Multitude

Kagome-centric oneshots

Rating: T

Pairing: Kagome/Fred & George

Crossover: Inuyasha/Harry Potter

A/N: I can't recall ever seeing something like this pop up in any story, so I thought I'd try it out! I think this one's a bit longer, a little choppier than I would have liked, but I'll come back to revise it a tad later, I wanted to get this out for an update ASAP.

~.~.~.~.~.~.~

One problem of moving was leaving everything you knew behind. Kagome sighed and scanned through the newspaper in her hands. She had everything set up in her new home when she moved from Japan to England, and now she needed a job. It didn't have to be anything serious, just something with a paycheck that could get her started on her new life here.

It hadn't been easy making the move but it was something she chose. She left behind her friends and family to experience life in the country that she had been eager to live in since she was a child. A good friend of hers had helped to find her a place to live but she politely declined his offer to get her a job in the Ministry for Magic. It wasn't the type of job she wanted to start out with, so she got a humble apartment not far from Diagon Alley and was on the hunt for a simple job.

Walking through the streets of Diagon Alley, Kagome squinted and looked down at a small square of words on the paper she was holding. Apprenticeship Wanted: Ollivander's Wand Shop!

She shook her head and flipped to another page. So far the job search wasn't going so well, every ad she saw in the paper was something she wasn't interested in. Taking one final glance over the newspaper, she casually discarded it in a wastebasket in the doorway of a shop.

"That's just there to prop the door open!" a sharp voice called out and Kagome winced, hurrying on her way and looking over her shoulder and over a soft apology.

Reaching into the pocket of her jeans, she caressed her wand and pulled it out easily. Admiring once again the fine carving on the handle and the delicate wood itself, she lazily twirled it around in her hands, being careful not to focus any magic into it accidentally. Looking around, she spotted an tea shop and she smiled softly, heading towards it. Perhaps a cup would clear her senses and she would find another copy of the news and consider some of the jobs she had previously mentally discarded from her job list. A job was a job after all.

Passing by a shop on the corner of the street, she suddenly paused in her tracks, glancing once at her destination and then at a sign on the shop was passing. She placed her slender fingers on the glass window that separated her from the brightly flashing and swirling Help Needed! Sign. It looked fairly urgent and when she looked up at the shop for its name, she couldn't help a soft grin escape. Why not? She had a pretty good sense of humor.

Opening the door and stepping inside, she was immediately overwhelmed by all the chaos and pure insanity that was running rampant. Strange things were flying all around her and customers (ranging from children to adults) were everywhere. There was so much color and noise that she almost couldn't believe the silence that lingered right outside hadn't been infested with so much…loudness.

"Welcome to Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes!" a voice laced with false sincerity greeted her ears and she turned to see a fairly short, and stout, man standing next to her holding a box under one arm and using his wand to help him 'carry' several other boxes floating behind him. "Is there something in particular you need help to find?" his sickly sweet smile was just as fake as the tone he was using and Kagome scowled.

"Actually, I was just coming in to inquire a-"

"YOU PUT THAT DOWN NOW! YOU BREAK IT YOU BUY IT! CAN'T YOU READ THE SIGN? IT SPECIFICALLY SAYS 'DO NOT TOUCH UNLESS BUYING'." His true colors were revealed as he continued to verbally attack a small boy. The boy proceeded to stick his tongue out, and carried a small, dark object over to a cash register with him.

"Whaddya want?" he huffed and turned back to Kagome.

Her scowl grew deeper and she pointed to the back of the sign on the window. "As I was saying, I'm here to inquire about the job…you guys are hiring, right?"

The man's eyes narrowed and he looked her up and down in disapproval. "Yeah, we are."

He stared at her for another moment and started making his way to the back of the store, all his boxing loyally following behind him. Blinking in confusion, Kagome looked around, unsure if she should follow him or not. She got her response when a box flew back to her and she heard a voice call out, "You comin' or not?"

She nodded and made her ways through the throngs of people with some difficulty. She even lost sight of the man for a moment before she found him scolding another customer. She caught up and he grumbled, leading her to a narrow back corridor colored in purple, and he opened a door and led her though. Shutting the door behind him, it became instantly quiet and he sat down at a table in the surprisingly big room, having trouble with his oversized robe.

