Cold Skin

Twenty-Two: Cufflinks Cause Arguments

Five weeks. Five weeks Gia and Alice spent being slaved to quills and parchment, wedding catalogues, owls, everything they needed to do to make Alice and James' wedding absolute perfection. It was absolute misery for Gia. Green's and whites, she hated greens but it's what Alice wanted and it was her special day. Black, Gia wanted to wear black for her wedding, she felt in mourning for the loss of a friend, a third of Alice's inheritance.

"Please say you changed your mind on an extravagant wedding?" Fred said as he pushed her day-old coffee cup away from the edge of the small table.

"Oh yes. Their wedding has less than fifty people coming and I'm so overwhelmed. I didn't know it would be this hard." Gia threw the large stack of parchment she was holding and reached for the old coffee. Fred handed her a fresh cup and she warmed her hands.

"We should elope. Mum and dad did. Your fathers did."

"Remus would kill me, and you." She rested her head on his thigh as he sat down next to her. He ran a finger along her jaw, it sent a shiver up her spine.

"It would be absolutely us." He leaned over to kiss her lips softly, she could feel the smile resting on his lips. "I'm absolutely exhausted, but if you're not ready for bed yet, we could?"

"Not tonight Fredrick. These wedding flowers aren't going to order themselves." She removed her head from his thigh and turned back to the coffee table, still covered with old coffee mugs and scattered with parchment.

"Come to bed at some point, love. It's hard to sleep without you there." He collected the old mugs and set them in the sink of the kitchenette. He draped a blanket around her narrow shoulders.

He fell into the queen-sized bed without another word. Within a few minutes, he was filling the room with soft snores. She fell asleep on the couch, her left hand covered in ink smears from writing. The main reason she hated writing with a quill. Narcissa had her trained with etiquette trainers to write with her right hand, but she wrote with her left whenever she was tired.

Gia woke to Ginny Weasley at her side shaking her awake. She was pale in the face and her pupils were dilated. "Gee, please wake Fred. He won't listen to me!" Ginny pulled Gia off the couch. She stumbled to the bed to wake Fred, he woke instantly to the sound of Gia's soft morning voice. "Father's been in an accident, we need to go to Professor Dumbledore's office." Ginny sounded worried which woke Fred even more.

Both of them hurried towards the portrait hole when Fred realized Gia wasn't directly behind him. "Aren't you coming?"

"I don't want to intrude on a family matter." She wrapped herself in her navy Hogwarts robe and slipped on her slippers. She looked up at him and he looked bored with her. "What?"

"Sod off, Gia. You are family. Now come on, let's not wait for the grass to grow."

He grabbed her arm and pulled her out of their dormitory. They hurried quickly to Dumbledore's office. She saw Harry and Ron being taken up with McGonagall, George was close behind, Hermoine was practically being dragged behind him. She saw Alice coming up from the dungeons with Snape, she rubbed her eyes, she had obviously just fallen asleep as she was still in her day wear.

The group of friends stood by as they watched Dumbledore ask Harry about what he saw; completely avoiding eye contact. She felt Fred's arms wrap around her shoulders as he gently rubbed his thumb on her upper arm. They were sent back to their rooms to pack what they needed to go home for the winter holiday early. Fred insisted on packing. She knew he needed to keep his hands and mind busy so he wouldn't think about Arthur.

They arrived at Grimmauld Place early the next morning. James had come home early to see Alice and help with the last wedding preparations. Harry and Ron dragged themselves upstairs Ginny fell asleep in one of the wingback chairs, Hermoine in the other. George fell asleep with his back against the chair Hermoine was sleeping in. Gia and Fred fell asleep on the couch. Fred was practically smothering her. He had one leg and arm over her, they were completely off the couch as well, his head was on her back as she slept on her stomach. They were covered in a Weasley quilt and had Hermione's jar fires all around them.