Lemon Grass and Sleep

IN SICKNESS AND IN HEALTH

Fred leaned in, his forehead hitting my shoulder as he let out a deep sigh. His shoulders drooped down and I brought my hand up to rub his back a bit. His hands rested on my waist as he took a few more deep breaths.

"Amazing," he mumbled.

"What?" I asked softly.

"Must be weeks you've been away from that castle, and you still smell the same."

I felt my cheeks flush with embarrassment.

"What do you mean?"

"Lemon grass," he muttered, "And wonderful flowers, like a beautiful bed of them. Ugh, and fresh linens, how do you manage that?"

"Well, I'm glad," I said.

"You smell so good," he said again, his grip tightening a little. I felt a lump form in my throat as my body heated up a bit.

"Fred, your mum is gonna look over here soon."

"So what if she does?"

"If she knows we're dating, she'll make me sleep in another bed," I whispered. Fred immediately stood straight up and left plenty of room for Merlin between us.

"Very persuasive, Soot," he mumbled, almost looking a bit sullen as he went back to sweeping.

Once again I found my mind drifting off as I numbly stared at a bookshelf, thoughts of Hogwarts and friends. Mostly friends. I missed Glinda terribly at this point, and while the twins' snark had given me my daily fill of sarcasm, I missed Glinda's snobby wit.

"Lunch soon. You all go wash up, you hear me?" Molly shouted from the kitchen.

"Yeah, Mum," Fred and George called back in unison, tossing their brooms to the side. There wasn't even much to clean at this point, but Molly had been steadfast in her orders.

We all filed into the kitchen, which was noticeably quiet compared to every other day. It seemed like only Molly and Sirius were here at the moment, but I welcomed the lack of adults around. If I had to sit in one more cramped room filled with talk of the Ministry and Fudge I think I'd just keel over and die on the spot.

After we washed and wiped our hands, plates with sandwiches awaited us. I was so sick of sandwiches. Every day, sandwich for lunch. Hungry, need a snack? Sandwich. Want to sneak to the kitchen and eat something? There's just sandwiches.

"Mum, when are we going to Diagon Alley?" George asked, "We'll need some special stuff for seventh year, surely? What did Percy get?"

"Well, Percy's books and such will work just fine," Molly mumbled, wiping down the counters, "But Thomas, we'll have to go get you supplies."

The twins rolled their eyes. "Surely we could tag along and get some stuff too?" Fred asked.

"I'm fine, Ms. Weasley," I gave a small, awkward smile, "My supplies would already be at the school, surely."

"Ah, you're right," she gave a quiet 'tsk', "I do stay forgetting about that."

I avoided the twins' eyes and took some tiny bites out of my sandwich. In the moment, I didn't feel too hungry, let alone hungry for another sandwich. Ah, Hogwarts feasts...the welcome feast will be absolutely delectable I'm sure.

"The booklists will come tomorrow, surely, and if we need to go to Diagon Alley, so be it," Molly ended.

The three of us meandered back up to our bedroom, hearing Ron, Hermione, and Harry talking in the boys' bedroom. Briefly, I wondered where Ginny was, but it seemed too hard to keep track of her.