Stumble - A Fred Weasley Fanfiction

Chapter 39: 147 Days Before

Addie quickly grew accustomed to life at Charlie's. It was nice to wake up everyday in the same bed, her heart at ease, with no looming threat to keep her up at night. She liked being able to go outside without worrying who might see her. To be able to go shopping with Charlotte, and have snowball fights in the yard with Fred and George.

December had arrived, and with it the first snowfall of the season. Fred had wasted no time in taking advantage of it, and had spent every opportunity pelting Addie with snowballs. It didn't matter if she was outside or not. She had been sitting in the kitchen with Charlotte one morning when the window had flown open and a snowball had smacked her in the head.

She had gotten her payback. The next night she had opened the attic window and charmed a series of snowballs to pelt him while he was sleeping. He hadn't appreciated it. The fight had continued, each one finding new opportunities to hit the other in the face with snow. It had become quite a game, and, luckily, had only left the occasional bruise and one split lip when a chunk of ice had been gathered up into a snowball.

Now, two weeks later, Addie had finally found a moment of peace. She had woken early and gone downstairs to enjoy a cup of tea without the threat of a snowball looming over her. She kept her ears open as she sipped at her drink, listening to Fred's snores upstairs to ensure he was still asleep.

She was sitting there when she happened to glance out the window in time to see Dirk Cresswell trudging across the lawn.

Dirk had been almost entirely absent since they had arrived in Romania. He mostly stayed in his tent, coming into the house for the occasional dinner and to check on the dragon egg for Charlie. Addie knew he left throughout the day, however she didn't know where he went, or why he had decided to keep his tent at Charlie's. If he was traveling around and looking for muggle-born witches and wizards, why wouldn't he take his tent during his travels? Why come back to Charlie's every night? She knew there was more going on, something that George and Charlotte seemed to know. She just wasn't sure what.

Addie set down her cup and stood, deciding that it was time she found out what was going on. She walked out to the tent, ducking under low hanging branches to get to the entrance. She stood awkwardly outside the flaps of the tent, not wanting to intrude. "Dirk?" she called out.

A second later, Dirk's head poked out of the tent, taking in Addie standing before him in surprise. He hadn't shaved in a while, his stubble now grown into a full black beard speckled with gray. "Addie," he said. "I wasn't expecting you. Did something happen?"

"No, everything is fine," Addie assured him. "I just seen you and wanted to ask how your search was going."

"Of course," Dirk said, stepping back and leaving room for Addie to enter. "Come on in." Any questions Addie had been about to ask were wiped from her brain the second she walked inside the tent, replaced with amazement at what she saw.

Dirk's tent was unlike any wizard tent Addie had ever seen. It had all the usual accessories: sitting area, kitchen, bedroom, and bathroom. The four rooms were squished together, taking up half of the tent. The other half of the tent was so unexpected that it took Addie a minute to take it all in.

The other half of the tent had an enchanted roof, giving a view of the morning sky. Sunlight poured into the room, falling onto the rows and rows of shelves, each one completely covered in pots of various shapes and sizes. And from these pots grew so many plants, Addie was sure she couldn't name half of them. The whole room smelled of dirt and sunlight, and Addie took in a deep breath. "It's a green house," she said in surprise.

"Yes," Dirk said, shuffling awkwardly. "I know it makes the whole place smell a little..."

"It's beautiful," Addie said, walking down one of the rows, fingering the leaves of various herbs.