Chapter 1: A Few Smiles and a Lot of Tears

"Come on! Get up!" Fred deftly dodged the arm that shot out from beneath the sheets, intent upon thwacking him. But, unfortunately for George, he wasn't as fast and ended up getting smacked in the chest.

"Oof! Hey, Ana, that wasn't very nice!" He faked being offended as he heard a stifled giggled from beneath the blankets. Katherine Anastasia Bell … she had previously gone by Katie, but after the change it didn't really seem to fit her anymore. Ergo, she went by Anastasia. Only two people were allowed to shorten the elegant name to Ana, Fred and George of course.

"Yeah, and you deserved it." Anastasia pulled the covers off her head and sat up, only to have Fred and George jump on the bed, sandwiching her between them. She looked at the clock on the bedside table and groaned. "It's so early! Why did you wake me up so early! Arg! You're so infuriating sometimes, I was having a lovely dream."

"Oh dear, Fred did you hear that? She's mad at us! NO!" George burst into pathetic, fake sobs and Fred joined him moments later. Anastasia rolled her eyes and chuckled, shaking her head. At hearing this, the twins sobbed even louder.

"Okay, okay, I'm not mad. Merlin! You two are insufferable sometimes, do you know that?" The twins immediately looked up and hugged her, one from each side. They kissed her cheeks simultaneously, causing her to laugh.

"Don't be upset with us and our insufferable tendencies, love," Fred replied with a cheeky grin.

"We're going back to The Burrow today! We wanted to leave early and that's why we woke you up at 6:30 in the morning," George finished. At remembering this, Anastasia's eyes lit up. While her face rarely revealed her emotions, her eyes matched them perfectly, if you could read them that is.

"That's interesting," she answered with a smirk. But Fred and George knew that she was tremendously excited. Anastasia's parents were no longer living, so she lived with her aunt during the summer. Unfortunately, the aunt she lived with wasn't a desirable guardian, to say the absolute least. Aunt Rebecca and her husband, Uncle Rob. They hadn't had any children and, therefore, didn't know how to raise them. Anastasia would have much rather been in the care of her godparents; Molly and Arthur Weasley. But she didn't have a choice, so she sucked it up and drove on, so to speak.

Anastasia's older brother, Mike, had been best friends with Charlie since they when they were three. Her parents had then developed a strong friendship with Molly and Arthur. When Anastasia was born, they had been named her godparents, just as her parents had been named the godparents of the twins. Ironically, Anastasia and the twins shared a birthday.

Mike was the only other person that really knew her, besides the twins. He would know her a lot better too, if he weren't off with Charlie in Egypt. But she would still melt her heart for him, regardless of how little she had seen him lately. He would always be her protector, her big brother. She trusted him just as much as she trusted the twins, which was definitely saying something.

"So get your lazy ass out of bed and get dressed. We can leave as soon as we're ready." George poked her in the ribs, causing her to giggle and squirm.

"Yeah, it's not like Rebecca really wants us here," Anastasia replied.

"Indeed," George said, with a slight shake of his head.

"Indubitably!" Fred cried, smiling brightly. He leaped off the bed, dragging Anastasia with him. She, in turn, grabbed George's hand. Then, Fred grabbed her around the waist and threw her over his shoulder, causing her to giggle incessantly. With George close behind, they made their way around the house; Fred and George were singing some strange song about ribbons at the top of their lungs, Anastasia was giggling, Rob was trying to stifle is own laughter, and Rebecca was screaming at them to stop running around and to put "Katie" down. She refused to call her 'Anastasia' and it annoyed Anastasia to no end.

Half an hour later, Anastasia entered the room, which she shared with the twins, freshly showered and wrapped in a towel. She was drying her hair with another towel as she walked to the closet in search of her jeans. She started to absentmindedly hum the song about ribbons that the twins had been singing earlier. She chuckled as she heard her aunt scream some obscenities. There could only be one reason; the twins.

