Muggle | 𝐹𝑟𝑒𝑑 𝑊𝑒𝑎𝑠𝑙𝑒𝑦

Chapter 126

As it was sorted, Fleur and I were meant to all buckle up in Ginny's room —  much to her dismal — meanwhile Harry was staying with Ron.

Remus who was staying the Christmas holidays at the Burrow, was going to sleep in Fred and George's old bedroom, but Sirius turned down Mrs. Weasley's offer for staying over, saying that he now had his own place. Although he usually spent the majority of the day at the Burrow, spending time with Harry.

"The house is too crowded over the holidays," Fred tried to reason as he spoke to Mrs. Weasley. "Wouldn't it be better if... say... someone came to stay with George and I?"

"Oh, you're right," Mrs. Weasley smiled at him happily. "Thank you, dear. That's a great idea!"

"Really?" Fred's grin widened.

"Of course!" Mrs. Weasley nodded brightly. "Bill can come stay with you two."

Fred's smile faded by those words, meanwhile I silently laughed, causing him to shot me a glare for not helping.

It was the day before Christmas when Mrs. Weasley asked the boys to go out to the garden to pull up carrots for dinner, while Ginny and I stayed inside to decorate the living room and put the ornaments on their small Christmas tree.

We were almost done that Harry, Ron, and George came inside along with Fred, who was carrying an unconscious gnome by its ankles.

"The hell are you doing?" Ginny raised a brow at Fred, throwing glances at the ugly gnome.

"This little bastard thought it would be funny to bite my ankle in the garden, so I Stupified him," said Fred, holding the gnome up. "Guess who's laughing now."

"What are you gonna do with it?" Ron asked. He had been trying hard to avoid my eyes ever since that night in the kitchen.

"We can put him on the Christmas tree," George suggested with a grin, shrugging.

"Yeah, we can paint him gold," Fred nodded with the same smirk. "It would be a merry Christmas angel!"

We all laughed as we watched Fred and George get to work, trying to turn the gnome into a golden color and stuff him into a miniature tutu.

But our attention was caught by Sirius when he walked down the stairs and into the living room feverishly.

"Hey, Harry... would you come upstairs with me for a minute?" said Sirius, looking rather nervous. "There's someone I would like you to meet."

"Er..." Harry hesitated at first, looking around the room at us. But at last he shrugged, saying, "Yeah, sure." And with that, he followed Sirius upstairs.

"Who do you reckon it is?" Ginny asked, her brows slightly furrowed as she watched them leave. "And how come we didn't notice anyone going upstairs?"

"Dunno..." Ron muttered, looking puzzled.

"Well, that's that," said George as he clapped his hands together, looking at their finished work on the gnome.

By that, Fred took out his wand and pointed it at the stunned gnome, making it float through the air until he placed it on top of the tree, before putting his wand away in his pocket again.

       "Oh, how magical." Fred sighed dramatically, pretending to be wiping away fake tears as he watched the Christmas tree after Ginny and Ron left to the kitchen.

       "We've still got a few hours till dinner. Wanna go out?" George asked, before turning to me with a grin and saying, "There's this very pretty girl working in the paper shop in the village who thinks my card tricks are something marvelous... almost like real magic..." he said, winking at me and making me chuckle.

      "Okay," I nodded, "but let me grab my coat first. It's freezing outside."

      But before I could take a single step, Fred grabbed my arm and held me back, giving me a smile.

       "No, no. Let grownups handle things with their wands," he said smoothly and pointed at himself, but I only snorted at the pun, causing him to shot me a disappointing look.

      After he used the Summoning spell to get our coats, we left the house and started walking toward the village under the beautiful snowy sky.

      "Ah, there she is," said George, pointing at a petite young woman behind the newspaper stand. "Well, children... watch and learn."

      With that, he straightened his coat handsomely before walking toward the girl with a smug face. I grinned, watching him attempt to flirt with her as Fred and I stood in the distance.

      "Do you wanna go and embarrass him?" I asked Fred, my eyes still on George in amusement.

      "Nah, I've done that enough." He shook a hand at me before his lips twitched into a smirk and so he said, "I would rather do something else."

     "What do you m — Aargh!" I yelped as Fred suddenly sprang forward and in a quick motion picked me up, throwing me over his shoulder.

      "Do you like the view?" he asked, chuckling.

       "PUT ME DOWN, YOU IDIOT!"

      "Keep it down, Pooper, or you'll wake the whole village."

"This is kidnapping!"

"Not unless the person wants to go with you."

"I don't want to go wherever the hell you're taking me!"

"Yeah, right." Fred scoffed sarcastically, carrying me away. But he finally came to a stop, gently dropping me down on the snow covered ground.

"Ow, my butt!" I groaned, glaring up at him as he laughed, sitting down beside me. "Why would you do that!?"

"What, I can't be alone with my girlfriend?" He raised a brow at me as he grinned. "The house is too crowded and Mum wouldn't let you stay with us. So I thought I would seize the moment."

"You're an idiot," I said, shaking my head at him in disappointment, trying hard to conceal my smile.

"Okay, listen," Fred started, clearing his throat, "about that Malfoy situation —"

"Ugh, not you too." I huffed, rolling my eyes. "I've got everything under control. You don't have to worry —"

"But I do worry, Lex," said Fred, sighing. His eyes had once again lost their mischievous glimmer. "I know you're trying to find out what he's up to. But haven't you thought of the consequences of getting closer to him?"

"Like what?"

"What if he figures out who you are?" Fred asked, looking at me worriedly. "Other than you and me, only Dumbledore, Sirius, and probably Remus know. But if Malfoy finds out, he wouldn't hesitate to tell his family. And growing up, I've heard enough stories about their lot from Dad to know what kind of a family they are."

"I know what kind of a family they are, but that doesn't make Draco one of them." Fred opened his mouth to respond, but I beat him into it when I said, "Just trust me. Everything will be fine."

There was a short pause as he looked back at me. "Promise?"

I nodded, smiling lightly. "Promise."

"Okay, then," Fred sighed again, getting to his feet and holding his hand out for me, helping me up as well before grinning. "Now how about we go see how George's doing with that girl? I've read about this new spell that makes someone wet their pants."