Bound Together (Fred Weasley)

Chapter 2- Scarlet's 8th Birthday

Broken fragments of sunlight streamed in through the open window, alighting upon the still figure laying in bed in the corner.

The twittering of birds and the crisp autumn air filtered in along with the sunlight. Slowly the bedroom door opposite the bed slowly creaked open and three figures silently crept into the room.

Suddenly, the smallest of the three sprinted towards the bed, jumping on the sleeping figure and screaming, "Happy Birthday Scarlet!!" Dominiq bounced up and down a few times, tickling Scarlet before she shoved him off the bed with her feet.

She sat up, stretching and rubbing the sleep from her eyes.

"Good morning to you to, booger brains."

Dominiq jumped up off the floor and blew a raspberry at his younger sister. "You're the one with the booger for a brain."

"Now Dom, be nice to your sister, it is her birthday today." Their mother chided, stepping over to the bed and planting a kiss on Scarlet's forehead. "Good morning sweeheart, and happy birthday."

"But mum, she started it!"

"Did not!" Scarlet stuck her tongue out at her brother as he set cross-legged on the floor.

"Come on kids, save the antics for later. Scar, your birthday breakfast is getting cold." Her father said.

It was then that Scarlet noticed the enticing scent of pancakes and bacon wafting up the stairs. Squealing, she jumped out of bed, hugged her parents and sprinted down the stairs and into the kitchen.

After wolfing down a delicious breakfast of red velvet pancakes, her favorite, and bacon, Scarlet headed outside and towards the woods that surrounded the back of the neighborhood. A moment later, Dominiq came out the door, sprinting to catch up.

"Mum said not to stay out too long cause we have to get the house decorated for your party soon. And she also said not to go in too far."

Scarlet grinned, as she stopped to sit under a massive oak tree; it's gnarled roots tangled together, fighting to clear the earth. The knobby bough had many handholds and footholds to climb up into its twisted, sprawling branches, which is exactly what Scarlet did. Sitting on the lowest branch ten feet off the ground, she stared down at her brother.

"Don't worry, this is as far as I go. Although..." Scarlet sat in thought for a moment. "Since you're here with me, could we maybe go in a little farther?" She begged with puppy dog eyes.

The sunlight peeking through the canopy above threw dancing shadows across her brothers face as he looked back towards the house, then at Scarlet again.

This part of the woods she was talking about, the Old Wood as Scarlet called it- for its many gigantic, old trees, much like the one she was in, still had vibrant green leaves upon the branches, despite it being the middle of October.

After a moments thought, Dom looked up at his sister and opened his mouth to reply but was interrupted by his mothers yell.

"Dominiq! Scarlet! Your Aunt Deeliah is here!"

Scarlet gasped, jumping down from the tree and landing nimbly by her brother. He opened his mouth to ask her how she does that, but decided against it. He learned a long time ago not to question Scarlet about the weird things that happened around her.

"I wonder if she's brought us aything. Where did she go again?" Scarlet questioned as they began walking back to the house.

"She went somewhere deep in the Amazon forest where cavemen live!" Dominiq answered as they hurried through the woods. Their Aunt Deeliah was a traveler who went to many exotic places, (although, anywhere outside the kids hometown was exotic to them) and often times she brought back small gifts for them.