Chapter Two:
After lunch they headed back to store, where Emily transfigured an empty display table into a conference table with 3 chairs. She waved to the chairs opposite of her, while she took her seat. She sent her wand on the table next to her briefcase, that she opened and pulled out some parchment and a quill.
"Well, we have a few different options that we can discuss first," the vibrant witch in front of them was all business now. She adjusted her glasses and Fred noticed all of the rings that adorned her fingers, but mostly catching his attention was the large pearl on her right middle finger. "We have inventory, expansion, the prospect of a new line, pricing… So just let me know where you want to begin."
"You know, we're probably going to be spending a lot of time with each other, over the next few months, so I think we should get to know each other a little first."
"Yeah," Fred jumped in, "It's been just George and I for a while and we know everything about each other"
"You see, so we think we should know about you."
"And of course, we'll be happy to answer any questions you have about us." Fred finished for them.
"What's the chance of ya'll forgetting about this and us getting back to work?" She asked looking at the boys.
"With that accent, love, not a bloody chance." Fred gave her his biggest over the top smile.
"Well fine then, what would you like to know? But be aware we will be having some sort of business discussion today." She arched her eyebrows, but blushed when Fred had called her love, what was with her today?
"Well, I guess we'll start with something easy first, what was your life like when you were little?" George asked.
"Umm, well I grew up on a farm in America, which I'm sure you already guessed from the accent, in Georgia, it's a Southern state, which means it's always hotter than the devil's armpit," she got a look like she had three heads, "it's a Southern saying… Anyway, my mom was a witch and my dad was a Muggle, but they still loved each other completely, the kind of love that makes you wish you could fall in love like that," she sighed.
"So it's just you and your parents?"
"No, I have an adapted sister Ruby, she's two years younger than me, and she's absolutely amazing. Mama and Pops got brought her home when I was 4, I know we aren't biologically sisters, but I don't have any memories without her. And as for my Mama she passed when I was 13 and my Pops passed about 2 months ago." She had tears in her eyes now, but she refused to let them fall, she didn't cry in front of people.
"Hey," Fred reached across the table to touch her hand, "We don't have to keep going, it's ok," he was so sincere looking at her, those deep blue eyes staring into her, giving her a small smile.
"No, it's fine, what else do you want to know?" She lifted her chin and looked at them square in the eye. Fred gave her hand a small squeeze before letting it go.
"I'm going to guess you went to school in America then?"
"Yeah, I went to Ilvermorny, it's in Massachusetts, when I was 11." She told them, but what she didn't say was how awful all of the students were to her, she was much too smart and all they did was make fun of her for the 4 years she was there, she had no friends, no one to turn too. She was so happy when the Head Mistress, Professor Miller, told her she was going to be able to leave Ilvermorny early, because she was so advanced. However, this meant leaving at 15 and she would have to live in the Muggle world with no magic for two years until she was of wizarding age. She gladly accepted, she was so happy to be rid of the place she didn't care if it meant she couldn't do magic for those few years.
George and Fred could tell she didn't want to talk about her schooling anymore.
"What can we tell you about us?" George looked at his twin.
"We naturally just loved getting into trouble and pulling pranks on our siblings, but especially Mum,"
"She always has the best reactions."
"But we went to Hogwarts, we were the class clowns, and our sixth year" George started laughing at the memory.
"We pulled the most epic prank of all time, there was this bloody horrible ministry witch, who took over the school, well she definitely won't forget Fred and George Weasley anytime soon."
"So that's what made you want to open a joke shop?" Emily asked, getting more comfortable in with the twins.
"Yeah, we had been experimenting with a lot of different ideas, and since Georgie here is an expert at Charms, we started selling some of our stuff to the other students to help them get out of class,"
"It was more of a public service really. But our friend Harry gave us the start-up money and we've been in business ever since."
"Can't really imagine doing anything else."
They talked about the early days of the twins and all their ideas and then they moved onto the war. Before they knew it, it was 6 at night.