In all honesty, Rebecca didn't really want the Weasley twins in her house ... ever. They played pranks on her from time to time, but that wasn't really what annoyed her. When she was asked to take care of Anastasia, she had been expecting a quiet, introverted young girl that wouldn't be much work to take care of. But when the twins were around and they weren't at school, Anastasia was just as carefree and immature as they were. Or at least, that's how Rebecca saw it. But it didn't matter, because if she didn't allow the Weasley twins to spend half the summer at her house, then Anastasia would pitch a huge fit. And Anastasia angry was the last thing that Rebecca, or anyone else for that matter, wanted to deal with.

Fred and George strode into the room, looking half-sheepish, half-smug. Anastasia cocked an eyebrow. "What did you do to her now?" she asked, only slightly amused. Their pranks on random people didn't usually amuse her all that much. But when it came to people like her aunt, Professor Snape, etc, she thought they were bloody hilarious.

"Her hair is now …" Fred started.

"Purple!" George cried joyfully. The three of them burst out laughing; besides the basic prank, Rebecca hated the color purple.

"Oh gods, you two are too much," Anastasia said breathlessly as she regained some of her composure. They grinned cheekily at her, between laughs. Gods they loved it when they made her laugh; it was all bubbly and contagious and they got a glimpse of the old Katie. Don't get me wrong, they loved Anastasia … but they knew the reasons for the change and they couldn't help but wish those things hadn't happened. They wanted to see her truly happy with her life again, and right now, frankly, she wasn't even close.

"Do you think we should change it back before we leave?" Fred asked pensively, making Anastasia giggle.

"As much as it pains me to say it, you're going to have to. She won't let us leave until you do. So what if you two go back down, change her hair back and apologize, while I put some clothes on? Then we can go home, yeah?" The twins nodded emphatically and bounded out of the room a moment later, closing it behind them. Granted, some girls would be embarrassed to be dressed in only a towel in front of any boy that wasn't family. But then again, the twins were practically family anyway. Considering the fact that they'd had their first play date at 18 months old and had shared countless baths as children, it wasn't really an issue between the three.

Anastasia smiled as she found her favorite pair of jeans and threw them on the bed. A few minutes later, she was exiting the room dressed in said jeans and a black tank top. She pulled her hair into a messy bun as she reached the bottom of the stairs. She stopped to take in the scene before her; Fred and George were standing in the middle of the living room, talking to Rebecca. Unfortunately, her hair was back to its normal color, and she was scolding them, surprise, surprise. Rob was sitting in a chair by the fireplace reading the paper and Charlie was stepping out of the fireplace, having just floo'ed.

"If it isn't little Miss Anastasia! Haven't seen you in a while," Charlie said with a smile as Anastasia entered the room.

"Hello Charlie," she said with a smile. Okay, so it was more of a little tug at the corners of her mouth, but she was the Ice Queen after all, so what do you expect? Charlie was fairly well off in Anastasia's books; besides being a child of Arthur and Molly Weasley (whom she considered to be some of the best people ever to grace the planet), he was the best friend of her brother. Both facts gained him major points, and then of course there was the obvious fact that he treated her like his own sister.

"How's your summer been so far? I trust the twins haven't been giving you too much grief, yeah?" Charlie asked with a chuckle.

"Yeah right, like she'd take any shit from them. She doesn't even take my shit, what makes you think she'd take theirs?" a familiar voice said. Mike grinned as he stepped out of the fireplace, brushing the soot off of his clothes. At seeing him, Anastasia really did smile, a rare occasion indeed.

"And why should I take your shit?" she asked sarcastically.

"You mean besides the fact that I'm your favorite brother?"

"Well I didn't have much to chose from, now did I?" Anastasia cocked an eyebrow as her mouth twisted itself into a smirk.

Mike laughed and growled at her, mockingly. "Get over here, you." She laughed as she strode over to him, where he engulfed her in a huge hug, lifting her slightly off the ground. "Gods, you're getting tall," he said as he set her back down and looked at her. "Ready to go home, yeah?" Anastasia nodded, the traces of her smile still lingering on her face.

They had never referred to Rebecca's house as home … it wasn't and it never would be. But The Burrow on the other hand … The Burrow was home in every single aspect of the word. So they really were 'going home' today.

