Ophidian | Fred Weasley ✔

34

Chapter Thirty-Four:

( Y O U   O K A Y,   F R E D D I E ? )

1998, May 1st.

Fred Weasley stirred awake only to find his wife missing from their bed, something which had been a regular occurance for a few weeks now. He slowly stretched as he made his way to the kitchen, where he knew his wife would be.

Artemis Weasley was in the kitchen making a pot of tea when she felt arms wrap around her from behind.

"Visions again?" Fred asked, his head buried in her neck. Artemis nodded.

"I told you to wake me up if you can't sleep." He murmured.

"And I told you it's not that bad anymore. I've learnt to control it so it doesn't strain me but...it's just that I can't fall back to sleep after I saw someone die." She whispered pouring the tea into two cups.

"Regardless, I don't want you to stay awake alone." He said sincerely. "Who was it this time?" He asked.

"You know I can't tell you that." Artemis said shaking her head. In all the years of her getting visions, she had learnt that it didn't do well to mess with nature's course of functioning and death was a part of it.

"It was worth a try." Fred said shrugging his shoulders. "Is it someone we know?" Fred asked settling down on the couch as Artemis handed him his tea, sitting down next to him and resting her head on his shoulder with her own cup of tea in hand. She nodded.

"So many people are going to die, Freddie." Artemis whispered closing her eyes, all the flashes of deaths that she had seen in the past few weeks flashed before her. The latest death she had seen was Remus and Nymphadora's. It had been the most gut wrenching to watch out of all, knowing they had just become parents.

"All of them will die content, knowing that they died for what they believed in. At least, I would." He said after a moment of silence passed between them. She nodded taking a sip of her tea.

"Manasa's been on edge lately, I think the war is coming very soon, Freddie." Artemis said looking into her husband's eyes as she reached out to hold his hand, his fingers tightening around hers.

◇◇◇◇◇◇◇

Artemis was proved right when their DA badges that had been dormant for a long while, flashed mid-dinner informing them that Harry was back at Hogwarts. Artemis, Fred and George got dressed in record time as they apparated to Hogsmeade. The lightning had struck.

"We have to alert the order." George said as the trio made their way into Aberforth's pub. They nodded as the three pulled out their wands and muttered the same incantation.

"Expecto Patronum!" Three strands of silvery blue emerged simultaneously from the tip of each wand and took a corporeal form. A spitz and two thestrals trotted in air as Artemis glanced at her lover in surprise. His patronus was a labrador. She thought to herself as Fred looked at her with  determination in his eyes as if to convey it is what it is. In the wizarding world, your patronus changing could only signify one thing: love. Unconditional and unadulterated love.

"Lightning has struck at Hogwarts. I repeat lightning has struck at Hogwarts." The three reapeated as their patronuses turned into balls of bright silvery blue hue and flew through the door. The trio were ushered in through a portrait by a reluctant Aberforth Dumbledore.

"My pub's turned into a railway station!" He grumbled as he opened the portrait to reveal a passageway leading to the Room of Requirement. The trio emerged from the portrait hole to find themselves on the receiving end of the stares of what used to be Dumbledore's Army.