Fate Set Right

Chapter 58

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August 2, 1997

Despite everything, she still couldn't sleep. Fred had drifted off, and she had stayed in bed for a while, breathing him in, trying not to make comparisons. But after a time, she rose, pulled his t-shirt over her head, the one left unshrunk, and replaced her knickers before sitting on the window seat.

Diagon Alley had yet to come alive and she was starting to wonder if it ever would. With the Ministry down, it might mean that those against the Death Eaters would have to shut down. And that was probably many, considering how many businesses were already gone.

But it wasn't the economics of the wizarding world that kept her up, and while Fred provided distraction and comfort, it couldn't last forever. She was worried and becoming increasingly so as the night went on.

"Rory?" Fred's drowsy voice said from the bed, and she looked over her shoulder to see him slowly get up.

"You don't happen to have anti-Patronus charms, do you?" she asked, chewing her lip.

"Not so lucky," he said, swinging his feet over the edge of the bed, reaching down for his pants before getting up. He moved toward her, squeezing into the seat by her feet. Fred copied her position, pulling his legs up, though he sat with his back to the window pane, and his legs were too long to rest his head on. "Worried?"

"A bit," she confessed. "Not that I would've wanted the interruption, but I thought we would have heard from someone by now."

"I won't lie to you and say that everyone's fine, they may not be."

"Good, because I'd have called you an idiot if you had," she retorted, leaning her head against the glass. "What are you two going to do now? With the shop?"

Fred shrugged. "Stay open until we can't, I suppose. Not like it's only jokes we got."

"And you're going to sell to Death Eater children?" she asked.

"Rory, I bloody hired a Death Eater's child. I slept with a Death Eater's daughter," he said with a smirk playing at the corner of his mouth.

"Point of pride, is it?" she asked him with a slight snap.

"No. I mean, yes, but... you know there's not a proper way to answer that, right?" he asked, and she had to smile at him. "My point is, while I know your dad's not really... you guys aren't. And they aren't their parents either. Look at Draco, at what he's done. He might love Harry, but that's his family he renounced, and that's before You-Know-Who came back."

"You have a point," she sighed. "But what are the chances that they're all going to have that same logic?"

"Low." Fred shrugged. "But it's not like everyone on the side of 'Light' is all sunshine and chocolate frogs. I mean, your dad has done some pretty nasty things, but he's good. I mean, he's an ear lopper but..."

"No one is purely good or evil, I get that bit. I'm just... it's Leo I'm worried about."

"And he knows all of our products, just as well as we do. If there's something used against him, he knows how to counter them." Fred reached forward, placing a hand on her shoulder. "You're a better elder sibling than George or I ever was, but you don't have to worry about him, promise. And as for your parents—"

The sudden appearance of a bright silver lioness made Fred stop short. It almost seemed to glare at him before turning to Aurora and opening its mouth.

"Eyre Cottage, tomorrow, use the Floo. No Apparition. Spread the word to the Order," her father's voice instructed, and then his Patronus faded.

"Think he saw me in my pants?" Fred said as he leaned away from her.