Traitor : Fred Weasley, Draco Malfoy & OC Fanfic

Chapter 48 - The Return

For the remainder of the summer we were able to seek refuge at the house. The moment we'd stepped in I was in awe at what a wonderful job they'd done replicating how the house had looked before. Of course it was devoid of personal belongs or anything precious we had lost in the fire but I could see that Molly had tried to make up for it by crocheting whatever possible and delving into her own collection of photographs to make the place feel more homely.

A thoughtful arrangement of moving photographs had been laid out along the mantel in the living room, with everything from the first photos of me and the Weasley children when we were little, to photos we'd taken together before the Yule Ball to send back home, right up to the shop's opening last summer. It was like a considered timeline of all our time together. There were even older, more faded images of my parents at their wedding smiling alongside Molly and Arthur, I'd never seen them before. They all looked so bright eyed and cheerful.

The first week hidden away at the house, we could feel that the twins were on edge. We were in the dark to whether anybody else had been able to get away from The Burrow in time. I'd wake in the night to find Fred's side of the bed empty and he would be sat on the balcony over looking the fields instead. It was eerily silent across the meadows and from what we could see of The Burrow in the distance, there was no light and no sign that anybody was still living there.

But our prayers were answered the following week when we were sat around the dining room table one morning for breakfast and a sudden rush of air signalled somebody's arrival outside the house. Nobody was supposed to know we were here and the house was concealed with seemingly impenetrable charms. The twins leapt to their feet, wands in hand and walked apprehensively towards the front door.

"Stay there" George whispered, as they disappeared out of sight. We heard the front door creak open and the twins let out bellowing shouts but thankfully not in fear.

Me and Daphne clambered from our chairs and shuffled out into the hallway. I took a deep sigh of relief as I saw Arthur, Molly and Ginny come through the door.

"Hello kids" Molly grinned and we huddled around exchanging hugs and deep calming breaths. Fred ushered everyone into the dining room and began frantically making cups of tea and extra slices of toast for them all. I'd never seen him so relieved to be surrounded by his family.

The home was big enough to house us all comfortably until the end of August. Though we were never able to leave, we got by with Molly's cooking and growing vegetables, aided by magic, in the grounds.

It was hard to go stir crazy when the twins were always able to come up with something fun to keep us entertained. Arthur had even managed to get one of his muggle radio transmitters to work and the twins had taken to broadcasting in the evening using the battered equipment.

We were somewhat unsure of Ron's whereabouts which we could tell was making Molly restless, but when reports of Harry's movements came in we were sure that he would be with him and that seemed to put her at ease.

As the summer drew ever closer to an end the topic of returning to Hogwarts was finally brought up. It had been tiptoed around for some time due to Molly's disdain with the idea of any of us girls going back but Arthur felt differently.

"They have to finish their education, Molly" Arthur sighed, one evening as we enjoyed our dinner in the garden, "This war will end and they'll come out of it with no qualifications"

"Qualifications? Qualifications will not matter if they are in danger" Molly barked, slamming her cutlery down on the table.

"Well they have to know how to protect themselves, look why don't we just ask them what they want to do?" Arthur said, rubbing his temples in frustration.