"Oh bloody hell!" George groaned. "I'm supposed to meet Alicia for dinner in 30 minutes, I have to go!" He jumped up from the table, patted Fred on the back and gave Emily a quick kiss on the cheek. "See you tomorrow, yeah?"
She nodded and smiled as he scrambled upstairs to change and apparate to Angelina's flat as quickly as possible.
"Well it's getting late, and I'm sure you have dinner plans as well," Emily stood and started shuffling all of her papers back into her briefcase, "But tomorrow, we definitely have to talk about work." She walked over to Fred, gave him a kiss on the cheek and walked out into the warm June evening.
Fred stood, unable to move, had she really just kissed him? He put his hand to his cheek and smiled. 'Yes, this was definitely a good idea.' He smiled at himself, as he locked up the store and went upstairs to floo back to the burrow for dinner with his family.
The crowd at dinner was much smaller tonight, than it was the previous night. With only his parents, Ginny and Harry, and Ron and Hermione. The small from Emily's kiss would not leave his mind, he spent all of supper smiling and avoiding the questioning stares from his family. Surely it hadn't been that long since they had seen him smile? They were all nutters.
"Oh, Fred dear, I wanted to know if you and George had thought anymore about that witch from the IWC helping with the store?" Molly asked him.
"Yeah, we decided that we are going to let her help us, we think it'll allow us to work on the merchandise more, while she works on the business part of things." Fred answered his mother, "Emily seems certain we should be able to re-open around the time students start their back-to-school shopping for Hogwarts, and you know we'd hate to let McGonagall down, I'm sure she's expecting lots of Weasley products causing trouble at Hogwarts again." He smiled brightly, Molly could hardly believe it, it was like her old Freddie was back.
"Well you must invite her to supper Friday night, the whole family will be here. Even Andromeda and Teddy are going to be here. I think it's a lovely idea."
"Oh yes yes yes. You have to invite her Fred, please, she's practically my hero." Hermione begged.
"Ok. Ok. You are all nutty, but I'll ask her tomorrow." Fred looked at the table, what would she think of his crazy family?
They had definitely made some serious head way in terms of what they wanted to do long term, come Friday. Emily was absolutely as brilliant as Hermione said she was; they didn't understand why they doubted her in the first place. Thursday she looked over all of their business records, which were practically non-existent, but she noticed they were much more worried about the products for the customers and kept the bare minimums in terms of financial records, or rather any records. She placed a charm on the register and it clearly printed every transaction they had ever done, it gave her totals and percentages, and a bunch of other rubbish the twins didn't understand.
"I'm glad we've decided on the products and a smaller new line, to help kick things into gear, while you both have been doing exceptionally well. However, your savings are slowly dwindling and unfortunately we'll have to look into some options for financing…" Emily looked up from her make shift desk that still set in the middle of shop.
The twins were smiling at her. "Yes, I think we're doing great. I'm very excited about our re-opening." George said. She was slowly learning the difference between the two of them, and was able to tell them apart about 90% of the time now. Fred had these deep blue eyes that were like the depths of the ocean, while George's were a little lighter, just subtly so, but she could tell the difference now. George also kept his hair longer, to where it brushed his shoulders and Fred's was maybe an inch shorter.
"I hope you're ready for dinner tonight, we're going to have to leave soon." Fred told her as he moved the last box of Boxing Telescopes to the shelf they would reside.
"Oh my gracious, I can't believe I forgot about that!" Emily looked down at her denim jeans and her gray University of Georgia t-shirt. "I'm not dressed properly to have dinner and especially not to meet your family! They won't believe I'm a business woman. Maybe we should just reschedule for a night when I can put my best foot forward." She stumbled about, trying to shuffle her papers into her bag so she could head back to her flat quickly.
"Sorry love, but we aren't going to let you get out of this dinner." Fred said coming around her desk.
"Yeah, come on, I'm excited for you to meet Alicia, Mum is ready to sing your praises for helping us."
"Don't forget Hermione, George. You're practically her idol, she's never, not once, every admitted that anyone was smarter than her." Fred finished. Emily was running her hand over her long hair, nervously twirling a large piece in the front and Fred noticed about five earrings up and down her right ear.
