International Love | Fred Weasley

Chapter 52

Part 3: The Half-Blood Prince

The first weeks of the summer fly by. I spend a week in France with Flora and the others to catch up and to enjoy the summer. When I return to Spinner's End, I'm greeted by a short man who opens the door before I get the chance to unlock it. He has grubby skin, small watery eyes, and a pointed nose. For a moment, we stare at one another and I wonder if I accidentally traveled back to the wrong house. After checking the house number, I confirm I'm back at number fifteen.

The man's eyes widen and he quickly bows. Even more confused, I stare at him. His voice is squeaky when he says: "Ms Dubos, welcome home. Welcome home."

When I don't move, the man bows again and opens the door further, gesturing for me to enter.

"Who are you and what are you doing in my house?" I ask, reaching for my wand.

"Elena!" The voice of my uncle makes the man jump. Behind him, my uncle appears. He turns to the man and says: "Thank you, Wormtail, you can go."

The man nods, bows again, and disappears into the house. Looking from the man to my uncle, I ask: "Who is that?"

"That was Wormtail," my uncle answers, reaching for my bag, "He is my... assistant."

I frown at him and step into the house, "If you need help brewing potion, you could have asked me."

My uncle heads for the sitting room and with a wave of his wand, he has my bag brought to my room. With a little bell, he summons Wormtail and tells him to make us a cup of tea. The man bows before leaving and I sit down in one of the armchairs.

"I know that, and I will. I don't really trust Wormtail near a cauldron," my uncle's face clouds. He turns back to me and says: "Wormtail helps me with a few things I don't want to bother you with."

I never learn what things exactly, but Wormtail gives me the creeps. He stares at me every time he passes by the brewing room where I spent time refilling our potions collection. My uncle seems to treat the man more like a servant than an assistant and I try to ignore the man as much as possible. It turns out to be a lot harder as the house is smaller than I thought.

My holiday in France has me thinking about applying to internships. Flora has been accepted into the Healer program at the Centre Hospitalier Saint Lapin, the French equivalent to St Mungo's. Xavier has been recruited for an internship at the French Ministry's Space Department which works closely with Muggles. Aline and Henry have decided to take a year off and travel before deciding what they want to do with the rest of their lives.

Sitting in my uncle's home office, I stare out of the window with a few rolls of blank parchment. My uncle would love for me to do something with potions and take on an apprentice with some of his Potion Master friends, but it doesn't feel right. Twirling my wand around in my hands, I decide to write Ollivander if he's interested in taking on an apprentice. My mind travels back to the night of the Yule Ball where I told Fred I dreamt of becoming a wandmaker.

That day during dinner – which only consists of me and my uncle since Wormtail eats in another room – I tell my uncle about the letter I send. I also tell him about how I'm planning to go back to work.

"Like you did last summer?" My uncle asks.

When I nod, he looks pleased. "You'll have something to do every day and earn some money."

And I will have a good reason not to be home all day, I add in my mind, looking over to where Wormtail is watering some plants.

When I step into Flourish and Blotts the next morning, I'm happily welcomed by Mr Fowler who assures me that I'm welcome to come back as his employee. Maika nods at me with a small smile when she brushes past to grab something from the office. Madame Malkin tells me the same thing as Mr Fowler and asks me how I liked my Ravenclaw uniform.