If I'm Lucky {Fred Weasley}

Confronting Snape

And if we should die tonight,

We should all die together.

"Give me the map, Ron," Hermione ordered with an outstretched hand.

"No way. I'm reading it just fine," He retorted.

She rolled her eyes with a groan before taking the marauders map from him.

"Hey!-" Ron shouted, but Hermione quickly shushed him with a raised finger.

Most of the DA were in the Room of Requirement while many of Hogwarts' current students marched in neatly filed lines to The Great Hall with Harry concealed in their midst. Fred, George, Angelina and I were the only occupants in the room who knew about The Marauders Map, and none of us had seen it since our 5th year. As the four of us huddled to peer over Hermione and Ron's shoulders, I found it strange to see several dots evenly spaced out and gliding along the pages simultaneously.

There was a creek from the portrait door swinging open, and I looked over my shoulder to see who had joined the group and felt an instant rush of love, relief, and gratitude flood through my body as I quickly turned on my heel and started running towards the person, "Mum!"

"Charlotte!" She beamed and held out her arms, sprinting to meet me halfway.

Once in her embrace, I silently wished I could stay in it forever, just like all the nights she held me close at bedtime as a child. Mumbling into her shoulder, I asked, "What are you doing here? I thought you and Dad were in hiding."

"What? Did you expect me to miss all the action?" She chuckled and pulled back to look at me with watery eyes as she held my face, "I've missed you so much, Sweetie."

"I missed you too," With a sniffle, I looked over her shoulder and felt panic starting to set in, "Where's dad? Is he okay? He's not-"

"He's fine, Dear," She ran her fingers through the sides of my hair to calm me, "He wanted to come, but I refused. This fight is way too dangerous for a muggle. I told him his skills were better suited to help outside Hogwarts, so he set up a safe house for students. He and other healers will try to help them and their families however they can, but he told me to tell you that he loves you."

As Mum finished relaying the message, her gaze lifted over my shoulder. I followed her line of sight to see Fred watching us. He rocked on his feet cautiously with his hands in his pockets. His eyes were hesitant, as if Fred were afraid to approach my mum. Seeing as it's been years since either of us has seen her or my dad, he often vocalised his worries to me about my parents growing to resent him for not bringing me around as much. I always tried to reassure him that they never thought anything of the sort, but it still crossed his mind occasionally. How could anyone think this was his fault? All of us were in hiding, and before that, it was much too dangerous for us to travel.

However, all that worry vanished from his face, and his body relaxed when Mum beamed at him, "Fred!"

She let go of me and extended her arms to him, and I saw his broad grin right before they hugged each other.

"Hello, Mrs Hodges," He replied as he pulled away, "How've you been?"

"Oh, please. Call me Mum, now," She gave a dampened smile with a lighthearted voice, "You two are pretty much married at this point."

My jaw dropped, "Mum!"

"What?!" She turned to me, "You might as well be."

I huffed, but Fred crossed his arms and tried to hide his laugh behind his knuckles.