A Chance Encounter | Fred Weasley

Chapter 19

Sunlight filtered through the curtains in the bedroom and cast a golden glow on the room. Fred's eyes flitted open as he took in his surroundings. He could feel the exhaustion in his bones as he turned his head. It was then that he remembered that he hadn't fallen asleep alone. A small smile graced his face as his eyes wandered over Clara's frame. He appreciated how the sunlight kissed her brown locks, how her oversized sleeping shirt hugged her curves as she laid on her side facing away from him.

He slid his arm around her waist where he found it fit perfectly, pulling her gently towards him as he buried his face in her hair. A small groan caused her body to vibrate against his, his smile only growing wider.

"I'm sorry if I woke you."

"I'm not complaining," he heard, Clara turning her body slowly to face Fred.

"Good morning."

"Good morning." Clara couldn't help but allow herself to release a smile. She couldn't help but notice the tremendous difference in Fred's eyes that morning. His stresses seemed to have melted away. There was a light in his eyes that she hadn't seen the day prior. He was happy.

And it was infectious.

Fred released her, sat up, and stretched his arms over his head. "How's your splinch feeling?"

Clara sat up with a wince, placing her hand tenderly on her abdomen. "It's better than it was yesterday. I'm definitely not back up to 100% yet."

"No one expects you to be. You've got lots of time to rest." Fred smiled as he brushed some of Clara's hair out of her face.

A light blush painted itself on Clara's cheeks as she tried to resist a smile.

"Not that I don't want to spend my morning in here with you, but I'm sure Roman will have a cow if he catches me here."

Clara laughed. "You act as if we're teenagers sneaking around behind our parents' backs."

"Technically the second half is true, except your parent is your big, scary, almost-knocked-my-lights-out brother. I'd rather not be on the receiving end of that again."

She rolled her eyes as she kicked her legs over the side of her bed. "I'll see you later then?"

"You can count on it."

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"I was thinking that I'd go home and grab a few more things before I head off tomorrow," Roman explained, shoveling another forkful of pancakes into his black hole of a mouth.

"Can I come with you? I wanted to get some of my things too," Michael asked.

"You can't," Clara stated quickly, setting down her fork. "None of us can go home. At least not now."

"Weren't you the very one who wanted to go back at the beginning of the summer? I'm sure Griffin and Mum aren't there," Roman excused.

"It's not that."

The Weasleys were outside and around the house, finishing up cleaning the mess that had been left behind. Bill and Fleur had also left that morning, heading to the Shell Cottage so that they could be secluded and be a safe house for the Order. Ginny was packing her trunk with great reservation, her parents insisting that she go back to school this term. Michael was also dragging his feet in doing so, his state of mind being the same as Ginny's. Things needed to seem as normal as possible, though, now that more eyes were watching them. The last thing both families wanted to do was risk punishment for their youngest not returning to Hogwarts that term.

"When Mum was apparating us everywhere the other night, one of the places we ended up was back at the house. It's...it's destroyed."

Michael swallowed hard as he thought about all of the trinkets Roman had collected for him, all of the photos that hung in the house, all of the memories that he had made within those walls.