Cursing (Fred Weasley)

THIRTY-ONE

Fred, Elle, and the kids were greeted with a musty scent as they opened the door to a rather, er, old house. It was an old townhouse in a very, very small village. They didn't even know the name of the village. No one knew exactly where each other was. It was better that way. If someone got caught and tortured, they wouldn't be able to give up the location of the others.

Brady and Reese were staying just another day before they would return to Hogwarts.

Fred's fake funeral had been just the day before. It wasn't hard for Elle or the kids to cry, as they just thought What if this was real? What if we'd never see him again?

After everything was done with that, they went home to grab their trunks before meeting Kingsley Shaklebolt, who would apparate them to their new home. They couldn't travel by the Floo Network, as it was possible they would be spat out somewhere else, plus they would have to say their address to get there. They didn't know their address, so that was immediately out.

Looking around the townhouse, which reminded Elle eerily of Grimmauld Place, everyone grimaced and thought about how they hoped the war would be over quickly so that they could return to their home.

Elle assigned rooms. There were only three, so Dylan and Brady would share and Josie and Reese would share, leaving the last bedroom for Fred and Elle.

Elle quickly helped the kids to unpack, waving her wand, sending everything to its proper place before she joined Fred in their new bedroom.

It was tiny, barely enough space for a full size bed and a single dresser. There was no wardrobe, no desk. Nothing. In addition, there was only one bathroom for all of them to share.

Elle sighed as Fred wrapped his arms around her. "It'll be okay. It's still bigger than the flat," he murmured in her ear, making Elle laugh.

"Yes, But now we have four children. Granted two of them will be going to Hogwarts, it'll still be a tight fit."

"There was 3 of us in the flat."

"And there's going to be four of us now."

Fred laughed. "And those other two are the equivalent to one George."

Elle laughed now. "And there's only one bathroom."

"Now there you're right," Fred finally agreed, squeezing Elle before letting her go.

Elle smiled at him and kissed his cheek before she went to the kitchen. She looked through the decrepit cabinets, trying to find something decent to feed the kids. She didn't find anything in the cabinets, which led her to check the one place she really, really didn't want to check: the absolutely disgusting looking refrigerator. She grimaced as she opened the door, expecting to see piles of rotten food and mold.

She was quite surprised to see that the inside of the fridge was completely clean and full of delicious looking food.

She smiled before getting out what she needed.

Maybe this won't be that bad.
——
After supper, Elle and Fred helped Brady and Reese to pack for Hogwarts and went over how they were to act and what they said when asked about Fred.

They knew it would be hard on the kids, but it was only temporary. This would be over soon.

It had to be over soon.
——
So sorry this is so short! I had written more, but it was far too long and so I decided to cut it into two pieces, and this was the best place to stop one.

I'm so sorry updates have been so crazy!

Thanks for reading!
-Drew