"I have to go work," Fred groaned, disentangling himself from Hermione. She was hardly awake, but she knew that was a bad thing.

"No," Hermione moaned. "Please, Fred."

"You're cute when you're naked," Fred kissed her shoulder as she turned to bury her face in the pillows. It was much too bright out. Fred had charmed the shades to open as an alarm. Fred brushed his fingers over her back for a moment before pulling the covers over her, "Go back to sleep."

"Stay," Hermione said, her voice muffled by the pillows. She could hear Fred muttering spells under his breath. She turned over. "Did you never learn nonverbals?"

"Don't doubt my extreme magical proficiency," Fred continued to wave his wand. The room straightened itself and he got dressed quickly. Hermione rolled back over as the bed absorbed her. She heard the door close. Then Fred gave an alarmed shout. He only did it once.

He'd told her not to doubt him, but she'd be severely disappointed if a Death Eater had ambushed him. She groaned and rolled out of bed. Unfortunately, not proverbially. She rolled the wrong way, and instead of rolling to her back, rolled to the floor. It was cold, and hard. She appreciated neither fact.

She pulled on one of Fred's old shirt, found her knickers, decided she'd rather face the enemy with shorts on, and managed to locate a pair.

A dastardly foe awaited her in the kitchen.

"Angelina!" Hermione squealed. She nearly knocked the woman off her stool. They laughed, and Hermione dropped into the stool beside her before she could hurt herself, or Angelina. "I knew George could be reasoned with!"

"What do you mean?"

"He had this insane idea about you needing his protection," Hermione said vaguely.

"I don't need his protection," Angelina smirked, "He's got the bruises to prove it."

"Fun night?"

"Girl, don't get on me about that," Angelina pointed to Hermione's head, "You have about the worst sex hair in history."

"I'm going to cut it all off," Hermione groaned, resting her head against the wooden table top.

"Just go take a shower," Angelina ruffled her hair fondly. "It'll fix itself."

"Yes, because the twins have girl shampoo and conditioner stocked," Hermione shook her head.

"I make them."

Hermione smiled at Angelina, "Of course you do."

Hermione went and showered. Angelina had changed into slightly wrinkled clothes by then. Hermione shared a Refresher Spell and Angelina made breakfast. A kettle boiled itself on the stove top.

"So what are your plans for the day?" Angelina asked, dipping her toast into the broken yoke of her egg. Hermione looked at her plate. It was a garnish away from restaurant quality.

"I'll find something," Hermione shrugged. She had several books to read from the year before to brush up on her spell work. She didn't have the result of her O.W.L.s yet, and didn't know what to focus on, so she was focusing on everything. She glanced at Angelina as she poured the two of them coffee, "I didn't know you could cook."

"George would probably starve if I couldn't," Angelina said absently, pushing around her eggs. Hermione froze in terror.

"Mrs. Weasley. They've never had to cook before," Hermione said under her breath, "The twins can't cook."

And neither could Hermione. Suddenly she had an image of their house on fire, Fred running in circles around her, laughing about burning water. It was a very Muggle image; there was no way it would happen with magic involved, unless Fred cast Fiend Fyre to boil water. Hermione wouldn't put it past him, if he was trying to show off. Even worse was the image of them going to the Burrow for dinner more often than not.

"Well..." Angelina made an odd sort of face. "I said George can't."

"Wait-" Hermione's horror lessened greatly.

"Just let it go," Angelina suggested, "He wants to surprise you."

"Well, at least I don't have to try and beat his mother," Hermione muttered. She may enjoy cleaning dishes, but she had bigger goals than cooking for her loving husband every night. She wanted to have a real job. Not that being a parent wouldn't be hard, she just couldn't imagine not doing anything that didn't involve a child for so long. She wanted to make change, and greatly doubted she could do that from home. Besides, what was the point of having near perfect grades if she wasn't going to have a professional career.

"That takes effort, skill, and a five star chef," Angelina said. Hermione grinned and nodded. Angelina groaned, "I mean, the woman could at least be awful at something! Or, you know, wrong, once or twice?"

"She was wrong about the shop," Hermione pointed out. "But right about them nearly killing themselves making things."

"And they were run out of Hogwarts," Angelina chuckled.

