A lot of you asked questions as to why/how/who/what etc (haha) in concerns to the body-wash burn incident. I can only say that I can't get too much into that and answer all your questions just yet, as that is being saved for a pertinent time later and would seriously give away a huge chunk of the plot (ha, plot? What plot?). So…tough luck, hard cheese, wait and keep reading XD Ha, sorry. This chapter is basically a lot of fluffy goodness. Enjoy!
-FireValkyrie
The Misadventures of the Weasley Brothers
by
FireValkyrie
Chapter 48: Necessity begets Obligation
sSs
If George had thought he'd receive a grand homecoming once back inside Gryffindor Tower, he was to be horridly wrong.
Hopping through the portrait hole with a grin and a smile, he had expected greetings all around. But the common room met him with a very different sight:
Dean was tied up with the word 'modest' scrawled across his forehead in what looked to be lipstick, a large bonbon-like thing shoved into his mouth, and Kara was reclining smugly on a chair with her feet up on the large table near him. Lavender Brown was trying to get something purple and gunky out of Parvati's hair in the light from the large window while Lee stood a way's off near the stairs to the boys' dormitories, his hand gingerly touching his eye as he looked at himself in a pocket-mirror with Ginny's name on it. Seamus was writing something down in a ledger at the same table as Kara, his quill busily swishing and catching the attention of Hermione's dozing cat. Angelina Johnson was talking with Katie Bell heatedly about quidditch, and Fred was divvying out coins and taking others still from Gryffindors of all years; no doubt cashing out on the pell-mell common room rows.
As he helped Live through the portrait hole, George was immediately pounced and harangued by Angelina without warning. His eyes were wide at the look of contempt on her face, though her vision was not locked on the Slytherin behind him (whose presence she couldn't have cared about less in their common room) but right somewhere between his nose and his eyebrows.
"George Weasley! Where the bloody hell have you been?! Do you know how much quidditch practice you've missed?! Or that our next match is coming up in less than a week?! I've had that bloody idiot Teddy Logan filling in for you for weeks! He nearly took out Harry with a bludger two days ago! How are we supposed to win against Hufflepuff if our seeker is taken out?! What in the name of Merlin have you been doing all this time?!"
She was standing in front of him with an aggravated look, arms akimbo, brows knit together in supreme agitation. Katie Bell was standing behind her with her arms crossed in emulation, though she didn't have anything to add on the matter. Angelina had it pretty straight. They needed everyone at the top of their game with the way Hufflepuff was playing lately. The other house was proving to be rather competitive, and with George out of the picture for so long and so many missed practices, it would be a hard victory against the other house.
If Live had been facing George, she would have seen the severe look of shock on his face for Angelina's diatribe, not to mention trying to figure out some clever way to answer her. Sometimes he was quite certain the girl was channeling Oliver Wood through some unholy facet. She could work herself into a right foaming frenzy if she thought there was an actual chance they might lose a quidditch match. Regardless of his knowledge (or lack thereof) that Hufflepuff had been training incredibly hard lately, Angelina expected the very best out of her team. And apparently, his absence was no exception.
George's silence prompted Angelina to more ranting, though before she could get out a proper treatment of how George was horridly out of practice and would cost them the match, an agitated voice reached her from behind the blonde Slytherin blocking the portrait hole entrance.
"Oi! What is this?" then to someone else, "…Something's blocking it."
"That something is me!" Live said as she spun around, subsequently causing George to move closer to Angelina (whom he'd been backing away from out of fright). "And quit prodding me in the back Ron!"
She backed out of their way and to the side as Ron (red-faced and a bit confused) hopped out, followed by Harry and the one Angelina had described as a 'bloody idiot' of a beater. The Gryffindor Quidditch team captain's attention was immediately on the one bringing up the rear.
"Theodore, you're back to reserve beater," she said sharply with pointed finger. Said boy scoffed with indignation, and gave George a dirty look. Angelina also gave George a dirty, pointed look. Teddy Logan really was a horrid beater. "That is, he'll be reserve only if you've gotten so horrid it would embarrass the Gryffindor team far more than we already are."
George gave her a look of anxious concern, actually wondering if he might be too out of practice, and Teddy, the 'reserve' beater, gave her quite a dirty look as he had just been called the embarrassment of the team.
"Well, she's got a point, mate," Ron told the Gryffindor giving their captain dirty looks. Harry, wisely, kept his mouth shut, as Ron's comment only garnered him Angelina's fire.
"And you, Ron Weasley! We've got less than a week to get your keeping abilities in line! Last practice was absolutely horrid! What the bloody hell happened to my team?!" she ranted, honestly wondering why things were falling apart.
Katie decided that was more than enough lecturing for the day, and suggested they go down to dinner early and get a cup of tea while planning the next practice. Much of her steam let off, Angelina agreed and the pair left the common room filled with half the Gryffindor quidditch team and many scalded ears.
"What in the bloody hell did you do to piss her off?" Ron asked his older brother without so much as a greeting.
"Not that it takes much to set her off lately," Harry added, giving the closed portrait hole a distasteful look. He looked back at the elder Weasley in greeting. "Hey George."
"I wouldn't worry about it, she always gets this way before a game," Kara said nonchalantly from her reclining position. She gave George a smirk. "Though your absence certainly hasn't helped her nerves with the match coming up. She's more amplified than I've ever seen her. Hi, Live."
Live snorted in response to her little sister's glib tongue, and wrapped a hand around George's arm. It brought him back to earth, and he grinned at the room at large. "Is this the kind of welcome I get on the homecoming? Disgraceful, people. Disgraceful." He shook his head as if utterly disappointed.
Teddy Logan snorted at George and cursed under his breath as he ascended the stairs to his dormitory. George rolled his eyes at his shoddy replacement, his attention being brought to Dean who was making agitated noises from behind the dessert being used as a gag in his mouth. Kara prodded him with her foot and a "shush!" as she went back to smiling at the pair. Lee, having decided he wouldn't be able to properly heal his eye unless he was standing in front of a larger mirror, decided to greet his friend, though Fred grabbed the other boy around the neck with a grin and a bag full of jingling coins.
"We made a killing off Kara," he announced as Lee tried to shunt him off his person. Fred only grinned and gave his twin a smirk. "And what the bollocks have you been doing to further our business venture? Other than bringing damnation to the quidditch team." He grinned at George. "Off playing house?"
"Sod off," George grinned, though he knew Fred was jibbing him for not being fully informed of his twin's plans where Live was concerned. Said witch was blushing furiously behind George, and beginning to feel a bit uncomfortable standing in their common room as if all eyes were on her (though Kara's certainly were, smiling a huge toothy grin).
"Where's my share?" Kara asked expectantly of Fred and his jingling coins. Without so much as a bother he tossed her a smaller bag from within the larger one. She grinned, surprised he actually had something for her, and decided to jump up and add the money to the secret Jarvey-fund under her mattress in her dorm. Dean squirmed and murmured for help as she left, but no one paid him much mind.
George watched Kara leave with a grin at how she had somehow managed to train his mirror-image, and gave the room at large a disdainful look. "Isn't anyone going to congratulate us?"
If the room had been quiet before, it was nothing compared to now. All eyes in the common room were focused on the pair with surprise and expectance. Seamus was the first to break the curious silence.
"So…Death Eaters didn't take you?"
"Oh sod off," George brushed off his rather insipid question. Then the real curious inquiries started pouring in from the other common room occupants.
"What happened to you?"
"Where have you been?"
"Did you two really get married?!"
"We heard you got married."
"They were searching for you George! Did you know?"
"I heard you two were abducted, then went into hiding! Is it true?"
"Oh! Did you elope?!"
"Oooh! It must be true! Look at the ring on her finger!"
"Merlin! No way!"
"Is that a wedding ring?!"
In about ten seconds, Live had over ten girls swarming her, each wanting to see the ring on her finger and the evidence that she and George had actually tied the knot when they had disappeared from Hogwarts. They shunted George aside to make more room (Harry and Ron had quickly fled in sensing the stampede), much to his agitated cries and scowls as they gushed over the beauty of the ring, turning her hand this way and that as the dragon-scale caught the light and the colors played in the gleaming band.
George was standing off to the side between Lee and Fred with his arms folded across his chest, a disbelieving frown on his face as he looked at the group of Gryffindors surrounding his Slytherin fiancée. The three of them held similar expressions of disbelief upon their faces.
"There's something we'll never see again."
"What?" Lee asked Fred as they watched the group with curiosity.
"Gryffindors about a Slytherin without vengeance on their mind. I'm personally at a loss of what to do."
"Maybe we should take a picture?" Lee suggested with a grin. "Where's Creevey when you need him?"
"Kelena stole him hours ago."
"Oh. What's she up to?"
"Something about Hermione and the House Elves."
"Never mind. I don't want to know."
They watched the girls still gushing over Live's ring and how lucky she was, and to please tell them what the wedding was like, what did she wear, and where was it, and would she be staying in Gryffindor Tower with George now or would he be living in the Slytherin dorms?
"They are positively frightening," Kara remarked as she came to stand behind the three boys, safe from the fray. She was one of the few girls who hadn't pounced her sister in wanting to see the ring, aside from Parvati and Lavender, the former wanting to see it but being held back by the latter.
"I seem to remember you and Ginny doing much the same thing not very long ago," George told the fifth year blonde. Fred snickered. The way Ginny and Kara carried on, you'd think it was them getting married.
She merely grinned up at him, the three boys towering far over her but still less intimidating than the ooh-ing and aw-ing girls surrounding her Slytherin sister. "Perhaps," Kara admitted with a grin. "Though Live looks near a claustrophobia attack if I've ever seen it," she added with an amused smirk.
