Gunpowder & Cinnamon {Fred Weasley}

Chapter Ten

Eleanor had been sound asleep beside Fred in bed, when some noise stirred her from her slumber. She opened her eyes, adjusting to the dark trying to figure out where the noise was coming from. She looked over to see that Fred was still asleep, quiet.

She heard the noise again.

"What the hell is that?" she said. She nudged Fred, trying to wake him up. Instead, Fred groaned and tried to roll away from her.

"Fred! Wake up."

"No." he said as he pushed her hand away weakly.

"Fred! Come on, get up! Don't you hear that noise?"

"I only hear you talking." he whined.

She whacked his side. "Get up!"

"Ugh." Fred sat up rubbing his eyes. "What?"

"Don't you hear that noise?" she repeated.

"Ellie, I don't hear anything, love."

"Well, I hear something." she said standing up. "Come on."

"Do I have to?"

Eleanor turned on the lamp and gave him a look.

"I'll take that as a yes." he said quickly standing up.

The two walked out of the bedroom, into the living room space.

"Do you hear it now? It's much louder."

Fred listened. "I do actually..what the hell is that?"

"I don't know..but..it sounds like it's coming from George's room."

"You think he brought home his date?"

"Fred!"

"It was a joke...sorta."

Eleanor walked over to George's door and knocked. "George?" she called. "Are you alright?"

They didn't get response but they heard the whimpering sound.

"Do you think we should go in?" Eleanor asked Fred.

"Try knocking again, if he doesn't answer, I'll go in first." Fred told her.

Eleanor knocked once more but once again, George didn't answer. Fred turned the doorknob and walking into his brother's room.

"George?" he called out into the dark. Eleanor stumbled in the darkness before turning on a light. When she did, the two found George still asleep, but crying out softly in his sleep.

Eleanor frowned.

"Oh no, I think he's having a night terror." she whispered to Fred.

"Let me wake him up then," Fred said walking over to his brother's bedside.

"Wait, be careful. I heard you shouldn't wake someone up if they are having a night terror." she told him.

"Why not?"

"I don't know, they say you should let it pass before you wake them. We can just stay with him untill it passes and then wake him up to see if he's alright." Eleanor suggested.

Fred glanced down at his brother and looked away obviously pained to see his brother suffering in his sleep.

The two waited, looking at each other instead of George. Finally, George went quiet for a couple of minutes.

"Now should we wake him?" Fred said in a low voice.

"I think it's safe now. Just be gentle about it."

"Well, I wasn't going to start playing the saxophone to wake him." Fred grinned.

"You knew what I was getting at."

Fred crouched down and nudged George softly.

"Georgie...wake up."

George's eyes opened and he looked to the window. "The sun isn't up..." he said before pulling his blanket over his head. "What are you two doing awake?"

"You were having a night terror, George." Eleanor said.

George lowered the blanket. "Oh...I was?"

The two nodded.

"Ellie heard you...and we didn't want to wake you until it passed." Fred informed him.

"Are you alright?" Eleanor asked him.

"Oh yeah, I'm fine." George said sitting up. "I...I don't remember dreaming about anything though."

"Well, you told me you were having some nightmares, perhaps this was just a really bad one."

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to wake you two up." George rubbed the back of his neck.

"Don't worry, you didn't wake me, Ellie did." Fred reassured him.

"Sorry Ellie."

"Don't you apologize, George. It's not your fault. I just hope that you can get some sleep."

"Yeah, I'll make myself some tea and head back to bed. You two go back to sleep."

"Are you sure?"

"Positive."

The next morning, George was getting dressed when he heard Eleanor and Fred in the kitchen, mostly Eleanor.

"Ugh that was vomit, definitely vomit flavour!" Eleanor spit the Bertie Bott's Every Flavour jelly bean out into the bin. "Eck!"

She grabbed a napkin and wiped her tongue while Fred stared at her.

"Don't you go judging me with those judging eyes. I remember your reaction to the rotten egg one." she said.

"I didn't say anything. But your reaction was priceless."

"Gah, that's the worse flavour out of all of them." she said.

"I don't know. I got dirty sock once." Fred said. "Spit it right on Ginny's shoe. She was not happy."

"Oooh jelly beans." George said coming out of his room and grabbing one off the table. Immediately his expression turned sour as he spit it onto the floor. " Soap!"

Fred picked one off the table and popped it into his mouth. "Mmm, lemon."

Eleanor and George gave him a look as Eleanor grabbed her wand to make herself a cup of tea when she opened the cabinet for a tea bag.

"Goodness, look at all this tea." she exclaimed.

She looked over at the twins.

"Well, don't look at me, I hardly drink that stuff." Fred said.

He and Eleanor looked to George who scratched the back of his head awkwardly.

"Okay, so perhaps I bought a little too much last time." he said. "But it's going to get used!"

"Wow," Eleanor said looking at all the boxes, " you might as well have part ownership of Rosa Lee's, at this point."

George grinned. "What can I say, I like tea."

"Apparently."