Hexed (Fred Weasley ft the gang)

eighteen

THUMP!

Xanthie and El jumped, both curled up on the sofa in the living room. Xan gripped her wand and searched the room in the pale morning sunlight. Her gaze fell on the clock on the wall and it showed 8am.

"Xanthie dear! Your lovely owl is here!" Molly called from the kitchen and Xan looked at El with a laugh as they both relaxed again. Xanthie got up from the sofa and pulled down the oversized t-shirt she had slept in, so it covered her to her mid thighs.

"Morning Molly..." Xan mumbled, walking to the kitchen window where Ares was sitting with a small parchment attached to his foot. She stroked his feathers gently and untied the scroll, recognising the writing. It was from Remus.

'Xanthie,

I hope all is well my love, we miss you a lot.

We thought it would be good timing to invite you for dinner since Mrs Weasley invited us to the burrow but we'd love to host all of you here instead. It's so quiet in the house usually, it'd be nice to have some company.

I'm already cooking so the answer best be yes.

Lots of love,

Remus x'

"Oh Mrs Weasley, Remus has asked if you'd all like to come to Grimmauld for dinner, what d'ya say?" Xanthie asked, handing Molly the letter and looking at her expectantly. Mollys face changed into a smile as she nodded.

"That's a lot of heads but if they're insistent." She laughed and Xanthie laughed along thinking of all twelve of them piling into her small home along with Severus, Remus and Sirius. Xanthie kissed Mollys cheek and slid past her to the kettle where there was permanently a row of multi-coloured, mismatched mugs lined up. The kettle began boiling and Xan offered Molly a mug, which she politely declined, so Xanthie made herself, El, Ginny and Hermione a mug.

"Angel." El sighed as Xanthie wandered into the living room, holding out a steaming mug of tea for her. She also handed her a mug for Hermione, as she held her own and Ginnys.

"Let's go see the other two, shall we?" She asked, gesturing her head towards the staircase, El pulled herself up and followed Xanthie up the stairs.

"Dad has invited us back to Grimmauld for the evening tonight. I suspect they're desperate to see what's happened to me after Molly wrote to them." Xan explained to El as they approached Ginnys room, El kicking the door open with one foot. Hermione and Ginny were already up and sitting on Ginnys bed, quietly talking between themselves.

"Morning!" Hermione smiled, graciously accepting the mug from El, Ginny smiling at Xan who handed her a mug too. The other two girls settled onto the bed too and Xan told them about this evenings plans.

"Oh! It's been a while since I've seen Grimmauld." Hermione said, sipping her mug as she held it in both hands.

The four girls sat in Ginnys room for the morning, just lounging around and catching up. One by one they went for a shower and reappeared dressed for the day. Xanthie had thrown on a pair of baggy jeans and a red knitted jumper that she'd tucked in along with some black high top converse. Hermione and Ginny decided to spend the rest of their day in the burrow, working on assignments they had from school but Xanthie and El had other plans.

They headed downstairs, Xan flicking her hair over her shoulder as she went. As they reached the last few stairs, Xanthie noticed Ron standing talking to Bill and Charlie. A devious smirk took over her features and she nudged Els side with raised eyebrows, making a jump for Rons back and landed with her arms around his shoulders, causing him to be knocked forward almost into his two brothers.