Author's Note: A warm and robust thank you to kaykay25 for the like and the follow on both us and our story! We hope we can keep you entertained! AndTheSnakesStartToSing, right? Cedric is a bit of a tosser [we planned it that way]. As per the end of the GoF, you'll just have to wait and see... Carry on.
This is much of the way that things went around the Burrow. Harper and Onyx helped around the house and hung out with everyone but George. Pwoor pwoor widdle Geworgie Bwoy. Well, until one fateful day, Onyx was taking a shower. As usual, she had her iHome [a battery operated muggle contraption from home] with her in the bathroom so she could crank out the tunes while she showered. The music being too loud, Onyx didn't hear someone knock on the door. Being an idiot and drinking too much pumpkin juice, George was the one doing the knocking really having to go to the bathroom, not knowing who was in the shower.
"Ruddy pumpkin juice and only having one bathroom," George cursed standing on the outside of the door. Well, George couldn't resist the call of nature any longer, so he just entered the bathroom and relieved himself. Then he made the fatal mistake, he flushed the toilet.
"WHAT THE HECK?!" Onyx screamed as her epidermis was burned off by the scorching hot blast of water.
"What the heck?" George whispered upon hearing a voice from the shower. Curiosity taking its hold, George began to peel back the shower curtain.
Scared out of her mind, Onyx screamed and wrapped herself in the shower curtain. She slipped on the shower and careened towards the ground taking the shower curtain with her. Upon seeing her said attacker, she only had one thing to say, "George Weasley, you are DEAD!" She got up off the ground clutching the shower curtain, and chased George out of the bathroom and down the hall.
George let out a shrill cry and took off running.
Hearing the commotion, Harper and Fred drifted towards the sound. They stopped short when they saw a half-naked Onyx running through the hall, chasing after a horrified looking George.
"Onyx, why are you running through the halls?" Harper asked suspiciously. "And why are you half naked?"
"Why are you wearing my shower curtain?" Fred wanted to know.
"I'm making a fashion statement!" she cried, following George down to the kitchen where she was met by Mrs. Weasley.
"Onyx!" Mrs. Weasley said, looking as though she was shocked but trying to be polite by hiding it. "What on earth…?"
"George," Onyx panted, pointing towards the perpetrator.
That was all she needed to hear. She promptly dragged George outside by his ear. The others heard some yelling.
"I'm going to go get dressed now," Onyx said slowly, backing away towards the staircase.
No sooner did she disappear then did Mrs. Weasley and George reappear, cheeks red from the cold outside.
"Do you understand me, young man?" Mrs. Weasley was asking sternly.
"Yes, ma'am," he answered dolefully.
"Now you go to your room!" Mrs. Weasley ordered.
"Um, Mum," Fred interjected quickly. "Onyx's in our room."
"Then go to Percy's room, I don't care!"Mrs. Weasley yelled.
George didn't need to be told twice. He bounded up the stairwell before she could yell some more. Fred and Harper looked at each other.
"Think he did it on purpose?" she asked.
"I'd bet Ginny on it."
She rolled her eyes.
"Want some breakfast?" he offered as they waited for Onyx to come back down.
"Yes, that would be delicious!"
"Mum. Feed us," Fred called to his mother as he sat down at the table.
"Say the magic word," Mrs. Weasley sang out.
"Mum, we're wizards. There are thousands of magic words I could choose from."
"Fred Weasley," she demanded. "You know what word I mean!"
"Wingardium leviosa?"
Silence.
"Ennervate."
He caught Harper's eye and grinned.
"Please?" Harper asked.
"There you go, now that wasn't so hard, was it?" Mrs. Weasley asked, somehow making bread toast itself and buttering it with a swishing motion of her wand.
"But that was Harper, Mum, not me," Fred said, acting hurt that she had mistaken her voice for his.
"Well it's not my fault that she had better manners than you do," Mrs. Weasley spat. "Lord knows I tried to raise you right but I suppose it just wasn't meant to be…"
It was then that Onyx came back down the stairs, now wearing a turtle neck in her attempts to cover up as much of herself as possible.
"Feeling better?" Mrs. Weasley asked.
"Well embarrassed beyond all belief but aside from that, I'm just peachy," Onyx answered brightly, sitting down next to Harper.
"Here, have some eggs," Mrs. Weasley offered, laying a steaming plate in front of her.
"Hey, that's not fair!" Fred spouted indignantly. "I want eggs, too."
"Maybe when you get chased around the house with nothing on but a shower curtain, you can have some eggs," his mother spat.