"According to Ron, she's gotten a bit mental about the war and the Order," Hermione sighed. She downed about half of her sugar loaded coffee and shuddered. She could feel the artificial energy surging into her. "With seven kids you can't blame her-"

"The Order?" Angelina frowned, "What Order, what are you talking about?"

"Oh, shit," Hermione whispered. She blamed the coffee. And George. But mostly the coffee. A little bit of George too though.

"I don't see why we can't talk down in the store- Remus, wait!"

Both woman turned as the door to the shop opened. Remus Lupin strode determinedly through it, robes shabby as ever. Hermione wished that just once he would have a little less pride and accept help from someone. There was cursing behind him and then Fred appeared over his shoulder. Lupin looked almost as surprised to see Hermione as Angelina was to see him.

"Professor Lupin?" Angelina stood, glancing at Hermione nervously. Lupin turned to look back at Fred.

"What's this?"

"This is my girlfriend, Hermione Granger, you might know her-"

"This is not a joke, you can't just move her from her- what are you- oh, Merlin, Fred! What the hell were you thinking?!" Lupin shouted. Fred shut the door behind him and ducked an attack on his ear. Then Lupin turned on Hermione, "How are we supposed to protect you when we don't know where you are?! Why would you let him drag you into his- his idiocy?!"

"What is going on?!" Angelina cried. Lupin paused, as if seeing her for the first time.

"Ms. Johnson?" Lupin's frown deepened and he looked back at Fred. "Are you kidding me?"

"George," Fred shrugged. Hermione doubted that, under any other circumstances, this would've sufficed for a real answer. But with so much confusion in the room, the less words were spoken, the better.

"George is- fuck," Lupin rubbed his forehead. "Okay, I get it. I was a miscreant in my youth and it's finally coming back to bite me in the ass."

"Did you just swear?" Fred gasped, grinning like a little kid. "'Mione, a Marauder just swore in our presence - this has to be good luck or something."

"Shut up," Lupin growled.

"You aren't as scary as Mad-Eye, you should work on that," Fred suggested.

"You have to go to the Burrow," Lupin said to Hermione, then turned to Angelina, "You might have a question-"

"I do," Angelina said, gritting her teeth. "Fred, why is our old Professor in your flat?"

"He's a lot more than our old Professor, isn't he Hermione?" Fred asked.

"Will you just answer her question?" Hermione groaned, rubbing her forehead.

"I didn't know George was involved with anyone," Lupin turned to Hermione, for reasons beyond her. He was standing in a room with George's twin and girlfriend.

"I didn't know it was any of your business," Angelina crossed her arms over her chest. Fred laughed quietly until Hermione shot him a glare.

"It isn't," Lupin admitted, adding, "But we like to be kept in the loop."

"We?"

"You can either dance around this or you can let George," Fred said, gesturing around the room, "I've got to get back to work. Pickpockets to terrify, you know?"

"I'll be at the Burrow Friday night," Lupin said, "I'll brief you then."

"Brief him?" Hermione asked, standing. Her hands began to shake slightly, so she clenched them and squared herself. She didn't like the sound of that at all.

"Really gotta get to the shop," Fred laughed nervously and edged toward the door.

"He's a grown man, Hermione," Lupin said calmly, "No one can choose his path for him. Not even you."

"Then I want to join too," Hermione said stubbornly.

"And what exactly are you going to do from Hogwarts?" Lupin asked.

"You aren't of age, and you're Muggleborn," Fred said quietly. Hermione set her jaw, "I'm not questioning your ability, I'm just saying they won't take it easy on you!"

"Even if you could sneak out of Hogwarts, and trust me when I say that not even James could manage that nowadays, you couldn't do so without drawing attention to yourself," Lupin shook his head, "Think about this, Hermione. You don't have to be as bright as you are to see that it's not going to happen."

"I don't like this," Hermione said.

"No one expects you to," Lupin said. Fred stood motionless as Lupin turned and left.

"I really have to..." Fred sighed and glanced at the still open door.

"I'm fine," Hermione nodded, sinking back into her chair.

"Are you sure?" Fred asked feebly. He ran a hand through his hair, "I can-"

"Just go, Fred," Hermione made a shooing gesture with her hand. He slipped out the door with a quiet step.

