April 1995

"Happy birthday, Freddie." Snow smiled, as she put a present in his lap.

"What is this?" He asked her.

"I figured something out." She told him, careful not to tell him that it took her two months to work it out. "You said you were having trouble with your fainting candy, right? The taste wasn't quite right because the potion was coming through."

"Yes?"

"I figured it out. I have the potion recipe in there, and a vial of the finished product." She told him. "I was always good with practical magic, you know."

"So it doesn't taste like death anymore?" He asked, completely surprised.

She shook her head. "More like peppermint. I figured that one would work all right. When they wake up they'll have minty fresh breath."

He kissed her. "You're amazing."

"Yeah," she smiled. "I know. I figure since you're of age now, you're going to really start on getting your joke shop going."

"Yes, we are." Fred said. "So if you're giving me this, what did you get George?"

"Oh. I gave him chocolates that I slipped some of that stuff in." Snow told him. "Call it a prank gift. He's going to be passing out within two minutes of eating one."

"You're sneaky." He told her. "How do you know it works?"

"I tried it out on myself." She told him.

"How did that go?"

"Pretty well after I got the taste right." She smiled.

"Did you just start fainting everywhere?" He asked.

"I was actually pretty good at aiming for the bed." She told him.

"So you're saying that when you pass out around the common room, you weren't under the effects of any potions?"

She stuck her tongue out at him. "No."

Fred smiled and kissed her softly. "Thank you."

Snow smiled. "You are very welcome."

XXX

"You know, I think you're lucky that your birthday is on a Friday." Ginny told Snow at breakfast the day Snow turned fourteen.

"No. I think you're lucky that your birthday is during summer." Snow replied as she spread raspberry jam on her toast. "I still have a day full of classes."

"Not if we have anything to say about it." Fred and George said together, as they presented Snow with two sweets. One green, the other pink.

"What is this?" She asked them.

"Our birthday present to you." George told her. "Take the green one, and you'll get sick in your first class, go to Madame Pomfrey and then convince her to just let you go to the common room, and then take the pink one when you get there. You have the entire day off."

Snow looked between them. "Really?"

They nodded.

"It works perfectly." Fred promised. "I tested it myself."

"Thank you." She told them. She knew she wasn't going to miss anything in her classes today-they always said when they were having a test or a quiz. "I get my birthday off."

XXX

"You're not the only one feeling ill right now." Madame Pomfrey told her as she checked her temperature. "Something seems to be going around."

"Can I just go to bed?I'd feel more comfortable in the dark there." Snow asked her.

Madame Pomfrey nodded. "Of course you can. Just get some rest, maybe you will feel better after the weekend."

Snow nodded, cheering on the inside. "I hope so."

XXX

"What are you doing here?" Snow asked Fred when she walked into the common room. The pink candy worked like a charm, she felt all better now.

"You didn't think you were going to be the only one getting off?" Fred asked. "You can't spend your birthday alone."

"And you volunteered?" Snow asked.

"I couldn't give up the chance of seeing the common room empty. " Fred joked. "And what kind of boyfriend would I be if I let you spend your birthday alone?"

"Not a very good one, I guess." Snow smiled. "So we're alone?"

"Until three." He told her.

XXX

"You know, it's almost three." Snow said, looking Fred's watch. "People are going to show up any minute."

"Come on, then. I wanted to show you something upstairs anyway." Fred said, forcing Snow to get off the couch with him.

"What?" Snow asked, as Fred pulled her behind him up the boy's staircase.

"You'll see." Fred said.

"Is this just a way to get me into your room?" Snow teased him. "Because come on, people are coming in, that's a good enough of an excuse."

"You know, you talk a lot when you want to be annoying." Fred told her.

"It's a special talent." She replied as they made it to his floor and he opened the door and shut it behind him.

"We should be left alone for quite a while up here." Fred told her. "No one comes up here until they want to sleep."

"Well, I hope they don't come up here for quite a while, then. We could always say we fell asleep." Snow replied.

Fred nodded. "Yeah." But he didn't seem too happy about that. "Anyway," he led her towards his bed, and had her sit on the edge. "Close your eyes."

Snow folded her hands in her lap and closed her eyes, waiting for whatever he was going to do to happen. She heard him open a drawer, and then close it loudly. She then felt something cold land on her chest.

"Huh?" She said, her hand coming up to touch a round piece of metal that sat low on her chest as Fred pulled her hair out from beneath the chain. Her eyes opened and she saw a locket sitting on her chest, it was silver and rather shiny. She could almost see her reflection in it. "It's beautiful."

"So you like it?"

Snow turned to look at him, a bit of concern on her face. "You didn't have to get me this." She told him. "I told you not to get me anything."

"But I wanted to." He told her. "And you do like it?"

"I love it." She told him honestly.

Fred smiled. "Good."

Snow kissed him softly. "I've been thinking."

Fred chuckled softly. "That's never a good sign with you."

"I was thinking about telling people." She told him. "About us."

"You have been?" He asked her.

"Yes, I have." She told him. "Haven't you?"

"Every day since we started this, actually." He told her honestly. "I've just been waiting for you to catch up."

Snow rolled her eyes. "I'll reply to the last part in a second. But I was thinking that we should probably tell Ginny, George, and Hermione soon, since they're probably already suspecting something."

"What about Harry and Ron?"

"You mean the most unaware of them all?" Snow asked him. "They can know when they figure it out, anyway, they're not the best at keeping things like this quiet, and I think we should tell our parents in person, don't you? I mean, this is serious, right?"

Fred nodded. "Yeah. I can agree with that."