Fred grumbled as he sat down next to Onyx, eyeing her as she ate her eggs.
"Um," she said, hesitating mid-bite. "Can I help you?"
"Can I have some of your eggs?" he asked instead.
"Absolutely not."
"You're mean."
"Your twin just chased me around while I was in a shower curtain," Onyx snapped. "I think I'm entitled to some food."
He tapped his fingers on the table as though he were waiting for something. "You know what I think? I think we should go Christmas shopping today."
She dropped her fork on her plate. "Christmas shopping?" she repeated blankly.
"Yeah you know, crazy shoppers pushing each other over to get the last thing, lots of the same annoying song playing over and over in each store… it'll be fun. Just you, me, and Harper. And maybe George," he added as an after though. "If Mum allows him to leave the house."
Onyx studied him for a minute. "Was this your idea?"
He nodded eagerly. "I came up with it all by myself. Aren't you impressed?"
"A little bit," she admitted. "When are we leaving?"
"As soon as you're done with your eggs that you won't share," he told her.
She shoved the last fork full into her mouth. "Done!"
He grinned. "Excellent. I'll go warn George."
And just like that, after an interesting flight through the fireplace using Floo powder, the four of them, because George had been allowed to go, found themselves at Diagon Alley. They had fun trying to find gifts for both Mr. and Mrs. Weasley. Harper had the brilliant idea to buy Mrs. Weasley some fancy yarn as a gift and had to yell at Fred and George when they started throwing skeins of yarn at each other and almost getting kicked out of the store. Their father was harder to shop for because he didn't have any solid interests except for Muggle stuff.
"So… why don't we go to where the Muggle stuff is?" Harper asked. "You're not going to find anything like that here in the wizarding world, you know."
"What are you saying?" George asked, eyeing the joke shop as they passed by.
"That we should go to London," she supplied.
Onyx wrapped her coat around tighter as a chilly wind blew. "How on earth are we supposed to get to London from here?"
Harper shrugged. "Harry said that Hagrid led him through the Leaky Cauldron. There has to be a way."
"So to the Leaky Cauldron!" George cried, pointing the way and running towards the famous inn.
"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Onyx asked Harper as they followed George through the crowd.
"Going to London? Onyx, I'm sure we'll be fine. It's not like we'll get lost or anything."
"No I mean taking these two out in public," Onyx nodded towards the twins who were now running together with linked arms, practically knocking people over in their haste.
Harper had to agree. It was no big deal for her and Onyx to be out in the Muggle world because they were raised in it. But Fred and George had no clue how to act in public, let alone in the Muggle public. They were dangerous to be around, Harper just realized, because they would draw so much attention.
"I'm sure they'll behave themselves," she said hesitantly, eyeing the twins doubtfully. They made their way into the pub and then walked all the way through it until they saw the door to the street. Fred and George ran out the door and burst onto the walk, making the passerby shoot them uneasy glances.
"Told you," Onyx muttered to Harper as they walked out the door like normal human beings usually do. "This is going to be an adventure, don't you think?"
Harper didn't have time to agree because right then the twins ran back up to them.
"We just realized that we have no clue where to go," Fred informed them.
"So we voted you our tour guides," George finished. "Now, guides, where do we go?"
Onyx and Harper looked at each other and grinned. They were girls and girls were known for two things: being evil, and shopping. Neither Onyx nor Harper were evil, but they could shop. It wasn't Harper's favorite past time but she still was innately good at it. Therefore they both knew exactly where to go for Christmas shopping. Hurrying past the boys, they both headed in the same direction. The twins had to run to keep up.
"Where are we going?" George panted.
"You'll see," Onyx sang, realizing it was George who spoke and not wanting to make Harper respond to him. They led the boys from store to store, finally finding Mr. Weasley a stapler that they were convinced would make his life complete. Fred and George still didn't understand what exactly it was, nor why it was useful, but they agreed that their father would love it. Onyx helped Harper find gifts for her parents, having none of her own. Poor dear. After a few hours of what ended up being actually fun, they were walking down the street back towards the Leaky Cauldron when it started to snow. Harper immediately tried to get a snow flake to land her tongue, and failed miserably. George mocked her by catching the first snowflake he saw on his tongue. She purposefully ignored this.
But it was while they were walking past Buckingham Palace, Fred and George pointing and gaping for show the whole way after trying desperately to distract the guards (Onyx could have sworn that she saw one of their faces twitch), that somebody called out Onyx's name.
All four of them turned at the sound of the voice.
"Did that sound like—" Harper began.
"It couldn't be," Onyx stated faintly.
