Sophie wandered through the hallways of Hogwarts, looking around her as though bored, but not really being bored, exactly. She was gathering information about everyone as she went, noticing everything that went on around her. One never knew when one would need information about someone, so Sophie always tried to file away everything she heard and saw for a day she might need it.

Most of what she heard that day was useless. Talk about homework, gossiping about Dumbledore's leaving the school, negative words about Snape's latest essay assignment. That might be useful, Sophie thought. For a non-Slytherin, she happened to be fairly high up in his regard, but that could always change. Things could always change.

Sophie filed away the information and wandered along, listening and searching at the same time, searching for George Weasley.

She wasn't as good with telling the twins apart as Victoria was, Sophie was sad to note, but she'd had seven years of practice. Surely that would be good enough for her purposes. The trick was going to be getting George on his own, talking with him where Fred wouldn't be able to hear. There had to be something she could do to separate the inseparable pair.

And there he was, standing with a group of first years surrounding him, looking a bit jumpy.

Ah, he was trying to get first years to test his products. Whether he was looking for teachers or watching out for that frumpy little Gryffindor prefect who thought she was queen of the world, but Sophie thought she might be able to use his slight jumpiness to her advantage.

"Hello," she said in a sweet voice, knowing he thought she was Umbridge as he jumped, turning to face her.

"Oh, it's you," he snarled, disgusted.

"Good to see you, too, Weasley," she said dryly, raising an eyebrow. "If you're not too busy breaking laws..."

"What d'you mean, breaking laws?" he snarled.

"It's not legal to test products on underage wizards and witches without consent of their parents," Sophie said sweetly, fluttering her eyelashes. "I need to speak with you, George. I trust you'll have a moment to talk?"

George watched her warily for a moment, trying to decide if she was bluffing or not.

She was certainly bluffing, completely making up that law, although it seemed like a reasonable one. If it didn't exist, it ought to, but George would look it up later. In that moment, he couldn't afford to risk it being true.

"Scram," he said to the first years. "We'll be in touch."

The grouping of little people scurried away as though they'd been on the ready to do so. George had probably ensured that they be ready to bolt away on a word. Sophie had to admit to herself, she was rather impressed with how quickly they'd hurried away.

"What do you want, Kirby?" George said roughly. "I don't have time for you to be encroaching on my business, or are you trying to get me kicked out of school, like you did with Dumbledore?"

"Now, now, play nice," she teased. "I swear my claws stay in if yours do."

"That's quite a promise," he spat. "What do you want with me, Kirby? I need to know what's going on so I can decide whether or not I want to take a chance with my claws."

"All right," Sophie sighed, looking around to make sure no one was around to listen. "I know you're not particularly fond of whatever Fred is up to with Toria. Neither am I."

"Where's this going?" he asked suspiciously.

"Let's put an end to it," Sophie said as though it were the most obvious thing in the world.

George cocked his head slightly, raising his eyebrows at her.

"Let me get this straight," he muttered. "You want me to help you make both your best friend and my best friend completely miserable because we feel left out. You want her back because you're a selfish cow and I want Fred back because I don't think Victoria's good enough for him, and you think that this somehow makes us the perfect partners in crime?"

"Precisely," Sophie said, running a teasing finger down the front of his chest, feel his muscles with a bit of surprise through the material of his robes. Perhaps it was the Quidditch that had made him so fit. No wonder Victoria had spent years drooling after Fred.

George frowned, and she couldn't believe how incredibly unreadable he was. She was so used to being able to read her opponents like books, but there she was trying to read something, anything, in the eyes of George Weasley.

"I'll get back to you on that, Kirby," he finally said, his voice as unreadable as his face. "It's a big decision, you understand. I need time to think."

She could understand needing time to think, but she had a feeling that it had the potential to sink what she was going for. She couldn't very well insist that he make up his mind right there and then, so she preferred to see the bright side and suppose that if she gave him time he would grow more and more sick with whatever game Fred Weasley was playing with her Victoria.

"All right," she said. "Take some time to think, but don't take too long. We're going to need time for planning."

"Of course, princess," he snarled. "I'll get back to you by the end of tomorrow. Will that suffice?"

"Fine," Sophie sighed. "Talk to you then."

She watched him go, nervous about what he might decide while she was unable to actively whisper persuasions into his ear, but she would take what she could get. She would not let the Weasleys best her. She would get her friend back.

"Sophie!"

Sophie put on her brightest smile and turned to face that same friend, who was breathless and excited.

"Toria!" she said happily. "I was wondering where you'd got to, dear!"

