A/N: I love coming up with ideas for products for WWW and I hope I haven't inadvertently stolen someone else's product ideas! I'm trying to base this story with as much canon-fodder as possible, so some names have been taken straight from the books/HP wiki, but hopefully my own ideas still shine through.

Also, shoutout to TMBlue who is now back on ! I love Romione and they write it so well, I squealed (very quietly) at work when I got an email to say a new story has been published. Check them out if you haven't!


The second Hogsmeade weekend of the year had been scheduled for the 14 of February which, in Fred's unattached eyes, was positively brilliant. No, he wasn't planning on picking up a bird in the Leaky Cauldron and whisking her off into a magical snow-filled sunset, but he was planning something else. Something much more fun. Something much more…profitable.

It would be completely tactless to assault the unsuspecting village with mischief and mayhem on such a romantic day. He and George had never had a qualm with love and romance - they were simply too busy for something serious - but that didn't mean they weren't respecting of the traditional dates and drama Valentine's Day was guaranteed to bring. They would not be the perpetrators of chaos on a day that some ladies (and some hopeless romantic lads) would demand their head on a stake for if they ruined it.

They'd be the catalysts instead.

With him being completely string-free and George promising to find a quiet half-hour or so with Katie at some point during the day, the twins had donned their cleanest and most unburnt robes and combined them with ties charmed an eye-watering shade of magenta. They'd quite easily convinced Lee to sneak through to Hogsmeade through the Honeydukes passageway they'd discovered from the Marauders Map with the day's merchandise, and all they had to do was convince Filch that they weren't up to anything. Filch was unable to prove they had anything "nasty" or "rotten" on them, so they mentally flipped him off as they made their way to a carriage.

The ride to the village wasn't as drastically cold as their last visit, however clouds were rolling in fast with the promise of unrelenting rain. Fred was grateful that they'd managed a carriage as transport instead of walking, and he and his brother had spent the trip discussing the best spot in town to set up shop. George was all for standing in the main square and bellowing out their wares, however Fred argued the life of the travelling salesman to be his calling. He gave up in the end and agreed to walk around the main street and square, as long as they could bellow out their wares and sell them before the rain hit. And the first round at The Three Broomsticks was on George.

By the time they'd caught up with Lee (who had been trapped in Honeydukes for twenty minutes as an employee had been in the back of the shop) and set up their trolley in the middle of the village they could tell the day would be lucrative. One of Lee's best skills was commentary and George pulled him into action immediately with an Amplifying Charm to attract students and adults walking past. Fred didn't need to consult George, their surprisingly intuitive understanding of business and reading of body-language letting them know that their products would best be sold with them splitting up rather than showing off their invention together.

George had taken the cart of witch-targeted items, loving dubbed the "Wonder Witch" line, and strode towards a group of Hufflepuff girls sitting on the lip of the town's fountain with charmed mugs. Knowing that the girls - third or fourth years by the size of them - would be captivated by George's showmanship, he grabbed the cart left with the "pizzazz" items and beckoned to Lee to follow him. He headed back towards Honeydukes as it was the shop with the most foot traffic on the street, and grabbed a glaringly bright box.

"Step back kids, you don't want to be too close to this!" Lee called with fiery spirit into his wand. The echoed voice naturally caught many of the students' attention and they stopped in their tracks.

Fred grinned at Lee in gratitude and opened the box he'd selected. Night-time would be best for the firecrackers, but the heavy cloud coverage meant people further down the street would still be able to see the visual effects and bring them closer.

The crowd around Fred and Lee was starting to become dense. It mostly consisted of boys from varying Hogwarts houses, but there was a spattering of couples mixed in too. He had an idea to add to his show after spotting two Ravenclaws watch him as they wrapped their arms around each other in the cold.

"Lee's right, you may want to step back if you like the way your hair looks!" Fred yelled through the excited chattering of students. Enough got the message and stood back, and those that didn't followed their peers very quickly as he held up his wand.

"These - oh, thanks -" Fred said under his breath as Lee pointed his wand towards him. He let the Amplifying Charm do the yelling for him as he focused on the product in his hand. "- are our very own firecrackers, made with only the finest and grandest of gestures in mind. Believe it or not, these beauties are from the Basic Blaze Box, but I can assure you that after the display of pure delight you are about to see, you'll be doubting it really came from a box labelled 'Basic'! Lee?"

Lee took the striped red and green box from Fred's cart and walked around the crowd with it, letting the students get a peek at the packaging as Fred set up. Fred put the firecrackers on the ground in three lines based on type and waited for Lee to finish his lap around the group.