Live, for her part, was trying to deal with and answer the questions the girls were posing to her at lightning speed, as well as feeling incredibly uncomfortable with their close inspection of her hand and therefore getting a good look at her scarring. Though she didn't think they paid it much attention (or were too polite to say anything, or also too occupied with the beautiful engagement band) she was getting severely uncomfortable with their closeness. Claustrophobia was about two seconds from causing her to break shrieking from the group and go hide somewhere in a tree outside.
"Ladies, ladies, please," George announced as if trying to keep a bargain-sale civil.
"Don't bruise the merchandise!" Fred added with a grin, trying to clear Live a path from the ecstatic little Gryffindor gathering. He got many pouting looks in response, making him grin.
"To answer your questions: we're only engaged, we haven't been married yet, and we've been on wedding-location scouting trips while we've been gone from school," George announced to the girls that still pestered Live for answers. "Nothing too smart or crazy, despite what rumors have said. Just boring, wedding-planning types of things. Actually quite dull." There were several who didn't want to believe that they'd spent their time so normally (though still romantically in their minds) and made disappointed noises at his easy answering of their ponderings. Others yet still weren't accepting of such a lackluster answer, especially from one of the twins.
"Remember, we're still on the market," Lee declared with a grin to them. Though with his eye still puffy from Kara's bruising, he was looking anything but promising to the gaggle that wished they could have at least half such a romantic story under their belts.
"Bollocks," one of the girls remarked as if Lee's idea was ludicrous.
Lee looked utterly offended, taken from his task of clearing the lot out. "Oi, who said that?"
"She's got a beautiful ring," another voice stated dolefully as if that alone had sealed the deal, and that Lee would have to offer more.
Lee frowned, though Fred thought it was hysterically funny. "Oi, we're as good as you bints can get, I'd snatch us up right quick!" he joked, earning several dirty looks and tongues stuck out in disdain. Though after being stuck with Kelena for what he'd deemed far too long, Fred was none too quick to be thinking about marriage.
Live saw her chance and darted through the little gathering straight into George's arms, closing her eyes a moment and swearing off the creeping feelings of enclosed-panic rising up her spine as she inhaled his clean, familiar scent. George was grinning and lightly snickering, due in part to the fact that Lee was now in an argument with several girls over why he was such a catch and that they should consider themselves lucky to have a go at him.
George grinned down at the blonde head on his chest, and leaned back causing her to raise her face to look at him. "Nearly eaten alive by the mob?"
She huffed, half amused by his statement, half rather puzzled. "I'm not sure if I'd rather have them admiring me or after me."
He smirked, happy at least that she had been so thusly well-received. He kissed the top of her head and she smiled at him, a little frazzled, but otherwise completely fine.
"Oi, George, tell this bint why I'm such a catch!" Lee cajoled as a sixth year with short brown pigtails and a disbelieving look starred at him without conviction.
"He's never needed an engorging potion," George immediately shot back with a laugh and waggling of his brows. Though he had been joking, Lee was downright serious and went back to the girl with conviction in his voice and a righteous finger waggling at her for George's statement about his…endeavors. Her eyes were wide as she looked at Lee, not really hearing his diatribe anymore, but wondering and thinking as her eyes slowly drifted to crotch-level.
"George, that's positively obscene," Live smirked in saying, also giggling.
"I have no need of them either," he added with a grin, waggling his eyebrows lasciviously at her. She laughed loudly, utterly amused.
"I know," she said, giggling.
A gagging sound came to their ears, and George looked over his shoulder to see Kara miming gagging herself on the couch, and even going so far as to pull a puff of candy fluff out of her bag and stick it in her ears.
"You're going to be digging fluff out of your ears for weeks," Seamus remarked as he grabbed his own papers out of her path. But she didn't hear him, and happily sat on the couch as if at peace. He gave his attention to George. "So you've really just been out scouting places?"
"Yep," George said with a grin and an impish look in his eye.
"I don't believe it," Seamus said without acceptance. "Why was everyone looking for you then?"
"Simply because we acted without anyone's knowledge," George only half-lied. "You heard that Howler mum sent me about marriage before. How else were we supposed to come up with an engagement? Had to act fast."
Seamus looked wholly unconvinced. "Bollocks."
George rolled his eyes at the fifth year. "Alright mate, I guess I can trust you with the truth." Seamus looked wholly intrigued, if not privileged, though George was grinning impishly. "First I'll start off on how the first person we decided to tell was Snape…"
Live started laughing horrendously, and Seamus scoffed, searching Live's face momentarily to see if she would corroborate George's story, or if, as he suspected, George was making fun of him. She was only grinning, laughs dying away, and anyway, he didn't know her well enough to be able to tell if it was the truth or not. Face red, he decided George was making fun of him. "Oh sod you both. I don't even care anymore."
Live giggled and prodded George for poking fun at Seamus (even if it was the truth), when the voice of a little redhead broke through her snickering.
"Live!" Ginny's voice greeted happily moments before she made it down the stairs. She was holding Henry the Pygmy Puff lovingly between her hands, his purple fur clashing horridly with her orange sweater. Live immediately perked up and held out her hands for the little creature. Ginny deposited it and gave her older brother a look. "When can I have one, George?"
"Well Ginny dear," Fred spoke up from behind, butting in, "We'll let you have first pick before they go on the market for a paltry sum of, oh, I'd say a galleon, three sickels." She let out a snort of indignation. "Whaddya think, George m'boy?"
"You're really selling them for a galleon?" Live asked with a slight frown.
"No no," Fred informed with a smile, "That's Ginny's little fee to get at the stock before everyone else."
"I'm your little sister!" Ginny declared as if making a vital point.
"You're also our only sister, and it's still a galleon to get a sneaky advantage over everyone else," Fred said in purely business-like tone. "We're trying to run a business here!" She gave him a very dirty look and proceeded to go right back up the stairs with purpose.
"Oi, they're not up there!" George called after her.
"Yes they are," Fred said aside to his brother, wondering if Lee could possibly announce any louder to the common room about his "wonderful traits" and "grand stature".
"Yeah, but she doesn't know that," George pointed out with a grin. Fred snickered and decided Lee had been shooting his mouth off long enough to ensure they'd both still be dateless by the time the winter ball came around. He tried to shut him up to no avail (though the girls were giving the bruised-eye seventh year serious consideration for a few well-endowed reasons).
"George, you'll let her have a first pick, right?" Live asked expectantly as she stroked the soft fur of her humming puff. "She took good care of Henry."
"Well, me and Fred haven't exactly had a chance to talk of how we'll be going about this business…" he said leadingly. She frowned at him and he grinned. "But I suppose, for you, we can make an exception."
Live laughed. "You already promised them they could have first pick. Kara will hold you to that at least," she said with a look at her addlepated sister, candy fuzz sticking out from her head.
George sighed as if a great injustice was being done to him. "Oh, what I wouldn't do for you," he said as if the idea were tiring. He then smirked and grabbed her close. "Or do to you." Followed by a rather full grasp of her bum, Live's eyebrows rose in expectant surprise, and she blinked a few times as mental examples popped into her mind, exciting and enticing. He grinned further. "Now, let's drop the kid off with the babysitter and get down to business."
Live was giggling at the things such a statement could possibly entail as he tried to pawn off the purple puff to Fred, who was trying to keep Lee quiet now that the other boy had the apt attention of the girl he'd been trying to convince of his 'stature'. Though his volume and convictions hadn't decreased now that she was listening.
"Kara?"
The blonde was blissfully unaware of her surroundings as the candy fuzz in her ears was successfully blocking out sound. She hummed to herself with closed eyes.
"Dean?"
He got muffled noises in response, but instead of untying Dean, who would have been more than grateful to watch the little fluff ball in return, George looked about at a loss. Though he got several rabid offers from the girls about the room to watch the adorable little creature (some even offering to do his homework just to play with it a while) George wasn't going to leave it with just anyone.
"I guess we'll just have to reenlist Ginny. Probably have to promise her her own, though."
"Better her than them, the way they were pawing my hand," Live remarked with a smirk at the disappointed girls in the room. "He'd be furless by the time we got him back."
George looked ponderous. "I don't think I've ever seen a hairless Pygmy Puff. Don't think they'd sell too big."
"They have cats like that," Live informed. "Hypoallergenic."
His nose wrinkled at the idea of a bald cat. But if he'd known what Kara had properly done to Malfoy not too long ago, he might have been rather amused by the idea of a bald ferret.
"Let's get to my room," he whispered to her in a tone that made a delicious shiver slither up her back.
"Can I play with that puffskein for a while?" one of the third years asked as they climbed the stairs.
"You'll be able to buy your own soon enough!" George promised the now-smiling girl. She grinned and informed her friends that there were more of the miniature puffskeins to be had. George turned to Live and gave her a confident smile. "Not even back a day and you're already the envy of the entire school, not to mention we're going to make an arse-load of money off these puffs. I think my work is properly done." Live giggled and embraced him, sealing her lips properly against his in what little privacy the stairwell provided.
"So, like, ugh, gross, Parvati. What is going on here? Do we just allow Slytherins in here now? What happened to being selective?" Lavender's voice floated up to them from down in the common room, annoyed and sounding even disgusted. Her voice even carried over Lee's, who was arguing with Fred about stealing his thunder and ruining his chances with the women.
"Well, they are going to get married, Lavender," Parvati's voice pointed out.
"And poor George, we all know how they are," Lavender continued. "I just hope he doesn't get dragon pox down there. She's probably crawling with it."
