Ravenclaw's Shadow

Chapter 69

"Where are we up to now?" George asks, leaning over my shoulder to look at the book.

"Week twelve," I say, pointing, "it's about the size of my thumb."

"Ooh, it's getting fingernails."

"Weird," I say, "it could scratch me."

George laughs and kisses me on the cheek.

"This weekend, then," he says, "right?"

I mark the page and close the book before looking up at him.

"Are you sure you want to change?" I ask, "I'll love you either way."

"I've been sure of this since you told me," he says, "Fred too. We're going to have hundreds of years more to cause trouble! We can terrorise multiple generations!"

"Okay," I agree, "you'd better have the shop closed for a couple of weeks, though, it's not always easy to adjust."

"I'll let Fred know," he says, kissing me on the cheek, "I'll see you at five."

"Mm, maybe..."

"No, Aurelia," he says firmly, "at five. I'm not having you stress our baby out."

I poke my tongue out at him and start getting ready for work.

On Friday evening I get home before George, an extremely rare occurrence, and am pacing the floor. I hear George come in, but don't call out. My stomach is knotted up in anxiety.

"Rey?" he flicks the hall light on and leans on the door frame, "you're home early. Are you alright?"

"I'm going to kill you both," I say distractedly, "or one of you. Then the other one will hate me. And the mobs will come with their torches and pitchforks..."

"Aurelia, this isn't the eighteen-hundreds," George says, laughing, "we'll be fine."

"But if I don't inject enough then it'll just be torture!" I exclaim.

"Three clean bites," George says, "that's all. The biting doesn't actually hurt."

"The venom does," I say, pacing again, "you could spend a whole week suffering!"

"Ah well," George shrugs, "we've got blood in the fridge for after, we'll be fine."

"HOW CAN YOU BE SO FLIPPANT?!" I yell. George walks over and hugs me tightly.

"Breathe," he says, "breathe. There, feel better?"

"No," I lie, sitting down on the sofa, "when is Fred coming? I want this over and done with."

"He shouldn't be far away," George says, kissing me on the top of the head. The door bell chimes.

"Speak of the devil," George says, then shouts, "come in!"

Fred leaps into the room a moment later, dressed in all black with a long cape on.

"It is I!" he says loudly, "Count Veasley!"

"I'm not turning him," I say, "nope. No way. Not now."

George makes Fred lose the cape, then we all sit down together.

"Right, who first?" Fred asks eagerly.

"Can we for one moment not pretend this is some game," I say, "this is going to be incredibly painful for both of you. I can't even knock you out for it because that will slow the venom down."

"We'll be fine," George says, "it's just for a couple of days."

"At least," I say, "look, fine. We'll do it in the spare rooms, try not to scream, I'll check on you when I can."