[1] Lemons into Lemonade ✓ | FRED WEASLEY

Chapter Sixty Four

In the chaos of everything, Fred had managed to slip away with remarkable ease but had lost Moody along the way, mainly due to hearing Aubrey's voice shouting his name which had immediately caught his attention. Sadly, that too had quickly faded and by the time Fred arrived at the Kitchen, there was already a large crowd there; clearly, he hadn't been the only one searching. 

On one side of the room, strange pillowcase shapes lined the walls whilst adults clustered around them. Upon closer inspection, however, he realised that they were, in fact, the bodies of house elves, discarded to the sides as if they meant nothing at all. For a brief moment, overwhelming nausea welled up inside him before realising they were simply in deep slumbers, much like George and Lexy.

"Fred?" He jumped slightly as Bill looked up, having been crouched behind a counter, "What are you doing here? You need to go and hide now, Mum's in the woods with the others - "

" - is there any indication where they went? Albus, is there any way to trace elf apparition?" He overheard someone murmur which quickly peaked his interest.

"They?"

Two teachers turned around, "A student? You need to go now, this is incredibly serious ... Gwen, escort him out, we need to focus!"

"Come on," Somebody said, tugging at his arm but by now, a deep sinking feeling had overcome him.

"Who's they ... who did Moody take with him?" 

"Come on!" Gwen said again but Fred jerked free.

"Who did they take? You have to tell me it wasn't her..."

His cries had been overlooked by most people yet Dumbledore had heard him. Just by the look on his face, Fred knew who it was even before he said anything, "Fred, it appears that Aubrey, like you, wandered in here and got caught in the wrong place at the wrong time - "

"Albus, this is confidential information!" Somebody murmured as several adults bustled past him, dividing up to presumably widen their search.

"He has a right to know," Albus simply replied. Whilst his calmness was coming in handy yet it also made Fred inexplicably furious that he was able to remain so level-headed when Aubrey was in such danger, "In the chaos, Miss Jackson must have stumbled across him, they apparated away thanks to one of the House Elves but I can assure you that we will find - "

"That's rubbish," Fred said, suddenly lurching forwards. All eyes were on him now, "She wouldn't stumble in here by accident, she must have been on the hunt for him, she's smarter than that! She must have known something ... anything."

"Fred, go wait with Mum," Bill instructed his brother, "The House Elves will be up soon, we'll get her - "

Fred wasn't listening, the true awful weight of the situation sinking in. Aubrey could be anywhere at the moment, he could search until his dying days and never find her. Perhaps she was cold and alone whilst Moody leered over her doing unspeakable things or worse, dead, alone and cold in a ditch with nobody to mourn her. The thought made tears well up in the corner of his eyes whilst anger boiled within him. However this too was suddenly replaced by an overwhelming sense of regret. They should never have handled it on their own, it had always been bigger than them and now Aubrey might pay with her life.

"Fred," Bill's voice was softer now, "Please go and hide, it's not safe for you here, there could be more of them - "

"No, don't make me leave ... don't make me do nothing," Fred choked, shaking his head, "She's smarter than that ... it wouldn't have been an accident, she's smarter than that, I swear."

"Fred, please - "

"Gwen, take him out," Somebody said but Fred remained steadfast, the guilt quickly hardening into stubbornness, mingled with an intense fear that he'd never see her again: his last memory just a fleeting view of her lying in the dust as he'd run away in a wild goose chase.