Holy shit.
"You're literally the dumbest person alive Ophelia I swear. What magical being loses something and doesn't think Accio? Incredible." Annie huffs.
Holy shit.
"I'm not saying that I could be snogging someone right now but that is a very real possibility that could be happening right now and the only reason that it's not is because my twin sister is a moron," Cassie says.
Holy shit.
"Accio. Five letter word. You couldn't think of a five-letter word for four damn years!" Theo says loudly.
I spin around and look at my siblings, "Would you all shut up. Shut the fuck up! This can't happen if you people get us caught!"
"What can't happen?" Uncle Fred says coming up from the ground nearby.
I turn to look at him and smile really big. The stone that I've had clutched in my hand ever since we found it starts to pulse rhythmically.
"You coming home," I say nearly getting teary-eyed at the thought of it.
Uncle Fred stops moving, "No fucking way did you pull it off." He says with a big smile on his face.
"You're right. She didn't. She's an idiot and deserves no rights. Cassie is the one that technically did it." Annie says.
"Who invited you?" I say to her.
Annie rolls her eyes, "You did pudding brain."
"Holy shit you people can we just get this over with so we can go back to bed?" Cassie says.
'Where are we doing this?" Theo asks.
"Prefects bathroom," I say confidently.
The four of them look at me. "Hate to break it to you dumbass but none of us are prefects."
"Moaning Myrtle's bathroom then. No one goes in there." I suggest.
Uncle Fred pulls a face, "God please not her bathroom. She's been trying to get in my ghost pants for like twenty-five years." He shudders. "Prefects bathroom makes more sense. And don't even try to tell me that you don't know how to get in there Ophelia."
I smile, "You're right. Okay, let's go."
Running through the castle after curfew is fine when it's just you. But when it's you, your dead but soon-to-be alive uncle, and your three siblings who all want to kill you for different reasons, it's a little harder.
"I'm not walking up there. Not a chance." Annie says crossing her arms at the bottom of the hidden staircase that will lead us right to the prefect's bathroom.
"Annabeth, I'm going to kill you and then use the stone to bring you back just so I can kill you again." Theo says, "Get up the stairs."
"The hostility." Uncle Fred says.
We all glare at him, "Now is not the time sir." I say which makes him laugh.
Annabeth finally agrees to climb the old staircase and we make it up to the prefect's bathroom in no time.
I pull the potions out of my backpack that I've been carrying and go sit in the middle of the floor. Cassie, Theo, and Annie all come to sit down with me so we are in a little circle.
"Okay, now what?" Theo asks.
I glare at them, "Impatient bastard."
"It's like three in the morning Ophelia."
I hand the ageing potion and the everlasting elixir to Cassie so she can mix them together and measure out the right amount of potion for how many years we need to age up Uncle Fred.
"One fluid ounce for every year that we want added," I instruct Cass.
She nods, then stops, "How old is Dad?"
No one says anything for a minute, not even Uncle Fred.
"Forty-seven," Annie says.
Uncle Fred makes a gagging noise, "You're telling me I'm gonna be forty-seven at the end of this? Fuck me."
"Rather be dead?" I say, not really in the mood to deal with Uncle Fred right now.
That shuts him up quickly.
"You're how old right now Uncle Fred?"
"Twenty... no, twenty-one cause I died a month after my birthday." Uncle Fred stops for a second, "Yeah, twenty-one."
"You don't sound sure," Theo says.
"I've been dead for a very long time. Excuse me if I can't remember how old I am physically."
"Twenty-six fluid ounces then," Cassie says. She looks around the circle making sure that we are all on the same page before she gets to work prepping the potions.
"Okay. So this shouldn't hurt I don't think." I mumble.
Uncle Fred laughs, "You don't think?"
"I just have to concentrate. You're already not as see-through as you were before. So if I just hold this stone super tight then you should become flesh again."
"I should." Uncle Fred repeats.
I look down at the stone in my palm, "That's the plan."
I close my eyes and close my hand around the stone. I don't really know what I'm supposed to be thinking of right now so I just kind of wing it. I close off my only working ear and picture old photographs of Uncle Fred that we have around the house. I imagine feeling my Uncle giving me a hug for the very first time. I imagine Dad crying when he sees what I've done. I picture my Uncle Fred. Identical to my father down to the last freckle, all except an ear.
The stone in my hand heats up, it gets so hot that I almost want to drop it. The skin on my hand is screaming at me to let it go.
Then I get tired, insanely tired, more so than I was. I can't think straight. Why am I holding onto this rock so hard? Just let it go.... Let it go and go to sleep....
"Holy fucking shit." I hear Cassie whisper.
I open my eyes slowly, even though my entire body is telling me to leave them closed and take a nap.
Standing in front of me, for the first time, in the flesh. Is my uncle. Fred Weasley.
Uncle Fred looks down at his hands, then his clothes, then at us. "I – wow." He whispers.
Annie stands up from the spot on the floor. She goes over to Uncle Fred carefully, stands in front of him for a moment, before wrapping her arms around his torso and gives him a hug.
Uncle Fred instantly starts to sob. He picks Annie up off the ground and holds her close against him, "Hi Annabeth," He whispers. His breath makes the air on Annie's head move just a little.
"It worked." I say, my voice is practically gone at this point so I can't say anything above a whisper, "Cass..." I clear my throat and try again, "Cass is that potion ready?"
Cassie, who is also in tears, I think we are all at this point, nods and stands up, bringing the cup of measured potion over to Uncle Fred.
He puts Annie back down on the ground and wipes his face on his shirt sleeve. "Holy shit. I – I can feel my shirt against my skin." He whispers.
"Here," Cassie says to Uncle Fred, "Drink."
Uncle Fred takes the cup from her carefully, like he thinks that he's just going to phase right through it. But when that doesn't happen, when he actually holds the cup he lets out a nervous laugh, "I can't fucking believe this." He whispers to no one but himself and he downs the entire cup in one gulp.
It takes a second for the potion to actually start working. But it does. We watch our Uncle age twenty-six years right before our eyes. His body shape changes, wrinkles form on his forehead, his hair gets all peppery like Dads has gotten.
Uncle Fred smiles really big, "How do I look?"
"Old as shit," Cassie says.
Uncle Fred smiles even bigger and pulls her in for a hug, "You lot are the wildest fucking people I've ever met."
I smile at my Uncle. My alive, healthy, happy Uncle,
"Yeah mate, we're the Weasleys."
Then I pass out.