Once the board game had been packed right at the bottom of Georgia's trunk and she had thanked Ron and Ginny countless times over she headed to the bathroom to splash her face and made herself look more respectable again, she really disliked the fact that once again they had all come to blows over a stupid Muggle board game - and she for sure knew that it wasn't hormones, for once!
Looking at herself in the mirror once more and being satisfied that she didn't look too puffy eyed she exited the bathroom and headed downstairs to see what the lay of the land was.
She bit her lip as she came face to face with Molly standing at the bottom of the stairs, hands on her hips and a cold stare on her face and in that moment Georgia knew she was, finally, one of Molly's pseudo-daughters - just like Ruby - she sighed and went to open her mouth but thought better of it as Molly's face didn't change so closing it she let her give her short shrift.
Once she had been lectured she was sent to the garden to help with the other jobs that she had sent the other three to do - which she was convinced they hadn't done much of so handing Georgia a basket she instructed her to collect the fruit and veg and do any of the other tasks that the other three hadn't gotten around to completing.
Georgia soon found them huddled by the broom shed, the door open, but she was pretty sure that no work had been attempted and that instead they had been talking about her and how rude she'd been. So putting her shoulders back she decided to just get it over and done with and walked up to them and cleared her throat "Those brooms aren't going to organise themselves now are they?" She questioned looking at them with a cocked eyebrow, internally hoping that they would laugh and that they could all make up again. So, she waited with bated breath for any one of them to turn round and laugh.
Ruby was the first one to turn around and acknowledge her presence, the brunette threw her a bashful smile and then held up her pinky finger "I'm sorry for being such an ast" she explained, waiting for Ruby to link pinkies with her so that they could make up properly.
Ruby looked at her puzzled, trying to work out if she'd misheard her friend or not. "A what?" George asked over her shoulder, watching the exchange.
"Ast" she gave a light smile.
"Are you speaking your funny little language again?" Ruby grinned, holding her pinky up and linking it with Georgia's to show there weren't any hard feelings between them. She couldn't quite say the same for Fred, his temper had flared even more when they'd been accosted by Molly on their way out into the yard and she'd given them a good grilling. She'd been out hanging the laundry to dry during their fight, thankfully missing the terrible things they'd all said in the heat of the moment but thanks to Percy and his new found ability to apparate he'd beaten them down to the yard and had told his mother about their bad behaviour. Her and George had been talking him round when the shorter witch had joined them. The brunette in question gave a small laugh.
"It's not funny, it's Welsh" she pointed out, "But yes, it means bitch. I'm sorry for acting the way I did" she knew she hadn't caused any of it but she felt the need to be the bigger person and apologise. If only in hopes that her friends would do the same.
Ruby remained linking pinky's with her best friend before looking between the twins to see which one would break the silence and apologise, she knew she wouldn't be let off the hook for too long but for now it would be nice if the twins had calmed down enough to say sorry for ruining their first experience of playing a Muggle board game and show Georgia that they hadn't meant to be such sore losers.
George unstuck himself from the wall of the broom shed and pulled the brunette into a hug "Sorry Georgia" he simply said and gave her shoulder a squeeze. Ruby soon, gently, grabbed her back into a hug "Yeah, really sorry. It does seem like a fun game!" She bashfully said with a small smile and then held her hand out so that the brunette could take it before they all looked at Fred, George even nudging the toe of his shoe with his to make him acknowledge the fact that Georgia had joined them but, it didn't work. He briefly looked up but for the most part remained against the wall.
Georgia cleared her throat, hoping to stop the sound of the sobs threating to escape her mouth. "Okay! So, why don't Roo and I take the vegetable patch and you two can do the broomshed?" She said ready to tug Ruby over to the fruit and veg that Molly grew at the end of the garden.
George had other ideas though, he'd just need to somehow get Ruby on side to be able to make it work. The slight problem was he couldn't tell her his genius plan while keeping it quiet from the other two. He knew his twin brother better than anyone though and knew just how stubborn he could be, he wouldn't easily apologise that was for sure. Fred knew that he'd done wrong and was feeling guilty for telling Georgia he hated her because that was far from the truth, he hadn't meant it but he didn't know how to say sorry when she wasn't still mad at him. She'd come over all apologetic and like he hadn't just screamed at her unnecessarily and Fred couldn't cope with that, he wanted her to scream at him some more, to tell him she hated him too. To hurt his feelings the same way he'd just shattered hers. He felt stupid for taking a Muggle game so seriously and being a sore loser about it and George knew it would take a lot more than him telling his indentical counterpart to pull his head from his arse and to suck it up.