Live's whole body bristled with sudden anger at such vile disregard for her person, and she was pushing Henry into George's hands even as her own went for her wand. "Oh I'm going to murder her…" He grabbed her around the waist with one hand, holding Henry in the other, though he knew she'd be more than justified in attacking Lavender for her comment. He only wondered if perhaps he should be the one to defend her honor and curse the bint mindless, or let Live take out her own brand of swift justice. But his interference in Lavender's demise was unnecessary as voices came to her defense.
"Shut your gob, Lavender!" a female voice demanded.
"Yeah, quit being so bitchy all the time," another female voice remarked. "Just because you're not as pretty as she is."
"Or smart," someone else said with snickers.
"You're just jealous that Malfoy wouldn't let you be his mistress, and we all know how dirty he is."
Someone else laughed with amusement. "That's gotta hurt your ego, we know. Rejected by a Slytherin."
Lavender's sputtering was heard as she tried to get the words out. "I told you! Someone set me up! I-I hate him!"
"Sure, Lavender. Just quit projecting onto others, alright?" someone else said cajolingly, as if piteous yet understanding. "I mean, it's rather pathetic. And you were the one caught snogging his boxers. You shouldn't be speaking of others."
"N-No! I wasn't!" she declared shakily. "Th-they're Slytherins! You're supposed to be with me! Slytherins!!"
"OW SEAMUS! Quit poking me!!" Kara's voice declared loudly over all the ruckus in the room, her ears still plugged with candy fluff and having heard none of the wicked things Lavender had said. Her renewed presence must have had a rather profound impact upon the room, because it went quiet (except for Lee and Fred who were now rolling on the floor attacking each other without any sense of what was going on around them) and Lavender was urging Parvati to quickly leave with her.
George loosened his hold on Live as she went a bit slack, not fighting him as much to get free, but burying her anger and saving it for another time. She more or less leaned against him with finality, her blood still simmering. He rubbed her arm. "I guess Kara's going to take care of it, now. Lavender will get hers. Gryffindor style." He grinned at her.
Live nodded, and stuck her wand back in her pocket so she could take Henry from George's proffered hand. She stroked the fur as he started humming again back safely in her palm, and held it safely to her body as she tried to calm herself down and plan wicked vengeance upon the little bint. George gave her a winning smile and kissed her lips to try and make her perk up. "Oi, Live, don't listen to her rubbish. No doubt she'll be swimming in fish heads come curfew." At least, if he had anything to say about it, she would be.
"I know," she said with annoyed acceptance.
George still smiled at her. "Looks like you've made a few friends," he suggested with an uplifting tone. Live gave him a frown. "I don't know many Gryffindors that'd turn on their own house for a Slytherin they barely know. Let alone the prettiest one."
She half-smiled, shrugging as if it wasn't that great of an accomplishment (after all, Lavender had been more than out of line for anyone to listen to) but George wasn't going to let Live dwell on it.
"Shall I give you a sensual massage?" he asked with a playful tone, hating to see her upset. She sniffed with minor amusement at his words. "Or perhaps a sensual bath?"
"Just because you put 'sensual' in front of everything does not make it sensual," she affirmed with a smirk, grateful for his attempts as she pet the little creature in her hands. "I've told you that a million times."
He raised a brow at her. "I think that's a challenge I am more than prepared to rise to, though it requires you in my bed with a whole lot less clothing and a lot less talk." She smiled. "Actually, it requires no clothing. The fact that you are standing here dressed at all is an offense to my very existence. Let's go remedy this problem."
"George," she warned with a smile. He grinned, not put-off.
"Want to put Dung-Bombs in Lavender's stuff? I've even got some skunk-mortars left over, and some experimental stuff that we haven't even tested on ourselves yet."
Live's smile widened. Now there was an idea that would make her feel better, and thus in the mood to really feel better, George-style. "I want to put it in her shower stuff, too," she said with a truly wicked tone. The idea of Lavender soaping up with essence of skunk really brought a smile to her face. She had to credit the horrid idea to the occurrence she herself had gone through.
A laugh escaped him, and he kissed her hard on the lips, taking her nearly completely off guard and sending a rivet of sudden desire through her. She sighed as his lips left hers, and he hefted her into his arms without any complaint on her part. "Hold on to Henry." The humming little puff was completely oblivious as to what was happening, and with a few quick jaunts they were up the stairs and planning all-out war on his bed (in very little clothing) to Lavender's defenseless belongings.
sSs
"Keep a close watch, make sure nothing has been secured that is outside our interests. We can't be too sure of the rumors we've heard. This information is very valuable to our master."
"I understand the wishes of our lord, Lucius. I only wonder why you think it is you to be the one to dictate them to me."
Lucius Malfoy scoffed. "Only that my son has been telling me very interesting tales…" Snape eyed him dangerously. Lucius looked bothered as with wounded pride. "Such as, how is it that all Draco's hair has fallen out? And what has been done to bring him retribution? Have you been going soft, Severus?"
"You know my rules, Lucius. If your idiot son cannot take care of childish rows which he himself starts, then they are certainly no concern of mine. Unless you would have me waste my time monitoring your boy's stupidity, I should like to focus my full attention on the wishes and desires of the Dark Lord."
"Hmph," the blond man sniffed, as if his pride had indeed been impugned by his idiot son's uselessness. "Well, I trust you'll point him in the right direction?"
"If there is indeed a right direction for your offspring, I am more than certain he can find it himself."
Lucius didn't know whether to be worried or honored. He settled on arrogance. "Well. Have a pleasant evening, then. Inform us of any changes or alterations to the plan."
"You as well. And do try to keep your visits to a minimum, Lucius. You're beginning to raise a suspicious eye."
"Hmph. One would think you didn't appreciate my visits," he said with an amused smile.
"Only that you take up an exceeding amount of my time that could be better placed towards the will of the Dark lord," Snape said importantly. "As if enough of my time isn't already wasted on the idiot children of this facility."
Lucius smiled. "Good man," he commended as if not put-off. He nodded to the potions master as he took his leave with an acknowledging smirk. "Severus."
sSs
"I hate this color," Kara said with a twisted look at a brown shirt. "It's so…plain."
"Well anything would look plain next to all that neon-crap you're always wearing under your robes," Kelena commented as she picked through the fifth year's laundry for her own pilfered clothing. So far her arms were filled with stockings and undershirts that had been missing for weeks.
Kara scoffed at the sixth year. "You're one to talk about style," she said rather snobbishly. "You look more and more librarianish every day. And that sweater has smeared food on it, by the way." She wrinkled her nose at a rather discriminating stain upon Kelena's person. "Just what in the world were you and Hermione doing with the House Elves, anyway?"
"Nothing," Kelena said rather snarkily, Kara having touched upon a nerve.
"Or with Colin Creevey for that matter?" the fifth year added with a raised brow and a disturbed look. "You do know he's way too young for you?"
"Oh, shut your trap."
Kara looked a bit more disturbed as her mind progressed. "…Not to mention that's illegal."
"Just stop."
Kara suddenly looked rather horrified. "And I'm pretty sure you'd be violating a lot of laws and sinning against nature if you brought the House Elves into it."
"That is wrong on so many levels, Kara. Really."
Kara looked rather thoughtful, ponderous even, as she sat on the end of her bed musing. "Though I suppose, they would be grateful…They're such helpful little buggers, got to get their jollies some way."
Kelena stopped what she was doing. "That's it. If I have a single nightmare, I'm coming into your dorm tonight and I won't be responsible for anything I do to you."
Kara grimaced at the sixth year witch as if she tasted something sour in her mouth. "Save it for the House Elves, Kel. I'm not into that." Kelena looked about to bust something in an apoplectic fit. "Man, whatever you are doing with the House Elves, I don't ever want to see a single picture or hear any details." She hopped off her bed and gave Kelena a disturbed look as she left the room. "And I'm officially taking you off the Sexpert Guild Board and putting you under strict observation until you get this oddball stuff out of your system. I don't think it's good for the guild to be polluted with that kind of stuff." If ever Kelena looked close to having a heart attack, now seemed about perfect. "I've got to go see a man about some rootbeer."
Kelena felt something inside snap as the younger girl closed the door. Left alone with the thoughts Kara had implanted, Kel knew there would be no sleeping for her tonight. She would definitely tell Hermione that she wouldn't be volunteering for her little project any more.
sSs
"Ohh, they're such sweet little things," Live said as she petted with the Pygmy Puffs all warm and snuggled in a little box between the beds in George's dormitory. She was squatted down on the floor in her socks and very short shorts, wearing one of his school shirts, haphazardly buttoned, as she pet each puff in turn with a soft smile and utter contentment.
George was watching her with utter pleasure, her long hair pulled up into a messy bun as blonde tendrils hung down her face. He could see the hot pink of her bra beneath the bleached white of his shirt, and the tops of her breasts peeking out from behind the buttons she'd left undone. She'd missed a few others running down her body, and the shirt was endearingly skewed on her form as she lavished affection on the little creatures humming softly in the box. Her cooing and smiles at the miniature puffskeins made him want to smother her in kisses and ask her to marry him all over again.
"What?" she asked with a smile, looking up at him as she scratched a green puff, causing it to hum.
He gave her his attention (or the thinking part that had been preoccupied with loving her) and grinned, standing from his seat on his trunk to come and pull her off the floor. She smiled as she was brought up into his arms, giving him an odd look, and wondered if perhaps the last hour had addled his brains a bit.
He smiled at her and wrapped his arms around her. "I just love you so much." She grinned, never getting tired of hearing that. "I want to marry you as soon as possible."
