Dad caught me and hugged me tightly. “I missed you!” I told him quietly.
“I missed you too” he confessed just as quietly.
Most normal teenagers would consider themselves to be too old to be caught throwing themselves at their parent, especially at fifteen, but I’ve never considered myself ordinary…especially when my only parental figure puts himself in danger on a daily basis. It was nice to see him again.
Someone coughed and I felt dad’s posture stiffen before he dropped me, cleared his throat and said “as much as I appreciate the gesture, Lilliana, would you please make yourself presentable?”
I didn’t even blush when I realised that my top had ridden up and had tucked snuggled under my chest but I saw George sniggering quietly only shutting up when Fred elbowed him in the chest. There were more people in the room than what I remember. “Why? What’s wrong with what I’m wearing?”
“Lily, dear, why don’t you go and get yourself changed before breakfast?” Mrs Weasley suggested, taking the pressure off dad “then you can go out as soon as you’d like after you’ve eaten.”
“What do you mean ‘go out’?” I asked in confusion.
“Well” she smiled “we were discussing it last night; we’ve decided that Harry is going to be joining us sometime within the next twenty four hours so, whilst we decide how, you lot can do what you like today.”
“Oh!” I beamed “nice one, Mrs Weasley!”
“But it’s right back to work tomorrow” Molly told me sternly.
I just grinned at her again before I sprinted out of the kitchen and back up to my bedroom to change. Fred was sitting on my bed again. I padded over to him and sat beside him on the bed. “Well?” I asked with raised eyebrows.
“Well what?”
“Are you going to tell me what happened last night?”
“I…it doesn’t matter now.” He shuffled uncomfortable on the bed.
I rolled my eyes, slid off the bed and started to hunt for my clothes. “Avert your eyes, Weasley” I told him as I found my bra.
“But it’s more fun to watch” he grinned. The idea of him watching me change made me feel…weird; it wasn’t a bad weird, it was a feeling I’d felt before but only around Fred. I still can’t work out what it is but it made me blush and look away from him. “Hey” Fred said as he came over to me “I was only joking, I mean, you don’t have to do that.”
“It’s not that” I admitted, my heart beating faster as he rubbed my bare arms with his warm hands.
“Then what?”
“I’ll strike you a deal” I said quickly “you can watch…just this once…if you tell me your dream.”
“Uhm” he bit his lip “I’m not so sure that that’s such a great idea.” My heart dropped. He didn’t want to see me like that. I felt my eyes start to water and, once again, I turned away from him. “What…what did I- Oh…Lil, I didn’t mean it like that! Lil,” he turned me around to face him “I do want to watch but…I can barely control myself around you when you’re fully clothed!”
“Huh?” I frowned “what?”
It was his turn to blush. “You literally drive me crazy” he muttered so low that I could barely hear him “I don’t know if you understand or anything but-”
The penny dropped. “Fred” I cut in “I’m fifteen, of course I know what you’re talking about! Jeez, you make me feel so young sometimes.”
“Sorry” he grimaced. “It’s just” Fred looked at me “I really want to…you know but-”
I smiled at him “don’t worry about it. I understand…so, that deal?”
“Really?” His eyes widened.
“You look with your eyes” I reminded him as I held out my hand “no touching.”
“No touching” he agreed as he shook his agreement.
I changed as I normally would; I didn’t put on a show, I didn’t rush and I didn’t slow down for his entertainment. The deal was that he could watch me change not for me to do a strip tease. I stuck to the deal and so did he. So, once I was dressed in my shirt and shorts, I sat back down on the bed and waited.
“Basically” he sighed “George and I were seriously debating whether or not to go back this year. We’ve been working on more stuff for our joke shop and we are ready. We’re going back but only to promote some of our stuff. Well, we were talking about it last night just before bed and I dreamt that somehow we’d decided to not go back and when we went to visit you all everyone in the castle was dead.” He shuddered at the thought and I had a feeling that he was withholding some information from me. “I just remember entering Gryffindor common room and seeing you, Ron, Ginny and Harry all piled up in the corner…dead.”
I had no idea what to say to that so I just wrapped my arms around him and held him until a knock on the door broke us apart. “Mum says breakfast’s ready” Ginny said as she let herself in, not at all fazed that Fred was in there with me. “You know mum will literally kill you if she catches you, right?”
“We’ve been told” I smiled.
Ginny winked “you coming or do you two new a few minutes? I could tell mum that you’re looking through my clothes or something.”
“What on earth do you think we’re doing?” Fred asked.
She shrugged “no idea and I don’t want to know either.”
“Be there in a sec, Gin” I told her and waited until she’d left before turning back to Fred and saying “when I’m sixteen.”
Breakfast was a hasty affair; we were all eager to finish so that we could get out of the stuffy, dusty, old house and into the fresh air but I also wanted to talk to my dad before he disappeared again. “I hope you’ve been behaving, Lilliana” he stated.
“I’m fifteen” I replied through a mouthful of scrambled egg “not five.”
“Yes” he said “the last time I left you, you threw a party and trashed the house.”
“She’s been fine” Molly assured him “she’s been really helpful around here.”
“Yeah!” I agreed forcefully “I tidied up the entire attic yesterday and that wasn’t exactly easy!” I peered up at him before asking “so…what have you been doing?”
Dad sighed “Lily, you know that I can’t tell you.”
“No harm in trying” I sighed before shoving my last sausage whole into my mouth and announced “finished!” Before choking on my mouthful and having to be slammed in the back by Lupin.
When Hermione, Ron, George, Ginny, Fred and I stepped out of number 12, none of us had any plans so Hermione and I decided to show them round some muggle sweet shops. I was really craving some Skittles. “What’s your favourite colour?” Fred asked as we walked hand in hand around a big shopping centre.
“Turquoise” I frowned “why?”
“Well, George and I made these…things; they’re bred from puffskeins, we call them pigmypuffs and I was going to give you one.”
“Where did you get puffskeins from?” I asked.
“In one of the rooms we cleared out” he grinned “we only have a few so far but they come out in different colours.”
I looked at him in awe as I said “Fred Weasley, that is genius…I may just have to kiss you!”
“Well don’t hold back!” He chuckled and then stopped when I grabbed him and planted a wet one right on the lips.
“Really?” Ron scowled as he pushed past us.
“You’re just grumpy because the mars bar you had didn’t do anything” I stated as I let go of Fred and started walking again.
“And you call those sweets” he growled.
“Chocolate actually” Hermione corrected.
All in all, despite Ron’s attitude, it was a pretty good day. We spent the morning together checking out muggle shops and then decided to eat at Pizza hut because the only person who’d eaten there was Hermione and I’d always wanted to try it.
Pizza hut melts Ron’s mood.
Harry wasn’t there when we got back but we were assured that he’d be there before dinner. We were then sent upstairs so that the members of the Order could have their private chat.
“I wonder how he’s getting here” Ginny wondered aloud whilst we watched George and Ron play chess.
“Maybe Dumbledore’s getting him?” Fred suggested.
I shook my head “I don’t think so; I think he was the one who arrived late.”
“Either way” Ron said as he took George’s queen and placed him in check “I hope he hurry’s up, I’m starving!”
Hermione rolled her eyes and was just about to say something when the front door opened and Mrs Black’s portrait started to scream (long story). We all looked at each other before scrambling up and hurrying to see who’d just arrived. I was first to the landing; I looked over the banister and beamed when I saw a head of jet black hair. “Harry!”