"You'll do."

Kagome blinked and stared at him. "I'm sorry?"

He shrugged and waved his short wand around until a steaming mug landed with a thud in front of him and he grabbed the handle roughly, taking a swig. "You daft or something? I said you got the job."

"Just like that…What?" she asked, clearly confuddled. "Huh? You mean I…have a job?"

Looking over the rim of his mug, the man glared at her. "Yup."

"There isn't a process to this? I mean, the interview, the job application." She frowned and scratched her head. This wasn't making very much sense to her.

He rolled his eyes. "Look, we need the help. We've just lost 4 employees to another branch and the blokes that own the place didn't anticipate so much business during this time of year. Normally, this is when they get the least customers. I'll take care of the paperwork and all the technical stuff; you just worry about putting all the new shipments on the shelves. All these bloody children are buying faster than we can stock up."

"Ok, so, this means I'm starting today?" Kagome questioned cautiously. This was definitely a first for her. What a weird job. Ugh, and she had to starting by shelving items!

With a slam and spill of his mug, he sneered at her. "Obviously." He pointed over to an area with a wrinkled box. "The uniform's in there, wear it every day or don't bother coming in at all. The hours are from 8 in the mornin' to 10 at night, normally we work in shifts, but until the bosses get back, we're getting in as many hours in as possible with just the three of us now. Lunch normally is an hour break, but for now it'll be half an hour. Got it?"

Waling over to the box, she nodded to show she was listening as she pulled a purple robe out of the box. It wasn't terribly hideous, so she could live with it. Shaking her head, she wondered if it was too late to back out. "Did you say there's only three employees including me right now?" she suddenly wondered and looked back over at her new boss who was heading out the door.

He grunted a positive and she sighed. Suddenly thinking of something she called out to him. "Wait! I don't even know your name yet. I'm Kagome. Kagome Higurashi."

He rolled his shoulders back and forth as though preparing himself for the store. "The name's Avery Stock." With that, he left the room, temporarily letting overbearingly loud sound in before it became peacefully quiet again.

Kagome looked down at the clothing in her hands and began to change, wondering what exactly she was going to do about this strange situation she found herself in.

~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~

It had already been nearly a month since she had been hired and she found she enjoyed her job immensely. Sure, it was crowded, obnoxiously loud, and crazy, but it was fun! She had gotten used to Avery's constant yelling and terrible people skills and she had even become friends with the only other employee. It was strange that no one else had walked in looking for a job, but it seemed to her that things were getting easier for the shop. Not as many people drifted in, so they were able to rotate jobs and take more frequent breaks.

Placing another colorful box of canary creams of a low shelf, she smiled as a group of teenagers sprinted past her and she shook her head, hearing a familiar voice yell after them. Turning to the edge of the stairs, she looked down a floor to check on the only cashier, Verity. She seemed to be getting frazzled with all the customers waiting in line so she made her way down the long flight of stairs and stepped behind another counter and motioned for people to step up towards her.

Verity threw her a thankful smile from across the store as she rang up various items and Kagome grinned in response. Going through the typical actions of working the register, she began thinking about the owners. She hadn't actually met them yet, which Verity had explained that they were away trying to work out some business things, and that usually, they were always hanging around the store and entertaining everyone. From what she had heard about them, they seemed to be very nice men, the shop dedicated to all things humorous and miscellaneous gave away their own undeniable sense of humor and creativity since they had created nearly every single item in the shop themselves. Kagome also recalled that somewhere she heard they were twins, which was interesting because she was also a twin. Sort of. Well, she was, but she just referred to Kikyo as just her sister (when she formally always referred to her as 'my twin') at the moment since they weren't exactly on the best terms, so in her mind, the childish way to spite her sister, was to falsely deny she was her twin.

Ringing up another item, the loud chime of the bells going off indicated that yet another customer had entered the store, and she heard Verity call out a loud and friendly welcome. Another, masculine, voice responded with a chuckle, and she saw a red-headed man make his way back to the store. She watched in curiosity as he spoke with her friend about something before making his way over the counter right next to hers.

"Hello." He nodded towards her as he waved some other customers over.