"Okay, so Lupin was one of the best teachers we've ever had, and Dumbledore is never without a plan," Angelina began to pace through the kitchen. "How close am I?"

"Very."

"And the Weasleys have essentially taken in Harry, and they're all... The good kind of Pureblood," Angelina muttered, "So naturally they're all close to... And George said they were away last summer in London... The Blacks had a house there, and- and Sirius Black was at the Ministry, he's been revealed to be innocent. George kept making these weird jokes about him and dogs for some reason... He was tight with Lupin and Harry's parents when they were- were younger."

"You really should have been an Auror," Hermione said, sighing. Angelina smiled and stopped pacing, her fingers making circles in the air. Then she pointed at Hermione.

"So the Order is some kind of good wizard version of the Death Eaters, led by Dumbledore instead of You-Know-Who," Angelina laughed wryly, "The Ministry was right; Dumbledore does have a following."

"They're a lot more effective than the Ministry has been as of late," Hermione nodded.

"Oh, George is in so much shit," Angelina said.

~m~

Hermione was reading a spell book from the year before. She was running out of things to brush up on. The lamp beside her flickered and she paused to look at it suspiciously. Electronics were always touch and go around magic, but she didn't think that applied to lightbulbs. The lamp went out. Hermione looked to the door.

A whizz popper appeared before her. Hermione yelped and shoved the book away from the sparkling light. It fizzled left and right before her, moving slightly as she did. It danced over the bed to the door and raced back to her.

Hermione pushed off the bed and followed the excited firework. It hung by her shoulder as she opened the door, then flew off in front of her, still bouncing back to her until she found herself in the kitchen.

The sparkler flew straight up to the ceiling, joining dozens of others. She thought for a moment she was back at Hogwarts; the ceiling showed the night sky, albeit slightly less cloudy than she knew it to be. The fireworks did not fade, they only multiplied and rejoined one another.

"You didn't eat dinner."

Hermione jumped at Fred's voice. She watched him as he smiled. She really liked it when he did that.

"Angelina said you just went and holed up in my room after lunch," Fred said, "Did you even know it was dark out?"

"I did when the lamp went out," Hermione winced. "What have you been doing?"

"Well, I sort of locked you in my room," Fred grinned lazily, then flicked his wand at the table, which revealed itself to be far from empty, "And then I started cooking."

"I didn't know you could," Hermione bit her lip. There was way too much food on the table. She could see pasta of three types and sauces, some kind of meat that she thought was chicken, and a very large bottle of fire whiskey. "It took you that long?"

"Well, I did have to modify a whole package of whizz bangers," Fred shrugged and waved his wand again. The table transfigured itself so it was shorter, both height and lengthwise. Hermione glanced down at her tee and jean shorts.

"I feel under dressed," she laughed.

"There is no dress code here," Fred came around the shortened table and took her arm. "In fact, you could dine without any clothes on at all if you wanted to."

"Maybe next time," Hermione said, looking up again. The fireworks had slowed slightly; instead of exploding they drifted. It was no less intriguing, "How do you do that?"

"It's a trade secret," Fred waited for her to sit and pushed in her chair. "I can't reveal that to you until you sign some official documents."

"Is it a Slowing Spell?" Hermione asked.

"Ms. Granger," Fred said severely, dropping into his chair. "I won't tell you again."

"Mr. Weasley, if you would pour some fire whiskey, I believe I can convince you," Hermione smiled.

"You trying to get me drunk, 'Mione?" Fred chuckled, obliging with her request. He handed Hermione her drink and frowned suddenly, "Hang on, you aren't of age."

Hermione rolled her eyes, "Yes, because the Auror department has nothing better to do than stop underage drinking."

"Morally I can't allow you to drink something I bought," Fred said, shaking his head. He poured himself a generous helping, "Good thing George got it."

"I honestly don't know if you want me to drink this or not," Hermione took a careful sip. True to its name, the liquid burned her throat. It wasn't so bad and she took a rather big gulp of it. She barely managed to keep herself from coughing.

"Oh no, you're out of control, I can't possibly stop the brightest witch of her age when her mind is set to something," Fred took a large swallow. Hermione watched him carefully. His face turned red and he didn't breath for several seconds before coughing, "Oh, Merlin."