"But I'm just in jeans and a t-shirt! You don't understand, where I'm from you don't make first impressions in jeans and a t-shirt! You have to be in your Sunday best!" Now she was fidgeting with her rings, it seemed she couldn't decide which one to mess with, she kept switching back and forth between them all about 6 total.
"Trust me, everyone is going to be dressed casually, we don't dress up really. Plus, Dad will love your Muggle t-shirt, he's obsessed with anything Muggle." She pushed her glasses up on her nose and waved her wand at her case, George assumed it was to send it back to her flat.
"Fine, let's go before I change my mind. Are we appartaing or using the floo network?" She inquired while putting her wand into the slot on her jeans.
"We're going to apparate, since you've never been before you'll have to side-apparate with one of us, so you don't get lost." George told her, while flicking his wand at the front door to lock it. He turned and winked at Fred before he was gone with a loud crack.
"It's ok, they are going to love you," Fred held out his arm for her. She hesitated for a moment before finally placing her hand on his arm. He put his right hand over hers and she felt sick to her stomach, but she didn't know if it was from nerves or appartaing.
They arrived at the Burrow and George was standing off to the side snogging Alicia, "Hey you two, get a room!" Fred yelled at them.
"Sod off Fred!" Alicia shouted back, before returning to kiss George again.
"That's Alicia," Fred explained to Emily while they made their way up the steps to the house.
"Well I'd sure hope so, or George has got some explaining to do." Emily tried to force a smile, but it was difficult, she was just too nervous.
Fred put his hand on the small of her back, "Welcome to the mad house" He whispered into her ear, before opening the door.
"Oh Fred! I'm so glad you made it! And you must be Emily! I'm so excited you agreed to join us for dinner tonight," the older witch enveloped her in a tight hug.
"Mum. MUM! You're crushing her, let the poor woman go,"
"Oh I'm sorry dear, I'm Molly, the twins mother"
"You have such a lovely home Mrs. Weasley, you can definitely tell it's filled with love." Emily told her, taking in her surroundings.
"Thank you dear, well everyone else should be arriving any minute, I've got to go check on dinner, please make yourself comfortable. Fred, can you get Ginny and Ron down here, supper's almost ready." With that she walked off, in the direction Emily assumed was the kitchen.
"She's a little mad sometimes."
"She's wonderful, she reminds me a lot of my Mama." She had a wistful little smile playing on her lips.
"Well then let's meet the rest of the bunch shall we?" Fred took her hand and lead her to the dining room table. He walked over the to the bottom of the staircase "Hey you lot! Get down here it's almost time for dinner."
"We're coming! Keep your ears on!" Someone shouted from above.
Just then the fire place was ablaze with green flames and another red-headed man stepped through, seconds later a gorgeous blonde followed him.
"Emily, I would like you to meet my oldest brother Bill and his wife Fleur." Emily stood from the table as Fred introduced them and shook their hands.
"So, you're this brilliant witch, who's supposed to turn the store into something great again?" Bill questioned after shaking her hand.
"Umm..." Emily blushed and looked down pushing her hair behind her ears to reveal her piercings, "I'm not sure about the brilliant part, but I'm definitely trying my hardest to help Fred and George." She smiled up at Fred.
"Well, I teeenk it's greeeat whaat you are doooing" Fleur told her with a grin.
"Fleur is originally from France, she moved over here to work at Gringott's to help with her English. That's where we met," Bill explained to her, "The English is getting better, but I think the rest of us are just used to the accent by now." He kissed his wife on the top of her head.
"Je pense qu'il est grand vous êtes venu de France, j'ai essayé de trouver une raison pour y visiter bientôt." Emily told Fleur in perfect French, before long they were having an entire conversation that no one else could understand.
