Scratches (Fred Weasley)

(186) I Kinda Knew

It had seemed as though time just flew by, Florence thought, as she ripped off the May page of their calendar by the kitchen. Fred and George had already scrawled out a bunch of things on the June page, such as delivery dates as well as days that Verity had requested off. Florence was in her pajamas, with nowhere to go for the day, as it was the first day of her month off. It was an odd sensation, not having to worry about getting enough sleep, or waking up early. An upside to it was she was able to cook Fred and George breakfast before the two descended to the shop to start the day.

Hadley had returned to Poland the minute break had started, her family insisting that she spend as much time at home before she had to start training again. Before she left, she had invited Florence to visit her in Poland any time within the month if she wanted.

Deciding she had nothing better to do, she put on decent clothes and headed down to the shop to lend a hand. But it was slow, as Fred, George and Verity were just at the register playing wizard's chess. Fred turned his head at the sound of the stairs creaking, a small smile on his face, "Its really odd seeing you around during this hour of the day, you know?"

"Yeah," she chuckled, descending down the stairs and grabbing a chair, joining the three at the counter, "I feel weird being here too. I always have this feeling that there's somewhere I need to be."

"Typical busy body," said George, "You should make the most out of this break, Flo. Who knows what they're gonna throw at you during your second year of training."

"I know that... I just can't help but feel unproductive." she sighed, before an idea popped in to her head, "Maybe I can finally get around to unpacking those boxes of mine that I still have under our bed."

"Or you can just stay in bed all day," Verity suggested, "I do it all the time on my days off."

But Florence had been pretty set on what she wanted to do, heading back up to the apartment to do a little putting away. She peeked under the bed, immediately realizing that she had underestimated just how much stuff she still needed to unpack. When she had moved in, she and Fred made a silent consensus to just shove the remaining boxes containing nonessentials under their bed frame, as they had been tired from putting away everything else.

Grabbing the first box, she opened it to find a bunch of her stuff from Hogwarts. A couple pairs of worn out Quidditch gloves, her house scarf, a few trinkets that she had gotten during some of her visits to Hogsmeade. Her school robes were also packed in at the very bottom, Florence noticing a little piece of shiny metal sticking out from one of the pockets. She took it out, immediately recognizing the Galleon-like coin as her Dumbledore's Army protean charm.

"Wow, I didn't know I still had this," she mumbled, before reaching over and putting it in her pocket. She pushed the box of Hogwarts things back under the bed, after concluding that there was no point in unpacking it. The other boxes contained a few more clothes, as well as photo albums that Florence slipped in to the bookshelf in the living room. She also put up some picture frames of her and her mum, finally having the strength to look at them without falling apart.

The two of them were smiling in the snow, wearing bright colored beanies as they waved at the camera. Florence smiled, dusting it off with the sleeve of her sweater before putting it up on one of the shelves built in to the wall, next to the photograph of her and the twins on the day she moved in with them. She missed her terribly, there were things in her life that she wish she was there for. When she was having a bad day at training, part of her would always wish that she could bury herself in her mother's arms and talk her troubles away.

Hearing the door shut behind her, she saw Fred entering, a small smile on his face as he saw the photograph that she had put up, "How old were you in that?"