[2] The Great Orangenie | FRED WEASLEY

Chapter Forty Four

"Jasper's been up there a while," George remarked, the invisibility cloak tucked under his arm, "Do you think he's dead or just kicking Umbridge's arse."

Fred didn't respond for a few moments, peering suspiciously up the stairs before abruptly snapping back to his guarding stance, "I dunno, from what Aubrey said he's probably just yelling and pissing around ... maybe we should go check though."

It had been about ten minutes since they'd found Aubrey's father charging through the corridors and Fred was now starting to regret sending him up there. Jasper would never hurt Aubrey but from what he could tell Jasper was a passionate man and he was genuinely worried Aubrey could get caught in the crossfire.

Fred took a step forward but stopped suddenly, noticing his brother's brows were furrowed, "What?" 

"Thought I heard something..." No sooner had he said this when the clear sound of footsteps and voices drifted down and the twins stood back, pulling their wands out at the ready.

" - Dad, just tell me where we're going!" Aubrey's voice echoed around sending Fred's eyebrows so high in shock that they almost disappeared under his hairline.

Jasper seemed to ignore her as he came into view, his rainbow coat streaming out behind him which was somehow adding to his threatening manner rather than detracting from it. Within a few seconds, Aubrey came into view, her eyes wide and panicked.

"Dad, please don't leave me in the dark, you know I hate that!"

"I cannot with that woman," Jasper was murmuring to himself, storming past the twins. He didn't even look at them, so absorbed in his own problems that it was as if they weren't there, "Does she not hear herself? Gil died twenty-four years ago, if she would just take her head out of her arse for once and look at the world around her maybe she'd figure that out - "

"DAD!" Aubrey said sternly, "Where are we going?"

"Aubs, what's going on?" Fred rushed to her side, sizing Jasper up. He reckoned he could take him if need be.

"It all went weird ..." Aubrey murmured, clearly flustered which was unlike her, "I don't know what's going on anymore ... Dad, tell me where we're going or I'll ... I'll - "

"Go angry Badger on your arse," Fred finished for her.

Now this caught Jasper's attention, his brow furrowed, "Honestly, Dolly is ... I'm sorry, what did you just call my daughter?"

"The Angry Badger. I've only seen it a few times before, mostly when you insult her house although taking her somewhere blindly and questioning her authority is always a surefire way to get it to work. Her voice gets all high and she does a jabby hand gesture," Fred explained, "I'd tell her where you're taking her or ... well, don't say I didn't warn you."

Nobody was quite sure how to respond to this, Aubrey herself looking at him with wide, confused eyes. Then George moved, taking a stern step behind his brother before nodding, "He's right, I've seen it with my own eyes..."

It took Aubrey a moment to realise this was completely ad-libbed and attempted to join in, "Yeah ... me too ... oh wait."

Whatever was happening had worked though and Jasper was now looking between the three of them with confusion. Aubrey seized upon this chance, her voice calm and rational. Fred was almost a little sad: there would be no angry Badger today.

"Dad, please, just talk to me. I've just uncovered one thing: that Gil brought back old magic and the ancient creatures..." After this she paused and now it was Fred's turn to be slow, taking a few seconds to realise she was subtly letting him know what had happened in the limited time they had, "... and Umbridge thinks she body swapped into me. Yet there's still a lot of mysteries and I really don't need our location to be a mystery too so just tell me, okay?"