DIAGON ALLEY
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I stood up from Fred's lap as soon as George entered the room with an accomplice smirk on his face. The three of us stayed in the twins' dorm for the rest of the day chatting and listening to some of the music the boys had. By the dusk, I was already exhausted and Mrs Weasley offered me one of her other sons' empty rooms, I ended up in a mostly empty one with higher views and a red wall full of quidditch and different magical creatures posters. Especially, it was full of pictures of dragons. I was in Charlie Weasley's bedroom.
Without daring to investigate a little bit more in the room, I let myself fall on the soft, clean bed and fell immediately asleep under the light coming from the full moon.
By the time I woke up the next day morning, Remus had already arrived - quite drawn and with a new little scar on his face - and was waiting for me in the kitchen with Mrs Weasley telling him off for not eating enough.
The twins got downstairs as well, freshly showered and dressed, with backpacks on their backs, ready to leave too.
"Oh, you're leaving? I'm going to be alone?" Mrs Weasley made a slight pout, staring at her sons.
The two boys rolled their eyes at the same time; "We've told you we would spend our first night at our flat today, and you won't be alone, mum, Ron and Ginny are arriving soon."
"Oh, yes, my last babies left..." she murmured caressing the twins' cheeks and hugging them.
"Ready to appear, dear?" Remus caught my attention, interlacing his arm with mine.
"Sure. Mrs Weasley-" I called her. "Thank you so much again."
She smiled widely at me. "Nothing to thank for, dear. You're welcome here whenever you want."
Soon after, Remus grabbed his wand and silently made us disappear from the Burrow. I closed my eyes because I genuinely hated the revolting in my stomach the spell left, and when I finally felt solid ground under my feet, I opened my eyes.
"Where are we?"
"Chapman Street, one of the less crowded neighbourhoods in London. My flat is in this building. I have antiapparition spells inside of it and I suggest you do the same once Liv and you get yours."
Remus's place was incredibly nice and cosy, way more than I expected. It was quite small, with its two individual dorms, and not too full of furniture, but it had a homely and soft vibe that made me feel comfortable as soon as I set a foot inside. The views weren't as astonishing or beautiful as the ones from the Burrow or Grimmauld, but still, it was warm and welcoming. Once Remus showed me the room where I'd be staying, he put a The Beatles vinyl record on his old gramophone and prepared hot coffee for both of us. We sat at one of the windows with our mugs and the music in the background.
"Dora will be coming later, I bet you wanna see her, don't ya?" he said, after a couple of minutes in silence.
"Yes! I'd have seen her sooner if you had let me."
"You know I'm not planning to risk you, Lilith. It's already dodgy enough to let you go freely through Diagon Alley and the Quidditch field if the Harpies finally get you in."
"I'm not restraining myself because of the bloody Death Eaters. Besides, there hasn't been any other move lately, has it?"
Remus sighed and started to give me every single detail the Order discussed since it formed for the second time. There had not been any other attack, but the Wizarding World was fuming with Fudge and they were demanding him to quit his position as Minister. Not that I felt pity for him, the man had been completely useless...
"And do you think they're going to attack again?" I questioned, gaining an ironic snort from Remus.
"You tell me."
I wondered if I certainly knew the Death Eaters as well as I thought I did.
"I think they might try something against the muggles. The Wizarding World is getting ready whether to join them or to fight back, the muggles aren't expecting anything. Also, it would get them more attention and fear."
Let It Be started to fill the place with its soft melody and Remus let out a long sigh as a nostalgic smile covered his face.
"You know? Sirius used to love this song. We danced it together thousands of times at Hogwarts," he confessed, letting out a little snicker as if he was reliving those memories. I couldn't help but smile and grab his hand to caress it. "We did again one time at Grimmauld, for his birthday."
"That's so beautiful, Remus..." I whispered and he kinda blushed. I quickly spoke again, avoiding making him uncomfortable. "But I'm not surprised Sirius loved this song. I don't know a single person who doesn't like The Beatles."
A bigger smile formed on the man's face, still with his eyes lost. "A good old friend of mine used to say that nothing can go wrong when you are listening to The Beatles," he spoke paused. "And he was right, I have their songs all attached to only good memories."
"Was he the same old friend who gave you so good advice and the guitar Fred and George now own?"
He snickered and after a while, nodded. "You would have liked him, and he would have adored you."
"I wonder what's his name..." I smiled at him.
Remus was about to answer but before he could, we saw a white dot in the sky approaching us. The man by my side opened the window as soon as he noticed it was little Iris the one arriving with a letter in her beak.
"It's Draco's response!" I announced, starting to decipher the code the letter had. Before leaving the Burrow, I managed to send a coded letter to Draco, enchanting it for him to be the only one who could read it.
