Post by Andrea on Nov 1, 2006 14:33:23 GMT -5
Chapter Five: Sh*t! – No, tea.
Mira was standing in the middle of the street, looking around wildly. "Fred?" she called nervously, "Fred!"
"What? Mira, come on!" he yelled in frustration.
"Fred, I can't see you," she said after a moment. Her demeanor calmed a little, though she still looked confused and a tad but frightened.
"What?" he asked in bewilderment.
"I'll get the professor for you, Fred," Tonks said with a smirk. Fred looked behind him as the door closed and growled deep in his throat. Realization hit him and he shook his head at himself and thumped down the stairs. "I'm sorry, Mira, I've forgotten about the… Wait just a minute, the professor 'll come sort all of this out." The creases that had formed on Mira's forehead relaxed as Fred came back into view.
"Oh…" after the awkward pause that occurs between two people who have many things to say to each other but won't Mira asked "where are we?" but Fred shook his head.
"I can't tell you, don't worry, it'll be just a moment." he said in comfort. In all honesty his speech only ruffled her feathers. Her brow was furrowed, a line forming between her eyebrows. "Honestly, stop that, you'll get a wrinkle." He ran a scarred hand through messy tangerine hair and sighed. He sounds like an old, defeated man when he sighs... She thought gloomily, no one our age should sound like that.
"I'll get them anyways, now, what's going on here Fred?" The steel in her voice momentarily took Fred back to when his mother would come bursting into his and George’s room and make them fly into a panic of hiding--
"Mr. Weasley! I've been told you brought a lovely lady friend. Now, under the usual circumstances I would be offended that you didn't give me time to make tea, but Tonks is working on that now." An old man with a beard that ended somewhere around his hips emerged from the space between two houses. Cornflower blue eyes that matched his robes glittered; Mira was immediately enchanted.
"And under the usual circumstances I would have loved to give you time to bake a cake, but I've the feeling these are not the usual circumstances… " Fred's voice dropped off into nothingness. The old man's face drooped and the sparkle left his eyes.
"No, my dear boy, these are not the usual circumstances. Miss Christian, if you would read this slip of paper please," he handed her a rumpled piece of cream paper, Number twelve, Grimbauld place.
"What in the--" A house appeared between two other houses. It was like a cold, steel cliff. Sheer walls were dotted with black windows that she doubted anyone could see out of. Eerie gargoyles spat at her from atop the building and she shivered, thinking she was looking at a medieval fortress of evil that had been scrappily modernized. "Oh…"
"Quick, quick, into the house young ones," the old man urged and Fred pulled her up the stairs and into the house. A sky high portrait of a slumbering, wicked witch hung in the foyer. A gasp escaped her lips and the portrait stirred, but did not wake. Fred shot her a glare and meekly Mira followed him into the kitchen where sound proofing charms were quickly recast.
"Where's George?" a spunky pink haired lady asked with interest, apparently not at all concerned by the arrival of a new person.
"He's not here?" Fred was livid, a violent pink had arisen in his usually pale skin and tight worry lines accented his mouth.
"I'm sure he's on his way." The old man said amicably as he settled down with a mug of tea. "Now, Miss Christian, this is the Order of the Phoenix." He said this with obvious pride but Mira had no idea of what it was or what it meant, so she nodded and smiled as her mother had taught her. Dumbledore looked a little put out that she obviously didn't know what it was about, but he launched into a prideful description of the groups activities.
Ten minutes later the enchanting rant that everyone but Fred had listened to with mild interest, was interrupted by the arrival of George, who looked thoroughly snogged. "Sorry I'm late everyone, I was a little held up at our party, had to explain these two's disappearance." He sat down and poured himself a cup of tea and refilled a severe looking witches, "How are you preparing for class Minerva?" He asked and next to Mira Fred relaxed.
"That’s our old Transfiguration teacher he's cottoning up to," Fred whispered in her ear, causing Mira to snicker quietly.
"I'm sure the three of you got on famously," she bit into a toffee flavored biscuit and then glared at her taffetta skirt. She was going to spend ages picking the crubs out. The door slammed open and Mira's teacup fell into her lap. The woman in the portrait outside the room began screaming and dust fell from the ceiling. Mira yelped and stood up as the tea scalded her inner thighs. "Sh*t!"
"No, tea." A man in total black robes waved his wand at Mira and the scalded skin and dress repaired themselves, the crumbs also disappeared. Her eyes were wide with shock as she looked at the man. He was a veritable package to unwrap. Buttons and layers encompassed a thin but powerful body, power radiated from him like light radiates from a muggle fluorescent bulb.
"Ah, yes, thank you, sir… " Fred pulled her back down and the man took a seat next to Dumbledor, shrugging off their meeting entirely. Mira was stunned, and sat there in quiet shock as the people in the room went back to their earlier conversations.
Fred leant over and whispered in her ear, "Our lovely potions professor, Severus Snape," Severus Snape… her mind echoed.