Looking for a New Day

Title: Looking for a New Day
Author: Vermillion Rhodes
Summary: Fred and George Weasley knew that a new phase had begun in their lives with the opening of their store, Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes; however, they didn't realize just how much their lives were about to change.
Rating: NC-17 for implied rape in back story and possible future pairings
Pairings: M/F
Main Characters: Fred Weasley, George Weasley, OFC
Warnings: *spoilers HBP* and also a big digression from the original

Please review! We can't write without knowing how it's being received!

Disclaimer: None of the characters nor the settings belong to me but are all the property of J. K. Rowling.

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Fred breathed a heartfelt sigh of relief and stretched, the bones in his back cracking as he reached towards the ceiling to release the tension in his shoulders and upper back. “Who’d have thought we’d be so busy, as nasty as the weather has been,” he muttered aloud. The weather had unexpectedly not progressed into true summer as it should. Instead of growing warmer, the temperature seemed to be going down and the rain had persisted for weeks. One couldn’t go out without being drenched, and the dreary sky seemed to be encouraging a lazy day at home in front of the fire. Certainly not a jaunt out to do shopping. He shook his head, thankful that their customers had braved the weather.

“Good thing we hired Verity, eh?” answered George, with his own bone-cracking stretch. “Glad she’s working out so well…” He grinned at his twin, not above rubbing it in that hiring her had been his idea.

Fred rolled his eyes and put away the parchment records he had started at the end of the business day. Nodding at George’s pile, he asked, “Got that order ready? We’re going to be low on Canary Creams and Wild-Fire Whiz-Bangs soon….” Turning away, he muttered, “Though who’s going to be setting off fireworks in this wet weather, I’d like to know!”

The twins had sent Verity home shortly after the store closed for the day. Since it was the end of the work week, they had bookkeeping chores to finish before they could think about calling it a night. They had pulled the shades, preferring to work in the shop rather than haul it upstairs to their flat.

The boys moved about the shop, putting back misplaced wares and generally tidying up the place. Fred set a broom to sweeping with a wave of his wand while George supervised a feather duster that seemed to want to stay in one place rather than move efficiently around the store. Finally happy that the shop was back to rights, the boys began turning off the lights for the night.

“Think Mum has figured out we’ve moved out yet?” Fred grinned to his brother. The boys had begun spending their busy nights at the flat and, as those busy nights increased, they had gradually stopped going back home to be with the family. They had told their parents of those plans but knew that neither expected the business to take off so quickly. In the few short months since they’d opened, Weasley’s Wizarding Wheezes had become a successful business, providing everything the twins had hoped for in rather a quicker manner than expected.

Almost as if on cue, a soft thud came from the back door. The twins looked at each other grinning. “Bet you ten Sickles that’s Errol with a demand that we appear at home!” George laughed. He got up and headed to the door.

“Don’t think I want to take you up on that one,” laughed Fred. “I hate losing money, you know…”

George lifted the shade on the door, looking for his family’s directionally challenged owl. Though he expected to see a feathery shape laying spread-winged on the back stoop, he realized the shadowy object was rather larger and darker than could be made by an owl. “Hey, Gred…?” he called hesitantly, opening the door.

Coming around the corner into the back hallway, Fred saw his brother opening the back door. Immediately, the wind howled into the shop, blowing loose papers into the air and sending rain spattering onto their floor. Fred started to complain but saw George leaning over a large dark shape on their back step. “What the bloody hell…?” he muttered, hurrying forward.

“It’s a person!” George said in surprise. “I guess the weather proved to be too much for this fellow,” The wind howled in again, and both twins shivered with the chill wetness. “Well, let’s get him in and warmed up. We’ll soon set him to rights…” he announced to his brother. Reaching down, he tried to get the man’s attention. “Seems to be rather out of it.” The black cloak wrapped tightly around the figure pulled away from the battered face, and George looked down in shock.

