Florence decided to pay the Manor a visit during her second week of break. She had found use of her time helping around the shop, however Fred and George had gotten to the point where they had felt bad that she was doing things that someone would do if they were getting paid of their labor, but knowing that she wasn't getting paid. Every time she had tried to help from that point, Fred and George insisted that she busy herself with something else. However, when she had gotten to the house, not a single person was in the living room.

She frowned, knowing full well that at least Julien and Sloan were supposed to be home, as they were supposed to have the month off too. Florence then noticed that the door to her mum's old office was locked, signaling that there was a meeting with the Order going on. She sighed, before climbing up the stairs to her room to keep herself occupied, not knowing if they were going to be done any time soon. 

Florence came across Miss Mimsy on her way to her room, the cat licking her lips as though she had just come from eating a rather delicious meal. She meowed at the sight of Florence, trotting over to her and rubbing her body against her leg. Florence picked her up, surprised at the lack of protest from the feline, before the two entered her room together.

It had just been how she left it the last time she was over. Despite the many Order guests that come in and out of the Manor, Sloan and the others had made sure to specify that her room was off limits. It was Florence's safe space, no matter how old she was.

She set Miss Mimsy down on the bed, the cat immediately burrowing in to the duvets, Florence noticing that it was fresh. It might have been the work of Sirius, as Remus had said the last time that the man kept himself busy by doing chores around the house. Florence smiled at this, making a mental note to thank Sirius once she saw him. There was not much to do in her room, so Florence made use of her time by looking through the boxes she had left behind to see if there was anything she wanted to take back to the apartment.

She heard a knock on the door, Florence calling for them to come in. Julien opened the door, a look of relief washing over him at the sight of Florence, "Well, I don't know why I was half expecting some intruder to be in your room, but I did." He said, "How long have you been in here?"

"Not long, really." she replied, shoving one of the boxes back under her bed, "I noticed everyone was in the office room so I just kept myself busy."

Julien offered her a small smile, "Yeah... big Order meeting, which, technically you could have sat in for. Dad says not to bother you with it for now but honestly I don't see any harm in you participating in meetings from time to time. He's just paranoid like that..."

"Well," Florence pondered, "You can just tell me about it, can't you?"

"I suppose so..." he concluded, moving to take a seat on Florence's bed, "Its about Dumbledore. He's been doing a lot of things, and acting kind of... cryptic..." Julien said. He promptly told her about his little plan to retrieve an object that was said to be one of Voldemort's horcruxes. Florence frowned at this, "Horcruxes... there's more than one??" she said, rather astonished. She had read briefly about Horcruxes in one of the books she found in the library that one time she was looking for references for a Charms essay. It was said that the act of splitting one's soul was the darkest form of magic. Voldemort had done many atrocious acts, but Florence had underestimated the extent of his evil.

"I know.." Julien said, a grim expression on his face, "It makes my spine tingle just thinking about it... its such dark magic, but Dumbledore seems to be making light of the situation."

"In what way?"

"Well, for one, when we had asked him how many people he wanted with him for the operation...he said he only needed Harry."

"Harry?" The frown on Florence's face grew deeper, "Why Harry? And why just him?"

"That's when the cryptic part kicks in... he won't say why. Its always a vague answer out of his mouth. I mean, if it really was an object containing a piece of Voldemort's soul, I'd say he'd have kept it somewhere dangerous. Dumbledore may be the greatest wizard of our time, but him bringing along a sixteen year old as his only back up seems unwise..." Julien sighed, "We've voiced out our concerns about his plans, he doesn't seem fazed one bit."

"Surely some people have opposed to it." Florence said, "I mean, that's deliberately putting Harry at risk.... I thought the Order was meant to protect him most of all?"

"Oh, a lot of opposition. Dad, Sirius, Remus, the Weasleys... like I said, he's confident that it will go as planned." Julien's face turned sour, "Oh, and Snape was at the meeting today too, I don't know what for."