Fred stood there amazed, Bill looked between the two ladies and shook his head. By the time the rest of the family had arrived or made their way down stairs, Emily and Fleur were talking so fast, there was no way to get a word in to stop them. Finally, Molly came out and announced that dinner was ready, and that ended the conversation. Emily looked up and was immediately aware of all the eyes that were glued to her. She blushed again, a deep red coloring her fair skins and ducked her head down.
The food was floating to the table. "Did no one hear that dinner was ready?" Molly asked coming into the living to gather the troops. They quickly filed into the kitchen and took their seats. Emily took the seat between Fred and George, she could still feel all of the eyes on her so she kept her head down. When the food was all finally on the table, everyone began to fill their plates and George started making introductions.
He pointed out their sister first and went around the table, there was only one girl left in the center of the table right across from her. "That's Hermione, she's Ron's girlfriend and we're pretty sure she worships you." George winked at Hermione, who blushed deeply.
"Oh George, just you wait, I'm going to get you back for that." She told him and everyone at the table erupted into laughter.
"Oh please, Hermione you couldn't pull a prank if your life depended on it." Ron said in between laughs. She smacked him hard on the arm.
"It's alright, I'll help" Emily smiled at her, "Just let me know when and we'll come up with something." Hermione blushed again and stared at her in fascination.
"You pull pranks? I never would have thought…" Her voice faded away as if she was contemplating something.
"Yeah, my Pops was always pulling pranks on us, when I was little. I realized I would have much more fun being on the other side of things and started to scheme with him."
The conversation ebbed and flowed throughout the night, the Weasley family asking her a bunch of questions. While it felt as though it was the Spanish Inquisition, she was starting to relax and didn't get the impression she was an outsider anymore. Soon dinner was over and various members said goodnight and made their way back home.
"Ok, I'm sorry, I'm going to be extremely forward," Hermione announced, looking Emily in the eye, "but can we please talk about you? I've read and heard so much about you and I'm extremely curious."
"Well, I guess…" Emily looked extremely nervous, she started pushing her hair behind her ear again, "Ask away."
That was all the acknowledgement Hermione needed. She asked about her finishing school early and going to muggle university and her family and her early life and the list was endless. She had hardly taken a break between questions and sucked in a deep breath when she finally stopped.
"Whoa, hold your horses there," Emily held her hands up, everyone looked at her puzzled. "It's a Southern expression, it means just slow down for a second. What do you want to know first?"
"I guess I'm most interested about your school time, I was rather advanced in academia as well, and I'm curious if you had as rough of a time as I did?" Hermione glanced at Ron who was smiling brightly at her.
"Well I got my acceptance letter to Ilvermorny, when I was 11. My Mama was ecstatic. I was sorted into Horned Serpent, and chose my wand. Before Christmas, I had read almost all of the books memorized and I practiced non-stop. I quickly advanced through my classes and was in second year classes after I returned from winter break. Then my mom passed when I was thirteen, I was already in fifth year classes and I worked harder to finish as quickly as possible so I could get back to my dad and little sister. I was fifteen when they decided I was technically complete with my schooling, and my head mistress gave me the option to continue schooling or return to my muggle family, but not use magic again until I was 17. I handed over my wand. I loved school, but I was ready to get back to my family. I didn't exactly have any friends so it really wasn't a hard decision for me to make…" She looked up at Hermione and gave her a small smile, "does that answer your question?"
"Yes, I know what you mean, I wasn't THAT advanced, but I was the insufferable know-it-all, with no friends." Hermione told her.
"Oh no, sweetheart, it's very obvious you had great friends" she drawled, glancing between Ron and Harry, "well anymore questions?"
Hermione asked her a million questions, Harry and Ginny had long since went to bed, Fred was struggling to keep his eyes open and act like he was still paying attention. Ron had starting snoring, where he fell asleep in his chair and the ladies decided it was time for bed. Hermione gave Emily a quick hug before getting Ron up out of his seat to head upstairs.
Fred gave her a sleepy smile, "Fun night, yeah?"
"Actually, yes. I had a lot of fun. Thank you for inviting me and forcing me to come." She leaned back against the couch and realized she was suddenly exhausted. Fred's arm went around her. "Hey, sleepy, it's time to go home." She stood up, grabbed his hands, and hauled him up.