He stepped round Georgia, placing himself away from the shed's entrance and shook his head, wiping his clammy hands on his green shorts. "I can't work inside there, claustrophobic" he told her, causing Fred to actually look up at him rather than examining the pattern of the wood grain on the shed.
"What?" Georgia frowned, they'd all hid together in silly cramped spaces many times before at Hogwarts while avoiding getting caught doing pranks. George had never complained before. "How's being in there any different to the times we've hid in broom cupboards and secret passageways at school? With less space"
"It's different. We were all together then. And it was only for a few minutes"
"You'll have Fred" Ruby pointed out, but she caught George's eye and the mischievous glint didn't go unnoticed, she instantly knew he was up to something. Thanking her lucky stars that she'd known Fred and George since being a kid so she'd picked up on several subtle hints of how they silently communicated she got the gist that he wanted Fred and Georgia to spend time together, to sort out their differences she suspected. But then Georgia spoke again drawing her attention away from the younger twin.
"I mean fine, me and Roo can do the hard work if you're so certain"
"No!" Ruby blurted out a little too quickly, causing Georgia's head to snap up. "I uh, mean... no" the blonde witch repeated a little calmer.
"No?" Georgia asked with a puzzled look on her face, what was so terrible about the shed that held the Weasley siblings broomsticks and makeshift Quidditch equipment as well as a few garden tools. She looked between George and Ruby, they were acting rather odd and not like the confident lions she knew them to be.
"I can't work in the shed, there'll be spiders" Ruby wrung her hands together.
Georgia snorted with laughter, "Spiders Roo, seriously? They're not going to hurt you"
"Yeah but they're still creepy" she pointed out.
"I doubt they'll even be bothered you're there"
"They will! They'll get mad when we clear their webbed homes away" Ruby argued, her voice raising an octave with fear.
"Don't be silly, we'll probably not see any" Georgia tried to explain, just really wanting to get on with something before Molly came to check on their progress.
"Go look for yourself" Ruby pointed at the doorway that Fred was still leaning against and with a sigh Georgia squared her shoulders ready to prove there were no spiders lurking in corners ready to jump out at them. Ignoring Fred she slid past him and into the spacious shed that was lit by the bright summer sun shining through the open door. Looking up she did see a few cobwebs but they were nothing to fear. Suddenly though there was a commotion behind her and she turned in time to see Fred being roughly shoved into the shed with her and the door was slammed shut, casting them into darkness. The tell tale sounds of the bolt sliding into place alerted her to the fact they couldn't escape and Georgia's heart raced in her chest.
Her eyes took a moment to adjust to the darkness and she could make out Fred's lanky frame just beside her, suddenly her brain caught up with what was happening. "Let us out!" Georgia screamed and pounded against the door as soon as she'd clicked onto the reason why the bolt had been pulled across.
Fred quickly joined her, his voice louder "George, I swear to Merlin! Let us out right now!"
The other two could be heard giggling on the other side of the door which just annoyed the other two further. "Ruby this isn't funny!" Georgia wailed, banging on the wooden door some more.
"It is from this side" came the muffled response of Ruby before her and George burst into laughter once more. "We'll see you guys after we've picked the vegetables, have fun!"
"George!" Fred growled out through gritted teeth. "Don't you dare walk away!"
"Sorry Freddie! Can't quite hear you" George responded, amusement clear in his voice.
"Prat!" Fred yelled once more before kicking an old metal bucket in frustration. "I'll get them back for this!" Georgia slumped against the shed door, giving up on trying to be heard as it was no use, they weren't being rescued, at least not anytime soon. Realising that Molly wouldn't take lightly to the excuse that they'd been locked in and couldn't see as a valid reason for having not at least attempted to clean up she moved over to where the brooms and makeshift Quidditch stuff was so that she could make a start on tidying it, cursing as she stubbed her toe on one of the goals. "For fucks sake! Ugh! I wish I was 17 so I could just cast Lumos and then I could actually see where I'm going!" She screamed out, mainly to help the pain that was now coursing through her foot.
"This is ridiculous!" Fred grunted as he too bumped into something in the dark, silently cursing that the broomshed wasn't as big as his dad's work shed meaning it didn't have windows. "Lumos" he said and the tip of his wand lit up, casting a glow over them both.
"Frederick!" Georgia gasped in horror, grabbing his arm to make him turn it off. "Have you lost your mind?"
"No, but you obviously have" he snapped, yanking his arm back. "Get off me" he still wasn't in the best of moods and having her mother him didn't help.
