Bookworm

26

The girls had fallen asleep slumped against each other. Mira cast a glance down at Lee, he had been down for the count for hours now. Apparently, he had had a detention with Umbridge earlier and ended up missing the DA meeting. No wonder the poor lad was tired.
George was sleeping in his own bed, sprawled on his back with his limbs sprawled everywhere and loud snores erupting from his chest. Mira could only chuckle to herself as she loosened his tie and pulled it off of him along with his shoes. She pulled his blanket over him and turned to Fred, the only one left awake. He was watching her with puppy dog eyes and stuck his bottom lip out.
"Can you tuck me in too?" The girl chuckled and haphazardly threw his duvet over his body. Fred pouted and sat back up, shaking his head.
"No, no. You're meant to do it like this, see?" He slowly guided her hands to rest the blanket on his shoulders, but as he was sat up it just fell straight back down into his lap. He seemed to pay it no mind, his eyes glued to her and just how close she actually was. Her face was a brilliant shade of vermillion as she stared down at him.
"You have really nice eyes." He whispered, a tiny smile gracing his lips. There wasn't a hint of a smirk on his face, not an ounce of mischief in his eyes as they roamed her face. Mira was concentrating more on supressing her inner fan girl than on what was going on, and was subsequently not ready for when his lips pressed against her own. It was soft and careful. It was anxious and worried, unguided and hesitant. It was clear that he had not had much practice at this as he anxiously pulled away. His face could have challenged Ron's maroon dress robes the year before. He rubbed the back of his neck for a few moments, refusing to look back at her before his brown eyes widened and he suddenly yanked the blanket back up to his shoulders and violently laid down, staying perfectly still and breathing heavily.
Mira had not been expecting this either, and was thrown off the bed onto the hard cold floor as it was pulled from under her. Fred didn't seem to notice, and muttered a 'Night, Moriarty' before loud snores began erupting from him also.
Mira quietly left the room. She couldn't believe what happened and sunk down shakily into the chair beside the dying embers, clutching her chest.
"I just kissed Fred Weasley." Thoughts were running through her head faster than she could catch them, emotions filling her up and spilling over. She couldn't stop herself and let out a squeal alongside a slight laugh. But what were the tears in her eyes for?
Because she was hurt. She knew for a fact that Fred didn't snore. She also knew that he wasn't tired-he had eaten six chocolate frogs not even twenty minutes previously. One after the other; as many as he could to try and impress Angelina. So Mira thought. She scoffed at herself for being so stupid-she just kissed her childhood fictional crush. This never ended well in anything, so what was she expecting to happen?
No, she was here to help out Harry then just disappear. Nothing more, nothing less. It would be so much easier if she didn't have these feelings; if she hadn't allowed herself to get close to people she had grown up looking up to in her times of need. The twins had provided her more than enough laughs and their antics had pulled her from many emotional ruts. They were her favourite characters in the series-so why the bloody hell did the idiot let herself get close to them? She knew what they were like, she knew what was going to happen to them. She knew that they were leaving soon. And she knew that Fred was embarrassed that he had kissed her, a whole two years his junior. Embarrassed enough to brush it off and pretend that it just didn't happen. And she knew for a fact that Fred Weasley never got embarrassed.
Mira pulled her legs up to her chest and stared at the fire; her eyes sparkling with tears. She was so stupid. Tonight was the night that Mr Weasley was going to be attacked. She didn't know what plans Dumbledore had put in place to stop it happening; she didn't know who would be there to help him. She didn't know anything that would happen. She had no idea if she would make things worse or better-What if Dumbledore had removed the duties that night and Nagini somehow managed to steal the prophecy a whole half-year early and deliver it to Voldemort? What if the snake attacked with a real intent to kill since Arthur was alert?
And she had been off galivanting with his sons, snogging one of them silly. She dug her fingers into her arms and furrowed her eyebrows, blinking away her tears. She didn't care when they began cascading down her face and only buried her face further into her arms.
"Idiot. So stupid." She mumbled to herself. Movement near the staircase of the boys dorm caught her attention and she turned to see Neville sprinting down, his eyes wide with fright and face pale. He didn't stop to spare her a glance as he tore through the room. She knew what that meant and slowly climbed to her feet, a cold numbness taking over her body.The ground seemed to sway beneath her feet as they automatically carried her to where she knew she needed to be.
The gargoyle jumped aside before she could even say the password and she swept up the stairs like a ghost. Mira didn't even pause before she opened the door to his office and let herself in. She felt sick to her stomach. She should have known not to trust Dumbledore. She could have prevented this from happening. The old man made eye contact with her and even he seemed worried of what her reaction would be. Mira opened her mouth, but she couldn't bring herself to speak. She only had time to give him a stiff shake of her head before there were sharp rapping's on his door and McGonagall strode in, a tight yet caring grip on Harry's arm to stop him from falling. The boy was pale and sweat was dripping from his shivering figure. He looked genuinely ill as he fell into a chair that his Professor lead him to. Mira couldn't look at him any longer and turned her eyes back to Albus. Her fists were shaking by her side as she stared him down.
"I think you know what to do." He flickered his eyes to the fireplace and anger roared up in Mira. He was content to let this happen an expect her to clean up after him? She sent him a heated glare but strode behind his desk. She snatched the sword from its case behind his head and leapt into the fire. The heat had nothing compared to the fire inside her.
"Ministry of Magic." She was spinning and flew out in the auditorium. It was, thankfully, empty and she sprinted into a lift. "Department of Mysteries."