"Today's demonstration will show you all three of the products available to you with a purchase of a Basic Blaze Box, but don't be fooled! Each firecracker is able to be customised in its own unique way. For example, the line of rainbow firecrackers…you, in the shoes with the untied laces, care to share your favourite colour?"

"Uh…red?" a girl at the front of the crowd said with uncertainty as she looked down at her laces that were indeed untied.

"Oh, you make me blush," Fred quipped as he ran a hand through his chin-length hair and he heard snorts and laughter from random audience members. "What about you, mate, dare to say blue?" Fred asked as he batted his own blue eyes.

"Nah, dark green!" a third year said as his mates nudged his shoulder and heckled him.

"Red and green it is, then!" Fred called over the noise. "All you need to do is apply old Flitwick's Colour Change Charm to these Colour Clashers. And yes, I know it sounds very simple and easy to do, but these firecrackers are made with, well, flammable ingredients, so our high-quality wrappings and packaging means that even if you get the charm wrong in any way, you are one hundred percent guaranteed to not have it backfire on you. We went through a lot of testing to make sure you would be safe."

With a dramatic roll of his shoulders he cast the Colour Change Charm on each of the six rainbow firecrackers on the ground, swiping his wand in the correct motions through the air to determine the colours from his rapt teenaged audience.

"Make sure you're standing back, and now…!"

The firecrackers wasted no time after his wand movement to spring to life and jumped into the air with charmed synchronization. They hovered a foot or so from their heads for a moment without moving, but they began to spin lazily through the air. With each passing heartbeat they began to spin faster and faster but did not drop or rise an inch. The small cords dangling from each firecracker lit themselves as the spinning reached its peak leaving golden circles of sparks in their wake, until the firecrackers raised another three feet and exploded in beautiful clusters of vibrant crimson and verdant green. As stray red and green sparks from the crackers touched their opposing colour, they mixed and created a stunning show of gold and silver specks that added to the wonderment of beauty before the students. The crowd broke into applause at the spectacle which activated yet another charm within the firecrackers, letting the clusters of light burn off slower than expected, blinking slowly out of existence until the clapping seized and then rapidly faded away.

"How was that for a show?!" Lee shouted to the audience, his Amplifying Charm worn off from lack of focus on maintaining the spell as he watched the products come to life. Cheers came from the still-growing crowd as more couples and single students joined to watch on. "Fully customisable colours available - if you can imagine it, you can charm it! Knock the socks off any witch or wizard under a starry night sky, or safely enjoy an intimate show in private quarters thanks to the safety features nestled within the charms within!"

Safety charms were right. The skin around Fred's right eyebrow was still sensitive to touch after all the weeks of healing.

George managed to part the crowd and joined Lee, patting his rather full pockets in acknowledgement to Fred. Nodding knowingly, Fred cast his own Sonorous and started to address the crowd again.

"The next type of cracker - I should mention you get a total of twelve in each Basic Blazes Box, four of each of the kind you'll see today - is our Electrifying Eruptions. May I have a volunteer give me a shape or basic picture to draw?"

His question was met with a great deal of noise that merged together as one. He took the four most distinct shapes he could hear - a leaf, a wand, the letter H, and a teacup - and carved each item into a separate Electrifying Eruption with the pointer included in the box. He chucked two at George and the other two at Lee who both proceeded to show off the designs to the crowd in opposite directions. "Now as you can see, the drawings I've carved into the crackers are quite crude and rushed, and that's okay! You can spend as long as you want on your design, and can even purchase a Steady Sight for an extra five Sickles to magnify the drawing area and make your drawings as intricate as you wish. But should we see what they do first?"

On his cue, George and Lee placed the firecrackers back into their line and ushered people to stand back from where they had moved forward for a better look. As soon as Fred deemed the crowd far enough away from the crackers- he was sure the protective charms embedded within them would hold, but better to be safe than sorry - he pointed his wand and activated them nonverbally, around five seconds apart from each other. As they rose into the air murmurs of excitement ran through the crowd with anticipation, and the sky was once again illuminated with he and George's handcrafted magic. First, the letter H was brought to life, the sparks from the cracker forming a distinct H in stunning silver for a few dazzling seconds before blasting apart. The sparks of shrapnel from the blast were more H's that spun and weaved their way around the captivated horde of students before slowly blinking out of existence. Before the crowd could react, a second cracker erupted from where it was spinning in the air and sent out the wand that Fred had drawn, a slightly wobbly stick with a sketched beam of light shining out of it. Miniature wands no bigger than a pinkie finger began to rain down on the group and manoeuvred around them like teeny broomsticks. As the crowd began to applaud again they began to race faster but did not die out any slower.