She looked a bit surprised, but smirked with pleasure at his declaration. "You know, I don't think married people do the kinds of things we do, and I can tell you that they especially don't do the kinds of things I do to you," she told him with an enticing, bragging grin. "That's all me, baby!"
His eyes glazed over a bit at the rather raunchy memory, somewhat dazzled by the idea that they still had a long way to go in the fine art of bedroom yoga. Her giggles at his look brought him back to earth, and he gave her an almost desperate look. "I just want you as my wife. Officially. No one telling us otherwise. I love you so much I want to be as bound to you as physically possible."
Her face was overcome with emotion at his words, her being filled with far too much love for one person to carry. His eyes were large and expressive as he looked at her, and she felt her heart bleeding with love for him too big for her to comprehend. "Oh, George, I love you." He smiled at her, and she met his lips, then hugged herself close to his chest. She looked up at him with earnestness, studying his eyes, loving his eyes. "George, I don't ever want to have to worry about that stupid damn prophecy, or whatever these images in my mind are, or any of that nonsense. I just want you. I always want to be with you."
He had an indeterminate expression on his face, and held her back close to him. "Live, I've told you I don't care about any of that. It's all rubbish. We're all that matters. Forget all that other rubbish. Don't even think about it. Keep it from your mind."
"But…George," she started, a note of worry in her voice as she clung to his chest. "…I-I keep seeing bodies, and today…When I blacked out, it all changed. I saw everyone…everyone that was dead. And the man was gone, and that woman...And then there's still all this stuff about the prophecy and…" She had to stop, because she was getting choked up talking and thinking about it.
She knew.
She had an niggling feeling that she was starting to understand whatever was being shown to her, and she didn't like the connections that she was making. None of her conclusions spelt out a happy ever after for her and George. She wanted her mind rid of these images, and wanted that prophecy out of her life.
"Live, don't cry," George soothed as he held her close, rubbing little circles into her back and placing kisses on the top of her head. "Just don't think about it. We won't live around prophecies and the odd vision every now and then. We won't let it run our lives. I won't let it run you."
"…George. It said that…If we wanted children someday…"
"Bollocks," George stated, holding her close. "You think I'm gonna let some prophecy decide our family?" She smiled up at him through teary eyes at his talk of their family. Their family. He wanted to make a family with her. And prophecies and crazy images and whatnot didn't factor in to his vision of their future together. "Honestly Live…I mean, how long are you willing to wait off on getting started on our ten kids? We're not that young."
She started laughing at his playful tone, trying to cheer her up and doing a wonderful job at it. "You're ridiculous," she scoffed through wet eyes with a smile.
He kissed both her cheeks and rubbed his fingers up her back. He looked down at her seriously, his voice sincere and true. "I know how badly you want kids someday, Live. I won't ever let some stupid prophecy get in the way of that dream. I'll do everything in my power to make sure you get a load of kids." He smiled at her quite seriously, but lightly waggled his brows at her, mischievously implying that he would personally be seeing to making her in the motherly way some day.
Her brows came together as she looked at him with intense feeling. "Anything," she barely said.
"Hm?"
"I'd do anything for you. I will do anything for you," she said with extreme impulsion, her heart powering her words.
He almost didn't comprehend her words. He was lost in them, lost in her eyes, and lost in the moment. He couldn't think properly as he looked at her. All he knew was that he needed to kiss her, needed to hold her close and love her. And he was kissing her, passionately and without restraint, pouring his love for her into his kiss, holding her close, loving her unlike anything else he ever felt. She returned his kiss with just as much fire, just as much love. She felt such utter contentment and completion as he held her and kissed her, that she felt she could have happily died right then and there with no complaint.
"Oi, hope your pants are on, we're comin' in!" Fred announced as he and Lee came in through the door sporting minor bruises and large grins.
As if a spell on the room had been broken, Live and George were released from their bewitchment of each other. George fixed his twin with the most wicked glare he could muster, and Live crossed her arms at them, breathing a bit heavily, but otherwise a frightful sight to behold even in George's haphazard shirt and her pink booty shorts.
"Um, hey Live, nice pants," Lee remarked with a slight grin. He realized, not just from the state the pair were in, but from the relative waves one could feel in the room, that he and Fred had interrupted something very important. And possibly naughty.
Live rolled her eyes at Lee, then turned back around to face George without any other acknowledgement of the boys. She put her hands on his forearms, looking at him intensely, though the same moment could not be recaptured.
"George, marry me tonight," Live asked.
He blinked in surprise, but wholly pleased. "Tonight?" he confirmed with tone of excitement. She nodded, and he grinned as widely as possible with ecstasy. "Let's ask Dumbledore to do it after dinner."
Live couldn't help herself, but she immediately started crying again from emotional overload of happiness. He hugged her, raining kisses down upon her as she cried, and Lee and Fred were looking at them as if the pair were a bit mad, jaws slack in disbelief.
"You're getting married tonight?!" Fred exclaimed with minor agitation and extreme mystification, dropping the bag in his hand.
"I haven't got anything to wear!" Lee declared rather seriously, suddenly just as agitated as Fred.
George was kissing Live, dragging her up his body into his arms so that her feet barely reached the floor. He had tears of happiness in his own eyes, completely caught up in her as he looked into her shining green orbs. "I can't wait," George started, loving her so much. "Let's do it before dinner."
Live's tears of happiness started even worse, and Fred promptly fainted at his twin's bravado. Lee was in a state of near panic, completely at a loss of what to do or what to say. He immediately began healing the bruises on his and Fred's faces as he was sure it would be unbecoming for groomsmen.
George set Live back down and wiped her cheeks with the heels of both palms, looking at her with shining love. "Better get something to wear, darling." She grinned at him, almost laughing through her tears as he picked at his shirt on her. "Don't want to get married in my bloody shirtsleeves!"
He kissed her once more as she grinned and laughed and cried, grabbing her robes and throwing them over herself, then coming back to George and jumping back to his warm embrace, kissing him again all over. It took over six tries before she was able to get far enough that she got herself out of the dorm and made a beeline for the Slytherin dormitories, knowing the exact dress she wanted to be married in that was still back safe in the dungeons. He'd meet her outside the dorms (or inside, if he remembered the password through his euphoria) in time enough, and then they would go straight away to Dumbledore's office and ask him to marry them on the spot.
Unfortunately, their plans were to be halted by the very man they sought for binding.
sSs
"Personally, I don't think there is an uglier color," Kara declared on her way to dinner as she walked with some friends.
"Oi, isn't that your sister?" a Ravenclaw at her side remarked.
Kara cocked her head to the side in seeing her sister run past them, a blur, though a definite haphazard blur, of blonde hair and odd laughter.
"Was she wearing bed slippers?" the same girl remarked. "Where were her shoes?"
Kara's gaping mouth was their only answer as she took off after her sister, following not without trouble as Live could really move fast when she wanted to. It wasn't until they'd come to the Slytherin dormitory entrance that Kara was able to get out as much of a squeak to announce her wheezing presence to her sister.
"What--" gasp, "--the--" huff, "--bloody 'ell--" gulp, "--are you--?"
"I'm getting married Kara!" Live squealed, the statement causing fresh tears to spring to her eyes.
Kara looked cross as her sister grabbed her shoulders as if touch would somehow better impart the news. The Gryffindor thought her sister might be suffering a severe brain lapse of some sort at the moment. The state she was in was testament enough. "--I--" pant, "--know that!" She'd already seen the ring. Half the school knew Live and George were gonna get married.
"Right now," Live elaborated with no less enthusiasm. It caused Kara to inhale a much necessary breath.
"WHAT?!"
Live said the password enthusiastically to the common room wall and entered in her beslippered, rather unflattering appearance, her Gryffindor sister trailing her without even the least bit regard for what any Slytherin might have to say on the matter.
"What the bloody hell do you mean 'right now'?!"
Agitated, bewildered voices followed the girls from the common room as Kara trailed Live right into her dorm. The Slytherin witch didn't even bother shutting the door. She didn't plan to stay long enough that it would be of any matter.
Casting spells like a madwoman, Live utilized all the power at her control to put herself together. The makeup in her drawers went perfectly into place on her face as if the result of hours of preparation, sponges and brushes doing their work with expert precision. Her hair snaked its way about her head into little ringlets and curls, styling itself without the touch of human hands. Live was digging through her belongings, looking for the perfect dress, as Kara still tried to catch her breath and somehow grasp what the hell was going on as Live's inanimate objects sprang to life and made themselves ready at her disposal.
She caught a few Slytherin faces poking their heads in the door, two girls in Kara's year, and a seventh year who seemed so bewilderedly interested that she didn't question the obvious Gryffindor presence in their most hallowed of chambers. But Live didn't care. She was about to be married!
"Live! Would you bloody explain what the hell you're doing?!" Kara demanded, even her quick mind at a loss.
"We're getting married. Now," Live said with such feeling it struck her sister rather close to the heart. "We can't wait. We just decided…Now."
The seventh year Slytherin who'd poked her head in decided to come on in for further perplexed study, taking a seat next to the fifth year Gryffindor sitting for sake of her nerves on Live's bed.
"Has she gone bonkers?" the older girl seriously asked, looking at the sixth year with a bit more than concern. Sometimes crazy people were more dangerous than sane geniuses.
"I think she's getting married…" Kara answered with perplexment as articles of clothing went flying at Live's insistent search through trunks and chests.
"Hasn't that been what everyone's been saying?" the girl asked for clarification. She watched the other Slytherin in a flurry of activity. "But, right this second?"
"Maybe?" Kara said with disbelief, still trying to understand how this came about, and beginning to wonder where the hell she herself was going to get a bridesmaid's dress. "Live, slow the hell down! Where is George?"
