Who: Fred Weasley and Leanne Yaxley
What: Leanne plays nursemaid for a very ill Fred
When: Late afternoon/early evening
Where: Fred and George's flat
Rating: PG
Status: All done!



If she wasn't so determined to get things changed at the Ministry, Leanne was positive she would have quit by now. Would have taken up Fred's offer to work in the shop much sooner than she had. She had come to enjoy working in the shop, even if at times it was awkward between her and Fred. It made her happy all the same to work in the shop and she intended to stay there. Leanne left the Ministry earlier than normal and headed to the shop to work a little there. When she got there, it seemed rather quiet which was unusual. "Fred? Are you here?" Leanne looked in the back and all through the shop and didn't see him there. Maybe he went to get something from his flat? Leanne thought. She headed up to his flat and knocked on the door. "Fred?"

To say Fred felt horrible was an understatement. It was very, very rare that Fred Weasley closed up shop early. But school was in session so it wasn't as if they were terribly busy, so he was alone in the Diagon Alley shop. George had taken to Paris to see about the location there, and Verity and Michael were in the Hogsmeade location. Ordinarily, it would've taken a Death Eater attack to keep Fred from staying in the shop until a relief shift showed up. But the lightheaded feeling combined with the clammy skin and the queasy stomach were enough to force him upstairs and into the flat above the shop.

He hadn't even made it all the way into his bedroom. By the time he'd gotten upstairs, all he'd wanted was his couch and one of the blankets his mum had forced on them. When he heard Leanne's soft voice, he swore he was hallucinating. And then she called again, closer this time, and he could barely manage to lift his head to call out to her. "It's open," he said simply, the invitation open despite the fact that he really should've been telling her to turn and run. He was pretty sure you didn't snog a girl a couple of times, find out she fancied you, and then let her see you looking like death warmed over. It just wasn't done.

Leanne heard him answer this time and she got the feeling that something was wrong as she entered his flat. "Fred?" It took her a moment to locate him on the couch. "Fred, are you okay?" She couldn't help feeling worried, even if it was something as simple as a cold. Even something as simple as that could turn into something worse. Much like something simple had happened to Katie and she ended up dying. "Do you need anything?" Leanne asked.

"I'm fine," Fred protested, pulling himself to a sitting position. "Honest. Just...under the weather, that's all." Though everyone who'd ever worked with Fred knew it would take more than just 'under the weather' to knock him out so completely. His mind didn't jump to the conclusions that Leanne's did, though. A cold, or perhaps the flu. That was all. "I'll get George to brew up some Pepper Up when he gets home. Really, I'm fine. Did you just come from work?"

"You don't sound fine or look fine. When is George getting home?" Leanne asked. She sat on the couch after he sat up a little. "And I could make it since I'm here already." She thought that George had gone out of town, but then again she could have thought wrong. "Yes, I did just come from work. Thought I'd work here for a few hours."

Fred rubbed at his temples, but smiled at her just the same. "He'll be home in a day or two. I'll be okay, I swear." Though if she were really up to making it... No, he couldn't ask her. Things were a little weird between them already. And there she was sitting all close and all he really wanted to was fall asleep in her lap, and wow, fever must have been talking there. "You can open up the shop if you want. I was just on my own down there and...yeah."

Leanne shook her head. "The sooner you take something, the sooner you'll feel better. Really, what if George doesn't come back in a day or two?" She thought about the shop. No one had been outside when she came in and with the kids back in school, there wasn't much point. "I doubt anyone is wanting to shop at this time of day. Here, let me make you a Pepper Up potion?"

The thought occurred to him to protest again, but he couldn't. If there was anything Fred hated, it was looking weak. And right then, he knew he looked like a limp ragdoll. "I... You sure you don't mind? We've all the ingredients in the cupboard..."

"I don't mind at all, Fred." Leanne told him. "It won't take long." She went to the cupboard and pulled out the ingredients she needed to make it. It didn't take too long to make the potion and when it was finished she came back to Fred. Holding out the cup to him, Leanne sat back down on the couch. "Here you go. You'll feel a whole lot better."

Fred sat up more fully, accepting the cup she offered. "No laughing," he told her, giving a tiny hint of a smile as he chugged down the drink. The typical pepper up signs of steam coming from his ears and his face turning as red as his hair occurred but...he didn't feel a bit better. But he wasn't about to tell her that. "Thanks, love," he offered, his face still weak. "I could've gotten off my lazy arse and done it myself, you know." But she looked find of perfect brewing in their kitchen, and who was he to argue?

