Songbird ; Fred Weasley

Seventy-two

Weeks passed. Weeks, and weeks and weeks, and suddenly it was February and I was sitting on the sofa in the middle of the night with just one lamp on.

Daniel's file case was laid out on the sofa table in front of me and I was working my brain to solve this. To try and get some sort of clue as to what happened to them.

I hadn't gotten any further than when I first opened and looked through it.

"Darling?" Fred's voice caused me to jump and look up to where he stood in the doorway to the hallway.

He wore only a pair of boxer briefs, his hair a mess and his face revealing that he definitely just woke up.

"What are you doing?" He asked. "Love, it's four in the morning."

"Oh, I—" I looked down at the file and shook my head.

Fred sighed and walked across the room, leaning on the back of the sofa. His arms came to rest next to my shoulder, and I could sense the way his eyes scanned over the mess on the sofa table.

"Come back to bed." He whispered, moving some hair away from my neck.

I made a noise that even I couldn't place as an answer. Fred pressed a kiss to the side of my head, then rested his chin on my shoulder.

"Mavis..." his breath hit my cheek, and then I felt his nose run across my jaw, but I was too focused on scrambling thing down on a notebook.

Just random ideas as to who could have taken him. I had made the same list of death eaters over and over again in the past few months. I never got anywhere.

Fred started traveling kisses down my neck, kisses that told me that when he told me to come back to bed, he didn't mean simply to sleep.

"Not now, Fred." I muttered. "I'm in the middle of something."

I heard him sigh, but he planted a few more kisses on my neck.

"You're always in the middle of something. Whether it's day or night."

"I'm trying to find my brother." I said and dropped the pen, turning in my seat to look him in the eyes. "I'm sorry if I'm not in the mood to fuck you when all I can think about is him."

Fred straightened up, and his jaw tensed. He placed his hands on his hips, staring at the floor for a moment before meeting my gaze.

"Maves..." he sighed, shaking his head. "You're ruining yourself over this. You can't—"

He bit down on his lip, staring at me.

"Forget about it. I'm going to be bed."

He walked towards the hallway, but I stood up and my voice made him stop.

"I can't what?"

He turned around, facing me again. He opened his arms and then dropped them against his thighs.

"You can't chase someone who's probably dead." He said softly, and I winced. "And I know, darling, I know you don't want to hear that, but it's been eighteen years. Even if he was alive, he hasn't come home."

I stared at him, and everything inside of me seemed to break. Silent tears started falling, and I let out a frustrated scream as I grabbed the nearest throw pillow and threw it at him.

He didn't even flinch.

He just stared at the pillow that now laid at his feet.

"He's not dead!"

"Maves—"

"Don't! You don't have the right to assume he's dead, just because I don't want to sleep with you right now!"

"I'm not the one assuming it, Mavis!" He yelled right back. "It's right there in his files. He's presumed dead!"

"No, they gave up! He's out there, and I'm going to find him even if it's the last thing I do."

"Okay." He shrugged. "But while you do that. I'm going to go to sleep so I have enough energy to be a happy parents for our children."

He turned around and continued to walk, but I wasn't done so I chased him.

"Why can't you be on my side in this?" I asked in a quiet voice as we passed Theodora's bedroom.

Fred didn't answer until we were in our bedroom, and he walked around me to shut the door.

"I am on your side, love." He turned towards me and placed his hands on my arms. "I want you to be happy and healthy, but this has been taking a mental toll on you. There's the stalker who keeps sending you those letters and now you're hung up on this. Both things that drive you nuts. Please stop, Maves. Before you—"

"I need to do this." I cut him off, shaking my head. "I need to make it right. I—"

"What?" Fred held up a hand, shutting me up. "Make it right?"

I folded my arms over my chest, stepping back.

"You did nothing wrong, Mavis." He said. "You were a kid."

"He wouldn't have been there if it weren't for me. He wanted to have been out on his bike with his friends but I was a stubborn fucking child..."

"You were six!" Fred exclaimed.

"I led him straight to the spot where he would get kidnapped!" I raised my voice. "And then my brain blocked everything out and I forgot the existence of my own brother for eighteen years, Fred!"

"You were six years old for fuck sake!" He yelled. "There wasn't a thing you could have done! You couldn't have known that would happen!"

"Then why do I feel so guilty?!"

Why are we yelling?

Fred didn't respond. He stared at me with eyes full of pity, and I shook my head, walking to my side of the bed.

"I don't care for this conversation." I said and slid under the duvet, my back to the side where Fred always slept.

I hugged my pillow and I buried my face in it when I began to cry. This time it wasn't silent tears.

My shoulders shook with my sons, and I cried over everything that stresses me out.

The stalker that had now been scaring me for months, kept sending letters and gifts, even pictures of me from time to time.

And now this thing with my brother was eating at me and I couldn't hold it in anymore.

I felt Fred's arms wrap around me as he cuddled me. One arm slid under my pillow while the other hooked over my waist and kept me against his chest.

He pressed a kiss below my ear.

"I know." He whispered. "I'm so sorry."

I placed my arm over his, lacing my fingers with his, and I squeezed his hand with mine.

I turned my head to look back at him, watching his eyes as they found mine.

"I'm sorry I'm a bitch." I whispered, but he shook his head and pressed a kiss to my lips.

"You're not a bitch. You're just stressed." He leaned his forehead against mine. "Try and fall asleep, yeah? I'll let you sleep late while I get Phoebe to school. I won't leave until Reuben gets here, and I'm sure he'll be okay with taking care of Dora until you wake up."

With another kiss to my lips, he urged me to get comfortable again, and I shut my eyes, trying to get some sleep.