The crowd remained captivated as the teacup and leaf came to life, silver sparkles of sleepless nights bringing joy to Fred's face as he watched his brother and his mate start to hand over boxes of product to crowd-turned-customers. He was awash with faithful conviction that whenever they decided to open a shop it would work out, no matter how much the rent cost for a building in the middle of Wizarding London's busiest street or with months of their client base in another country. It was a decidedly satisfying moment to bask in as the remainder of the silver speckles faded on the darkening sky.

"And for our final trick!" Fred called to the crowd over the chattering of excited teens. "Something that could bring out a mischief maker in all of you, or something that could make a girl fall in love. Inside each box is a card with a special incantation and step-by-step wand movement instructions to bring your words to life."

He picked up one of the four remaining firecrackers on the ground, a cylinder marked with a distinct fire pattern. He held it aloft to gain the crowd's attention before pointing his wand at himself and calling out "Verbum Ignis!". An incandescent blue light shone from the tip of his wand, and as he whispered a quiet phrase to the light it changed to an almost glaring yellow. Watching that he didn't let his fingers holding the firecracker and the tip of his wand meet, he carefully tapped the base of the firecracker three times, one for each word whispered to his wand. The light encapsulated the entire firecracker for only a moment until there was no light coming from neither firecracker or wand. He placed it back on the ground carefully, then pointed his wand to make it spring to life in the air.

It spun in the same manner as its counterparts, the only difference being the fire design on the cracker looking as if it were a real flame. It was a failsafe way George had devised to know which crackers had been given a message and which ones were ripe for testing during their experimental phase of the cracker. It continued to gain momentum above their heads, going from idle spirals to neck-breaking revolutions in a matter of seconds, but unlike the previous examples this firecracker did not explode into its intended show at once. Letter after letter flew out from the breaking cracker as if the words were made of its debris, and soon the word "Happy" shone brightly above the students, illuminating nearby faces under the stormy clouds. "Valentine's" came next, coming to float gently next to its mate, and "Day" followed shortly after. The words bounced around merrily in shining azure blue, rotating around the gathered audience with gaining speed until the words were too blurry to read. The three words met together in a ball of blue light before shooting even further overhead and cracked loudly into miniature fireworks that rained down delicately onto the students.

He felt a bit sorry for George and Lee, he really did. The rush of bodies sent their way had been enormous; nearly the entire crowd of thirty or so students had tried to be the first ones in line for the Basic Blazes Box and the two of them could barely keep up with the fists trying to shove money into their hands. He nearly got his wand out and asked them to make a formal and less dangerous line, but that wouldn't exactly be their style, would it?

The only thing able to keep the throngs of adolescent boys desperate to get their hands on customisable firecrackers (Merlin, the combination of adolescent boys and firecrackers was a merchant's dream, wasn't it?) was the downpour of rain. The light drizzle that had started as George and Lee handed out the first few boxes was now steadily beating a near-painful rhythm onto the top of his skull, and he called out over the clamour of noise that they needed to take shelter. The crowd had mostly dispersed after George's hollerings that they'd be selling the boxes back at Hogwarts but there were a few boys a few years below them desperate enough for the boxes to get completely soaked to the bone in rain.

At last the three boys managed to make their way to the saviour of shelter. The awning of The Three Broomsticks provided enough coverage from the onslaught of water to successfully cast a Hot Air Charm on their hair and clothes to prevent them from dripping in the pub, and as soon as they were dried they open the heavy door to the pub.

It was almost as if the entirety of Hogwarts from third year up had convened in the pub. They'd managed to get the door open but could barely stay together as the multitude of bodies blocked their path towards the equally crowded bar. Fred heard Lee say something about finding a seat somewhere or other, but by the time he'd turned around his dreadlocked friend had already been swept into the mass.

Now that he'd found a place to have both his feet on the floor he began to look around properly, enjoying the warm sensation that reminded him of the Burrow that was beginning to fill him as he was surrounded by. The bar reminded him of McGonagall's dance lessons from last year with the way the boys and girls were separated on either side. Sure, there were some couples sitting at bar tables and enjoying some warm chips together, but most of the groups were exclusively one-gendered.

Valentine's Day. The one day of the year no repulsion spell was needed.

"Fucking finally," George muttered next to him as he too found a place to stand without being knocked into. 'Had to warn those Hufflepuff idiots not to set off any firecrackers in the pub. Do kids really get dumber each year?"

"Smaller, too." Fred replied in earnest as he continued scanning the pub, now looking for wrongdoers. Catalysts for romantic chaos was the plan, not for lifetimes bans from The Three Broomsticks. His thoughts darkened as his mind reminded him that that would be the second lifetime ban he'd be the receiver of in just over four months.