"What does it say?" Remus tried to read over my shoulder, but frowned his eyebrows, confused, once he noticed he couldn't understand it. I read it out loud for him;
Lilith;
Father is still imprisoned, I'm constantly controlled by my aunt Bellatrix and by my mother. They don't want me to hear their conversations but I have managed to know that I might be in danger. My mother suggested talking to Snape, I hope she was referring to your uncle, and Bellatrix tried to convince her not to, which made me guess that whatever they are getting me into, it has to do with the Dark Lord. For your protection, I'll be abstaining from writing to you or even mentioning you. I'll try to visit you alone at Diagon Alley, where I hope we can speak freely, before the start of the new course.
Stay safe.
Loving you and missing you,
Draco L. Malfoy.
P.S; please, do not worry about me. Whether I'm actually in danger or not, I don't want you to make any foolish movement. I promise I'll tell you everything.
"Is he becoming a Death Eater?!" My voice trembled, crumpling the paper between my hands.
"No, no, I don't think so. Keep in mind these sentences; ' I might be in danger ' and ' whatever they are getting me into ' "Remus quoted, while sitting again. "Maybe Voldemort has the Malfoys threatened. After all, it was Lucius's duty to get the prophecy and he did not only fail but also got caught by the Aurors."
"Do you think he might be trying to punish Lucius and Narcissa by using Draco?" I asked, feeling a big knot in my throat and completely powerless. I still had that need to protect the blond boy, to keep him under my care and away from his parents' reckless and motivated by bigotry decisions.
"Honestly, it wouldn't surprise me. He doesn't like mistakes."
I sighed hardly, "Remus, I have to do something. I can't let them hurt Draco."
But the man tutted, "Keep your mind clear, Lilith, and think like the Slytherin you are. What's the best choice?"
The words came immediately out of my mouth; "To stay out of it for the moment. Bellatrix is the biggest fanatic of You-know-who but Narcissa would never let him hurt Draco. I'm not very sure about Lestrange but I bet Narcissa would try anything to evade whatever punishment He has for Malfoy."
"That's right. Besides, you know Draco is way intelligent than many people think."
"He knows how to take care of himself. Also, after what Harry told me at the Burrow, if I make them notice me, I'd drag my mother's attention."
"And we, certainly, don't want that."
Even though I still wanted to run to the Malfoy Manor and drag Draco out of there and protect him, I nodded and finished the already cold coffee from my mug.
✵ ✵ ✵
The week at Remus home went by quicker than I thought. I was incredibly comfortable around him and every two days, Tonks came to spend time with us. I had missed her so much and I was so happy to have her around me again, that I almost glued myself to the woman every time she was at the flat. Lupin continued being as caring and protective as he had been and made sure I was comfortable. He also started to show me every clue and every progress the Order was doing, to make me an active member in it.
On Friday, Remus took me and my trunk to the most famous magic street in London, where Liv was waiting for me at the porch of a big building, more exactly 92 Diagon Alley. Our new home was waiting for us.
"Finally! Morning!" the blonde girl opened her arms to hug me as soon as we pictured each other in the distance. She had a couple of keys in her left hand and her trunk by her side.
"My fault, I couldn't find my suit, we would've been earlier here otherwise." Remus excused while I hugged tightly Liv between my arms. "Have you got inside already, Liv?"
"No. Dad did yesterday and he came back home saying he loved it."
"It's in a good location, in the middle of the Alley," I observed around and my eyes focused for a minute on the building next to ours. It was a purple one that seemed to be under construction. "What's this?"
Liv turned around to give a quick look at where I was pointing. "Oh, I heard's a new shop, don't know of what, though. It used to be an old robes shop but the owner died. Dad said his children wanted to get rid of it soon so they sold it, it was bought a few weeks ago."
"Shall we enter your new home, ladies?" Remus asked, getting our attention back and grabbing the keys from Liv's hand to quickly open the big door.
"The building is empty except our flat. It used to belong to the same man but I already told you how dad got it." Olivia explained as she made us get upstairs. We ended up on the fourth floor. The wood door opened and we found a clean, 70s inspired, cosy and well-illuminated apartment, way bigger than what I expected.
My mouth opened widely and I heard Liv snickering of pure surprise.
"Oh, dear Godric..." Remus whispered, covering every corner of the place with his eyes. "Girls, this place is absolutely beautiful! What a taste your father has, Olivia!"
It was incredibly beautiful, with big windows, enough space for the two of us and a really warm vibe that instantly got me.
"Liv, this is completely perfect. I fucking love it!" I opened the dorm's door to have a look inside of them. One of them had white walls with some plants decorating them, a huge window and a bed that looked incredibly comfortable. The other one had also white walls, a very little balcony of which window looked to the next building, and a big bed as appealing as the one in the first room. This was mine.
"I want this one!" I announced, quickly dragging my trunk to it. Liv laughed and let out an excited little scream when she saw closely the room that was going to be hers.