"He's coming for me now," she spouted as she pulled a strapless gown from her trunk. It was shorter than most full-length events, greener than her eyes, and rather simple for a wedding dress. That is, it was until Live was done transfiguring and adding things to it. She grinned at her finished work, and slipped into the open bathroom. The two fifth years at the door watched as clothing was flung from inside the bathroom to land unceremoniously upon the dorm room floor. They were far too wary to come in uninvited.
"She's gone nuts," one of them said, still too spooked to come in. "I've never seen anyone this frenzied."
"Is she going to be alright?" the seventh year asked as they watched her fling George's white shirt out the door and pull the green dress over her body. She started laughing after a moment of some sort of realization, and stepped out of the bathroom holding the dress to herself.
"Oi, Live, what the bollocks are you on about?" Kara spouted at her Slytherin sister.
"Oh Kara, please zip me up!" Live requested, her mind on one thing and one thing only: George.
"My god she's officially lost it," Kara muttered, looking at her sister and wondering what caused her to snap.
"Kara please, I can't get this."
"You've done everything else!" Kara declared acrimoniously , a bit mad herself at this crazy turn of events. Live's makeup was beautiful, her hair perfect, her burn scars barely visible due to the zealous makeup sponge that had been dabbing at her with a mind of its own, and the dress itself was a dream of green with white lace and sparkly stuff that kept Kara's eyes busy. She was a true vision of loveliness. What the bollocks did she need her help for?! "And where the bollocks is your wand at?!"
Live only grinned at her little Gryffindor sister, shrugging, as she must've left her wand somewhere in George's room. She was so concerned about getting married to him that she hadn't even realized she'd been utilizing her magic completely without a wand. She laughed out loud at the idea, a bit amazed at herself at what she'd accomplished, though she considered it a small marvel in comparison to the fact that in a few short minutes, she and George would be man and wife.
All four girls, Slytherin and Gryffindor alike, thought the sixth year to be absolutely stark raving mad.
"Live, are you alright?" the seventh year asked as the sixth year still pressed at them to zip her dress. Kara obliged with absentminded volition. "Maybe you should lie down a moment and think about this."
"Yeah, you're crazy!" Kara added from behind. "I'm not ready for you to get married!!"
Live only laughed at her with mirth and smiled. From inside a little jewelry box, she took out her favorite silver-set tear-shaped emerald pendent and added the necklace to her ensemble. She then grabbed a pair of her shoes under the bed and asked Kara to borrow her wand. She quickly transfigured them into high green pumps and slipped her feet into them with a smile. She returned her sister's wand and gathered up her dress with a wide smile, giving herself a once-over before walking right past the two fifth years at the door (who parted like the red sea) and out of the common room itself.
"Is…Is she coming back?" Kara asked as she gaped at the open door where the other girls still stood. They heard some whistling and catcalls from the Slytherin common room, and then all was silent.
"I think she just left…" the seventh year remarked with wide, confused eyes.
"Maybe she really is getting married?" one of the fifth years piped up.
"But…But I haven't got anything to wear!!" Kara declared. She then realized she hadn't had the foresight to ask where Live suddenly planned to get married, or when exactly, or who even knew about it for that matter. And what about guests? "Oh dammit!! Live waaaaaaait!" Kara called out as she left the bedroom and the three Slytherins behind.
"There sure is a lot of strangeness surrounding those girls," the seventh year remarked with still addled mind. The fifth years agreed, then snuck out to try and find this supposed wedding, and see thereof.
sSs
As George and Live stood alone outside the entrance to Dumbledore's study, they were all grins and full of energy. Utter excitement filled them, and they were ecstatic about officially becoming man and wife.
George looked smashing in the best dress robes she'd ever seen, or perhaps they looked so magnificent just because it was him wearing them. His hair was as wonderful and unruly as ever, everything in place but for the odd little tweaks in his personal dress style, and for the way he wore it like he invented the look. Live thought she must be delusional or dreaming. He looked so marvelously handsome that it was unreal that she would be married to him. That he would be her husband. How did she become so utterly lucky? If he kept smiling at her the way he was, she thought she might come fully undone.
And he was equally drooling over Live. He'd never thought she had ever looked more beautiful and shining with happiness than she did right at that moment. She was so beautiful, standing like a vision next to him. He was almost scared that if he said anything, he might wake up and find out that it was all a magnificent dream. There was nothing in the world that he could have wanted more than for her to become his wife, truly and forever and always his.
She smiled widely at him as a thrill of excitement went through her for the millionth time that hour. He gave her hand a squeeze and grinned back at her excitedly.
"Shall we then?" he asked with a wide grin. She grinned widely back at him and nodded, unable to speak lest she break into a series of excited, incomprehensive giggles and noises. He spoke the password Dumbledore had given them earlier in order to meet with him, though this meeting was for a far different reason than discussing Live's state of being, and of different timing than they had agreed on. She took his arm and gave him an involuntary squeeze, butterflies in her stomach as they stepped onto the moving platform and were taken to Dumbledore's study. They rapped on the door, and were quickly met with an opening answer.
"I- George? Live? What are you doing here? And so spiffed up?" Tonks asked as she looked at both students with wide eyes, leaning out the door with surprise.
"Can we see Professor Dumbledore?" Live asked excitedly, grinning widely into the bewildered Metamorphmagus's eyes.
"Immediately," George added, grinning just as widely at the pink-haired witch.
"Well sure," she told them with perplexment. "But…why?" she asked as to their whole dressy appearances.
George gave her a wide smile, utterly pleased to share the news with yet another person. "We want to get married."
"Right now," Live told her ecstatically.
Whether involuntary or because she was a Metamorphmagus, Tonks eyes seemed to nearly bug out of her head. "Right now? Here?"
"Please, can we see him?" Live pressed with a great grin at George, giving him a squeeze.
"Um, I, yeah, okay," Tonks allowed, opening the door to let them in as she dealt with her mild bewilderment.
George grinned down at Live and lead her into the Headmaster's office as Tonks closed the door behind them. He was surprised to see that there was more than just the Metamorphmagus herself inside the office, and it wasn't exactly George's favorite person in the world. But then, even the dour head of Slytherin himself couldn't put the mildest damper upon George's mood.
"Mr. Weasley, Miss Hunter," Dumbledore greeted from behind his desk. "I am pleased for your visit, if not a bit surprised for the timing. What can I do for you?" He didn't comment on their formal attire, or the fact that they looked so obviously splendid. It didn't take a mind reader to figure out what they wanted.
"We want to get married. Right now," George told him excitedly.
Dumbledore looked at them with the usual kind smile upon his face, and Tonks looked perplexed, if not excited. Snape was surprisingly silent on the matter, though he had a particularly vexed look upon his face.
A few moments of silence passed, in which Live became a bit edgy, and George grasped her in his own sudden uneasiness.
Live decided to speak up, the silence too much to bear. "We were hoping you would marry us," she broached. "We didn't want to put it off any longer." Though they hadn't exactly been putting it off at all.
Snape frowned and got up from his seat, and Tonks looked at the men with a bit of concern.
Dumbledore sighed, steepling his hands on his desk, and it immediately brought a pang of apprehension through the pair standing before the old wizard.
"I'm afraid that this is a request I cannot grant at the moment," Dumbledore spoke up. Live frowned with sudden worry. But George wasn't going to be silent.
"But sir--"
"It cannot be done," Snape suddenly spoke up. "Things are currently too complicated as is."
George fixed him with a dirty look, knowing Snape was probably the last person on earth to wish them happily married. He was about to express as much, when Tonks spoke up.
"It's just…It would be a bit inconvenient," she posed, trying to tell them without giving too much away. "And it might not be the best idea at this moment."
"It is far too dangerous right now," Snape interjected, looking at the pair with apprehensive concern.
Live's mouth was open, ready to object to their statements, though she was still trying to find the right words.
"How are you, my dear?" Dumbledore asked her health.
"Um, I'm fine. Madam Pomfrey says I'm fine," Live reported, still trying to find the perfect words to dissuade their arguments and convince Dumbledore to marry them at once.
"And your magic?"
"Normal," she told him, getting a bit agitated as she felt he was skirting the issue of them wanting to get married. The sudden thought of preparing for their marriage popped into her head, and she corrected herself. "Actually, I mean, my magic hasn't been blowing things up or anything yet--" she chanced a glance at her Head of House, as it had been his potions that were responsible for keeping her in check, "--but I was just able to throw all this together without my wand." She motioned to her person as if it were blatantly obvious that her state of being couldn't have been produced without the use of magic. She looked too good for it to have been produced by human hands alone.
Dumbledore nodded, a pleased expression on his face. "You are learning to feel and control your magic as the sorcerers do. You are progressing at a wonderful rate, my dear."
She snorted. "I can't do it anymore…As soon as I realized I hadn't been using a wand, I couldn't do it anymore."
The sage old wizard inclined his head thoughtfully, though not disappointed. It wasn't as if she was going to learn all the secrets to wandless magic in a few short days. "Still, it is progress, and I believe you are gaining better control of yourself at a more primal level."
Live exhaled through her nose, accepting that maybe she'd tapped into something once, but she wasn't sure as to being in more control of her magic. Anyways, that wasn't the issue she was interested in at the present moment. "Sir, about us getting--"
"And what about the vision?" Dumbledore inquired, beating her to the quick.
Live took notice of George's grip on her, firm and supportive. She was grateful for it, as well as more than aware that he was just as agitated as she was where the matter of them getting married was concerned. "It's changed, sir. It's not the same. I don't know why," she offered truthfully, not liking where the conversation was going, and in no mood to continue this line of questioning.
