Odd One Out (Fred Weasley)

ONE ~

Everything is eerily quiet for a Monday morning. There's no cars beeping, no dogs barking, no doors slamming. Everything I'm used to is gone.

Hallelujah.

I let out a small groan as I stretch across my mattress. It echoes around my bare room, the boxes stacked in the corner judging me as they sit for the fourth day unpacked.

Scratching comes from the other side of my door, followed by a small mew. I slide out of bed and open the door as my cat, Rain, slinks in. She rubs her black-peppered coat along the door frame as she enters.

I look out my window and to the farmland beyond. An alien sight compared to the suburbia I'm used to. My parents thought it was time to move to a more private area now that I'm sixteen and leaving them to go to the all important Hogwarts school of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

It takes me no time to get myself ready and race downstairs to see my parents, Eugene and Cathy, a scowl on the latter's' face.

"We told you to be ready fifteen minutes ago," Cathy gives me a pointed look, crossing her arms as she glowers at me. I hold my hands up in surrender.

"Sorry, I slept in. We're just going to see the neighbors, right?" I ask, taking a piece of jam-buttered toast from a plate and taking a bite of the cold bread. "I don't think they will mind if we are a tad late."

"If you weren't shoving your face with food we could be on time," she jabs. "If you wanted to eat, you should have gotten up earlier." she taps her foot, one of her more obvious anxiety stims. She's unnaturally snappy this morning. I put the rest of the toast in my mouth and smile, earning an eye roll.

"Let's go," she nods to Eugene, who simply glances up from his newspaper. The moving image on the front displays the Quidditch Champion Viktor Krumm, his recent win all the hype.

"I'll pass," he grumbles. Cathy and I share a glance. We pass a silent agreement, not wanting to try our luck.

Cathy hurries me out the front door and down the dirt path that leads to our shared road. By neighbors, we mean any life form that exists down this long, never ending road. With a teenage Witch, my parents thought it better to move somewhere with less eyes incase something were to happen. The close calls when i was eight and ten are clear enough; the less muggles to witness accidents, the better. On the drive in we had noticed a tall house in the distance, not far from ours, and now Cathy is desperate to make friends with whoever lived out there - whether or not they were muggles like her and Eugene.

We can see the house immediately as we exit the front door. It's tall and top heavy, looking as if it could fall at any moment, and surrounded by hedges and gardens. It's a miracle that thing is still standing - or magical. Within five minutes we are there.

As we near the house, laughter floats through the air. We walk through the entrance of the gardens seemingly unseen as a group of red-headed children run around, tossing something between them.

There's five children in total. The youngest, the only girl, is giggling wildly at her brothers. The second youngest is running away from what looks like a gnome with big teeth. A set of twins are throwing gnomes at each other, and the last boy is standing on the sideline with a small smile on his face.

Cathy and I are finally spotted as one of the twins stop, barely dodging a gnome thrown by the other. He shouts towards the house, calling out mom!, his eyebrows raised as he stares at us.

In the shock, a gnome sneaks up behind one of the twins and jumps– latching onto his behind, making him shriek.

"Get it off! Get it off!" He bellows, his face turning the same colour as his vibrant hair. His siblings start laughing maniacally, only the last boy making a move to pry it off and throw it over the hedge. The door to the house flies open and a short, stout lady stands in the doorway.

"What's all this yelling about?" She shouts. Her eyes land on us and shock flashes on her face, quickly replaced by a smile.

"Oh, hello!" She chirps. She hurries towards us, crossing the garden with impressive speed for her small legs.

"Hi," Cathy gives her usual, rehearsed smile. She meets the woman half way and shakes her hand. I lag behind, looking sideways cautiously at the children staring me down. "I'm so sorry to intrude. We have just moved in some distance that way," she lazily motions towards our new home, yet I can tell that's not quite the direction. "My name is Cathy, this is my daughter, Laura-Jeanne. We wanted to pop by and say hello." And to figure out what we are dealing with.

"I go by LJ," I smile sweetly at the lady, showing my own perfectly rehearsed smile. She shakes my hand with a big smile, and turns to her kids.

She introduced them one by one, hesitating when introducing her twins.

"This is Fred, and this is-"

"I'm George, mom. You do this every time!"

"Sorry, George. This dashing one is Fred. Would you like to come in for some coffee?" She chirps, a smile spreading across her plump face.

"I would love to!" Cathy gives me a pointed look, hinting to me to stay outside with the kids. I need to make friends before I go to Hogwarts, apparently. What better way to do that than meeting the neighbors? That was another one of her many ulterior motives for coming out here.

The two adults disappear inside and I turn to the kids.

"So, what exactly are you guys doing? Why are you chasing gnomes?" I rub my arm awkwardly, trying to think of any conversation starters.

The youngest speaks up first, a smile on her face. Ginny, i think her name was. "We're trying to get rid of the gnomes, but they're being major pains in the ass today. Want to help?"

I smile back. "Sure. I do love a good gnome hunting."

"Laura-Jeanne, is it?" She asks as the others begin to chase the gnomes again.

"Yeah, but call me LJ. I'd prefer it," I say as I awkwardly dodge a gnome as it dashes past my legs. If I'm being completely honest, i have never done any gnome hunting before. Or done anything to do with gnomes.

"Alright, LJ. How old are you? Are you a witch? You must be, if you know what these are. Do you have any siblings? Are you—"

"Ginny, leave the poor girl alone. No need to grill her," one of the twins smirks.

"No, it's alright. I'm 16, I am indeed a witch, I have a brother that lives away, and yes I am going to Hogwarts, if that's what you were going to ask. I start this year."

Ginny glares at her brother as if to say suck it. I laugh and roll my shoulders, making myself relax, and dive for a gnome but fail miserable. Over time we talk and try to catch gnomes, horrendously failing at times, until my mother comes out laughing with Mrs Weasley.

"Guess that's my cue," I say, wiping sweat from my brow. "It was fun hanging out with you guys. And thanks for the Hogwarts information. Guess I can cross my fingers to get into Gryffindor."

Though it was mainly Ginny, they explained Hogwarts and it's houses, professors and any other information that I needed to know. It was incredibly helpful, if I'm being honest. I was going in virtually blind until they explained it all.

We say our goodbyes and Cathy and I make our way back home, the walk silent for the first five minutes.

"They invited us over for dinner tonight," Cathy looks back to the old house, a frown on her face. "I said yes, but I'm regretting it. They're an odd family."

"Everyone is odd to you. I think it'll be fun, they seem like great people. It would be nice for you to make a friend to visit while I'm gone. It would bring me comfort you're not... alone."

She hesitates, giving me a skeptical look, but cracks a smile. "Dinner it is, then."

"Hallelujah!"