The golden grate arrived at where she needed to be in no time and she sprinted over to Arthur on the floor. She swore under her breath that Nagini was no longer anywhere in sight and threw the weapon to the floor, dropping to her knees and skidding over to him. He was weak, and covered in blood. He could barely keep his eyes open as he looked over to her, the usual spark in his eyes was nonexistent and Mira's stomach felt like stone when she saw something she never wanted to see-he looked ready for death. He looked, in that moment, like he wanted it. She gripped his hand and bent her head low, trying to hide her tears.
"It's okay, Arthur." She managed to get out. She waved her wand over him, performing the only spell she could think of and relieved his pain. "There-it's all I can do, but help is on the way Arthur." He relaxed slightly, a sure sign that he was no longer in agony.
"Snake," he groaned out. "Sn-sn-snake!"
"I know." she gripped his hand tighter and placed her hand over one of the wounds pouring with blood. "I know, Mr Weasley. It's gone now, you're okay. Help is on the way." Her voice wouldn't remain steady no matter how much she tried to force it to. It was physically painful to see the man like this. She couldn't avert her eyes, no matter how much she wanted to. She had to stay with him, she had to keep him awake until help arrived. It was the least she could do, especially after she had allowed Dumbledore to do this to him.
Quick footsteps caught her attention and she glanced over her shoulder. Kingsley was sprinting over, his hat on his head askew with a small group of people behind him. Mira recognised Tonks straight away and could focus on no one but her as the woman pulled her away from Arthur's now unconscious body and pulled her in for a hug. Mira was vaguely aware of the men rushing him somewhere else and Tonks talking to her, but she couldn't bring herself to focus as she sobbed into her.
"We have to get out of here." Tonks rubbed her shoulder slightly and whipped her head around to check they were alone. Mira sniffled and picked the sword up, one that Tonks eyed with a wary look. The girl trailed back to the lift with her and stared at the floor as they rose.
"You'll be going back to Grimmauld, we can sort things out from there-"
"No." Mira's voice was croaky and she shook her head. "I-I need to get Draco." Tonks's face twisted in sympathy but Mira cut her off when she began to speak. "I'm not letting him risk an innocent life again. I'm not letting him only save those of use to him." Tonks, seemingly lost for words, shut her mouth and Mira left the lift. Her feet were heavy and dragged on the floor as she moved to the fireplaces. She couldn't bring herself to turn to the metamorphagus.
"I told him what would happen tonight, and yet he chose to let Mr Weasley suffer." Mira was in the fireplace before Tonks could protest. She bustled around her room, throwing her things into her trunk before she stopped herself. If she left to spite Albus, everyone would suffer. Draco would suffer, Harry would, George would. She hoped Fred would.
Yelling in the hallway distracted her. She opened her portrait and snuck out to see Umbridge and McGonagall in a shouting match. The shorter of the two was almost the same shade as her cardigan as she screamed at the other woman about rule breakers and expulsion.
"I can assure you, Albus is taking care of it!" McGonagall snapped. Mira snorted. That's what he told her, too.
"Come now, Professor. You know what he's like." Her voice was silky. She was glad the shadows hid the blood still on her. McGonagall looked furious that she had gotten involved, that she was even back but she disregarded it and turned to the old toad. "I'm sure by now that Dumbledore would have hidden whatever has happened. There is not much you can do." Bitterness laced her words and she cast not a glance back before returning to her room. She threw her robes in the bin with a frown-she had quite liked that particular pair-and jumped into the shower to get rid of the dry blood on her arms. She scrubbed until her skin was red raw and pulled her pyjamas on-an old pair of leggings and one of Sirius's old shirts-before she went back into her room. She was surprised to see Remus sat on her bed, his legs were crossed and a book open in front of him.
"What are you doing here?"
"Checking up on my niece." He sighed and patted the spot beside him on the bed. Mira didn't move.
"If Dumbledore sent you here, you can leave. I don't want to hear it." A short chuckle came from him.
"It was, in fact, Tonks. She told me what happened." Remus admitted quietly. Mira looked at him dumbfounded. "I know that you would have known what was going to happen."
Her eyes focused on the Order of the Phoenix book before him as he softly put the bookmark back in and shut it. His face was blank, an empty canvas, unreadable and impossible to decipher. Mira didn't even question how he had gotten ahold of the book and a frown tugged at her lips as she made her way over to him.
"He told me he'd take care of it." She admitted. "I trusted him. And he just left Arthur to die."
"He didn't die though, did he?" Remus tried to reason. Mira glared at him and moved away, shaking her head.
"Don't. Don't you dare try to-don't!" She could think of the words as she spat them out at him. He merely sighed and pulled his legs in closer to him.
"Albus may not always make the best decisions, but he's the best chance we have at winning this." Mira snorted. She was now the best chance they had, but Albus had made sure that no one knew that. He couldn't have anyone questioning loyalty after all. As long as people followed him blindly it was fine.
"Please. Albus wouldn't be able to tell one end of a blast ended skrewt from another."
"I don't think anyone can." Remus chortled. "But even if you don't trust Albus, you need him. He set all of this up for you to be able to do what you need to do." Mira said nothing. The silence in the room was heavy. She scratched at her bare arm-an old habit that Libby would always yell at her for-and folded it around her body.
"How is he doing?"
"We aren't sure yet, but judging from the book he should be fine. Things played out the same way even with your intervention." He stood up and put a hand on her shoulder. "I have to go now, but you're welcome to join us at Grimmauld whenever you need to. Arthur is going to be okay, Mira. Don't you worry about that."