Not Alone After All

Chapter XLII

The group followed Mr. Weasley once again through the rows of tents and dancers. The tents looked... odd to say the least. They looked much like a 'muggle' tent, but the owners had added weird stuff like chemneys and bell-pulls and weather-vanes.

When they arrived at their spot, Mr. Weasley let his backpack fall on the ground.

"Right, no magic allowed, so to speak," Mr. Weasley told them. "Not when we're surrounded by so many muggles in muggle land. We'll be putting these tents up by hand! Shouldn't be too difficult... Muggles do it all the time... here, Harry, where'd you reckon we should start?"

Harry looked absolutely lost as soon as they opened the backpack and got everything they supposedely needed. The Wizards sat down, some strarting to unpack or organize their things, while Harry, Hermione and Laura walked to the equipment.

"I'm gonna be honnest," Laura whispered to the two as soon as they walked to eachother. "I have never been camping in my life," she admitted.

"Me neither," Harry told them.

"I did it once, but I was four years old," Hermione said.

"So basically, we're going to have to learn how to assemble a tent?" Laura asked them, recieving two nods. She sighed. "Great."

It was not easy, but soon enough, Hermione managed to understand the schematics and they worked out where most of the poles and pegs should go. And although Mr. Weasley wasn't much help - mostly because he got a bit too excited when it came to using the mallet - they managed to erect a pair of small, shabby two-man tents.

The trio was unsure of how their party of seven - soon ten, upon the arival of the three older Wesley children - would fit in two small tents. They shared an uncertain look. That is, until they walked into the first tent, the boy's tent. As soon as they stepped foot inside, they were struck by awe. They walked into a full apartment-like structure, complete with bathroom and kitchen. It also smelled strongly of cats, and no one quite understood why.

"I borrowed this from Perkins at the office," Mr. Weasley explained. "We'll need water," he noticed after a few moments of everyone setteling in.

"There's a tap marked on this map the muggle gave us," Ron told his father. "It's on the other side of the field."

Mr. Weasley sent Ron, Harry and Hermione to the tap to get them some water so they could cook and make some tea. Fred, George and Laura were sent to gather some wood for them to make a fire (Laura couldn't help but be amused by the thought of Mr. Weasley trying to light a fire withtout any magic at all), while Ginny and Mr. Weasley stayed behind and tidied up the tents so they could stay the night.

"What kind of wood should we pick up?" Asked George as soon as they stepped foot into the woods.

"Branches," Laura told him.

"What kind of branches?" George asked once more.

"The dry kind."

"Yes, but from where?" This time the question had come from Fred.

"From the ground, Frederick," she playfully snapped at him, a smirk growing on her face.

"Well, how was I supposed to know?" He frowned playfully as George snickered.

"They're only dry on the ground. Those still attached to the trees get water from the trees," Laura decided she wanted to explain, give those boys a quick biology lesson. They gathered wood for a period of two and a half minutes, until all went downhill. George found a spot of mud and decided it was a good idea to kick it in the two's direction, which ended up becoming a small mud fight. The twins ended up with mud all over their trousers and their jumpers, whilst Laura, being the smallest, had mud up to her hair.

"Alright, can we get the wood now?" George asked them, waving his previously white sleeve in a demand for a truce.

"You literally started this," Laura argued with a laugh.

"Yes, so I am ending it, right? That's how wars work, isn't it?" He laughed it off.

"Funny, Weasley," Laura squinted her eyes at him and went back to work on gathering branches. A few minutes went by before Fred walked up to her.

"You've got a bit of mud on your face," he pointed out after she acknowlodged his arrival.

"Well whose fault is that?" Laura whiped her face with the inside of her sleeve, but obviously didn't manage to clean it up, seeing as next thing she knew Fred was wipping her right cheek with his own sleeve. Laura shivered upon the feeling and blushed as soon as she saw him blush. The two quickly stepped away from eachother, an awkward silence filling the woods around them.

"So... you seemed quite friendly with Cedric," Fred decided to change the subject... or was it a change in subject at all?

"Yeah," Laura trailed off. "We've talked. I tried to convince him he'd won fair and square last year..."

"Oh."

"What, 'oh'?"

"Hm?"

"You just said 'oh', as if I'd done something wrong." Fred's heart accelerated for some reason he didn't understand, and it scared him.

"It's nothing," he waved it off.

"Is it?" Laura pushed him with a frown. She didn't quite understand why he was suddenly being so secretive.

"Don't worry about it, Little Potter," he assured her, picking up a few branches from the ground. "I think we've got enough, don't you?" He flashed Laura a smile before walking back towards his brother, leaving her standing alone, confused, in the woods.