"It's not allowed to be," Fred said, pouting.
"I hope it is!" George said, bouncing up and down to get a better view. He almost fell to the ground as Fred elbowed him in the ribs. "What was that for?" he snapped.
"It's Pretty Boy," Fred hissed. "That is not a good thing."
Sure enough, as they watched, Cedric Diggory stood on the other side of the street, looked both ways, and then jogged across to meet them, grinning from ear to ear. "Fancy seeing you all here," he greeted them. "Especially you," he said, pulling Onyx into a giant bear hug.
Fred tried hard not to vomit. "I wish he'd been hit by a double decker bus," he muttered under his breath.
Harper heard him and quickly nodded in agreement before Onyx could see. Well, at least he had her on his side. She could be a useful ally. He couldn't spend too much time formulating battle plans however, because George was speaking to him.
"I said, let's give them some privacy," his twin was saying, tugging his arm in the other direction.
"But I don't wanna," Fred whined like a three-year-old as Harper began trailing behind them.
"Oh come on, Fred," she encouraged. "Now we can gossip about them!"
He turned to her. "You want to gossip about them?" he asked incredulously. "I thought you supported them. I thought you were their fan!"
Harper made a face. "He's been rubbing against me the wrong way lately," she admitted. "He's kind of a Onyx attention whore."
Both Fred and George stared at her blankly before bursting into laughter.
"That is the perfect way to describe him!" Fred cried. "Can I steal it?"
"As long as you don't give me credit," she told him. "I don't want her to know how I feel about them."
"Why, would she not approve of the fact that you don't approve?" George inquired as they continued on their walk to the Leaky Cauldron.
She ignored him out of habit and instead stole a glance back towards her best friend and Cedric. "I guess we got voted off the island," she said ruefully as Cedric and Onyx meandered slowly down the street, hand in hand.
Fred grunted in response, clearly not wishing to talk about it. He gruffly pushed the door open as they reached the pub and sat down at a table in a huff. "I want a pint," he announced to nobody in particular.
"Well unfortunately for you, mate, we're still considered underage," George reminded him, sitting down in the chair next to his twin.
Harper sat down on Fred's other side. "Some scotch would be nice," she admitted.
"Or some rum," George pointed out.
"Or butter beer," Tom the bartender cut in from behind the bar.
"Or butter beer," George grinned. "So much for wishful thinking."
"Yes it seems that you two have been doing a lot of that lately," Harper said airily, looking around the pub.
"And what exactly do you mean by that?" George challenged.
"Yes, Harper, whatever could you mean?" Fred asked, knowing full well that Harper wasn't going to answer George's question.
She raised her eyebrows. "You know exactly what I mean. First there's you and her," she said, nodding her head towards the door. "And then there's this git," she said, nodding towards George. "And we all know how that went."
"Hey, I got an acknowledgement!" George said excitedly. "We're making progress."
Fred began clapping. "Oh yay, maybe next we can expose Pretty Boy as the attention seeking dung bomb that he is!" He immediately got serious again. "Dreams die, George."
"Oh Fred, lighten up," Harper said, patting his arm comfortingly. "Everything's not lost."
"It's lost alright," he said dejectedly. "They're in love and I'm just chopped up liver."
"That explains the smell…" George trailed off.
"Ah, my life is over!" Fred wailed, burying his face in the crook of his elbow on the table.
Harper appraised him carefully. "Fred, are you just being dramatic?" she asked skeptically.
He raised his head automatically. "Yes, actually, I am. They can go off and get married, have five kids and live in a town house with a garden with a cat named Mouse for all I care."
Both Harper and George looked at him.
"A cat named mouse?" George repeated. "That's so cruel. That cat would have so many issues."
It was right then that Cedric and Onyx walked in amongst a flurry of snow. They spotted the others sitting at the table and hurried to join them.
"Hello," Onyx greeted, cheeks red from the cold. "We thought we lost you."
"You did," Fred told her with a very snippy tone in his voice.
"What's up your butt?" she asked him.
"I'm not sure, but I'd be willing to bet that he'd show you if you asked real nicely," George told her. "Or if you paid well enough."
"George! That's disgusting!" Onyx scolded him.
"Disgusting, but funny," he pointed out.
They others all just rolled their eyes.
"So are we going back to Diagon Alley then?" Cedric asked in midst of the silence.
"We?" George repeated, not sure he had heard right.
"Of course," Onyx said, sounding surprised that it was even a question. "Ced's coming with us. At least for a little while."
