Novus Orbis | Fred Weasley x Insert

Chapter 7 - Dementors and the Dark

"Go, go, go!" Molly waves them through the barrier one by one, as they rush to get to the train before 11:00. "Or you'll miss it!"

Y/n rushes through, coming into the familiar robed crowd (most topped with pointy hats). She is the last, but she manages to throw her luggage to Fred and George. Then the train starts moving.

And she starts falling behind.

And as any best friends would do, they laugh for a full 5 seconds before they realise how desperate the situation is and pull her into the train. Y/n brushes some dirt off of her jeans.

"Gee, thanks." She says sarcastically, glaring playfully at the twins. "I love you guys."

"We know," they say in unison, leading her to their chosen compartment and carrying her luggage. They all plop down on the seats, Y/n and Fred on one side and George on the other. Y/n paws through her smallest bag and pulls out a pack of Exploding Snap.

"Anyone for it?"

"You bet," Fred says, sitting up (previously lying with his legs in Y/n's lap to annoy her, per the usual). "Bring it on!" Y/n sets up the cards and they play as best as they can while trying not to spill the cards everywhere. Which fails as soon as it gets heated at all, but they just pick the cards up and start all over again anyways.

At about the fifth game, the train jerks uncharacteristically as Y/n places a card, making the deck go everywhere once again. She looks over at Fred, raising an eyebrow.

"At least it wasn't me this time," he says, shrugging.

A creeping cold seeps through the windows, continuously pelted with rain, and the sliding door, making her shiver and sidle closer to Fred, and he sits up as the lights flicker out.

"I don't like this," she murmurs, and he wraps an arm around her shoulders. George and Jordan shift uncomfortably where they sit across from them.

"A bit like an icebox, yeah?" The former cracks poorly.

"Yeah," Y/n agrees.

By now, the train has come to a complete stop, and the only sounds are that of shifting fabric against fabric and the storm outside.

"Do you hear that?" Comes Jordan's voice through the dark. Y/n can just barely make out the lines of his face.

"No, not above this rain, at least," Fred says next to her. "But look at the windows."

A frost is quickly covering the surface of the glass panes outside. Jordan jerks his hand away from where it was resting against them before. Leaning into Fred further, Y/n massages her face where a headache has begun to pulse.

"It's really cold," she whispers. Something isn't right.

Standing up, George quietly takes a few blankets that rest on the shelf above their heads, and a sweater out of Y/n's duffel bag, and hands them to her, keeping one blanket for himself and Jordan. Y/n shrugs Fred's arm off and puts the article on, before spreading the blanket out across their laps. The train is still stopped, and the storm is raging wildly outside the car. Y/n is sure she can hear breathing down the corridor, low and raspy.

"Did you catch that?" She whispers, not liking that her eyes seem to be playing tricks on her. Looking at the blurry window of the sliding door, she would swear she sees an enormous shadow pass over it.

"A dementor," Fred whispers. "The guards of Azkaban."

"Dad had to go once," follows George. "On business for the Ministry. Came back shaking and didn't want to talk about it at all."