A Chance Encounter | Fred Weasley

Chapter 6

"I'm sure you've noticed that I try hard to not mention my third brother."

The twins nodded as Clara began to weave her tale.

"A few years ago, my brother Griffin was recruited by You-Know-Who. It made sense: he was an angry little Slytherin that didn't have mum or dad's approval and wanted to feel useful. His friends knew some people because their parents were death eaters and they all eventually began to work for Him.

"When my parents found out, it ripped our family apart. There was a huge fight and Griffin decided to do something he had never done in his life. He fought back against the person he felt the most humiliated by: my father."

Her eyes were empty as she stared at the table in front of her.

"He and my dad were sending curse after curse at one another. I was hiding upstairs with Michael." Clara closed her eyes as she pushed out the sound Michael's cries for their parents, his cries for Roman, and his cries of fear from her mind. "We could hear my mother screaming at the two of them to stop, but they just kept going. At some point, her cries stopped. Griffin had thrown a curse at her that did something to her mind. It made her turn against the child she loved most. He hated how perfect Roman was, so he assumed it would be Roman she'd hate."

"And that wasn't the case...was it?" Fred asked, sad eyes looking at Clara.

She nodded. "Unfortunately, it was me. After that, she started to have these episodes where she would yell at me and break things. At first they were few and far in between, but they've been happening much more frequently. That's why she's at St. Mungo's."

Silence settled on the group. "And...what happened to your dad?" George asked meekly.

"Griffin killed him," Roman stated from the stairs. "And ran off as soon as it happened." Roman had taken off his coat and removed his boots, but somehow he looked more intimidating that when he first stepped in. He was a brawny, athletic looking man with a gaze that could pierce through anyone and anything.

The twins straightened up in their seats as Roman made his way downstairs.

"You two Charlie's brothers?"

They nodded.

Roman smirked. "He talks about you lot quite a bit. Says you're successful shop owners."

"I work at their shop," Clara added. "And Michael loves their products."

Roman nodded and took a seat next to Clara. "That's good. We need a little more laughter in this world."

Clara nodded as she started to gather up dishes. She muddled out the conversation between George and Roman about Romania as she walked into the kitchen, unaware that she had a shadow.

As she set the dishes in to the sink, she rested her arms against the edge and took an exhausted deep breath.

"Do you need any help in here?" she heard a voice call from the doorway.

Turning, she saw Fred standing with two more cups in his hand, his face so soft and sweet as he gazed upon her.

"That'd be lovely," she replied. She reached into a drawer and handed him a dish towel, then proceeded to wash the dishes.

There was a long silence between the two. The splashing of water and clinking of dishes was the chorus that filled the kitchen.

"The pie was good tonight," Fred finally mustered out, then bashing himself internally for saying something so foolish.

His foolishness, though, earned him a chuckle.

"Of all the things you think about tonight, you come back to the pie?" Clara laughed, turning off the water and looking at Fred with one hand on her hip.