"Oh happy day, now it's an actual shopping party," Fred said in mock happiness. "Shall we go look for high heels now? Because I swear, mine are getting too small."
"And maybe some fishnets to match, eh?" George snickered.
"Nope, that would be for Onyx the hooker," Fred reminded him.
"I beg your pardon," Cedric sputtered as Onyx laughed. "Why do you find that funny?" he asked her. "He's sullying your virtue!"
This, of course, only made her laugh harder. "Ced, relax. He's just trying to be funny."
"Trying and succeeding, apparently," grumbled Cedric.
For the first time, Fred looked happy. "Why Cedric Diggory, are you jealous perhaps?"
"I think he is," George agreed. "Which leads me to wonder whom exactly he's jealous of, because he obviously can't be jealous of Fred here."
"Why would Cedric be jealous of Fred?" Onyx asked in genuine innocence.
"Um because?" Harper said, cutting in before either George or Fred or Cedric could say anything. "Who wouldn't be jealous of Fred?"
"The better question is, who would be jealous of him?" George challenged.
"No, I'm pretty sure the better question is, who wouldn't be?"
"I'm pretty sure this is a stupid argument," Cedric grumbled. "May we please talk about something else?"
"Whatever for?" Harper asked. "Are you saying that the Weasley twins don't make for good conversation? You aren't tired of talking about them and hearing them talked about?"
"You know, I really don't appreciate that," George commented. "I feel that it is sarcastic, and I feel like I do not like sarcasm aimed at my direction."
"I feel like she's still not talking to you, mate," Fred informed his twin.
"I feel like I could have deducted that on my own, thanks."
Onyx paused. "Don't you mean deduced?"
Cedric laughed to himself. "You two sure are something else," he mused, shaking his head in amusement.
"I feel a sense of disdain coming from over here this direction," Fred said slowly, motioning his hands over near the general direction of Cedric.
Harper stood up then, saying, "And I feel we should get going before the tension rises anymore, don't you?"
"Agreed," Fred said thankfully, standing up as well. "Lets go home. I've had enough shopping for one day."
Onyx sighed. "Alright. Come on Ced. Have you ever met Mrs. Weasley before?"
Fred and George stopped walking towards the back of the inn and turned to face her. "Meet Mrs. Weasley?" they asked in unison.
"What, is he following us home?" George questioned. "I'm sorry, our mother doesn't allow strays."
Cedric tried to shrug this comment off while Onyx made a face at the twins.
"We're just going to be there for a little to pick up my stuff," she assured them.
This time Harper stopped. "Pick up your stuff?" she asked in confusion.
"Yeah, I'm staying with Cedric tonight," Onyx explained.
All three of her friends stood there, looking at her. She glanced from face to face, confused as to why they seemed so confused. "What?"
None of them seemed to want to speak first. Harper willed one of the twins to say something so that she didn't have to. Finally, George spoke up.
"You're staying with him?" He flashed a grin. "You will be supervised, right?"
"Mostly," Cedric said, checking his watch. "We really ought to get going," he told Onyx.
"It won't take me long to get my things," she assured him. "I didn't bring much." She started walking out to the back of the inn and the others really had no choice but to follow her.
"Why is she staying with him?" Fred muttered to Harper as they made their way to the back alley of the pub to the brick wall that would lead them back to Diagon Alley.
"I have no clue," she whispered back. "She never mentioned it to me before. I think it was just planned."
"Well I don't like it," Fred grumbled.
Harper snorted. "Neither do I. Now I'm stuck with you two all night."
They had made it to the alley, where they found Onyx and Cedric just standing there, waiting.
George smirked. "You don't know how to get in, do you." It wasn't a question. "You're so bloody incapable, Pretty Boy," he complained, walking up to the wall and tapping the appropriate bricks with his wand. They began to move and shake until an opening appeared. They all had to squint in the light of the alley.
"George, when did you learn that?" Fred asked in wonderment.
George shrugged. "Hagrid. I thought it might be useful to know one day."
Onyx and Cedric were already walking down the street, hand in hand.
"How exactly are we getting back to your place?" Harper asked Fred as they followed the love birds. "We can't get back through Floo powder, can we?"
George shook his head, now ignoring the fact that she was ignoring him. He decided that he should just speak as though spoken to, just to see where it got him. "We didn't bring enough to get us back."
Onyx turned around to look at them. "So we can't get back?"
Much to her surprise, Cedric started to laugh.
"What's so funny?" she asked him.
"I can Apparate," he told her. "I can get us back to the Burrow in no time."
Fred stared at him. "So why did we need to come back here? For cover?"
