Stumble - A Fred Weasley Fanfiction

Chapter 6: 335 Days Before

Addie tried not to think about her mother in the weeks that passed. She remained at the Burrow, helping out Molly in whatever way she could, trying her best not to be a burden. The two of them had developed a bond being the only two in the house most days, and had developed a routine as well. Her and Molly sat every morning together for breakfast, and Addie loved hearing stories of her children when they were small almost as much as Molly loved to tell them. Her favorites were always the ones of Fred and George causing mischief, and it seemed as if there were no end to those stories. Then they would do morning chores, sit down for lunch, and then work on wedding preparations until Arthur returned home from work. It was monotonous but peaceful, and Addie enjoyed every minute of it immensely.

Even after Charlie left, Addie remained in Fred and George's old room, and throughout her days there she stumbled upon a number of small knickknacks she was too afraid to touch, out of fear something would explode. She had also found pieces of parchment scattered everywhere, seemingly left wherever the twins had placed them and quickly forgotten, filled with plans for strange items Addie couldn't even guess the use of.

She was in their room, attempting to clean out a dresser so that she could put some of her things away, when she discovered another piece of parchment. This one had drawn on it a rough outline of a device Addie recognized: Extendable Ears.

"Which one did you find?" asked a voice behind her, and she whirled her head around to find Fred standing much too close, peering over her shoulder.

"What are you doing here?" Her heart beat loudly against her chest in shock.

He didn't answer, his eyes still focused on the parchment. "Extendable Ears," he continued, grinning. "One of our bestsellers. Although, I'm glad to say we improved on the design a lot." He grabbed the parchment from Addie's hands, examining it closer and shaking his head. "This one never would have worked." He blinked up from the paper at her. "What were you saying?"

"I asked what you were doing here."

"Well its my room, I should be asking you why you're going through all my things."

"I was not," she said indignantly. "Everywhere I look I find those things. I can't help it."

He grinned at her. "I'm just joking. I actually came to find you."

"Me?"

"Yeah, you. Unless you somehow aren't Addison Taylor?" She nodded, confused at where this was going. "Well, mum is stressing out. It turns out Fleur is coming this afternoon to go over some wedding stuff, and her and Fleur don't exactly get on the best. So I'm getting out of here. I'm going to go to Diagon Alley to run some errands for mum, and I was going to see if you wanted to come. Unless you want to stay here and deal with the awkward mother and daughter-in-law tension..." He raised his eyebrows.

"Definitely not. I'm coming."

*

They used the Floo Network. Addie much preferred it to apparition. Although the spinning made her dizzy, and the scent of ash filled her nose for the rest of the day, she would rather that than the squeezing darkness of apparition.

She landed heavily in the fireplace of the Leaky Cauldron, coughing on the ash and dust that she had sucked into her lungs on the journey. She stepped out just in time for Fred to land in the exact spot she had been standing. He was much more put together than she was, and it was apparent he'd done this much more than she had. He wasn't coughing up ash, and his clothes were relatively clean. Addie herself was not. Fred noticed this immediately and burst into fits of laughter.