"Tiny little gits they can be, yeah? I'll go grab us some Butterbeers if you want to go and find Lee - I think I saw him near the back wall opposite the fireplace." George offered as he nodded towards the bar and the pretty barmaid.

"I'm alright waiting here, make sure you don't spill three pints down your front as you get through this racket."

"Tosser." replied George. "You just want to see if anyone turns up for Granger, don't you?"

"What?" Fred asked. He didn't realise his eyes had started rescanning the pub until George started snorting.

"As if you didn't see her behind us, you're standing between her and the door!"

Fred spun on his heel without a moment's thought. He couldn't see her over the heads of other students even with his generous height so he stood on his tip-toes to gain leverage. George laughed as he walked towards the bar, leaving him looking like an idiot as he attempted to tower over the crowd.

Fortunately, a brief gap in the mingling students allowed him a chance glimpse at the witch sitting by herself at a table near the bathrooms.

Unfortunately, another gap in the crowd allowed her to see him looking like an absolute git staring straight at her on his toes.

"What are you doing?" George asked, joining him as he pushed through the bodies towards Lee's general direction. The Butterbeers were barely managing to stay in their glasses but Fred wasn't concerned with them at all.

It had been a month since their duel, and two months of avoiding her if the duel wasn't included. He still hadn't managed to find any books or research on Linked Magic, and with the current climate of the wizarding world he was hesitant to place an order specifically for them. Talking to Hermione about it - if he were to talk to Hermione about it - would be a lot easier if he knew what he'd be rambling on about.

And if he was being honest with himself, he still felt a gnawing guilt about the overall situation. He felt like he'd just past the childhood finish line and was now being thrust into the adult world with only George to lean on - hell, in the Muggle world he wouldn't even be considered an adult! But Hermione? No matter how mature and adult-y she seemed, she was a fifth year for Merlin's sake, and he didn't want to be the one to dash the miniscule moments of her childhood that were left after the danger and drama of being Harry Potter's friend.

Whenever he thought of Ron he'd completely shut all thought down. Ron was completely innocent in the situation (they all were, really, but him). No matter how stupid or git-like he was, Ron was his brother and Hermione's best friend who had such an obvious crush on her that he was surprised that he could manage to talk to her some days. Ginny might have been the princess of the family, but Ron was definitely his parents favourite. He was pretty much a mix of all the best parts of his siblings reduced into one person, and his stubborn and self-deprecating ways weren't enough to mask his good attributes.

The mass of students stopped him in his tracks again as he tried to locate Lee over their heads somewhat desperately. Unluckily for him, George had managed to follow behind him completely as many of the Hogwarts students knew better than to try and get between the pair, and he had been able to follow him without pause.

"Mate," George started, "we should go and talk to her."

"Talk to her? You daft or something?" Fred asked incredulously as he tried to keep moving forward. The students around him were standing in between two tables and couldn't move enough to let even his lanky frame through. He had no choice but to turn around and attempt to manoeuvre past his twin.

"You're running away from someone you might be forced together with in a few years." George said just loud enough so Fred would be the only one to hear him.

Fred scoffed at his twin. "Forced? Thanks for the vote of confidence, George."

"Y'know what I mean," George said as he blocked Fred from his desired path, leading him with no choice but to head toward the bar or toward Hermione. "Say you are going to Bond together, be a bit awkward if you haven't spoken for months before hand, wouldn't it?"

Fred glared at his brother as he used his peripherals to look for an escape. George took a step closer, forcing him to take a step backwards to where he was hyperaware of Hermione's presence. "She's alone by the looks of it, anyway. Three empty chairs around her and she's sitting by herself. Must be a bit of a lonely Valentine's Day, right?"

Fred was flabbergasted at the dirty way George was playing. "I really don't give a shite if it's Valentine's day - and besides, it's not like I've got the Letter and now I'm instantly in love with her!"

"Not yet," George said with a smirk and a wink, "but maybe it's on the horizon?"

"Oh yeah, real funny." Fred asked in a voice dripping in sarcasm. "You gonna be the one to tell Ron about my upcoming affairs with Granger?"

"Ron? Oh, for the love of…here" George muttered to himself as he handed a young Hufflepuff the single Butterbeer in his left hand before grabbing Fred by the arm and yanking him towards Hermione with two full Butterbeers sloshing down his other hand.

"Hermione! What a pleasant surprise! Seat taken?" George asked merrily as he plonked himself down on the empty barstool to her right before she could respond.

Hermione looked at him with a thinly veiled look of suspicion and confusion as he took a sip from his Butterbeer. "Can I help you with anything?"