Looking over his shoulder, Fred breathed, “It’s a girl…” He leaned down and together the twins gathered up the girl and got her inside. George slammed the back door shut and secured it hurriedly while Fred dragged the inert body further into the store. The narrowness of the hallway made it difficult to do gracefully. George tried to find the girl’s legs under the fabric of the cloak to help carry her but was unable to find a purchase. His hands came away covered with mud and … blood? He looked at his hand and then at his brother, meeting Fred’s widened eyes.

Fred leaned over and gathered the girl awkwardly into his arms, bumping both her and himself into walls several times before getting a good enough grip on her to get her into the store. He looked for a place to put her down when George stopped him.

“Take her upstairs, Fred!” he ordered, looking around to make sure everything else was secured in the store. Fred shifted the girl’s weight in his arms and tried to get up the narrow stairs without banging her too badly on anything. The girl moaned several times.

In the twins flat, he deposited her onto an armchair. As George came to kneel next to the chair, Fred started to pull the cloak away from the drenched figure. “Carefully!” George hissed as the girl moved her head to the side. Her hands involuntarily moved to hold onto the material, and a look of pain crossed the bruised and swollen features of her face.

Frowning, Fred released the cloak and looked at his brother. George moved nearer to her head and softly tried to explain that they were trying to help her but that they needed to see if she were injured. As he spoke, Fred gently began to push the heavy wet wool away from her legs. George’s words choked off as both boys looked at the cuts and other wounds on her bare feet and legs, several of which were still oozing blood. Fred leaned over and looked at the bottom of her feet. He hissed softly and sat back on his heels. “She’s been traveling a long time without shoes,” he whispered to his brother.

With a deep breath, he sat forward again and gently but determinedly pulled the rest of the cloak open. Horrified, the twins looked over the battered body and the torn clothing. With a quick intake of air, George pulled up a torn part of her dress to cover an exposed breast. Fred’s eyes narrowed. Something about that dress looked familiar, almost like he’d seen it before.

The girl’s eyes opened, and she looked wildly around the room a moment. Her gaze settled on one of the Weasleys. “No…” she moaned softly. “I can’t be here…” Weakly, she struggled to sit up. Immediately, both boys pushed her gently back into the pillows of the chair.

“You’re hurt,” George advised softly, trying to sound calm and soothing. “We’ll get you taken care of, don’t worry!” His statements brought more frantic struggles from the girl.

Meanwhile, Fred frowned. He searched the bruised and swollen face. He couldn’t shake the feeling that he knew her from somewhere.

The girl moaned, “They’ll find me here! I can’t put you in danger!” Pushing feebly against their hands, tears began to trickle from her eyes.

Unexpectedly, some of the dishes left on the table from breakfast begin to rattle. Catching his brother’s eye, Fred soothed, “No one’s going to find you. Nobody even knows you’re here!”

“You can’t tell anyone!” the girl insisted, grabbing at their hands, pleading. “No one can know I’m here! You’ve got to promise that you won’t tell anyone!” Her struggles grew weaker and in desperation she cried, “Swear to me you won’t tell anyone! Not your family, not the Order…no one! Swear it!” Several dark stains on her clothing began to glisten with renewed moisture, and the dished rattled even more.

Willing to do anything to calm her, Fred whispered, “We won’t tell anyone. We swear it!”

Almost immediately, George hissed, “You bloody idiot! Can’t you see that she needs a healer? How are we going to get her help if we can’t tell anyone she’s here? Have you lost it?”

Wordlessly, Fred pointed to what could only be evidence that the girl’s thrashing around had caused her wounds to begin bleeding again, not to mention seemed about to cause the imminent destruction of their breakfast dishes. George’s sputters ceased, but his eyes rolled as he tried to think about how to deal with an injured and bleeding female without the help of a healer.

The girl’s struggles had calmed but her head still moved from side to side as she repeated her words about having put them in danger and needing to leave. Fred glared at his brother and leaned in, taking her dirty hand and patting it. Feeling something around her finger, he looked closer, brushing the caked mud and dirt away. “I know this ring!” he exclaimed. “Forge, we bought this ring just a month or so ago!”