Cedric hesitated. "Um."
George began laughing at him. "He's got the beauty but not the brains," he said under his breath. Harper overheard and had to laugh, even if it was George's joke.
"Oh, you thought that was funny, did you?" he asked her.
She ignored him. "So Ced, how soon can you get us back?"
"Right now, if you really want," he answered.
"Well get on with it Pretty Boy," George said, "wow us with your magical abilities."
"If you are going to be all sarcastic, I am going to leave you behind," Cedric warned.
"You're a charmer," George smarted. "It's a wonder why Onyx fell for you."
Cedric ignored his comment, "for the spell to work, we should all probably be touching in some sort of fashion; holding hands would be the easiest," Cedric instructed.
"I call Onyx," Harper called.
"Why do you get her?" Fred whined.
"She has two hands you know," Harper pointed out.
"The other one belongs to me," Cedric said, grabbing her hand.
"Well, I don't want to hold Pretty Boy's hand," Fred stated indignantly.
"I don't want to hold George's hand," Harper let everyone know.
"Well, I think we should all just stop being childish and hold hands and get out of here. It will only be a few seconds anyway," Cedric somewhat grumbled disgruntled.
Begrudgingly, everyone held hands. Fortunately, Harper weaseled her way in between Fred and Onyx, so she had no contact with George. George on the other hand, was stuck between a rock and a hard place, the rock head known as Cedric, and his brother.
Cedric whipped out his wand and cast the necessary incantation to get them to the Burrow. Within seconds, they were in the Weasley's front yard.
"And here I thought that we were going to end up in a graveyard, or on top of Big Ben, or in Moaning Myrtle's toilet," George let out a sigh of relief, promptly letting go of Cedric's hand and wiping his own off on his pants.
"I do have some skills," Cedric told him coldly.
Fred scoffed. "Shouldn't Onyx have the final word on that?"
Onyx, already almost into the house, looked at him. "How should I know?"
"Just ignore them," Harper advised. "It makes life easier."
They were met in the kitchen by Mrs. Weasley who squealed at the sight of Cedric.
"Cedric Diggory! Whatever are you doing here?" she asked excitedly.
"Um, picking up Onyx," he explained, looking a bit alarmed at the greeting.
Mrs. Weasley paused. "Is she going somewhere?"
"To my house, but only for a few days," he hastened to explain. "I'll have her back by Christmas Eve."
Mrs. Weasley eyed Onyx. "Why was I not informed of this?"
Onyx felt a tad guilty now. "It sort of just happened," she offered lamely. "I will be back, I swear."
"You'd better be. Poor Harper is going to be stuck here all alone with these monsters for company," Mrs. Weasley said, indicating her sons.
"Harper can handle them, I'm sure," Cedric said.
"Well there's no rush for you to get home, is there? Can't you stay for dinner a bit?" Mrs. Weasley implored.
"What?" all five of them asked in identical astonished voices.
"Dinner? You want him to stay for dinner?" George positively squeaked.
"Why not?"
"Because. They need to get going," Fred began. "I'm sure his mother is expecting them."
"And I still need to pack," Onyx added.
"Dinner will be done by the time you're finished." Mrs. Weasley said brightly. "Now run along and hurry up. And don't forget to wash up before we eat." And just like that, it was decided that Cedric was going to eat dinner with them that night.
Begrudgingly, the five of them went up the stairs. Harper had decided to help Onyx pack, which really wasn't much of a chore because like Onyx had said earlier, she hadn't brought much to begin with. So Harper sat on her bed, watching as Cedric helped Onyx gather her things.
Cedric seemed to be coddling Onyx, asking if she needed this, or if she wanted that, and was she sure that she wouldn't need that. Harper watched on with interest as the two of them answered each other as if they were reading lines from a script. After a few minutes of the read through, Onyx had finished and Cedric lead the way back down the stairs. Fred and George met Harper in the hall.
"Is she really staying with him?" Fred asked her quietly, lest Onyx hear him.
"Well she's all packed up now, so I'd say its pretty much a done deal," Harper shrugged.
"Bollocks," George muttered. "There goes our fun."
"Tell your brother that I can still hear him," Harper asked Fred as she began the long descent down the stairs.
Fred turned to George. "She can still hear you."
"Yes, yes, I heard her. Just go downstairs before I push you," George threatened.
Fred obeyed, following close behind Harper. "You do remember that Ginny is here, right?" he asked her.
"Oh right!" Harper's whole demeanor brightened. "So I won't be the only girl after all."