"Now, back on to the you waiting for me to catch up." Snow said, raising her eyebrows. "I would like you to explain."

"I'm in trouble now, aren't I?" He asked.

"Depends on what you say next." She said, trying to hide her smile.

Fred sighed. "I don't want to push you to do anything you're not ready for." He told her. "You are younger than me, and I know that. You know what I want, and I don't want to ask for any more that what you're willing to give me. I don't want to ruin what we have by asking for too much. So I'm going to wait until you catch up. You set the pace. I just want to be with you."

Snow was speechless at that. She didn't know what to reply, or how to. She opened her mouth to speak, and then closed it. He really did love her. "Yeah, you're not in trouble. You're not going to be for a long time."

Fred laughed. "I'll remind you of that when I do something stupid."

Snow smiled, as she got on her knees and got herself so she was sitting on Fred's lap with her knees on either side of his hips before she kissed him, her hands pulling on his collar.

Fred's hands stayed at her hips as they kissed, until Snow took his hand brought it to her chest.

Then the door burst open.

"Hey Fred-WHAT THE FUCK?" George yelled the last three words.

Snow and Fred, jumped away from each other, both of their faces were red.

"Hey, George." Snow grimaced. "What's new?"

George just looked between the two, with the most distressed-puppy look on his face. "What's going on?"

Snow and Fred looked at each other, and Snow nodded to Fred.

"We said we were going to tell them anyway." Snow said, as they heard people running up the stairs behind George.

"Yeah, I kind of pictured something different, though." Fred replied as Harry, Ron, and Hermione appeared behind George.

George appeared to be in shock, his lips forming words, but no sound coming out.

Fred turned to Snow. "Looks like we're telling everyone, then."

XXX

"Ginny's mad at me." Snow told Fred as they walked the abandoned halls of Hogwarts with the Marauder's Map they borrowed from Harry.

"Yeah, George is kind of mad at me too." Fred nodded. "Why do you think I got Harry to give me this? They need to cool off a bit."

Snow nodded and they were quiet a moment as they kept walking. "I think they're happy for us, though."

"Oh, I know they are." Fred said. "I think they're mostly mad that they didn't see anything different between us."

"And that we didn't tell them." Snow said. "But they'll see why we didn't, right?"

"Tomorrow, next week by the latest." Fred told her. "Don't worry. They'll come around."

"They always do." Snow agreed as she took his hand. "I'm happy we're out, though. The worst part is over."

"So nothing bad will happen when we tell our families?"

"Well, my mom loves you." Snow said. "And your parents love me. All we need to worry about is Dad...since you haven't met him since you were a little kid."

"And there's nothing to worry about there, at all." Fred said sarcastically.

"Nope." Snow laughed. "Nothing to worry about at all."

"And we tell them this summer?"

"I'll invite you over for dinner." She told him, trying to hide a smile. "It'll be great. It'll be a good story to tell people, since the story of how we met isn't as cute as it could be."

"I don't know, knowing each other since childhood is pretty cute." He told her.

"Yeah, I guess so." She agreed. "But we'll find out how good that is when we tell everyone."

"Oh, Mum will be ecstatic. She's always loved you."

Snow smiled. "And my mum always loved you, so that's not a problem either."

"Yeah, but my dad loves you too, and your dad doesn't know me." Fred replied. "I think I'm going to have it harder than you."

"I'm going to agree, but I think my dad's going to be pretty cool about it. And Mum will bring him around. She's good at that. And even if she didn't, I don't think it would matter too much. It wouldn't change anything for me."

"But I want your dad to like me." He said. "It'll make things easier when I ask you to marry me."

"When?" Snow questioned.

"Yeah, in about ten years or so, when we want to settle down." Fred said.

"Don't you dare ask my dad for permission." She told him. "No one makes choices for me but me."

"I'll remember that." Fred said.

"Good."

XXX

Snow dropped a letter in Fred's lap as she sat beside him the next day. A letter from her mother, telling her where she was going to be spending some of her summer with her great-grandfather.

"What's this?" Fred asked, holding it up.

"Just read it." She told him, standing in front of him.

Fred read it, and after a minute he looked up. "When do you leave?"

"Day after finals. Before the final task." Snow told him. "I don't know why. Apparently they want me to be able to control my dreams."

"I want you to, too." Fred told her. "When will you be back?"

Snow shrugged. "After I learn the basics, I guess. I'll try to be home as soon as I can." She told him. "And I'll try to get in your dreams, if you don't mind."

"I'd never mind." Fred told her. "I'm just going to miss you."

Snow smiled sadly before sitting on his lap. "I'll make sure to force myself into your head whenever I can." She told him. "We're gonna be okay, right?"

"Yes, we are. But I take it that we're going to postpone telling the four people we probably should tell."

"Unless you want to without me." Snow told him.

Fred shook his head. "I'll wait for you to get back."

Snow smiled. "I thought you'd say that." She leaned forward to kiss him.

"Oi!" Came a shout from across the room, and the two broke apart to see George.

"What?" Fred asked his twin.

"I get that you're dating and all, but can you keep it in your pants?" George told them. "I mean, she's like my little sister...and you're my brother...and it's weird!"

Fred sighed and looked back at Snow. "We shouldn't have told them."

Snow laughed as she shook her head. "Worst idea we ever had."

A/N:

C.B. Weasley: Thank you! I'm planning on it all being adorable. Thank you so much! Thank you for your review!

Blue Luver5000: Thank you! Thank you for your review!

Her-My-O-Knee: Thank you! Well, I can't make her completely like her mother, can I? It'll be great, I promise. Thank you for your review!

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