Marooned - Fred Weasley

Chapter 42: Details

I think this chapter is one of my favorites. It's really sweet to (almost) have a break from all the responsibility and heaviness.

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Arthur had recovered from the venom, the Antidote had worked, and later that week he was out of the bandages and back at the Head Quarters. George had asked Selena if she wanted to spend the holidays with his family and she gladly accepted after talking with her parents. They were all together now, reunited and enjoying some time away from Hogwarts, finally.

Tomorrow was Christmas Day, which meant it was Sarah's birthday and they were all on the couch, eating sweets and laughing next to the fire. Suddenly, Molly, Remus, Sirius and Arthur walked in, exchanged a look with her friends, and Ginny ran up the stairs.

Sarah's eyes followed her and she turned to the others, "What just happened?"

They just smiled, making her more confused, now, and Ginny came back with a small box. A gift. She handed it to Sarah.

"What-" Sarah took it and looked over their faces, "No, you can't go about changing the rules on birthday presents. What is this?"

She locked eyes with everyone, one by one, and they all smiled and stayed silent. "Why don't you open it?" said Remus.

She unwrapped the paper, and opened the box, disapprovingly shaking her head because they had all agreed to not do this sort of thing. Fits of laughter and throwing sweets at each other was what she'd agreed on. Her eyes went wide when she saw what it was inside, looked up at all of them, not believing what she was seeing.

"It's your eighteenth birthday, Sarah, darling. We all chipped in," said Remus, smiling endearingly at her.

"Oh my goodness."

Mouth agape, she reached inside the box and pulled out a book. Not any book, it was the book she'd admired once at Hogsmeade back in her fifth year during one of their free afternoons and wanted to buy but couldn't because the first time the shop was closed, and when she returned, she saw the price and almost fainted.

The first original edition of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, holding handwritten notes of Newt Scamander that had been printed by mistake at the time, but it made it priceless, now. There also was a testimonial of his, that had been cut out from every other edition.

"This is a first edition, it costs a fortune. You shouldn't-" she ran a finger over the golden cursive writing

"We're thirteen people, relax. No one ruined themselves," said George and Molly smacked the back of his head.

Sarah looked at him, rubbing his head and she stared wide-eyed at them. "Still-"

"It's a special occasion, dear. We reckoned you ought to have something equally special," said Molly sweetly. Sarah's eyes watered, and she opened the book and gasped.

Everyone knew what she had seen

For you'll always be cherished

-Remus, Fred, George, Harry, Molly, Arthur, Sirius, Hermione, Ginny, Ron, Bill, Charlie, Selena

"Ron, you signed?" she asked amused.

Ron frowned defensively, "They all made me!"

She shook her head, grinning. "This is-" she flipped the pages and saw the handwriting. She held the book up and showed everyone excitedly, "Look! It's his writing!" she gushed, trying to decipher it, "This is marvelous."

"See? What did I tell you?" whispered Fred to the group and they all smiled, watching her marvel.

She closed it and held it closely to her chest, "Thank you," her eyes sweeping over everyone in the room, her eyes getting tearful from the gesture. "I can't tell you how much this means to me."