If This Isn't Love (Fred Weasley Sequel)

Chapter 32 | Christmas Eve

Sunday, December 24

I choose not to visit my Mom during the Holidays.

After all, she is taking me away from Hogwarts for Fred's last year. I want a really good reason for that, too. If I don't get one.. I might never forgive her.

Instead, I'm staying with Fred's family.

They were kind enough to me last summer at Grimmauld's Place which is where we'll be staying again. I'm incredibly excited for it.

And then I hear about Harry's nightmare.

Apparently, he had a dream about the attack of a huge, venomous snake to Arthur Weasley. The father of the children who have supported me my entire one and a half years at Hogwarts.

It really is distressing. But not as distressed as Harry probably was when he had the nightmare. Ron said he woke up screaming about his dad.

The dream, as we find out, is real. A snake did attack Arthur Weasley.

I'm relieved he's still alive, and I'm not the only one. The twins, Ron, and Ginny nearly had heart attacks themselves when they heard of the possibility that Arthur might be dead.

He's at St. Mungo's right now. Hermione and I are sitting in the common room, waiting for the Weasley's and Harry to come back.

Finally, they do, with the exception of Harry. I find Fred and hug him around the neck. "I'm glad he's okay," I whisper.

Hermione hugs Ron to his and her surprise, and then I hug George, too. Hermione and Ginny start to whisper and I sit back on the couch, suddenly exhausted.

The twins sit on either side of me.

After waiting an agonizingly long time, Harry comes in with a solemn look. I hop up and throw him into an embrace, surprising everyone, including me.

I pull away awkwardly and catch Ginny and Fred glaring at us. "Are you- okay?" I ask.

He nods slowly.

I leave out a sigh of relief. "Mister Weasley is safe because of you."

He smiles.

~~~~

That night, Hermione and I are excited yet anxious about tomorrow. We hope Arthur will be healed by the Mediwizards and Mediwitches, but we also can't wait for Christmas.

We end up staying up half the night and packing up early. Hermione staying up late is not like her at all, but I don't hate it.

I take out my photo album and she crawls to my bed, beaming. I have gotten several pictures for my album, and she has yet to see all of them.

I open up the first page. This has pictures of Fred and I. Actually, the first several pages have Fred and I. I skip most of them and Hermione snickers.

"What are you two doing up so late?" We hear a groggy question from Ginny.

"We're looking at (Y/N)'s photo album," Hermione announces, grinning.

I smirk. "Not to boast, but I do have some spectacular photos in here."

She groans and gets up from her very comfortable bed. Sitting on the edge of my bed, she peers at the photos. "Yuck. You got me out of bed for this?"

"Precisely," I tease.

I flip another few pages and see pictures of the castle, around the castle, the lake, the Giant Squid. I sigh. I'm going to miss Hogwarts dearly.

Ginny takes it upon herself to flip more pages. She goes through pictures of Hermione and I, laughing at our faces.

We all burst out laughing at a picture of the boys making weird faces. That brightens me up. I come across a picture of Harry sticking his tongue out at the camera, and I chuckle.

We begin to talk about tomorrow. We're all anxious about Arthur Weasley, but we can't wait to see the gifts we will get and to see the reactions of the people we will give gifts to.

I have all of mine wrapped perfectly, tied up with an exquisite bow on top. Hermione refuses to say anything about her gifts and Ginny is the same. I seriously doubt Ginny actually got me anything, but I don't mind.

Actually, I hope she hasn't because I don't have anything for her either.

Ginny crawls back to her own bed when we're finished chatting and Hermione is at hers. I put the album in my bag for tomorrow and pull up my covers.

Tomorrow will be the happiest day of the year, I will make sure of it.

~~~~
Published 5-14-20