"Why won't you marry us?" George spoke up rather irreverently, a frown on his face.
"Show some respect, Weasley," Snape spat at the insolent Gryffindor.
"It is alright, Severus," Dumbledore spoke up. He regarded George with as kindly a look as ever, and offered both students chairs. They declined, preferring to stand and get answers quickly. Dumbledore sighed, knowing it would be a difficult matter for them to understand, as well as to get them to go along with the idea that marriage right now would not suit them. He gave the frowning young man before him his attention, and tried to put things into perspective for them. "There are dark matters on the rise, Mr. Weasley. It would not be wise to marry you today, now, as it would bring down undue attention and danger upon the both of you. As you well know of the prophecy--"
Live made an agitated little noise, too loud for it to be dismissed though that was not her intention, and Dumbledore politely gave her his attention, asking her to speak with his gaze.
"Professor Dumbledore, can I speak freely?" Live asked, her agitation rising, though in no mood to equally agitate the one who could marry them, nor her Head of House, who could make life more than difficult for them if he thought she was being rude.
"Please," Dumbledore permitted with a nod of his head.
"I have absolutely no intention of paying anymore heed to this asinine prophecy. I am so sick of it all. I don't bloody care anymore. It's ruining my life! And I won't have any part in it anymore! I won't," she told him obstinately, as if he alone could grant her immunity to the prophecy's dictates. Unfortunately, no one had that power.
She sighed, having gotten what she needed to off her chest and make her feelings known. At least Dumbledore was aware that she had no intention of giving regard to the prophecy any longer. George held her to him, letting her draw off his strength. He knew how much the prophecy plagued her, and all she wanted was a normal life with him. It wasn't fair.
"Hm," Dumbledore said with a nod of acknowledgment. "I know, my dear, I know. The problem is, others are not as unconcerned as you about the prophecy."
"They're really taking it to heart," Tonks added with a pensively worried look. "It's why we had to spirit you away before. Same reason Lucius Malfoy wanted to kidnap you first chance he had."
George frowned, not sure if he'd exactly heard all the details of this story. Live herself recalled Tonks shifting into a perfect copy of herself the day she'd been taken to The Burrow. The day Malfoy senior had tried to command her to the castle gates at midnight.
"On that note, you are to stay away from that man by any means necessary," Snape spoke seriously, eyeing Live with a look and tone that commanded her utter obedience on the matter. The aggravating aristocrat had been making more and more unnecessary trips to Hogwarts in the 'interest of the board of governors' lately. It was in her best interest to be out of sight and hidden away whenever the idiot might get it into his head to 'visit'. "Is that understood, Miss Hunter?"
Live nodded, definitely not needing to be told twice, and gave him a very worried look indeed.
"What's he want with Live?" George inquired bad-temperedly, his grasp tightening on her in subconscious protection.
Dumbledore gave the young couple his sympathetic gaze and solidly informed them. "Since the announcement of the prophecy, and in such a public place, there have been many groups trying to decipher the meaning of the prophecy, and of whom it could possibly pertain to." George recalled their trip through the pensieve, and of the party that Trelawney had been so drunk at. "And as knowledge has a way of getting around, the news of you being a multiforme, Miss Hunter, reached the wrong people. And not just Death Eaters. And they have drawn many of the same conclusions that we have in accordance to the prophecy."
Live looked at George with worry, the emotion out of place on her beautifully done face. It made George angry and worried and suspicious of everyone. And it only got better.
"I am afraid, my dear, that Voldemort and his followers are of the consensus that joining you with one of their own will ensure the ugly future which He has planned. It is no secret to them that you are what is considered half-blood, and the prophecy predicts that destruction will come in snakeskin and pureblood. They are convinced, therefore, that joining you, a Slytherin, with one of their purebloods, might produce a means to an end. It is no secret how destructive that group is. They have taken the prophecy as a good omen towards their cause."
"Wait, so, what are you saying?" Live asked for horrid clarification, her mind refusing to connect the dots. George himself was speechless, his mind slowing and speeding up as thoughts hit him and ideas most horrid went through his mind.
Dumbledore looked at the young, shaken blonde before him, choosing to speak blatantly and honestly. They were treading very grave waters here, and she needed to fully understand the seriousness of it all, and his reasons therein. "There is a distinct possibility that He is interested in the idea of siring an heir of sorts from you, in order to achieve his means to an end. Most likely through one of his followers."
The color drained from her face. She looked ready to faint, or even better, vomit.
"I think I'll take that chair now…" she said looking truly sickened even beneath all her makeup. George grabbed one of the comfortable chairs Dumbledore always had laying around and put it behind her where she plopped into it, sickened. Tonks went to crouch by her side, gripping her thigh with her hand as if to offer some sort of comfort. It was thankfully consoling.
"Well, why can't we just get married and get rid of all their idiotic ideas?" George posed with righteous upset. "They wouldn't still be interested in her if I was to marry her. The sooner the better, then." His tone implied what everyone was already thinking, the words he hadn't said far louder than those spoken. If George married her, took all the rights of the marriage bed, wouldn't then they leave her alone and therefore quash the stupid prophecy?
Live let loose a little half-crazed laugh as the idea of "students screwing for a better tomorrow" popped into her head.
Such talk didn't usually bother her all that much. She and George had often talked about when, where, or how they would eventually end up taking the final physical plunge. It wasn't so much a matter of if as it was of when. Such things were open with them. They could talk about being sensual with one another in private. They were close enough that it wasn't a problem or a horrifically embarrassing subject. It was just like the elder Slytherin girls taught the younger, incoming ones who were innocent as to the wiles and ways of their house: If you can't talk about sex with whoever you're about to shag, then you're not mature enough to be having it.
It wasn't like Live and George hadn't tried before, or hadn't been very close to doing it. They were just either too worried, too nervous, too tired, or too highly strung for it to have taken place as of yet. There was always some reason that caused them to putting it off a bit longer. They were waiting, but on what, they themselves couldn't necessarily say. Though with the way current plans had been going, they jokingly decided to wait until marriage (which wouldn't have been very long at all). So yes, talk of them expressing their love for one another physically didn't bother her at all. It was talking about them expressing their love physically in front of Dumbledore that bothered her. And then in front of her Head of House. Not to mention that Voldemort was thrown into the mix and wanted to breed something wicked from her.
"I'm afraid it's not as simple as all that," Dumbledore told George with a thinking frown. "The Death Eaters are convinced of their master's beliefs. They have already openly attacked the castle gates once in trying to take the pseudo-Miss Hunter." Tonks gave the real Miss Hunter a comforting squeeze. "If they thought her chastity or fertility was seriously in jeopardy, and therefore their future amiss, they would surely not hesitate to try and take her immediately from the grounds."
Live was smirking into her hands, the idea so ludicrous that she actually found it quite funny. That a bunch of Death Eaters, not to mention Voldemort himself, had nothing better to do than wonder about her virginity only went to prove that evil was becoming lazier and more asinine by the day.
"How do they know I'm still a virgin?" Live spouted blatantly, looking up with such demand that she wasn't even embarrassed by her own question. "I could have given it up years ago."
Dumbledore regarded her with as much respect and clinical study as he could to her open inquiry. Tonks was trying not to snicker at her obvious lack of tact, while George's own face was red, though curious himself as to just how the buggers could keep tabs on such a thing. No one dared a look to see how Snape felt about her rather intimate postulation.
"In sticking to a plan to keep you as safe as possible from any threat which might present itself, I am also under the belief that such semantics would not matter to Voldemort nor his followers. The prophecy, the end result, is a child. It is said that the child itself will assure the fate of the father, and that destruction will thusly take its course. Whatever fate Voldemort has planned for himself, I do not think he will care much about any past indiscretions. It is of the future, and of a first-born child, that he is concerned. As you currently have no other children, he would see the prophecy as being wide-open for fulfillment." Live looked sick again at his words, and buried her face back in her hands. "It is for this reason that I cannot marry you as of yet," Dumbledore continued. "Such horrid things would happen if they were to get their hands on you, or be provoked to desperation. I wish to keep you as low to the ground on this as possible until we can defuse the situation."
"But-," George started, looking quite unaccepting of the whole bloody business. "But who's to say that would happen? Maybe if we're married proper, people will leave us alone."
"It's not as simple as that," Tonks spoke softly to George, a sympathetic look on her face. "People never leave well enough alone. They've been after Harry for more than a decade, George. Imagine how long they'd be after you two," she finished sadly.
George snorted. "Only until our first child was born," he said rather smartly. He grinned, feeling a bit better, his humor coming back. "I just gotta knock her up, and they'll get off our backs!" Considering, of course, that any children that the two of them might have wouldn't turn out to be some cause of destruction. But in any case, it was a far more desirable plan than any that involved allowing Voldemort to get his hands on her. He gave a smirk and a waggle of his brows in Live's direction, no longer deterred by any reason not to marry her. She was snickering despite the somber mood and present company. George was always good at diffusing horrid situations.
"Now is not the time for jokes, Weasley!" Snape spat quite seriously.
"Who's joking?" George spat right back, a sneering look to match the one Snape was giving him. George looked away and back pleadingly to Dumbledore. He thought he'd made quite a good point. But it also crossed his mind that Dumbledore didn't want to risk that it was a child of George and Live's that the prophecy was referring to, and that the plan of the Death Eaters was just another seemingly obvious option. Either way, it didn't matter to George. All he knew was that he and Live would be married, one way or another. "Please, Professor, we want to get married. And we want you to marry us," he said determinedly.
