"There may be something there that wasn't there before."

-Beauty and the Beast


"I have never been more anxious before in my entire life," Erica mused. "Not when I took my OWLs, not when I took my NEWTs, not when I first opened my shop, not when I—,"

"We get it," George muttered with a slight grin as he poked Erica in the leg with his foot. He was stretched out on the couch in the flat while Erica perched on the arm of the couch.

"Aren't you two nervous at all?" Erica asked, glancing from George to Fred, who was sitting in the chair beside the couch, drinking a butterbeer and staring at the empty fireplace.

"I don't think there's anything to be nervous about," Fred said shrugging. "It's not like we're going to get anywhere."

"You don't know that," Erica said gently.

Fred simply shrugged again. It was the second week of January and Scarlett's mother had actually agreed to go talk to Umbridge and see if that got them anywhere. The more they all thought about it the less they wanted to just agree to put Scarlett out of a job, especially if it only got them a consideration of handing her over. But at the same time, they wanted to do something. So that was how they had gotten to where they were now: waiting in agony in Fred and George's flat for Mrs. Callaway to come back and tell them what happened.

"Maybe something good will come out of this," George said, tilting his head back over the arm of the couch so that he was looking at Fred upside down. "You never know."

"Yeah, maybe," Fred muttered halfheartedly.

George sighed before sitting up and stretching his arms above his head. "She's been there a while," he said as he lowered his arms. "I wonder what's going on."

"Maybe she managed to find Scarlett wherever Umbridge was hiding her," Erica said hopefully.

"Yeah, like Umbridge would let that happen," Fred snorted.

"Must you be so negative?" Erica sighed. "I just really want Scarlett back, okay?"

"So do I, But I'm just being realistic here, and things don't look good so far."

"Well, I think you could still-,"

Erica was interrupted by a popping sound as Scarlett's mother Apparated into the flat, looking worn out.

"How did it go?"

"What happened?"

"What did Umbridge say?"

Fred, George and Erica all immediately jumped to their feet as they bombarded Mrs. Callaway with questions.

She sighed and sat down on the couch before burying her head in her hands. "It was terrible seeing that woman again, first of all," she finally began, looking up at the three people in front of her. "It was so tense knowing that she hates me and for silly reasons. Anyway, I met up with her by the fountain in the Atrium." She paused. "They changed it. Did you know that?"

"No, what did they change it to?" George asked.

"A witch and wizard standing on top of Muggles. And it also has Magic is Might carved into it."

"Disgusting," Erica muttered, shaking her head.

"Anyway," Mrs. Callaway continued, "she took me to a conference room instead of her office…she said her office was raining or something like that. Apparently a lot of offices had been raining." She shrugged.

"Do we believe her?" F red asked. "I mean, she has to be hiding Scarlett somewhere. What if it's in her office and that's the real reason why she wouldn't bring you there?"

"Fred, she's not going to keep Scarlett in her office," Erica sighed. "It wouldn't even be safe to keep her in the Ministry at all. Someone might find her."

"No one would care or even be able to do anything if they did. It's been taken over by Death Eaters," Fred argued.

"What did you two talk about?" George asked Mrs. Callaway, putting an end to Fred and Erica's disagreement. "Did she give you any good information or even a reasonable explanation for what she's doing?"

"Not really," Mrs. Callaway sighed.

"I figured," Fred answered, rolling his eyes.

"She told me that I had to meet her last requirement if I wanted any chance of getting Scarlett back at all. There's no way around it. She won't budge. She also said that the reason for her having to consider giving Scarlett back after I meet the requirements is because she doesn't want me to do anything stupid once I have her back."

"Define stupid," Fred said.

"She doesn't want me to start going against the Muggleborn Registration Commission again."

"But there's no way for her to be sure you won't," George said. "And she can't keep hold of Scarlett forever."

"I think that if I did go against her once Scarlett was back, she'd come after us worse than before."

"So if you know that, that should scare you enough and she can give Scarlett back, right?" Erica asked.

