Welcome back, my loves! I'm so sorry for the almost (gasp!) month delay! I went on break and only got to work on this chapter and the next for a while - they're much longer than usual :))) I hope you like them! 10 and 11 are two halves of one part -see the title.

Thanks to movinggirl for her awesome advice! She's helped me so much :)

Enjoy!

England's Wizarding New Year's Festival

Jo

-was completely taken by surprise. Fred twisted around on the spot, and Jo experienced the strangest and most uncomfortable feeling. She felt as though she were being compressed into a tiny tube and was trying to be squeezed down to the bottom. Jo felt herself getting breathless and was about to cry out when the sensation stopped as soon as it started.

Jo stood in front of Fred, gasping for air and tears threatening to pour out of her eyes. Fred immediately dropped her hands and grabbed her shoulders.

'Are you alright?' he asked, concern etched across his face.

'Yeah…just a bit…out of breath…One second,' she replied, taking deep breaths in between her statements. Fred ran a hand through his hair almost angrily.

'I knew I shouldn't have tried Apparation first…maybe something like a portkey or Floo…' he rambled to himself. But Jo wasn't paying attention. She'd gotten her breath back and took a good look at where they were.

'Oh…my…God,' she gasped. 'What did you do?'

'Hmm? Oh, you've seen where we are? Well, Jo my dear, welcome to England's Wizarding New Year's Festival!' Fred announced.

'How did we get here?' said Jo, still wondering what they'd done.

'Well, we wizards and witches-,' Fred started.

'Witches and wizards,' said Jo absently, soaking in her surroundings.

'What?'

'Mmm? Sorry – It just flows better.'

'Anyway, we can do this…thing…er…a method of transportation called Apparating. I don't really know how to explain it…You move from one place to another by-,' Fred waved his wand, demonstrating the action.

'It seems like teleportation, which – Ow!' Jo cried, holding her arm. 'Hey Fred, while you're amazing me with all of these feats, would you mind mending my arm? This is really starting to irritate me.'

'Er…one second…I do believe I have a spell that can fix it,' Fred said slowly. 'I just hope it isn't the one Lockhart used on Harry that removed all the bones in his arm.'

Jo stared at him and raised her eyebrows.

'I don't know who those people are, but I think I'll just wait it out,' she replied, backing away.

'I was just kidding,' Fred said quickly. 'Here, show it to me.'

Jo reluctantly took her arm out of the sling and showed it to Fred. He muttered a couple of words under his breath and there was a sharp cracking feeling in her arm. She winced, but when she flexed her arm back and forth, the pain was almost gone.

'Wow! Thank you so much Fred! I've actually been meaning to ask you to do that for a while, but you'd have always just left before I could remember!'

'Anytime, Jo.'

'Oh, so, as I was saying, teleportation is a number of theories and ideas concerning the transmission of matter from one point to another without negotiating the physical space between them.'

'Merlin, you are so like Hermione, 'Fred muttered, amused. 'So, let's go for a walk.'

Fred

Fred courageously linked his fingers through hers and led her to the center of the party. She didn't resist his touch, but Fred realized it was probably because she was too busy trying to find the source of the irresistibly sweet smells wafting towards them.

'Looks like Honeydukes has made their contribution here,' he said happily, pulling Jo with him to a line of tables.

'Whoa, are these candies?' Jo asked, amazed. Rows and rows of sweets, ranging from decadent chocolates to little sugar mice. 'They look so real!'

Fred smiled.

'Well, let's go for the grand tour so you can see,' he said. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small pouch of what sounded like coins. Fred handed them to the man standing at the front of the ten-yard long table.

'Can we have two tickets for the Honeydukes table?' Fred said, eyeing the ridiculously long line waiting to try the sweets.

'Two tickets,' said the man, looking extremely bored. He looked up only when seeing Fred's face properly. 'I say, you're one of the Weasley twins, aren't you? You two own that store in Diagon Alley, don't you?'

Fred nodded proudly. Some of the people waiting in line looked up at the name and raised their eyebrows in surprise. Soon a vast chunk of the crowd were whispering and pointing at him.

'Actually, I think George is bringing some products today, a limited number. But we're releasing something new today. It's especially good for warding off enemies. You-Know-Who would be in for a surprise. You'd better go quickly before we're out of stock,' Fred said a bit louder; he wanted the people to hear him. He realized he'd have to act fast when most of the crowd went rushing out, trying to find a helper to find the Weasley stall.

'Jo, if you wait one moment, I'll be back very soon, but there is something I need to attend to immediately so we can have this place to ourselves,' Fred said quickly, facing his date. She nodded.

