Charlie had been hanging out at the apartment more frequently over the course of the past few days. Wedding planning had taken over the entirety of the Burrow, and he felt suffocated being surrounded by Molly and Bill's constant bickering over the smallest of details. The apartment was the only place he was able to flee to. Neither the twins or Florence minded his presence, and even allowed him to stay for a night on the couch.
Florence woke up that morning to a very pleasant smell, before she felt Fred shift beside her, "Oh..." he said groggily, "I thought you were the one cooking?"
"Nope, I'm right here." she replied, shifting to face him, a smile subconsciously blooming on her face at the sight of his bed hair, "You got a nest of birds up here?" she joked as she ruffled his hair.
"Ha ha." Fred muttered, before burying his head in Florence's chest, "Why is Charlie even cooking? Its far too early."
"Actually... it's nine in the morning."
"Early." Fred insisted, "He should go back to bed. None of us have anything to do today."
"You're closing the shop for the day?"
"Yeah," Fred mumbled, flinging an arm over her torso, "Verity asked for today off. George and I don't feel like opening without her on Fridays. It's practically suicide. He and I can't take that many customers."
"I could help?"
He lifted his head to plant a lazy kiss on her jaw, the part of her face that he could reach in his position, "You've helped enough... Any more and we'd have to put you on our payroll."
"I don't mind getting paid," she joked, "I could use some income. This Auror thing isn't paying me yet."
"Well I'm sure that's not a problem with how much you have—"
"Breakfast is ready!" They heard Charlie call from the kitchen, making Fred groan. "No!" they heard George protest from his bedroom. There was a brief period of silence, before they heard Charlie banging two frying pans together, "Up, up!"
Fred closed his eyes, hoping the racket would eventually die down, but Charlie was relentless. Eventually Florence had convinced him to get out of bed, all of them gathering at the dining table where Charlie had set up the table for breakfast, "Consider this a thank you for allowing me to seek refuge from wedding planning. I really appreciate it."
"Would've appreciated it if you let us stay in bed," George grumbled, Fred making a noise of agreement. Florence smiled at Charlie, "The food looks lovely. Thank you."
Despite their grouchiness, the twins dug in to the meal. They spent most of the meal in silence, enjoying the food and trying to fully wake up for the day. Halfway in to it, Florence cleared her throat, "So, not to make this about the one thing you're trying to get away from but... had Fleur picked a wedding dress yet?"
"Not even close." Charlie huffed, spearing the egg yolk on his plate with a fork, "That tiny man stops by the Burrow at least twice in a day to bring her new selections, but she's turned her nose up at every single one." he said, "But I mean, I've expected that. She's been nitpicky about everything else. Even pocket squares! Pocket squares. Unbelievable."
"Well... a wedding dress is a big deal. I don't really blame her for that one. I remember my mum told me it took her a solid six months to find her dress."
"They don't really have that much time, too, only about a month.... and a couple of weeks..."
"Out of all the months why did Bill have to choose August. They could wait a little longer to get married," Charlie said, "Told him that and of course he said some waffle about not being able to wait once you're in love, and that I must not know what he's talking about cuz I've never been in love..." he muttered, "Even gave me an invitation with a plus one just to rub in my face how terribly single I am."
This made George chuckle, "Seems like he's given plus ones to a lot of the single people. I remember Nic mentioning awhile back that she got a plus one."
"Alexander too, I think." Florence chimed in, "Though he said he might be taking his sister, since she makes a very excellent social buffer being a Quidditch player and all."
Charlie perked up at this, "Adrianna's coming to the wedding?"
The three stared at Charlie, "Yeah, how do you know her?" Florence inquired, the twins looking just as intrigued, "Have you two met before?"
"Yeah, we were in the same year. We played Quidditch together, even."
"How has she never mentioned you?" Florence wondered out loud. Of course they knew each other. They were the same age, and in the same house, how could they not know each other?
"I haven't seen her in awhile, though." Charlie began, looking rather wistful at the thought of the blonde girl, "I saw her briefly at the world cup, though I wasn't able to talk to her. It'd be nice to get to during the wedding."
"Ookay..." George said, while Fred got straight to the point, "Did you two used to date?"
"Fred," Florence chastised, "That's personal..."
"What? We were all thinking it!" he protested, before looking back to his brother, "So did you?"
"I'm not gonna answer that."
"Oh come on!" Fred groaned, as Charlie got up to do the dishes, Fred, George and Florence whispering amongst themselves. "They totally dated." George concluded, earning nods of agreement from the other two, "You think Adrianna would tell you if you asked, love?" Fred said to Florence who looked thoughtful, "I'm not sure. But I'll try when I see her next."
"I can hear you three! Stop plotting!"
"Never!"
—————
Tension only seemed to worsen when Florence had visited the Manor once more after not knowing what else to do around the apartment for a week. She also noticed there were more Order members gathered there than usual. The office was also locked, despite everyone being out and about inside the house. From the threshold, she could already hear raised voices from inside the room, one of them distinctly being Sloan's. Julien shrugged, "Everyone but him has given up on getting him to see reason about making this mission a solo trip with Harry. The man won't budge, though."