"Hi." She responded, not sure what else to say. "I haven't seen you around, but seeing that you have the red hair I keep hearing about, are you one of the owners?"

He smiled awkwardly and shook his head. "No, Fred and George are my older brothers, they asked that I stop by and lend a hand. I also wanted to see if Avery knew when they were coming back, but he's in his typically mood. I don't understand why they hired the git."

Kagome laughed softly. "I sure don't know, but, wouldn't you know when they were coming back if they were your brothers? I'm Kagome, by the way."

"Ron." He offered her another nod since his hands were too busy to reach out and shake hers. "They surprise everyone with when they come and go, sometimes they say when they'll stop in, and sometimes they won't. I got an owl from them the other day, but it didn't say when they were coming back."

She nodded and for a while nobody said anything and the sounds of laughter, yelling, and resounding booms filled the air for them as time went by. Ringing up her last customer, Kagome closed up her area, and waving to Verity, signaled that she was going on her break now.

She headed back to their break room and relished in the sweet silence that met her ears. As much fun as it was out there, she needed a little peace and quiet every once in a while. She supposed that's why they made it so that no noise could escape in through the room. She smiled as she grabbed a dainty cup and poured herself a warm cup of tea.

Sitting down at the wooden table with its mismatched chairs, she felt right at home. It was nice working here, not to mention she got a discount, and although she typically didn't buy anything for herself, but rather, sending it back home to her little brother Souta. He was sure to be amused by the intriguing tricks wands and their popular Skiving Snackbox. She was pretty positive that she would be receiving an owl any day now that would be carrying a detailed letter from her brother on when and where he used what she had sent, along with the effects.

"Well, what have we got here?"

"Do you remember hiring this one?"

"Not particularly, you?"

"Not a bit!"

Taking a quick sip of her tea, Kagome turned to see two rather tall and well-dressed men leaning against the small kitchen's counter observing her. Blinking for a moment, she noticed that the two were obviously twins, and held the physical trait of red hair. Putting two and two together, she stood up in a hurried motion and moved slightly closer to them.

"Oh, I'm Kagome. Avery hired me around a month ago." She fidgeted under their stares and they turned towards one another.

"Heh, looks like ol' Avery's done it again!" the one on the left said with a chuckle.

The twin on the right smirked and extended his hand. "I'm Fred Weasley, and it is nice to meet you. I'm afraid we've been so busy extending the business…"

"Yeah, so we haven't had time to hire more help around here. George Weasley by the way." The other twin also held his hand out, and Kagome stepped closer and, not wanting to be rude, stuck out both of her hands and shook theirs at the same time, earning small grins.

"So, this is an official welcome to our store, and if you hadn't realized, this is my twin." Fred nodded over at his brother who rolled his eyes.

"Actually, he's my twin. I don't know where he gets these ideas from." Kagome smiled and observed the interactions of the two, feeling a small spark of jealousy that she and Kikyo couldn't be that close. It just wasn't in her sister's nature to be funny and outgoing, naturally being more serious and introverted.

The door popped open and a sweating Avery came panting in. When he noticed the twins he stood up as straight and tall as he could muster and saluted them. "I didn't realize you two were back! I've taken the liberty of hiring Miss Higurashi here to help out. Without the extra set of hands, I don't know what would've happened."

Kagome raised an eyebrow at what she was hopping was a compliment and noticed that Avery still kept his hand at his forehead, as if waiting for something. Feeling warm breath tickle her throat, she glanced over slightly to see one of the twins lean over to her. She was guessing it was Fred, since he was wearing an 'F' on his tie. "We don't know why he does that either." He chuckled and looked over at his brother who nodded and looked over to Avery. "At ease Mr. Stock!"

Avery then slouched out of his stiff positioning and cleared his throat. "I've readied your paperwork detailing the inventory sold while you were gone. Everything has been selling out quickly as per usual."

Fred nodded and placed his hand on Kagome's shoulder. "You know Victor Krum?"

George made his way over and placed his hand on her free shoulder in a friendly gesture. Kagome nodded, she was familiar with the sport of Quidditch. Her brother was more into it than she, rather, he followed everything that went on while she just enjoyed watching the game itself.

"We happened to run into him on our travels," George continued for him.

