Until I Found You ♡︎ Fred Weasley

f i f t e e n

"What the fuck are you doing down there?" Summer stooped to a crouching position, next to her brother. His floppy hair had flecks of dirt in it, and he groaned as he rolled over onto his back, meaning Summer now got a whiff of his breath- which reeked of alcohol. "For fucks sake, Hayden," she reached out to grab his hands, and had to use all the strength she had, along with the mediocre effort he gave, to finally get him to stand.

"Please tell me you neither drove nor apparated," she said, as she hauled an arm of his over her shoulder, and they started back slowly to the house.

"Ended up all over the place before I finally got back here," he grumbled, wincing with every movement.

It had taken them ten minutes to make it into the living room, Summer had even considered apparating, but had no practice with taking others, and didn't want to risk it, especially with Hayden in this unpredictable state- who knows where they'd end up.

"What if mother had seen you? You're lucky she seems to have gone to bed early." Hayden shook his head.

"No, she's taking Kalen on a mother and son trip to some hotel in London for a couple of days," he said this so bitterly, that Summer almost shuddered as if he was directing this at her. "I mean, she has got another son, doesn't she? Not that I would've wanted to go anywhere with that woman." Now he laid his head back into the velvety armchair, breathing out a long sigh.

"Yeah, I heard you both this morning... Hayden, is it true? What you said about dad?" The boy opposite her laughed mirthlessly, and looked her dead in the eye.

"Yes."

"But, how could you possibly know that?" Summer had spent the whole day playing off his words as simply something Hayden would say when he was angry, but not wanting to believe there was any truth to them.

"Harry told me," he said very matter of factly, as he picked chunks of soil from his hair and brushed them off his clothes, causing Summer to cringe at the mess, feeling very sorry for their house elf- Blisley.

"After, that night," he swallowed uncomfortably, "Potter came up to me, told me that You-Know-Who really was back, and the reason he was telling me this was because apparently, when the death-eaters were being summoned back, he called one of them Blanchet." He folded his arms after relaying this piece of information, studying Summer's face for any kind of reaction. On the outside, Summer simply stared back, but how she was feeling on the inside was a completely different story. It was like all of her insides were screaming, and as much as she fought to believe it, she didn't think Harry was likely the type of person to spread rumours like that.

"What do we do, Hayds?" He was still staring up at the ceiling, looking half dazed and half concentrated on it as if it were the most interesting thing in the world.

"What can we do? It's join him or die, especially if our father is all chummy with him now."

"Don't talk like that, please. How about I make us some tea," she offered.

"Don't bother, I'll ask Blisley, sit down." He snapped his fingers, and almost instantly a scrawny little house elf appeared by the armchair.

"What tea do you want, Sum?"

"Uh... peppermint?"

"Peppermint tea, please. Use the good china won't you."

"Yes, Master Hayden." The elf apparated away, and returned a few minutes later with a tray holding a bone china teapot, and two matching cups.

Hayden attempted to pour the tea out, but ended up spilling half on the tray, on account of his shaking hands.
"Fuck," he murmured, and reluctantly let his sister take the fragile teapot from his hands and successfully decant the remaining liquid out.