Rebecca was only too happy to have the twins out of her house. She had gotten considerably nervous when Mike and Charlie showed up; she knew Mike didn't approve of her guardianship of Anastasia and frankly, she was quite frightened of him. He was a great deal taller than her at 6 feet to her measly 5' 1" and, generally, a pretty scary looking guy. He had shaggy black hair and usually a partial beard; furthermore, his eyes were dark brown, almost black, and looked menacing a good majority of the time, whether he meant for them to or not. But, if you got to know him, you'd find out that he was just a big softie; he had the heart of a five-year-old child; loving, innocent, and trusting.

"You know, I'm insulted Fred."

"As am I, George."

"I mean, we do all kinds of things for him,"

"But he can't even say hello."

"Insulted indeed, Fred."

"Yes, indubitably, George." Everyone rounded on the twins, who were grinning cheekily at Mike. Mike chuckled and shook his head.

"How could I forget? My good gentlemen how are you on this fine morning?" Mike took an invisible hat off his head and bowed low, only to have the twins return the gesture.

"Infinitely better than the last time we spoke, I assure you, good sir," Fred answered with a smirk. Then, the three boys burst out laughing while Anastasia and Charlie snickered quietly. It was strange the way this little 'family' (of sorts) worked. Charlie was a definite foil for Mike; Charlie was quiet, critical, and reserved, while Mike was loud, credulous, and outgoing. Similarly, the twins were excellent foils for Anastasia; she was subtle and cold, whereas they were obvious and passionate. And those simple facts balanced everything out. Anastasia found empathy in Charlie, who was so much like her, but nothing could replace the solace that she found in the twins or Mike.

Anastasia smiled internally, a true smile; she would be spending the rest of the summer with Fred, George, Charlie, and Mike. She couldn't ask for much more. It promised to be a very … enjoyable few weeks, indeed.

An hour later, the five of them were collapsing in the living room of The Burrow. Mike and Charlie were sprawled out in the armchairs that flanked the fireplace, the twins were on opposite sides of the couch, and Anastasia was sitting in between them. She yawned and lay down, stretching out with her head on Fred's lap and her feet on George. She really shouldn't be tired, but considering that they had stayed up until 3 o'clock talking and then had gotten up 3 ½ hours later, it was understandable. Moreover, she was mentally exhausted from having to deal with her aunt before they left. Rebecca didn't want them in her house, but she'd rather have them there than at The Burrow. For whatever reason, (probably jealousy, as Molly had Anastasia's affection and love and Rebecca did not) she always made it difficult for them to leave. As in, she spent nearly half an hour lecturing Anastasia about schoolwork, boys, and keeping out of trouble. The majority of said lecture was completely pointless, as the things Rebecca was warning her about doing were totally against her nature.

"No one's home right now; Mum's running errands, Dad's at work, Percy's not coming home for the summer, Bill's out shopping with Ginny, and Ron's meeting Harry and Hermione in Diagon Alley. Harry's staying with us this summer, by the way," Charlie, informed them.

"You know, Granger really is a bloody git. I mean, is she going to let Ron walk all over her forever or what?"

"Well, love, not everyone can be as cold to men as you are. She thinks she's in love with him, so there's nothing anyone's going to do that will change her mind," Mike answered sagely.

"It disgusts me, I tell you." Seeing a hardened expression starting to creep up on Anastasia's face, George reached up and tugged lightly on a strand of her dark hair. She looked up at him and couldn't help but smile slightly, noticing his goofy grin. And, as if the subject of Hermione hadn't even come up, they started talking about quidditch. That was what Anastasia loved about the twins; they could change her mood in the blink of an eye with little more than a glance.

About ten minutes into the conversation, a new, but familiar voice added itself. "Ah, but you're wrong, Anastasia dear, the Cannons just got a new chaser and replaced both their beaters. Not a new keeper and 1 new beater." The five people looked up to see Arthur standing in the doorway of the living room, smiling. Anastasia was on her feet and hugging him a moment later. "I'm glad to have you home again," he whispered. She smiled as she pulled away, a true genuine smile. Well, today had certainly been interesting; she had smiled more in half the day than she had in the past 1 ½ months combined. If you don't count laughing at all of the twins' crazy antics, that is.

