[1] Lemons into Lemonade ✓ | FRED WEASLEY

Chapter Forty Nine

George and Lexy had had a much less productive evening than Fred and Aubrey; whilst the other two had been dashing around with buckets in their hands and creepy teachers at their tails, Dumbledore had chosen tonight to hand dry all his clothes from the Owlery. The task was long (and probably soothing for the busy Headmaster) but it was the definitely the dullest outcome for the two amateur spies. Other than when Dumbledore dropped his socks off the side, nothing interesting happened. Pretty soon, the two simply sat on the stairs, passing the time with random chatter.

"I was just thinking ... how do you think Fred's handling PMS?"

George grinned, "That's a tough one considering I don't really know what that's like. Well, probably about as well as Aubrey's handling, ahem ... morning wood, I reckon."

"What do you mean by that? What the hell is 'morning wood'... oh wait," Lexy asked, cocking her head to the side before putting her hand to her face, "Oh God, I thought you were talking about the four poster beds - "

"What?!"

"They're made of wood, I'm sorry that I didn't twig it instantly ... pun not intended!" She laughed, "Don't judge me for that!"

"Oh, I am judging you, Lexy Masters."

She furrowed her brow, "Right after I told you not to? You're a mean one, aren't you?"

George held his hands up as if in surrender, "Believe it or not, people said I'm the nice one. But ... nice doesn't mean I'm not sarcastic..."

Their laughter faded as the sound of hurried footsteps drifted towards them and the two jumped up, so as not to block the stairs. Around the corner, Fred and Aubrey appeared, their faces flushed, which was an achievement in Fred's case due to the wonders of Aubrey's un-blushable skin.

"Hi you two," George said, "We weren't expecting you until later - "

"Neither were we, took us ages to find you - "

Fred couldn't help but reveal, "Some second year told us he saw Dumbledore and two stalkers following him to the owlery."

"There has been an urgent change of plan. Before we leave though, did Dumbledore do anything suspicious?"

Exchanging a grin with Lexy, George began, in a mockingly exaggerated tone, "Yeah, tonnes of interesting stuff. When we followed him up here, a broomstick came out of his arse and he flew up into the sky... just kidding, he spent the entire time drying out his socks."

"It has not been a productive evening," Lexy added.

Aubrey and Fred exchanged a look, a strange shared smile signifying a secret briefly flickering onto their faces before Fred turned back, "Great, now come on, we have news to tell you and we have to make sure we can't be heard..."

• • •

Returning to their 'office' felt too risky so Fred and Aubrey instead led them to a secluded section of the lake's edge. The sun was still up, the days just starting to get longer so they could luckily still see into the hedges enough to realise nobody was around. Aubrey, however, didn't seem convinced.

"This feels too risky," She murmured, her fingers gently brushing Fred's arm as she stood behind him, eyeing up their surroundings, "Somebody could be listening..."

Lexy grinned mischievously, her eyes coming to rest on the lake, "Then tell us in the water, nobody will be listening there except perhaps Godric Gryffindor... ooh, I've actually always wanted to go for a midnight swim."