"I do have one question if you'd be so kind as to answer it." George said as he eyed the nearby patrons of the pub. "What's a stunningly pretty girl like you doing all alone in a pub on the most romantic day of the year?"

Hermione snorted as she wrapped her hands around her half-empty glass. "The day is only the most romantic one of the year if that's when you decide it to be. My mum likes to think that, anyway."

"Clever woman, that mother of yours." George said as he nodded in what Fred guessed he believed made him look wise. Hermione's look of doubt ruined the effect somewhat. "Fred and I think the same thing actually."

"Mmm?" Hermione hummed as she took a dainty sip from her glass. "Valentine's Day isn't your style?"

"Not particularly. Sit down, Fred, you're blocking the path."

Fred turned around to see two adult witches trying to get past him on the way to the woman's loo. George kicked out the chair across from him, and he sat down on the chair that happened to be very close to Hermione. Giving George a dark look, he pulled the seat closer towards him and sat as far away from her as possible without looking rude.

"What was I saying?" George asked as he watched Fred take a hearty gulp from his own pint. "Valentine's Day, right. Your mum is right about the romance factor, and the way we see it, what's the point in being romantic on the same day as everyone else? Sure, grab a bird some flowers and let her know you haven't forgotten about old Saint Valentine, but why constrain everything into one day? That would be like following the rules, wouldn't it?" He mocked shuddered at the thought.

"Is that why Katie and Angelina aren't with you today, then?" Hermione asked.

"Miss Bell and I will be meeting up shortly, but Fred, you don't have plans with Ange today, do you?"

"No, we are not." Fred said through barely open teeth. George already damn well knew that he and Angie weren't pursuing each other anymore so the information was purely for Hermione's benefit. He could have genuinely killed his own twin with how uncomfortable he was. Hermione had no need to know anything about him whatsoever, but here they were, chatting away like nothing life-changing was hanging in the balance, like every time he chanced a glimpse at her a sense of wrongness and condemnation didn't threaten to flow through him.

"Oh, er, sorry." Hermione said hastily as she looked anywhere but him.

"Enough about us, Hermione -" George said to ease the growing tension at the table. "- you still haven't answered my question. Why are you all alone at such a big table?"

"Well, in…ten minutes," she said, pausing to pull up her grey sleeve to check her wristwatch. "Harry will be joining me with a few…other people"

"'Other people'? Like a double date?" George asked with distinct curiosity. "Chucked my youngest brother already?"

Fred nearly slapped George for his leading questions but was intrigued by the answer regardless.

A blush began to spot Hermione's cheeks, rising from the top of the grey turtleneck until it reached her cheeks. "I'm not dating your brother -"

"Not yet." George said suggestively, flashing his eyes towards Fred.

Fred felt like crawling into a hole and waiting for Hermione to come and tell him she'd received her letter and would never in a million years complete a Bonding ceremony with him. Embarrassment and guilt were fighting a raging battle within him and he took a large swig of his nearly-empty drink to have something to hide behind.

"Or maybe you won't ever date Ron after today's mystery date." George smirked. "C'mon, Hermione, who's the fortunate man?"

Hermione looked between the two of them as if she too wanted to escape. "Today is as far away from romantic as I can get, thank you very much. I'm -"

"-upset Ron is stuck at Quidditch training?" George asked, cutting her off.

"George," Fred said warningly. He could very plainly see Hermione was getting frustrated with the line of questioning.

"I am meeting with Rita Skeeter, okay? How's that for a date? Harry, Luna Lovegood, Rita Skeeter and I are all going to sit down and…well, you'll find out soon enough."

George looked as stunned as he felt. Rita Skeeter? The incessant woman who wrote all those articles last year about the Triwizard Tournament?

"Why?" George asked sceptically.

"Because Harry has the right to let his side of the story be heard, and I am sick of people making his life miserable because some…some idiots in office aren't being held responsible for spreading such damaging lies!"

Fred could almost believe he could've felt the fiery passion radiating off Hermione even if he wasn't sitting next to her. She'd raised her voice as she spoke but none of the other students seemed to pay them any mind.

"But…" George started, confusion etched on his face, "why is Luna going to be joining you?"

"Because her dad has a newspaper?" Fred said, hazarding a guess.

George made a noise of derision. "As if people would believe anything in it! You've heard the way Mum talks about it, we tease her all the time about the articles!"

"He's right." Hermione said to George defensively. The spark of pride that lit within him was dashed instantly as George looked at him with a knowing expression. Wanker.