Leanne just smiled. "Why would I laugh?" He was sick and she wasn't going to laugh. "Well, you are sick. Wouldn't blame you if you didn't make it yourself. Feeling better?" She knew it didn't take long for the potion to begin working, but so far it didn't really seem as if it was. It couldn't have been the potion, she had made it perfectly, so if it didn't work she didn't know what would. Of course, she really wanted it to have worked and was going to settle with waiting a few more minutes before deciding if it did or not, despite what Fred told her.

Damn. Sometimes he forgot how perceptive she was. He attempted to turn on the Weasley charm, knowing it was slightly weaker than usual. "Of course I'm better, you're here." And, despite attempting to charm the knickers off of her, he meant that. Leanne was one of the few who'd made him smile in the last few months. Even if some of that smiling had been drunken dancing. Or drunken snogging.

She blushed. His charm may have been weaker than usual, but it still worked. "That and the potion. Do you need anything?" Leanne wasn't about to go anywhere soon. She wanted to make sure that Fred was okay.

Biting his lower lip, Fred gave an almost bashful smile. He wasn't used to being pampered like this. "Tell me about your day." It would give her the chance to talk and give him the chance to rest. And he could sit and listen without having to talk a lot because at the moment, his throat was killing him.

"It really hasn't changed any." Leanne told him. "As I'm sure you know, I dread going in each day and just want to leave before the day even begins." She paused a moment. "I am hoping that it changes soon. That maybe at some point I can get the Minister to listen to the conversations I recorded. Other than that, I mostly stay out of everyone's way. I don't want to cause any trouble. I can't afford to."

He was going to reach out for her hand, but thought better of it. If his skin felt as hot as he did at that moment, she'd notice, without a doubt. So instead he just leaned in a bit, looking interested. "You know you're welcome here. It's not your dream job, I know. But they can't threaten you lot forever. Someone's bound to speak up and get the point across sooner or later."

"I know I am. It's why I keep coming back." She had no idea what her dream job was anymore or if she even had one. "I don't know what my dream job is anymore. I just want it to be over."

Well that time he didn't bother to hide it. He reached out, taking her hand in his. "It will be. Too many people are working for it. The Minister is powerful, but not invincible. They can't keep you in hiding forever." Breathing in for a moment, he leaned over, pushing her hair back out of her face. "Honestly, Leanne. You're talented. You're brilliant. They're going to see that."

Leanne felt the warmth in his hand as he took hers and when he pushed back her hair. Clearly he had something that the Pepper Up potion wasn't going to fix. "Before its too late? Before I'm finally too tired to deal with the Ministry anymore or they fire me?" Every day she went in, she never knew if she still had a job. Leanne got back to the warmth she was feeling and placed her hand on his forehead. "Fred... you are burning up."

No, no, no. They were talking about her, not him and some stupid fever or whatever this was. Just a flu. That was all. Nothing some sleep and fluids and all that wouldn't cure. "They won't fire you. And if...if something goes wrong and they do? You've got a position with us until you find something else. You're not alone, you know that." He wouldn't let her be.

"I don't know. The Ministry can do whatever they want. Thanks, Fred. I appreciate it." Leanne knew who she could trust. "I'll be right back." She got off the couch and went back to the kitchen to get a towel and some ice cubes. He might not be able to tell how hot he felt to her, but he was really burning up. She came back to him and handed him the towel wrapped around the ice cubes. "Put that on your forehead."

Oh, Merlin, and now she was fussing over him. "You know, I didn't call you in here to baby me," he teased, though the words were soft as he accepted her offering. He leaned back with his head against the couch cushion and pressed the cold compress to his skin. "The Ministry's got a lot of bollocks if they're going to try and fire their better employees just because of a family association." Okay, perhaps he was a little too sick to get this heated up over this. Literally. "So they can have some muggleborn idiot doing all the work but if someone with talent happens to have a second cousin twice removed who talked about taking the Mark once, screw it."

She frowned. "I do know and I'm going to baby you anyway." Because I want to. Finishing her thought, she did want to be there since she knew he was sick. "You know that you'd rather have me here now than wait around for George and not get any babying." Leanne didn't know about that. "Well, I'm still a new employee in some ways so they don't exactly know that I have the talent. I'm only a secretary."

Fred scowled, but it wasn't with any meaning at all. A twinging thought in the back of his mind actually wondered if Alicia would've bothered to have taken such good care of him. But he wouldn't dream of saying so out loud to Leanne and instead smiled. "Well, you're still new here and I know you've got sales skills. But maybe that's just the blokes coming in to buy from a pretty girl. They did the same with Verity, I think. Something about George and I just doesn't draw the fellas in."

Leanne laughed. "But that's a bit different, Fred. Different expectations and all. As good looking as the two of you are, I'd worry just a bit if you did draw the blokes in. And that is the advantage of having a girl on the payroll. Though I'm sure before Verity, you got all the blokes you wanted because they wanted to be mischievous."