"We're under age! Have you read the laws of underage magic? You're going to get yourself kicked out of school, you'll have your wand snapped, is that what you want?" The shorter witch glared at him, he was being a real git but that didn't mean she didn't still care about her best friend.
"You think reading is the answer to everything don't you?" Fred scoffed, "Not all the information is in books" Georgia ducked her head and turned to sit on the upturned bucket, feeling embarrassed that he'd called her out for always reading. "How do you think George and I are able to experiment? It's harder for the Ministry to detect underage magic in magical homes or villages. Because adult magic interferes with it. Rather than the Ministry punishing us it's expected that our parents do it and tell us it's wrong. But what they don't see won't hurt them" he explained.
When Georgia didn't reply Fred extinguished the light at the tip of his wand and moved to sit on the dusty floor, with his back against the locked door, not caring about getting his shorts dirty. There wasn't a lot of room in the shed so he kept his knees tucked up to his chest and waited for her to say something back. But she remained silent and Fred knew he'd toed the line a little too far.
"Georgia" he said into the dark, with a slight sigh. There was nowhere either of them could go and he knew his brother wouldn't let them free until they were friends again so he may as well bite the hex and go for it. The witch blinked into the darkness caught off guard and wondering how to reply, he hadn't called her by her actual full name in forever and she momentarily wondered if he was about to tell her something dreadful, like she was out of their friendship group.
Fred frowned, he knew she had to still be there because she couldn't have possibly left, neither of them knew how to apparate yet but that didn't stop his mind thinking that maybe she had found a way out rather than accepting the fact that she was just giving him the silent treatment that he deserved. "Georgia?" He asked a little louder, reaching a hand out in front of him to try and find the witch. His fingers brushed against what he assumed to be her shin and she let out a noise of surprise, a small smile appeared on Fred's face at finding her and knowing she was still there with him.
"It's just me" he reassured her, running his hand down to her ankle.
"I know that" Fred was pleased to hear a note of amusement in her voice.
"Will you please talk to me?" He asked.
"I was never not talking to you"
Fred sighed heavily and put his head in his hands, annoyingly she had him there. Once he'd composed himself he looked up in the general direction of where she was sitting "I'm really sorry, it was out of order. I don't hate you - far from it - and I know you're not a criminal" he threw her a small, apologetic, smile before realising that neither of them could see each other now that the light had gone from his wand.
He then remembered what else he'd said not that long ago and kicked himself internally for being so mean to her "And I'm sorry I mocked you for reading, it's an endearing quality really and I'm also sorry neither of us explained how we get around experimenting" he knew he was rambling but he wanted to make it up to her really badly. Georgia bit her lip, hard, to stop herself from laughing - he was trying too hard but she couldn't fault him for that, not truly. She stopped biting her lip when she tasted the salty and metallic taste of blood and swiped her tongue across to clear it away before clearing her throat to reply.
"Fine, fine, apology accepted" she said before reaching her hand out to take his, to squeeze it and show him that it really was accepted. Fred squeezed her hand back and finding comfort in the touch refused to let go, so Georgia got up and moved to sit on the dusty floor with him. "Do you think they'll ever come let us out?"
"It might be a while but yeah" Fred confirmed and Georgia rested her head against his shoulder, letting out a bored sigh.
"What if they forget we're here?"
"They won't, we're not that forgettable" Fred joked trying to lighten the mood. "But if they do," he added sensing her hesitation, "Mum will definitely miss us and she'll send out a search party"
Georgia smiled as she imagined it, she was only supposed to be staying the weekend and she knew Molly would end up beside herself if she thought she'd lost someone she was supposed to have in her care. "It's nice to have friends and to feel loved and wanted" the brunette mused.
"Didn't have a lot of them growing up?" Fred asked and he felt her shake her head no against his shoulder. Giving the hand he was still holding another squeeze he decided to learn a little bit about her life before Hogwarts. "Is it not easy to make friends in Muggle school?"
"No, it is. I had tons of friends until I turned seven and my magic started showing. Then I became the weirdo at school, things kept happening that no one could explain and no one wanted to be friends. Didn't help that I lived on a farm and spent my spare time with the animals"
"Why would that bother anyone?"
"Because the thing about kids is they can be cruel, and they'll pick on you for anything. They started calling me names" Georgia said quietly.
"Well I think it's fascinating and I promise that George and I will never let anyone get away with being mean to you again. You've got our word on that"
"Thank you" the witch beamed happily, feeling warm inside. A comfortable silence fell over them as well as something else that neither could explain but it just felt right. Georgia could have also sworn that she felt Fred shift closer to her but it was too dark to prove it.