"The public might not believe anything that comes out of the Quibbler but they believe everything that comes from horrible Rita Skeeter. Once people start finding out that Harry himself has been interviewed by her they'll pick up the magazine and realise that Harry's story fills in a lot of the missing information that Fudge has carefully kept out of the papers, and if enough people start questioning Fudge, then -"

"- people will start believing Harry." Fred finished, barely conscious that he had actually spoken aloud.

"Exactly!" Hermione said, beaming at him. "See, George? If you'd just listen for once and stop interrupting m-"

"Maybe I should leave you two alone then? Let you have your well-informed chats about the current political climate?" George said as he made to stand up. Fred begged at him not to leave with his eyes, practically shouting in his head that he'd dismember each limb if he left him alone.

"Oh no, you should both go, they'll be here any minute!" Hermione cried as she checked her watch again. "Hopefully Harry finishes his date soon, anyway, because I honestly cannot stand Rita Skeeter."

As if waiting for her cue Rita Skeeter appeared at the table and sat in the seat across from Hermione. Fred noticed instantly that the past year or so had not been favourable to her, with the only word coming to his mind to describe her being 'ragged'. Broken nails, missing diamantes from her glasses, patchy makeup and limp hair; if Hermione had not told him Rita Skeeter was set to join her he'd call over Rosmerta to kick out the homeless stranger setting up her bag and quills on Hermione's table.

"So, Miss Granger," Rita said with upmost contempt in her voice. "To what do I owe the pleasure of your summons."

Fred watched Hermione examine the woman with a hard mix of uncertainty and disdain. "I'd rather not explain it again until everyone's here, but they'll be here any minute."

"How many others are joining us, then?" Rita asked as she eyed him and his brother. "I can't imagine what you'd need from me with these two hooligans with you. I saw your little street performance, y'know."

"Oh yeah?" George asked questioningly. "What did you think?"

"Street performance?" Hermione asked, looking to Fred for answers.

"Yeah, just a bit of a demonstration of some of our new products." Fred said, rubbing the back of his neck. He was proud of the way he didn't care what others personally thought of his work as long as they kept selling enough to put a roof over their heads in the near future, but yet again Hermione's opinion of him seemed to be more important than the rest.

"How did it go?" she asked with genuine inquisitiveness.

"Spectacularly! I wandered over to sell some of our more lady-friendly products to some Hufflepuffs and by the time I found Fred he'd got half the students crowded around him and watching the show!"

"Did anyone get hurt?"

"'Course not, Prefect, no volunteers this round of demos. And if there are in the future, they will be the 'well-informed and in-charge' subjects you demand of us. But you should've seen the way Freddie had the crowd going, it was spectacular!"

"Stop it, George." Fred half-demanded as he drained the rest of his drink. All he needed was Rita effing Skeeter working out that something was up with him to make his life so much peachier than it already was at the 'mo.

"If we're still waiting for guests," Rita interrupted, "we could at least get some drinks to warm up from the rain."

"Sounds delightful, Skeeter - Hermione will take a refill of her Butterbeer." George deadpanned.

Rita stared at his twin for a heated moment before clambering ungracefully out of her stool and strode towards the busy bar with her wallet clutched firmly in her hand.

"You don't need to provoke her." Hermione said in her most Prefect-esque voice towards George, who seemed to be having a great time.

"She's a git, Hermione, let me have my fun."

"But I need her help, George! She won't do what I…well…"

Fred looked at George as Hermione trailed off. She seemed to slump forward in her chair as she followed her own train of thought, but suddenly sat up straight with fierce determination taking over her eyes and body.

Fred certainly wasn't going to be the one to ask what that had been about.

"Since you want us to leave you alone with the she-devil I'll grab us some more drinks." George said to the both of them. Meet me back with Lee, yeah?"

"I'll go with you." Fred said, rising from his barstool as well.

George gave Fred a look that said he didn't appreciate what he was doing, but Fred had been giving him that look for almost fifteen minutes without it working for him.

"Hang on, Fred, before you go -" Hermione said as she sat up a little straighter. The second his eyes betrayed him to look at Hermione, George had shot off like a rogue broomstick towards the bar and all Fred could do was watch him leave him alone with the girl causing him so much guilt and confusion.

"You can go in a minute, I promise. I just, well… are you okay?"

The question took him by surprise. George's warning of things being awkward rattled around in his head and he felt the urge to throw a Curse at something to distract himself.

"What do you mean?" he asked, feigning innocence.

Hermione looked almost as uncertain as he felt. "Well, for starters, you seem…off."

"Off?"

"Yes, off." Hermione said with a nod to herself. "You just don't seem as happy as you usually do…I'm sorry, I know it's not my place to bring it up but-"

"It's fine." Fred said, effectively cutting her off. "Just have a lot on my mind to sort through?"