When they got to the foot of the stairs, they saw that Mrs. Weasley had already set the table and that dinner was practically served. Mr. Weasley was home, and sitting at the head of the table, reading the Daily Prophet.
"Hey, Dad," Fred greeted his father. "Did you see that Cedric Diggory is here for dinner?"
Mr. Weasley looked up from the paper. "We're having Cedric Diggory for dinner?" he asked in alarm.
"Oh yes, it's the new delicacy," Cedric laughed, sitting down next to Onyx.
Mr. Weasley blinked at Cedric. "You really are here. Why are you here?"
"Dear!" Mrs. Weasley called out. "Be polite, he's our guest for dinner."
"We're really eating him?" Mr. Weasley asked, sounding more and more alarmed. "Molly, I know times are hard, but we really don't need to resort to cannibalism…"
Fred and George started laughing hysterically at the prospect of eating Cedric, while Molly Weasley smacked her husband on the hand with a spatula.
"You are not being funny," she scolded. "What a way to welcome a guest."
"No its fine, really," Cedric assured her, throwing a dirty look at the twins who were still laughing. Onyx was smiling to herself and was determined not to look at Harper because she knew that they would both start laughing if they caught each other's eye. Mrs. Weasley hastened to serve the actual dinner, stew with homemade bread, before any more talk of eating Cedric could continue.
"Alright, you hooligans," she addressed her family. "Start eating and stop talking."
"But… where's the carving knife?" Fred asked, sounding confused.
"Fred!" his mother yelled.
"I was just asking," he muttered, helping himself to some stew. "It was a perfectly valid question."
"You," Molly said, brandishing the soup ladle in his direction, "are on a talking time out."
"A talking time out?" he repeated in disbelief.
"You're talking," she sang, taking the stew from him and pouring some into Cedric's bowl. "Here you go dear, it's an old family recipe we've had for ages."
"It smells delicious," Cedric told her, taking a bite. "And tastes delicious as well."
Mrs. Weasley beamed. "See how well behaved he is, boys?" she asked her sons.
"That's just because he doesn't want to be eaten," George said. Fred grinned.
"Talking time out for you, too!" their mother scolded. "There will be no dessert if you open your mouth again."
George looked down at his bowl of soup. "Then how am I supposed to eat?"
"George!"
"I'm just asking a question, you said don't open your mouth but I need to open it to eat!"
"Just stop talking, mate," Fred warned.
"Fred!"
"I was telling him to stop!" Fred cried in self defense.
"But you're still talking!" his mother yelled.
"I just want to eat!" George cut in.
It was then that Ginny came down to the kitchen. "What's with all the yelling?" she asked, taking a seat next to her mother.
"Fred and George won't stop talking," Harper summed it up.
"And you're all surprised?" Ginny asked, taking a piece of bread and buttering it.
"I have no clue why I would be," Mrs. Weasley grumbled, sitting down at her seat now that things had cooled down. "They do this all the time."
"Is it nice having the girls here, then?" Cedric asked to change the subject.
"Oh of course it is," Mrs. Weasley bubbled. "It's almost like having more daughters."
"Getting the bathroom is a bloody feat, though," Fred grumbled.
"Speaking of bathrooms, remember the shower incident?" George asked the table.
"George," his mother warned.
But Cedric was curious. "What shower incident?" he asked.
"Oh no," Onyx said. "George, stop it."
"Stop what? Telling him about the time I walked in on you in the shower and you chased me around the house in nothing but a shower curtain?" George asked. His eyes widened. "Oops."
"What?" Cedric's jaw dropped. "A shower curtain?"
Onyx winced. "I didn't do it on purpose," she assured him.
"But you chased him around in a shower curtain?" Cedric was positively aghast. This was quite possibly the most horrific thing he could ever imagine.
"I was angry and wasn't thinking rationally," Onyx offered pathetically.
"But a shower curtain? They saw you running around in a shower curtain?" Cedric glared at Fred and George.
"We didn't see anything, mate," Fred told him. "She was wearing a shower curtain."
"And she was wet. It was rather unsightly," George added.
"Even though I will admit that she looks better when she's wetter," Fred smirked.
That did it. Cedric was far from pacified by any of this as Onyx slowly began sinking in her chair away from view. Never before had she been so embarrassed. And never before had she seen Cedric so angry. He hurriedly scooped the last of his stew into his mouth and stood up, pulling Onyx's arm along with him.
"Well we really ought to be going, my mother will be expecting us soon. Thank you very much for dinner," he thanked Mrs. Weasley. He snatched up Onyx's bag off the floor and led her towards the door.
