Serpentine ; Fred Weasley

Ninety-two

Fred

It was another day of coming home disappointed, having to listen to aunt Muriel tell me to stop looking and find myself a white wife instead.

I wanted to strangle the woman but George always shoved me into another room to give me a pep talk and calm me down.

Truth was, that it never worked. Why would it?

For over a month, I had been sick with worry, wondering where she was, wondering if she was okay, if she was even alive.

Every day, a new Muggleborn or half-blood who was mistaken as a Muggleborn, disappeared and I was scared that she was one of them.

"Freddie, calm down. Don't let her get to you." George said as he once again shoved me into one of the other rooms. "You and I both know that Kai is the one for you. I promise you, she's out there and she'll be okay."

I shook my head.

"You can't promise me that." I breathed. "Something's wrong. I don't know... I have this feeling..."

"What feeling?"

"I don't know, George!" I snapped. "A bad one! Like something's happened to her!"

I paced back and forth the room. I had been out all day, looking for her. We were a few who looked for her every single day.

Mum didn't want me out there. We had gone into hiding for a reason, but I needed to find her and know that she was alright.

"I miss her too." George said. "But whatever happened, she'll find her way back."

"Back to what?" I asked and looked at him. "The flat is empty if she goes back to it! So is yours! She doesn't know where we are! I didn't even want to go into hiding, yet here I am!"

George sighed.

"I know Kai would want you to be here right now and if she's out there and she knows what's happening, she knows you won't be at your flat."

With a heavy sigh, I sat down on my bed, my head in my hands.

There was a knock on the door and I looked up, George turning as the door opened, revealing mum.

"We just got a letter from Bill at the shell cottage." She told us. "They've found her."

Immediately I stood up.

"What? She's there? Kai?"

Mum nodded and I rushed to get out of the room but mum wouldn't let me.

"What're you doing?" I asked. "Mum, I need to go see her! I need—"

"It isn't safe." She told me. "You can't go from one safe house to another. You'll put us all at risk."

"I don't fucking care!" I raised my voice. "I need to see her! She's my fucking wife!"

"Fred!" Mum raised her voice right back at me and I took a step back, looking at her with tears in my eyes. "I know how difficult this has been for you, but she's okay. Fleur has been taking care of her."

"But—"

"She hasn't woken up yet." She told me. "She was left for death in a forest but she's okay now. She just needs to wake up."

I felt a few tears spill as I backed up, running my hands into my hair.

"Not again." I whispered, getting very heavy flashbacks from when she saved my life by stepping in front of a dagger.

"No." George spoke. "Fred needs to go. He can spend the rest of the time in hiding at shell cottage. He needs to be with Kai."

"George, as I said—"

"He had to travel by broom." George added. "And if he goes during the night, it's less likely that he'll get caught. How is this any different than being out looking for her?"

Mum sighed.

"We only looked for her in this area. Now we're talking about leaving the town, going further away!"

"I don't care." I shook my head. "I'm leaving. I'm going to see her and I'm not waiting until tonight either. I'm packing my things and then I'm leaving as soon as possible."

"George, talk some sense into your brother!" Mum exclaimed. "I'm not about to lose one of my sons because he's being reckless!"

"Reckless? She's my wife!" I yelled. "What if it was dad? Wouldn't you have rushed to be by his side? How about when dad was attacked at the ministry and he was in the hospital?"

"The rest of us weren't in danger then!" Mum argued back.

I just shook my head and found my bag, packing the few things I had with me. Then I turned to George.

"Are you coming?"

George shook his head.

"I'll stay here and send out orders. I'll come out to the shell cottage in a few days to see her."

With many objections from mum, I ended up leaving, flying my way through the air as fast as I could.

When I arrived at shell cottage, it had grown quite dark. I put my broom against the wall before walking straight into the house, shutting the door behind me.

"Fred?" Bill asked as he was the only person currently in the room.

"Where is she?" I asked. "Kai... mum said Kai's— you found her."

Bill sighed.

"Come." He told me, leading the way upstairs and into a room where I immediately froze in the doorway.

There she was.

In bed, the duvet covering her, her head turned to one side, eyes closed.

"Fleur is pretty good at healing. She helped her."

I glanced at Bill before I walked over to the bed and sat on the edge, brushing my hand over Kai's forehead.

"Where did you find her?"

"She was left on the ground in the forest on the other side of the lake." He told me. "Her arm was all cut up and she was bleeding out. My blood type matches her so we gave her a blood transfusion and then Fleur checked her for internal injuries."

I looked at Bill who seemed to be holding something back.

"Fred... she's pregnant." He said, and my eyes widened slightly. "About six weeks which means the baby must've been conceived about four weeks ago."

"Four weeks ago?" I asked. "No... that can't be right. It's been at least two months since—"

I stopped talking as the realisation hit me, and I looked at Kai, my lips parting.

"And there are both new and old signs of force." Bill told me. "Bruises on her wrists, her neck, hips."

I closed my eyes.

I wanted to throw up.

I knew exactly who had done this to her. The bastard had kidnapped her, raped her, gotten her pregnant and then left her to die in the forest.

"I'm so sorry." I whispered as I leaned down and rested my forehead against her jaw. "If I hadn't gone to sleep, this wouldn't have happened."

"Fred." Bill spoke. "You can't blame yourself. I'll go get your bag. You and Kai can have this room."