Hermione laughed, "Shouldn't we eat?"

"Of course we should," Fred took a deep breath.

"Are you crying?! Honestly, it wasn't that bad!"

"I do apologize, George got the cheap stuff," Fred grabbed the bottle and examined it. He sniffed it, frowned, and tapped it with his wand. It glowed angrily, "That bastard! He jinxed it!"

"How often do you steal his booze?" Hermione frowned.

"Oh, he's having a laugh," Fred ignored her and tapped the bottle three more times. The glowing stopped and Fred went to stand, "Pardon me, I have a trap to set."

"Fred," Hermione laughed, "Do it later?"

Fred tapped his already poured glass and took a second sip, "All right, but only because there's a fantastic woman waiting for her dinner."

"I'm not sure about fantastic," Hermione mumbled, "I think hungry suits me better."

~m~

"This was fun," Angelina straightened the collar of George's shirt. They'd been all down the Alley, and had even ventured briefly into Knockturn.

"Come in?" George asked, wrapping his arms around her waist.

"I stayed last night, my parents-"

"You're an adult," George pointed out, "I'm an adult. Let's go do adult things."

"Adult things?"

George kissed her, "Yeah."

"Are you going to invite me inside or not?" Angelina murmured. George smiled and yanked open the door.

"I already did, Ange."

"Hmm," she wrapped her arms around his neck. He tugged her into the shop. "I think I'm in love with you George."

"Thank Merlin for that," George muttered. He'd very narrowly missed being hexed both to bits and in the bits. He was strangely skilled at redirecting Angelina's focus. He kissed her again, "You know, I'm not entirely sure you haven't bewitched me."

"And what makes you say that?" Angelina asked.

"Because there are plenty of women in the world and I don't even need to meet them all to know that you're the best of them," George led her upstairs. It was slow, difficult task. And it wasn't even worth it. He would've rather had sex over the cash register than stumble into his flat.

There was a lot of stumbling going on.

"George!" Hermione exclaimed, trying to get off the couch. Fred laughed as she nearly walked into the fireplace. She shushed him and waved her hand wildly. "George, Fred's so drunk right now!"

"I'm maybe drunk," Fred nodded, swaying where he sat. He pointed at Hermione, "But she's super super drunk. Like, more drunker than me."

"If I was more drinker than you, I would be not standing," Hermione slurred, shuffling strangely around the couch. Fred reached back to try and grab her. He caught nothing but air. Hermione twirled away from him giggling.

"Oh, God," Angelina said under her breath.

"I-I have Pep- Pepper Up potion in the cupboard over the sink," George pointed, not taking his eyes off the drunk couple for a second.

"Fred, Freddie," Hermione giggled as she sat down almost on Fred. She whispered rather loudly, "George needs pepper potion... 'Cause he's drunk!"

"You too?" Fred looked back at George and laughed, "You're so drunk!"

Hermione laughed so hard she was barely breathing. George took a step closer but she collapsed into Fred, sighing.

"This is bad," Angelina said.

"They're like... Like little kids," George whispered in terror.

"How do we get them to take it?" Angelina asked, gripping tightly to the grey bottle.

"I want to ride you," Hermione said. Fred sobered enough to kiss her without laughing. They both pulled at their clothes without much coordination or speed.

"Angelina!" George yelped, "Do something!"

"Fred, there's two of you!" Hermione looked over his shoulder at George, eyes wide. George would've been relieved, but she started biting at Fred's neck. It was easily the most horrifying thing he'd ever seen Hermione do. Stranger still; the two were swaying because Fred seemed incapable of sitting up straight.

Fred laughed maniacally, "There's two of you too!"

It took nearly a quarter of an hour to force feed Fred and Hermione the potion. Fred fell sideways into the couch with a groan.

"She was getting ahead of me."

"She's tiny!" George pointed at her. Angelina caught her as she attempted to slide down the wall.

"Oh, Merlin, that's weird," Hermione said, her voice strangled. She covered her face with her hands. "Oh, shit, shit, shit."

"You played a drinking game with your girlfriend and lost?" George hissed, crouching beside Fred.

"Shut up," Fred growled, ruffling his hair into an untidy mess worthy of Harry. He dragged himself off the couch.

