just like heaven ── fred weasley

forty-seven

"He's there! Potter's there. Someone grab him!"

But as quickly as she'd offered up Harry's head on a silver platter, she'd been shunned, ostracised as an army of red, yellow and blue rose up, wands pointed and faces severe at even the suggestion.

"Thank you, Miss Parkinson," said Professor McGonagall, biting her tongue impressively. "You will leave the Hall first with Mr. Filch. If the rest of your House could follow."

With that, a rivulet of students glided out of the hall, green swirling into blue and then yellow, with only a minimal addition of red to finish off the stream. McGonagall, face as stern as stone, had to exert herself further to usher away the rest of the underage pupils, who were sporting a brave face despite the danger. Aspen envied them, the determination that steeled them to stay at just fourteen. Standing slumped at twenty-three, she'd never been more inclined to run.

Harry and the Order reconvened at the end of the Gryffindor table. Everyone leant in, squeezed tight, shoulders touching and breath baited as they awaited instructions. Aspen couldn't quite hear as Harry and Arthur conversed opposite, but it mattered not anyway as Kingsley spoke up, voice booming.

"We've only got half an hour until midnight, so we need to act fast. A battle plan has been agreed between the teachers of Hogwarts and the Order of the Phoenix. Professors Flitwick, Sprout and McGonagall are going to take groups of fighters up to the three highest towers — Ravenclaw, Astronomy, and Gryffindor — where they'll have good overview, excellent positions from which to work spells. Meanwhile Remus,"  — he indicated Remus — "Arthur," — he pointed toward Arthur, who sat near Harry — "and I will take groups into the grounds. We'll need somebody to organise defense of the entrances or the passageways into the school—"

"Sounds like a job for us," Fred called, and although he motioned at the three of them, Aspen shrank back, and it was only George who grinned eagerly in response to Kingsley's satisfied nod.

"All right, leaders up here and we'll divide up the troops!"

There was a brief rumble, the scraping of benches against dusty flagstone as the troops of Hogwarts students burst straight to work. Fred stood, holding out a hand for Aspen, but she shook her head, nodding almost imperceptibly in the direction of her younger sister, who had leapt into Remus Lupin's ranks at the very first chance, his most loyal soldier from the get-go.

"You two go," Aspen said softly, standing up onto her tiptoes so that Fred could hear her hushed tones over the hubbub. "No man left behind, you know?"

She felt his hands on her hips, the prints of his thumbs digging into the thick seams of denim there. Long after they'd hurried off in pursuit of different challenges, she'd feel his touch burning there, a reminder that as long as Fred existed, there was something left to live for.

"I get it," he said, and desperately pressed the briefest of kisses to her chewed, chapped lips. "Love you, Pen. I'll see you later?"

"See you later," she confirmed, and snuck another peck for good measure. She could feel his breath against her mouth, nestling on the tip of her tongue even as he pulled away from their temporary goodbye. "I love you, too. Be safe, yeah?"

A final squeeze of his hand and they were gone, falling away from one another in a haze. Remus was already filing his team out of the Great Hall, and Aspen could hear the squeak of her trainers against the paved floor as she raced to catch up. Alessia was at the forefront of the group, never one to fall behind. Aspen cradled herself in an open-palmed embrace, fingertips drawing comforting shapes on her abdomen as she tried to soothe the nerves with the remembrance of how Fred's touch felt against her, the perfect antidote to her anxieties.