■ Unfortunate Soul ■ Fred Weasley ■

The Stay at the Burrow

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Things at the Burrow were never silent, the home was in a constant state of chaos. Even the nights were filled with the never-ending snoring of Arthur Weasley.

And that July afternoon was no exception.

Molly Weasley always made it abundantly clear that during the Summer, everyone had to pitch in with the housework. The chores varied from peeling potatoes to pissing off garden gnomes.

Gwen Hamilton was supposed to arrive in a couple of hours. To Molly that meant that she had to make sure that the house was up to spec.

"Why are we even cleaning the fireplace? It's a fireplace! It's going to get dirty when we use it again." Ron's face was covered by a layer of soot which flew off with a couple of coughs.

George did not envy his brother, he at least had the simple task of peeling carrots. Next to him was Fred, who had tears in his eyes due to the onions he was cutting.

"Be grateful that no one flooed in and landed on your gigantic head," George said causing Fred to chuckle despite his tears.

"Very funny, George. You know she's your friend, right? Why should I be the one cleaning?" Ron stepped away from the fireplace and went to clean his face at the kitchen sink.

"Because you like her as well. Besides, didn't you once have a crush on Gwen?" Fred asked as he placed his hands on his hips and looked at Ron with a smirk.

Ron's face got a few shades darker before he turned back to the fireplace.

George finally finished his peeling and took over for Fred who was struggling to cut the onion. "Guess that makes two Weasleys," George said to Fred, knowing full well how annoyed he would get.

"Jokes are only made with the intent of making fun of others, Georgie, not each other," Fred warned.

One thing that Fred loathed was the fact that he was constantly teased about his crush. It was bad enough that George and Lee knew, but it seemed that more and more people learned the fact each day. The only person who probably didn't know was Gwen herself.

He learnt to play it off. He knew that his family and friends only wanted to tease and meant no harm. It just annoyed him how they would unconsciously remind him how out of reach the girl he longed for was.

Fred snapped out of his thoughts and focused back on the task at hand. He wiped his forehead clean of a few drops of sweat.  It was mid-July and the weather was warm, well as warm as it could be in England.

Gwen would be staying for three weeks and would leave a week before the world cup before more people would be residing at the house.

Fred was glad that he would be seeing Gwen during the Summer although he knew that she wasn't the happiest with the situation.

Gwen had no idea that her brother had decided for her to reside at the Burrow for such a long time. And since her birthday was at the beginning of August, it will cause her to spend her birthday away from home.

However, Fred already had quite a long list of things planned for that day and he hoped that it would be enough to get her mind off things. Gwen told him that her birthday was hardly celebrated anymore. As it fell during the time where she was away from friends and was usually just her and her brother.

That only encouraged Fred more, he would make that birthday the most enjoyable one yet. It's just one of the many things that he would gladly do for her.

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"Are you sure that you have everything?"