"I don't suppose you've heard the news," Victoria said breathlessly. "I mean, I guess you probably saw me with Fred but... but we're dating, Sophie, can you believe it?"

"Hardly," Sophie said as casually as if Victoria had just told her that the sky was blue, or grey as it often was in Scotland. But she supposed it was blue on principle. "We have a Transfiguration assignment to do, dear. We need to be getting to the library."

"Oh," Victoria said, her eyes a little bit wide with surprise. "I was actually meant to work on Charms with Fred. But... but I'll find you later and we can work then, okay?"

"Ah, sure," Sophie lied, her face falling a bit. "Don't forget!"

"I won't!" Victoria said eagerly, kissing her fried on the cheek before hurrying away, leaving Sophie standing alone, frowning after the red-haired Gryffindor girl.

"This has got to stop," she muttered to herself.

"What does?" asked the voice of Cora, who was standing there with Vi.

"Whatever this is that's happening with Fred Weasley and our Toria," Sophie said firmly, frowning at her friends. "I don't like it."

"They're cute together," Vi tittered. "Besides, you didn't always hate the twins. We used to all sort of be friends."

Well, Sophie and Victoria and the twins had been friends, with Lee there in the mix most of the time, and Vi and Cora were usually allowed to tag along because Victoria would start to cry if the twins tried to exclude them, and Fred had never been able to stand Victoria's tears. Sophie had taken advantage of that situation as she had taken advantage of all positive set-ups in her life. She'd taken advantage of Victoria's easy tears and Fred Weasley's weakness for them to get her and her friends the many advantages of Fred and George Weasley's intense knowledge of the castle.

But it hadn't lasted, of course. Eventually Victoria grew up enough to stop crying so easily and George put his foot down more firmly against Slytherins, and Sophie said if Vi and Cora weren't welcome, than she didn't feel welcome, and George said that was good, because she wasn't.

And so they'd grown apart quite rapidly.

"If you think of them as former friends," Sophie said derisively, "then you've either got a poor memory or poor standards for friends. They couldn't stand you two. They barely stood me. It was always Toria they wanted."

And that had, apparently, not changed very much, but Sophie was determined to get her way whether it had changed or not. She was counting on George's loss of his twin to someone he thought less-than-worthy to push him to drastic measures. She wasn't entirely sure yet how drastic of measures she herself would be willing to take. Part of that would depend on the manner and speed of George's response.

One thing was certain, though: she wasn't going to stand by and watch her friend be used as a weapon against her.

/-/

George watched Fred and Victoria Lane as they worked on Fred's Charms. He knew his twin was hamming up the minimal difficulty he'd had with the coursework to spend more time with the girl. Fred wasn't that needy, and it made George feel slightly sick to watch.

But his brother was in love with the girl, so George really did have to do a lot of thinking before he decided how he was going to deal with the proposition Sophie Kirby had laid in front of him.

At one time, George would have even possibly admitted his crush on Sophie, but it had dwindled rapidly the more he got to know her, and he no longer would even admit to it ever having existed with anyone but Fred.

But Sophie Kirby, without knowing the girl, was far from undesirable. Pretty, poised, and with lips that just begged to be kissed. Even without having a crush on her George could acknowledge that he still sometimes wondered what those pretty lips tasted like, what it would feel like to run his hands along her alabaster skin, how her lithe body would feel wrapped around him. He shuddered a little at the thought, glad that Fred and Victoria were too caught up in each other to notice.

He had to stop thinking of things like that, especially if he was supposed to make a proper and considerate decision concerning what Sophie had offered.

George shook his mind clear, watching the pair again, weighing pros and cons.

If he decided to turn down Sophie, whatever was going on between his twin and this girl could run its course naturally, and while George wasn't too fond of that idea, George was obviously in love and who was George to deny his brother something like that?

George lusted after Sophie Kirby. That was different. Half the boys in the school lusted after her, and she used the fact to her advantage, frequently. Sophie knew just how gorgeous and desirable she was. Victoria, on the other hand, who George had to admit was definitely beautiful, didn't seem to be at all aware of the fact. She always flushed, embarrassed, whenever anyone told her how good she looked. George could see the charm in a girl like that, who was unaware of her own charms. It was certainly less dangerous than a girl like Sophie not only was aware of her charms, but was very good at using them to her own ends.

What harm could it do, George asked himself, for Fred to have something he wanted so much? Sophie would be out for the blood of both twins for taking her friend from her, but George wasn't sure there would be a way to avoid that at this point, for if Fred and Victoria broke up Victoria would be devastated and...