"Um, bye guys!" Onyx said while she still had a chance as Cedric dragged her out the door.
And just like that, they were gone. Harper stared at the door.
"That was weird," she said bluntly.
"Was it something I said, you think?" George asked.
"Was it something you said?" his mother repeated. "The whole entire thing was your fault! Why did you have to bring up the shower incident? You knew that would upset him!"
George shrugged. "I thought he might find it funny."
"Or horrible!" Ginny corrected. "Did you see how angry he looked? He barely gave Onyx time to say good bye."
Mrs. Weasley eyed the door. "I don't know how much I like that boy," she decided.
Fred and George gave each other a high five. "Yes!"
"Maybe he's going to propose," Ginny suddenly gasped.
"No!" Fred, George, and Harper all cried out at the same time. Harper found herself immediately horrified. Cedric wouldn't do that. Would he? Onyx wouldn't say yes, though. Or would she? She looked at Fred, who seemed equally as horrified.
"You don't think…"he trailed off. "I mean, he did just steal her away from us for who knows how long."
But Mrs. Weasley was quick to qualm their fears. "Oh children, calm down. There is no way in heaven that he is going to propose to her. They haven't been going out that long and they clearly don't have the connection."
Harper looked at Mrs. Weasley. "What connection?"
"You know, the connection." Mrs. Weasley looked at all of the blank faces staring at her. "You don't know what the connection is, do you?" All of the children at the table shook their heads, making Mrs. Weasley sigh audibly. "Don't they teach you anything at that school?"
"Yeah, like how to levitate feathers, and make useless potions," George said sarcastically.
"So what is the connection?" Harper asked, wanting to know.
Mrs. Weasley thought a moment. "Its like what Arthur and I have," she said finally.
"A lot of kids?" Harper asked skeptically.
"No, this happens before the kids," Mrs. Weasley explained.
Fred raised his eyebrows.
"It's a connection that you feel when you first meet," she started. "Well not even then, really, it can pop up any old time, but usually you can just tell."
Ginny looked at Harper, thinking that her mother was bonkers. "What are you talking about?"
"Take Cedric and Onyx, for example. There is no established connection between them. I can sense it. There's an emptiness."
"Yeah, inside his head," George said.
"Do you know what I'm talking about?" Mrs. Weasley asked them.
"Not really," Harper told her.
"Well you will. All in due time, my dears," Mrs. Weasley assured them. "Just don't rush it. And whatever you do, do not make something out of nothing."
George seemed shocked. "Why not? That's my favorite pastime!"
This seemed to fluster Mrs. Weasley. "Oh George, you're hopeless. It's going to be a day indeed when you finally get married, if you ever do."
George waved this off. "Pssh. Like I'm ever going to get married. I'm going to live long and prosper as a bachelor and be better off because of it."
"Well fine," Mrs. Weasley huffed. "At least I still have hope in Fred."
Fred, who had been concentrating on eating and wasn't paying the slightest attention to the conversation, looked up when he heard his name. "What about Fred?"
"She's saying you're hopeless," George told him. "Go back to your food."
"Hopeless? What for?" Fred asked.
"George, stop doing that," Mr. Weasley said wearily, turning back to his paper.
"We were talking about marriage," Mrs. Weasley told Fred.
Fred's eyes widened. "Is somebody getting married?"
"We're betting on you to get married first," Ginny grinned, knowing full well that it wasn't likely to happen.
"Me?" Fred sputtered. "What about Ginny? She has a new boyfriend every week."
Ginny's smile disappeared and was replaced with a look of loathing. "Git."
"We're talking about between you and George, dear," Mrs. Weasley sighed. "George says he's going to be a bachelor for the rest of his life. Therefore it's up to you to provide me some grandchildren."
At this, George, Ginny, and Harper started laughing hysterically as Fred's face reddened.
"Grandchildren?" he squeaked. "What about Bill and Charlie? Why don't you go tell them to pop out the munchkins instead?"
"Because they're so far away," Mrs. Weasley said with a bit of bitterness in her voice. "You, however, will be much closer."
"How do you figure that?" Fred asked, curious despite himself.
"Well because," Mrs. Weasley said as though it were obvious. "I won't let you stray that far."
"Momma's boy," George teased.
Fred made a face at him before answering his mother. "What if I don't want to get married like George?"
Molly did not find this amusing. "Oh, you're getting married, boy."
"That'll be the day," George scoffed.
"It will not! Fred is too good of a catch for anybody to let go," Mrs. Weasley said proudly.
Fred reddened again. "Stop it, Mum."
