pressed against some fabric, she knew it was Fred's t-shirt, and she heard him clear his throat.

"Sorry. What are we doing here? Has something gone wrong?" whimpered Ron.

"Oh, no, Ron," said Fred sarcastically, "This is exactly where we wanted to end up."

"Yeah, we're having the time of our lives, here," said George, voice muffled as his face was squished against a wall.

Ron settled in a standing position, too, but that only meant pushing everyone out of the way to make room for him, Sarah could feel her back pressed against someone, she knew it was Fred, felt and heard him breathe in fully. She could feel her cheeks grow hotter with every second.

"Sorry," she mumbled awkwardly, trying to turn her head to get some air, but all she could breathe in was his cologne. Fred breathed in shallowly, whenever he did, he smelled lavender, and kept his hands glued to the wall behind him, wishing she'd stop moving.

"Boys, please, I'm trying to think of something...Well, there's only one way," said Arthur and he warned Harry to get back before exploding the wall, letting everyone out. They started coughing from the dust and they helped each other up.

They dusted off their clothes and Arthur turned to Harry, "You got your trunk ready?"

"Yes, it's upstairs," he pointed up and Fred and George exchanged a look, "We'll get it," said Fred and the two went up.

"Well, nice place you've got here," said Arthur, trying to start a conversation with the Dursleys but that seemed like a waste of time. They stared at Sarah for a second, like she looked familiar to them and she figured they knew her mother, saw some picture by some misfortune, since she was close with Lily.

While Arthur was looking around, marveled at the Muggle objects, Harry's cousin appeared then and he stared at her too, hiding behind his parents. But he couldn't have known her mother, so she didn't know why he was staring. She exchanged a look with Harry but he just frowned, as confused as her.

Sarah heard then the clunk of Harry's trunk, saw the twins appear and walk down next to her. Fred looked around and noticed Dudley, he and George grinned mischievously then, and Sarah had a bad feeling.