MOON AND STARS, fred weasley

one

So far, Adhara had spent her entire morning packing. She was supposed to be leaving soon but with the state of her things right now, it wasn't looking completely likely.

A knock sounded at the door, which was her dad. "Can I come in?"

"Uh," she panicked, looking at the state of her suitcase. "Wait a minute."

As though he could sense things were wrong, he opened the door and took a moment to take in the mess. "Merlin, not this again, Adhara. How many times have I told you this week to get packed?"

She cringed, "A lot?"

"Precisely, so why have you left it until the last minute again? You're in your seventh year, for goodness sake. You'd think you would have learned by now."

"Well I've just been... mailing Fred and George? And then of course I can't leave Lee out so I have to owl him too since he's one of my best friends. And then I thought, well if I'm mailing them already, may as well add Angelina in there too."

"That's very kind of you," Remus spoke, the words dripping with sarcasm.

"Thank you," she grinned, making her dad roll his eyes. "Erm..."

He sighed. "What now?"

"Did Lily send any of that potion over?" she asked, moving onto the balls of her feet. "It's just..." She pointed to her face, where a large scar moved from beside her eye to her chin on the left side of her face.

"Yes, there's some in the kitchen—"

"Great, thanks Dad!" she said, running to collect it.

"—which you can use after you've finished packing," Remus said, though it fell on deaf ears. For the seventh year in the row, he quickly cast a packing spell to save time. She never managed to do it herself. And they needed to leave. Soon.

She came rushing in afterwards, no scar left, to see her things packed. "Thanks, Dad, but you know, I think I should actually unpack and just check that I've got everything I need—"

Remus sighed. "Adhara."

She smiled weakly at him. "Yes?"

"What is this really about? You're all over the place this morning."

"I'm fine, Dad, really. I'm sure it's just the after effects of the full moon."

"That would work on literally anyone else if I wasn't also a werewolf."

"Right, then I suppose it's just... Harry!"

"Harry?"

"Yes, I mean what kind of god-sibling would I be if I didn't worry? I mean after being in the triwizard tournament and everything—"

"Real reason. Now."

She crossed her arms over her chest. "Fine," she said, and then mumbled. "I'm nervous."

"What?"

"I'm nervous, okay, Dad? Harry's already met him and he's not even Harry's dad! What if he doesn't like me? What if I don't like him? Or worse, what if he doesn't like pranks?"

Remus laughed at the last part, "That won't be a problem. He loved pranks a little too much when we were in Hogwarts, just like you, the twins, and Lee."

"Dad!"

"Fine, I'm listening. Go on."

She thought about her words before she spoke, and tears already began brimming under her eyes. "And it's just... I'm legally an adult now. I can use magic outside of school. I know it's stupid because I had you and obviously you're the best dad ever, but sometimes I just wonder what it would have been like if you'd both been there. And I know it's bad because it wasn't his fault but I think I resent him a little bit for missing my childhood. Does that make me a bad person?"

Remus brought her into a hug. "That does not make you a bad person. In fact, sometimes I think the same thing."

She blinked away some of the tears. "You do?"

"Of course I do," he said. "Sometimes I think if he'd just apparated away with me instead of staying to fight the Death Eaters that killed your mum and Dorcas, then he never would have been arrested."

Weirdly, that made her feel better. Maybe she wasn't so bad a person after all if her dad thought those things too, and he was the best person she knew.

"Are the Weasleys already there?"

Remus chuckled, "Yes, they're already there."

"Good. I'm going to need the twins for moral support."

"And what am I? Mouldy cabbage?"

"No offence dad, it's just..."

"I do not want to hear the word old, thank you very much."

"You said it not me," she joked. "I think I'm ready now. Should we leave?"

"Let's go," Remus said, feeling nervous for himself now too, as well as his daughter, and the pair apparated to where they needed to be. In front of 12 Grimmuald Place.