"Snape... Professor Snape?" Florence was slightly shocked. She knew of his affiliation with the Order way back during the summer leading to 7th year, but never anticipated him to be all that active. Julien was just about to tell her something else when her door swung open yet again, a rather happy-looking Sirius standing at the other side.

Well.... I'm glad it wasn't just Julien in here talking to himself, otherwise I was gonna have a word with Sloan about his mental health..." he chuckled to himself, before opening his arms wide and beckoning Florence over, "Care to lift my spirits and give me a hug?"

"One spirit-lifting hug, right up!" she smiled, getting up from her seat on the bed and wrapping her arms around Sirius, "Why are you so affectionate? I saw you last month."

"Exactly, last month." Sirius said, "You don't visit as often anymore."

"Well, if it will make you feel better, I've nothing productive to do for two more weeks so maybe I will be spending more time here." Florence said, breaking apart from the hug, "Yknow, spend time with you guys. Matthew mentioned last time that he wanted to go through Dad's things down at the basement so maybe I can finally do that too. Also sit in for Order meetings?"

Sirius groaned at the last part, "Don't even get me started on the Order.... Dumbledore has been off his rocker recently... Its rather unbearable."

"I heard," Florence said, "But if he insists on just bringing Harry, well, I suppose he's quite capable of keeping him safe, no? I think I'd trust Dumbledore most of all to take care of him." She added, trying to find the optimistic angle in the situation. However they looked as though they did not think it was a good idea, as did Sloan at the dining table when Florence had joined them for lunch. As she listened to the conversations around the table, it was clear that everyone felt the same way.

Mrs. Weasley left the table rather earlier than the others, asking Remus to clean up after everyone else was done. Florence volunteered to help, not seeing anything else she could preoccupy herself with.

They were quiet as they brought the dirty plates from the table to the sink. He looked as though something was bothering him, Florence inferring that it had something to do with the meeting. Remus was a natural mediator, which lead her to assume that mediating things as serious as Order business could take its toll on a person's sanity.

After scrubbing a few dishes clean, he turned to Florence rather hesitantly, "Can I ask you something, dear?"

"Anything," Florence smiled, putting away a plate before giving him her full attention.

"When Fred asked you to marry him, what was it that made you say yes?"

Florence blinked, taken aback by the question, "Well..." the began, unsure of what to say, "There wasn't really anything else. I mean, the question, sure, but... there was nothing else that I had to think of for me to say yes to him. It was kind of an instant realization that I wanted to, that I've always wanted to deep inside." she said with a small smile, subconsciously fidgeting at the ring on her finger, "Why do you ask?"

"Can you keep a secret?"

Florence brought her fingers to her lips, pretending to zip her mouth and lock it, before throwing away the imaginary key, "I'd take it to my grave."

He looked away rather hesitantly, picking up a plate and scrubbing at it with a sponge, "I've been thinking of proposing to Dora... I don't know.... I love her with all that I am but I don't know if she loves me enough to want to marry me."

Florence gaped, feeling mixed emotions about what he had said. She was beyond ecstatic at the thought of Remus proposing to Tonks, as they were very happy with each other, but at the same time she couldn't help but feel sad that Remus had to hesitate at all about asking the love of his life to marry him, in the fear of rejection.

"Well that's a rather ridiculous thing to think about. She's over the moon for you, Remus." Florence insisted, "You don't see the look on her face when she talks about you. Of course she'll say yes."

This brought a small smile to his face, "You think so?"

"I know so." Florence said firmly.

"I've just been wondering what kind of life I'd be able to give her, too... With what I am... there aren't many things I can do to provide for her. And what if she wants a family? Surely I wouldn't be able to support it."

"I dunno about that," Florence said honestly, "I don't know what its like to be in your situation at all... But I do know you a lot, and I know Tonks enough to know that you two love each other more than enough to be able to handle whatever life throws at you. So, you know, I say go for it."

He looked thoughtful for a moment, setting the plate he had been holding down on the sink, before looking to Florence once more, "Wanna see the ring?"

A big smile bloomed across her face, a giddy feeling consuming her, "Hell yeah! Lets see it!"