Florence walked in and settled on to the couch, ready to hear more of what's been unraveling when Tonks came bouncing happily in to the living room, looking like the living embodiment of a ray of sunshine. "Wotcher, Florence!"
Julien smiled at the sight of Tonks, nodding his head in her direction, "Oh, by the way, someone has some very exciting news for you, Flo."
"What is it?" she asked, brows drawn together for a split second before realizing, a huge smile breaking out on her face almost instantly, "Oh my Merlin, Tonks! Oh, I'm beyond ecstatic! I'm so happy for the two of you!" she squealed, jumping off the couch to hug the pink haired woman. She pulled away, looking at her hand, "Oh, it looks absolutely beautiful on you! Just like I told him it would."
Tonks blushed slightly, "He told you about it?"
"Yeah, he was a little nervous you'd say no. He just needed a little push, and I was happy to be the one to do it because I know the both of you deserve each other. I'm glad he didn't take long to propose."
"Ohhh, you're gonna make me tear up again!" Tonks said, wiping at the corners of her eyes, making Julien chuckle, "She's bawled every time someone told her that. Every single time."
"Oh shush, you. I can't wait for you to find the love of your life so I can tease you when you get sentimental about it." Tonks shot back at Julien, who raised his arms up in surrender, "Okay, okay. I'm done now."
"The lady Jules will fall in love with will be one lucky lady, though." Florence said, "And he's gonna be extremely sappy too, I can already tell."
"No I won't."
"Yes." Tonks and Florence said simultaneously, the two of them laughing.
Their laughter had been cut short by the startling sound of the office door being thrown open rather aggressively, Sloan emerging from inside, the tips of his ears bright red as he stormed upstairs, to be followed by Sirius, Remus and Dumbledore exiting the room. Florence got up from her seat as Julien went after his father, "Headmaster."
"Its been awhile since I've been your Headmaster, Miss Price. Please, you may address me like everyone else." He said, a small smile on his face as he did so, "Its comforting to see you in good health. I assume you've had quite a bit of time to rest from your Auror program?"
"Yes, a lot of time actually. Most days I don't know what to do with myself."
"She's been coming over and sitting in for some Order meetings, too," Sirius told Dumbledore, "So she's up to date about the current situation."
"I see," he nodded, "Will I expect her to join the upcoming operation?"
Sirius looked hesitant, "We still have to talk about it, Sir."
"Very well." He said, "I will be returning to Hogwarts, I expect that everyone be ready, exactly like we planned. Please inform the rest, will you Sirius, Remus?"
"Yes sir." They said simultaneously. Everyone seemed to be holding their breaths as Dumbledore walked himself to the door, only returning to their normal breathing once he was out of the house, door closed and out of earshot. Sirius huffed, looking to Florence, "You aren't going."
She frowned, "Why not?"
"Why not? Because its dangerous."
She rolled her eyes, "Really? We're going at this again? Sirius, I've literally went through and passed a whole year of Auror training... a year ago your argument would have been valid."
"We might be dealing with far dangerous things, Florence. What if there will be Death Eaters? They already know you, and that you're a part of the Auror force but once they know you're in the Order as well that target on your back is gonna be bigger."
"They already know I am, Raegan's been watching me for months."
"What?" Sirius frowned, "What do you mean she's been watching you? How do you know this?"
Florence blanched under his stare, Remus and Tonks now joining in on the conversation, "Have you seen her somewhere?" Remus inquired, Florence shaking her head, "No."
"Florence...."
"Fine. I saw her at Fortescue's the day before my evaluations. She sat in the same booth as me and told me she's been watching me since she found out that I made it out of there alive." she admitted, feeling a weird sensation in the pit of her stomach as she watched their faces grow with concern, "I'm fine, though, she just gave me empty threats and left. It was no big deal."
"Why didn't you tell anyone about this?"
"Because it wasn't important." she insisted, Tonks shaking her head at this, "Well she nearly killed you, I wouldn't say that isn't important."
"She's right... You should be telling us things like this." Sirius said, "This shouldn't be taken lightly"
"I'm not taking it lightly," she argued, "I just didn't think it was worth mentioning. She's not that big of a threat. She got me that time because she caught me when I was unprepared. And that won't happen again."
"I still don't know if you should..." Sirius said, sighing deeply, "Why can't you just choose not being in danger for once?"
"I just want to help." Florence said, making Sirius huff, "Well then, you do what you want to do, dear. You're well past the age of needing permission, I forget that sometimes."
"I'll go talk to Sloan," Remus said, "We need to list down the people who are going to be in stand-by." he said, he and Tonks going up the stairs.
"But I worry for you, Florence." Sirius said, once the two were out of eyeshot, "These are terrible times. I know Jane wouldn't want you being in the center of all of this but I also know that even she wouldn't be able to stop you."
"I'll be careful," Florence said, trying to make him feel better about the situation, but to no avail.