Isn't He Lovely • A Fred Weasley Story

l o n d o n

WOOSH.

With a rush of green flames flooding around me, I open my eyes to see myself standing in a fireplace facing a rather large room.

Bustling witches and wizards are all around me, identical fireplaces lined up at my sides with people hurrying out of them carrying briefcases, bags, or just themselves.

The room appears to be like a sort of aeroport-style space with rows of seats containing people who seem to be waiting for visitors to arrive out of the green flames, revolving glass doors at the entrance leading out to King's Cross Station, and a few security guard type wizards manning the doors and keeping their eyes alert, pointed attentively towards the fireplaces.

I step out of the fireplace, only to hear the flames roar again behind me.

I whip my head around to see Fred and George standing side by side with wide grins, dusting off their trousers a bit and stepping out to join me.

"I've never been here before," I whisper to the two of them as we move off to the side. "It's really quite interesting."

"Yeah, I'd say it's a pretty good system," George nods and dodges a hunched, hurrying old wizard scurrying about. "It is a bit... busy, though."

"There's Hermione and Ginny," Fred says, his eyes pointed towards the fireplace we came out of.

I look to see the two girls standing together as green flames recoil down to the ground again. They step out and join us, Hermione looking around with intrigue at the new area.

"Wow! This place is busy!" Hermione comments. "Harry and Ron are right behind us, same with Lee..."

As she pointed out, we turn to see the two boys appear from the fire and open their eyes in awe. They spot us and hurry over, only to have Lee arrive just behind them as he aggressively dusts off a bit of soot from his pants and steps out.

We all huddle together within the noisy crowd of witches and wizards, gathering quickly in order to avoid drifting apart in the sea of people.

"Come on, we've got to get out to King's Cross," George says, leaning into the group. He juts his head to the exit behind us and adds, "out those doors; let's go."

We move together, tightly packed as the sight of the revolving doors grows closer. As soon as we reach the exit, George steps in and pushes through with his twin, Harry and Ron behind them, then Hermione and Ginny, and lastly, Lee and I.

We step out of the door to the bright lights of King's Cross Station, hearing the distant noise of train whistles and the muffled sounds of echoing announcements over the chattering crowd.

Fred slips his hand into mine as we all walk together to find the bricks separating the magical side to King's Cross and the unknowing muggle platform. As soon as we spot it, Fred and I take our positions with the group right behind us.

"Ready?" he smiles at me. 

"Born ready," I reply, grinning right back.

We turn our focus back to the wall and in a flash of a moment, we've launched through, hand in hand, and jogged out the other end.

Just as busy as King's Cross, London Station is teeming with hectic travelers determined to get to wherever they need to go all around us. Muggles hurry past us without another thought, the enchantment on the brick wall making them look the other way as to not notice wizards going in and out.

Fred pulls me off to the side just in time for George and Lee to push through the other end together. They slow to a stop, the two of them looking around with bright smiles. George throws an arm around Lee and strolls over to stand with Fred and I.