An Affair to Remember (Fred Weasley)

45) Just a dream?

But this wasn't just any dream. And that wasn't just any woman. She was the same woman he had eaten dinner with a few days ago, Adrienne. the same woman who had appeared in other such dreams of his ever since he went on that double date.

The first dream came on the night he met her, it was a dream filled with stars, smoke and cold, shimmery lakes. She was there too, her body glowing under the pale moonlight, a cigarette hanging between her lips.

The next dream came the next night, a dream in which Adrienne wore a figure-hugging red dress as she looked at herself in the mirror. Fred pulled her into him and danced with her, whispering words in her ear that made her cheeks warm up.

The third one was of them in the rain, but he couldn't tell if they were crying or laughing, or yelling at each other. But he knew that they were having an important conversation before the both of them found themselves in each other's arms.

The fourth was from last night. This time, he recognised where it took place. It was in the shed in the Burrow, they were yet again having another conversation but he couldn't place it. The only thing that remained constant in all these dreams were him and Adrienne.

The last dream was the one he had just now this afternoon after he had run up from work for a short nap. But something told him that these weren't just dreams, these were visions. Each time he saw them, he felt as if he had experienced them before. And each time he felt that, more visions would come to his head, even if he wasn't sleeping.

Just yesterday afternoon he was at The Burrow, and when he went into the kitchen to wash his plate, he noticed a can of whipped cream laying on the counter. Next to it sat the trifle his mum had made earlier in the morning. He couldn't understand what was happening but he could see just the smallest snippets of some visions that included the same objects laying on the counter at the moment.

He was definitely going crazy.

Fred wiped the sweat from his brow and got out of bed, putting on his tie so he could get back to work again. He was no stranger to odd dreams but this was something else. Another thing he couldn't understand was the location of the dreams. It looked like a small, wooden cabin, where the sun always shone and the sky was always blue.

As he walked down the stairs, her laughter echoed through his mind, giving him chills. Adrienne was a woman he had only met once, then why did it seem as if he had known her forever?

He stood behind the counter and saw that George had stuck a sticky note on it. It read: 'At Nev's. Slughorn will be around by 4 to pick up the potions"

Fred glanced at the clock which read 3:59. The bell rang as the door was opened and a jolly, plump man walked in. He was balding and his eyelashes looked grey, bringing out the depth in his eyes. "Mr. Weasley! Good Evening" he greeted.

"Good Evening Professor Slughorn! I'll get your potions right away" Fred smiled, using his wand to summon a carton of potions and handing them to Slughorn. "Thank you, my students have been begging me to use Weasley products for my demonstration classes, and they're right, you both are a talented pair" he said cheerily.

"Thank you Professor" replied Fred. Never in his wildest dreams had he imagined being complimented by a Hogwarts Professor. Just as Slughorn was about to leave, another thought passed through Fred's mind.

"Erm...Professor? I was wondering if you remembered having a student named Adrienne? Say about seven years ago?"

Slughorn's face lit up "Oh yes! Not very gifted in potions, or charms for that matter, but she was talented in Care of Magical Creatures and Herbology! Her parents are good friends of mine, Michael and Delphine Ellis"