To Hell ~ Fred Weasley

Chapter 61.

Bedtime during the summer had become quite the task, for Helena had a hard time trying to find a comfortable position to sleep not to feel the heat. She would always toss and turn until her body got tired and eventually drifted off sound asleep. Tonight was not going to be different.

Or so she thought.

Helena got up in the middle of the night to grab a glass of water to calm her thirst. While reaching for a glass from the upper cupboards, she heard a noise coming from the fireplace in the living room. The girl took out the wand she had tucked on the side of her pajama shorts and pointed it to where the noise had originated. Before she knew it, green flames lighted up the chimney causing her to take a step back, getting startled by them.

A silhouette emerged from the flames.

"Note to self... gets dizzier when traveling alone," said a jovial male's voice.

She recognized that voice anywhere.

"Fred!" she whispered excitedly, tip-toeing to where the boy was standing. Helena threw her arms around the redhead to embrace him in a tight hug. She was thrilled to at last see someone from school, but it was more special since it was Fred. "What are you doing here? Where's George?"

It did seem odd to her that the redhead had stopped by without his twin's company.

"I heard from a little brown owl that there was a damsel in distress here..."

"Aww, Fred. I-"

"...Do you know where she is? Said she was sharing a room with a grumpy non-morning person," the boy joked, referring to Helena as the grumpy non-morning person.

"Ha. Ha. Very funny, Fred," she said rolling her eyes at him, although he probably couldn't see it since the only source of light was coming from the windows. "So, what brings you to London?"

"Well, the damsel in distress part is true," he informed. "I came here to bring you to Headquarters and spend the rest of the summer holiday there with the rest of us. I couldn't just let you sulk in here in this heat wave all alone. Huh, it feels hotter here than the flames from the Floo Powder. Ah-ha! Windows are all closed, let me pop open a window, Hell..."

"Headquarters? Wait... Window. No! Don't op--"

The sound of an alarm system echoed around the small apartment, an alarm Helena herself had installed with magic at her father's request. Helena and Fred immediately covered their ears with their hands to quiet down the loud quacking noise it was making. Why did her father choose a duck noise for an alarm system was still a mystery to her. The sound did not last long, for the alarm had been turned off but that only meant that Helena's father was alert.

"Katherine!" her father exclaimed while rubbing his eyes awake. "What's going on here?"

Andrew Rosemund would only use her middle name when he was startled or really upset.

Helena hoped it was the first reason right now.

"What on earth are you doing? You know windows are to remain closed at night," her father reminded her, then noticed the redhead's presence next to her daughter. "You, you're... Fred! No, George. Wait, no... it is Fred, right? Can't really see that well in the dark I'm afraid."

"Lumos," Helena said with a flick of her wand, being too lazy to go turn on the light switch. 

"Fred, I knew it," Andrew Rosemund said proudly, having guessed right. "What are you doing here in the middle of the night?"

Her father did not know the relationship status his daughter and Fred shared at the moment, but he still found it odd that the boy was standing in his living room so late at night. He stared at the boy waiting for an explanation.