Not A Coincidence (Fred Weasley)

Ch 50: Have I Forgotten Something?

"Pumpkin is a friggin' octopus?!" George shouts out, squirming around above our heads.

"What did you think she'd be?"

"Oh I don't know, something normal!" George yells back angrily, trying to pry his ankle from Pumpkin's grip.

Pumpkin doesn't like this and starts swinging George around, throwing him up in to the air and catching him just before he hits the ground.

"I don't think she liked what you said, Georgie." Fred laughs, enjoying the scene.

"Seriously?! She's an octopus-"

Pumpkin tosses him in the air mid-sentence.

"Che-eels-ea!" George shrieks.

"Yessss Georgie?" I ask, swaying back and forth. "What can I do for you?"

"Pl-eeaas-se. Ma-ake her sto-opp."

"I'm sorry Georgie, did you say to ask her to speed up?" I smirk over at Fred who grins up at his brother.

"No-o! W-wha-t do y-ou-o wan-t-t!" He shouts back, starting to look a little green.

"Hmm. Fred, want anything in particular?"

"Wouldn't mind no chores for a day."

"How about a week?"

"Sounds like this trip is going to be good." Fred chuckles.

"Alright George. I'll persuade Pumpkin to let you down, but only if you do both our chores for a week."

"A we-ek?!"

Pumpkin tosses him high into the air.

A high pitched shriek sends the birds restingin the trees in to another frenzy. "Fi-ine!" George squeals. "A week of both your chores. Now let-me-down!"

I toss half the split pumpkin in to the air.

"Oof!" George lands on the ground with a thump.

"So do you guys like her?" I ask, hand feeding her the other half of the pumpkin.

"She sure is bloody cool." Fred smiles, patting Pumpkins slippery skin. "And slimy." He wipes his hand on his shirt as he takes a step back.

"It's a coating they produce to attract mates, it glows when she wants it to."

"Bloody octopus." George mutters, keeping his fair distance away. And by that I mean he's right on the edge of the forest, a good 10-15 metres away from Pumpkin.

I watch Pumpkin slowly lift up a tentacle, it wanders around, hidden behind rocks, until it reaches George, tapping his shoulder.

"What the-" George shrieks as he turns around.

"Did not know you could hit a pitch that high." I give my ear a rub.

"Keep her way from me." George trembles, cowering behind Fred and I.

"Come on Georgie, she was just playing."

"Y-yeah, just playing."

We sit upon the shore, skipping rocks which Pumpkin fetches just as we reach 10 skips.

"Can we go back noooooww?" George whines from his hiding spot behind the rocks. Pumpkin keeps spooking him out, playing little pranks on him.

"B-but-"

"Love, its 2." Fred checks his watch.

"B-but-"

"We'll come back tomorrow." Fred puts his arm around my waist. "Now say bu-bye to Pumpkin."

"Bu-bye Pumpkin." I sulk.

"Lets go eat lunch!" Fred chants.

"Fooood!"

"Where's George?" Fred looks around as we head back to the cabin.

"Probably already eating lunch, he really did not like Pumpkin." I laugh. "But she'll grow on him, she always does."

...

"Now if I can just remember what I had to do.." I mumble, sitting onthe edge of the bed, nibbling on my thumb.

"Remember what?" Mum pops her head in to the room.

"I dunno, that what's I'm trying to remember."

"Okay..." she takes a seat bedside me, "person, place or thing?"

It's a game we play, we've done it ever since I can remember. When someone forgets something we try to narrow it down, similar to charades. Always remember it in the end.

"Thing.. or was it a person? Ohh I don't know."

"Okay, lets go with thing." She thinks about it. "Is it important?"

"It feels important."

"Is it an object?"

"No."

"Task?"

"Yes."

Mum goes back to thinking. "Hmm. An important task... does it have a time frame?"

".. I have a feeling it might."

"Okay. An important task that's on the clock." Mum recites, she repeats the words over and over, rolling them off her tongue, extracting the essence from each word. "Important task, time frame. Task, chore, work. Time, clocks, ticking. Tasssks, time, tasks, time, tasks, time- the task Dumbledore left you when you were 11!" Mum jumps up with joy, landing me on the ground.

"What?"

"Those books he sent when you were 11, before you got your letter, you were supposed to read them front to back and you have a task to do." Mum expands her saying as I continue to look at her dumbfounded from my place on the floor.

"You knooow, you are to stop something terrible from happening, you're supposed to save lives!" She groans as I remain silenced. "The prophecies! Ooh, ooh, the prophecies!"

"What prophecies?"

"The books you were given were prophecies, as these specific prophecies muddle up your mind to make you forget certain things. You can't remember these books because of the prophecies!" She says all at once.

"Whoa whoa, easy there mama. You're going 60 miles an hour, you're going to get pulled over."

She looks at me like I just ran in to a brick wall. "When you were 11 years old- you were sent a package by your headmaster- Dumbledore. In the package- or crate- were a set of books that foretold someone's future- you are supposed to be out saving lives..." She looks at me for any sign of recognition.

"Books..." Books? "Prophecies.. Guess that explains why I can't remember, but books? I think I would remember books." Hm..

Surely I would remember being sent something from Albus... but books? Prophecies, predicting the future, who's future? A dark haired boy's.

"A dark haired boy's future?"

"Yes. Yes!" She cheers. "Glad to help, now I'm going to go get dinner ready."

"B-but-" She leaves before any words leave my mouth. "You didn't really help. Ugh!"