'As long as you come back. I don't wait to get lost here,' Jo said good-naturedly.

'I will, don't worry. To tell you the truth, George isn't actually here testing products…He's in our flat, probably sleeping. I need to talk to him. Oh, and also, that spray that you have,' Fred continued, gesturing to Jo's purse.

'Oh, you mean the mace?'

'Yeah. Where can I find that?'

'Well, there's a department store right next to the bakery that you can find some small bottles. Here's a ten pound note if you need to buy anything,' Jo explained the last part slowly so he'd understand. She placed the money in his hand and smiled.

'Great! I love you Jo,' he called over his shoulder. He turned on the spot with a crack.

Jo

Never in a million years would she admit it, but when Fred declared his love for her, little shivers went down her spine, even though he wasn't serious. Now she was alone, walking amidst hundreds of people she didn't know.

She took her time looking around at the now-deserted table with chocolates and eyed them longingly. The ticket man watched her like a hawk, but Jo gave him a look that told him she didn't plan on stealing anything. It's just chocolate…Couldn't they just conjure up some more on the spot?

Jo walked around trying to find something to do. As tempted as she was to get her future told by a crystal ball, she wasn't so crazy about the appearance of the strange, insect-like woman surreptitiously swigging sherry from a bottle. About a quarter of an hour later, Jo was getting a bit bored of not doing anything, though several people on the streets walked up to her with their sale-pitches.

Tentatively, she followed a couple of girls around her age on a path that led to "Madame Puddifoot's." Jo snickered at the name but continued to follow them nonetheless. As soon as she entered the small tent, she realized trailing them was one of the worst decisions she ever made. Couples everywhere were busy sticking their tongues down the other's throats and the amount of multicoloured confetti floating around was making Jo nauseas. Jo turned around to exit the shop when she walked into an Italian looking boy who appeared around her age.

'Er, excuse me,' Jo said, trying to squeeze her way between him and one of the poles supporting the entrance.

'Are you in some sort of rush or something?' he asked, his breath slightly tainted with the strong smell of whiskey.

'As a matter of fact, I am,' Jo snapped, in no time for fooling around.

'Won't you stay around a little longer?' the boy asked, wrapping his hand around her waist.

'Er…I don't think so,' said Jo firmly, but her resistance was dulled by the fact that the boy was already pressing her up against a wall.

'Come on,' he said, his voice mere inches from her ear. His breath tickled her ear and she tried to push as far away as possible. 'It's New-Year's Eve. Celebration time.'

'No!' Jo said again, struggling to get out of his grip. He leaned forward slowly, pinning her firmly between him and the wall. Jo was sure he was about to snog her brains out when she heard a loud exclamation of pain coming from the boy.

'Dammit! What the bloody hell was that? God, it hurts! I can't see anything!' he shouted, clutching his face. Jo took the opportunity to wriggle out of his grasp and see who rescued her.

Fred

'George! George!' Fred shouted as soon as he landed in their flat. 'George we have some work to do!'

'What is it now? I thought you were all mad about me writing to Jo,' George said grumpily, trudging out of his room grumpily.

'I wasn't really mad, and in case you didn't notice, both of us were laughing,' Fred pointed out.

'Oh, right. I only did it because I was worried about you and our family. I knew Jo believed in magic from the start, but I wanted to make sure. Just showing her the card tricks at the store seemed like a game, not so serious, you know? But after you started pursuing her, I knew you were going to go the nine yards and tell her about magic and the details. I guess I was trying to stop you before you did, but I was late. Come to think of it, it probably was pretty stupid to forge a letter after you told me you showed her, and she knew who it was anyway. And since she really does believe in it, there's nothing we can do to make her not believe in it except Obliviate her-'

'No!'

'-which wasn't going to be an option obviously. So, basically, I'm sorry for that whole…deal, but I sure hope you know what you're doing. Otherwise, we're screwed,' finished George. Fred was pretty stunned by the whole monologue, but it was welcome. At the time, Fred wasn't upset at all, but after hearing it in that light, George's actions seemed a bit un-brotherly.

Fred looked his brother up and down. He was wearing nothing but his boxers and Fred sighed, disappointed that he was right about his twin going back to sleep. He pointed his wand and called:

'Accio clothes.' George's clothes landed rather unceremoniously in front of Fred and George hopped into them.

'What is it?' George said, now fully dressed.

'I signed you up to sell a few things at the England's Wizarding New Year's Festival,' Fred said quickly, hoping his brother wouldn't get upset. Contrarily, George's face lit up and he smiled.

'Of course! I forgot that was going on this year!' he exclaimed.

