Summers at The Burrow - Fred Weasley

Chapter Thirty-one - Hit and Run

"Has anyone heard from Harry recently?" Mrs. Weasley asked at dinner one night, far into summer holiday.

"I've got nothing." i said after Ron shook his head grimly. "his aunt and uncle aren't the best; they could be withholding his letters like they did with his acceptance letter last year." 

"lets hope that's the case." Ron said in a hushed voice as he poked at his boiled vegetables.

"Mum? may i be excused?" Fred asked more politely than usual.

"sure, Fred." Mrs. Weasley replied.

As Fred stood up he tapped my shoulder twice and nodded towards the stairs casually as he picked up his empty plate and took it to the sink. i watched carefully as he moved towards the stairs and then i stood up nodding thankfully at Mr. and Mrs. Weasley before taking my finished plate to the sink and meeting Fred at the stairs.

"we've tried every way of contacting him and we've got nothing." Fred mumbled as we dashed up the stairs.

"as funny as it is seeing him mope around i hate to see Ron depressed about all this and Ginny stays up half the night talking about how worried she is for him and Harry. I'm losing sleep over this and were all on the edge of just hijacking the Ford Anglia at this point." i said pushing the door to the twins' bedroom open.

"George and i snuck out of bed late last night and heard mum and dad talking about going and getting him if we didn't hear from him by next morning." he said flopping on his bed while i pulled out the desk chair and slumped onto it.

"at this point I'm convinced the Dursley's are holding his mail again. Harry told me about it last year and by the way he spoke about them it probably wouldn't be to unlikely for it to happen again." i continued.

"but who's to say this could be darker than we think it is. maybe there's a reason he isn't replying." he countered.

"are you suggesting he's dead?" i questioned quietly.

"more or less." he replied shrugging.

"i refuse to believe that's the case especially when i got a letter from Draco saying and i quote: 'there's sinister plans in store at Malfoy manor.'" i deadpanned.

"okay so now we've got Death eater crap on the table." Fred was beginning to get restless and stood up tapping his fingernails on the back of my chair as i leaned my head back to look at him.

"we could take the car tonight." i said.

Fred looked down at me suddenly and i blinked in a way that could be read as a question as i waited for him to say anything. he stared at me for a moment longer before looking away and smiling to himself.

"yeah. lets go tonight." he said trying to hide his smile as he walked away from me.

i stood up and went to the doorway but held on as i hung out into the hall. George looked up from the bottom of the many flights of stairs and i jerked my head back to signal that his presence was requested in his bedroom. 

"Get Ron too." i said then pulled myself back into the room.

Fred and I were quiet as we looked at anything but each other. we waited for only a short while before George had arrived with Ron on his tail. George sat on his own bed as Ron joined Fred on his bed and there was a collective sigh before we all took a deep breath and waited for someone to speak.

"Chloe and i are going to take the car to surrey tonight and pick up Harry." Fred said.

"were coming with." George said without missing a beat.

"do you know were he even lives?" Ron asked with a rude tone.

"Number 4 Private Drive." i said.

"Great, Chloe's driving since she's the only one who knows where that even is." George said.