NO SIGNAL ➝ FRED WEASLEY [1] ✓

FIFTY [12 GRIMMAULD PLACE]

probably my favorite chapter i've written in a WHILE

Despite the ancestral Black family home being the secret headquarters for the Order of the Phoenix, Amelia's friends—who were all a part of the Order anyway—milled about the first floor of the house, enjoying drinks and snacks as they celebrated the birthday girl.

Fred had already woken her up that morning with a bouquet of sunflowers and a poorly wrapped present, with strict instructions not to open it until after the party, and his siblings had combined their resources to get her a signed copy of A Witch's Guide to Modern Astronomy and Astrology: Is He Toxic, or Is He Just a Scorpio?, a book written by her favorite wizard astronomer.

Harry, on the other hand, had apparently gotten her a Gryffindor banner, "for your apartment when you leave Hogwarts," or at least, that's what he said his reasoning was.

Molly Weasley had gotten her her favorite present of all, however: a Weasley jumper of her very own. It was green, with a blue A knitted into the front. Amelia nearly cried when she opened the carefully packaged item, and she hugged Molly for a solid five minutes afterwards.

Amelia sipped on champagne, leaning into Fred's chest as she admired the people she loved around her. She was always grateful to the entire Weasley family for their kindness, but she had never felt more thankful than she did while looking at the party her second family had thrown for her.

"Hey, love, someone else just got here." Fred whispered in her ear.

She looked up and found that Fleur Delacour had just arrived, and she handed her glass to her boyfriend before running to hug the Veela.

"Happy Birthday, Amelia!" Fleur said happily, now accustomed to how affectionate Amelia was.

Pulling away, Amelia rolled her eyes. "Please. We're good enough friends now for you to call me Meely—everyone does."

Amelia dragged Fleur towards the drinks table, pouring her a glass of champagne before going to reclaim her own drink from Fred.

The party lasted well into the wee hours of the morning, and a few other members of the Order, such as Nymphadora Tonks, Albus Dumbledore, and even her favorite professor, Remus Lupin, had made an appearance.

Despite how much fun everyone was having, eventually they had to call it a night, and one by one the partygoers left the house. Eventually, just the Weasleys, Harry, Amelia, and Sirius were left.

"Oh, Bishop, I forgot to give you your present!" Sirius called to her, just before she had asceneded the stairs to go change.

Amelia turned around slowly, a questioning look on her pretty face. "Really? I didn't think you got me anything—I figured you letting me stay in your house was enough of a present."

He rolled his eyes. "That's ridiculous, Amelia. It's your birthday. Of course I got you something."

It turned out that that something was a bottle of perfume that was no doubt more expensive than she could ever afford, with a fancy French name that she couldn't pronounce.

"It was Ginny's idea," He explained when she gawked at it. "She said you like the smell of vanilla, so I had my house elf, Kreacher, pick it up in London."

Amelia hugged him tightly in thanks. "Oh, Sirius, I love it! But you really didn't need to get me anything."

"Don't be silly. And hey, tell Nadia I said hello, alright?" He replied, giving her a smile at the mention of her mother.

"Of course. Thank you again."

She turned and left the kitchen without another word, tiptoeing up the stairs quietly as to not wake up any of the sleeping Weasleys; Ginny had gone to bed early, growing bored of not being allowed to have any alcohol like she usually was when her siblings threw parties up at school.

With the new perfume bottle in one hand and the straps of her heels in the other, she padded into the room Fred had been staying in.

The Black family home was, of course, large enough to house all the Weasleys without anyone having to share a room. Despite this fact, Amelia found herself sneaking into Fred's bedroom each and every night that they had been there.

"Well, hello there, gorgeous." Her boyfriend said from where he lounged casually on the bed.

She grinned at his words and ran to the bed, hopping on top of it and then on top of him, straddling his waist.

Her lips found his, and she kissed him passionately, a little drunk and a lot in love with him.

Fred smiled against her lips, his hands that rested on her hips squeezing the flesh there. He had stayed mostly sober for the duration of her birthday party, only drinking when someone had made a toast for the birthday girl (he'd counted—there had been fifteen toasts total).

She broke the kiss a few moments later and gave him a wink as she got up.

He couldn't help but admire his girlfriend as she slipped out of her dress and changed into one of his t-shirts.

When she came back to the bed and sat near his feet, he leaned over and pulled his gift out from under the four-poster.

She had nearly forgotten about his present, but the sight of the package wrapped in yellow paper brought a sweet smile to her face.

"Open it." He said.

Amelia did as she was told, carefully tearing the paper off of the present. Under the wrapping paper was a plain white box made of something sturdy. And inside the white box were two smaller velvet boxes.

She looked at him uncertainly, to which he gave her a reassuring nod.

She opened the larger velvet box first, finding a silver necklace with a F charm attached to it.

Tears immediately welled up in Amelia's eyes, and she put a hand over her mouth to cover her smile.

"Freddie, it's beautiful." She whimpered, and she leaned towards him to hug him.

He pressed a kiss to the underside of her jaw before she sat back and picked up the second box.

Inside was a ring.

Shocked, she dropped it. She leapt off the bed and took several steps backwards.

"You are not allowed to propose." Amelia stammered. "Not when we're still in school."

Fred smirked at her reaction. "It's not an engagement ring, silly. It's a promise ring—a promise to love you for everything you are, a promise to be everything you could ever need or want. At least until I can put a real ring on your finger. But I'm more than willing to wait until graduation if it means you'll marry me."

She broke into a laugh, wiping the tears from her eyes as she did so. She hugged him again, squeezing tighter than before, and allowed him to slip the ring onto the ring finger of her left hand. It stood out and stood for something, like a placeholder for a more meaningful piece of jewelry.

"You really wanna marry me?"

"Oh, absolutely. One hundred percent."