'Er, George…It happens every year,' Fred pointed out.

'Yeah, but especially this year,' George said, making absolutely no sense whatsoever.

'Okay…,' Fred said slowly, a bit confused by the strange reaction. 'Well, help me gather up some Skiving Snackboxes and the works, some Weasley Wet Start Fireworks and some Wonder Witch products,' Fred listed quickly. 'I'm going to a Muggle store to pick up some stuff.'

'Alright, I'll meet you back here in ten minutes,' George replied. He grabbed the first cardboard box he could find and cast an Undetectable Extension Charm on it. He left to go to their storage area and Fred turned on the spot again.

As soon as he arrived at the store, he naturally gravitated towards the more masculine side of the store. He saw underwear, shoelaces, socks, hair gel, sweatbands, but no spray. Confused he walked over to a muscular man who was analyzing some "Old Spice."

'Excuse me, where can I find…' Fred racked his brains for the name Jo had mentioned. '…mace?'

The man looked as though he was struggling to fight a laugh.

'You're looking in the wrong place entirely, boy. It's over there on the women's side,' the man replied, puffing his chest out.

'Thanks,' Fred replied quickly. Great, now I've made a fool of myself in front of a Muggle. He walked over to the side where a few ladies were standing. Trying not to look to suspicious, he picked up about ten bottles of the spray. One particularly good-looking lady looked at him with an eyebrow raised and Fred just smiled back. Gahh! When he walked over to the cashier and quickly paid up, trying to ignore the weird looks the casher was giving him, and left as soon as possible.

As soon as he Apparated back to the flat, he cast a duplicating charm on the bottles and transfigured them to have the Weasley logos on them. He grimaced at the fact that he was practically stealing someone's idea. Oh well. It'll only take a little while to make a potion of your own.

George met him a minute later, levitating a dozen boxes in front of him.

'Are we ready to go?' he asked Fred. 'I got everything we need, so let's leave quickly.'

'Gee George,' Fred teased. 'You're sure in a rush to go to the festival aren't you?'

'Yeah because An-,' George started. He cut off abruptly and his ears turned red.

'Because what?' Fred prodded.

'Promise you won't tell Mum anything yet?' he whispered fiercely. Fred nodded.

'Okay.'

'You see, Angelina and I might have a thing going, and I really like her…I think I'm going to ask her out officially tonight,' George continued in his whisper.

'I thought Angie was in love with me!' Fred said indignantly.

'What? You're going out with Jo, so stop complaining. Anyways, Ang isn't a toy or something,' George said in an increasingly strangled whisper.

'You know George, I'm starting to think that Mum's got little ears installed in all of our walls,' Fred said loudly. George's ears turned purple.

They Apparated to the festival a couple of minutes later and saw a tent labeled with their store name on it.

'Okay George, you can set up…I have to find Jo. I've been gone longer than she probably expected,' Fred said, wandering away. He ran towards the now deserted Honeydukes tables but there was no Jo. He walked up to the ticket manager.

'Excuse me, sir, but did you see that girl that was with me go someplace?' he asked.

'Eh? Oh, her. She went down to that sissy coffee shop,' the man replied, gesturing to a path leading to Madame Puddifoot's.

'Thanks.' Fred ran down the path to find a small, cramped tent with snogging couples. He remembered taking Angelina on a date there, but the two ended up leaving five minutes later, the Chaser being sick of the exuberant PDA. That's strange…I never imagined Jo to be the type to like Madame Puddifoot's, Fred thought. As soon as he walked in, he knew his gut feelings were right. Up against a wall was Jo, clearly struggling with none other than Blaise Zabini. Reaching into his pocket, he came up with the first thing he could find: the bottle.

Raising his arm he pressed down on the button hard and heard the loud fwoosh of the spray directed at the boy. Zabini screamed in pain and Fred grinned to himself. Mission completed.

Jo was still against the wall, eyes squeezed shut. Smart girl. She opened her eyes and blinked slowly at the scene in front of her. She looked up at Fred and stared blankly for a second before giggling. He was about to wear his hero smile when Jo coughed.

'This is completely backwards! Here you are, spraying some guy with mace and I'm standing here at a loss for words!' Jo said. Fred scratched his head trying to comprehend what Jo was saying. 'Usually either I would spray the guy and walk away confidently or my savior would roll up his sleeves, expose his large biceps and give the git a few good punches to the nose.'

'Oh,' Fred said dolefully. He looked down at his fully covered arms. 'I guess I messed up, eh?'

'Well, I've only really seen the whole beating-bad-guy-up routine in films, but it seems to be the thing to do,' Jo said, tucking a stray curl behind her ear.

