Scratches (Fred Weasley)

(192) The Only Remnant

The first two weeks of July were hectic.

Everyone was stretched pretty thin with the frequent Order meetings that had been occurring in regard to Harry's safety at his aunt and uncle's residency, that on top of their own personal endeavors. Multiple people had brought up the issue of his safety the minute Dumbledore was laid to rest. Everyone understood the urgency of the times, as well as the rapid escalation of danger within the wizarding world.

Apart from the Order, the Weasleys were also preoccupied with the wedding that was fast approaching. Despite Bill's accident, and the growing threat of Death Eaters, Fleur still insisted that the wedding will happen, in fact much earlier than the original date, and Florence was rather convinced that not even Voldemort himself would be able to stop her from marrying Bill. With Ginny and Ron being home from Hogwarts, it seemed as though there were no more roadblocks to Fleur's planning.

Bill was able to talk her out of the color scheme she had tried to impose on every single guest that was to attend. Because they were on a tighter time crunch, the Frenchwoman backed down rather begrudgingly, and allowed anyone to wear whatever colors they wanted, so long as it was semi-formal, and nothing white for the women.

Florence found the second year of training to be rather dull, once compared to the daily sparring and dueling that she had to do during her first year. She thought, rather bitterly, of how the program should have put the Concealment and Disguise phase during the first year and then follow it up with the physical training, so as to not lose momentum.

She felt like she was back in Hogwarts even more with the daily lectures and the classroom setup, especially since they were given books to study and were expected to answer quizzes and exams. Not to mention, Florence had thought that she had lost her studious touch, a theory which Fred and George quickly shut down the minute she brought it up.

"You can't lose your Ravenclaw-ness, Flo. You just can't. Its like how Fred and I can't lose our Gryffindor-ness." George said, "It stays with you, its a part of who you are."

"You're just rusty, is all." Fred chimed in, trying to make her feel better about losing her motivation to study properly, "You know, it's been ages since you actually had lessons to study. I'm sure you'll he back to your normal self when you start picking it up."

"I hope so." Florence grumbled, fishing a piece if parchment from the pocket of her uniform before setting it down on the coffee table, "They even sent us a book list, too. I'm probably gonna go see if Flourish and Blots has everything or if I need to place a special order." she sighed, "Since, no more library, I have to own the damn books."

"I can go with," Fred volunteered, "Books can be heavy. Maybe we could go after the Order meeting tomorrow."

Florence recalled their last meeting rather bitterly, "We've been having so many of those." she said, "I mean... today? Then tomorrow again... I know Harry's birthday is coming up... but it just seems so soon."

"I know," Fred said, "But its okay. When its over we'll have a little bit of time to relax with Fleur and Bill's wedding. George and I have already planned on closing the shop up for an entire week."

"Lisa's taking me to Wales to meet her parents." George chimed in, "Maybe you and Fred can take a nice little holiday out to the seaside or something."

This made a small smile appear on Florence's lips, "Hmm, the seaside.. Haven't been in ages. It would be nice."

"Yeah? Well then, seaside it is for my lovely lady."

The promise of a holiday after all the chaos eased Florence's nerves, feeling a little bit more energized as she, Fred and George apparated to the Price Manor for that night's Order meeting.