"She's afraid we'll not only go against what she's doing, but also go into hiding or something and escape. Mostly, though, I think she's being difficult because she hates me."

Fred sat down in his chair again and sighed heavily. He was getting quite sick of Umbridge making things so hard for them. He didn't understand why she had to keep behaving like a child. He had never felt so trapped and helpless in his life. Even feeling that way about the vow hadn't compared to this. Now, that just seemed petty and he didn't even feel that way about the vow anymore.

"I still don't want to put Scarlett out of a job, though," Mrs. Callaway continued. "It means the world to her and she worked so hard to get it. She wouldn't be happy anywhere else and I wouldn't be able to stand seeing her miserable."

"Well, it's not like she's working now, anyway," Fred sighed.

"Yes, but she'll have her job when she comes back," Erica told him.

"She's not coming back unless we put her out of a job!" Fred exclaimed. "There's no way around it anymore. And even if we do what Umbridge wants, who knows if or when she'll give us Scarlett. We're just trapped. We can't win."

"We're not trapped!" Erica exclaimed. "We're going to get her back and we're going to make sure she can keep her job. What if we meet Umbridge's last requirement, but once Scarlett comes back, she goes and asks to be rehired?"

"It's not that simple," Mrs. Callaway said. "I mean, she could try, but being a Healer at St. Mungo's is a very sought after position. There are always people applying for jobs there and if Scarlett were to quit, they'd be able to hire someone immediately to fill her post, making it difficult for her to get back in. As it is, she's quite lucky she got the position she has when she did."

"You were right, though," Fred said, running his hands over his face. "Seeing Scarlett miserable would break my heart. She wouldn't be the same. You should have seen her back in school when Umbridge had changed her grade and told her she couldn't become a Healer anymore. She tried to hide it, but she was devastated. I would hate to see her like that again."

His words were met with complete silence. No one seemed to know what to say. Fred found that he couldn't sit there without any noise. It just made him anxious, so he stood up and headed for the kitchen. "I'm making tea for whoever wants some."

When he reached the kitchen, he immediately started on the tea. While he was waiting for the kettle, he opened the cupboard and took out four mugs, lining them up on the counter in front of him. Finally, he rested his palms on the counter and stared down at the mugs absentmindedly. He felt like Grawp was sitting on his chest. He had felt that way ever since Scarlett had gone missing, but he felt even worse today, knowing that there most likely wasn't a way to rescue Scarlett without winding up with someone physically or emotionally hurt.

"Need any help?"

Fred turned to see Mrs. Callaway in the doorway. He shook his head. "No, I've got it. Thanks, though." With that, he turned and began tracing his finger along the rim of one of the mugs. He pretended that he didn't know Mrs. Callaway was still behind him, even when, after a moment, she came to stand at the counter beside him. She leaned backwards against it as she crossed her arms and just stared at him. Finally, he moved his eyes from the mugs to her face.

"Why are you staring at me like that?" he asked quietly.

"No reason," she shrugged. There was a pause. "Are you in love with her?"

"With who?" Fred asked.

Mrs. Callaway gave him a look. "Don't play dumb, Fred. You know who I'm talking about."

Fred shrugged and looked down again.

"It certainly seems that way to me," Mrs. Callaway continued. "And I think that you should tell her if you are."

"Well, she isn't here, so it doesn't matter," Fred answered bitterly.

"We're getting her back somehow, Fred. I know it seems as if we're trapped, but do you really think I'm going to let my daughter continue to be held captive by Dolores Umbridge? And, personally, I don't think you'd let it happen either. I don't think you're one to give up so easily."

"I'm not, but if there's no other way to make this work—"

"Like I said, we'll figure something out. And when she comes back, I think you should tell her how you feel."

"I never actually even told you if I loved her, if you remember," Fred answered as the kettle began to whistle. He was thankful for it just so he would have something to do with his hands.

Mrs. Callaway actually smiled. "Maybe you didn't say it exactly, but you've been showing it."

"Okay, so let's say—hypothetically—that I felt the way you seem to think I feel. It still wouldn't matter because she doesn't feel the same way about me."