Fred said nothing and pulled the curl that she'd hidden away and let it dangle in front of her face. 'Okay. There, that's better.'

'Oh, and thanks Fred. If you hadn't come, that guy probably would have…Ew, gross,' Jo shuddered. She batted the curl away for a second but gave up when Fred held it out of her reach. 'Fine, be that way.'

Jo

Jo was immensely relieved when Fred attacked that boy – Blaise, but she still wished he had used more…manly methods rather than using a woman's defensive weapon. That must have just been her normal feelings, though. She grasped Fred's hand once more and dragged him over to the Honeydukes tables. The ticket man opened the gates to the now-empty table and let them through.

'Let's start with the simple things,' Fred said, guiding her to the table with little squares of chocolate. They made their way through the platters of samples, ranging from pure milk chocolate to dark with flecks of orange zest to a three layer truffle. After finishing the table Jo was experiencing some mild stomach cramps and proceeded to tell Fred so.

'How on earth are we supposed to finish nine more tables like this if we've just been filled to the brim with chocolate?' she asked, bending over slightly with her arms over her stomach.

'That's what this is for,' Fred said pointing to a small tray laden with cups filled with yellow liquid. 'In those cups is a potion that clears your stomach and makes room for more sweets. You'll see a tray like this at the end of every table. Don't drink too much though, otherwise you'll find your appetite will have grown considerably.'

Jo hesitantly took a cup and drank the potion slowly. In an instant the pain in her stomach was gone and she let out a sigh of relief.

'Okay, let's keep going,' she said confidently.

'That's my girl,' Fred said happily and they walked on.

The next four tables had strangely shaped sweets – many of them looked like bugs and animals. Jo reached the next table and recoiled at the sight of the first bowl of sweets.

'Er, what exactly are those?' Jo asked, peering at the beetle shaped candy.

'Ugh, cockroach clusters. I've never been a fan of them,' Fred said wrinkling his nose. 'I doubt you'd like them, but since we paid, we might as well try a little bit.'

They went along, tasting each sweet. Jo shrieked in surprise after eating an Ice Mouse. It chittered in her stomach and she jumped a foot at the sensation before dissolving into peals of laughter. Fred steered her away from the Acid Pops, knowing their painful consequences. Jo's Chocolate Frog jumped away from her before she could catch it so Fred gave her his. They kept walking and tried Fizzing Whizbees, pocketed a couple pieces of Droobles and tried a handful of Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans. Jo was completely full by the time they'd finished and Fred kept laughing every few seconds for no reason.

'Fred, I think you're having a sugar rush,' Jo commented.

'You're probably right, but it's better to have a few minutes of unadulterated happiness rather than to forever be in a state of uneventful soberness,' Fred said lightly with a smile.

'Whoo, the big words are blowing me away,' Jo laughed, pretending to be knocked backwards.

'Hey, I can be mature and smart if I choose to be,' Fred said mock-seriously. 'One of my…brothers…thinks very highly of himself and never misses a chance to show off his so-called talents.'

The two sat down on a bench overlooking a few "magic" shows. Fred put an arm around Jo and she rested her head on his shoulder.

'I had lots of fun today, Fred,' Jo said, looking out at the performance being put on.

'Yeah, me too. Thanks for agreeing to come with me,' Fred said tightening his grip on her.

'Thanks for bringing me,' she said sweetly. She turned her head and put her chin where her head was and looked into his blue eyes. They were such a beautiful shade of blue. He turned and looked back at her. They were mere inches away from each other but Jo didn't notice anything happening until she found herself lost in his gaze. Fred ever so slowly lowered his head towards her. Jo looked down, fluttering her eyelashes. The intensity with which Fred was looking at Jo made a small blush creep over her face and she raised her head back towards him, ready to close their distance. She could feel his baited breath and she was trying not to hold hers in anticipation. Fred moved the hand on her shoulder to behind his neck and his other hand held hers. Jo was sure they were going to kiss when they were interrupted by a familiar voice.

'Hey, you two, ready to go do something fun?' George asked, pulling a pretty black girl behind him.

The two pulled away from each other in a split second, turning slightly away from the other surreptitiously. Fred hastily cleared his throat and Jo tucked her strand behind her ear again, blushing even further.

'Yeah,' Fred replied, getting up. He extended his hand to Jo and he helped her up.

Yep. I did it. Or, I didn't :P You'll see what happens in the next chapter which will be up the day after tomorrow!

PLEASE leave your review and tell me what you think! I'll take any constructive criticism or suggestions as well :)

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Until the day after :)