We spent the rest of the day accomodating our stuff. Soon, the walls in my room were covered by my Slytherin ties, pennants and flags along with some Quidditch posters; including the one Remus got me from the Harpies, some posters of muggle bands, candles and the notes people wrote me that I used to have also hung at my dorm at Slytherin. I put my drawing notepad on the nightstand next to my bed and magically put all my clothes in the big wardrobe.
Remus appeared soon at the door, leaning against the frame as he observed my room.
"It's so lovely, dear," he observed the entire space grinning. "I'm making dinner, Xenophillus was smart enough to bring you two some food at some point during the morning."
"Thanks, Remus!"
"Oh, I also have something for ya," he continued while rummaging in his pockets. He finally took whatever he was looking for and put the tiny object over one of the nightstands that remain untouched. "Liv told me your old gramophone stopped working. I know you own a cassette player but I made appear something from Sirius's home I reckon he'd have liked you to have it. Besides, if his house is now actually the property of Bellatrix, I highly doubt she'd miss this."
Performing an Engorgio, Sirius's old but well-treated gramophone took back its original size in front of my eyes.
"Oh, Merlin, Remus!"
"Now it's yours," he smiled, happily, and I ran to hug him, thanking him for everything he had done.
I got out of my room, giving a quick gaze at Liv's which was decorated with some of her Hufflepuff stuff, more plants, pictures of me, Luna, her dad and Pauline, muggle novels, some of her clothes hanging from the ceiling just like she did at the Lovegoods house, and that constant smell of cookies and honey her room at Hogwarts used to have.
We had dinner with Remus and then he left us since Dora was waiting for him at his place - whatever weird thing they had on was waking up my curiosity but I rathered not to ask so soon -. Liv and I were so excited and happy about being finally together at our own home that we kept awake until past midnight.
"Can you believe we are finally here?!" Liv shouted with pure excitement, letting herself fall on our couch.
I quickly laid beside her, letting the music from my room fill all the space in the house. "It feels like a bloody dream..." My cheeks hurt because of how much I kept smiling during the whole day. It actually felt like a dream.
"Next week I'm going to enrol at Uni. To start studying Psychology this September. Dad told me there is a special hidden part for wizards and witches in all muggle universities and it validates our marks from the wizarding schools with the muggle ones. I can't wait!"
"That's great! I think I might go on Monday to the Quidditch field to start training. Heard no one will be using it until the tryouts in September."
We kept chatting till it was 2 A.M. It didn't matter how many years we had been friends, how much time we spent together or what happened through the day; Liv and I always had lots of things to talk about.
Letting myself fall over my new and comfortable bed, the only thought that kept me awake - against my will - was Fred. Will I see him soon? How much I will have to wait? Is he going to be in the Order's reunions? He has to. I bet he is. When is the next Order's reunion? I spurned those thoughts out of my head and concentrated on the music and the stars that could be seen from my window. Soon after, I fell asleep with the dim humming of the music from the record playing, feeling my fresh and soft sheets hugging me and trapping me into a comfortable dream. Luckily, it had passed almost two weeks since my last nightmare and I hoped it could stay like that.
By the time I stood up from my bed, the sun was entering very slightly through my window, with the golden dawn light.
I got out of my room, with a cig hanging from my lips ready to have my morning orange juice and my tea, humming very softly the song I fell asleep with, careful not to wake up Olivia. As I had the first sip my eyes went lazily to the window and I froze in my place.
There was barely any distance between our building and the next one so I could see quite good parts of the flat in it. From my window, I saw a ginger boy entering the kitchen with no shirt, plaid pyjama trousers and messy hair, grabbing a mug and leaning against the counter with an almost finished cig hanging from his lips. His eyes met mine and he raised his eyebrows but didn't change the mischievous and still a bit sleepy smile on his face.
"Morning, neighbour." Fred Weasley murmured, loudly enough for me to hear him.
"What are you doing in there?" Stupid question.
"Sunny morning, innit?" he ignored me.
"Fred..."
"Isn't it obvious, darling? I live here," he winked, leaning against the window frame.
"That's your flat?!"
"Yeah, and the shop under its Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes," he smiled, with an obvious tone. "We will be opening in a month more or less."
"Oh, Merlin!"
"Nice place you've got in there. Hope you can show it to me soon more in detail," he smirked, to then give a long sip to his steamy drink. "I can show you mine whenever you want."
Another ginger head appeared behind Fred and his smile got wider. "Look who we have as neighbours, Georgie."
George made a space for himself next to his brother and chuckled as soon as he saw me. "Lilith! Good to see you!"
"Merlin's balls! You've got to be kidding me!" I heard Liv laughing behind me, tieing her thin white robe around her body.
"Morning, Oli!" the twins said at the same time, waving at us.
"Good morning, boys," she said, pretty amused, as she got closer to me and still waving at them, she whispered in my ear. "And you thought you would miss him. HA!"
Life is full of surprises...