Stumble - A Fred Weasley Fanfiction

Chapter 38: 156 Days Before

Addie couldn't take it a second longer. Fred had been snoring for over an hour, with George's own snores echoing on the other side of the room. She was sure that no man or beast had ever managed to make that amount of noise before, but the Weasley twins had done it.

She wasn't gentle as she untangled herself from Fred's arms, hoping that she would jostle him enough to wake him and stop the inhuman noises, but she had no luck. He was still fast asleep and snoring louder than before.

Addie trudged down the stairs, giving the steps an extra kick to try startle the boys enough to stop the snoring. It didn't work. Charlotte peered up at Addie as she came down the steps, smiling at her efforts. "You can't take the noise either?" she asked.

"I don't think any sane person could," Addie replied. "They could keep the whole country awake with their snoring."

Charlotte laughed. "I was going to go for a walk, to try and get away from the noise. Want to come?"

"Yeah, sure." Addie and Charlotte grabbed their jackets and the two girls slipped out the door and into the cool morning air. It had frozen overnight and a layer of frost covered the grass, crunching under their feet as they made their way to the dirt road that stretched from Charlie's house up into the hills.

It was only after they had put distance between them and Charlie's house that Charlotte spoke. "How are you doing with everything?" she asked.

"I'm fine," Addie said simply, although she found she couldn't meet Charlotte's gaze. "I'm dealing with it all."

"It must be hard," Charlotte pressed. "Finding out someone you cared about could change so much."

Addie knew Charlotte was only trying to be there for her, to let her know it was okay to talk about it. But Addie still winced at her words. "Like I said, I'm dealing with it." Her voice came out colder than she intended, and the two lapsed into an awkward silence. Addie felt guilty, and tried to break it. "I should be the one asking how you're doing. You've been through a lot."

"It's been more of an adventure than I planned," Charlotte admitted. "But at least we're safe now. Even if we did have to cross Europe to do it."

Addie gave her a small smile. "It has been pretty crazy. Do you wish you were back home?"

"I don't know. I mean, I know London isn't safe for any one of us right now, but its home. My family is there. My friends are there." Addie glanced up at her in surprise. She was so used to her life being torn apart, in not knowing who from her old life to trust anymore, that she hadn't considered Charlotte having a life back home. "Don't get me wrong," Charlotte continued. "I'm happy with you, Fred, and George. It's just, George and I only went on a few dates, and now I'm staying in his brother's house, sleeping in the same room, and spending every day with him. It's all happening so fast, and I know I like him, but I don't really know him yet. So it's terrifying to be so dependent on him now. I'm amazed he even went through so much trouble to come after me."

"Yeah, they're both like that," Addie said. "Fiercely loyal. Fred was the same way."

"I'm so grateful to him for finding me and saving me. But now, we're together and its weird, because I feel as if we should know each other better. I just thought we could do the normal stuff. You know, date for a while, get to know each other." Charlotte paused. "How long did you and Fred date before all of this?" she asked, gesturing around at the countryside surrounding them in all directions.

"Me and Fred's situation is a little more complicated than that," Addie admitted. "He saved me from a horrible situation, his family took me in, and we both sort of grew attached to each other without meaning to. Nothing about our relationship has been normal. I've stopped expecting it."