"I'm glad to be home, Arthur." The four men then jumped out of their seats and rushed over to great Arthur, none of them having seen him in a while. Charlie and Mike had only gotten back from Egypt late last night; they'd returned home after everyone was in bed and hadn't woken up until after Arthur was gone. The twins, of course, had been staying with Anastasia at Rebecca's house since the beginning of the summer.

Several hours later, Anastasia found herself sprawled out in the grass, looking up at the stars with two of her favorite people on either side of her. "Hey!" she cried indignantly as Fred threw a dandelion at her, hitting her on the side of the head. She picked it up and threw it at George, who was on the other side of her. It landed on his chest and he picked it up; he looked at it for a moment before tossing it aside absentmindedly. "Something on your mind, Georgey?"

George chuckled softly; just like only he and Fred were allowed to call her 'Ana', only she and Fred were allowed to call him 'Georgey'. And, similarly, only she and George were allowed to call Fred 'Freddie' (although, Fred wasn't as pleased with his nickname as the other two were). "I dunno … this is all very surreal, you know? I mean, we were in this exact position 2 years ago, the summer before fourth year. But everything was so different then." Fred nodded in agreement and neither twin thought anything of Anastasia's agreement or disagreement with George's statement until they heard her sniffle softly.

They both sat up and looked at her quickly, only to find that she had curled herself into a fetal position and there were several tears snaking their way down her pale cheeks. As Fred remembered what day it was, he smacked himself on the forehead. A look of realization came over George's face moments later, as he too remembered the date. Within seconds, they had engulfed her in a huge hug, one twin on each side. She gingerly laid her head on George while leaning back into Fred's chest. Her body was shaking with silent sobs and tears were now coursing freely down her cheeks. George couldn't help the guilty twinge that crept into his heart; he'd not only been so idiotic to forget, he'd only brought whatever things she was surely feeling closer to the surface with his reference to the summer 2 years ago.

They knew the summer would be hard for her; she could always manage to keep her feelings masked at Rebecca's house, but back at The Burrow was a different story. More importantly, today was the anniversary. The anniversary of the day her life truly fell apart. The anniversary of the day her parents died. She would have been able to deal with everything else, had her parents still been there. Perhaps, if they hadn't died, the change from kind and happy to cruel and icy never would have happened. But nonetheless, they had died. So, in this moment, Anastasia could do nothing but cry as the cruel realities came back to her.

And the twins could do nothing but hold her.

An hour or so later, as Anastasia's sobs faded into soft hiccups and sniffles, the twins stood up and brushed themselves off. George bent down and scooped her up in his arms, carrying her up to the bedroom he shared with Fred. For yet another night, Anastasia spent a night with the twins. She slept fitfully, crying herself back to sleep every time she woke up from a dream about her parents. And the twins slept … not at all. Besides the fact that they were much to worried about Anastasia to actually sleep, every time they started to drift off, she would wake up in hysterics and they would end up trying to soothe her once again. After everything that had happened, it was all Anastasia could do to thank every deity she could name for giving sending her Fred and George Weasley.

Fred and George Weasley … her guardian angels.

A/N: Well I hope you all liked this chapter. We realize how angsty it was, but it was also kind of fluffy, don't you think? The next chapter is in the works, but busy busy schedules may delay it. If you'd like to receive email from us when we update, please leave your email address in a review. We hope you all liked this chapter, please review! Pia's going to respond to the reviews:

SpiritWell: I'm so glad you liked it! LOL I'm sure I can speak for Q when I say that we are both utterly flattered! Thanks so much! I hope you liked this chapter as much as you liked the prologue!

Marie Dantes: LOL, well we're hoping to stay away from Sue tendencies as well. Despite the fact that Katie is going to be somewhat OOC from how she appears in the books, we're going to try and keep her in the "Anastasia" character as much as is humanly possible. Thanks so much!

Painted Secrets: Hello dear! Thanks again for beta'ing this. LOL, yes I suppose it could have been Hermione … ponders the thought for a moment Anywho, thanks again, the next chapter is in the works!

Devil's Poodle: LOL, well I'm glad that you liked it. I'm rather surprised at our skills with dramatic irony. Several people have said that they thought it was Hermione. Thanks a bunch, hope you liked this one!

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