chaos ~ fred weasley

31. aftermath

I'm still shaking hours after we get Harry safely and find ourselves back at the Burrow, sitting around the table in silence. Cedric and Amos left before I got to see them, but as far as I know they were safe. Fred and George found the shaking parents of the babies we found some hours after the embers of the burning tents had crackled out, and they were so shocked that they said nothing as they ran away. I huddle into Fred's shoulder, whose hands still tremble slightly as he rubs small circles into my waist. "What were those things?" Harry asks, looking over at Mr. and Mrs. Weasley.

"They," Mr. Weasley says, staring at his hands at the table as he sighs, "were Death Eaters. They serve You-Know-Who, supposedly."

"Yes, but You-Know-Who is dead, isn't he, dear?" Mrs. Weasley replied immediately, placing a hand on her husband's shoulder. "He's been gone for a long time, now."

George sighed. I've never seen him so serious. "Were the Death Eaters trying to scare us, then? Just make us think He's back, when He isn't?"

"I..." Arthur began, rubbing his forehead. "I really don't know. Look, maybe it was just some copycats or something?"

We all looked at each other, not daring to press the matter further because, while we all knew the truth, we didn't want to break the hopeful spell in the air. Eventually, Lee changed the subject to school and whether we had all our things, and that seemed to lighten the mood a little bit. I stare into the distance, fading in and out of the conversation until Lee taps my shoulder and whispers in my ear, "do you want to go somewhere and talk?" I nod and stand up, only Fred looking up when I go to leave. I squeeze his hand, and he squeezes back, silently understanding me as he always does.

Lee and I make our way up the stairs to his room, and I go in and sit on the bed. He sits beside me, watching me carefully. He doesn't need to ask if I'm okay, and I don't ask him. "I'm scared, Vee," he admits after a long silence. "There's something in the air."

"I feel it, too," I reply, looking over at him. Smiling faintly, I ruffle his hair. "We'll be okay."

Lee sighs, looking out the window. "Show me some cool tricks with your foxfire shit," he says after a while, lying down on the bed.

I lie beside him and let the warmth course through my veins, coming to the end of my fingertips. I rub my hands together, and when I pull them apart, a swirling ball of purple light crackles just above my palm. Lee grins brightly when I look over at him, and I smile back. "Watch this," I say as I focus hard, and the glowing ball levitates a few feet from my hand before dropping into my chest. Gasping, Lee sits up and looks at my chest, where it is bathed in the same familiar purple glow. This party trick of sorts feels strange when I'm warm, but there was one night last year where the fireplace fizzled out somehow in my dorm and I had to warm myself up in some way- eventually, Allie crawled into bed with me and I became a human fire. I close my eyes, take a deep breath, and let the foxfire rise again, back into a ball, and I roll it over my fingertips. "Touch it," I tell Lee.

"What?" Lee replies, his eyes widening as he looks at the ball.

"Touch it," I say again, giggling as he gasps when I clench my fist and the ball disappears before pluming outwards again, "it doesn't hurt, trust me."

"Okay... but if it burns me or something, I'll be pissed. That would be a low form of sibling pranks."

"I wouldn't dare."

Lee reaches out with one hand, and hesitantly nears the glowing ball. When his fingertips touch it directly, he jerks his arm back with a squeak. "It's warm!"