Ooh, she'd pulled out the good looking comment. Even in his current state of mind he couldn't turn that down! "Nah, that's the younger blokes. Mini versions of me and George, see. The older ones, they just come in for the eye candy. Not that I can say anything, I'd always said Zonko's would've been better if they'd had something other than an eighty year-old shop keep to buy from."

"That is true. Zonko's didn't have anything that appealed to me so I don't even bother." Leanne smiled. "You two are certainly doing something right about that."

Fred laughed, but the sound was followed by a deep cough. Oops. "You realise you probably shouldn't even be here right?" he told her, looking at her drowsily. "I could be carrying dragon pox or something and now you've probably got it and I doubt they'll let us be quarantined together." A sly look crossed his face, though, and the real Fred Weasley came out. "Though I could think of some fun ways to spend quarantined time..."

She wished there was something more that she could do for him. "I'll take my chances. Wouldn't be very Gryffindor of me if I didn't risk it." Leanne laughed. "Really, now? Do tell, Fred Weasley."

A playful smile crossed his face, both at her Gryffindor comment and her question. "Oh, you know. Hide and seek, Exploding Snap, Gobstones... Seven minutes in Heaven? Ever played?" No, sorry, Fred was never going to change. It wasn't in his nature.

"I'd rather think hide and seek would be rather boring unless you get multiple rooms to roam around in." Before he go to the seven minutes in heaven comment, Leanne did not think those would be fun ways to spend quarantine. At least not the hide and seek. "No, I haven't played seven minutes in heaven."

"Aw, you must've still been an ickle newbie when we were all playing in the common room that time," he teased. "First time I ever snogged an older girl, actually." He moved the ice pack from his forehead to the back of his neck, admittedly enjoying the cool drip of water down his back. "If I'd known then what I know now, I probably would've invited you anyway."

"I probably was. A shame that I missed out." Leanne told him. "Did you enjoy your snog with an older girl? And if you had invited, I would have accepted."

Fred's eyes lit up and he grinned pathetically. After all, she'd just confessed to being willing to join in group snogging as an ickle firstie. There really was a side of her he didn't know! "Course I did," he said as smoothly as he could manage. "Besides..." He nudged her leg with his own. "Your adult self is probably more fun anyway."

Leanne grinned. "Yes, I am. I am loads more fun than I was all those years ago. Dancing on a bar proves that." She had a feeling that he wouldn't want to go back to talking about him, but she wanted to know how he was doing. "How are you feeling? Do you need anymore ice?"

Shaking his head, Fred sighed. No, he really didn't want to talk about him. Especially not his health. He'd been sick before, but never anything like this. His whole body hurt, inside and out. "No, it's alright." Mostly because he knew ice wasn't doing any good. No reason to make her get up if she didn't have to. "You don't have to stay, you know."

"Are you sure?" Leanne asked. She looked down at her lap a moment before looking back at him. "I want to stay," she whispered.

Maybe it was just because he was sick. Maybe it was because he was so tired of fighting with everyone and everything. Or maybe he really did just want Leanne there. "Could be contagious," he reminded her, though the fight was basically gone from his voice.

"I don't care." She told him. "Besides, you are too sick to force me to leave."

"You'll care when you start hacking up a lung," he reminded her, but there was a smile on his face despite it. She was right. It wasn't like he could pick her up and move her. Even if the thought did appeal to him, oops, that was the fever talking.

"Maybe. But for now, I don't." Leanne sighed. "Who knows, I might not catch anything from you."

A slightly smug look crossed his face and he shifted on the couch, dropping his head into her lap and looking up at her with his most innocent smile. "And hey, if you do, there's always that quarantine thing. You and me and you can't get away?"

Leanne laughed as she looked down at him and sort of patted his head a few times. "There is that. Wouldn't be so terrible if a quarantine happened."

Eh, it wasn't exactly romantic, and it didn't really count as playing with his hair or anything, but at least she hadn't shoved him on the floor! Or told him to go to hell. He'd heard that one before. "Feel free to roll me over at any time," he advised her, attempting to sound wise and sage.

"I think you are perfectly fine where you are." Leanne leaned her head down and kissed his forehead. Then she began to play with his hair, hoping that he liked it.

Like it might've been the wrong term. It was soothing, probably the most calming thing he'd allowed himself in quite some time. For someone always on the go, Fred being this laid up was a terrible thing. His eyes closed at her touch and he exhaled slowly. "I'm glad you're here," he told her, his voice barely above a whisper by then. "Even if you are going to get sick and get stuck with me."

Leanne was glad that he was glad that she was there. "I don't mind. If I had to be stuck with someone for any amount of time, I'd pick you."