The Last Lieutenant

Fireworks

She almost backs out.

Audra would like to say it was only one time that she thought about staying at home and never telling Fred that she had changed her mind, just sit there in the corner of the Malfoy's guest room and watch the turning of the clock, and then never, ever leave, even to go to the tree house and apologize.  Not that night, or the next night, or even the one after that, just stay away until the aching stops and Audra can trick herself into thinking that it never really mattered in the first place.

It would have been safer even if it wasn't easier, but it would hurt him, and Audra still wasn't ready to be the one to do that, so when the time comes she makes her excuses and slips out of the house, hood drawn up to hide her face.  It's a long walk to the apparition point, long enough to start to have second thoughts, but then she's there and suddenly she can't bear not seeing.

When she's standing on solid ground again, it's in the middle of a festival.  Fred had wanted to take her out to a real date, the cheesy kind where he pays for everything and she does her hair all nice, but since they had to stay out of sight, a muggle fair at the edge of London was the closest they could get.

She meets him in a coffee shop.  Audra can see him from the moment she walks in, but other than the first second of eye contact when she came in the door, they don't make any sign they know each other.  Instead, they wait- she gets a frappuchino with extra whipped cream, Fred says good bye to the girl he was talking to (she's actually ninety percent sure that it was George, the grin she had shot Audra's way was familiar), and then he followed her to the restroom.

"I've missed you."  She's got her head buried in his shoulder to hide the tears filling her eyes, and Audra only manages to keep her head steady enough to reach out and lock the door before kissing him.  It's the first time they've seen each other outside of that tree house in weeks, the first time they might be able to walk through a street holding hands without worrying about putting each other in danger.  "So much."

"It's only been a week."  She pulled away from him and laughed, because even though they are in a disgusting muggle bathroom with its cracked mirror and leaky sink, Audra thinks that it might be her favorite place in the world.  "You just really love me."

"You know I do."  He grins, easy and familiar, and for once in her life, Audra is not worrying about Voldemort, she is not thinking about Order duties and death eaters and what her mother might be thinking, she is not hearing the echo of screams or thinking about the rattle of Vance's last breath.  She is thinking only of him.  "Are you ready for our date?"

He's holding a flower out to her.  It's a dark purple rose, and Audra takes it, twirling it between her fingers before answering.

"I've been looking forward to it all week,"  She hears herself say, trying to ignore the way that her stomach was still twisting up with worry and the thought that it is not worth trading safety for one night together.  It's a lie, too, but she's already told so many that Audra's started to lose count.

He apparates them out of the bathroom, to a back corner of the festival where they kept the dumpsters and no one would notice another pair of giggly teenagers, even if they did appear out of thin air.  Audra catches her bearings and spares half a thought for the fact that the door was still locked, but then Fred's tugging on her arm and she doesn't care.  The only thing that matters is that he was here.

"You know, I've never been on one of these things."  Fred tilts his head back to stare up at the Ferris wheel, the only ride in the whole place if you don't count the kiddy roller coaster.  "Bill and Charlie went once, when we were in Egypt, but I was too scared."