He didn't mean to make it sound like a question - he definitely did have a lot going through his mind (mostly about her, but she didn't need to know that).

She nodded as she thought, holding her glass in both hands as she stared at it.

"I haven't done anything, have I? To you?"

"What?" The surprise was evident in his voice because Hermione looked at him with unsureness.

"I don't know, really – I might be reading into things too much, but you'll be sitting with George and Lee in the Common Room and I'll come in after being in the library and you practically run for the boys' staircase, and you seem to turn away if you see me in the hallways at school, or, well, I don't know. But it's been nagging at me for a while now."

Well, if he thought he'd been getting away with his stealthy avoidance of her…

"It's not you, it's…something else." he finished lamely.

"Something else." She reiterated in a voice as dull as his. "It's not about our duel, is it?"

"Our duel? That was the most fun I've had in a while!" he exclaimed truthfully.

She seemed to perk up slightly at that, and he could sense her agreement even if she didn't say it outright.

"Well it's good to know you're not avoiding me, because I know we're not close or anything, but it's been…I don't know, odd."

"Sorry about that, I'll uh, I'll try to not be weird about it."

That was entirely the wrong thing to say and he knew it the moment the words left him. Now she'd think that she had done something wrong when it was actually him.

"Look," he continued as she watched the students around the pub, carefully not meeting his eyes. "I didn't want things to be weird between you and Ron after the duel, so I tried to stay away and not cause you any more fuss. You know how he can be."

Hermione let out a breathy laugh of relief at his words. "Yes, I know how he can be, trust me. You might be his brother, but I think I get the brunt of his jealousy sometimes."

They sat for a moment, the air nearly clear once again. He felt genuinely bad for making it so obvious that he'd been avoiding her like a plague, but now he felt even worse for Future Him. How was he going to go on and pretend nothing was different between them during their - admittedly infrequent – interactions when he felt the weight of the world on his shoulders to make life changing decisions.

"And I'm sorry for bringing up Angelina. I didn't know you two had…you know."

"Ange? Ah, don't worry about that." Fred said with sincerity as he abandoned his endless guilt and joined Hermione's train of thought. "That's been over since October."

"Oh, really? You seemed so down before."

"Not about Ange." Fred said in a rush. The last thing he needed was her thinking he was pining over some other bird. Not that he was pining after her, but it would make life easier in the future if she knew he was single.

George might've been onto something.

"Oh, good." Hermione said in a rush. "I thought I made you uncomfortable."

"Nah, she's right."

Hermione hesitated for another few moments, chewing on the tip of her bottom lip as she thought. "Did you ever talk to your Dad?"

"Dad? About what?"

"About what happened after the Quidditch match, you said you would if you didn't work out how you threw Malfoy into the air - unless you worked out how you did that?"

He wasn't sure what he looked like to be honest. He felt both fire and ice prickle his features as he looked at Hermione blankly leaving him to wonder if he was blushing or had gone paler than a heavy snowfall. No words were rushing forward in explanation in his mind, no lies, no truths, just nothingness. He must've looked an absolute state because she was eyeing him strangely now.

Technically he could say he hadn't worked it out without lying. He wasn't one hundred percent sure it was their Linked magic that had been the cause of Malfoy's mysterious flight, but it did seem to be remarkably similar to the Piré's from Linked Magic: A History. He could also say that he did know and let Hermione deal with the onslaught of information he'd be able to dump on her for her to deal with instead of him, but that was hardly fair, was it?

"I've got my suspicions," Fred said slowly, trying to figure out what to say as he went. "Nothing concrete, but…something."

"Care to share?" Hermione asked as she too finished her drink.

Fred was sorely tempted to let her know that he'd been sent a Letter of Notice. He knew without a doubt she wouldn't tell anyone, but she'd ask him who he was Linked to and he wasn't ready to answer that, not yet.

"It's complicated," was all he could manage to say. She looked disappointed at that, and before he could stop himself he tacked on, "but I'll let you know soon, yeah?"

"Are…" Hermione said so quietly under the noise of the students around them that he leaned in before thinking first, "are you in danger?"

He was so close to her. Closer than he had been in a month, closer than he'd intentionally been since Christmas Eve. He could nearly feel her breath meeting his as he stared at her, words escaping his mind again. It was an effect she'd had before, and he'd be damned if he blamed anything but their Link for it. Her eyes were filled with such a different expression than before the ill-fated Quidditch match but didn't fail to take him back in time to the moment she'd briefly kissed his cheek.

