Finding Yourself : Fred Weasley

37

      We have fifteen minutes to get to the Shrieking Shack by the time we get to Hogsmeade. The tunnel leads to the cellar of Honeydukes, so when we get there we carefully and quietly sneak outside into the quiet, cold night. 
     I shiver as soon as I step foot in the snow. Not having shoes on in the snow is not a good idea. George looks me up and down. "You should put your shoes back on," he says while giving me a sympathetic look. I shake my head. "I'll be slower." I start to jog in the direction of the shrieking shack. He follows along. 
     "You haven't been around much recently," George says as we hurry. "What do you mean?" I ask, even though I'm pretty sure I know what he means. "You have been around Harry and Ron more. I haven't seen you around Diggory or Reynolds much and you have been distant from Fred and me," he explains. 
      "Cedric was talking about Cho too much and Reno needed space because I rejected him," I explain shortly. "What about me and Fred?" I chose my words carefully. "Fred seems to get uncomfortable and awkward when I'm around now so I have been giving him my space. And you are just almost always with him."
      "He isn't uncomfortable. He is mad at himself," George says. "Why?" I ask confused. "Because he wanted to go to the ball with you."  I lightly laugh then regret it, talking is taking a lot of breath, laughing is worse. 
     "I'm serious. He did. He was mad when he found out you weren't really going to go so he asked Angelina. Then you asked him and he is mad that he had to tell you no," George explains, sounding like he actually means it. 
      We stop talking once we get to the shrieking shack. We walk up to it. I stop when we get to the front door. I look up. I have never been this close to it, at night it is much creepier than it is in the day. 
    "Are we supposed to go in?" I ask him nervously. He looks around. "I don't see a little black dog out here so I reckon so," he says before opening the door. It makes a loud creaking sound. He walks in and I nervously walk in behind him. Both of us have our wands drawn. 
      It is dark inside. The only light is coming from the room next to this one. "Lumos," I say quietly. My wand lights up and the room is suddenly very visible. George looks at me surprised. "You're still underage, what are you doing?" He asks in shock. I lightly laugh. "No, I'm 17." He looks even more shocked. "Since when?"   "Since my birthday. Which was the beginning of December."  "Why didn't you tell anyone?" I shrug. "Isn't a big deal." 
        I quickly put my shoes back on. From what I can see there appears to be glass, dirt, and broken wood everywhere. I take Georges hand for comfort and stand halfway behind him as we slowly walk to the room the light is coming from. 
       It's a dirty, broken up kitchen. On the table, that looks like it has been broken many a time, is a candle. We look around. It seems to be empty. George looks at his watch. "We have three minutes til 9:30," he says confused.  
     There is a loud sudden bark from behind us that causes us both to jump and me to scream and cover my mouth. We both quickly turn around. Sitting on the floor is a large black dog looking up at us. "Looks like we made it after all," George says with a smile. 
    I slowly let go of Georges's hand. "Nox," I whisper before putting away my wand. He does the same. The dog walks out of the room, we follow. He is sitting in the middle of the room with an umbrella sitting in front of him. He picks it up with his mouth. If I didn't know better he was holding it out to us. 
     "It's a Portkey," George says before walking over and taking a hold of it too. "A what?" I ask confused. He looks back at me. "A Portkey. An object enchanted to bring anyone touching it to a specific location. Grab on." 
      I walk over and nervously bend over and grab hold of it. George holds out his arm so we can watch his watch. Less than a minute until 9:30. My heart races more and more as the hands get closer. As soon as the second-hand hits it suddenly feels like there is a hook pulling me by my stomach. Everything is moving around too fast to get a good look. 
      Suddenly I am lying back in a grassy field. I quickly sit up and look around. I am in a dark field. My stomach is doing summersaults and I feel very dizzy, I definitely do not like that. George is sitting next to me and the black dog is standing on the other side of me. The umbrella in the middle. 
     "I'm glad to see you made it," a familiar voice says from behind us. I turn around and see Professor Lupin standing with Bill. I would smile but I feel too sick. George gets up and holds his hand out to me. I take it. He pulls me up. Bill walks over and picks up the umbrella. "Charlie sends his apologies. He couldn't get away from work." 
      "Are you okay? You look a little sick," He says as he walks past me. I nod and clear my throat. "I just wasn't expecting that," I say quietly. "First Portkey always is the worst," George says while rubbing his backside.
      "You two look very snazzy," Bill says with a smile. He is looking between George and I. I slightly smile at him. The dog walks over to Lupin and looks up at him. 
     "He is really well trained," I say with a small smile. Lupin laughs. "Yes. He is." I really want to walk over and give him a hug, but that would probably be weird. "So what now?" I ask curiously. "Now we will go to that cabin right there," Lupin points to a small cabin that looks like will take about a ten-minute walk to get to. "And wait. The man who is meeting us, Saunders, is supposed to be there at 9:30."
     "What do we do when he gets there?" I ask just to be sure. "You ask him questions. I will too. Bill and George will stay in the kitchen unless we need them. And Saunders won't know they are there," Lupin explains before he starts to walk. 
     Everyone starts to walk with him. I stay there for a moment longer and look up at the sky. I am really about to find about my family. I look down and see the door waiting for me. I start to walk and he waits until I am next to him before he walks too.