"Yeah, Mum, you're embarrassing him," George told her. "And all this love talk is making me lose my appetite."
"You've already finished your meal," his mother pointed out.
George looked down at his empty bowl. "Well would you look at that. Okay so let's continue. Who do you think Fred is going to marry?"
"Must we really talk about this?" Fred pleaded. "I'm going to live as a bum in a cardboard box under a bridge. I've already decided."
"No you are not!" Mrs. Weasley practically yelled as the rest of the table laughed. "You are going to get married and you're going to like it!"
"No actually, you're going to hate it," George whispered. "You'll end up with an old, blind hag, I just know it."
"Oh hush," Ginny said, overhearing. "That's who'll be chasing you. Fred's going to end up with somebody far better."
"Like who?" Harper wanted to know.
"Onyx," George coughed into his hand.
"What was that, dear?" Mrs. Weasley asked, absently buttering her bread. She suddenly put down her knife. "What about Harper?"
Harper almost choked on the bit of stew she had just spooned into her mouth. "Me?"
"Yes, you," Mrs. Weasley said. "That wouldn't be so bad, now would it?"
"Well no, except for the fact that Fred is in love with Onyx and Harper likes me," George announced. "Duh."
Harper choked again and Fred's spoon dropped into his bowl in shock.
"Fred is in love with Onyx?" It took a few seconds for this to register for Mrs. Weasley. Her eyes then widened. "Why did you let her leave with Cedric?" she suddenly cried.
"Like we could have stopped her," Ginny said. "I'm fairly certain he had her in a death grip."
Molly ignored this, focusing on Fred. "You two would make a far better couple than she and Cedric do. You have the connection," she said excitedly.
"Oh Mum, enough with the connection nonsense," George said in a bored tone. "It doesn't exist."
"Just because you are too blind to see it doesn't mean it doesn't exist," his mother snapped. "It could be sitting right next to you and you would never know it."
George glanced to his left and to his right, where Fred and Ginny were sitting. "You'd better be wrong, Mum."
Everybody was spared more embarrassment as Mr. Weasley stood up, and declared the conversation over. This was met by much appreciation and Ginny and Harper jumped up to help clear the table and do the dishes. Fred and George, seeing that there was nothing they could do to help without getting in the way, disappeared before their mother called for them to help.
As the girls were doing dishes and helping out Mrs. Weasley, Mrs. Weasley suddenly asked, "does Fred really like Onyx?"
"Isn't it obvious? He's been infatuated with her since the beginning of the year, ever since she had started tutoring them," Harper told her.
Mrs. Weasley was genuinely shocked. "I don't know if I should be happy or upset about this."
"Why would you be upset?" Ginny wondered.
"The only thing that is upsetting is that she is unobtainable since she is seeing Cedric, and that's not a good situation for Fred to be in. Wanting another man's girl has got to be breaking his heart. He's a lot more fragile than he seems; he's far more emotional than the other boys in the family."
"Yeah, it's been kind of hard helping him cope," Harper added, "He didn't really want anyone else to know."
"Well what about George? Who does he like?" Mrs. Weasley pressed.
"Why should I care?" Harper said, drying off the dish that Ginny just handed her.
"Onyx," Ginny answered her mother's question.
"What? He likes her too?" Mrs. Weasley asked sounding rather surprised.
"Almost all the boys at school do. It's something about hot qudditch players that drive them crazy," Ginny explained.
"Oh, I thought he liked you, Harper," Mrs. Weasley informed her.
Harper and Ginny scoffed at her comment.
"Ha ha, yeah sure he does," Harper quipped.
"No really, you two have a connection," Mrs. Weasley observed.
"Enough with the connections mum," Ginny whined.
"Are you doubting the power of the connection?"Mrs. Weasley sounded disappointed in her daughter.
"I'm not doubting it, I'm just saying that you don't need to go on about it."
"I will not have a daughter who doubts the connection!" Mrs. Weasley cried, brandishing her wand.
Harper stepped in to save Ginny. "Well I believe it," she announced. "I just don't think George and I have it."
Mrs. Weasley immediately calmed down. "But of course you do, dear. I've been watching it for awhile now."
"For how long?" Harper asked in spite of herself.
"A few years now," Mrs. Weasley answered airily.
"Mom, we hadn't been hanging out with Harper and Onyx until about two years ago," Ginny pointed out.
Mrs. Weasley waved this off. "That doesn't matter, I could still see it."
Harper and Ginny glanced at each other, sharing a look but saying nothing more. The idea that there was some mythical connection between George and Harper was utterly absurd.