Well, she'd be dependent on Sophie. Maybe that had been the plan all along, breaking her heart so that she would be dependent on her best friend.

"Fred," George finally said, turning to his twin. "Can I borrow you for something? It should only be a quick moment and then you two can get back to work."

Fred looked up at him with a questioning face, obviously wondering what could be so important that his twin would drag him from the woman he thought he loved... and perhaps he did. George didn't know. Fred seemed to decide, though, that George was being sincere and he kissed Victoria's forehead and said they'd only be a minute and for her not to do anything to fun without him. She giggled as they left.

"What's so important, then?" Fred insisted as soon as they were out of earshot of Victoria, who had turned back to her Charms text with a pondering look on her pretty face.

"Sophie Kirby approached me earlier," George said solemnly. "Seems to think I might be interested in helping her break the two of you up. Seems she misses her precious Toria enough to treat with me for a while."

Fred frowned, looking over at Victoria for a moment, then turning back to George.

"What did you say?"

"I told her I'd think about it," George said softly. "I didn't want to say yes without talking to you, and I didn't want to say no without talking to you, either."

"Why?" Fred demanded.

"Look," George sighed, "I'm not you. I'm not usually very vindictive, but Sophie's going to hurt Victoria if we let her have her way, just so that she can keep her under her thumb. And I'm not a fan of this union, but I know how much she means to you, and I'm not really one for watching nice girls cry. Whatever Victoria Lane may be, she's a very nice girl."

"Of course she is," Fred said suspiciously. "But don't think I've forgotten that you used to have a thing for Sophie, before she spurned you. What exactly are you suggesting?"

"I go along with it," George said with a soft smile. "I get in on her plans, but I tell you everything, and you can choose whether or not you want to tell your lady-love. And then, whenever the time's right, we turn it on her."

Fred frowned slightly.

"It might work," he admitted. "Are we still planning on making Umbridge's life hell? Isn't this quite a lot of extra work?"

"It's either this," George insisted, "or watching Victoria Lane cry."

George watched his twin sigh, run his fingers anxiously through his hair, and then look back over to where Victoria was poring over her textbook, scribbling down notes every few minutes.

"I can't stand for her to be unhappy," Fred finally muttered. "What did you have in mind?"

With a grin, George explained the plan to Fred, and with a few minor modifications they shook on it, Fred returned to Victoria, who greeted him with a sweet smile, and George went off to find Sophie Kirby.

George borrowed a quick look at the Marauder's Map from Harry and found that she was sitting in the Charms courtyard, and he hurried there, and tried to convince himself that he was hurrying so much because he really wanted to get this started and help his brother out, and not because he wanted to see what Sophie had planned for him.

But when he got to the courtyard and saw her sitting there, pretending to read the textbook he knew she really didn't care about at all, he felt his heart race a bit, trying not to stare at the curve of her legs. He licked his lips slightly, moving toward her with the confidence that a Weasley twin should have when doing business.

Because that's all this was. Business.

Why was it so hard to convince himself of that, he wondered, as she put her book down and looked up at him with an eyebrow expectantly raised at him as he sat beside her.

"I've considered," he said softly, knowing that if he tried to be too bold his voice would fail him.

"And your decision?" she asked.

He tried to calm his heart, to not lick his lips again. It would betray him to even breathe too heavily. But who was he trying to deceive, Sophie or himself?

"I think there could be some merit to your proposal," he said slowly. "But there's quite a lot of risk on my part. He's not just my best friend, Kirby, he's my twin brother. Betraying him like this would ruin our bond, and I'm not entirely certain I'm willing to risk that. Have you got something to sweeten the deal?"

This was it. This would decide whether or not he was actually going to go through with this crazed, selfish plan and call it a kindness to make himself feel less guilty.

She smirked like the cat that got the cream and moved a bit closer to him, and George couldn't help but swallow. He should have been thinking of all the boys those beautiful lips had kissed, not what it would be like if they were pressed against his, but it was so hard to remember what he should be thinking of when she was so close that he could smell her.

"Why don't you call me Sophie, George?" she purred. "I think if we're going to be working together, we shouldn't be so formal."

"B-but I haven't said that we-"

George's attempt at cleverness was cut off as her lips did crash into his, and the world seemed to spin slightly. His heart raced even more and he felt his hands twitching, wondering if the rest of her felt as divine as her lips.

Before he'd actually let his hands reach out for any part of her, however, she pulled away, winked, and walked off.

"Merlin's bloody balls," George sighed. "That girl's a drug."

And that was the scariest part of all. She was a highly addictive stimulant, and she knew it, and he was wondering what he'd gotten himself into.