Live looked up in agreement as Dumbledore regarded her pensively. "I told you, sir, I'm through with this prophecy business. It doesn't mean I'll turn a blind eye and a deaf ear to the goings on, but I'm not going to let the inferences of others run my life. I've already got things in my head I can't get rid of, and I'd like some happiness in my life. We want to get married," she said the word happily, a bright smile on her face as she pushed all other bad thoughts away from her. The thought of marrying George could immediately brighten any cloudy attitude. "As in forever. All the nonsense of others doesn't matter. Only the now matters. And in any case, if it did turn out that they knew we were married, we could just go into hiding until we've had a few kids."
George grinned at her and clasped her hand in his own. She stood from the chair, certain their conversation was more than over. Dumbledore had all the cards in his hand. Now he only needed to decide what to do with them.
Snape sighed heavily, his hand to the bridge of his nose in actual frustration at how lightly they seemed to be taking it and at how simply they thought they could end things. Tonks, too, seemed a bit on edge at the idea, mind going to how much Sirius couldn't stand to be locked up in hiding. And she knew Live and George's personalities wouldn't allow for them to keep themselves away from the world for long. And anyway, they were far to young to be thinking about settling down with children of their own already. The situation wasn't fair for them to begin with, forcing their hands.
"I appreciate your love," Dumbledore told her warmly. "It will not corrupt. But I cannot, in vowing to protect the students of this school, marry you two. It will have to wait until it is safer."
Live sighed, a bit annoyed, though it was exactly what she'd expected. "Alright," she agreed. "I guess…is there anything else?"
"Unless you would like to discuss any other matters," Dumbledore offered kindly. She shook her head, and he smiled at her warmly. "Alright then. Off you go."
George laced their fingers as they took their leave of the Headmaster's office. Though neither of them were in very dour spirits. A welcoming thought still lingered between them: well, if Dumbledore wouldn't marry them, then it didn't matter as he wasn't the only one capable of performing the ceremony.
"And one more request," Dumbledore added as George was closing the door. The Gryffindor poked his head back in, Live doing much the same, and looked at the ancient wizard. "I must ask for you two to please remain on the castle grounds." George gave Dumbledore a wide-eyed look as if he had suddenly read his mind. "There will be a time for such joyous occasions. Just, give it a bit more time. I promise it is not forever."
George and Live gave each other wistful looks, but agreed to the old wizard's request. He smiled at them as they left, their spirits a bit down, but still high nevertheless. Standing outside the door on the platform, they looked at one another without a backup plan.
"So much for finding a preacher in Hogsmeade," Live said with minor disappointment.
"All spiffed up and nowhere to go," George stated, entwining his fingers with hers as he regarded her with looks of love. Live sighed, but smiled up at him. They could save all these horrid developments for later. They still had each other in the meantime. He grinned and kissed her cheek. "Want to get sloshed?"
She giggled and nodded, and decked out in all their finery, they set out to drink Gryffindor Tower dry.
sSs
With all intention of making Gryffindor Tower more dry than a desert, Live and George proceeded to the common room in rather good moods, uplifted at the thought that there was a nice bottle of fire whiskey stashed somewhere in his dorm, and that several of the other residents of the tower had a certain penchant for drink-- of which they would pilfer, of course.
What was surprising to find therein, however, was that everyone was dressed in their finest, standing around with anxious, patient looks, though they looked heartily relieved to finally see Live and George once again.
Kelena was messing with Hermione's hair as Seamus and Dean were making chess figures duel each other out of boredom. Harry and Ron were talking with Lee and Fred while Ginny and Kara kept prodding at the boys for attention and information, Neville shifting uneasily in his dress shoes as Kara kept pressing him to back them up.
All those in the common room were obviously waiting for the couple, some dressed up nice with foreknowledge of what was going on, and others still in school robes too anxious to go and change in case news was given. Obviously, they all wanted to go to this post-haste wedding, but no one knew much about it, or where it was going to be. George himself had ducked out quickly when he'd gone, leaving his passed out twin and frantic dorm mate behind in order to collect Live. Now, though, they all looked at the couple expectantly, as if waiting for orders and instructions.
"Um…" George started, a bit at a loss of what to tell the large and unexpected gathering.
"Live! What in the hell?!" Kara spouted without reserve as she came towards her in what Live recognized to be one of her missing dresses. Kara'd done a bit of transfiguring, and there was no mistaking the girl's own colorful influence on the piece. "Where the hell did you disappear to?! You know everyone's been waiting?!" She came up to stand nearly right under her older sister's nose, and looked up with a grin. "So, where's the wedding?"
Everyone listened with bated breath for the spot, some pausing on the stairs to go and relay the location to others.
"Dumbledore wouldn't marry us," George said. Everyone looked a bit confused, if not shocked.
"Well why would he? I don't think you're his type, George," Fred announced to his twin as Lee grinned. There were a few giggles and snickers at that. Live herself smirked.
"Wait," Kara said, wanting some corroboration to her current train of thought. "Are you telling me you two were going to get married without any of us?!"
"We're supposed to be your bridesmaids!" Ginny spouted with horror that their chance had almost been nullified.
"And what about the best man?" Lee posed to George. The fiery-haired young man grinned at his friend in answer.
"You can't just get married without telling anyone!" Kara declared adamantly.
"Well, you knew," Live told her little sister. That didn't cut it for Kara.
"But I didn't know you'd flounced right up to Dumbledore's office! Why get married there of all places? I mean, I know he has a lot of cool stuff, but an office?"
"Oh, that doesn't even matter anymore," the blonde Slytherin pointed out, cheeks a bit flushed at the thought of wanting to have married George so badly it didn't even matter where it was or who was there. "He said it wasn't the right time for him to marry us, or something," Live elaborated, though she kept details to herself.
"So? Let's take this wedding party into Hogsmeade," Lee suggested. "There's bound to be someone there who could marry you."
Lee's idea was met with a lot of excited chatter. Some girls left to change their shoes, and the younger years began to ask if they could go, too (though the entire outing would be breaking school rules altogether as it wasn't a Hogsmeade day, and night was something else entirely, so really, their approval was of no consequence).
"He also asked us not to leave the school grounds," Live added to Lee, quashing his idea. The seventh year looked shocked that Dumbledore would be so against it.
"None of that matters," Fred posed with a grin as he looked at his brother and the girl he wanted to marry. He gave the room at large a self-important grin. "I happen to be an ordained minister."
His announcement was received with much laughter and grins, and he stood with hands on hips in a sort of proud stance, grinning like he thought he was some kind of Super Pope. He grabbed the scarf hanging off Lee's neck and put it around his own, making a few minor adjustments to his person (though not many, really) until he decided he somehow resembled a holy man (which Fred was actually the furthest thing from). He stood on the bottom steps of the stairs with his hands steppeled in front of his chest and eyes closed as if in solemn peace. People were laughing and shoving George and Live towards him, giggling and snickering as they prepared for an impromptu wedding.
"Now," Fred started, looking heavenward for some sort of enlightenment. In his spiritual search, he realized there were rather a lot of cobwebs high up in the ceiling corners that the tiny House elves must have missed. He gave his attention back to his twin and the Slytherin now standing in front of him with grins and snickering, having been zealously shoved by the common room inhabitants to the impromptu altar. "I would like to officially commend this misfit pair to the holy-- Oi, I'm trying to have a ceremony here," Fred pointed out to some students trying to slip past him down the stairs. There were laughs and snickers as someone flipped Fred off and he returned the favor, then went back to George and Live with a smirk.
"As I was saying…This idiot pair, whom Merlin himself wouldn't want a piece of, because, as we all know, they're both complete nutters--"
"Oi!" George spouted. Live giggled, grasping George's arm a bit tighter with laughter.
"--and not to mention, disgustingly in love--"
"You're just jealous," George told his brother with a smirk.
"--and I think this would also be a good time to mention that George still owes me five sickels--"
"Would you shut up already?" George told him through a grin. Live was no help at all. She kept laughing at Fred's 'ceremonial speech'.
"--and also that I think we're really going to crush Hufflepuff in the next match, so place your bets now--"
"What's that got to do with them?" someone pointed out to much laughter.
Fred gave a look of disbelief that they were questioning his method of marrying others. "While we're giving things up to the Almighty, I don't think it would hurt to mention quidditch." Several people laughed while others still threw jibes at him to get on with the ceremony as they, to much giggling, had places to go and people to see. He gave them all a grand one-finger salute and continued with his diatribe.
"So, anyways…" Fred paused with a menacing look at the crowd. It didn't help that everyone snickered and laughed. "Alright, let's get it over with then." He gave George a look, then a grin, bringing himself up to his full height, really towering over everyone as he stood on the stone step. "Do you, George, beater for the Gryffindor Quidditch team, my own twin brother, second best-looking man in this room--" there were a lot of laughs at that, "--partial owner of Weasley Wizard Wheezes- where, by the way, we've been developing a lot of new stuff that you can all get your hands on this week--"
"Hey, advertise at your own wedding!" Live chided through laughter.
Fred smirked and cleared his throat as the common room was anything but the definition of peace and quiet. "Anyways, George, true lionheart of Gryffindor…Do you take Live, Slytherin himself re-embodied and gender-reassigned--"
"Fred I will kick your ass," Live promised through giggles.
"--pretty, pretty Live," he said with a grin to placate her, "who excels so much better than yourself in potions," he said to George with a grin, "Or any Gryffindor for that matter, except maybe Hermione, but then," he said, looking back at Live as if banally discussing the weather, "you're not half as anal as she is about things--"
"Shut up Fred!" Hermione said from the back between Ron and Harry. Ron's face was red as he was trying to stifle his laughter. Ginny was nodding in agreement and giving Harry sly, flirtatious looks from where she was standing.