"Do you hear that?" She suddenly asked sitting up, sounding hopeful that someone was coming to rescue them.
Fred pouted slightly as he missed the warmth her head bought his shoulder "Hello?" He called out "Who's outside? Please, let us out!" He called out a little louder but stayed by the door as he didn't fancy trying to move around, again, in the dark.
"Teddy?" Ginny's voice soon replied before a groaning sound followed as she tried, and failed, to pull the bolt back across so that he could be freed "Ugh! It's stuck!" She whined but kept trying, to no avail and got more and more annoyed as the bolt seemed to get more and more stuck regardless of what she tried.
"Go grab Mum?" Fred eventually suggested, knowing the matriarch could unlock the bolt with magic.
Ginny let her hands fall away from the bolt and was about to turn around to go inside and get Molly when Ruby and George appeared by her side, baskets brimming with fruit and veg "Hey Gin! What's up?" The blonde enquired, noticing where she was hovering.
"Teddy's stuck in the shed... but the bolt is too old and stiff for me to unlock, he told me to go get Mum and I was about to but then you two showed up" she explained.
George caught Ruby's eye and gave her a knowing smirk before turning to his sister "He's not the only one stuck in there..."
Which caused the youngest witch to blink and frown "Huh?" She questioned, looking between the two of them, hoping they'd let her in on the joke.
Ruby took pity on her and, patting her shoulder, replied "We locked Georgia and Fred in there, that's all. We wanted them to make up" she explained, adding the last part on to hopefully gain understanding.
Ginny let out an oh as a look of realisation crossed her face. "Has it worked?" She asked looking back at the shed.
"Let's see" George grinned, and in one quick movement he'd grabbed the old rusty bolt and jerked it out of the lock making it look a lot easier than it was, much to Ginny's disappointment. Pulling the shed door open there was a short yelp of surprise before both Fred and Georgia tumbled to the floor in a tangle of limbs, having still been leaning against the shed door listening to what was being said about them.
"Looks like they've more than made up" Ruby giggled taking in the flustered looks on her friends faces as Fred propped himself up so as to not crush the witch that had fallen beneath him. As Ginny crouched down to see if they were alright Fred scrambled to his feet and helped Georgia up, both dusting themselves down.
"Doesn't look like much cleaning went on" George commented looking past them and into the shed.
"You try cleaning when you can't see a damn thing" Fred replied, nicking an apple out of Ruby's basket and biting into it, causing the blonde to yell in protest about her hard work. "Oh shut up, don't act like you haven't ate more berries than you've picked"
"He's lying Gin, don't tell your mum that. She's got plenty of berries to make a pie" Ruby quickly shot in the red heads direction, knowing that Ginny was likely to snitch, albeit accidentally, later while helping Molly. "So," she added, directing the topic of conversation back to the two that had been locked in the shed. "The angry looks and shouting seems to have stopped, is that a good sign?"
"Have you kissed and made up?" George smirked.
"Figuratively speaking, yes" Georgia nodded, they hadn't literally kissed but she couldn't help wonder if it might have happened had they been left in the shed a little longer.
"Did Teddy kiss Gia?" Ginny asked, a mix of horror and delight on her face. She'd always wanted a sister and her mum had promised she'd get lots of them once her brothers started to find girlfriends.
"I don't kiss and tell" Fred smirked, looking cocky with himself. If his twin was going to tease him then he'd have a little fun himself by winding them up with maybe details. The blush that had crept up Georgia's cheeks helping his little game.
"Knew it!"
"So is that a yes?" Ginny looked baffled as she tried to keep up.
"It's a no" Georgia replied, trying to act natural and ignore the warmth she could feel on her face. She wasn't blushing because they'd kissed but because the butterflies were dancing in her stomach that Fred hadn't denied the fact that it could have happened.
"Come off it" George scoffed, not for one moment believing her. "Fred and Georgia in the shed by the tree..." he sang in a teasing voice.
"Doing things they should not be" Ruby continued the little song for him with a giggle, "First comes love, second comes marriage, third comes a baby in a golden carriage..." she suddenly dropped her basket of fruit and took off across the garden with a squeal as Fred took up chase. Wand held up as he threatened to transfigure her into a sea creature.
Ginny, Georgia and George all fell about laughing at the chaos that was ensuing as Ruby squealed and ran faster in the hopes that Fred would give up and stop trying to catch her. But he didn't let up and that was the scene that greeted Percy as he stepped out into the garden to tell them all that Mr Weasley was home from work.