"I'm so sorry," Hermione said to Angelina.

"We're off to bed," Fred pulled Hermione's hands away from her face and picked her up.

"What are you doing?" Hermione asked quietly. George grinned as Fred ignored her and carried her down the hallway.

"They're all grown up," he sniffled and wiped away a false tear from his cheek.

"All right," Angelina sighed, "Now I've really got to go."

Fred hit the wall as he closed the door. George knew this meant that only one of them had a chance to get laid, and if there wasn't a Silencing Charm in place, he'd get beat up for breakfast.

"Ange," George pouted.

"You're the worst, you know that," Angelina shook her head.

"I'm still not sure why you love me," George took her hand and swung it between them, crooning, "But you doooooo."

"You're an idiot," Angelina smiled.

"A handsome one," George shrugged and pulled her closer. "I'm almost as pretty as you are."

Angelina laughed, "Oh, no, George, you could pull off even the slinkiest of dresses."

"I'll buy one of you wear it too," George challenged, grinning.

"Then the next time you take me out we'll go shopping," Angelina kissed his cheek. George made a sour face.

"You missed," he clicked his tongue. Angelina rested her hands on his shoulders.

"Good night, George," Angelina said. She didn't move though.

"What're you waiting for?" George whispered. He liked it when Angelina didn't want to leave. It meant she would be with him for a little bit longer, the best news in the world.

"My parents are going to be so worried," Angelina sighed. George beamed.

"I love you."

.o0O0o.

Ta-da! I'm back, and in less than two weeks!

So I was reading my email on the home computer instead of my laptop last week (because fuck my laptop) and guess who wandered by? My little sister. Now, she's very much addicted to FanFiction and didn't know that I had a story on here (which I did on purpose). So, I was trying to read a review and all of a sudden there's a midget running around screaming, "I KNEW IT!" and "I FOUND IT!" and cackling evil-like etc. Which is part A of why I didn't update last Saturday (it've been at the top of the page and that wouldn't have been great). Part B is fuck my laptop.

marvin1984: 'Soon' is such a relative word... I hope you're enjoying your summer, mine has been all right!

Aryia1029: That was my problem with the Cursed Child; not enough Fremione. Your review was the one that I was reading when my sister was looking over my shoulder. I don't think she got to the actual important part of it though, because I didn't and I read faster than her. You literally made me cry. I was thinking of taking the story off the site completely, but after reading your review in its entirety, I knew that I couldn't do that. Thank you, from the bottom of my heart. - And there I go crying again.

TaylorNReed: See, the thing is, if I kill Forge, I will have no responsibility for that; Jo will. So... we'll see what happens. Thanks though! I'm pretty fond of Mrs. Granger myself.

Newsie: Fremione is better than Romione, no question. I have no plans to abandon this story. I expect to feel guilty about it if I don't finish something I've started.

I was BOTWP: They do, and their sense of justice is very keen.

Infernalbooks: The only wedding written write now is Bill and Fleur's, so even if there is a wedding in their future, it won't be for a while.

sdrlana21: How could I possibly forget George? He's a majestic creature.

ncarolinawren: Thank you! I hope you got at least a little sleep!

I'm a Nerd and Proud: Rose was not at all how I imagined her being, she was a little snobby for my taste. It really felt like Ron was just doing stuff without knowing why the fuck he was even there. You make me smile too ^.^

Just 1 Thought: Yes, communication shall be key in the upcoming year. To be completely honest, I figured it out like, three seconds ago.

aimsm: I'm sorry you were sad. If you tried to wait until the end to binge, it would be a very, very long wait. That's just the way it is. Anyways, thank you!

filmdork: Lol that would be awesome! But I have a young lady designed specifically for the wizard called Charlie.

Raven that flies at night: Sirius dies because... Sirius dies. It's just what happens and when you're trying to be faithful to the books... It's kind of hard to avoid.

Guest: One point about the whole character thing: The thing I hate most in a fanfic is when they make it an AU and then change the characters. It makes no sense! If you're going to write your own thing, do that, don't just stick a familiar name on an unfamiliar face! It's not fair to people who like your idea! At least give them a reason for being different! Anywho, thank you very much!