"And how do you know this?" Mrs. Callaway asked, raising her eyebrows in amusement.

"Because I do," Fred responded, handing her one of the mugs of tea. "I don't think she's ready for that stage of the relationship yet. Back at Harry's birthday party over the summer, she still seemed to be questioning if the two of us would be happy when we were married. That doesn't sound like someone who's in love with me."

"She's her own worst enemy, you know," Mrs. Callaway laughed, staring into her tea. "She thinks things through way too much sometimes." She looked up at Fred. "So if she's not in love with you, or at least thinks she's not in love with you, it's because she convinced herself to feel that way because she thinks it'll be better."

"For who?" Fred asked, taking a sip of his own tea.

Mrs. Callaway shrugged. "For her, for you, for somebody. You know how she is."

"How would her not loving me help anyone?"

Mrs. Callaway shrugged again. "How am I supposed to know exactly what she's thinking?"

"You're her mother."

"Maybe she still thinks your whole relationship is somehow a fluke. Maybe some part of her thinks you're only dating her because you have to get married anyway. Maybe she's worried that you don't love her back. It could be one of those reasons, all of them, or maybe none at all. That's just what I think she could be worried about, but who knows for sure?"

"It's not a fluke," Fred said firmly. "Our relationship, I mean. And I've told her that I truly like her. I'm not dating her because we have to get married."

"I know that. And I was only suggesting things. Like I said, I could be wrong."

Fred didn't answer. He didn't really know why they were having this conversation. All he really knew was that he would do nearly anything to get Scarlett back safe and sound. Not to mention happy. And he didn't know how to do that, which made him feel like a failure.

Seeming to know what he was thinking, Mrs. Callaway comfortingly put a hand on top of his. "I know it feels like there's not much we can do, but like I said, we'll figure something out. Okay?"

Fred nodded. "Okay," he whispered.

Mrs. Callaway cracked a small smile. "Good. I'm glad to see you haven't completely given up yet."


Scarlett had almost given up. She hated herself for it, but she just didn't see how she was ever going to get out of Umbridge's office. She had lost track of how long she had been there, but she knew it had been a while. Probably months by now. It had grown steadily colder in the little room and that only added to Scarlett's misery. She was still barely sleeping and being given barely enough food and she was being tortured almost every day. Umbridge had been growing increasingly frustrated at the fact that Scarlett's mother refused to meet one of the requirements. Scarlett didn't know what it was—Umbridge hadn't told her—but the knowledge that her mother hadn't fully complied with everything Umbridge had asked made her slightly nervous. What if Umbridge got fed up, decided holding Scarlett captive wasn't working, and then went after her mother?

Scarlett had to wonder if she'd even have any way of knowing. Umbridge never gave her any information, even if Scarlett begged her. Scarlett had no idea what was happening with the rest of the wizarding world and it was driving her crazy. As if being locked up in a freezing cold, tiny, stone room with hardly any food wasn't enough. Scarlett wasn't sure how long she was going to last. She constantly ached from the torture and from lying on the stone floor all day, she was always hungry, she was cold, and she was tired, despite the fact that sometimes Umbridge's torture would leave her slipping in and out of consciousness for a few hours.

Basically, Scarlett was scared that she wouldn't survive long enough to be rescued. She knew that her people were trying to rescue her, but she also knew that Umbridge had probably made it nearly impossible. Scarlett worried that by the time someone did figure out a rescue plan, she'd be long gone. And so would Fred. She hated herself for that. If she hadn't been so worried and stupid, they probably could've been married by now. If they hadn't wasted so much time, she wouldn't have had to worry about Fred dying once she did. But she had worried and she had wasted time, and now she had gone and gotten herself captured and Fred was going to die because of it. She wished there was a way for her to tell him how sorry she was. She wished there was a way to tell his family how sorry she was.

Scarlett felt her throat constricting and she curled into a ball as tears leaked out of her eyes. She had no idea what she was going to do. The only thing she could think of was to just hope that someone would rescue her soon before her worries ended up coming true.