—————

Florence decided to go back to the Manor the day after her visit, as she heard from Julien that they were set to have another Order meeting. Florence was rather giddy to get in to Order affairs, which was typical, as she always needed a little bit of action in her life. She woke up before the sun peeked from the horizon, freshening up and preparing breakfast for the twins before leaving.

Despite their lovely full English breakfast, the twins had a rather unpleasant morning, which came in the form of Bill.

Their oldest brother came and ambushed the two with wedding preparations at a time too early to be bothered with things like that. Almost instantly, their apartment was filled with racks and racks of suits, dress shirts and pants, also having to welcome a stout wizard with a balding head, thick rimmed glasses and a permanent scowl on his face. "Miss Delacour did not tell me I was working with giants." he muttered, as he had to get up on a chair to take measurements around the neck area.

"Is this really necessary?" George muttered, as he shifted uncomfortably as the small wizard tailor put his measuring tape on his shoulder for what felt like the nth time, "Freddie and I already have suits we can wear."

"Yeah, I know you two do. But Fleur insisted." Bill pressed, glaring at his brother as if to warn him not to move too much.

"You could tell her we bought it last year. I swear it will be good enough to wear around her family." Fred chimed in.

The oldest Weasley frowned at this, "Its not about how old the suit looks. She doesn't want any bizarre colors that won't match the color scheme of the whole event." Bill explained.

"You're not keeping all these in our apartment, right? Its already so stuffy without it." George said, gesturing to the racks of clothing around them. "No. They'll be out of here once he's done." Bill said, tilting his head to the direction of the short man who was rummaging through the suit rack. With a little bit of a struggle and constant objection for one of the Weasleys' help, he managed to pull out a deep navy colored suit, and a cream colored one. He handed each one to the twins, "Put these on, and I'll make the necessary alterations once I see them on you,"

Fred and George begrudgingly did so, as Bill sat nonchalantly on the couch. The suits felt rather stiff, and smelled like a new broomstick.

"Freddie you have to swear you'll talk Florence out of wedding preparations like this," George whispered as the man disappeared behind one of the racks again, making Fred chuckle, "Trust me, I don't think she'll be this nitpicky."

"Stop slouching!" They heard him reprimand, Fred and George straightening their backs as he clambered back up on his chair to mark a few things on the fabric. He jot down a few things on his notes, before asking them to take off the suits. Kindly, he turned to Bill and smiled, "Please do tell Miss Delacour I will have these ready in a few days, and also remind her of her dress appointment this Friday."

With that, the short man bade them all farewell curtly, and with a short swish of his wand, all the racks of clothing shrunk down and squeezed itself into his leather briefcase. He picked it up, and walked himself out of the apartment and out of the building without another word

Bill let out a sigh of relief, "Mr. Tillsworth can be a handful, but Fleur's mum swears he's the best in the business."

"Customized suits... dresses... how much are they spending on this wedding?" Fred asked, as he and George sat down on the couch opposite to their brother. This made Bill sigh again, "A lot. A lot. I think it's getting to the point where its making mum and dad uncomfortable. I know they just want the best for their daughter but I'm sure its bound to make mum feel like they're just flashing their wealth at them."

"Have you voiced out your concerns to Fleur?"

"I mean, I want to..." Bill said, twiddling his thumbs nervously, "I just don't want to come off as ungrateful, you know?"

"I'm sure she wont see it like that." Fred said, "Just tell her in the most appropriate words and she'll understand."

"I guess..." he said, before rubbing his hand all over his face in distress, "Its just been so overwhelming, planning a wedding. I didn't think it was this hard to do. I thought I just had to swear to love her all my life in front of our friends and family, not pick out a centerpiece for every table."

"Well... thats what you get for liking fancy frenchwomen." George chuckled.

/////
a.n: hi, sorry for the filler chapter. And sorry for it taking so long. I was so busy today. But on another note, what the fuck is up with these cheeto supporters??? its getting insane.....

Also it took me a solid 20 mins to come up with that shitty chapter title lmaooo

-Denise