Dark AIAOY 5

Chapter 21

Fred apparated the two of them just outside of the Burrow and Rebecca looked up at the leaning, creaking house.  "Home."  Peace filled her at not just the sight of the house itself but the rolling hills, the sky spread as far as you could see.  Everything at the Burrow seemed as perfect as ever and Molly was already inside, gesturing for trunks to be brought upstairs and out of walkways before anything else were to happen.

Fred shifted Rebecca's bag to his other shoulder to wave his wand over the line of trunks that spanned nearly as far as the house itself, levitating them all so that each owner could more easily maneuver them.  Little did Rebecca know that, as she looked around the environment she had come to love more than any she had ever known, Fred was looking only at her and thinking the very same thing she was.  "Home."

Molly and Arthur spoke to each other in the silent communication all adults seemed to know while Fred noticed nothing other than Rebecca.  Sirius raised an eyebrow and joined the silent debate, shrugging and making a shooing-away motion towards Fred.  Remus patted Sirius' waist and reached for the tea, needing a cup after the afternoon.

Molly sighed and looked to Arthur, letting it be his decision.  Arthur smiled and nodded to Sirius, wanting to hear how he would pass along their amended evening plan.  

"Fred!  Rebecca!"  Sirius shouted, scaring Remus into dropping his cup onto the counter noisily.  "Get out of here, you're making us all positively sick!"

Rebecca furrowed her brow and looked to Molly and Arthur.  She wasn't doing anything and neither was Fred.  Molly looked to the clock and laid down their only requirement, "Supper is at six.  All three of you had better be here!"

Fred snuck his arm around Rebecca's waist and apparated them away before Rebecca could even thank them.  Fred spun her towards him as she stumbled on the stony walkway and covered her eyes, turning her away from the storefront for good measure.  The popping of George's arrival sounded out to her right.  "Really, Fred?  I've seen the sign already!"

Fred had only shaken his head, but then realised that he would have to repeat his disagreement as he blocked her vision.  "We've managed to get an awful lot done since then."

"You're going to flip!"  George laughed madly and hopped from foot to foot.  "C'mon Fred, let's see what she things!"  

A long pause passed.

"Can I look?"  Rebecca asked when the silence grew too unnerving to not prompt them forward.

"We wanted to see how long it would take you to ask."  George jumped back as she flung her arm out in the direction his voice had come from.

"Ready?"  Fred asked softly, leaning down beside her ear.  Rebecca nodded, afraid that if she spoke her voice would betray the skip of her heart.  Fred lowered his hand slowly to reveal the storefront they had painstakingly perfected over the previous few weeks.

The enchanted figure that looked like George and Fred raised the top hat off his head just as Rebecca turned her eyes to the very top of the purple and orange bricked building.  "Look, look!"  George insisted, pointing up at the hat so she didn't miss it.  When the hat lowered and raised, a rabbit was poking its floppy-eared self out.

"That's brill-"

"It's not done!"  Fred tilted her chin back up quickly, watching her reaction as the hat raised and lowered again.  This time, instead of a rabbit, a head poked down.  A head with curly black hair and glasses.  Rebecca's jaw dropped and she watched until her representation of their creation disappeared.  "Well?"  Fred nudged her.  "What do you think?"

Rebecca wrapped her arms around both of their necks and brought them to her level, gushing over the attention to detail as she continued to take everything in.