In the Melancholy Moonlight, Part 4: Nebula

Chapter 199: Like She Was Mine

HARRY:

When Wednesday morning dawned, gentle sunlight piercing the clouds and streaming through the window of Ron's bedroom, I still hadn't heard anything from Lucy. I tried to force away the anxiety that had kept me up all night — I knew in my soul that something was wrong, but my head kept trying to convince my soul that she had just gotten carried away with something shop-related and forgotten to write me — as I headed down the stairs for breakfast, but I wasn't terribly hungry. Something was wrong. I just knew it. I had only just managed my first bite of toast when there was a knock at the door.

"It's me!" Fleur's voice called.

Mrs. Weasley straightened up and stared at the door. "Fleur? I thought you weren't supposed to be back yet. How do we know it's really you, and not an imposter?"

"I can prove it, let's see, how can I — oh! I've chosen Gabrielle, Lucy, Hermione, and Ginny to be the bridesmaids for the wedding that will happen next summer!"

Apparently satisfied, Mrs. Weasley opened the door, and Fleur rushed inside, clutching a paper bag in her hand.

"Thank you," Fleur said breathlessly. Mrs. Weasley still looked surprised and on the verge of anger, so Fleur continued. "I can explain why I am here sooner than expected. Remus Lupin appeared at my house in the middle of the night last night asking for the address of..." She trailed off, looking around the room, appearing to edit her words as she finished, "...one of my former schoolmates. I — er — thought something might have happened, so I — I brought this for my favorite joke shop employee. But I know the shop isn't open yet, so would you mind if I used your Floo to bring this over there?"

The four of us at the table exchanged confused looks, but Mrs. Weasley seemed to have made sense of what Fleur was saying, more sense than any of the rest of us were able to make of it.

"Oh, er, yes, yes, of course," she said, gesturing for Fleur to follow her.

Before anyone could take a step toward the living room, though, none other than Fred Weasley walked into the kitchen.

He looked around the room, uncharacteristically flustered. "Oh, I — I, er, didn't know you would all be awake this early, I — " His gaze landed and locked on Fleur. "What do you have there, Fleur?"

She reached into the bag and lifted out a rather large vial containing a potion I didn't recognize. "I brought this, for my favorite employee of yours."

"Aw, I'm flattered," Fred replied with what I thought looked like a rather forced smile. "Obviously you mean me."

Fleur rolled her eyes. "Fred — "

"I know. Come on, we can Floo over there together."

Fred and Fleur left the room in a hurry, and as we all listened in bewildered silence, we heard their footsteps heading upstairs, rather than in the direction of the Floo.

I jumped to my feet and immediately started running in pursuit. Something was wrong. I just knew it.

Ginny was right behind me, soon joined by Ron and Hermione. We chased Fred and Fleur all the way up to the twins' bedroom, and they managed to slam the door shut mere seconds before we got there.

We screeched to a halt in the hallway, once again exchanging baffled looks. On the other side of the door, we heard a couple of whispered silencing spells before they, obviously, started to work and effectively silenced everything that was happening on the other side of the door.

"Did you see — er — is anyone else in that room?" Ron asked.

Ginny snorted. "What, do you think they're snogging in there?"