Serendipity (Fred Weasley HP)

Chapter Nine - A Black Christmas Part 2

After the four third years went to bed that night, Halley, Fred and George stayed up playing endless games from exploding snap to seeing who can hold a Bertie Botts bean in their mouth the longest, Fred had won most of the rounds only to find out that he'd had all the good flavours while Halley and George had been forced to suck on grass, soap, gravy and many more disgusting flavours that did not belong in a box of sweets. The clock in the common room chimed eleven and Halley wasn't even remotely tired, the thought of seeing her father any minute sent shots of adrenaline flowing through her body. Fred and George, on the other hand, were dozing off on the couch but she needed them to go to bed before she could sneak out.

"Lads... lads! I think you should go to bed." Halley said leaning over their sleepy figures with a small smile. The twins blinked sleepily and looked around in a daze then nodded and stretched like cats before getting off the sofa

"Hope you had a good birthday Hal," George mumbled and ruffled her hair before trudging you the stairs.

Fred, who looked a little more awake than his twin, lingered by the sofa. "I um, I have another present for you... I didn't know if I should give it to you as a birthday or Christmas gift but um here." He reaches under the sofa and pulled out what looked like a small hand made book.

"Fred you didn't need to do this, I love all my presents." She also understood that the Weasleys didn't have a lot of money and having a birthday and Christmas so close she wasn't expecting two lots of presents from them. Still, she took the book and flicked through it, her heart swelling at the sentiment. "Where did you get these?" It was full of pictures of them throughout the years they'd know each other. Most were taken during the summer but there was a handful that had been taken at school, on the second to last page was a picture of Professor Snape surrounded by purple powder and the man glared at everyone when it cleared.

"That Creevey kid takes pictures of everything and he got that moment so I had to add it in." Fred had a little half-smirk on his lips as he watched the picture Snape with a bright purple face glare at the whole room. Underneath the picture in small messy writing which she recognised as Fred's immediately read 'Halley the evil genius'.

"I love it, I'm so glad someone got a picture of that moment." She turned to the last page and smiled fondly. It was Lee, Halley and the twins all smiling in the Weasleys back garden after their first year. Lee was pulling some weird faces and the twins were poking and punching each other behind little Halley who was sticking her tongue out cheekily as she changed her hair colour according to the rainbow. Scribbled underneath was 'The four best friends'.

"This is a great present." Halley hugged the book to her chest then wrapped an arm around Fred's middle, tucking her head under his chin. "Thank you, Freddie."

The taller ginger smiled tiredly and hugged her back. There was that queasy feeling in his stomach again, but he'd since grown accustomed to feeling it when Halley was around. "You're welcome, Hal." He mumbled then said good night and lazily shuffled up the stairs to bed.

"Oh, shi-" The clock chimed twelve and Halley hurriedly picked up her coat, her wand and a blanket then left the warmth of the common room, hoping that her dad would wait even if she was a few minutes late. There was hardly any security around seeing as most of the students had gone home and once again Halley had made it all the way down to the lake without being seen.

As she went from a full run to a dead stop beside the tree where they'd first encountered each other, Halley bent over trying to catch her breath. "Too much running." She wheezed out and felt like she'd just coughed up a lung.

"You sound like you're dying," Sirius said poking his head around the tree trunk, looking confused at the young witch.

Halley jumped a little at the sudden appearance of her father but eventually regained her normal breathing pattern and smiled at the scruffy man. "Hi, dad." She hugged him close and sighed, it was so good to see him. Even though she knew it would have made headline news if he'd been caught, it didn't stop her from worrying about him out there on his own.