He was just barely standing, still half asleep, he leaned into her. "Mmm, you smell really nice, like sunshine and daisies," he nuzzled his nose into her hair.
"Oh darling, why don't you say these things when you're not half asleep?" Emily put her arms around his waist and walked him to the front door. Quietly shutting the door behind them, she led them into the yard a little ways and with a loud crack, they were in her flat.
She'd never had a boy in her apartment before and wasn't really sure what to do. Unfortunately, she hadn't really gotten around to furniture shopping yet, she never expected she would have any company. With a loud sigh, she managed to get Fred into her room and settled him into bed. She took off his shoes, because she would be damned if anyone thought they would be putting their dirty shoes into her bed. She rushed into her bathroom, splashed cold water on her face and looked at herself in the mirror. She was not this girl, she didn't have people over, she didn't do the whole "friends" thing, she sure as hell had never had a boy in her bed before.
"No, you are not going to sit in here all night," She scolded herself in the mirror. "You are a grown woman not some 15-year-old girl with a school yard crush." She changed into her black sleeping tank top and her pale pink short shorts, and stalked into her room and climbed into bed before she could change her mind. With a flick of her wand she shut out the lights and laid back against her pillows.
She had almost fallen asleep, when she felt Fred turn, and soon his large arm was thrown over her and she was being pulled into him. She twisted herself to face him. He looked so peaceful in his sleep, she gently reached up and touched his cheek, his skin was so soft. She ran her fingers through his long hair, she had only been waiting to do that since the first time she walked into the store. She let her hand fall and ran her fingers along his muscular arms.
Just as she reached his hand, he started screaming and thrashing around.
"FRED!" she screamed shaking him. "WAKE UP!"
He shot up in bed, sweating heavily. He looked around the room not noticing anything about the room he was in.
"Hey, you ok?" Emily's voice was soft and sweet, like she was approaching a scared animal. She gingerly placed her hand over his. She could feel his heart pounding wildly. Her right hand reached up to push away his hair where it had fallen into his eyes.
"Is this a dream?" He asked shakily, looking into her worried eyes.
"No, sweetie, it's not a dream. You passed out on me at your folks place, so I brought you here. I wasn't sure if I'd be able to get into your apartment or not… Just wait a minute I'm going to go get you a glass of water."
She was back quickly, handed Fred a large glass of water as she settled into the bed again. Grabbing her wand from the nightstand, she mumbled a few words and with a swift flick, the room was bathed in a dim light, like a 1,000 candles were lighting the room.
Fred took a long drink of the ice cold water and handed the glass to Emily, who set it on the nightstand. "I'm sorry if I woke you up. I didn't mean to." Fred was clearly embarrassed.
"Nah, it's ok. I don't really sleep much anyways," She took his hand again, "you want to talk about it?"
She looked so sincere and concerned for him how was Fred supposed to say no? His eyes went to their hands; he took a depth breath before he began.
"You know about the war right?" She nodded slowly, "well near the end, George and I were fighting off the Death Eaters and one of them cast a curse that was aimed at me, but I got out of the way just in time. It went over my head and hit the wall behind me, and the whole wall collapsed on me. I thought I was dead, I remember seeing this bright white light, I know how cliché that sounds. But I honestly thought I was dead, I couldn't hear anything, couldn't open my eyes or anything. The only thing I could do was think and I thought George was going to end up the same way. I just kept screaming and crying, well after what felt like hours, I was able to open my eyes and I saw George over me. I started to cry and scream about how we couldn't both be dead. It was horrible, now I have nightmares. I'm so sorry again for waking you."
She pulled him into her, his head settled in her chest. "It's more than ok, sweetie, you shouldn't feel bad about it, at all." She was rubbing her hand up and down his back. All Fred could think was if this is how he woke up to nightmares, maybe they wouldn't be so bad.
A/N - This is my attempt at writing a story. I highly encourage any and all feedback! Thank you so much for reading, I really hope ya'll like it!