He could do it himself this time, it would be the Weasley Twin thing to do, wouldn't it? Find out if the weird sensation he'd been feeling for the past twenty minutes was nerves from being close to her or from something ancient she didn't know they shared? How hard would it really be to kiss her in the back of a crowded pub and see if she felt the same as him? Hell, he wanted to see if he could recreate that warm feeling from when she sat by his bedside in the Hospital Wing, the pleasant mix of comfort and happiness that -

"Fred?"

Hermione was blinking at him now, her pink-tinged cheeks barely a foot away from him. Her whisper snapped him back to reality, the noise of the pub filling his ears. He retraced their conversation quickly before she had the chance to notice her closeness driving him up the wall.

"I'm Fred Weasley, love. I'm always in danger."

The moment was safely broken as Hermione leaned back in her chair and rolled her eyes. "Why did I suspect you'd say anything different?"

Rita sat back down in her barstool again, sliding a half-empty glass of Butterbeer towards Hermione as she downed one of her two shots of Firewhiskey. "You would think Valentine's Day would mean a place like this would be empty, wouldn't you?"

"Are you in danger?" Fred asked, repeating her own question back to her as Rita quickly downed her second shot within a minute as she tapped her emerald green quill on lightly stained parchment, looking around the pub for what he could only assume would be mindless gossip to fill her articles.

"I'll be fine, thank you. We've got an understanding of each other, actually." Hermione said quietly as she eyed the empty glasses with disgust.

He felt uncomfortable leaving her with the dishevelled witch, especially as she eyed the two of them talking.

"I'll be fine, you go back to Lee and your brother." Hermione said with bravado. He had the sneakiest of suspicions that she didn't want Skeeter knowing which twin he was, but for once he was fine with the slight anonymity being an identical twin gave him. Bad press before they opened shop might prove terrible for business, after all.

Tendrils of cold air met him as he stood up straight again, and he could see through the bustle of students that Luna Lovegood had entered the bar and was now drying herself from the rain. He felt better about leaving now that she wouldn't be completely alone, but Luna wasn't much of a defence, either.

"I'll be fine." Hermione repeated, sensing his hesitation.

He tapped the top of the table as he made to leave, giving Skeeter a nod in farewell. Before he could stop himself, he reached out for Hermione, landing his hand on her shoulder.

His earlier assumption wasn't wrong. The subtle warmth was still there, comforting his hand before making its way throughout the rest of his body. Hermione was either unaware or a very good actress as she gave him a quick smile before shrugging him off to wave Luna over.

Not one to overstay his welcome, he followed George's earlier path through the bar to try and find where Lee had been sitting. He eventually heard Lee's voice breaking through the crowd and saw him as soon as he turned in the direction of his voice. He would've been in direct eyesight of Hermione's table if there hadn't been a wall separating the two of them from either end of the pub.

He began making his way towards the table as he moved through the still-growing crowd within the pub. As a group of Slytherins blocked his path as they strode towards the fireplace, he took the moment to turn back to Hermione without realising…

…and caught her watching him leave.

He was too far away to tell if her skin had turned pink, but he knew she knew he'd caught her. Butterflies of embarrassment flew around his stomach even though he felt anything but embarrassed. Maybe she really was a good actress and had felt what he felt. That would make life easier in the future if she was already sensing the effects of what he assumed was their Link.

He caught himself smiling at her from across the pub, and thankfully she smiled back before greeting Luna. His path to his table was again clear and he set off, but before he passed the wall separating the two of them he turned his head towards her table again.

She was talking to Luna who had filled the seat he'd vacated, and he could see her profile as she tucked the frizz of her loose hair behind her ear as she took a sip from her Butterbeer. Her eyes wandered from the top of her glass, nearly instantly meeting his.

He allowed the Ravenclaw boys in front of him to vacate their table, giving him an extra moment to look towards her as they filled the space with their seats before tucking them back in. Hermione put down her glass and licked the remaining drops of liquid from her lips subconsciously, and he was grateful that he wasn't as close as he'd been before when she did that, because it instantly brought out thoughts about Granger he'd never had before. He swallowed hard to retain his thoughts and nodded at her, and he was surprised to see a shy smile spread lightly across her face.

Luna must've said something strange because he watched Hermione jump as if she had been in a sort of trance. He took the moment to take long strides towards Lee and George, because who knew what would happen if he looked at her again.

He was going absolutely mental, and he needed to sort himself out, fast.


A/N: Thank you for reading! I'd love some suggestions (PM'd or left in a review) for Muggle and wizarding items that can be charmed for the next chapter, and I'd of course mention you in the next chapter, too. Think broadly, I'd love some mundane items to be given to get me thinking of 'practical' uses for them!