Friendless » Fred Weasley

clxi. tonks

"Hey, I'm back! George, they didn't have any more Melatpore, but I asked Verity to look on her break tomorrow..." Tori closed the door to the flat she shared with the twins. It was small, but right above the shop, making it easily accessible.

Tori had her hands full with bags of things she had purchased, and quickly with a flick of her wand, sent them floating toward the table. She ran her fingers through her hair, glancing at the clock as she proceeded to walk further into the flat.

Tori immediately did a double-take at the dark-haired girl sitting on the couch. "Angelina! Oh my! Hi!" Tori gasped, hugging her friend tightly. Angelina laughed, hugging her back.

"Oh my! When did you get here? What are you doing here?" Tori squealed. She had not seen her friend in a few months and wasn't expecting her to just be sitting on their couch.

"I'm just visiting for a bit, then I'm going out to dinner with George." Tori stopped, her eyes wide. "Oh? That's... new."

"Tori, did you touch my—" George appeared from out of his room, tightening his robes. Tori sent him a look of surprise while still talking with Angelina. "Oh, uh, hold on let me find it."

"I think I saw it over there," Tori said, quickly rushing over to him despite her having no idea what he was talking about. She followed him back into his room, smiling as she had just won prize money.

"What?" George asked her, clearly playing dumb. "You and Angelina! You know I always had the feeling..."

"We're just going out as friends," George whispered. Tori rolled her eyes, "If she wanted to go with a friend, she would have gone with someone like me. It's fine! Don't worry about it. Does Fred know?"

"There's nothing to know."

"Right." Tori nodded mockingly. George rolled his eyes and left the room. "Have fun!" Tori called in a rather high pitched voice.

Angelina called out a goodbye and the door shut. Tori waited exactly twenty seconds before the door opened once more and Fred came inside, "George is going on a date with Angelina!"

"He's— what?"

✧ ✦ ✧

The days started to get longer and colder as they entered the months of October and November. Business was still booming at the joke shop, with orders coming in from Hogwarts and occasionally the Ministry.

Tori had finally gotten her first actual assignment. She and Tonks were sent to investigate Ollivander's, trying to see if hey were any clues about his disappearance.

Tori was always staying up late and waking up early, and began to see less and less of the twins, despite living with them.

"And there are no witnesses? No people walking the streets? No one just glancing at it from a window?" Tori asked, her forehead rested against her hand as she and Tonks sat in Tonks's cubicle.

"Nothing."

"I find that hard to believe." Tori scoffed, shaking her head. "We haven't found anything Tori. The streets were empty that day."

"But the streets are never empty. Even if it looks that way, people are in shops or just walking on the pavement. It wasn't that late either."

"So what are you saying?" Tonks asked, leaning forward from her chair. "I'm saying that someone had to see something, maybe they're just too scared to say anything out of fear of You-Know-Who finding them."

"They are a lot of people who shop at Diagon Alley." Tonks reminded Tori, who only nodded. "Alright, then we start it's the shop owners. Maybe some of them have a list of customers that day. We can send them a  letter and promise that their answers remain anonymous."

So the two immediately sent out, talking to every store owner and gaining some sort of idea of who to talk to. They got permission to send out letters to those who were at Diagon Alley the day Ollivander was taken.

"Ugh, that tastes awful." Tori grimaced, putting down her glass of Firewhisky. Tonks laughed, nodding. "That's what I said when I first tried it."

"Yeah, no thanks. Pardon, I'll take a butterbeer?" Tori requested from the bartender in the Leaky Cauldron. Tonks asked her to go after a long day of sending out owls.

"How've you been? I mean, with everything else going on?" Tori asked her. Sure, the two worked together, but they never talked much about anything else besides work. Tonks shrugged, "Remus had been really great with helping me out. I mean, he and Sirius were best friends.

"It's weird, you know? I barely knew him, but he was still family believe it or not. And I know I shouldn't, but I can't help feeling guilty about it. It's not like I haven't seen or heard people die before, I have. But I was so close, I just wasn't fast enough to deflect Bellatrix's spells."

"I know exactly how you feel," Tori said gently. Tonks looked up at her, "You do?"

"When my friend Cedric died, I was a mess. I had tried to convince him not to enter that stupid tournament before but it didn't work. I blamed myself for letting him die, and I wasn't even there when it happened."

"How did you get over it?"

"I didn't. There's not a day that goes by that I don't think if something different that I could have done or said. I was so angry, at everyone, at myself, at the world. But one morning I woke up and realized that Cedric wouldn't want me to be like that. Hell, he would have yelled at me if he saw I was being all moody about it."

The two women laughed. "You really are smart," Tonks said, taking a sip of her drink. Tori chuckled, tapping her fingers against the wooden table they were sitting at. "It's a blessing and a curse."

"I'm surprised you weren't a top student," Tonks said. Tori shrugged, "I think that also has to with your behavior."

"You weren't on your best behavior?" Tonks asked, a look of fake surprise was on her face. Tori laughed and shook her head. "I spent my time with the twins at Hogwarts. You tell me."

already christmas next chapter?
yep...

there's not much planned for this year anyway, and i want to get to deathly hallows right away.

that being said, ( for a while now) i already know what's going to happen and im not changing it.

what do you think is going to happen?

also thanks for the threats, they're fun i guess lol