Decree No.29 (O.C) Fred Weasley/ Draco Malfoy

The Phoenix and The Serpent

"You said you went to Cambridge? In Oxford?"

"It was the first thing I thought of. I panicked!"

"He isn't dumb you know, he'll figure it out!"

"Arthur calm down, it's not her fault, I'm sure Fred will forget all about it."

"Have you not met my son Remus?!"

The following day was the start of her private lessons, and Jessica had finally told Mr Weasley what had happened last night. She had woken up early with much regret and purposely avoided small talk with anyone at breakfast. Hermione had tried to ask her a bit more about herself as she poured orange juices across the table and Jessica immediately panicked and declared that she urgently needed the toilet. Though, in hindsight, not the best thing to say, no one seemed to ask her anything after that, so it had somewhat paid off. Fred had come down with George and said nothing but a 'morning' in the general direction where she sat the whole time they ate. Given their conversation, she thought he would've been a little bit more friendly to her than that, but for now, she accepted that it was probably for the best until she got her story straight anyway.

As soon as they had all finished their toast and jam, Mrs Weasley whisked them all up out of their seats to instruct them on what cleaning job they would be doing that morning. Today, it was de-cobwebbing the whole house, and she was consequently met by a chorus of moans and grunts from the group. Jessica was quite pleased with the duties as she thought the place needed it (and was afraid of what spiders might have created them), so she was slightly disappointed when Mr Weasley subtly pulled her out of the room under the pretence of 'having a quick chat'.

As they walked down the corridor to the living room on the ground floor, Mr Weasley whispered that they were only prepping today, as some things needed to be sorted out before she could start learning correctly. Remus Lupin was already there waiting for them and examining an array of objects lined up on the mahogany coffee table. Once the door was closed, Jessica seized her chance and told Mr Weasley and Remus about her and Fred's previous conversation. She initially thought they would be very understanding and then tell her how to control her story moving forward, but Mr Weasley reacted much worse than she had expected.

"It's over, he knows, or he will know soon enough! Oh, Merlin's beard! He'll tell George, who'll tell Ron, who'll tell everyone!" Mr. Weasley muttered as he paced up and down the grand patterned carpet. Jessica stood at the end near the door, watching the men bicker and playing with the blue ribbon of her floral sundress that Mrs. Weasley had given her to wear before breakfast.

"Jessica, has he said anything to you this morning about it?" Remus asked kindly, standing to the side to get purposely out of Mr. Weasley's path.

"No," she replied eagerly, "not a word."

"Okay, then there is a chance he has forgotten, and we are worrying for nothing," Remus told Arthur calmly.

"Oh no, you don't know Fred Remus, and George for that matter," said Mr Weasley, stopping in his tracks and waving a finger at Lupin, "those boys do not forget a single thing that they can use later, sharp minds the both of them!"

"I know I was their teacher during O.W.L year," said Remus. Jessica examined the grey cardigan he wore and was very happy that her first impression of him had been right. He just gave off a teacher impression. Remus looked at Mr Weasley, "They are brilliant, but as their teacher, I also know they only use that intelligence in the important areas. It affected their homework rate a lot if I remember correctly. Fred has more important things to think about, like what he will do after graduating - he won't bother to think about a five-minute conversation with a stranger in the kitchen."