A Chance Encounter | Fred Weasley

Chapter 18

Michael jolted awake, his view of the ceiling lit only by the moonlight that shone through his window. For the second time that night, he had dreamt about what had happened to Clara. He kept revisiting the shop where his mother and Clara had fought over him. It shook him to his core to think that he had had an Unforgivable Curse used on him. Roman never even asked about it.

Then again, Clara's injury was definitely more pressing at the moment.

He sat up and rubbed his eyes. Part of him wished that he could go back to talking to that one girl at the wedding reception.

Giselle.

He could see her clearly. Her peach colored dress with her strawberry blonde hair caught his attention first. When he talked to her, she giggled at everything he said -- even if he wasn't being funny -- and he loved listening to her talk.

She loved Charms.

Her favorite color was lilac.

She was the same age as he was.

Her eyes lit up when she smiled.

He told her she was pretty.

She had smiled even more.

When Kingsley Shacklebolt's warning patronus had first flown into the tent, he and Giselle had frozen in place. Michael instinctively brought his wand out before the chaos began. He had grabbed Giselle protectively and brought her back to her sister. Before he knew it, Giselle and her sister had apparated away from the scene as Death Eaters started to show up. He had gone to look for Roman.

Roman.

Where was Roman?

He looked towards the bed that sat on the opposite side of the room from him. The covers didn't even look like Roman had made it to their bedroom.

Michael stretched his arms and made his way out of bed, grabbing the blanket off of Roman's bed and walking into the hallway. He looked to his left and right, noting that all of the doors were closed except for one.

He walked as quietly as he could, avoiding squeaky floorboards, and followed the distinct sound of Roman's snoring. Pushing the door open gently, he saw Roman sitting in a chair next to Clara's bed. His arm was outstretched towards Clara. His hand was resting on her arm.

Michael entered quietly, walked over to Roman, and draped the blanket over his brother.

"Whozzat?" Roman slurred as he woke from his sleep.

"It's just me," Michael answered.

Roman rubbed his eyes as he focused on his brother, making sure it was really him. "What're you doing here?"

"I could ask you the same question."

Roman nodded as he looked towards Clara. "Mrs. Weasley couldn't keep us out of here if she tried."

"I think she knew that already."

Roman nodded with a smirk. He gestured to the other chair in the room.

Michael grabbed it and sat across from his brother. His eyes eventually rested on Clara's sleeping face. "Roman, what happened to her?"

He heard his brother sigh. "It's not an uncommon thing. What happened wasn't your fault either."

Michael shifted his focus to his brother, waiting for his answer.

"Clara...she was splinched."

"'Splinched'?" Michael asked.

"It can happen when you apparate. Part of you gets left behind when you don't focus hard enough on your destination. My guess is that Clara was trying to get you both back here and had to make a few split second decisions in between."