Florence watched as the raindrops raced down the surface of the glass window, clutching a hot mug of tea with a tiny chip on its brim. Thunder boomed, and lighting clapped across the sky, making Florence pull her knees closer to her chest. She set down her mug, before slowly closing her eyes. She heard a pair of footsteps approaching her, a familiar voice spoke, "Can't sleep?"

Her eyes fluttered open, to find Julien staring back at her, a sympathetic look on his face, "You know I can't sleep every night."

"You know, you're gonna have to start getting used to this. We're gonna be here awhile."

This made Florence huff, turning her head in a different direction. Her hands started fidgeting with the ring on her other hand, twisting it up and down the finger, the small stone sparkling every time the candle light hit it. "I know..."

Julien looked at his cousin, feeling the despair that she was feeling, although certainly not as intensely. He reached over to rest a hand on her knee, "He's going to be okay. Right now, wherever he is, he's okay."

"I should have held on..." she muttered, "Then maybe I'd be wherever he was right now. I don't care where, as long as I was with him."

"You know its not Dad's fault, right?" Julien said, "He's always felt obligated to keep you safe, which is why he reached out for you and brought you along with us."

"I don't blame Sloan..." Florence's voice was small, sounding less believable within each passing day.

Just as the frenzy at Fleur and Bill's wedding occurred, Florence had done her best to stick by Fred's side. Fred had been trying to look for George in the crowd of screaming and fleeing people, with one hand gripped tightly around Florence's wrist. But the volume of chaos was too much to withstand, and eventually they were separated, and Florence ended up with Sloan and Julien. She lost Fred in the crowd.

She didn't know where Nicolai had ended up, or Xander, or Hadley. Or Sirius. Or Remus. She had no information about the whereabouts of the people that she loved. And she hated it.

She didn't even know if Fred had made it to George. She didn't know where he was, if he was alone, or if he was scared. And this frightened her, almost to death. Florence had been parted with him once, though willingly, but she had no intentions of being parted from him again after that. She thought it was unlikely to happen again. She hoped, at least. Florence had tried her very best to reason with Sloan, that she needed to find him, but he was very adamant on keeping her close and hidden.

So there they were, in a small cabin in the woods, laying low.

They had tried to flee the country, but Death Eaters were quick at making sure that no one could leave. Julien had tried to set an arrangement with his step-father, so they could lay low in France, but the plans fell through once the Death Eaters restricted international travel. Alanna had made it out just in time, as Julien's step-father had written that she was home and safe. But they were stuck, hiding for their lives as they felt as though they were being hunted.

The first few days was the most physically and emotionally stressful moments of Florence's life, as they moved continuously from place to place, not being able to find a secure enough location where they could lay low and not be recognized. Sloan was higher up in the wanted list of the Death Eaters, as he was a ranking Auror official as well as a known Order member. Florence, too, was presumably on that list, because of Raegan Fawley. One week into hiding, Sloan learned that it was much better to stay away from busy cities. So he pulled some strings, and managed to locate a very small and antiquated Price property that had been untouched and unoccupied for several decades.

It had been filthy when they arrived, and Florence occupied herself by tidying around the place, keeping her hands busy in order to distract herself from thinking of the worst things that could have happened to Fred. He was all she could think about. The worry she felt was enough to drive anyone crazy.

Florence glanced down at her cup, finding it empty. Slowly, she got up, heading to their small kitchen, "I'm making more tea, do you want any?" she asked her cousin, Julien nodding his head, "Please."

Julien knew that he knew not even a fraction of Florence's despair. He empathized for her, at the same time he knew that his father had his reasons. He knew Sloan could never live with himself if he allowed Florence to be out and about when there were Death Eaters trying to hunt her alive. His father seemed coldhearted and critical sometimes, but he knew that his actions, of keeping Florence with them, stemmed out of his love and mourning for the loss of his brother.

Julien reached in to his pocket, pulling out a familiar gold chain that he had kept hidden from his cousin ever since they went in to hiding. He clasped the circular coin pendant, seeing the engravings on it change once more. It was a short message. It had been changing repeatedly throughout the day, Julien feeling the urgency of it the more days it went unanswered.

He had told his father about it, during the one occasion when Florence was able to fall asleep. Sloan told him it was best if he held on to it for a bit, knowing fully well that Florence would take off and try to find Fred once she would get ahold of her Protean, and it was a risk on Florence's safety that Sloan could not take. 