George rolled his eyes again. “Gred, the only ring we’ve bought in our lives was the one Sirius asked us to get when he ….” He looked at the girl, his mouth hanging open. “But it can’t be! That girl was a muggle!”

Fred pointed out the torn dress. “That’s why that dress is so familiar. We’ve seen her in it many times at the Black house! But what happened to her? She disappeared the same day Sirius was killed…”

George grabbed his brother’s shoulders. “Gred, it can’t be her! Sirius married a muggle! This girl has powers!”

Fred broke free, exclaiming, “What, you think she’s a plant? Sent her to get to the Order through us?” It was his turn to roll his eyes. “Look, maybe she had some latent powers too weak for anyone to notice.” He looked thoughtful for a moment, a memory teasing at his mind. “Or…. You know, Sirius had been almost frantic there at the end, worried about how to keep her protected if anything happened to him. You don’t think he could have…?”

“The only way to give powers to a Muggle is for someone magic-born to give up some of their own. Sirius wasn’t stupid, you know…” George retorted.

Fred looked over the girl, his eyes softening as he thought about the Muggle girl Sirius had fallen for as he watched her from the windows of Grimmauld Place day after day. Frustrated with his necessary exile inside the house, he had managed a meeting and begun a relationship right under the Order’s noses. He’d kept it hidden, threatening Kreacher to keep him quiet. Softly Fred whispered, “Sirius was reckless, and he did everything with his whole heart…”

Shaking off his thoughts, he leaned nearer the girl and whispered, “Julia? What happened to you? You disappeared over a week ago. Where have you been?”

Julia turned her head and opened her eyes to look at him. “Death Eaters…” she whispered, her eyes filling with pain at the memory. Her body began to tremble, and new tears leaked down her face. “They knew me. Knew my connection to Sirius. They wanted me to tell them about the Order. But I couldn’t. Sirius had made sure that I couldn’t reveal anything if I were ever caught. He’d tried to give me something to fight with, too, but I couldn’t make it work, didn’t know what to do…” She cried harder. “They….” Her whole body shuddered convulsively and both twins reached out to soothe her. “Then, Sirius… I felt…something. Like he was ripped away from me. And I knew that he was gone. I screamed and… I don’t know what happened. Next thing I knew, I was on the ground and there were a few bodies around me. They were….dead. The rest were gone, run away, I guess. And I knew I had to get away, knew they’d come after me. They’ll hunt me forever for what I’ve done…”

Fred answered gently, “You’re safe here. We won’t let them find you. Nobody’s going to hurt you here…”

Julia moaned, “No…they’ll just find you, too. And that will be my fault. I can’t stay…” She pulled away from their hands and struggled to get out of the chair. She had taken a few steps when the exertion became too much for her, and she passed out, her head dangerously close to the floor before George managed to get hold of her. He gently settled her back in the chair.

“Look, I don’t know what to believe,” he told his twin. “Let’s just assume she is who she says she is and she’s hurt. What do we do?”

Fred shook his head at his twin’s doubt. “We need to do something about her injuries. We’ve got that stuff we’ve been using for bruises. And we’ve got something for scratches and cuts…”

“Well, we’ll have to clean her up first, or we won’t be able to tell what’s dirt and what’s bruise,” George said. “But there’s not room in that bathroom for both of us to be in there with her…” He looked down at the unconscious girl. “Let’s set something up out here in front of the fire. Go find something we can use as a tub. I’ll sit with her.” Fred hurried off. “Get some wash rags and soap, too!” George yelled after him. “And some towels!” Turning his attention to the fireplace, George waved his wand and muttered an incantation to get the fire built up and blazing again.

Fred returned and set a basin on the floor. Stepping back, he did the necessary spell to turn the basin into a tub. Then he used his wand to fill it with hot, steaming water.