Songbird ; Fred Weasley

Forty-seven

A week later, we left for New York City.

It was a quick trip as we could simply travel by portkey.

Ronan had let me take three weeks off after he heard what had happened, and what I had found out.

George told Fred to go too. He said he'd just call some extra employees in to help.

Just as we were about to leave, dad had an important business call and he had to go in to help out at the firm in Diagon Alley.

He told Fred and I to take the portkey, and then he would take one this afternoon.

That's how Fred and I ended up falling through the door to the penthouse my dad owned for whenever he had business to tend to at the ministry here in New York.

"Holy shit." Fred cursed as we stopped to take in the flat, leaving our suitcases by the door. "Am I allowed to curse? This place seems way too formal for someone to curse within its walls."

I couldn't help but laugh at that. I had my arms wrapped around myself, and I turned to look at Fred.

"You're allowed to curse." I said. "I know it's a lot. I haven't really been here much. Dad mostly just uses it for his business trips. C'mon. I'll give you the tour."

So I did. I showed him every part of the penthouse, and where my dads bedroom was, and then I chose the bedroom furthest away from my dads.

We walked in, and I turned to Fred again.

"Hand me your wand."

"What?" He cocked an eyebrow at me.

"Your wand." I repeated and he slowly pulled the wand out of his back pocket, placing it in my outstretched hand. "Thank you. For the next three weeks, we are living as muggles."

"As muggles." He repeated, a little sceptical to the idea.

"Yep. No magic. For the next three weeks, we are going to forget that we can even do magic. If we need to go somewhere, we walk, take the subway or grab a taxi."

A small smile spread across Fred's face as he nodded at me. "Anything for you."

I grabbed my own wand and put them both in the back of the top shelf that sat in the wardrobe.

"What do you want to do first then?" He asked. "I guess this includes not visiting the American ministry of magic."

I paused, realisation hitting me. Fred knew how much I'd always wanted to visit the American ministry of magic, and I had just told him we would forget about magic for three weeks.

"Alright, that doesn't count, but only because my dad has work that needs to be done there, and he might be talking about work when he gets home, and maybe he'd like us to come visit when he's over there so he doesn't get lonely."

"Right..." Fred narrowed his eyes at me. "And not at all because you really want to see what the ministry is like here."

I waved him off, walking towards the bed. I spun around and let myself fall onto my back. I propped myself up on my elbows, gesturing for Fred to come closer.

He shut the door first, but then made his way over to my bed, placing himself right between my legs that dangled off the edge.

I reached up, running my hand into his hair before pulling him down to my mouth. He laughed against my mouth at my eagerness, but he still kissed me back.

I ran my hands under his shirt, hiking it up, and he took the hint, breaking the kiss to pull it off only to bring his mouth back to mine instantly.

I ran my fingers through his hair, his tongue crashing against mine, and as I let out a small moan against his lips, a door slammed.

Fred broke away from me, standing up. He turned to look towards the door to the bedroom while I looked past him, both of us waiting to see if there was anymore sounds.

"That can't be your dad, right?" He asked as he looked down at me, and I shook my head.

"No. He's not getting here until this afternoon." I said before getting up. "I'll go check."

Fred grabbed my wrist when I walked for the door. He shook his head at me before grabbing his shirt, pulling it back on.

"Chris?!" A voice called through the penthouse. "You here?!"

"I know who that is." I told Fred, getting out of his grip before walking for the door.

"Wait... Maves—"

I pulled open the door and stepped into the hallway, smiling widely at my dads cousin.

"Mavis?" Alex asked, surprise all over his face as he looked at me. "What the hell are you doing here, kid?"

"Well, dad's coming here for business." I said as I walked towards him. "He asked me to tag along, but he got an emergency call from work, so my boyfriend and I went ahead."

Alex pulled me in for a hug before looking past me to where Fred stepped out of the bedroom.

"Fred, this is my dads cousin, Alex." I said. "Alex, this is Fred."

They shook hands, formally greeting each other.

"Hey, aren't you August's friend?" Alex asked. "I feel like I know you from somewhere."

Fred nodded once.

"That's right. I met August at Hogwarts back in eighty-nine."

Alex nodded slowly and then narrowed his eyes as he looked between Fred and I.

"So... August know about you two?"

"Yep." I nodded, tipping back and forth on my feet.

"Really?" Alex grinned. "How'd he take that? The kid is quite territorial."

"Oh, we found out the hard way." Fred spoke. "He took it pretty hard."

"Wait... why are you here?" I asked Alex. "Did you know dad was going to stay here?"

"Nope. But I have a key and I needed a quiet place for the day. I saw the suitcases and figured your dad was here. Imagine my surprise when I saw you walk into the hallway." He offered me a smile. "I haven't seen you in quite a few years. You've grown up."

"...well, that's what happens." I chuckled awkwardly. "I'm sure dad would allow you to use one of the rooms for privacy. Fred and I will be in our room."

I dragged Fred with me back into the room, shutting the door and locking it.

"Maves, are you alright?" Fred asked as I turned towards him and pulled him closer to me.

"Yes. Kiss me." I hooked an arm around his neck to pull him down, but Fred was stronger and didn't budge.

"What's wrong?" He asked me. "You've been acting weird all morning. More enthusiastic than usual, and you can't sit still."

With a groan, I moved towards the bed, turned around and sat down.

"I'm scared." I admitted. "My entire life has been a lie. I've lived eighteen years not knowing that my dad wasn't my biological father, and now I'm supposed to be a mother in six months but how can I be a good parents when I don't even know who I am?"

Fred sat down next to me, folding his hands between his spread knees.

"You know who you are. You are the daughter of Christopher and Vena Cahira. This situation won't influence your ability to be a mother to our child." He told me. "I know how helpless you feel right now, Maves, but don't walk around keeping it in. Whatever you're feeling, you can tell me."

I sighed and let my head fall against his shoulder, shutting my eyes.

Fred pressed a kiss to my head, and he wrapped his arm around me.

I inhaled sharply, grabbing his other hand in mine.

"Thank you."