He felt conflicted. All he wanted to do was keep Florence safe. But he knew being away from Fred made her unhappy. There was his dad to think about too. He already knew what Sloan would say, what he would feel. He knew that somehow Sloan felt as though constantly keeping Florence in his line of sight would redeem him from what happened to Gabriel all those years ago, even though he was blameless. Julien hated this. He wished that he had just left it on the ground, disregarded it, as he was now the one thing standing between his cousin' reunion with her other half.

Sighing once more, Julien looked out the window, watching as lightning struck down from the sky once more.

-------

"It was her birthday two days ago." Fred said in a voice that made George's heart break.

It had been near the end of their second week hiding in an abandoned property owned by Lee Jordan's relatives in Greater London. Ministry records indicated that the house was abandoned and foreclosed, the wooden planks nailed to the windows and doors giving Death Eaters further reason to avoid searching it. The interior was dusty and grimy, but they couldn't really complain. They were safe. But that wasn't all that mattered.

Especially for Fred.

He could never forget the Florence's hand slipped from his grip that evening. He could never forget the look on her face as the frenzied crowd finally got between them, Florence vanishing in the chaos and was nowhere to be found.

The protean he had given her was merely a token to remind her of their hogwarts days, as well as how they fell in love. Though the DA coins weren't their original protean, it looked better on a chain than the pieces of wood they had used to communicate to each other with. He gifted it to her, not anticipating that they would ever need it to communicate with each other. They wouldn't need to, he had thought, since he had no intention of leaving her side ever again.

But life was cruel like that, Fred thought, as he rearranged the pieces on the small coin in hopes of communicating with the love of his life, to find her, to see if she was okay.

But Florence had not been responding, and Fred couldn't help but think of the worst possible scenarios. He knew she had her protean with her. Why wasn't she responding?

George looked to his brother with worry, "I'm sure she's fine, Freddie. She might just be with Nic and Xander, or Julien." he said, not knowing what else to say to console his brother. Fred shook his head, "Then why isn't she responding?"

"Maybe she dropped hers somewhere, mate." Lee replied, "That party was a havoc when the Death eaters came. That chain was pretty flimsy too, could have easily broken off of her neck."

"I hope she's with her friends, or Julien and Sloan... wherever, as long as she's safe." he said, hoping that if he said it out loud he'd convince himself to stop worrying. But he couldn't help it. What if she had been caught in the crowd? What if a death eater had her in their clutches, and was now in the mercy of Reagan Fawley, who had almost been successful in her last two attempts at taking Florence's life. It was harrowing. He couldn't sleep, couldn't think of anything else. He felt emptier and emptier within each passing day that she was not with him. He promised her that he'd always be there. But now that promise was as good as broken, as he didn't even know where she was or where to begin looking. 

He and George had tried going to the Price Manor, despite how dangerous it was for them to be out and about. But upon their arrival, it was as if the entire house had disappeared, cloaked in heavy protection spells that acted as a barrier around the house. The closest they could get was two blocks away. It was an understandable measure, seeing as it was the heart of the Order. George had told Fred that maybe Florence was inside, but he had a feeling that she wasn't. He hated feeling like she wasn't safe. Fred knew that he'd stop feeling that way when she was finally safe in his arms. 

"I don't think we can stay here any longer." Lee said, which was enough to snap Fred out of his trance. Fred frowned, "What do you mean? We agreed we'd stay here until Florence comes back to the Apartment."

"I don't think she will be, mate." Lee told him, giving George a look as if asking him to back him up on what he was about to say, "She's a known Auror and Order member. It doesn't make sense for her to be in Greater London, much less Diagon Alley where there are more Death Eaters roaming around in comparison to literally anywhere else." 

"We've been listening to the radio, Freddie," George added, "Lee's gotten access to the Order's secret channel. They've been saying that Hogsmeade is safe for us, that there are a bunch of other Order members seeking refuge there. Florence might be one of them."

"What if it's a trap?"

"We'll never know unless we check." Lee told him, George nodding in agreement, "And if it is, we'll run like hell." 

"And if it isn't, maybe that's where you'll see Florence again." George told his brother, which was enough to spark his interests. 

Fred huffed, thumbing the galleon pendant once more, his heart beating wildly at the possibility of seeing Florence again, "Okay. Let's do it." 

"Great," Lee smiled, "We'll need a plan, then."

//////

a.n: Hello all! Welcome to Protean, aka the last fifty or so chapters of Fred and Florence's story. I'm so excited for this, and I hope you're just as excited! This will be set in the Deathly Hallows book, but the events will be completely off book, as Deathly Hallows was more of Harry's journey, while Florence is gonna have a different one. I have so much planned for this book, so hold on to your hats! 

-Denise