When Fire Meets Winters

CHAPTER ONE -- TRAIN RIDES & WANDERING THOUGHTS

"Mackenzie! Mackenzie! Get up! We've arrived at King's Cross!" Hermione says as she shakes me awake. My eyes open to see her standing in front of me in her normal clothes, Crookshanks in her arms, and her bag on her shoulder. Luckily for me, I changed out of my dress robes and into my normal clothes as soon as we left Hogwarts. I get up, gather my things, absentmindedly shoving them into my own bag, grab Duckie, then run after Hermione to catch up with the rest of our friends. I spot Molly and Arthur waiting for us with warm smiles and open arms.

We gather our luggage and pile it outside the station so that Arthur and Molly can apparate us to the Burrow. They take Ginny, Courtney, Lorenzo, and Harry first, leaving me with Fred, George, Ron and Hermione. "Have a nice snooze there, Freddie?" George teases his twin as he ruffles his hair.

"Oh shut it, you git," Fred responds, running his hands through his hair to fix it, "I only slept on the train because I couldn't stand to listen to you flirt with Lee for one more second! Third-wheeling you guys is bloody hell!"

"Kenzie fell asleep on the train too!" Ron adds.

"Only because everyone else was all over each other!" I defend, "Forget third-wheeling, fifth wheeling is so much worse."

"You could've come into our compartment, Kenz," George offers, "then Fred would have had someone to talk to instead of snoring like a bloody swine." The familiar crack of apparition sounds, and the Weasley parents appear next to us.

"Sorry about the wait, dears," Molly starts, "Bill and Charlie were there to surprise us when we got there, so we had to say hello."

"Bill and Charlie are home!?" I exclaim, "Well, let's go then!"

"I swear, it's like you love them more than you love us," Fred complains.

"That's because I do," I reply, sticking my tongue out at him and grabbing on to Molly's left arm. Ron had her right arm, George and Hermione had one of Arthur's arms each, and Fred stood alone.

"Oh, Mackenzie, dear, will you go with Fred? He just barely passed his apparition test, and I don't trust George to go with him, knowing the trouble they get into when they're alone together," Molly said.

I turned to look at Fred, "I thought you passed with 'flying colors', Fred?" I said, acting surprised. When he told me that he got a perfect score, I suspected he had been fibbing, but he swore to me up and down that he was telling the truth.

"Oh shut it," he responds, rolling his eyes and offering me his arm, which I take. Holy hell he's strong. I feel his muscles slightly flex as he leans down to whisper in my ear, "You're in for a wild ride, Winters." Chills rush down my spine, but they don't last because the world begins to twist, turn, swirl, and speed as he apparates us to the Burrow. Normally, I hate apparating, but Fred's familiar scent of cinnamon and oak filled my senses, distracting me from the physical sensations. At last, I feel the solid ground beneath my feet, but I am immediately dragged downwards by some unknown force. I was expecting to fall on the scratchy dried grass, but I instead felt two strong arms holding me, cushioning my fall.

I've known the Weasleys for as long as I can remember but never thought of any of them romantically until my third year. The twins had finally grown taller than me and the muscles they gained from quidditch were finally starting to show. While I never viewed George any differently, Fred was a different story. George developed a crush on their best friend, Lee, which left Fred consistently partnerless, if not third-wheeling, in class. That is, until I transferred to the next years' classes. I'm a year below the twins, but I am, you could say, "academically mature". McGonagall noticed how bored I was in my years' classes, so she moved me to the fourth year classes during the second semester of my third year. Fred reluctantly became my partner for a project here and there, and we developed a witty sort of banter that my friends like to call flirting. I refuse to call it that because there is no way in bloody hell that he could have a crush on me. There are so many girls in his year that are mad for him, besides the fact that most of them are ten times prettier than I am.