Stumble - A Fred Weasley Fanfiction

Chapter 21: 253 Days Before

"Are you ready?"

Addie nodded to Fred, trying not to flinch as he pulled his wand out and pointed it at her. Addie stood still as he muttered a spell under his breath, sending waves of soft light out of his wand and over Addie. She could feel her skin tingle under the effects of it, although when she looked down her skin was the exact color it had been before. Fred finished and turned his wand on himself, performing the same spellwork.

"There," he said. "A professional could do better, but its not bad at all."

"What do I look like?" she asked him.

"Well, that's just the thing," he said. "You don't look like much of anything. Just another face in a crowded room. In fact, I know exactly what you look like, and even I'm having difficulty remembering your features."

Addie tried to focus in on Fred, and found that it was the same as him. She knew what he looked like, could pick him out of a crowd anywhere. But now, standing face to face with him, she found that when she tried to focus in on a specific feature, her mind seemed to drift away from him and on to something else. She tried again, but her mind shifted once more to a man down the street. "That's quite the fancy spell," she said. "Nice work."

"Its just a Disillusionment Charm," he said, shrugging. "Except its tweaked a little bit so instead of blending in with the wall, we blend in with the crowd."

Addie nodded her approval.

"You have your Darkness Powder?" Fred asked. Addie nodded, reaching into her pocket and clutching at the bag of the black powder. "Don't use it until you absolutely have to, okay?"

"I know."

"Okay, then there's just one thing left." Fred leaned down to kiss her, his hands gripping at her waist, pulling her in as close as he could as his lips met hers. Addie kissed him back eagerly. Finally, she allowed Fred to pull away. "Ready?" Fred asked.

"As ready as I'll ever be."

The two stepped out of the alley and down the street, Addie holding back, letting Fred's long legs carry him ahead so that they didn't arrive together. She reached the outside entrance to the lavatories, the same ones they had been watching the past week, looking around to see if Fred had already gone down to the men's entrance. She didn't see him, although with the disillusionment charm in full effect, she didn't know if she would spot him if he was right in front of her. She took a deep breath before heading down the steps to the women's lavatory, stopping at the bottom in line behind a witch in bright red robes. The woman turned her head at her approach, her mouth open to greet Addie. However, her eyes slid past Addie's form to the stairs behind her and she turned forwards again without saying a word. Addie's disillusionment charm was still in full effect.

The line seemed to take hours to move for the impatient Addie. She was sure that Fred had already gone through and was now waiting for her in the Ministry of Magic. She began to panic as the line slowly inched forward, wondering how she would ever find Fred once she got in, wondering how long he would wait until he left without her. They were supposed to meet by the statue, but what if Addie didn't see him? What if she couldn't pick him out with the disillusionment charm?

She was breathing more rapidly now, and it took all her effort to calm herself. The line inched forwards again, and Addie found she was next in line for a cubicle. The continuous sound of toilets flushing resounded through the room, followed by the opening of the cubicle doors. No one who entered exited, but the cubicle's were empty all the same. Another one opened up, and Addie made her way towards it, locking the door and stepping into the toilet bowl without hesitation. Arthur Weasley had told them exactly what to expect. She flushed the toilet and was sucked into a whirlwind that felt much like apparition, reappearing in the atrium of the Ministry of Magic.