"And we have thought up a new piece of merchandise!" Fred nodded seeming very proud of themselves.

"Thinking very hard on this one, we've figured that everyone likes cookies, so during the Quidditch World Cup, we'll sell these little things.."

"That have Victor's name and face on it, and we'll call them…"

"Krum Cookies!" they spoke in unison and then laughed at some joke between them. Kagome stood in the middle, not quite getting it, and Avery seemed to be the same way.

George chuckled and nudged Kagome. "Say, wouldn't you like a nibble of a crumb of a Krum Cookie?"

Fred snorted and slapped his twin on the back. "Ha! I see what you did there, brilliant! That's how we'll market them! It has a catchy ring to it."

"Yeah, and if that sells, then we can sell them all throughout the season, maybe even making ones of the other teams." George nodded and they both seemed set on doing that.

Kagome sighed with a smile, "Well, not to interrupt your genius session, but I believe I should start heading back out now."

Avery had already left, and she was sure it was a madhouse out there again. The twins noticed he was gone and they let her leave and get back to her work since they also had things to take care of from their long absence.

~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~

She got stuck closing up the shop that night, but she supposed it wasn't all that bad. She had already changed out of her work robes and the twins had offered to stay an hour longer to help her get everything in order. Normally they would've left by now to go be with their large and extremely wonderful family full of gingers, but tonight she noticed they had a particular gleam in their eyes.

Kagome waved her wand around and watched in approval as another pile of scrambled items flew from their places and righted themselves into the shelves where they belonged. Looking around, she noted that everything else was in place and she walked downstairs to the main floor. Seeing that George was finishing counting the money and Fred was whispering something to him, she cleared her throat to grab their attention.

When both of their gazes were on her, she waved to them and started for the door. "Thank you for staying so late to help me clean up! It was extra messy today, so I really appreciated the help." She smiled but then paused when she heard them come up behind her and shut the door.

"Ah, not so fast." Fred smirked and pulled her gently away from the door.

"You can't expect to get out of here that easily. Not when we did so much to help you."

"We decided that now, you will return the favor, and I'm a bit hungry, so I was thinking we go back to the break room and find something to eat." Fred continued on and George leaned towards her, clasping her hand in his and leading her back through the store.

"What's this all about?" Kagome raised an eyebrow but let herself be dragged towards them anyway.

George scoffed. "We've been trying to be subtle about it, but you haven't given us many choices, so…"

Fred grinned, "So we're all going to eat together and it will be a cozy little break room date!"

Kagome felt a blush creep up to her cheeks. "A date?"

They both nodded and she shook her head. "I'm a bit…confused. You guys like me? Both of you?"

Another nod and they began to laugh to themselves as they exchanged some humorous banter.

"I told you we should've given her roses. There's no double meaning in that!"

Fred smirked and none-too-gently pushed his brother into a pile of Headless Hats and George responded with a quick shove and a grin of his own. Kagome took a moment to think about this, a dazed expression on her face. They had given her flowers, but weren't they just being nice?

When they reached the back door, George moved easily behind her and place one hand on her hip and another over her eyes. She protested for a moment before George explained that it would "ruin the surprise if you looked."

She assumed she was hearing Fred opening the door, but she wasn't guided into the room until another few seconds later and George helped to make sure she avoided any objects in her path. Her foot slammed into something and she scowled and paused to reach down to her foot but a hand grabbed hers and pulled her back up.

"George! You're not supposed to batter our date!" she heard an over exaggerated sigh and George chuckled, not at all serious. "Ah, Sorry about that!"

Finding the pressure of his hand gone from her eyes, she took that as permission to open hers and she was pleasantly surprised when she did. They had set up the room with candles…everywhere. They were charmed to float up at the ceiling, they were on the table that had been draped in table cloth, they were even scattered on the floor in the corners of the room. The lightening fell in a romantic way across everything, including the two handsome men she found herself staring at. They each had one hand on a chair that was further apart from the table than the others and she found herself moving towards it. She sat down and they pushed her closer and sat down themselves. Raising up their glasses and motioning for Kagome to do the same, they shared a look and smirked when a bubbly liquid filled the cups and they made a toast.

"To the first date, and many more to come!"