"As I was saying…George, do you take Live as your unofficial partner in crime, to prank and to pervert--" Live blushed horridly as George laughed and pulled her close against his side, Kara's gagging resounding in the background, "--though in ways of which I hope none of us will ever have to find out--" there were a lot of laughs and catcalls while others wolf whistled, "For ever and ever and even after you're officially sick of one another?"
"As if," Live said of Fred's prognosis.
George laughed and tightened his grip on Live in love. "I certainly do," he told his twin, and then winked at Live. Many more wolf whistles followed that, and Live shot half-hearted glares about the room of Gryffindors with a smirk.
"And do you, Live, realize what you're getting into with this sorry sod--"
"Don't make me smack ya, mate," George told his brother with a grin.
Fred looked scandalized, both at George's threat, and for being interrupted for the hundredth time. "You wouldn't hit a man of the cloth?!"
"No, just a stupid sod," George promised as several people laughed and questioned in what ways Fred found himself particularly holy.
"Sod off, I'm trying to commit a ceremony here, people!" Fred declared. He looked back at Live with another smirk. "Anyways, do you, Live Hunter, already related to one Gryffindor-" Kara smirked toothily in self-importance, "-who's more trouble than she's worth-"
"Hey!"
Fred grinned at Kara, who made a rather sour face at him. He winked at her, and then gave his attention back to George and Live, the former clearing his throat for his brother's attention. "Well, to make a long story short, do you take this sod, to be glued to your side, through pranking and perversion and practical joking," Fred paused a moment, feigning tears as he brought a hand to his forehead dramatically, "This lionheart among men, a true Gryffindor's Gryffindor--"
"Oh get on with it, Fred!" declared Ginny from the back. Fred removed his hand from his face and gave her a smarmy look the polar opposite of his 'truly touched' expression.
"I'll deal with you later," Fred told his little sister in threat. He cleared his throat and finally did get on with it, a bit more casually. "Oi Live, you take this brother of mine for your unofficial pranking associate, to keep in line and in love until you realize the true horror you've gotten yourself into?"
George brandished a fist at his twin as Live laughed and declared that she would, for ever and for ever.
Fred looked pleased and clasped his hands together. "Okay. Let's exchange some jewelry. George, put that ring back on her finger," Fred instructed for his twin to take it off and then put it back on. George grinned as he removed the shining band from Live's finger, only to put it back on. Live panicked a moment as she realized rather stupidly that she hadn't been at all prepared, and had no ring for him.
"Oh shit. George, lemme see your wand?" Live asked as she held out her hand with a bit of an idea.
"Oi, save that for the honeymoon!" Lee called out. Fred himself was laughing horrendously, and Kara prodded him on his 'altar' to shut the hell up.
Live yanked the pendant off the chain hanging around her neck, and used George's borrowed wand to turn the silver-set emerald stone into a silver band with the stone leveled around it like green liquid. She held the silver chain between her fingers as she slipped the ornate band onto George's finger. He was grinning widely, utterly, utterly pleased, and took the silver chain from her fingers and put it back around her neck, making a mental note to get her a new one as he knew it was her favorite. Fred sniffed with approval, and grinned at the both of them.
"Well then, I now pronounce you nutter and nutter. You may now kiss--" he paused for dramatic effect as all waited with smiles and bated breath, and then he grinned, "--my arse."
Everyone was laughing and clapping horrendously, even as George flipped off his twin and brought Live into his arms only to dip her in cliché, then seal his lips over hers. The catcalls that filled the room only got worse as Live had both of her hands on the back of his head pulling his lips further closer to her own. Wolf whistling ensued heavily as everyone cheered and told them to get a room ("Oi shut up! We share that room! I don't want to see any of that!" Lee declared) and the common room burst into happy well-wishing.
Live grinned at George when their lips finally parted, considering Fred's impromptu ceremony just as good as any that Dumbledore might have done (even if it wasn't at all legal or anything). George was grinning back at her, of much the same conclusion and happiness, the joy in the room contagious and spreading happily. They grinned and snickered to each other, and George brought her back up to stand as she hugged herself to his chest, and he held her close against him.
Like some unholy maitre d', Kara (enlisting Neville's carrying service) produced some very alcoholic brews that she'd been experimenting with (she swore that anyone who drank it would be seeing faeries for three days) and started doling out shot glasses and butterbeer flagons to the 'wedding guests'. Butterbeer and alcohol was flowing like honey, and Fred lit off some of their fireworks, releasing a few out the windows into the evening that spelt out over and over in fiery letters "Congratulations!" and for some reason, "Come grab elation!"
"I think that one is expired," Fred said in inspecting his own work whizzing about the darkening sky.
"Or you just royally messed up again," Kara informed as she handed him a bottle of his own. "What about that accidental mix up with the bubbles and the explosives? I don't think it's safe for someone like you to mess with explosive pranking items. Leave that stuff to George. At least he's still in potions."
"Hey, I take the joke business very seriously," Fred contended proudly.
"Doesn't that defeat the purpose of jokery?" Kara pointed out with a daft look. He gave her a wry glance, then grinned and popped open his bottle.
To say everyone was hung-over the next day was an understatement. That entire week students were milling about with dazed expressions and severe headaches. Many others chased after faeries that were not there.
Once again, Kara made a killing in sales.
sSs
Sooooo…anyone catch my little Bill and Ted joke:D heh heh. If the name of the crappy Gryffindor beater seemed familiar to you, well hee hee, it was totally on purpose. Anywho, make it interesting for me. It helps me to write and get inspired if I think you guys are really enjoying this (cuz, well, if you weren't, I'd just say 'fuck it' and take another few months off of writing) XD.
As always, my mailing list is open and up and available.
And also, because I'm poor, and I like to expose myself (haha) and my works, I have a lot of neat stuff up for sale in my e-bay (link in bio) all very inexpensive and totally affordable. I've got Jack Sparrow tattoos, dark mark tattoos (again), more Hogwarts house banners coming soon, "Save a broom, Ride a Quidditch Player" T-shirts (only one is up right now :D), jack sparrow soap (imagine washing yourself with that every day, hawt), pirates nail decals, slytherin-crest underwear, among other things! All supa' cheap! All bran-spanking new! And I do a bunch of custom-stuff too :D (again, check my bio for links!!)
….So support me and paying off my debtors, yes? I like being able to use my legs. Spread the word if you know someone who'd like this stuff…Please?
To my loverlies, those who own my writing soul:
Scarlet Faerie: HAHAHA always first to review! Lol I love it. Tee hee, oh no, Live and George know what the naughty potions look like…Haha. But Live herself, well, being blonde, it takes a minute to sink in XD Haha:D Oh dear. The things I myself have mistakenly walked in to XD Conversation-wise, hahaha! Woot. Hee hee. Well let me say that the vision changing once back at Hogwarts is very pertinent to the plot. It's a bit of a road sign where the prophecy is concerned o.O She didn't have a fainting spell for any sort of physical reason as opposed to the fact that the sudden changing of the vision coinciding with their return to Hogwarts is what brought it on. Like, say, a warning o.O Dun-dun-dun:D And Melinda Harris did indeed poison Live's body wash, and someone got back at Melinda via her potion exploding in potions class. But I won't be revealing who did that for a little while longer ;) heh heh. WOOT! Yes I adore your reviews! I love hearing your thoughts :D They really do get me writing :D
Chineseretard92: Heh heh, yes, Viv and Becca are quite dirty-minded enough, though Live being a scatterbrained sort of girl wouldn't quite pick up what they're on about XD haha…even though her mind spends an equal amount of time in the gutter…;) Fred's cool, getting drunk, pulling pranks, sneaking about, all that good stuff. Haha!! Much the same to how I've been doing…tee hee. Now we can get back to the rest of 'em now that we're back at Hogwarts :D Good times there…and prankity fun!
Redheadlover: hee hee, yes, what was Melinda's motivation? (other than the fact that she seems to be quite a snobby little bint) And who was responsible for getting her back for hurting Live? Ooooh…a plot twist! Haha :D I'll be saving that info for a later time, I am afraid…Kind of pertinent to plot-ness ;) heh heh
Dckveg: Woot! My film classes (mainly screenwriting stuff) is actually helping me a lot with my writing :D haha. And let me tell you, being eaten by something when you can't stop it by yourself is not fun. Terrifying. I have ear-trauma in a way that I still have trouble getting to sleep at night because of it, and I get really panicky if anyone touches my ears now O.O Ha, it sucks. It really does suck. Ugh. Haha thankies and I'll try to keep things up :D
Nomanslandvicki: Thankies!! Hee hee. I'll be getting more into all those crazy questions laters. I've got that saved up for a big plot reveal. Not sure when I'll get to it, but it will all be addressed :D hee hee. I think this must be one of my far-sooner updates than normal :D haha. Less than three weeks and another update! Haha. And an extra-long chapter of fluffy fun too :D I hope it tides you over until I get around to updating again:D Luuuuuvs!!
Karma-k2: You should be pleasantly drowning in fluff yet again XD HAHAHHA woo!! Gotta love the fluff...especially the kind Kara has HAHA :D
Nara Merald: Thankies. And as for the who/why, we'll be reading that in later chapters :D It's a major twist as to why she did it and who got her back (well, maybe not as to who got revenge on Melinda for Live, as I've left little clues here and there in previous chapters). Heh heh. I've got some stuff going on for once, haha. Hope it doesn't bother you all that I don't get to those answers quite yet;)
